TD Jakes - Made in the Image of God
When I speak to God and God speaks to me, God inhabits our conversation. Are you hearing what I’m saying? Now I’m headed somewhere; give me a little bit of time to establish some groundwork, and I’m going to go somewhere. I want three brothers to come out here quickly and help me make this illustration. I’m going to try not to get lost, and I’ve already picked you out, so move, move, move—thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! There you go; there you go! Hallelujah! Come on out here, form a straight line like soldiers in the military, side by side.
So, you first in the line—yeah, you take that one, you take that one, and you take that one. This is nothing; everything that God created, He spoke, and it became what He said: «Let there be light,» «Let the firmament,» «Let the greater lights and the lesser lights.» God spoke it, and it became what He said. But when God got ready to create man, He spoke to Himself. Oh, come on, come on, come on! He spoke to Himself. I don’t want to get lost in that; God took counsel within Himself, which means that all God needed was all God had. God didn’t need anything outside of Himself to create us; God counseled with Himself—the full counsel of God (Ephesians 2) began us from His counsel. And God said, «Let Us make man in Our own likeness, in Our own image, and after Our own kind.»
So, let me see here, come here; you stand right in front of him, and you stand right behind him. And God said, «Let Us make man in Our own likeness, in Our own image, and after Our own kind.» Yet He created one man. The one was created, and He called his name Adam. Okay, He called his name Adam. But because He said «let Us,» Adam has three parts, so the «Us» is hidden in the one. Are you hearing what I’m saying? So, He then created the body from pre-existing substance—clay, mud; «bana» (Hebrew for «made») with pre-existing substance—and breathed into him the breath of «Zoe» (Hebrew for «life»), and he became a living «nephesh,» a soul.
So the life of God, what He breathed into him, was what He is. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So when He breathes, a man is a spirit; he is not a body, he is not a soul; he is a spirit. He has a soul, so this is an attribute—he has a soul, and he lives in a body. This body is an apartment, a condo, a mansion, depending on how you work out in the gym; it may be an efficiency suite. But the body is what—you see, this is how you live in it. This is who lives in it; I am that I am. I am a spirit; I have a soul.
The soul, in Greek, is «psyche"—mind, emotions, feelings, memories. This is where my emotions flow or break or crush or shatter, and this is what holds my pain, my power, my determination, my fear, my thoughts, my perspective; they are housed here in my soul. My mind is different from the brain; the brain is a part of my body. I need a brain to express my mind, but the brain is a part of my body. My soul—David said, «No man cared for my soul.» They didn’t care how I felt; they didn’t care what I went through; they didn’t care about the damage; they didn’t care about my feelings. But how I feel is not who I am, all right? I am a spirit.
Now, can I go deeper? Because I’m trying to go fast. If I had time, and I was in Bible class, I would rip this: «If any man be…» When I got saved, if I had a corn on my left toe, I still had it. When I got saved, if I had psychological or emotional issues, I’m saved, but I still have them. So if my body gets saved, my hair wouldn’t fall out; I wouldn’t have a cavity; I wouldn’t have a problem. Because when God saves something, He saves it completely. So the salvation of my body is my blessed hope. For if a man has that which he hopes for, why does he hope for it?
So my spirit is saved; my mind is being saved. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind—"renewing» in Greek is «metamorpho,» «metamorphosis.» And if my mind goes through a metamorphosis, my mind, my emotions, my memories, my feelings, my perspectives, my wisdom, my attitude are all going through a metamorphosis. What I thought when I was 20 is not what I think when I am 40. How I felt when I was 40 is not how I feel when I am 60; it is going through a metamorphosis. My spirit is stable; it is complete; it is finished; it is done. I can be no more saved than I am right now. I am saved because I have believed on the only begotten Son of God.
He that believeth on Him shall be saved—past, present, done, over, finished, complete, sanctified, certified, glorified. But when my spirit is saved and attempts to see the future, it has to see through my emotions—my soul, my memories, my perspectives, my fears, my insecurities, my intimidations, my flaws, my victory, my pride, my arrogance, my insufficiencies. So whatever my spirit sees, it has to see through my soul— and my soul has to see through my unregenerated body. So now the whole creation groans in pain until now, waiting for the adoption, to wit, for the redemption of my body.
So let me turn back this way again: my spirit is saved, my soulish capacity is being saved, my body shall be saved. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. For we know that if this earthly house or tabernacle shall be dissolved, we have another building, eternal in the heavens. Are you hearing what I’m saying? If nothing went wrong in my life, there would still be a war in my members. Because this holy thing has to live with this sick thing and has to stay in an apartment with this dirty thing. For no matter how long your dress is, I don’t care if you don’t wear makeup or earrings; I don’t care if you speak and talk; I don’t care if you’re hooping and hollering.
The groaning inside of us is coming from the fact that oil and vinegar do not mix. I don’t care how you shake it up; when you get through shaking, it’s going to separate, because how can two walk together unless they are agreed? So I find a war in my members; that when I would do good, evil is present with me. That which I would do, I do not; and that which I would not do, that I do. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? In other words, my soul is saying, «You two are driving me crazy! You’re telling me to live holy; you’re telling me to go to the strip club; you’re telling me I’m a conqueror; you’re telling me I’m a fool!»
And I keep going back and forth, and after a while, I groan, desiring to be clothed with that which comes from above. Thank you! Who am I talking to? So what the text is saying is the whole creation, the whole creation, the whole creation—the animal kingdom, the aquatic kingdom, the mineral kingdom, the galaxies, the stratosphere, the atmosphere, the pollution, the air we breathe—is groaning in pain until now, waiting for you to get yourself together, waiting for the redemption of our body. Can I go a little deeper? So I’m trying to be hip, I’m trying to be cool, and I’m trying to keep up with my kids and stuff, and so I bought some things online, okay? I bought it online, and I’m used to buying things online that they deliver, but this I had to go pick up. So it was purchased but not redeemed. Your body—know ye not that you have been bought with a price and that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? So He paid for me, but He hasn’t redeemed me yet.