Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm reading from the third chapter
of John, verses 14 and 15, and I've entitled this message, Look
and Live. Spiritual life comes from a look. Look and live. In verse 14 of John chapter 3,
the Lord says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life." Now this
is in the chapter where the Lord is giving instruction regarding
the new birth. We read where he said to Nicodemus
in verse three, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, why
is the new birth necessary? Because men are born into this
world spiritually dead. God said in Genesis 2, verse
17 to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, speaking of the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the day
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now, when Adam ate of that
fruit, he did not die physically. His soul didn't die. He still had life the way every
natural man has life, but he died spiritually. Now what does that mean, to be
spiritually dead? It means that you are dead, unable
to perform the functions of spiritual life. If you're spiritually dead,
you can't come to Christ. And the Lord said that, he said,
no man can come to me except it were given him of my Father.
You cannot believe, you cannot repent, you cannot love, you
cannot understand, not in the spiritual sense. For me to be
saved, I'm going to have to, God's going to have to birth
me, give me spiritual life. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Now look in verse four, Nicodemus
saith unto him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? And
I believe he was using some sarcasm there. He didn't understand what
the Lord meant. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water, and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Now, that verse of Scripture,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, does that
mean that you have to be baptized in water before you can be born
again? No, it does not mean that at all. In Ephesians 5, verse
26, Paul spoke of Christ sanctifying and cleansing the church with
the washing of water by the Word. Water in the Scripture represents
the Word of God. Psalm 119, verse 9, Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth." Now, the new birth comes through the Word
of God and the Spirit of God breathing on it and giving it
life to the dead sinner. Now that is what is being taught. You're given spiritual life through
believing the gospel, the Word of God, God the Holy Spirit giving
you that spiritual life. And if God the Holy Spirit doesn't
give me and you spiritual life, we will not believe. Now, in
the midst of this chapter with regard to the new birth, we read,
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, and it's referring to the cross,
his crucifixion. that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Now that's not just talking
about the longevity of your life. It's talking about having spiritual
life, eternal life, quickened by God, given life by God. And that comes through this illustration
the Lord gives us. of Moses and that serpent in
the wilderness, biting the children of Israel, and him taking a brazen
serpent and putting it on a pole and saying, look and live. And
everyone who looked lived. Now, that is the way people are
born from above, by looking to Christ. If you and if I Look
to Christ, whatever that means. We will live. Now, this is a story from Numbers
chapter 21. I want to turn there, and we're
going to look at this story. But to understand what was going
on, we have to understand what was going on in chapter 20. Now,
Numbers chapter 20, this is during the children of Israel's wanderings
in the wilderness. If they could go cut through
the country of Edom, it would save them about three weeks'
journey to get to their destination. And they asked Edom, the Edomites,
whether or not they could pass through their land. They said,
we won't drink the water, we won't eat your food, we'll stay
on the King's Highway, we'll go straight through the land,
we won't be turned to the right or to the left. And the Edomites
said, no. And they brought out an army
against them and said, you cannot come through this land. So the
children of Israel had to go three weeks extra through the
hot desert in order to reach their destination. And we read
in verse four of Numbers chapter 21, And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom.
They were going outside of the land of Edom's borders to get
to their destination. And the scripture says the soul
of the people was much discouraged because of the way. They were
disappointed. They didn't want to go traipsing
through the wilderness, the hot desert sun, for another three
weeks. They were much discouraged. They were disillusioned. They were disappointed. I think discouragement could
be called the common conundrum of humanity, being discouraged. And I hate it when I'm discouraged.
I know when I'm discouraged, I'm just looking at my circumstances,
I'm just looking at myself, and I'm not looking at God who controls
all things, but to be disillusioned. to be disappointed. Things haven't
gone the way you desired. The scripture says the people
were much discouraged because of the way they were discouraged,
that they had to go around to eat them rather than going through
it. So what happened as a result
of their discouragement? Verse five says, and the people
spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?" Now what a horrible
thing for them to say. God had delivered them from Egyptian
bondage. He parted the Red Sea for them. While they were in the wilderness,
they had food, manna, coming down from heaven every day, and
water coming from a rock. Remember in Exodus chapter 17
where Moses smote the rock and water came out of that rock?
