Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080224.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part I: Explaining The Creation Of The Universe, Genesis 1-2
C. Explaining The Steps Of The Universe's Creation
3. Explaining God's filling The Emptiness With Life
d. God's Creating Man To Rule The Earth As His Vice-Regent
(Genesis 1:26-31)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Ever since the famous 1925 Scopes "monkey trial," those who believe God miraculously created the universe have been said to claim that evolutionists believe man came from monkeys, and evolutionists counter that man and monkey both evolved from a common ancestor (Bolton Davidheiser, Evolution and the Christian Faith, 1969, p. 93).

Actually, it was Charles Darwin himself who stated in his book, The Descent of Man that man came from monkeys! He wrote: "'The Simiadae then branched off into two great stems, the New World and Old World Monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the Universe proceeded.'" (Ibid., emphases ours)

Nevertheless, evolutionists have consistently tried to relate man closely to apes in the evolutionary tree, and one argument to that end has been the claim that "chimp and human DNA is up to 99 % similar," (Roger Patterson, Evolution Exposed, 2006, p. 225)

Though we will answer this claim in our conclusion notes, to allow for man to have evolved as a relative to the apes is to sabotage the Christian faith! As Dr. Bolton Davidheiser put it: "If man evolved, the process was gradual and there never was a first pair of human beings distinct from the animal kingdom. If man evolved and there never was a first pair of human beings, then the Biblical account of the fall of man is not true but is a myth or an allegory. If man evolved, we are getting better and what is called sin is just a remnant of selfish animal nature. If man evolved, Christ was just a reformer and not the Redeemer; He was a martyr and not the Savior. If man evolved, the Christian religion becomes a code of ethics and not the way of eternal life through a risen Lord. As Paul said, 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable' (1 Cor. 15:19)." (Ibid., Davidheiser, "A Personal Testimony")

Thus, adopting the view that man and apes evolved from a common ancestor logically leads to the denial of the Christian faith!



So, we might ask, "DID God supernaturally create man without evolutionary processes as the literal reading of Genesis 1:26-27 claims, all in support of the Christian faith? WHY, and IS there EVIDENCE of this?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Did God create man without evolutionary processes as Genesis 1 literally claims? Why, and is there evidence of this?!"
  1. Genesis 1:3-31 explains how God's CREATIVE ACTS SOLVED the NEEDY STATE of Genesis 1:2 (as follows):
    1. The unfinished world God had called into existence out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3) was NEEDY, being formless, empty and cloaked in darkness over its surface of deep waters, Genesis 1:2 NIV, ESV.
    2. Thus, God addressed the darkness need by creating light in Genesis 1:3-5, He addressed the formlessness need by creating the structures of heaven, sea and dry land in Genesis 1:6-10, and He addressed the emptiness need by filling these structures in Genesis 1:11-31.
  2. In SOLVING the EMPTINESS, as Romans 1:18-20 says, in Genesis 1:26-31, God showed His ETERNAL POWER and DIVINE NATURE, creating MAN as SUPERIOR to- and DISTINCT from ANIMALS and PLANTS so man might be His VICE-REGENT:
    1. Genesis 1:26-31 shows God's eternal power in making man, and His grace in ELEVATING him OVER ALL the ANIMALS and PLANTS as His VICE-REGENT of earth OPPOSITE evolutionary theory:
      1. God's eternal power is seen in His creation of man, the most complex of His creation, by His mere spoken Word, Gen. 1:26-27: "Wilder Penfield, one of the world's leading neurosurgeons, describes the brain as a computer programmed by something independent of itself -- the mind. Science cannot escape the fact that man himself, like his Creator, must be a non material being in order to originate the thoughts processed by the brain." (D. Hunt, "The Living Word of God," The Berean Call, Jan. 2001, p. 2)
      2. God's GRACE was seen in His elevating man OVER ALL the ANIMALS and PLANTS to be His VICE-REGENT of the world:
        1. Genesis 1:26-31 emphasizes the elevation of man in contrast to the rest of creation: (1) unlike His creating the rest of the universe, Genesis 1:26 has God taking counsel to make man, implying man's loftiness, Leupold, Expos. of Gen., 1974, v. I, p. 85f; (2) man is made in God's image and likeness, the highest role in creation, Gen. 1:26b; Ibid., p. 88; (3) man is made ruler over all life on earth (Gen. 1:26, 29), and (4) only the 6th day in the Hebrew text has the article, to read, "'the sixth day,' that last memorable creative day" when God made man, Ibid., p. 100!
        2. Also, Genesis 2:7 claims man was lifeless until God breathed into his formed nostrils to make him alive. This counters the idea that man evolved from a common ancestor to the apes!
        3. So, in God's power and grace, opposite evolutionary theory, Genesis 1:26-31 holds man began distinct from- and superior to all animals and plants as God's vice-regent over the earth!
    2. This elevation of man in his origin counters ANCIENT paganism:
      1. Pagans in Moses' era held "'The position and function of man in the scheme of creation paralleled precisely the status of the slaves of Mesopotamia,'" Bruce K. Waltke, Creation and Chaos , 1974, p. 65 in citing Naburn M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis, 1972, p. 7.
      2. Romans 1:22-23 also shows pagan man replaced belief in God with the worship of animal and (dominant) human forms; thus, pagans broke down the distinctions of man and beast to where strong human and animal gods dominated the rest of mankind.
      3. [Deuteronomy 16:21 may mean trees or wood poles likened to the goddess Asherah were used in worship, and we know Third World pagans often worship deities or spirits linked to certain plants.]
      4. Yet, opposite this view, the Genesis 1 creation account shows God made ALL humans to RULE over ALL animals and plants as His VICE-REGENTS over ALL the EARTH, Genesis 1:26-30.
      5. Thus, opposite paganism, Genesis 1 reveals all humans have one Creator and hence God, and so humans in turn answer to GOD as His vice-rulers over all animals and all plants on the earth!
Application: As the origin of man is distinct from- and over all animals and plants, making the Christian faith true versus the views of ancient paganism and evolutionary theory, (1) may we trust in Christ for salvation from sin to receive eternal life, John 3:16. (2) May we then worship and serve the Creator, the God of the Scriptures, opposite all other presumed deities, Matthew 4:8-10.

