May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Holy Word.
Let us turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and we'll read
verses 14 and 15. The Gospel of John, chapter 3,
and reading verses 14 and 15. And as Moses lifting 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 eternal life. These are the words of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus, And it's a wonderful analogy that we have set before
us. The Savior refers to the occasion
in the wilderness, in the days of Moses, when the serpents bit
so many people and needed to be cured. And it's a wonderful
account. We can read in numbers, and I'll
just refer to it because it's worthwhile. It's quite short.
And it's a good instruction for us to realise that we have the
same God today who uses these wonderful words of instruction
and illustration for us. And it's in the 21st chapter
of the Book of Numbers, We read this, and really what happens
is they were disobeying, Israel were disobeying God. And from
the fourth verse, we'll read a few verses from the fourth
verse. This is Israel. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way. And the people spoke against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
bread. And just to stop there for a
moment, we see there, you see, Israel at that time, were dissatisfied
with what God had given them. And we're told they were discouraged
because of the way. And sometimes we are discouraged
because of the way. But we should not complain. We
should not come and blame God. Because that's what the people
did. You see, they disliked what had
happened. And they said to God, wherefore
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither
is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. So what they were doing was rebelling
against God. And you and I today should be
very careful in our lives. The Lord has ordained a life
for each one of us. And sometimes when things don't
go smoothly we complain and wish perhaps it was rather different. But we should realise that God
sends things into our lives for our good and we should not therefore
be left to argue with God and to rebel against God. Well, the result of that rebelling
really was the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and
they bit the people and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, we have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord
and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. Well, we can see how they really
repented, didn't they, of their condition, of their sinfulness,
the way they had spoken against the Lord and against Moses. And therefore, Moses heard what
they designed him to do, and he did pray to God. 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 is bitten, when
he looketh upon it, shall live. Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. Well, it was quite a simple remedy,
wasn't it? They were bitten by these serpents,
and unless something happened, they would die. Obviously, the
serpent's bite was so venomous and poisonous, and it would have
that effect. upon causing them to die very
quickly. So God arranged this wonderful,
simple solution. Moses was told to make a serpent
in brass, put it on a pole, and command those who were bitten
to look upon that serpent. Well, that was a very simple
command, wasn't it? simple thing to do and if they
did that they were healed. It didn't matter if it was just
really a glance, they may not have felt very well at all, they
only had to raise their head so they could look with their
eyes upon this serpent that Moses had made. And so what a blessing
it was that God granted them that cure. Now that is therefore
the example that the Lord Jesus uses then when he was on the
earth. And what a good thing it is to
realize that the Lord uses such examples. Simple for us to understand. therefore he comes and tells
them, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, we've
just read that, quite clear wasn't it, even so must the Son of Man
be lifted up. And of course the Lord Jesus
was lifted up on the cross at Calvary. And what a significant
occasion that was. And therefore, the Lord says
himself, having told them that which would come to pass, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. It's a great and glorious picture
of salvation. It's a great and glorious picture
of the mercy of God in not dealing with us as we deserve. and not dealing with the Israelites
as they deserved on that day when they were bidden to look
at the serpent of brass and all that looked lived. Now the relevance
of course is today that if God gives us that grace to look to
the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall also live. What a wonderful mercy,
what a wonderful gospel it is. There's a very well-known verse
in the 45th chapter of Isaiah and it's this the 22nd verse
very simple look unto me and Be saved all the ends of the
earth For I am God and there is none else well those Israelites
were affected by that venomous poison of the serpents My friends,
all of us are affected by the venomous poison of sin. You see, without any sin, we
would live forever. But we are sinners and therefore
we need healing. We need healing just like those
Israelites did all those years ago. And we find here in the
Old Testament in Isaiah such a great and wonderful statement. We are commanded by Almighty
God to look to him, look unto me and be saved. All the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. It's a very clear statement,
isn't it? That means there's no one else No one else who can
save our souls. And if the Holy Spirit has convinced
us that we really have partaken of that venom, sin, which commits
us to eternal hell unless we are forgiven. to realize that
in that account, in numbers, unless the children of Israel
looked to that serpent that was raised on the pole, they would
die of the effect of that poison. And my friends, it's the same
today for us. It's not difficult, is it? For
us to understand. And I hope we can all understand
Every one of us, our young people here today, to realise that we
have partaken of that poison of sin. And like that poison
of the serpent, it would kill all those people unless they
were cured. It's the same with us. Unless
our sins are taken away, we shall perish in our sin. What a blessing
then. What a wonderful thing it is