And that is given to illustrate the gospel. When Christ was smitten,
the water of grace came from him so that sinners could be
saved. But it's a type and a picture. So that very day, they'd had
manna from heaven and they'd had water from that rock. But they say to Moses, you brought
us out to die in the wilderness. And they did this numerous times
before. They were complaining and murmuring
people. And look what they say. for there's
no bread, neither is there water. And our soul loatheth this light
bread, this manna that's come down from heaven. Now, there
is no bread. Yes, there was. The manna came
down, but they no longer considered it Bread. They called it light
bread, insubstantial bread, not enough to satisfy us. We're sick
of it. We're sick of eating manna every
day. We want something different. Our palates need to be caressed
in some other way. We're tired of this. No water? Why, that water was still coming
from that rock, and 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4, tells us that that
rock was Christ, and that rock followed them. Somebody says,
well, how could a rock follow them? Well, if water could come
out of the rock, that rock could follow them, and that rock was
Christ, we read in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 4. And they had become
sick of the manna. Now that represents what happens
to someone when they lose their sense of their need of Christ. They look for something more.
We're tired of this manna. We're tired of Christ is all. We want something else. This
is not enough to satisfy us. So you see on the very surface
the wickedness of the children of Israel at this time, this
accusation they made against God. Verse six, here's what happened. The Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. Fiery serpents, snakes. You know,
a lot of people are very afraid of snakes. I know my wife is. I know my daughter is. They're
repulsed by them. They can't stand to see them.
They don't want to be around them. Snakes, can you imagine
having poisonous snakes in your yard, in your home, and you couldn't
get rid of them? No matter what you did, you might
try to put up barriers to keep them out. You might try to kill
them. You might try to poison them.
You would do everything you could to protect yourself from these
snakes, all to no avail. They were still there. Everywhere
you looked, there was a fiery serpent. Somebody was being bitten. Somebody was dying. What a horrible
thing. That must have been. Now, I don't
know how long this went on, this judgment of God against them
for murmuring the way they did, but verse 7 says, therefore the
people came to Moses. After these fiery serpents had
bitten many people, the people come to Moses and said, we have
sinned. Now at this time, they're taking
sides with God against themselves. We have sinned. They didn't offer
any excuse. They agreed with what God thought
concerning them. We have sinned. Now, this is a blessed place
to be brought when you can say before God, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. Now, sin is against God. We may
wrong men, but sin is against God. Do you remember when the
prodigal was returning? He was going to say to his father,
Father, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight. Now, sin is
against God and they confess their sin. They agree with God. We have sinned against God. For we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he may
take the serpents from us. Now, Moses, whom they're asking
to pray to the Lord for, serves as a type of Christ. They couldn't
come to God on their own. All they had done is sin against
God, and they needed someone to represent them. And my dear
friend, you and I need someone to represent us. I can't come
into God's presence on my own. He's holy. I've sinned against
him. I have to have someone that's
well-pleasing to him represent me to him. And that is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the great high priest. And what did they say? They said, take away the serpents. Now this is very significant.
They did not say, teach us how to prevent them from biting us.
They did not say, teach us how to kill them. They said, take
them away. Now, if you and I ever know anything
about our sin, we're going to know that our only hope is for
the Lord to take away our sin. We can't take it away. We can't
kill it. We can't make it not to be. The only hope I have of being
accepted by God is if God takes away my sin. Sin first John chapter
3 verse 5 says he was manifested to take away our sins and Romans
11 27 says this is my covenant with him and when I shall take
away their sins. Now listen carefully. The scripture
says the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins. Your religious works, my religious
works, my efforts can never take away sin. And the only way I
can be saved is if my sin is taken away. Now, I want you to
hold your finger in Numbers 21 if you've turned there, and I
want to go back to our text in John chapter 3 for just a moment
and look at what is said. This is our Savior's comment
upon this passage of Scripture I've just read. And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the
son of man be lifted up. Now Moses had gone to God and
said, what do I do? And God said, take a serpent,
make a serpent, make a serpent of brass and put it up on a pole
and hold it up. And anyone that's bitten, when
he looks at that serpent, he shall live life in a look. You could be bitten by one of
those fiery serpents and the fiery venom in your veins, you're
dying. But if you looked at that serpent,
that brazen serpent on a pole, the scripture says you live. Now, when our Lord comments on
this, he says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man. be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now,
I want to call your attention to the word, must. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must, it was necessary
for the Son of Man to be lifted up. And that's talking about
Him being nailed to a cross and that cross lifted up. Why was
it necessary? Let me give you three reasons.
Number one, because it was God's purpose. God created the universe
for this event. Revelation 13, eight calls Christ
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and with wicked
hands have crucified and slain, Peter said on the day of Pentecost
in Acts chapter two, verse 23. This is God's purpose. This is God's eternal purpose,
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. The cross is the most
God-like thing God ever did. It's the most glorious thing.
