Turn if you will to Genesis chapter
five. This is not our text, but we're
gonna spend some time here in the beginning of the message
in the book of Genesis. Every word in the Bible is important. Each one is a guidepost to the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you get out here and you're
coming north on Interstate 81 from Knoxville, you'll see a
sign that says Kingsport, that way. That's a guidepost. If you keep going north, there's
a sign at Interstate 581 that says Roanoke, that way. It's a guidepost. And you go
on that a while and you get to highway 220 and you'll come to
a sign that says Rocky Mount, Virginia. That's a signpost. And in order to find the way
in which we ought to go, follow the guideposts. In order to find
Christ, look to the word of God. It's full of signposts. Every
word is one if we could just see it and read it Now, not all
guideposts are as obvious as others. You ever been driving
along and all of a sudden you look up and you go, uh-oh, I
missed it. I missed my exit. I missed the
guidepost. And you just blow right on by
it. Sometimes not even realizing
we missed it. That's okay. That's why God gives
faithful pastors teachers and preachers to help his people
find Christ in the Word, to see Christ in the Word, Christ who
is the way. How often has our pastor taken
a passage or a verse or even just one word and through study
and prayer been enabled to point us, God's people, to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Our Lord is really in every book
of this Bible, every chapter, every verse, and every single
word. One day we'll see it. Now, there's a lot of words in
this book in there, a lot of them. I noticed recently that
there's also in God's word a lot of numbers. A lot of numbers. And I'm not talking about the,
uh, the, uh, chapter heads and the verse numbers that men added. I'm talking about as the scriptures
were written, according to the command and direction of our
Lord. Since there's so many numbers,
they must therefore be important. They too must point us to Christ.
We usually think of numbers and words as two different things.
but they're not in God's word. In the scriptures, the word 12
is not written like the Romans used to write it, X-I-I. It's
not written like that. It's not even written the way
the Arabic writers put one, two for 12. That's not how it's written.
You can go through here, and the only way that number of apostles
is written is 12, T-W-E-L-V-E, a word. You know, with regard to the
person who lived longer than anybody who ever lived, there's
a man named Methuselah. We've heard of him. Even people
with no interest in the Bible, they've heard of Methuselah.
He lived a lot of years. But do you know how God instructed
Moses who wrote the book of Genesis? to write down the number of years
he lived? Tell you what he didn't tell
him to write down, CMXCVI. That's a Roman numeral for all
the years he lived. He also didn't instruct Moses
to write the Arabic number 969. He didn't do that. You know what
he told him? Let me show you what he told
him to write. In Genesis 5 verse 27, have you got it? And all the days of Methuselah
were 969. Do you see how each one of those
is written out? There's no numbers in the sense
we think of numbers. There's words here that happen
to be numbers. He lived 969 years. That's a long time, isn't it?
That's a really long time. And if you hold your place here,
and turn over to Job chapter 14. Hold that place, because
we're coming right back there, but turn to Job chapter 14. Folks said a lot of importance
with regard to how long we've been alive. I dare say, ask anybody
in here how old they are, they can tell you. They can give you
the number right on the money. How many years? And I don't know
if Methuselah was counting. That'd be a lot of years to count,
wouldn't it? 900 and something, how would you not lose track? You know what God does? He's
