Once again, good morning. It's
so good to see everyone. And would you join me in the
gospel according to numbers, the gospel according to numbers.
I find out that I have followed the instructions of the gospel
according to numbers for the past 33 years here. My ministry
has been a ministry of repetition. just repeating the same thing
over and over and over. And that is the instructions
that I received from the word of God. I'll never forget a comment
that was made to me many years ago after I brought my first
message with this body and it happened to be in the home of
Dwayne and Joe Blanchard. And after that service or during
that service, I said, I only have one message. And a lady
told me later she thought I was going to speak from the same
verse all the time. Well, we do in a sense, but that
message is Christ and him crucified. And that message is all through
the scriptures. And today we're going to have
a message or a lesson on repetition. Because this first chapter of
the book of Numbers, like many other places in the scripture,
are veracious. They repeat themselves. And in
fact, I found that there was a translation made a number of
years ago, the Reader's Digest translation, and they edited
out all the repetition and thought they were doing us a favor. Well,
they weren't doing us a favor. Now, we may find it difficult
sometimes to read the repetition, but God had a reason for doing
it. God knows our frame. God knows us. A very dear friend
of mine many years ago said I'm going to share with something
with you and I may have told you this before yet I do not
know how much you have forgotten. Sometimes I'm having to say that
now as I repeat myself. Well in the book of Numbers and
we're going to begin reading with verse 17 and our message
is through the verse 46. Now, I'm going to give you the
opportunity of reading all of these verses. We will not take
time this morning, but I want you to know I have grown to appreciate
repetition. God really demonstrates his interest
in humanity. He demonstrates his interest
in the church. He demonstrates his interest
in the elect. He demonstrates by repeating
himself over and over and over. He wants us to know that the
message is very, very important. And he has repeated this message
to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And that message will
continue to be repeated till the very last one of his people
is saved. It is a very important message.
And in every generation, this message will be repeated. So
he didn't just say it once and hope we got it. He shares it
over and over and over and over again. So in the book of Numbers
chapter 17, or excuse me, chapter 1 verse 17, and Moses and Aaron
took these men which were expressed by their names. Now, the last
time we were here, we went through those names, the representatives
of the tribes that were going to be brought out. And they assembled
all the congregation together on the first day of the second
month. Now, we're going to have How many people are going to
be gathered together? I don't know. It doesn't tell us. But
we do find out that there's going to be over 600,000 men ready
to go to war are going to be carried out. So we have families
of these folks. And we have grandparents and
aunts and uncles of these folks gathered together. And 3 million? Maybe? 6 million? I don't know. But a greater together. And of
them. Please note this. Out of the
host, out of this congregation, are going to be called 630,000
people. And they declared their pedigrees.
Now that word pedigree is to show their lineage. How do we
show our lineage today? I had a great uncle that spent
a lot of time tracing out his physical pedigree. But how do
we show our spiritual pedigree? Well, I have to ask, who do you
trust? Who is your salvation? Who is
your hope? Who is your savior? Who do you
depend on? That's going to tell a lot about
our pedigree. I have family and friends that
would immediately say, well, I'm a member of a church. I've
been baptized. I've taken the Lord's Supper.
I made a decision. Well, that's a poor pedigree
compared to the pedigree that's required. The pedigree that is
required is to have the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as
our only Savior. That's the true pedigree. We
must have Him or we don't have the truth. all after their families
by the house of their fathers according to the number of the
names from 20 years old and upward by their poles. Now why didn't
God say 19 years older? He's God. Why didn't He say 21
years older? Because He's God. He can make
the exact determination of all His purpose and He has done that
from eternity. In old eternity, He made a purpose
And that purpose is being carried out today. And it will be carried
out tomorrow. And his purpose has never failed. Then, verse 19, as the Lord commanded
Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. And
the children of Reuben, Israel's eldest son, by their generations,
after their families, by the house of their fathers, according
to the number of the names, by their poles, every male from
20 years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to
war, those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of
Reuben, were 46,500. Now if we go through every couplet,
the two verses, every couplet, except for the tribe of Joseph,
which was Manasseh and Ephraim, we'll find out that he brings
up their name, repeats exactly the same words, and then shares
The difference is their name and the difference is the number
of people that were chosen out of those tribes. For the next
46 verses. The repetition of God. He is with us as he saw in the
previous books of the Old Testament and from this point onward throughout
the entire Bible. He is going to share with us
that he is a God of repetition knowing that we will soon forget
if it is not brought up again. We need this repetition. of the
tribe of Reuben, which the next one is 46,500. Simeon, 59,300.
