Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the unselfishness of God, illustrating how God's desire to create humanity was rooted in His eternal love and purpose. He explains that God, knowing the pain and suffering that sin would bring, chose to create man in His image to reflect His glory and character. The sermon highlights that God's ultimate revelation of Himself as the Lamb of God was a response to the fall, showcasing His love and sacrifice. Beach encourages believers to recognize their purpose in revealing God's nature through their lives, urging them to overcome evil with love, just as God did. The message calls for deep reflection on how our lives can reflect the likeness of God in a world that often centers on self.

Okay, we're going to pray now. Father, we thank you so much for your presence. We thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for who you are, and Lord, we are so dependent upon you. We thank you for your Son, who has revealed the depths of your Lamb nature, who has revealed what you are really like. And Lord, we are amazed, we are oftentimes rendered speechless when our hearts catch a glimpse of Jesus revealing what you are really like. Oh God, how we long to know you, how we long to be captured with a heart that loves you in an ever-increasing way. Today I pray, Lord, that you will take your word, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit, you would be able to plant it in our hearts, that you might find good hearts. And that through your word, Lord, you would sanctify us and set us aside more and more to bear the image and likeness of the Lamb of God. Show us, Lord, as the word goes forth, the areas of our life that are unlike the Lamb. In speech, in attitude, in action, in behavior, in habits, show us, Lord. Search with a candlestick today, Lord, by your word. Go into every nook and cranny of our hearts, oh God. Go into every room of our house, oh God, and show us areas that are unlike the Lamb of God. And as you show us these, Lord, I pray that you will bring deep conviction, bring us to repentance so that we're willing to admit, acknowledge, very specifically, the areas in our life that are not like you. And in acknowledging to you, we might receive the forgiveness and healing that we need, but also, you would impart to us a greater measure of that life, the life of the Lamb, so that indeed our lives can be a reflection of His likeness. We pray, Lord, for the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish these things. In Jesus' name, Amen. Genesis, chapter 1, we're going to begin there. We're going to be turning through many scriptures, and so I pray that you will be diligent and try and follow along. Genesis, we're going to begin with the first four verses. Eventually, we're going to get to the book of Hebrews, but as we like to do, we like to lay a foundation for the word of God, for the thoughts that we're going to share from the book of Hebrews, and this is where we're going to begin. In Hebrews, or in Genesis, chapter 1, the first four words, in the beginning, God. Now, this does not in any shape or form mean that God had a beginning. It's not what it's saying. What this is saying is this. In the beginning, when God began to create, in the beginning, God created. That is, when everything that was created had its beginning, God was there because God is the author. God is the creator. Brothers and sisters, it is imperative that our hearts would be enlightened by the word of God and the Holy Spirit to recognize that all of our roots, all the framework of what we believe and who we are and the goal that is set before us, all begins out from God Himself. God is the first cause of all things. He created all things. And so, all the plans, all the purposes, all the intentions, the reason why we're here, the reason why the world exists, the reason why the created universe exists, the reason why the various different animal kingdom, insect kingdom, science, molecules, the reason why everything exists is because in the beginning, God was there and it was God's good pleasure for it to exist. Therefore, He created it. This will help us in our battle with secular humanism. This will help us in our battle with evolution. This will help us in our battle of living in a culture that does not make God the center and reason of all things. But instead, man is the center. Now, if man is the center and not God, then man is the standard. And if man is the standard, then man defines the meaning of the universe. Man defines the reason why we're here. Man defines the reason why there's the created universe. If man is the center, then man defines it. And if man defines it, then we're going to come to a conclusion that is opposite of the conclusion that we'll come to if God defines it. And so, we must begin, our frame of reference must begin all the way back to God. The meaning of all things, the meaning of all things is rooted in God himself out from which all things were created. That is our spiritual equilibrium. That keeps us from getting out of balance and from falling. So, remember that. God is the reason. It was his heart that initially desired what we see created the universe. Now, that's Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. Now, let's go to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. And God said, let us make man. Okay, let's stop right there. God, the center, the reason for all things, the author of all things, everything that God created is good. Everything that God created is excellent. Everything that God created is a revelation of the splendor and majesty and eternal perfections of who he is. Everything that God created. The more and more science delves into creation, the more and more science is having to admit that it is spectacular. That it is engineered in such a precise and systematic way that it demands, it demands an explanation beyond the explanation that we've given it. This is where science is moving. I know there's a part of science, there's a part of the community of scientists that hold to the idea that there is no God. But there's a growing concern within the science community because technology is getting more and more advanced. And as technology gets more and more advanced and as we're able to delve more and more into the creation of God, we're left speechless as to its utter perfection. Recently, we saw a program regarding the Hubble telescope. It initially, when it was launched into space, it broke down on many levels and it essentially became useless. And so what NASA decided to do was send a few astronauts to the actual Hubble telescope. There they landed and they worked on it. And it took them five days to work on it. And as a result, they fixed it. And they actually fixed it beyond their expectations. And consequently, the Hubble telescope has been able to discover galaxies. Philip, help me on this. What was the statistic? 