keeping track of every year that you and you and you and I are
on this earth. He numbered them before we were
born. You know, Rebecca has this watch
thingy that she puts on her wrist when she goes for a walk, and
one day recently she told me, she said, you know, today, including
my walk, I went over 8,500 steps. And I think it was yesterday
she said she did over 10,000. And I thought, I mean, I was
impressed that she walked that much, but I thought, how'd that
thing do that? How does that do that? Well,
I'll tell you what, if man can come up with some rinky-dink
thing like that to keep track of the steps, you know what's
no problem for him? Nothing at all, look at Job 14,
16. For now thou numberest my steps.
Do we realize that God's not only keeping track of how many
years we've each been alive, he's keeping a record of how
many steps we took. And not just you and you and
you, everybody who's ever lived, he knows exactly how many steps
they took. That truth being established
by the numbers in God's word, look at what it says next in
Job 14. For now thou numbers my steps,
dost thou not watch over my sin? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. God's keeping track of everything. Do you know there's a book in
heaven where are written down every single sin everybody who
ever lived committed? Uh-oh, uh-oh, why would God keep
track of our transgressions and our sins? It's a simple answer
to this. Every one of them, they all have
to be paid for. Y'all think if you ever go to
the bank and ask to borrow something, ask to get something, they don't
write down what they're giving you? I tell you, we have a debt
with a holy God, and it's all our sin. I'll go back to Genesis
5, where we read that all the days in verse 27, all the days
of Methuselah were 960 and nine years, and uh-oh, and he died. Why did he die? Because the price
of all that sin is death. Just one sin would be enough.
How many have we piled up? Look down a few, couple of verses
of verse 31. You know, was Methuselah unique? No, in verse 31 it says, in all
the days of Lamech, were 777 years and he died too. And that's where we're all headed.
That's our problem. Now turn back to Genesis 1 and
let me give you some good news. This is good news of the gospel
by the numbers. And the first number we want
to look at is not the letter I as the Romans wrote it, or
the number one as the Arabics wrote it, it's the word one,
O-N-E. The word of God clearly teaches
that there is one, O-N-E, one God. Look in Genesis 1.1, in
the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In the
beginning, God. It does not say there, in the
beginning, the gods. It doesn't say that, does it?
That's because there's only one God, one. Turn to James chapter
two. The book of James. I would entreat,
I would ask, I would beg everyone who hears this to not reject
this simple truth that there is one God, we realize there are many angels
in glory. Do we know that? There's a lot
of them up there. The apostle Paul went up there. He got a
visit to go up there. And amongst the things he recorded,
which we read in the revelation, you know what one of them is?
He got up there and thought, wow, there's a lot of angels
up here. He started going, at some point
he must've done, let's see, there's one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. There's
a legion of them over there, that's 3,000. And he said, and
behind them, there's another legion. And there's another legion
behind them, and another, and look over here, there's a legion,
and a legion, and a legion, and a legion, and a legion. He said,
there's so many, I can't number them. And look what he wrote in James.
Well, first, let me say this. In Hebrews 11, it says, there
was an innumerable company of angels. There's so many that
no man could count them. There's a lot of them. But do
we also realize that there were some angels who fell. That's
what devils are, they're fallen angels. And there was a lot of
them. What do they all have in common? Whether they're the fallen
angels or the angels still in glory, you know what they all
have in common? They have seen the one God. They have seen him. They all know the truth of who
he is. They know he's the one God. They know that they've all seen
him. And look in James two, verse
19, it's written here. Thou believest
that there is one God. I hope everybody in here believes
there's one God. I hope we believe that because
it says you're doing well. Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and they tremble. What that's saying is that they're
not like the angels in glory who praise his name and bow in
his presence and worship him and desire only to glorify him,
the fallen angels, they know there's one God and they shake
with fear and terror at when he's coming back. We do well
to believe that there is one God. We would be wise to believe and
fall down and worship at his feet. Now there's other scriptures
that say this same thing. In first Corinthians eight, there's
none other God, but one, O-N-E. First Timothy says, for there
is one God. Deuteronomy six says, the Lord,
our God is one Lord. Turn to Ephesians four, a few
pages back. And this one God, is almighty,
he's all-knowing, he's holy, he's righteous, he is wisdom,
he's sovereign, he's unchanging, he's gracious and merciful and
just, and we can find all the attributes of God in this book. He is all of that and yet he
is one God. He is one God. But listen to
this next couple of verses real carefully. Mark 12 says, the
Lord our God is one Lord. And John 10 says, I and my father
are one. Oh now wait a minute, that sounds
more like two people. Doesn't it? I and my father,
doesn't that sound like two? And he says, we're one, we're
one. Does that sound like more than
one person? Look at Ephesians four, verse four. There is one body and one spirit,
even as you're called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above
all and through all and in you all. That's mysterious. Turn to Matthew
28. I hope no one's getting confused,
but I would understand if we were. Matthew 28, this sounds
like a mystery. And it is a very great mystery
unless God shows us his way. The first indication in the scriptures
that God is one will lead us to understand that God is three
in one. That's our next number, one and
now three, three in one. And there's an indication, I
didn't read it in Genesis, immediately God indicates to us in Genesis
1, 2, when he said, let us make man. He didn't say, let me make
man, let I make man, He said, let us, who was he talking to?
