The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor David Edmondson. over the years I've been asked
by folks what I believe to be the one sin that could not be
forgiven. Is there any sin that will not
and cannot be forgiven? Now I've heard people express
their opinion and say that they thought that murder could not
be forgiven, that God would not forgive murder. I've heard other
people say that they didn't think that God would forgive adultery.
Well, David The apple of God's eye committed both adultery and
murder within a very short period of time. As you might remember,
he killed Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, whom
he slept with. David even confessed to Nathan
the prophet that he had sinned greatly against the Lord and
done this evil in God's sight. And yet Nathan said, the Lord
hath put away thy sin. and thou shalt not die, 2 Samuel
12 verse 13. So we know that an unforgivable
sin is neither adultery or murder. God was even gracious to forgive
those two great sins. So is there any sin that God
will not forgive? Is there any sin that is unforgivable? Yes, there is. And it's called
unbelief. Unbelief is the only thing that
in the end will condemn men and women to the eternal wrath, judgment,
and justice of God. We're pretty much all familiar
with the story found in the book of Numbers, the Old Testament
book of Numbers chapter 21. I want to speak to you about
that amazing story found in that chapter, Numbers 21, if you have
your Bible and can turn along with me. I think it would be
helpful. If not, we'll read the verses
as we go through it. Beginning in verse four of numbers
21, we read, and they speaking of Israel journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to come past the land of Edom
and the soul of the people was much discouraged. That word means
grieve. They were very grieved because
of the way. Now, what does that mean? Well,
this is God's way. In the sovereign providence of
God, this is the way that God sent them. And instead of rejoicing,
instead of being thankful that God had delivered them from 400
years of bondage in Egypt, The hearts and the souls of these
people were much discouraged, very grieved because of the way,
God's way. That is simply unbelief. It was denying that God had their
best interest at heart. It was denying that God was out
to do them good, and they were discouraged. Verse five, and
the people spoke against God and against Moses, and they said,
wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? God had delivered them out of
Egypt with a mighty hand. God had sent 10 plagues, supernatural
plagues upon Egypt and Pharaoh in order for him to finally bow
to the power and providence of God. God had promised to give
them a land that flowed with milk and honey. The Lord went
before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the
way. He led them by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, while God had rained down bread from heaven for them to
eat, and a rock followed them from which they drank. And what
do they say in the last part of verse five? For there is no
bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
bread. Well, that was a lie. And it's
here that we see their great sin. They rejected and denied
God's singular provision of Jesus Christ, the Lord. They wanted
something other than what God had provided. Did you hear what
I said? It's the same today. Men and
women want something other than Christ, the one and only provision
and remedy for sin. God had sent bread from heaven,
which pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said in the
Gospel of John, I am the bread of life that cometh from heaven.
If any man eat of that bread, he'll never hunger again. Oh,
I'm telling you, friends, they rejected Christ. That's exactly
what they did. God in, and by, and through His
beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the substitute, the sacrifice,
the one mediator between God and men. the only one who can
save and provide the only solution, payment, and satisfaction for
the holy law and the justice of God and men and women loathe. They said, we loathe this light
bread. They despise, they hate, and
they're grieved at Christ, the bread of life. And what they
were saying was really this, we are sick and tired of the
manna, and we don't want it anymore. And that's the issue. That was
the issue then, and that is the issue now. Men want something
more than Christ. God has provided the one thing
needful for salvation, the only one thing needful, and that's
Christ. And if you're not satisfied with
him, then you are guilty of the only sin that is unforgivable,
and that is the rejection of Christ, the bread of life. That
is unbelief. God says, God records in this
Word that He, Jesus Christ, is the way. There is no other way.