100 billion light years away? That's what they said. 100 billion light years away. And they are utterly amazed at the pictures that are coming back. And they showed a few. This spectacular galaxy that was shaped in a spiral position and it had colors that were just beautiful. And they could never have seen anything like this before this Hubble telescope was functional. And so this is more and more revealing the heart of God, the purpose of God, the reason why God created anything. It is utterly erroneous and wrong to conclude that the purpose for anything that God created is anything other than to reveal His splendor and His glory and His majesty. In the New Testament, Paul said all things were created by Him and for Him. This means that everything that God created is for Him. That is, it is to serve His purpose. It is to serve His interests. It is to reveal His glory, His majesty, His eternal perfections, His genius. It is intended by God to cause all the universe to marvel at who He is. To pay homage to who He is, to bow down, to fall down and acknowledge Him as the eternal God and creator of all things. And so it's amazing when we consider the vastness of the universe that we see now that God has something else in His heart. Not only is He the center and the reason for all the created universe and everything that is in this physical world, but now we move to Genesis chapter 1, verse number 26, and we see God is now revealing something that was in His heart from all eternity past. And He says, and God said, let us make man in our image and our likeness. And so here we see that God in His heart wanted to make man unlike anything He ever created, He made man with the distinct honor, the distinct characteristic of being in His image and likeness. Capable, capable of some of the things that God Himself is capable of. Not being God, but capable of reason, capable of thinking, capable of love, and most importantly, capable of fellowship with God so that man can reveal what God is like. Brothers and sisters, God's heart, God's intention, let's bring this right down to where we live, which coincides with the prayer we prayed before we began. God's intention right where you live, where you're at right now, in your home, in your job, in your world, as a Christian, began not in time, but in eternity past. In the beginning, God, before there was a created universe, before there was a creation called man, in the beginning, in the heart of God, among other things, God had an eternal desire. Man would be created by Him in His image and likeness to represent Him in the created universe, to represent His moral likeness, to represent His moral dignity, to represent His moral nobility, to represent His eternal and most excellent character. That's why we're here today. We're here to reveal in our behavior what God is like. That's why we're here. It's not about you. It's not about your desires. It's not about what you want to do. It's not about your name or my name. That's man. That's man-centered. That's secular. That's humanism. Everything has its beginning in God. We're here for the sake of God. We're here for the name of God. We're here for the cause of God. We're here to represent what God is like. Families are little pictures to represent what God is like. Husbands, wives, children. Are we focused on that? Everything in this world that is not of God, but is of the world, will lead you down a road that will ultimately result in your life not being about revealing God and His glory, but revealing you and your glory and your name. And the fulfillment and expression of your own warped, crooked desires. This is what the God of this world is doing. He's blinding the minds of them that believe not from what? From the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God's remedy to man's fall, to restore him back to God's original purpose and intention, which is to be here for God's glory. And so everything the devil does by way of blindness, by way of lie, by way of deception, by way of temptation, whatever it is, it's ultimate intention is to turn you away from why you're here, why you're created. Why did God in the beginning, why did God in the beginning even have the thought for man? Why? Why are we here, brothers and sisters? Why is the church here? Because God has a passion to reveal Himself. Himself. Through mankind. And so all the spiritual battle that we're in is a battle between God and His person or Satan and His person. Who? Who is going to reign supreme? Who is going to be worshipped? Who are we going to reveal? Whose will are we going to fulfill? Whose desires are we going to pursue after? Whose likeness are we going to reflect? You remember some time ago I gave the illustration in the form of a question. And the question was this. If a group of people were gathered together and someone stood up and said, in your eyes, or in your heart, what do you associate with being like Bill Gates? Money. Rich. Wealth. Alright? So, unfortunately, Mr. Gates is associated with wealth. And so when most people say, I sure would like to be like Mr. Gates, they're not talking about