Let us come again to the Word
of God. And I'd like to draw your attention
this evening to the passage that Cliff read to us back there in
the Book of Numbers, that well-known incident of the brazen serpent,
but taking for a text those words that you find in the third chapter
of John's Gospel. The Gospel according to John,
We'll just read verses 14 and 15 in chapter three. John chapter three, verses 14
and 15. The words of the Lord Jesus to
Nicodemus. And 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. 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. And I know that we, all of us
I expect, are familiar with these words and with the incident that
the Lord Jesus is referring to. But it is amazing to see the
Lord Jesus looking back over those thousands of years of history
and referring to that event that we read of in the book of Numbers
and setting it before Nicodemus and setting it before us as a
picture of himself. and a picture of the work that
he came to do. He makes this comparison between
himself as he is to be lifted up on the cross and the serpent
of brass that Moses was instructed to lift up in the wilderness.
And there are many parallels between those two incidents,
between those two events of history. And with the Lord's help, I want
to try and draw some of them out this evening. Of course,
back there in the book of Numbers, we're talking about something
natural. The problem there with those Israelites was natural
death. The serpents that the Lord had
sent in response to their murmuring and response to their sin were
serpents that would take away their natural lives. As it says,
much people of Israel died. When we turn over to the New
Testament and we come to the words of the Lord Jesus, we're
not talking about so much something natural, but the Lord Jesus is
talking about spiritual life. Eternal life, he says. As the Israelites are to look
to the brazen serpent, to know the extension and the giving
of natural life, so the Lord Jesus says that where there is
a believing on him, there is eternal life, a spiritual life
given. And of course, when we think
about the giving of spiritual life, We remember the words of
the apostle who said, he that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us
all things? And surely we can say, and as
we come together to prayer, it's important to remember, isn't
it, that as we gather together to ask for anything, we are to
set our eyes and to set our faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ as
that one who has been lifted up, that one in whom is all power. If he is the one who can give
eternal life, well, he can give all things that we stand in need
of. And we come together to prayer to ask for those things in his
name. Well, the first thing as we compare these two events to
notice is that both of these liftings up were really a direct
consequence of sin. It was certainly true in the
case of the brazen serpent. We read through the passage,
what was the sin of the Israelites? Well, really it was a sin of
unbelief. and it was a sin of unthankfulness. And it's amazing really, isn't
it, when you think about what these Israelites had seen and
all that they had been brought through. It's amazing that they
come to the place where they talk about the manner that God
had sent them from heaven and they describe it as light bread. Worthless bread is the implication
of what they're saying. That manner that had kept them
alive, really, ever since they came out of the land of Egypt. That manner that kept them alive
all through those 40 years in the wilderness. They say, our
soul loatheth this light bread. It is hard to believe, but we
don't really have any stones to throw at them, because we
know how easily we can fall into that same kind of spirit. in Psalm 78, he relates something
about their journey, doesn't he? It's a long psalm, that 78th
psalm. And as you come to various verses
within that psalm, you do get the impression that the psalmist
is almost writing down things that he can't quite believe almost. It's a psalm of two halves, really. It talks in some parts about
the work of God, and it talks in other parts about the unbelief
and the sin of the Israelites. Look, for example, at verse 32
in that 78th psalm. It's a psalm that has spoken
about the manna. In verse 25, it says, man did
eat angels' food, he sent them meat to the full. That's talking
about the manna that was sent from heaven, And then in verse
32, it says, for all this, for all this, they sinned still. For all that God had showed them,
for all that the Lord had done for them, they sinned still. How oft, it says in verse 40,
how oft did they provoke him? The psalmist, as I say, it's
almost as if he's astonished that this people can be so ungrateful. and so thoughtless. And yet, I'm sure it's true of
us all that if we were to write an account of our lives in the
same style as that 78th Psalm, we would probably have to use
similar language about ourselves. And we would have to say, for
all this, despite all that the Lord had given to this person,
he or she sins still. unthankfulness, it's one of the
sins that is called out, isn't it? In a couple of places in
Paul's writings, in the second epistle to Timothy, in chapter
three, Paul is warning Timothy about the perilous times that
are coming, and he gives a list of the sins that will be prevalent
at that time, There are sins that we recognise, many of them
in ourselves, of course, but also prevalent in our society. Men should be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents. And then Paul includes unthankful. Unthankful as if unthankfulness