that we have the Gospel. And Jesus tells us so very clearly,
so very succinctly, And what that means, of course, is that
by the grace of God, you and I are to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for
forgiveness. Oh, my friends, it's welcome
news. It's good news. And it's a great
gospel statement, isn't it? Because here is this simple word,
whosoever believeth in him, doesn't matter how bad we may be, doesn't
matter how great a sinner we may be, all are welcome, whosoever
It doesn't cut anybody off. And what a mercy, therefore,
if you and I can come in this way to our God, whosoever... And the words of the Saviour,
again, are very clear. Whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life. It may be that because
of our sin we tremble before God because we feel We have sinned
and therefore we're guilty before the Holy God. And we need forgiveness
and we can't forgive ourselves. We can't cleanse ourselves. We can't wash our sins away ourselves. We need a Saviour. We need someone to do this for
us. And what a wonderful blessing
it is to Read on in verse 16, again this glorious gospel verse
which tells us, And so we have two verses which direct us in the same way to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. How relevant, how important it
is to believe then on the Lord Jesus Christ. It sounds a very
simple thing, doesn't it? But you see, you and I both need
the grace of God. We both need the power of God
to believe, because left to ourselves, we have an evil heart of unbelief. Left to ourselves, we will probably
argue that that's impossible, that it could not happen. But
God gives faith. God gives living faith to believe
these great and glorious truths. It is a wonder of wonders that
God should come into this world as the Son of God and should
die upon that cross at Calvary to atone for all our sins. And you know, in the epistle
of John, he speaks about this, about this believing. And he
tells us this, and this is his commandment. It's a command that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth
his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him, and hereby
we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given
us. Now the wonderful blessing is
that God gives his people that Spirit to believe. So that we
do possess that wonderful blessing, that wonderful favour to believe. Left to ourselves, we have an
evil heart of unbelief. But what a mercy when God gives
us that faith to believe. See, these people, these Israelites,
they were told to look to the serpent. Many, no doubt, thought,
well, that can't do any good, and therefore did not look at
that serpent, and therefore they died. And really the analogy
is the same for us today. The Lord tells us this great
and important truth to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Perhaps we think, well, I have
no ability. We don't have any ability in
and of ourselves, but God gives grace to do so. And we can pray that we may possess
that grace to come to Jesus as we are. The hymn writer says,
I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad. You see, you
don't have to be in any special position or any special scene,
but you can come exactly as you are. And my friends, if the Holy
Spirit has convinced us of our sin and we feel before God guilt,
a guilty sinner, we realize that we must be cleansed. We must
be washed to realize there is a glorious gospel way. The Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world to die upon that cross at Calvary. in accordance with the will of
his father, in order that that which he did procures eternal
life for all his church. His blood washes away all our
sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. That's a wonderful and glorious
truth. And you and I should rejoice
in it. And so, as we have this statement
here, this analogy for us to realize, and it's a good analogy,
and it's clear, isn't it? As he says about Moses, lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. And Jesus was. lifted up. He had to die upon that cross
at Calvary. Yes, there was no alternative
and the Lord was willing to die, willing to give his life. And
what a life that was, a perfect life. And what a punishment it
was for our sins. You know, when the Holy Spirit
convinces us of our sin and shows us our need to be forgiven and
directs us to the Saviour Himself and shows us something of the
great cost of our salvation. To realise that the Son of God,
the Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe, was so willing
to give His life to die for us. What a mercy, what a blessing. Believe the gospel. Well, over
the first words that Jesus spoke, he said, the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the
gospel. What a wonderful truth. What a simple truth. And yet
by nature, we are unwilling. Unwilling. We're hard-hearted. We're rebels. What a blessing
it is if God breaks down our rebellion, takes away our hard
and stony heart, and brings us to plead for mercy, brings us
before the Holy God in true submission, acknowledging our sin. If we confess our sin, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. See how many great truths there
are in the Word of God. Encouraging truths that you and
I should seek to lay hold on, given faith to lay hold upon. The words of the Saviour himself,
the words recorded for our encouragement and to recognise the relevance
of these things. You may realize that here in
this account what had occurred. Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus. Nicodemus had come to him and
had asked him what he must do. And he anticipated that he would
be expected to do something physically. But no, Jesus laid before him
the gospel, the great and glorious truth of the gospel. And my friends,
it's a great blessing for us today to know that we have this
good news. And it's set before us in very
simple terms. The devil doesn't want you to
lay hold of it. He doesn't want you to realise
the truth of the words of the Saviour. He wants you to turn
away from it, make all manner of excuses. When Nicodemus was told he must
be born again, he didn't understand it. He didn't know what it meant. And he asked, was it that he
should go and he couldn't be born again, go into his mother's
womb and be born again? But Jesus told him, accept. You'll be born again. No wise
enter the kingdom of God. How true that is for us today.