Mr. Gates' character, are they? They're not talking about who he is as a man, as appealing or unappealing as that might be. I don't know because I don't know him as a man. I don't know him personally. So the association of being like Bill Gates has to do with his wealth. And so God wants us to be like Him. And what He's after is what He's like in character. What He's like in nature. What He's like in the way He behaves. And so the battle, yes it works, the battle is this. God created man, and God wants man to reveal His person, His likeness, but same as the God of this world God wants us to reveal His likeness and His image. So this is the great battle going on. This is the great war going on. Whose name are we going to reveal? Whose likeness are we going to reveal? Now, this is the foundation. This is what must be kept in our mind when we move through the book of Hebrews and we see all the admonitions that we are to be doing together. They become meaningless if they become isolated from God's eternal purpose, God's original intention, God's heart. But if we see all of these admonitions in the context of this setting and as the means of obtaining God's ultimate intention, God's highest intention, and that is a self-revelation of Himself through Christ in the church, Christ revealing Himself in the church, hence God is being revealed because when Christ is revealed then the likeness of God is revealed. When we see all these admonitions in the book of Hebrews connected to this, they become meaningful, they become something we desire to do. Now, turn your Bibles to John chapter 20. I just want to show you real quickly that God's thought for man, God's thought for man revealing who He is was lost, as we know it, through the fall. But in John chapter 20, verse number 24 beginning, I want you to see what God did in order to secure for Himself His original intention. Alright? But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, after his disciples were within and Thomas with them, there came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace unto you. Then said he to Thomas, listen to what he said to Thomas, Reach hither your finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing. What was Jesus doing at this time? What was Jesus doing with Thomas? What was he asking Thomas to do? Take your hands and touch my hand. What are you going to feel if you touch my hand? What was in his body? The scars. The scars. The wounds of love. Touch my hands and touch my side. What was in his side? A hole from what? The spear that was plunged into his side. So when he rose from the dead and took on his glorified body, did he lose those scars? Where are they now? Where are his scars now? On his body. How long will he bear them on his body? How long? Now think about this, brothers and sisters. Think about this mystery. God himself who is the reason and center and first cause of all things. Now listen. When God in eternity past had fellowship with his eternal son and said, I desire to create man. Did he know at that time before he ever did it the horror and sorrow and suffering that sin would bring? Did he or did he not? Of course he did. Did he feel the pain? Of course he did. So God felt the pain and the suffering of all that Satan and sin and death would bring. He felt it. He didn't just know about it. He felt it. How do we know he felt it? Are we reading into the scripture? What is it saying in 1 John chapter 4? God is what? Love. Okay. Now tell me, does love feel pain? Oh my. Love feels pain. Okay. So here we have an eternal God who in the beginning desired man but he also saw Satan. He saw the creation of Lucifer. He saw Lucifer would be lifted up in pride. He saw Lucifer would turn into the devil, his archenemy. He saw one third of the angels from heaven would be taken with Lucifer in rebellion against God. He saw the creation of Adam. He saw Adam being put in the garden. He saw Lucifer coming as a serpent all before it happened. He saw Adam being beguiled and he saw the entire human race being plunged into death becoming slaves to sin. And he saw every tear from every human being that would ever be shed that's the result of the pain and suffering and consequence of sin. Every one. Every one. Before it ever happened. So the question is this. Why did he do it then? How many people's pains have you ever felt? A few maybe, right? You felt some. You felt maybe one or two loved ones. Maybe a friend. You felt their pain a little bit, right? How about your own pain? You felt your own pain? How many have ever felt the pain that comes from sin in this room? Every one of us have. We've felt that pain, right? What about the pain that God has felt? His suffering. It not only includes yours but who's else? Everyone. Not just the people that exist now but the people that what? Have already existed and the people that what? Shall exist. It's inclusive. If it's not then God's not God. He felt it all. Here's the question. Why? Why did God in eternity past conceive a plan that he knew, he knew and could feel before it even happened the horror and pain of what would happen? Why did he go through with it? There's an explanation. It's in the word of God. It's not some deep theological mystery. It's not some secret revelation. It's right in the word of God. Exactly right. John, chapter 20. Peace be unto you. Why could Jesus say peace be unto you, Thomas? Because Jesus in his own self bear Thomas' sin on Calvary. Peace be unto you. Why? Because Jesus bore on his body the scars. Jesus bore in his side the hole. And Jesus bore in his feet the scar of the nails. Now who is Jesus? God. And so why did God allow all the suffering and all the pain and how did God how did God move forward in his plan knowing the horror and sorrow that was going to take place? Here's how. You gather together all that Satan and Lucifer and sin and death and sorrow and pain and everything else gather it all together from the beginning of time to the end of time. Everything gathered together that represents sin and the