is to be ranked alongside disobedience to parents or to be a false accuser. or to be a traitor. And similarly, when Paul gives
us a list of sins at the beginning of the epistle to the Romans,
it's almost as if he says, this is almost the worst thing. He
talks about the Gentiles, when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful. As if he says that
is to be almost at the top of the list of their sins is their
unthankfulness. And as I say, we're just the
same. It was unthankfulness, it of
course was in some ways built upon their pride. When they say
this light bread, what they're really implying is that they
deserve better, that they're worthy of a better provision,
worthy of a better food, And as pride leads to destruction,
so it was here. The sin of the Israelites leads
to these fiery serpents being sent among the people. Pride,
the hymn writers often speak about pride, don't they? It's
a very striking expression. In hymn 287, Joseph Hart talks
about pride, and he describes it as the mighty foe that hurts
beyond them all, as if pride is the most damaging thing that
can attack the Christian. He says, one mighty foe deals
wondrous woe and hurts beyond them all, and he says it's pride,
accursed pride, The Spirit by God abhorred, do what we will.
It haunts us still and keeps us from the Lord. It turns us
away from the blessings of God just as it does for these Israelites
here. Our soul loatheth this light
bread. And so the Lord has sent fiery
serpents and when the people come to Moses and confess their
sin and acknowledge that they have sinned against the Lord,
And they ask Moses to pray to the Lord, and Moses prays for
them. And as I say, it really is a direct consequence of their
sin that this brazen serpent is lifted up. Well, of course,
the parallel is easy to see. For what purpose was it that
the Lord Jesus came? For what purpose was it that
he was lifted up? Well, it was because of sin. Because of the
sins of his people that were laid upon him. The second thing that we see
as we compare these two passages is that this lifting up was very
much the Lord's solution to the problem of sin. It was not Moses' idea to lift
up the serpent in the wilderness, but it was the Lord's instruction
to him. And of course, when we think about sin and when we think
about the forgiveness of sin, any forgiveness, it must be the
prerogative of the person doing the forgiving, mustn't it? There's
no right to demand forgiveness. If someone offends against us
and they come and ask for forgiveness, well, they can ask for it, but
they don't have any right to demand it. And so it is when
we consider our sins against the Lord, we can ask for forgiveness,
but we don't have any right to demand it. Those sins are are
not undoable, are they? I mean, sin can't be undone.
There's no going back on sin. We can make restitution. Perhaps if we steal something,
we can return it. Or if we tell a lie, we can confess it. But
the act of stealing and the act of lying is something that's
done forever. It can't be undone by us. We
can't turn the clock back. And so the solution to sin, the
remedy for sin, It must come from the Lord, and as I say,
it very much does so in this case, doesn't it? Moses comes
in prayer. He prays for the people just
as the people ask him. But it's the Lord that says,
make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. It's not
that Moses makes this suggestion. It's not that Moses has this
idea and wonders whether it will work. Really, Moses brings nothing
to this solution, and the children of Israel bring nothing to this
solution. The fiery serpent is very much
the Lord's solution to the problem of their sin. Make thee a fiery
serpent, set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Well, if that's true of the lifting up of the serpent, how much more
is it true of the lifting up of the Son of Man? It's striking
language, isn't it? Here in verse 14. It says, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Why is there a must? Why
is it so essential that the Son of Man be lifted up? You remember how Peter refers
to the Lord Jesus and his crucifixion? And he says to the Jews that,
he says, well, it was your wicked hands that crucified him and
slew him. but it was all by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. They lifted him up on the
cross, didn't they, with their wicked hands, but they were not
acting by their own volition. It wasn't just their idea. It
was very much by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, just as the lifting up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. Why must the Son of Man be lifted up? Well, the answer is
in verse 15, isn't it? When we read the word that at
the beginning of verse 15, the implication really is, in order
that. The son of man must be lifted
up in order that. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. It was for that purpose
that the Lord Jesus came. For that purpose that he was
sent into the world. It was in order that he might
be lifted up for this one great purpose. for the salvation of
whosoever believeth in him, whosoever believeth in him. It was the
Lord's remedy, the Lord's solution to the problem of sin. But then
thirdly, it's very noticeable that when
we read of the brazen serpent, it is a solution that the Israelites
bring nothing to. But we can also say that it is
a solution that they are involved in. Because when the Lord says
to Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, there's that phrase towards the
end of that eighth verse where the Lord says, when he looketh
upon it, when he looketh upon it, The Lord could have 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 shall live.