He is the truth. There is no other truth. and
he is the life, and no man, no woman, no body cometh to the
Father. None have life eternal but by
him." That's the only way, just one way. First Numbers 21 is
about sin and sin's remedy. That's what God's people are
interested in. Matter of fact, that's all they're
interested in. I'm not interested in a preacher
telling me on how I need to live and what I need to do and what
I don't need to do. I'm interested only in how a
sinner like me, wretched, blind, unbelieving, can be saved and
reconciled to God. That's it, that's what I wanna
know. Tell me again how God saves sinners. In verse six it says, and 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 for 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.
Now there are some in this world that God makes aware of their
sin. They see and they understand
that they've been bitten with the serpent's poison of sin and
it permeates their being and its poisonous venom travels through
their bloodstream and it paralyzes them so that they cannot move
a muscle in order to save themselves. For all practical purposes, they
are dead. That's what the Lord told Adam. He said, in the day that you
eat thereof of this tree, this fruit, you shall surely die. And he lived 930 years. He died
spiritually. We know that. Adam is our federal
head and representative through us all into the death of sin,
spiritual death. But God shows some something
of their sin. God convicts and God convinces
some that they're sinners. They confess that they've sinned.
They pray unto the Lord that he take away their sin. And the
Lord in mercy and grace hears their prayer. In verse eight,
and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and
set it up on a pole. And it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and he put it upon a pole. And
it came to pass that if the serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld
the serpent of brass, he lived. There they lay in the desert
sand. Can you see them laying in that
desert sand, that wilderness of a world that they were in
and they could not move. No, they couldn't move to the
front of the church or anywhere else. They could not raise their
hand as a symbol of their desire to make Jesus Lord. They could
not talk. They could not pray a sinner's
prayer. They couldn't do anything to
save themselves, but God made a way that they could be saved. They could look, they could behold. And God put his son upon a pole,
the cross, and every sin-bitten sinner that desires to live can
look to Christ high and lifted up and be saved. This serpent
of brass that's raised upon a pole is no doubt a type and a picture
of the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that because
that's what the Lord said in John chapter three. It's a picture
and a type of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say it all the time, substitution
is the heart of the gospel. For Christ, the substitute is
salvation. Christ died in the room instead
of a people that God gave him before the foundation of the
world, and every single one of them will be saved. There'll
be none lost for whom Christ died, none. In his death, he
satisfied the perfect requirements of the law, and he satisfied
the holy justice of God, and he worked out a perfect righteousness
for his people that is eternal and can never be taken away.
Some people claim that you can lose your salvation. If it's
your salvation, I suppose you can, but not if it's God's salvation. If you can choose it, you can
lose it. But we know what Christ said, you've not chosen me, but
I've chosen you. You can't lose that which God
gives, for with his salvation comes the promise of being kept
by his power. Oh, isn't that a wonderful word?
Kept, kept by the power of God. No man can pluck me from his
hand. His hand is sovereign. None can
stay it. None can keep it from accomplishing
everything that he desires to do. He's God. My salvation is
forever and it's eternal according to the scriptures. Now, I would
also have you to see that Numbers 21 is about faith. It's about
a look. It's about beholding the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of his people in the world. The Lord Jesus himself said,
look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for
I am God and there is none else. And it's clear, clear from the
scriptures that there is no other that we can look to. It's as
clear as the nose on our face that if we don't look to him,
we will never be saved. Salvation in the scriptures is
very specific, very specific, very narrow. The brazen serpent
represents and pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in John 3,
verse 14, we again see salvation is very narrow and very specific. Christ said here in John 3, 14,
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must,
must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now this serpent
on a pole is God's remedy for our sin. It is supplied at God's
command. It's received only by faith.
Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish. Whosoever shall look,
behold, the Lord Jesus Christ will have everlasting life. The serpent on the pole was made
of fiery brass. It wasn't made of silver. It
wasn't made of gold. Silver and gold are precious
metals, but not brass. Brass is not a precious metal.
