Once again, good morning. We're
going to be in the book of Numbers today, but on your way to the
book of Numbers, would you stop by the book of John? John chapter
five. I don't know if you ever do this
or not, but last week it happened to me again. I looked at the
top of the page where it says John chapter six, And on this
side it said John chapter five and that's what I should have
written down. So we're going to stop by John chapter five
and I would like to read verses 42 through 47 as just a short
introduction to our study of the gospel according to numbers.
I appreciate the thoughts and prayers with regard to our study
there because it is a glorious book. I thought Leviticus was
good, but numbers. We're just going to have a field
day there. I'm just going to have an enjoyable time there.
In the book of John chapter 5, the Lord Jesus is dealing with
some folks that said they believed the Old Testament. They heard
it read every Sabbath. They had gone to their church
schools. That's where they went to school.
They had gone and learned the Old Testament scriptures. And
they said they believed it. Now the Lord Jesus, and we heard
this morning in that lesson, wonderful lesson about Christ
must be revealed to us in order to know him. But there are a
whole lot of folks in his day that looked at him as someone
that was a real burden to the way they believed. And guess
what? They were right. He was because
He doesn't take religion. He takes Christ and Christ alone
as all our salvation. And that's what he spent his
time preaching the gospel was preaching Christ, preaching himself.
He's the only man that has ever walked the face of the earth
that can preach Christ and preach himself and be right both times.
All right, here in the book of John chapter five, beginning
with verse 42, but I know you, I appreciate that verse of scripture
over there. The Lord knew what he was going to do. And he knows
us. He knew them. I know you that
ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my father's
name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe? which receive
honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, even
Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, Ye
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? Now that's
a very interesting statement that the Lord said to this group
of people that said they believed Moses, and he comes along and
says, you do not believe Moses, because if you had believed Moses,
you'd believe me. What is he telling them? The
gospel of the Messiah is in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. It is not based upon some work
that we perform. We heard read this morning a
wonderful passage of scripture over in the book of Galatians,
and that passage of scripture or that thought is repeated for
us three times in the New Testament alone. That is, how was Abraham
saved? How was Abraham saved? They wanted to go from Moses
and they could trace their line back to Abraham, and we find
that the scriptures tell us in the New Testament an interpretation,
a presentation, of the Old Testament scripture and it tells us three
times in the New Testament alone with regard to Abraham that Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. the
book of Romans, we heard read the book of Galatians, and the
book of James. All of these books share with
us how Abraham was saved. It was not his works of righteousness. It was not his circumcision.
It was not his baptism. It was not his church membership.
It was not anything that he had done, but God arrested him, and
God gave him a special gift, and that gift was the gift to
believe the Word of God and that Word of God is about the Messiah. Now we can say the Word of God
is the Messiah and the Word of God is about the Messiah. Just
as we read in John chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. An open declaration
that the Apostle John brings to our attention. Now, travel
with me past numbers for just a moment to the book of Genesis
chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15, as we lay
some groundwork with regard to this great book of numbers. In the book of Genesis chapter
15, long before the law was given, long before Israel was called
out of the land of Israel, Egyptian captivity, long before the Passover,
long before all of those things, those pictures and signs and
wonders were given to the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, before the
people. Here in the book of Genesis,
God is dealing with someone that he has called out of darkness
to his marvelous light, and he reveals that very thing with
these words. Genesis chapter 15, there in
verse 6 it says and he Abraham believed in the Lord and it was
counted he counted it to him for righteousness now it was
not his belief that saved him it was the blood of Christ that
saved him and the evidence that he had this gift of God was that
he believed That is our evidence. Do you believe the gospel? Is
it your belief or is it a belief that was supplied for you by
the Holy Spirit in regeneration? Well, that makes all the difference
in the world because religion says that we have to have this
in order to get salvation and the scriptures teach us and plainly
as declared by the Holy Spirit in regeneration, I give these
gifts to you. regeneration and now you respond
you believe the gospel you have repentance and faith you turn
from your dumb idols to the living God and on and on the instructions
go for us in the scripture so Abraham believed in the Lord
and it was counted to him for righteousness the Lord Turn with me now to
the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers. I don't know how long it's going
to take us to get through the first verse because there is
so much compacted in here. I was sharing with someone And
I've shared it with you before. It's something. You can buy a
t-shirt that's about this big. It's all squashed up. You drop
it in water. Well, these are compact messages
found in the book of Numbers. And when we start to look at
what these words mean and how they have to do with us, the
Bible is just full of the glory of God in Christ Jesus as a result. Because we start here in the
book of Numbers and we We have to stop by and we find, and the
Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tabernacle
of the congregation on the first day of the second month in the
second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying,
I've got to stop by that first word about the Lord. Lord. Now this is a title or
a name that is common in the Old Testament. It is the word
Jehovah. We have mentioned in the past
that when you find those capital letters, this is the way that
our translators showed us how to identify that this particular
personage, Jehovah, is identified. Jehovah is mentioned in the scripture
some 2,000 times. And most of the time, it is identified
by this word, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. This Jehovah spake unto Moses. Now, to me, in retrospect, that's
a miracle, that God would condescend to come down to this earth and
speak to people that fell on Adam and that there's not one
good quality about them when it comes to an ability to approach
God. There is no quality in them. In fact, the scriptures tell
us that God looked down upon these folks, upon these Jews,
upon Moses, upon Abraham, upon Noah, upon all people and said,
I did not find one of them seeking after me. So before time began,
he got involved with taking care of the problem by having a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And that lamb is a
representation of an everlasting covenant that God made with God
on how to deal with a problem that was going to come up. When
Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God was not caught off
guard. He already had the plan in line. Now, this Jehovah, this is no
small thing that God would be speaking here because we have
him speaking to the representative of a very special, particularly
pictorial, for our benefit at least, a pictorial group of people. These are the people that have
been identified as the people of the Lord. These are the people
that have been identified as the people of Jehovah. These
are the people that God speaks to and when we read about his
name as Jehovah and there are several times other words are
added to help us to understand what this Jehovah meant to Israel
and to the church. That's what we want. What does
he mean to the church? He showed himself to national
Israel as this, but national Israel is a wonderful picture
of the church and we find in reality that everyone that has
been born again has been born again and given these rich blessings
of Jehovah in his manifestations to his people. Jehovah, the great
I am, the Jehovah that is the eternal God, Jehovah, and only
is Jehovah the Lord God Almighty ever used with this particular
name. Now, other names are used in
the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament with regard
to God, and oftentimes we'll find those names are applied
to other gods. Elohim. Other gods are given
that name, false gods, wicked gods, but never do we ever find
that this particular name of the Lord is ever applied to anybody
else. We say thank you, Lord. This Jehovah holds a very special
place. This word Jehovah, would you
turn with me to the book of Psalm 83. Psalm 83. Psalm 83 and verse 18. Look with
me at this passage of scripture. You know, to do due diligence,
to do justice, We should read about four chapters before and
about six chapters after, but you'll have to do that on your
own time. There's such a continuity. There's such a follow through
when it comes to the word of God. But we are going to look
at Psalm 83 and verse 18. Then men, excuse me, that men may know
that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high over
all the earth. Now that's who's speaking to
Moses. Jehovah, the most high over all
the earth. This is the one that condescended,
that came down, that came down to that tabernacle that has been
finished for about a month, came down to that tabernacle and there
in that tabernacle had his appointed representative there so that
he could hear the instructions that were given to Israel. We
find that God always uses a representative. Our representative is Jesus Christ
the righteous. Our representative, the one that
brings us the truth of the gospel, is Jesus Christ the righteous. This is the one that God speaks
through. This is the one that we find
that the Lord said, even when the spirit comes, he will testify
of me. He's not gonna be bragging on
himself, he's gonna be bragging on me. And when he's bragging
on the Lord Jesus Christ, the entire Godhead receives glory. So this Jehovah that men may
know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah art the most high
over all the earth. There is no greater that came
down to speak to Moses that day. There is no greater that came
out of heaven to speak to any man ever than this one Jehovah
who rules over all the earth. Now there are a number of times
in the scriptures where this name Jehovah and it's only applied
to the true and the living God. Jehovah is the covenant keeping
God. This name is used with other
very important words a number of times in scripture and I believe
it is very valuable for us to go look at some of those places
where this name is used with other words to give us some insight
and this is all for the church. No blessing to the world, but
the church is the recipient of every spiritual blessing in Christ
Jesus. Nowhere else will you get what
Jesus Christ has for the church. He is the blessing to the church,
he has the blessings for the church, and his name is Jehovah
in the Old Testament. When we get to the New Testament,
we come along and hear the angel speak to his supposed father,
to his stepfather, as well as to his mother, and says, you
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. This is the ever all-powerful
all-glorious God Almighty in human form that came down for
the suffering of death to put away our sin. Now there are nine
places in the Old Testament where Jehovah is attached to another
name that shares with us God's great love for his people, his
great love for his church. Now, when we get here in the
Book of Numbers, we're going to travel just a little bit more in the
Book of Numbers Chapter 1, and we're going to find out that
God demonstrates his great love to them by having them numbered. What does that indicate to us?