That would have been easily within the power of the Lord, wouldn't
it? To have just healed those that it was his will to heal
without them having to look to the brazen serpent. But it says, when he looketh
upon it. And again, it's emphasised in
verse nine, isn't it? If a serpent had bitten any man,
when he beheld the serpent of brass, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived. God is sovereign in this work,
just as God is sovereign in the work of salvation through the
Lord Jesus. But it's also a work in which
the sinner is is involved, is not passive, it is in a sense
not just something that happens to them, but it is something
that involves them and affects them. Again, here in verse 15
in John chapter three, it doesn't just say, even so must the son
of man be lifted up, that the Lord's people should not perish,
but it says, whosoever believeth in him, should not perish. There is a believing in him and
it is through that faith that the salvation comes, that the
salvation flows. We see the sovereignty of God
certainly in both of these accounts. His sovereignty in causing Moses
to raise up that brazen serpent. It was his idea, if you like. It was his commandment. It comes
at his initiative. And even so, with the Lord Jesus,
he comes as the servant of God. He is lifted up according to
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. But there is no room for fatalism
in either of these accounts, is there? Because the Lord uses
means. He uses means. So often he uses
means. Look at the following chapter. Look at, not the following chapter,
sorry, chapter one of this same gospel. Not chapter one, chapter
two of this same gospel. We have the account of the wedding
in Cana in Galilee. Where Jesus is told that there
is no wine. And we read about the way in
which the Lord provides wine. But when the Lord provides wine,
how does he do it? Well, he instructs the servants to fill up the water
pots with water. Why does he do that? It wasn't
strictly necessary, was it? The Lord Jesus was not beholden
to those servants. It's not that the Lord Jesus
didn't have enough power to produce the wine without the servants'
involvement, but he uses means. And so the servants fill the
pots with water up to the brim, and when they draw it out, it's
discovered that that water has become good wine. He uses means,
he uses the servants as part of that miracle. And of course,
you can think of the feeding of the 5,000 in chapter six of
this same Gospel. And again, there is a pressing
need. Here is a great company with
nothing to eat, and they're beginning to faint and to be starving,
and the Lord Jesus provides for them. But how does he provide
for them? Well, again, it would have been
very easy for the Lord just to have miraculously and immediately
solved the problem of their hunger. He didn't even need to give them
bread and fish. But he uses the means, he takes
the five loaves and the two small fishes from the lad, and he gives
thanks and he breaks, And then he distributes to the disciples.
He uses the disciples as part of this chain of events, and
the disciples distribute to them that were set down, and likewise
of the fishes as much as they would. He uses means. And then a final example, you
remember the account of the healing of the blind man in chapter nine.
How does Jesus heal the blind man? Well, again, he could have
done it, we might say, with a click of his fingers, couldn't he?
There was no necessity for him to make clay with the ground
and to put it upon the eyes of the blind man and to instruct
him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, but he does all those
things. He works through means and so it is here in the matter
of salvation. Yes, the brazen serpent is raised
up. But the children of Israel, those serpent-bitten Israelites,
they are to look to him, to set their eyes upon him. And healing
is given through their looking. No room for fatalism. We're not
fatalistic about other things, are we? In the same way that
we can sometimes be fatalistic about salvation. We rightly stress
the sovereignty of God. But it's a terrible thing if
that leads us or if it leads other people to say, well, there's
nothing I can do about it. I'll do nothing. I'll wait. We
don't behave like that in any other way. We know that God is
sovereign in everything. He's sovereign in every aspect of
our lives. But when we are hungry, we don't
sit down and say, well, if the Lord will, I'll be filled. And
if he doesn't, then I won't. We eat the food that he's provided.