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, why was it necessary?
Because God is just. You see, the sins of God's elect,
God took them off of them and put them on the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says he bare our
sins in his own body on the tree. And he became, while he never
sinned in himself, He became guilty of the commission of the
sin of everybody he died for, and the very justice of God demanded
his death. You see, the only way I can be
saved is if my sins are lifted off of me and placed on Christ,
and he bears the guilt, he bears the sin itself, he bears the
punishment, and he died. But there's something he did
in dying that the sinner can never do. His death completely
satisfied the justice of God. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. And now everybody that he died
for, they now have no sin. He took it away. They said, take
away these serpents. You're delivered. Your sin is
taken away when you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look and live. The third reason that this took
place is the love of God. God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have eternal life." Now, this serpent lifted up in the wilderness,
what does it tell us? Well, let me read a scripture
to you. I'm gonna quote it. I want you,
if you've never heard this before, I want you to hear it for the
first time. If you've already heard it, I hope you'll hear it like
you're hearing it for the first time. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says,
for he hath made him to be sin. Who knew no sin? that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." Do you hear what
that verse said? God made Christ to be sin. Somebody says, how did He do
that? I don't know, but He did it. Who's sin? Whoever He was
made sin for. Whoever He died as a substitute
for. He was made sin. Who knew no sin that we, everybody
he died for, might be made the righteousness of God in him. As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now, verse 8, after Moses prayed for the people,
we read in verse 8, and the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a
fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to
pass that every one that's bitten, when he looketh upon it. How simple. When he looketh upon
it. Not everyone that's bitten when
he takes some kind of serum to help himself, or he does something
about his wounds, or he kills the snakes. No, he was to look
at that serpent on the pole. Verse nine, and Moses made a
serpent of brass. and put it on a pole. Now, there's
significance to that. A serpent of brass. Brass is
made of two substances, tin and copper. He didn't have a serpent
of gold or silver or iron, but a serpent of brass. What was used for the altar to
sacrifice the animals, the brazen altar. This has something to
do with the sacrifice of Christ. It's made of these two substances,
and I have no doubt that represents the two natures of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's God, He's man. The deity and the humanity of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Fully God, just as if He were
not man. fully man, just as if he were
not God. And anyone who looked upon that
serpent was made whole. And I love to think of Moses
holding that pole, I don't know how high it was, but it must
have been very high, running around the camp of Israel saying,
look, look, look at the brazen serpent. I doubt that Moses was
asking them about their lapsarian views, or whether they were pre,
all, or post-millennialist. He didn't tell them they first
needed to repent of their sins and get their life straightened
out before they could look. I feel sure he didn't say anything
about what they needed to do to change the culture. I'm sure
he didn't say anything about politics. Look, that's all he
had to say. Look upon this brazen serpent,
look and live. Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it on a pole and it came to pass that if a serpent had
bitten any man, Any man. Now, if you're bitten, you'll
look. If you're not bitten in your
own apprehension, there's no need to look to Christ. You're
okay on your own. But if you have been bitten with
the snake of sin and the venom is going to cause you to die,
look what it says. Moses made a serpent of brass,
put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if any serpent had
bitten any man, I don't care who you are, if you're bitten,
that's all I'm asking you, any man that was bitten, when he
beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. And I don't have any
doubt that if a blind Israelite, if he would have turned his sightless
sockets toward that brazen serpent, he would have lived. Look ye
blind and see, Isaiah 42, 18 says. Somebody says, well, I
don't see. Then you've never looked. If
you look, you will see. Looking unto Jesus. This is what
salvation is. It's looking to Christ. It's
looking to who he is as fully God, fully man, his ability to
save somebody like me. It's looking to his suretyship,
him taking responsibility for my sin before I was ever born. As the angel of the covenant,
I look to Him in His life, His perfect obedience, as my personal
righteousness before God. I look to His death as the putting
away of my sin. I look to His resurrection as
the declaration of my justification. I look to His intercession right
now as why I will persevere to the end. All there is to do is
look unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Look and live. Now, as Moses lifted up that
serpent to brass in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him. What is it to believe
on him? It's to look to him. It's to look to him. All you
do is look. Not do, not work, look. You look, you will live. Now, we've got this message on
CD and DVD. If you call the church, we'll
send you a copy. Write, we'll send you a copy.
If you look on the website, you can get a copy of this message.
This is how God gives life, by looking to Christ. I pray that
God will be pleased to bless this to your heart, for Christ's
sake. Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen. Hmm