Gad, 45,650. Judah, 74,600. And every time I read the numbers in here, there's an exact
number that God had numbered out of all of that tribe that
met these specifications that he had already predetermined. Issachar 54,400, Zebulon 57,400,
Joseph out of Ephraim was 40,500, and Manasseh 32,200, Benjamin 35,400,
Dan 62,700, Asher 41,500, Naphtali 53,400, and the total in verses 45 and 46 was 603,550.
Now I've already Answered some of the question
that I was going to ask at this point is why we may ask why the
repetition? Every two verses repeat almost
identical except for the name and the number of people that
God chose out of those tribes Now what we have to say to bales
Compared to what God has to say to us Turn with me if you would
to the Sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 6 Matthew chapter 6 we
read here in verse 7 the Lord Jesus is preaching a message
of grace He's preaching a message of himself you know he's the
only preacher that ever came to this earth that had the privilege
right and honor of preaching himself to the help people now
we preach him and him crucified, but he preached himself and and
himself crucified. He was a preacher of righteousness
and he preached righteousness and his name is righteousness.
Here in the book of Matthew chapter 6 and verse 7 we read these words
and it's the only time I could find the word repetition or repetitions
used in the scripture and it is brought up in a negative sense
when we are talking to God. In fact it says here when you
pray, verse 7, but when you pray use not vain repetitions. What we have to say to God just
pales compared to what he needs to say to us. What we have to
say to God, he says, as the heathen do, for they think they shall
be heard for their much speaking. And that word repetition is to
repeat the same thing over and over to use idle words or meaningless
words. Don't do vain repetition. Now
one reason for that is found in the very next verse. Be not
ye therefore like unto them, for your father knoweth what
things ye have need of before ye ask him. Now the people that
go through vain repetitions don't understand the fact that God
already knows what we have need of before we ask. What we have
to say to God is just so slight. The only thing that we can truly
honor God with is repeating what God had to say about God. Holy
God, righteous God, great God, sovereign God, king of kings,
lord of lords, all of these ways that the Lord shares about himself,
he is really pleased when we return to him what he has shared
about himself. But when we start talking in
vain repetitions, we're not making any ground whatsoever. Now it
doesn't mean that we're to stop praying about a person or an
item or a subject. It just means that not sit down
and just use idle words over and over and over as the heathen
do. God's people don't need to do
that. God's people know that he has
knowledge of what we have need of before we even ask. He's already
taken care of the issue. The battle is not ours. It belongs
to the Lord. A large portion of the scriptures
No, there's chapters repeated, verse after verse repeated in
the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, and it's
not done by accident, and we don't come about because God's
lazy. God wasn't lazy when he gave us the scripture and just
gave it for repetition purposes only. There is significance. Now, In the Old Testament, particularly
when we run into Genesis, begat and begat and begat. You know,
if we took the time to look up the definition of those people's
names, we'd find out that there's some serious business that God
was sharing with us in those verses of scripture. As well
as the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, we'd find that there's
great significance there. So he's not lazy or that he wanted
the text any longer. You know, this is just as exactly.
And my Bibles are getting thicker. You know why? Because I need
larger print. I need larger print. So they're
getting thicker, but they're not getting bigger in the sense
of more words are there. The Bible contains repeated text,
repeated accounts, repeated themes, and repeated messages for the
reader. Repetition in the Bible emphasizes
the importance of the message God has for us. The repetition of passages about
God's grace to us is necessary to be repeated over and over
and over and over. Not just for us, but for the
next generation that comes along. The same message must be preached
to them. In Isaiah chapter 28, would you
turn there to Isaiah chapter 28? In Isaiah chapter 28, as
we think about this repetition, we find that God does this on
purpose, that he has repeated the scriptures time and time
again, that we have the same message in the Old Testament
as well as the New Testament. In fact, as we've heard a number
of times in the study of the book of Luke, if you find something
in the New Testament, most of the time you're going to find
that in the Old Testament. This is just the way God has
written the scriptures, and it's interesting There is such repetition
between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There is such repetition
in the writings of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter, repeating
subjects over and over and over. And that is for our benefit.
And it is to remind us that God truly is interested in the welfare
of the church. He cares about the church to
the bone. and he wants the church, he has
the church in such a blessing place. I will repeat this over
and over and over. We'll never get it absolutely
correct in this life, but it's preparing us for the life to
come when it will be absolutely correct. We have this flesh that
we carry around with us and it makes it hard and difficult for
us to comprehend all the things that God has to say to us in
the scriptures. But He reveals His Son to us.
