Man was created by God in His image to glorify and enjoy Him forever. This means we were made with a moral, spiritual, and rational nature like God's, as well as a desire for community. Although distorted by sin, God's image in man is being restored through salvation and sanctification in Christ. The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him fully.

1. “What is Man?”

2. Video: Answers in Genesis

3. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and
multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28
“Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory,whom I
formed and made.” Isaiah 43:7
We were created to…
be fruitful and multiply, fill & subdue the earth and have dominion!
We were created…for GOD’S GLORY!

4. “One of the ways we glorify God is by enjoying him. Fullness of joy
is found in knowing God and delighting in Him!”
Christian Beliefs pg. 59
“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are
pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

5. Question: “What is the chief end of man?
Answer: “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
Westminster Confession of Faith
“God is most glorified in us, when we are
most satisfied in Him!” Desiring God Ministries

6. “God you have made us for yourself,
and the heart is restless until its finds
its rest inYou.” Augustine 354-430
“We’re all searching for something to fill up
what I like to call that big, God-shaped hole
in our souls. Some people use alcohol, or
sex, or their children, or food, or money, or
music, or heroin. I used to know a girl who
used shoes. She had over two-hundred
pairs.”from: God Shaped Holes
Sin has caused
us to look for
love in all the
wrong places…

7. All of God’s creation brings Him glory…however, we are the only part of
God’s creation made “in the image of God…the pinnacle of His creation.”
Christian Beliefs pg 58-59

8. What does it mean to be created “in God’s image?”:
 We are moral creatures, created with an innate sense of
of right and wrong. This is a reflection of God’s perfect
sense of right and wrong.
 We are spiritual creatures which means we are somewhat
like God, who is spirit. Our spirit is a reflection of God’s
nature and allows us to relate to Him personally.

9. We were created with the ability to think about and process
information, which is a reflection of God’s knowledge.
We were created with the ability to relate to others and desire
community, which is a reflection of God’s perfect community
within theTrinity.

10. Man, as the image-bearer of God in creation, was marred by sin and
the image of God was party distored. Christian Beliefs pg 59
• SIN distorts our moral judgement!
• SIN clouds our thinking!
• SIN hinders our fellowship with others!

11. God’s image is being restored in us!
• Positional Righteousness fully occurred at the moment of
salvation.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Practical Righteousness is occuring every day in us through the
process of sanctification.
“And we all…are being transformed into the same image from one degree of
glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18a
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image
of his Son…” Romans 8:29a

12. “What is Sin?”

13.  SIN is any failure to conform to the moral law of God
in act, attitude, or nature.
 We are ALL sinners by inheritance of Adam’s sin nature and
by our own choice.

14. The “Problem” of Evil:
God is thoroughly good and perfectly holy! It is impossible for God even to
desire to do wrong, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself
tempts no one” (James 1:13).
God somehow ordained that sin would come into the world. He decided He
would allow moral creatures to willfully and voluntarily choose sin.

15. An Antinomy: two parallel truths in Scripture that would
seem to contrict one another by their very
nature of being true. Yet, though they do
not harmonize in our minds or from our
persepctive, they harmonize perfectly in
the mind of God and according to the
perfect will of God.
(Isaiah 55, Deut. 29:29)

16. “We are all in the same boat!”
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23
“I know that nothing good dwells in me”
Romans 7:18
“All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags…”
Isaiah 64:6

17. Here’s the Good News! “The Holy God whom we rebelled against
and sinned against…is the same God who has come to rescue us!”
 We all inherited the first Adam’s sin nature.
“…by one man’s disobedience we were all made sinners” Rom 5:19
 Now, we are all offered forgiveness and eternal life through the
last Adam!
“…so by one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous”
Rom 5:19

18. “How did the last Adam pay for our sin debt against God?”
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23

19. Through Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection, we
have been saved from:
 The PENALTY of sin!
 The POWER of sin!
 We still reside in the PRESENCE of sin.

20. “Now, as God’s eternally adopted sons, through Jesus
Christ, sin does not affect our standing with God
(relationship) but it does affect our fellowship with God.”
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9

21. “Our Heavenly Father wants His children to enjoy assurance
of their salvation.”
“Our increasing obedience to God’s commands is proof that
we are really born-again through Jesus Christ!”
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides
in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of
God. 1 John 3:9