We've been born again naturally, all of us. We're here today because
we've been born again naturally. All of us must be born again
spiritually. We must have the evidence in
our own heart that Jesus came into this world to save sinners. And as the Apostle Paul said,
of whom I am chief. It would be a great blessing
if God directs us not to see how good we are, but to see how
bad we are. And you know, I won't be able
to then stand and say, well, I'm not as bad as that person.
because as the Apostle Paul was shown, he was the worst, the
chief sinner. Well, it's good when the Holy
Spirit brings us there, because we have nothing then to offer
God, do we? And the hymn writer says, nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. to the cross of Christ, to look
to Him dying there, that sin atoning death. Oh, my friends
today, all of us by nature are sinners. All of us need salvation. All of us need to know that the
Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up upon that cross. to die that
death in order to deliver us from the wrath to come. There's
no other way of deliverance. There's no other way of salvation. But how wonderful it is to realise
the Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. So in your life and my life,
it'll be very wonderful if we have the evidence that Jesus,
the Almighty God, sought us out. He sought us out. He found us. He knows where we are. He knows
where we live. He knows what we do. We cannot
escape the eye of Almighty God. But what a blessing it is to
think that that great God looked upon such an unworthy sinner, determined to save our souls. There are no failures with God. No failures with God. He is the
Almighty God. He is the Saviour of sinners. And what a blessing it is to
be able to come to Him in this way, believing, giving that faith
to believe. You know, you may say, well,
I don't seem to have that faith to believe. Well, we have that
example in the Word of God, where there was that man who was asked
the question, did he believe? And he said this, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. You
might think that's a bit of an odd statement. Well, the reality
was he wanted to believe and he didn't want to not believe.
And that's why it's worded like that. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. It'd be good, perhaps, if you
and I come along and our companion with such a character. And in
our heart, there is that real desire to believe the gospel. And yet we know the devil's alongside
us, trying to convince us that we can never believe. We're just
too bad. The Lord will never come to us,
never help us. Well, there was that answer,
Lord, I believe. And it would be good therefore
if you and I today can come before God in answer to that question,
do we believe? To be able to say, I do believe. I want to believe. I don't want
not to believe. And therefore to have strength
from Almighty God to believe. Help thou mine unbelief. That means take the unbelief
away. I don't want to not believe. I do want to believe. Well, that
man was blessed. My friends, you and I will be
likewise if we have that real desire to come and believe that
here is the way of salvation. Here is the great and glorious
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And how wonderful it is, therefore,
if you and I today receive that grace. Indeed, the Word of God
tells us today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. So easy, isn't it? To harden
our hearts. The devil wants to harden our
hearts. He wants to say, well, it's not
possible for you. You're just too bad. There's
no chance. There's no possibility. Well,
just remember the glorious words of the Gospel. Whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And remember that the Lord Jesus
came to seek and to save that which was lost. And what a mercy
if he's coming to you and me. Touches our heart. turns our thoughts to realise,
I do need a saviour, I have sinned against God, I have offended
God, just like the Israelites of old, turned their back upon
God, rebelled, by nature all of us have rebelled, we've all
walked contrary to God, we've all said in our hearts, We will
not have this man to rule over me. I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to walk in accordance
with my will. I'm going to operate my timetable. No, says God. I have a way. I have a purpose. I have a time. What a mercy it is, therefore,
to come and to be submissive to this great and gracious God. You know, again, just following
on in this chapter, because it's a beautiful chapter. Having read,
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved, he that believeth
on him is not condemned. the freedom of the gospel, not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Well, may God graciously give
every one of us that faith to believe. Yes, what a wonderful
mercy it is if God has come and gives you and me faith to believe. Again in John's epistle, in the
first epistle, it gives us some encouraging words. Encouraging
words to be able to assess things. He says, He that believeth on