He reveals the glory of God to us in salvation. And from that
point on, we anticipate the time when everything will be understood. Right now, please repeat it to
me one more time. Tell me the old, old story one
more time. Isaiah chapter 28 and verse 10,
we find that this is the way that God teaches to us. He's the great teacher. He's
the instructor. He's the one that knows the end
from the beginning. He knows all of the facts. He
knows all of the premises. He knows all the truth. He knows
it all, and he's going to share it with us over time, revealing
Christ and growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, on a continuous basis. Isaiah chapter 28 verse
10 the scripture shares this for precept must be upon precept
precept upon precept He's going to repeat it and repeat it again
He's going to tell us of his son, the Lord Jesus, and repeat
it again. He's going to tell us about Christ,
and again, ministry of Christ, and repeat it again. He's going
to tell us of the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ, and repeat it again. And he's going to share with
us time and time and time again who this was all for, over and
over and over, in every generation, and to us a hundred times, a
thousand times, in our generation. Line upon line, line upon line,
here a little and there a little, as the Lord puts it together
for us. As we read the scriptures and
he puts the truth of the gospel together for us from the book
of Genesis to the book of Revelation. To be able to see Christ as he
is presented in all the books of the Bible. As Moses wrote
of him, Jesus said, if you had believed Moses, you'd believe
me, because Moses wrote of me. Precept upon precept he tells
us everything over and over one line at a time And the spirit has purposed to
reveal the truth to the church It's by revelation We don't come
to this conclusion on our own it comes by revelation of Jesus
Christ God is a God of repetition. In
fact, His name, let's forget, so often repeated in the scriptures. I was amazed to find that the
word Jehovah, now it's not translated Jehovah in every place, it's
translated capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Five places it's translated Jehovah,
same word. But this name is repeated 7,888
times in the Old Testament. The word Jehovah, what does that
mean? It's an important name. It's an important person. It
declares an important theme. that Jehovah, the self-existing
One, the One that has all salvation contained in Himself, the One
that Moses met at the burning bush, the One that Joshua met
just outside of the city walls there at Jericho, the One that
appeared to Abraham, the One that appeared to David, the One
that appeared throughout the Old Testament, this Jehovah,
the Savior of His people, The name Lord of hosts has been a
real blessing to me recently to look that up and find out
235 times the Lord of hosts or the Lord of the armies of heaven
is Mentioned in the scripture now turn with me if you would
to the book of Isaiah chapter 26 Isaiah chapter 26 and there
in verse 4 Isaiah chapter 26 in verse 4 In that verse of scripture,
the word L, capital L, O-R-D, is used, and the word Jehovah.
Three times in one verse of scripture, the name Jehovah is used. What
is he emphasizing? Trust ye in Jehovah forever,
for the Jehovah Jehovah is everlasting strength. What is he telling
us? There's only hope in one, and
his name is Jehovah. The repetition that God gives
us in the scripture is very valuable to us. We always can go to the
scripture and get the same message because it's repeated time and
time again. And then if you turn with me
over to the book of Zechariah, we've been looking at the book
of Zechariah on Wednesday night, but here in chapter one and verse
three, chapter one and verse three, three times in one verse
of scripture, the name Lord of hosts is used. Zechariah chapter
1 verse 3 therefore say thou unto them thus saith the Lord
of hosts Turn you unto me saith the Lord of hosts, and I will
turn unto you saith the Lord of hosts Repetition, over and
over again, the Lord shares with us that he is the sovereign Lord
of all, the Lord of the armies of heaven and the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, what doest thou?
The repetition of God's names over and over remind Jehovah
that he is the King of kings, reminding us that he is the Savior,
reminding us that he is the Lord of all things. And then in the
book of Revelation, It's amazing to me, you find five verses that
use the word Lord, God, Almighty. Now, Lord would be enough. God
would be enough. Almighty would be enough. But
the Lord in repeating himself say, I am the Lord God Almighty. The Lord God Almighty reigneth. The Lord God Almighty. What a
blessing it is to find the scriptures that share with us that repetition
from God's standpoint is good. Repetition from our standpoint,
not so valuable. Be not as the heathen with your
prayer of vain repetitions. But God on the converse says,
I will repeat myself from the very beginning to the very end. I will continue to bring to you
the very same message. It will not change, for I changeth
not. In the book of Philippians, would
you turn over there with me? The book of Philippians chapter
3. In the book of Philippians chapter 3, we read these words
about repetition. Philippians chapter 3, the Apostle
Paul wrote a number, or he was used as the secretary to write
a number of books for the New Testament. And many have the
same theme. Jesus Christ is Savior. And beware
of those who bring any other message. Remember Jesus Christ
is Savior beware of any other message because that's not the
gospel He brings that out in Ephesians Philippians Colossians
He brings that out in Galatians. He brings it out in Hebrews He
brings it continuously out because God the God of repetition is
going to repeat the message whoever he uses as a secretary In the
Old Testament, I am God and beside me there is none else. In the
New Testament, it says, I am God. Don't worship anything else.