Lesson: God miraculously created man without evolutionary processes as DISTINCT FROM and SOVEREIGN OVER ALL the ANIMALS and PLANTS opposite ancient pagan and modern evolutionary views. MAN is to WORSHIP the CREATOR and ONE TRUE GOD of the universe, and believe on His Son, Jesus Christ, to receive eternal life. [We will supply evidence of this origin of man in our conclusion notes!]

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 The following are evidences that man did not evolve from a common ancestor with the apes, but that he was supernaturally created:

(1) As we noted in our sermon introduction, evolutionists have long sought to establish a firm link between humans and apes in their evolutionary tree, their somewhat recent claim being that "chimp and human DNA is up to 99 % similar." (Ibid., Patterson, p. 225)

Yet, "These studies only looked at gene coding regions, which are a tiny fraction of the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome. When the chimp genome was sequenced, the number [of regions] was reduced to 96 %, twice as much difference as was previously thought . . . It is estimated that 40 million mutation events would be required to produce 125 million [such] differences in the DNA sequences. There's not enough time in the evolutionary explanation for this to happen (Haldane's Dilemma), and no new information is generated in these types of mutations anyway." (Ibid., brackets and emphases ours)

(2) Then, tests evolutionists have used to support evolutionary relationships offer exceptions to the view that man and apes had a common ancestor. (a) From the test of comparative anatomy, one can argue chimps and gorillas are more closely related to fish than to each other! (Ibid., Davidheiser, p. 234 in citing Alfred S. Romer, "the famous comparative anatomist of Harvard University," in Man and the Vertebrates, 1953, p. 139) (b) Serology (blood) tests can be used to show man can be said to be most closely related to hoofed animals, then to carnivores, then to rodents, then to insectivores and finally to bats, but monkeys as closest to insectivores, then carnivores and last to hoofed animals, almost opposite the order for man! (Ibid., p. 274 in citing G. H. F. Nuttall, Prof., Univ. of Cambridge, Blood Immunity and Blood Relationships, 1904) (c) From the test of atavistic structures (alleged leftover parts from evolution), "'gorilla ribs'", extra ribs that appear below the normal ribs in the lumbar region, a "condition common in gorillas . . . occur three times as frequently in men as they do in women. The conclusion from this would be that men are more closely related to gorillas than women are . . . " (Ibid., p. 239 in citing R. H. Durham, Ency. of Medical Syndromes, 1960, p. 99)

Man did not evolve from a common ancestor to the apes! He was miraculously made by God! Thus, the Bible is literally true, Christianity is valid and Christ is to be believed for salvation!