the Son of God hath the witness in himself. See, God gives you
and me that personal witness, that witness from God to us,
to our very souls, that we are indeed born again. He that believeth
in the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Doesn't matter what
other people say. Doesn't matter what other people
think. You and I stand before God. and what a blessing if therefore
we have the witness that means the witness of the Holy Spirit
to show that we are amongst those who are His children because
He's come to me He's given me that desire to believe He's given
me that prayer that he might help me to believe. He that believeth
in the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar. Well, we know that God is not
a liar. And how terrible, therefore, if we do not believe God, that
we make him a liar. He's not a liar because he believeth
not. the record that God gave of his
Son. And this is the record that God
has given to us, eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. What a blessing it is then for
us today to possess this glorious privilege of believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore having that humble
confidence that the glorious God, the second person in the
Trinity, died upon Calvary's cross to redeem our soul. And come back and just think,
first of all, the Father sent his only begotten Son. The Son
so gloriously came into this world to die for our sins. The Holy Ghost blessedly revealed
this great truth to our souls. That means that by the grace
of God, the Lord convinces us that we are those who truly believe
in God the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is not man's words. This is the words of Almighty
God to bring honour and glory to his great and holy name. And
that's why when the Holy Spirit convinces us of these truths,
we stand amazed that the great God should have looked upon us,
should have come to us, didn't pass us by Didn't pass us by
as somebody of no worth, which in essence is true. He came where
we were. He knew where we were. He touched
our heart. He changed our views. He directed
us to the glorious gospel. And we see the wonderful picture
we have today in this account. 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 eternal life.
Remember those Israelites. They had to believe that by looking
at that serpent, they would be cured. It's the same today. You and I need that faith to
believe that by looking to the Saviour for all our hope of eternal
life, we shall be saved. What a mercy, what a blessing. God gives you and me that faith
today that we can cast away or the
evil heart of unbelief and recognised the glorious plan of the Gospel
Well the Lord brought this about He was able to bring it to Nicodemus
and we don't read a lot more about Nicodemus but we do know
that when the Lord was crucified He was the one that came and
helped to take Christ down from the cross and to lay Him in the
sepulchre, yes he was indeed blessed with the reality of believing
faith. And although initially to him
it seemed an impossibility, he received that great gift of faith,
that great gift of eternal life. And then we see that he was not
ashamed to be aligned with the Saviour. He'd come initially,
like in this account, he'd come to Jesus by night. He didn't
want people to realise that he was coming to see Jesus. But
we see the great effect of the work of grace, the wonderful
effect of salvation to Nicodemus. And so, therefore, when the Savior
was crucified, he was there. We're not ashamed to be found
at that place, at that situation, indeed privileged to help bury
his Savior. Well, that's the effect of grace. That's the effect of the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit. And so, this morning, this is
really a very simple account, isn't it? And it's a very simple
analogy. And I hope none of us forget
the analogy here of the serpent, the need to look, of the Savior
on the cross, the need to look and to believe. In both cases,
the Israelites had to believe that by looking, they would be
healed. The same to us today. We have
to believe that by looking to the Savior for that glorious
salvation, we shall be saved. and the effect will be that the burden of sin will be
removed perhaps not immediately but it will be sometimes think
of that lovely example in the Pilgrim's Progress when Christian
came to the cross he got his burden on his back and as he
looked to the cross His burden fell off and rolled away, forever
gone. What a mercy then to come and
have that revelation that we are amongst those for whom Christ
died. And if he died for us, he died
to take away our sin. And if he's taken away our sin,
we are complete in him. And by his grace one day we shall
be indeed with him in glory. Well, it's a wonderful blessing
that you and I have such an account to rejoice in. And I hope that
each one of us may rejoice in this very simple statement in
these two verses, 14 and 15. And Moses, 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 eternal life. What a blessing. Amen.