We drink the water that he's provided. We use these means
and surely that's the message here. There is to be a looking
upon him, a believing in him. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. It is a remedy in which
the sinner is involved. And then fourthly, I want to
notice something about the width of this word. What do I mean by the width of
this word? Well, really it's there in that little word, whosoever,
isn't it? There in verse 15. That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And we
see the same kind of width, don't we, back in the account of the
brazen serpent, because when the Lord says to Moses, make
a fiery serpent, he says, everyone that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And again, in verse nine, if
a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, he lived. There's such a width in this
gospel, isn't there? Such a tremendous breadth. You
might say, well, I thought it was a narrow way. Didn't the
Lord Jesus say that the way to life is a narrow way? Well, of
course he did. But why is it a narrow way? It's a narrow way
because there are few that believe in it. There is a width in the word,
in the promise. It's whosoever believeth in him
that should not perish but have eternal life. But there are few
that believe in him. Why is it that there are few
that believe in him when it's not due to any fault in him?
It's not due to any fault in the gospel. It's not due to any
fault in his words. He couldn't be any more encouraging,
could he? When he says whosoever, it's
a wide word, it's a big word, it's a full word. The reason that there are few
that believe in him is not down to any fault in him, not down
to any fault in the message. Why is it that few believe in
him? Well, we have to turn back to that familiar parable of the
sower and his seed, don't we? What do we find in the parable
of the sower and his seed? Well, we find the sower, and
he sows the same seed upon all four kinds of ground, doesn't
he? There's nothing deficient about the seed. The seed is good
seed. And the seed is seen to be good
seed when it falls into the good ground. Nothing deficient in
the seed, nothing wrong with the seed, but there is something
wrong with the ground in three of those four cases. It's by
the wayside, or it's too stony, or it's too thorny. And so when
the seed falls in, there's no germination, there's no fruit.
Not something wrong with the seed, but something wrong with
the ground. Well, there's a width, as I say,
in the words of the Lord Jesus. But how we need to be humble,
it's the farmer's work upon the soil, isn't it, that makes the
bad soil good? It's not that the bad soil just
decides to be good, but it needs to be worked upon. There's no room for fatalism
here. How often? that we come across
those who are so full of doubt about the Lord's promises. We can imagine someone amongst
the Israelites who's been bitten by one of these serpents and
perhaps we could come to them and say, well look, the Lord
has provided a remedy, there's a brazen serpent which Moses
has raised up on a pole. What would we say to that man
if he was to say to us, well I realise that but I'm not sure
if it's the Lord's will that I'm to be healed. If he was to say I believe in
the absolute sovereignty of God and I'm not sure whether it's
the Lord's will whether I should be healed and therefore I'm not
sure whether it's worth me looking. What would we say to a man? We
would say, well, it's the wrong time for you to be worrying about
that kind of question. The brazen serpent is raised
up. The promise is given. Everyone that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it, shall live. And so we see the Apostle Paul,
don't we, in that incident with the Philippian jailer. Here is
the Philippian jailer springing into the cell in the middle of
the night. and falling down before Paul and Barnabas with that question. Sirs, he says, what must I do
to be saved? And Paul doesn't say, well, the
first thing we need to establish is whether you're among the elect,
whether it's the Lord's purpose for you to be saved. But they
reply straight away, don't they, with that wonderful promise.
They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. and thy house. Paul preaches
the same gospel to the Jews in the synagogue in Antioch, doesn't
he? Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by
him all that believe are justified from all things from which he
could not be justified by the law of Moses. He preaches this wonderful gospel,
this wonderful so free, so full gospel to all that he encounters,
doesn't he? To the Jew and to the Greek,
he scatters that good seed upon all the ground that he finds.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. We leave, we sometimes come across
people and they might read of the words of the Lord Jesus in
this passage or many others of the words of the Lord Jesus.