He was talking to the three in one. There's God, the Father,
God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit. Us is apparently one,
but more than one. Many verses clarify and confirm
this, but none more clearly than Matthew 28. And look at verse
18. And Jesus, this is God who came
down in human flesh. This is God the Son. And Jesus
came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of what? The Father and
the Son and the Holy Ghost. They're all God. And yet they're
three in one. teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." Does it say to make it clear
to them or to make sure they understand? We would if we could,
wouldn't we? But it's a mystery that God has
to reveal to his people. And listen, don't ever underestimate
the power of just one word. Let me show you, did you see
this word in verse 20, always? I've heard that read many times,
and there's nothing wrong with this, it's just, it's natural
for us to read it this way. And lo, I am with you always. I can understand that, can't
you? Because that's true. Doesn't matter whether it's morning,
afternoon, evening, or nighttime, you children don't have to be
afraid to go to bed at night. You know who's with you? God
is with you. The three-in-one God is with
you. Always with us. Infants, whether we're infants,
children, young people, mature or old, God is always with his
people. That's okay. But that's not what
this is saying. What this is saying is that in
the good time, in the happy time, in the sad time, In the heartbreaking
time, in the safe time, in the danger time, I'm all way, all
way, no matter what your way is, whether you're sad or happy
or going through a trial or rejoicing over a new child or whatever
it is, enjoy or peace or trial, torment, rich, poor, no matter,
in all time, all way, in the beginning of the year, in the
end of the year, in the end of years, in healthy times, in sick
times, in dying times. All the way, I'm with you. All
the way, you say, I don't understand that. Me neither, but it says
it, and it's true. Turn to Isaiah 48. There's so many illustrations
about What this three-in-one means,
how to understand it, how to teach it. Probably the best that
I could find was scientists write this substance called water H2O. That's the scientific numbers
and name for it. It exists as a liquid. It exists
as a solid ice, and it exists as a vapor steam, right? That's
three different States. And yet it's all still water.
Isn't it? Each can accomplish different things. Uh, the liquid
water can quench your thirst. The frozen water ice can cool
you down and even heal and the vapor water can cleanse. But you know, there's no real
explanation for the three in one. It can't be explained. It cannot really even be taught,
but it must be proclaimed and believed by God's people because
that's what he says here in the word. So what is the reveal purpose
of the three in one God? Men are born and we live a number
of days. They're numbered. And then they
die because of sin. They die physically and then
await eternal death. But God, the one God determined
to save or redeem a people from their sin. He determined to pay
the price for all those sins that are in the book written
down. He determined to pay for them. And God, the father chose
those people. God, the son redeemed them. He
lived a perfect life for them and gave it to them and died
the death they deserve at Calvary. That's what was happening there.
He was paying for somebody's sin. And God, the spirit comes to
reveal to those who the father chose. And he fetches them, he
fetches them. All three have the identical
purpose to save God's people and they never fail. They can't,
they're God, they're God. The one God, the three in one
God. No one by nature can comprehend. I can't explain this to you.
I can only proclaim it. It can however be believed. We
can see it with our eyes. We can hear it with our ears.
