Good morning. It's a delight to see old friends
and new ones. Rebecca and I are delighted to
be here, and I bring you greetings from the Brethren and Kings Board.
We appreciate you all so much. to the book of Genesis chapter
5. Genesis chapter 5. And let's bow together before
we begin our lesson. Our Heavenly Father, we come
before you this morning seeking to worship thee. We are so very
grateful for every opportunity to gather at thy feet. We pray
that you will meet with us and that you will teach us. Lord,
give us a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for Paul
Mendy as our way, and bless Paul as he preaches. And Lord, bless
those who need thee especially that are ill and grieving. Lord,
You know our problems before we speak them. We depend upon
Thee for peace and rest and comfort in all things. Now meet with
us again, we pray, in Christ's name. Forgive us of our sins.
Amen. Every word in this book, in the
Bible, is important. Each and every word. It's a guide,
what you call a guidepost to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
come up Interstate 81 from Knoxville, you'll come to this big old sign
and it says Kingsport that-a-way. That's a guidepost. If you keep
on coming, you'll get to Interstate 581 and there'll be a big old
sign that says Roanoke. That's a guidepost. And you go
a little ways and you're on 220 and you're coming down the road
and all of a sudden last night we saw a rocky mountain. That's
a guidepost. If you want to get where you're
going, follow the guideposts. And in order to find the way,
in order to follow the Word to the Lord Jesus Christ, look in
the Word. Not all the guideposts are as
obvious as others. You ever been going down a road
and just talking and going, all of a sudden you look up and you
just blew right by your exit? Some are not as obvious as others. And that's why God gives pastors,
preachers, and teachers who are faithful to help His people find
Christ in the Word. To help His people find Christ
who is the way. How often has your pastor taken
a passage or a verse or even just one word, and through study
and prayer, he's been enabled to point God's people to Christ.
Now, Lord, he really is on every page of this book. He's in every
verse. He's in every word. The reason
it's called the Holy Bible is because every single word is
holy. I noticed recently that there's
not only just a lot of words in the Bible, you know, there's
a lot of numbers in the Bible. And these numbers have got to
be important, too, or they wouldn't be in there. We usually think of numbers and
words as two different things, but they're not in God's Word. You know, with regard to a man
named Methuselah, now he's supposed to have lived longer than anybody
who ever lived. And if you look here in Genesis
5, verse 27, it tells us something about Methuselah. A number. It says, all the days of Methuselah
were 960 and 9 years. Now, hold that place. And don't
turn away from it yet. But most folks, we set a lot
of importance in regard to how long we've lived, how long we've
been alive. And for the life of me, I don't
understand how Methuselah kept track of all those years. And
I'm not sure he did. I'm not sure when the time came
he knew how old he was. And I know somebody who did. Do we realize that our God is
keeping track, not just of Methuselah's years, but everybody else's as
well? And He still is. Now hold this
Genesis 5 and turn over to Job 14, to the book of Job, chapter 14. Rebecca's got this newfangled
thing that she puts on her wrist. And she goes walking. And one
day recently, she came in and told me, she said, you know,
I walked over 8,500 steps. And a few days later, she said
it was over 10,000 today. And I thought, wow, that's not
only a lot of steps. I don't know how that thing works.
I don't know how it counts them all. More amazing still is that
our God is keeping track of every step that every one of his children
takes. He knows how many we've taken,
and he knows how many we will take. He's not keeping track
just of our years, but all our steps. Look what Job said in
Job 14.16. Thou number'st my steps." Now
there it is. Isn't it plainly stated there?
God's counting the steps of his people. But that's not all he's
counting. Look at the rest of that verse.
For now thou number'st my steps, dost thou not watch over my sin? Now that's a pretty sobering
statement right there. God's not only got our year's
number, our day's number, our step's number, He's got a book
in which is written every sin every one of us has ever committed. Why does He do that? Because they've
got to be paid for. That's the only reason to keep
that number in a book. is they've got to be paid for. What's the penalty for that?