And they might ask us, well, I am drawn to that gospel. I do know something of my sin
and I believe I need the remedy. I want that eternal life that
the Lord Jesus has spoken of. But they might say, well, don't
I first need a deeper conviction of sin? What would you say if someone
was to ask you, does a person need conviction of sin before
they come to the Lord Jesus? Of course, in one sense, the
answer is yes. Of course they do. Just as these
Israelites. What kind of Israelite was it
that would be drawn to that brazen serpent? Well, it would be one
that had been bitten, wouldn't it? The Israelite who hadn't been
bitten, he wouldn't have any need for the brazen serpent. It's certainly true in a sense
to say that a man must have conviction of sin if he's to be one of these
who is described here as believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
again, we're not to make that faith
something of a, not to make that conviction something as a qualification. How many there are, I'm sure
you've encountered them. I certainly have. And they say,
well, I long to believe in him. As it says, I long to know that
eternal life that is set before me there in the gospel. But I'm
just not sure whether my conviction is deep enough. I'm not sure
if I'm ready to come to him. Don't I really need more conviction?
Will he receive me with this such insufficient conviction
that I seem to have? This is a danger, isn't it? I'm
sure many of us can remember reading books about those who
have been through terrible conviction over their sin, who have been
through months of sleepless nights and have shed many tears and
have not been able to do anything. because of the depth of their
conviction and we might look at our own conviction and say,
well, it's not really worthy to be compared to what they've
been through. And so we can fall into this trap and think, well,
what I really need is greater conviction. I need to make myself
sorrier for my sin and then I'll be ready to come. It's not true, is it? If a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpents of brass, he lived.
I can't imagine Moses going about amongst the people and coming
to a person who had been bitten. If that person said, well, I
have been bitten, but I'm not sure if I've been bitten enough
yet. The brazen serpent is given to those, to heal those who are
bitten, and I'm not sure if my bites are numerous enough. What
would Moses have said? He would have said, well, it's
foolish talk. The Lord has promised that everyone
that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. How we have to come with
nothing, don't we, in the end? Very easy to fall into the trap
of thinking, well, if I only had more conviction, it would
be much easier to come to the Lord Jesus. Because then I'd
be able to come with it and say, well, look at all this conviction
I've got now. I'm ready. I'm ready to be saved
because I'm so full of conviction. But that's not how the Lord works.
He brings us empty-handed. He brings us confessing the smallness
of our conviction, the smallness of our repentance. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. And that means we're all on the same
level, doesn't it? It's wonderful to think of, you
know, there was not one brazen serpent for the common people
and another brazen serpent for the princes. It was one fiery serpent, one
brazen serpent that was set upon a poem. And all the people were equal,
weren't they? There was no hierarchy. It wasn't
that some were given a different remedy for the serpent bites. But they were all on the same
level. It must have been shocking, wasn't it? Well, it was shocking.
We know it was shocking for the Pharisees, wasn't it? When the Lord Jesus
came and told them that they needed to be born again. This is one of the things they
found so offensive about his teaching, wasn't it? That it
put them on the same level as the publicans. A gospel that puts us all on
the same level, all in the same boat, if you like, all in one
place. But there's a tremendous width in it. Whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And then fifthly
and finally, just to notice something about this faith. What does it
say? What is it to believe in him?
Well, you think about the equivalent in the case of the brazen serpent. It's very specific, isn't it?
What was necessary for a man to be healed from the bites of
the fiery serpents? Well, they had to look upon.