There is a number of people in the Lamb's Book of Life. There
is a number that no man can number, but they are numbered, identified,
blessed by the Lord because he went to the cross specifically
for them and not one of them shall ever be lost. Left to ourselves. There's a couple of articles
in the bulletin today. And that one man said, left to
myself. Left to my, oh, I'm thankful that the Lord doesn't leave us
to ourself. We're just undone folks and the
only thing that we have is the blood of Christ. Only thing we
have is the blood and righteousness of Christ. So would you join
me in the book of Exodus chapter 17 for just a moment. In this
verse of scripture, we have Jehovah attached to a word that means
a banner. A banner. God is a banner of
encouragement to give hope and a focal point. There was a banner set up for
Israel and it was a banner of encouragement and a focal point. Who do we look at? Who has our attention? Who do we worship? There is a focal point brought
out in the scriptures. And here in the book of Exodus
chapter 17, Exodus chapter 17, we have this word mentioned Jehovah
Nisai. In Exodus chapter 17, verse eight,
Exodus chapter 17 and verse eight. And we're gonna read through
verse 15. Then Amalek, And then came Amalek, and fought with
Israel at Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose
us out men, and go forth, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will
stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek.
And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And
it came to pass, when Moses held his hand, up his hand that Israel
prevailed and he let down his hand out of tiredness. Oh, the
flesh is weak. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. Can you just see as he's holding his arms up for
the success in this battle and his hands drift down just because
of the agony that he doesn't have the strength to hold it
up any longer? Two men step in. Here it tells us. But Moses'
hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat thereon, and Aaron
and Hur stayed up his hands, and one on the one side, and
the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until
the going down of the sun." And the church says, hallelujah.
We have someone to help. And then it goes on, and Joshua
disconfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And
the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book,
and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put
out a remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built
an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi. Jehovah is our banner. Jehovah is our focal point. Jehovah is the one we take hope
in. Jehovah fought the battle. Jehovah,
Nisai, he's our banner. He's the high and lifted up one.
As we heard Brother Bill preach that message about the serpent
being lifted up in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted
up. What is he? He's the banner of
the church. He's the focal point of the church.
He's all the interest of the church is to look unto him who
gave his life a ransom for many. What a joy it is that God established
for the church a place to look to. John says this so clearly
there, behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the
world. Such a different word than we find over there later
in the book of John when he said, feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
This lamb was the lamb that those Israelites knew about that would
soon be offered as the Passover lamb there in Jerusalem. Behold
that lamb. Have him as your banner. Have him as your focal point. And as we heard, looking unto
Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith, Jehovah-Nissi. This is the Jehovah that came
down to visit with Moses and give him the instructions that
we're going to read here in the Book of Numbers. We also find
in Psalm 23 and verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd. That is
a Jehovah, that is Jehovah-Roy. We just read over it. I've heard
that more times at funerals than anywhere else. Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want well he's telling us the Lord is our shepherd he
feeds or leads his sheep to pasture he's a friend or companion he's
the intimate God has between himself and his people. He's
demonstrating the intimacy that he has between almighty God,
Jehovah, and his people. The Lord is the one that guides
me. The Lord is the one that brings
me to green pasture. The Lord is the one that reveals
himself to me. The Lord shares from his word
who he is. This is Jehovah, my shepherd. Jehovah, my roi, the one who
leads us. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. No good thing shall I want. All is fulfilled
in this one, the shepherd. Now the New Testament brings
out three different characteristics about this shepherd. He's the
good shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. And that is for his church, just
like he demonstrated to Israel that he is the shepherd of the
church. This picture, this type, this
shadow that is given to us is that the Lord is the shepherd
of his people. And you know what he shares with
us with regard to his shepherdship? There is a lost lamb out in the
wilderness. Where do we find this Jehovah
speaking to his people in the book of Numbers, it tells us
Underline it, in the wilderness. Where does he find us? In the
wilderness. He doesn't find us in pleasant
places. He finds us in the wilderness.