We can see the words with our eyes. We can hear it preached
with our ears. We can understand some of it
in our minds, but in order to believe with the heart, God the
Spirit must come to reveal it to us. It's what it says in Isaiah
48. Have you got verse 16? Isaiah said, come ye near unto
me. And hear this, hear this. I've not spoken in secret from
the beginning. No one's gonna stand before God
one day being demanded the price of their sin and go, well, I
never heard of that. No, it won't work. He says, I've not spoken in secret
from the beginning of time that it was, there am I, and now the
Lord God and His Spirit has sent me. There's the three, all three
mentioned right there. He's saying the Spirit sent me,
the Father chose me, and the Son did what was required. Thus
saith the Lord, verse 17, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which
leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. You wanna
know where to go, what to do? Come hear the gospel. That's
what our pastor is telling us every time we meet. Now I've
got one more number. It won't take but a minute to
talk about. It's the number two, DWO. We've had one, three, and now
two. Those are not hard numbers. Turn
back to Genesis two. And here's the first time this
is mentioned in the scriptures in Genesis two. Early on. There is a principle and a purpose
established. It's called marriage. It's a
union of two people becoming one. Genesis two, verse 22. And Adam said, this is now bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She should be called woman because
she was taken out of man. You see in verse 22 and the rib,
which the Lord God had taken from man, made he woman and brought
her unto the man. Now look at verse 24. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave
unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. Two there are becoming
one. And what this is saying is we've
got to leave this world. We've got to leave our sin behind
and marry the Lord Jesus Christ. You know who we marry? Somebody
we really love. We need to fall in love with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the Spirit of
God can do for us. If God chose us and Christ died
for it, the Spirit will come and say, the Lord Jesus Christ
loves you. He loves you. And it's not this
ooey gooey thing they're preaching in all these places. No, this
is a love that does not wait for response. It puts the response
in his people. It gives them a heart to love
and a mind to understand. How can we, how can we understand
three that are one? Much less one that become two.
I know we marry, we marry, don't we? We have a little understanding,
but the Lord Jesus Christ, he married us. He married us. He became one with us. Turn to
Ephesians 5. Ephesians chapter 5. In Matthew 19, again this principle
is taught. Our Lord himself said for this
cause shall a man leave father and mother and show cleave to
his wife. And they twain. That means that's
another word for two kids. T W O twain. They too, they twain
shall be one flesh. Why do you think marriage hasn't
gone away since back then? It's still around, isn't it?
Yeah, still aren't folks don't take it as serious as they once
did or that we should, but it's still around. And that's because
God ordained it as a picture of Christ and his church. The two became one, but to understand
much less believe that God's people in Christ have a spiritual
union is a mystery that only God's Holy spirit can reveal
to us. Look here in Ephesians five, verse 30. For we are members of His body,
of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." This is a great mystery, it says.
but I speak the whole reason with marriage, the whole purpose,
the whole picture is right here. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the church. If we're
His, we're married to Him. We're married to Him. The Lord
Jesus Christ, He has a bride. He's already married her. The
two are already one. He's already removed all her
blemishes. He died for them at Calvary.
He's already made her perfect. He lived for 32 years perfectly. Do you know in that book, God
didn't write a thing. There's no debt due. There's
nothing to be paid. Because there was no sin. You
know what Christ did with that perfect right? He gave it to
his bride. You ladies probably got some,
who are married, probably got something on your wedding day
as a gift. The Lord Jesus Christ gave his bride perfect righteousness. He loves her perfectly. He's
given her all. And he's coming for her soon.
Why? So the two can be one eternally
forever. You say that sounds like a fairy
tale. Oh, it's way better than that. Way better than that. They will live happily ever after. Anybody who's married to the
Lord Jesus Christ, it just can't get any better than that. It's
just, he's married the perfect husband. Who could possibly believe
that? Is it really as simple as 1,
3, 2? Everyone that the Father chose,
that's who will believe it. Everyone that the Son reveals
it to, they'll believe it. Everyone that the Spirit comes
to, will believe it. That's the gospel by the numbers,
the best I know to say it. I was, maybe this is common to
other fellows who preach, but sometimes right before we come
in here, I get terrified. I go, what am I doing? This is handling the word of
God, the dynamite of God. And then Brother Stan read a
portion of scriptures in the study from the book of Numbers. And I thought, well, maybe it's
gonna be okay. Maybe gospel by the numbers is
okay. All three of the Godhead, the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God. And they proclaim
that two have already been made one. God's people, we can't fully
understand that, but we can believe the truth when we hear it. By His grace, we believe what
this book says, every single word of it. Well, our pastor
will be back soon, we'll be glad. All right, come and Eddie read
us in closing now.