They had to look upon the fiery serpent. It wasn't just that they were
to be told about it. They weren't just to have it
described to them. It wasn't sufficient even to teach them
all about it. They could have known every detail
of that serpent, couldn't they? They could have been taught the
size of it, how it was made, what it looked like, all the
little details that no doubt there were. And all that would
have been no value if they hadn't looked upon it. Well, it's just
the same with this faith here, isn't it, that's described here
in John's Gospel. It's a believing in him, that
word in. It's often the little words that
are the important words, isn't it? That word in is really the
same word as we have in verse 17. It says in verse 17, God sent
not his son into the world. That's the same word. As is here
in verse 15, whosoever believeth in him. What is it to believe
in him? Well, it's not just to believe
that he existed. Not just to believe that there
was a man called Jesus who walked about upon the earth for 33 years
and then died and rose again and ascended into heaven. The devils believe that and they
tremble. But there must be a believing
into him. It wasn't enough for the Israelite to believe in the
serpent, to believe that it existed. It wasn't enough for the Israelite
to know about the serpent. But there must have, there needed
to be a looking to it. If faith is something moving,
something active, a believing into him, it implies motion,
doesn't it? It implies activity. Whosoever believeth into him
should not perish. And as we look to him, We are
looking to all of the promises that are in him, aren't we? Just like those Israelites. When
they look to the brazen serpent, what is the power that heals
them? Well, it's not a power that is in the brass, is it?
It's not a power that is in the sculpture that Moses has made.
The power is in the promise. the promise of God that is attached
to that serpent, whosoever, everyone that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it, shall live. And so as the children of Israel
look to the serpent, really they are resting upon that promise.
Well, what is it to believe into Christ? Well, it's to rest upon
him, to rest upon him. What is it to believe in someone
in that sense? What is it to trust someone?
How would you describe it? If you had to put your confidence
in someone, if they were to say, trust me, I know what I'm doing,
if you were to believe them, what are you doing? You're putting
yourself in their hands. You're resting upon their knowledge,
their understanding, their power. Well, so it is with the Lord
Jesus, whosoever believeth into him, Faith is a simple thing really,
isn't it? When you boil it down, it's not
complicated. That doesn't mean it's easy.
That doesn't mean it's not difficult. That doesn't mean there's not
a fight of faith. But faith itself is a simple thing. It's a looking
thing. It's a resting thing. It's a
trusting thing. and it's a way that is so suitable
for sinners. What could these Israelites do? There was no other remedy for
their problem, was there? They would never have come to
Moses in the way that they did if they could have dealt with
this another way. But it was such a suitable, such a suitable
solution to the problem that they had. They looked upon it
and they lived. Well, what a suitable salvation
this is for sinners. You know, the more those Israelites
felt the pain of those bites, the more suitable that brazen serpent
was for them. And when we feel the sting of
sin, the bite of sin, and the condemnation of sin, now we have
to learn that that sting, that bite, that pain is It makes us
more suitable for this Christ, for this gospel. We sometimes
get it the wrong way around, don't we? We say, well, I feel
too much of a sinner today to come to this Christ. We fall
into some sin or other, a sin perhaps that we've resolved against
over and over, and we find ourselves falling into it again, and we
say, well, I can't come now. It's not the right time now,
not when I'm so guilty. as if less guilt makes us more
suitable for this salvation. That's back to front, isn't it?
It's not less guilt that makes us more suitable. It's not less
guilt that makes this salvation more suitable for us, but more
guilt. when we feel the pain of sin,
how we have to be taught to come again to this same Christ, to
look again, to rest again upon this one who is set before us
here, this son of man that must be lifted up. And as I say, it's
something we have to learn to do in every part of our prayers.
Truly, this is what the Lord Jesus was teaching his disciples
when he spoke towards the end of this gospel. whatsoever ye
shall ask the Father in my name. What is it to ask the Father
in his name? Well, it's to ask the Father
with our faith set upon this Christ. Not to come to the Father
and say, do this for my sake, because I deserve it. But to
say, do it for his sake, because he deserves it. Because the Son of Man has been
lifted up. in order that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. We're going
to sing in a moment one of my favourite hymns. I often, I remember
often we used to sing this hymn at Richmond when I was a boy. And it's a hymn that is based
upon the account of the brazen serpent. I'm sure you're familiar
with it. and how the hymn writer he draws
out so many contrasts and makes this wonderful comparison. What does he come to at the end
of that hymn? Dying sinners, he says, look and live. Dying
sinners look and live, not just once, but over and over again. We come back to this salvation
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life, where may God help us in our prayers this evening to believe
into him, to rest upon him, and all the promises that are in
him. And may we know this eternal life which is spoken of here.
For 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. Amen.