And how does he find us? He had to come down from heaven
to us. He is the good shepherd that
giveth his life for the sheep. He is the chief shepherd. He
is the great shepherd. And all of this capacity is bore
up in his person to do for the church. And when it's shepherdship
is all over with, he will look back over and say, I have lost
none. Every position in heaven is filled. I remember hearing the story
about a man, it's just an illustration, but he was longing, longing. to go to heaven, to die, go off
to be with the Lord. He got up there and there's one
chair. He made his way over there. Guess what he found on that chair? His name. It was reserved for him. The
great shepherd takes great care in taking care of his sheep. Would you turn with me to the
book of Exodus again, chapter 15. We have another Jehovah term. This one just shares with us
so much about this Jehovah that came down in Numbers chapter
one, verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses. This Jehovah, this Jehovah that
is the banner, the focal point of the church, this Jehovah that
is the shepherd of the church. And here in Exodus chapter 15,
and there in verse 26, We have another part of this great one
that came down to be with Moses that day in the wilderness and
speak to Moses from the tabernacle. In Exodus chapter 15, and there
in verse 26, it says here, and he said, if thou wilt diligently
hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which
is right in his sight, and thou wilt give ear to the commandments
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have brought from Egypt, for I am the Lord that
healeth thee." Now, I am the Lord. Now, the Lord realizes we are not able to keep one scintilla
of those requirements. The fall made us incapable of
keeping one of the commandments. We get one of the 10 commandments
out of the way, and before you know it, we've committed another
one. It's just our nature. And Lord, keep me from sinning. We sin. I heard someone the other
day on a Zoom meeting says, we sin in our dreams. I know that. I have no control over my dreams,
and we sin in our dreams. Then to say that I'm not sinning
with my flesh, oh my goodness, there's not one capability brought
out. I don't have any capability at
all to keep any of what he brought out in there, but I have a Jehovah
that does. My Savior, my Lord, is able to
do all that is required and he did that. In that last phrase,
for I am the Lord that healeth thee, I am the Lord that healeth
thee, Jehovah-Raha, and this means to be completely whole. There's nothing left undone.
He is the good, the great, and the chief physician, as well
as shepherd. He is the good physician. He is the one that takes care
of all the spiritual issues that we have brought out in that verse
of scripture, and yet we find out that Jehovah is he that healeth
us from all our diseases. He's the one that completely
heals us from all our diseases. To restore, to heal, to make
healthful, the great physician completely makes us whole. There's not one part of the requirement
that God put up on us that the Lord Jesus Christ does not take
care of that disease. Body, mind, and spirit. Now,
we're going to have this old flesh all our life and we're
going to die with this flesh. But I read those poets and I
read the scriptures and say to open up with a heart that sinneth
not. It's beyond my imagination, because
I've never lived a day. I've never lived an hour. I've never lived a minute. I've
never lived a second without sin. But I have one that healeth all
my diseases. Jehovah Rophi. And he did that
for Israel. Only the church. He only heals
for the church. He's the only healer for the
church. He's the only one that can take
care of all the spiritual illness that we have. And we don't know
how deep it goes. Jehovah came down and spoke to
Moses in the desert. this Jehovah that is the banner
or the focal point of the church, this Jehovah that is the shepherd
of the church, this Jehovah that is the healer of the church.
And again, we find in the book of Ezekiel, would you turn there
with me? Ezekiel, we run into another
one of these Jehovah titles that is so important to the church.
The Lord is only in one place, on his throne. Any demotion from that, he's
not there. He's not there. He's not anywhere else. He's
on his throne. He is the Jehovah that sits on
his throne. High and lifted up. Looking unto
this Jehovah that is high and lifted up. Here in the book of
Ezekiel chapter 48. Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35.
Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 35. We have this wonderful name of
Jehovah brought to us to share with us that Jehovah Shammah,
the Lord is there. Ezekiel chapter 48 verse 35.
It was round about 18,000 measures and the name of the city from
that day shall be The Lord is there. Jehovah Shammah. Now, this is
talking about Jerusalem. Not that Jerusalem, whichever
direction it is. Not that Jerusalem. Because it's
brought out over in the book of Galatians, what Jerusalem?
That Jerusalem which is above. Not that Jerusalem that brings
bondage. Not that Jerusalem that brings
bondage, but that Jerusalem which is above. Jehovah is there. He's not here. He is there. He
is not going to be bringing bondage to his people. He's going to
be bringing liberty to his people. And yet we find, shall grace
abound that sin might abound? The Apostle Paul, he's heading
people off. This is, well, if I believed
in grace, I'd just go do all that stuff. He said, that's not
right. God's people don't think that
way. God's people sin more than they
want to sin. They don't have to go about planning
on it. But this Jehovah, this Jehovah
is there. He is in that Jerusalem which
is above, which is the Bible says the mother of us all. We
were born from this liberty that is in Christ Jesus. We're born
from him, this one. That is their symbolic. of the
title of Jerusalem, Jerusalem which is above. Turn with me
if you would to the book of Galatians chapter 22. Every one of these
Jehovah titles applies to the church and the church alone.
This one, where will you find the great God we read about?
Where will you find this great minister of the gospel? Where
will you find this Jehovah? You'll find him there in the
Jerusalem which is above. That's where he rules and reigns. In the book of Galatians chapter
4 and there in verse 22, Galatians chapter 4 and verse 22, the scriptures
share this, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the
one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. Friends, that
should give us a whole lot of answers already. Do I want the
bondwoman or do I want the free woman? Do I want to be in bondage? Or do I want freedom in Christ?
There's the key right there. He had two sons. Now all of this
was written for our example. Can you imagine? that all of
that happened to Abraham was done as an example for him and
every believer down to this time as is brought out here in the
book of Galatians. But he who was of the bond woman was born
after the flesh. That should give us another clue.
Flesh produces flesh. Works produces more works. All you have to do is just look
online and get involved in some religious organization and find
out what they expect out of you. And before you know it, you're
turning over to YouTube and watching something else. Because that's
not what I want. Here we go. But he of the free
woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory? Isn't that an interesting word?
Found right here in the middle of the Word of God about these
two boys, both of them sons of Abraham, one born from a bondwoman,
one born from a free woman. It's an allegory. It's a picture.
It's a type. It's a shadow. Do we want this
one who has set us free, or do we want this one who's put us
in bondage? And he illustrates the point
by two Jerusalems. Oh my, that should be a great
help to help us interpret what do we want to believe about the
end times. Do we want a Jerusalem that's
down here that puts us in bondage or do we want a Jerusalem which
is above that sets us free? Above! Which things are an allegory
for these are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and entereth to Jerusalem, which now is and
is in bondage of her children. Now, did you notice when we read
that first verse of the book of Numbers that we have Jehovah
and Sinai? They're camped at Sinai. Now,
aren't you thankful that Jehovah came to visit them? Because that's
going to take them away from the bondage of Sinai. Verse 26, but Jerusalem, which
is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
rejoice thou barren that bearest not. Break forth and cry thou
that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she that hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that is born after the spirit,
even so it is now. Who had bothered Paul's preaching
of the gospel? Those born after the flesh had
no hope and Jehovah is there in Jerusalem, which is above. Jehovah Nisai. This Jehovah came
down. He says, I'm putting my banner
right here. My banner is with this church, my people. Blood bought. It is the focal
point of my people. From wherever you are, under
the stars of heaven, there is one focal point. Look to him. Jehovah is my shepherd. He's the one that has cared for
me every step of the way. He is the good shepherd, in him
I know he has given his life for the sheep. Jehovah is the
one that heals, and he does it absolutely completely. He took
care of all of the spiritual problems that we got in Adam
and put them away. And Jehovah Shammah, he is there. Jerusalem, which is above. This
is the Jehovah that came down and visited with Moses and instructed
him that day. And that's what we find in the
rest of the book. Well, my friends, there's five left. We'll pick
up here next time. The glories of Jehovah. Brother
Mike.