There's only one. Death. Death. Turn back to Genesis
5 again. Methuselah lived 969 years. What's it say next? And he died. Why? He was a sinner. And it doesn't matter who you
look up. If you go down a few verses to verse 31, it says,
All the days of a man named Lamech were 770 and 7 years. That's
a lot of years too, but what happened? And he died. Why? He's just like us. God knows
all the days and years we've lived and He knows every sin
we've ever committed. Turn back a little bit to Genesis
1. That's the problem that the numbers
show, is that we've sinned, we must pay for them, and the penalty
is death. But now the cure is also in the numbers. Let me give
you some good news of the gospel by the numbers. And the first
number I want us to look at is 1. 1. The Word of God clearly teaches
that there is one God. Just one. If you look at Genesis 1.1, it
says, In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. In the beginning, God. It's important
to notice what it does not say. There's no S on God. It's not
in the beginning, the gods. The Romans and the Greeks and
all the rest of them got it all wrong, folks. In the beginning,
God. There is one God. Now turn over to James chapter
2. I would entreat everyone who
hears this to not reject this simple principle. There is one
God. We realize from the Scriptures
as well that there's many heavenly beings. There's many angels. The Apostle Paul went to heaven. He got a pre-incarnate visit
to heaven, and when he got up there, what I can only imagine
what he saw. I mean, he saw God on the throne,
but then he couldn't help but notice other things. And he saw
all these heavenly beings, these angels, and apparently he decided
he'd try to count them. And he looks over here and he
goes, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. He said, that looks like a whole
legion. The Romans had legions, and it
was 3,000 or more in each legion. He said, there's another legion
there, and another one, and another one, and another one, and another
one. And he finally just put up his
hand and said, I can't number them. He said, there's so many
I can't number them. I don't know a number big enough. And we know that there's a big
number of angels in heaven, and we also know there's a number
that fell. You know what all of them have in common? They
have seen God. And do you know what they know?
There is one God. And when that's told to us in
James 2, verse 19, what it says about it? Thou believest that
there is one God, thou doest well. We do well to believe that. Not just because it's true. But
look what else it says. Thou believest that there is
one God, thou doest well. The devils, the fallen angels,
they also believe, and look up here, they believe and go, there
is one God. It might do us some good to tremble
at that thought too. There is one God with whom we
have to do. We'd be wise to believe and fall
down and worship at the feet of the one God. Now, there's a lot of scriptures
to support this. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. I'm going to quote you a few
as you're finding Ephesians 4. 1 Corinthians 8 says, There is
none other God but one. 1 Timothy 2 says, For there is
one God. And Deuteronomy 6 says, The Lord
our God is one Lord. This one God, He's almighty,
He's all-knowing, He's holy, He's righteous, He's wisdom,
He's unchangeable, He's gracious and merciful and just, but there
is all that in one God. Mark 12 says, The Lord our God
is one Lord. But now listen to this next verse
very carefully. In John 10 it says, our Lord
himself said this, he said, I and my Father are one. Hmm, that sounds like more than
one in a way, doesn't it? This verse says one God, but
now that really sounds like more than one God. Look at Ephesians
4. Verse 4 says there is one body,
one spirit, even as you are 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 powerful scripture for
the point I'm trying to make. But it sort of sounds like maybe
there's more than one, doesn't it? And that's not to confuse
us. Turn to Matthew 28. To understand the mysteries, we
look to the Word. This sounds like a mystery. It's
very mysterious unless God shows us His way, who He is. And that brings me to the next
number, which is 3. The number 1, and now we're going
to look at the number 3. The first indication in the Scripture
that God is one, but more than one, is Genesis 1.26. He immediately
says, let us make man. Now, us is more than one, isn't
it? So who was saying that? Who was
the us in Genesis 1? Many verses clarify this, but
I'm going to clear it up real quick here. Have you got Matthew
28, verse 18? Matthew 28, verse 18. And Jesus
Christ Himself came and spake unto His disciples, those He
would teach, those to whom he would reveal himself, just like
us, were here this morning hoping to see the Lord Jesus Christ.
And look what he said to them. He said, All powers given unto
me in heaven and earth. Verse 19, Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
that's one, and the Son, that's two, and the Holy Ghost, that's
three. Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen." He said, I've got something
important to teach you. To his disciples. He said, there's
three, and they're one. Now, just going to take a minute
here and step aside, and I want to emphasize this point about
every word in this book. It's so important. Did you see
the word there in verse 20? And did you read it always? I've heard it read like that
often, and that's okay. It's okay. He said it's okay
to think he's with us always because he is. It doesn't matter
if it's morning or afternoon or evening or nighttime. He's
always with his people. It doesn't matter when we're
infants or children or young people or mature or old. He's
always with his people. But that's not what this says. I'm with you all the way. All
the way. That means whether you're having
a good time or a bad time. All the way. Whether it's a happy
time or a sad time. Whether it's heartbreaking time.
Whether it's a safe time or a dangerous time. Whether it's in joy or
peace. Trial or torment. Rich or poor.
Whatever that time is. All the way. All the way it can
be. for us. In the beginning of the
year, in the end of the year, the beginning of the years, the
end of years. In healthy years, in sickly years,
in dying years. Always. He says, I'm always with
you. But I'm with you in all way whatever
it is. That's some comfort you can pack
home and take, and pack up and take home with you. And that's
all in one little word. Well, there's many analogies.
I looked up at fellows, preachers trying to explain what this three
in one means. And it's an unexplainable matter.
Turn to Isaiah 45. And as you're turning to that,
I'll give you what appeared to me to be the best illustration.