Here in the book of Philippians chapter 3 and verse 1, the apostle
Paul as a secretary is delivering the message. Now this last weekend,
just like here, I have the privilege of being a herald. That's all
we can be. Here's what it says. I don't
have to defend anything. I don't have to defend God. When
I read in the book of Genesis, in the beginning God, you know
in my religion, I kept going, is there really one of those?
And in Revelation, when Christ revealed himself to me, he convinces
you beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is God and that he doesn't
have to prove himself. Let's declare him. Well, Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 1, the apostle Paul says, finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. Repetition. He brought that message
wherever he went. He preached Christ in him crucified
wherever he went. Rejoice in the Lord. Is that
where your rejoicing is? Is that the pedigree that you
have? Is that where you go to when things get tough? Do you
rejoice in the Lord? To write the same thing to you,
to me, indeed is not grievous. It's not a hard thing for me
to repeat myself because I'm just repeating what God gave
me. I'm just a herald. But for you, it is safe. Just let me repeat myself over
and over and over. Let us never leave an assembly
without knowing that Christ is the only hope for salvation.
Rejoice in the Lord. And then he goes on, as he does
so often in scriptures, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,
beware of the concision or mutilators, mutilators of the gospel. Oh
yes, God said he's the savior, but he needs your help. Tell
that to Adam when he's laying there as a piece of clay put
together. Tell that as Paul brought out
to the Ephesians, you hath he quickened. who were dead in trespass. In fact, we're going against
him. We're enmity against him. So all the power that was exhibited
in raising Jesus Christ from the dead is exhibited every time
he raises someone from the spiritual dead and breathes into them the
breath of life, and they become a real living soul. What repetition. Turn with me to 2 Peter, if you
would. 2 Peter there, chapter 1. 2nd Peter chapter 1. The Apostle Peter was given the
same message. I don't have to go home and come
up with something new. I don't have to study something
new. I've got it all. Sometimes I wonder where we're
going to be, what repetition we're going to have today. Well
here, the Apostle Peter in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 12 said,
Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though you know them and be established in the
present truth. I know you believe this, and
I know you know this, and you've heard it before, but please,
let's just go over it again. Let's go over the same ground
again. Let's go over the same planting
again. Yea, I think it meet, as long
as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance. Knowingly I must put off this
tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. Moreover,
I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decease, to have
these things always in remembrance. The things of Christ, the glory
of Christ, the salvation of Christ, the hope of Christ, all those
things. May I put you in remembrance. They take away our Bibles. May
you have repetition in your mind. And Brother Craig read there
in 2 Peter chapter 3. I just want to read verse 1 again.
2 Peter chapter 3. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you. Both which I stir up your pure
minds to put way by way of remembrance the Apostle Peter the Apostle
Paul James John Matthew, Mark, Luke, all of these writers of
the New Testament, all the writers of the Old Testament, as they
were used as secretaries of the Holy Spirit, were given one message
by the Lord. They did not have the opportunity
given to them by God, as some people would say, that they got
to write about anything they wanted to. God restrained them. God held them in check. They
did not write their own words in the original. They were given
those and they were repetitious words. It is plain that it is
of the highest importance in the divine plan to have this
repetition. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit would
not have done it. It's important. Christ is the only Savior. We discovered that the scriptures
are very plain and repetitious on three important truths. God does not change. He's not changeable. He repents
not. He doesn't make mistakes. When
he purposed to do as he has done in the council halls of eternity,
he has carried it out. And he has shared with us in
many ways, I change not. I don't change the message. I
don't change my purpose. I don't change what I'm doing.