fall. Gather it together. And here's what God did. And it's in the word of God. He measured all that with himself. And here's what he said. All that sin represents and all that sin brought and all that death is and all that is contrary to what I am like I will allow because what that will do is simply this. It will bring out of me the final full and complete revelation of who I really am as what? As the Lamb of God. And my revelation to the universe as the Lamb of God will destroy Satan sin death and all the consequences that Satan's sin and death has brought to the human race. Not only to the human race but to the created universe. The corruption that is in the universe will one day be liberated. All that is contrary to God will one day be done away and set aside. And one day there will be nothing in this universe and in all of God's created world except that which is in order with and in harmony with and in likeness to and under the authority of the true and only God and His Son Jesus Christ. So God saw that picture the very end He saw the very end in eternity in eternity past He saw the end in eternity future He saw the end and in time He saw the horror of what Lucifer and sin and Satan would do but He also says of Himself that He is the Lamb that was once slain before the foundation of the world. And so God says the answer to this horror is not well I'm not going to create man I'm not going to create Lucifer I'm only going to do something that's going to make everything perfect without any sorrow or suffering God says no I'm going to allow it and then I'm going to reveal myself as the Lamb of God as the way to heal it. Now listen to what God did do and what He didn't do He didn't correct the problem sitting on His throne and commanding angels to take care of it, did He? What did He do? He got dirty He got dirty with our dirt without sin but He got dirty with your dirt. Brothers and sisters we have to get this by revelation the vastness of all that sin is gathered together measured next to all that God is cannot even be compared. God conquers evil because of who He is and He doesn't do it apart from Himself. You know how you and I would correct a problem if we were the president of a big huge company and somebody was walking through the lobby of our company and got sick and vomited all over the floor. What would you do? You'd get on the phone and you'd say get so and so the janitor down there quickly and clean that mess up wouldn't we? Come on. What did God do in eternity past? When He saw this great plan He had of a family just like Him that would reveal His glory but right in the middle of the lobby He saw the vomit of sin and sorrow and rebellion. What did He do? He says well I'm going to do it and when it happens I'm going to send Gabriel and Michael to destroy the devil and destroy sin and clean it up. No. He saw it. And with tears with tears in eternity past with tears He said I will take care of the problem and I'll clean them up by laying my life down for them. I'll bear the pain. You think sin has affected us? How has it affected God? You think sin makes us sorry? How has it made God sorry? You see when we get out of our man centered way of viewing things and bring it back to where it belongs before it ever happened God went through the sorrow the pain in eternity and then in time He went through it as the Lamb of God. All for what purpose? To make us happy? No. No. To satisfy His own glory. Do we benefit? You bet we do. But it's not chiefly for us. It's for Himself. For His own glory. His own majesty. So I know it's late. We're going to stop. I would like to go on for hours and just pick this apart from the Word of God and see this unveiling of the Lamb of God and then God says now we are to what? We are to lay our lives down. Why is God asking us to lay our lives down? Why? Does God ever ask us to do something that He hasn't already done? Never. You know the scripture says be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with what? Where did the Holy Spirit get that thought from? Who did that? How did God overcome evil? How did God overcome the evil that He foresaw would infest the world and His creation? He overcame it by a revelation of Himself as the good Lamb of God that laid, the intrinsically good Lamb of God that laid His life down. That's why Paul says don't be overcome by evil. In other words, here's what Paul was saying. Don't be overcome by evil but look at God's example. Look what God did and through Christ you do the same thing. Oh my God. Do we even know this kind of Christianity brothers and sisters? Barely. But this is what God wants to bring us into through His Son Jesus Christ. Let's bow our hearts. For a word of prayer. We didn't get as far as we anticipated but it doesn't matter. We'll get there eventually. What a wonderful wonderful wonderful privilege Lord we have to be in Your presence. Know how we need the Holy Spirit God. And we pray God that You will take Your Word today and give us the capacity through the Holy Spirit to see this amazing amazing revelation of Your heart and Your desire and how You foresaw before any sin came the horror and ruinous effects it would have but You went through with it because You were planning from eternity past. You were planning that because of sin You revealed Yourself as the Lamb and the lowly Lamb of God and His weakness on Calvary destroyed the magnificent and horrible power of Satan and all his kingdom. The display of who God really is. Crushed Satan. Help us to know this power Lord. The power of love that lays its life down and disarms principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness and kings of darkness. Love is so much greater than hate. The unselfishness of God is so much greater than the selfishness of Satan's heart and man's heart. Oh God, bring us to see this and may our lives be so united to the unselfish Christ that we can know this power that cannot be conquered and that can truly display what You're like. I pray Lord for Christ's sake. Amen.