We all know what water is, right? Scientists call it H2O. But do we realize that water
can exist as a liquid, it can exist as a solid ice, and it
can exist as a vapor in steam? We all realize that it can accomplish
different things. Water as a liquid can quench
your thirst. Water as ice can cool or even
heal. And water as vapor can even cleanse. But it's all still wobbly. Now
that's, I'm trying to explain something that can't be explained,
so you forgive me, but that's the best illustration. But there's no real explanation
for the three in one. So what is the revealed purpose
of the three in one God? All men and women will live a
set number of years and days And then they die because of
sin. We die physically, and then we
await eternal death. But God, but God, the one God,
determined to save and redeem a people from their sin. And
they all three agreed. All three said, God the Father,
He chose the people. He said, I'm going to choose
whom I'm going to save. And God the Son said, Father, I'll go
get them. I'll live the perfect life they
need. Give it to them. And then I'll
die the death they deserve. I'll redeem them. And then God
the Spirit said, Father and Son, I'll go down there and show them
who we are. And I'll fetch them home. All
three have the identical purpose, to redeem God's people. And they
never fail. They cannot fail. Why? They are
God. The one God. They all have the
identical purpose. They are God. The one God, the
three-in-one God, no one can by nature comprehend. This is
something I can't explain to you. It's just not possible. But I, Lord, His Spirit can reveal
it to us. He can teach us. He can show
us. We can have our eyes opened.
We can have our ears opened. We can understand some in our
minds that in order to believe with the heart, God the Spirit
must come and reveal it to us. And look here at Isaiah 48, verse
16, what this says. Now this is the prophet Isaiah,
many, many, many years before our Lord ever came to this earth. And look what our Lord told him
to say in Isaiah 48, 16. He said, Come ye near unto me. It's as if he's going to whisper
this, not in the ear, but in the heart. He says, Come ye near
unto me, hear ye this." He said, I have not spoken in secret from
the beginning, from the time that it was. There am I. What's the first thing he said?
In the beginning, God. And now the Lord God and His
Spirit have sent me. Thus saith the Lord 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." What's the way? God. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit. And what's the gateway for us?
The Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're always looking
in this book for another picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis
chapter 2, and I'm going to give you the last number. We've considered
1 and we've considered 3. Now let's consider the number
2. In Genesis 2 verse 22, early
in the scriptures is this principle and purpose of marriage established
as a union of two people. And look what it says in Genesis
2 verse 22. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man,
made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 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. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." Wait a minute,
I thought there was two of them, a man and a woman here. And now
they're one. They've been married. They've
been married. Turn to Ephesians 5. Our Lord said in Matthew 19,
He said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother,
and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain, that's another
word for two, and they twain shall be one flesh. And I don't
have to explain to a happily married couple how two can be
one. I mean, from the minute the pastor says, you may kiss
your bride, and you all kiss and hug, now the two are one. Forevermore. Forever. And all married couples understand
embracing one another. that the two become one. A joyous
marriage is a dear picture of Christ and his people, how two
can become one. But to understand, much less
believe, that God's people in Christ have a spiritual union
is again a mystery that only God's Holy Spirit can reveal.
Look at Ephesians 5, verse 30. of his body. That's how much
the marriage is here. We are members of his body, of
his flesh, and his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife. They too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery again. But I speak concerning Christ
and the Church. The whole purpose of marriage
is a picture of what the relationship is going to be. And I suspect
there are those who are not so happily married or not married
at all and think this is how it's going to be. Well, it's
just a picture. The reality is going to be so
much better. The best marriage that ever existed,
I promise, is not going to be anything compared to what it
is to be one with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ,
He has a bride, and He's already married her. The two are already
one. He has already removed all her
blemishes. Her sin's gone. And He has already
made her perfect. She's righteous and holy, and
He loves her perfectly. He has given her life all ways
and all way. He is coming for her soon. Why? So the two can be one. Eternally. You say, that sort
of sounds like a fairy tale. Oh, it's way better than that.
It's going to be way better than that. This living happily ever
after? Boy, we don't have a clue. I'm sorry, we just don't have
a clue. But what one, three, and two
really comes down to Everyone that the Father chose, everyone
that the Son saved, and everyone that the Spirit reveals it to,
that's the gospel by the numbers. Now, you say, how important are
numbers? Well, let's turn to the book
of Numbers. The fifth book of the Bible,
God chose to name numbers. All three of the one God proclaim
that the two have already been made one." You need to hear that
again. All three of the one God proclaim
that the two have already been made one. God's people can't
fully understand, but we can believe by the grace of God,
the truth when we hear it. Perhaps the most familiar verse
of scripture that is quoted maybe more than any other in all the
churches of this land is found in the book of Numbers. Have
you got Numbers 6, verse 22? And the Lord spoke unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his son, saying, On this wise
shall you bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face
to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. If we want some peace,
let's rest in God, the one God who is three in one, and has
made us, his people, two into one with the Lord Jesus Christ.
I had an impossible task this morning to try to explain the
Trinity, but God's people hopefully will understand and believe on
Christ.