I'm always doing what I have purpose to do before the foundation
of the world I purposed it. And I'm the only one that knows
the end from the beginning. I know what has happened in the
past because I purposed it in the past. So we don't have that
ability, but God does. And he repeats this constantly
time and time again. Second thing that is most important,
that is repayment time again. The gospel does not change. I
remember going to a Sunday school class when I was in college down
in Klamath Falls. A friend invited me to go to
church with him. Well, I'd been used to going to church, so I
went with him. We got back, it was a bigger class than when
I was at home. And they actually had a college class. And this
teacher got up and read something out of the Old Testament and
said, in the Old Testament, people were saved differently than they
were in the New Testament. Now, I didn't know anything,
but I knew that wasn't right. God never has changed his purpose
of salvation. He did not save generations in
the Old Testament by sacrificial lambs. The blood of bulls and
goats cannot take away sin. It's the blood of Christ. So
those people in the Old Testament are saved just like people in
the New Testament are saved. Those were types, shadows, and
pictures no more than baptism or the Lord's Supper is to us
today. But salvation has always been the same, and Jonas summed
it up. Salvation is of the Lord. All
of it, every bit of it. Not any of it's left undone.
And you know what, the third thing that we find so clearly
repeated over and over and over. If you read the second, third
chapters of the book of Romans, which quotes many of the Psalms,
that man has not. We're still sinners, born sinners
at enmity with God, sinners without help and without hope and without
God in this world. After he saves us, we're saved
sinners. The flesh still is a burden. And we don't make any progress
with it. I'm thankful. I was speaking
this morning to one of the brothers. I'm thankful for his restraining
hand. But he saved us for eternity. And he promised us a new body.
And that's what he's going to give to us, not cleaning up this
old one. So we have God has not changed. And the gospel has not changed.
And man has not changed, and it's repeated 10,000 times in
the scriptures. I am God, I change not. Therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Salvation is of the Lord, and
God saves sinners. That's what we find the Bible
has repeated time and time again. And there in the book of Numbers
chapter 1, when he chose those few out of all those tribes to
be what he intended for them to be. is a picture, and a type,
and a shadow, that of all the hosts of the world. He intended
to choose, and he does choose, and saves a people out of every
kindred, nation, people, and tongue, and he repeats that over
and over again. That it's not His work in us.
Christ is the only Savior in Adam's day, and Christ is the
only Savior in our day, and Christ is the only Savior in all eternity. That's the repetition of the
scriptures. The book of Acts, would you turn
there to chapter four? Acts chapter four. As God gave those number of verses,
repeating words over and over and over, changing only the names
of the tribe and the number of people numbered in the tribe,
He is sharing with us a valuable part of God's work with humanity. It is a work of repetition. I know for a fact that the missionary
down there in New Guinea, his work is a work of repetition.
We're repeating ourselves. He's repeating it there, we're
repeating it here. Wherever the gospel is being
preached, there is repetition of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here in the book of Acts chapter
4, the Apostle Peter brings up the subject that this is so valuable. In fact, Acts chapter 4 and verse
10, it says, be it known unto you all, all the people. Now there's been a man healed,
and they just can't figure out how this man was healed. Be it known to all. all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
ye crucified." Now he's not making any points, but he's repeating
the account. He's repeating what he's repeated,
and he will repeat that. This is Peter. He will repeat
that in the two books of 1st and 2nd Peter. He's repeating
the gospel. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead. And that's repeated over and
over and over. Even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was at
naught of you builders. Repeating an Old Testament passage
of scripture and Christ brought that same passage of scripture
up about a stone that was Builders didn't want any use of it, but
it's the head of the corner It's become the head of the corner
now notice verse 12 Neither is there salvation in any other? There is none other name under
heaven the last one saved. There's no other name under heaven
Whereby we must be saved, but this name Now why? Jesus repeated
it time and time again. The apostles repeated it time
and time again. And the Old Testament prophets
repeated it. Because you know what? They preached the gospel
in the Old Testament. That's what it tells us about
Abraham. Gospel was preached unto them. Gospel was preached
to those Jews that we're reading about in Numbers chapter 1 and
through the book of Numbers. The book of Hebrews says, it
did not avail them anything because it was not mixed with faith.
Now we say, well, why didn't they have faith? God did not
supply it. He did not give them a heart
to believe. Who believed? Those that he gave
them the heart to believe. This salvation has been preached
to every generation from Adam to this day, somewhere in the
world. You know what? In 1986, January
of 86, I heard the gospel for the first
time and it made me so angry. You know why? Because it told
me my religion was not right. And guess what? It wasn't. It
didn't save no one. Christ is the only Savior. That message has been repeated
and repeated and repeated. The man who brought me the gospel,
repeated that message for 50 years, then the Lord called him
home. That message will continue on. Christ and him crucified. There's none other name, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Oh God, grant
us the grace to repeat the message. May we be repetitious. Not on
our words to God, but God's words to men.