Brass signifies judgment. Brass is able to withstand intense
fire and heat. Friends, Christ is the bearer
of the fiery wrath of God. When this brass serpent was raised
up, it had already been through the fire. It was fashioned in
the fire. And we trust Christ in his finished
work. And he has already been through
the fire of God's wrath and judgment. Christ is not on a cross. No,
he's on God's throne. And I'll say it again, that's
why I don't see the infatuation with crosses. If someone killed
a loved one of mine with a gun or a knife, I wouldn't wear a
symbol of a gun or a knife around my neck. I wouldn't hang one
on my rear view mirror, and I certainly wouldn't hang one on my wall.
The serpent of brass pictures the finished work of judgment.
The work of judgment is accomplished. Did you know that God's people
don't go through judgments? Oh, we often mistake God's loving
chastisement and correction for judgment. But it's not judgment. You see, whom the Lord loves,
he chastens. And if you endure chastening,
God deals with you as sons and as daughters. For what son or
daughter is he or she whom the Father chasteneth not? This is
also a picture of preaching the finished work. Why don't preachers
preach the finished work of Christ? They tell you what you must do
to be saved and never tell you anything about the finished work
of Christ. Friends, it's finished. The work
is finished. Christ has died. He's fulfilled the law. He satisfied
God's justice. God is satisfied. If God give me grace, I'm gonna
preach the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we lift
up Christ in our preaching as the one who was crucified in
the room, in the stead of his people, paying for every sin
that all God's people throughout all time have committed. I would
also have you to consider that the serpent on the pole was not
a serpent. It was the likeness of a serpent. And this shows Christ and his
incarnation in the taking on of the likeness of men. You see,
friends, sin is what we are, but Christ knew no sin. He was
only made in our likeness, yet without sin. He was made to be
a man that he might redeem man. Brass is a lowly metal. Christ
made himself of no reputation. He took on the form of a servant,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Oh, there's
none who is meek and lowly and hard as he is, and what a condescension
God made. We don't know anything about
condescension. We're maggots on the dunghill. We can't go any lower. What do
we know about it? The Lord Jesus Christ does. He
laid down his glory as God Almighty and became a man. And doesn't
this reveal the necessity and the reason for his substitution? Now listen, Christ was made in
the image of that which was the deadly problem that faced this
people. The serpent pictured the sin
of this people, and the result of that sin was death. And Christ
was made what we are. He was made to be sin so that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This serpent was
put on a pole and lifted up. And the first thing that comes
to our mind when we think of being lifted up on a pole is
the cross. Did you know that the Greek word
for cross is styrus, and it means post or a pole, not a cross-membered
piece of wood as we know it? And I'm not going to argue whether
the cross was a single pole or a cross-section piece of wood,
but it does make sense to me that since the cause of death
and crucifixion was actually asphyxiation, You see, on a pole,
a man's hands would have been placed above his head and nailed. And then the reason they put
nails in the feet were to keep them from dying immediately.
Someone hanging on a pole could push his feet up with the nail
in his feet to keep his lungs from filling up and suffocating.
And if the one hanging on the cross lived longer than they
desired, they would simply break his legs so that he would asphyxiate.
You know, Christ gave up the ghost before that happened, fulfilling
the prophecy that none of his bones would be broken, found
in John chapter 19, verse 36. And I also found it very interesting
that the word pole found in our text here in Numbers 21 in the
Hebrew language actually means a banner. It means an ensign,
a flagstaff, that pole that men hold up a flag upon. for all
to see. It's a rallying point. It's where
they gather. This is where we rally together.
This is what God's people look to. This is where we plead our
allegiance. Christ is our banner. This pole
is what holds Christ up. We see Christ high and lifted
up. You see, we've been bitten, we've been wounded, we've been
infected, and we're dying from the poison of sin. And we must
look, and we must rally, and we must pledge allegiance to
Christ in order to live. Christ is the object of our faith. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our salvation. Looking to this brazen serpent
is the same as looking to Christ, and it says two things in particular. First, it's a confession that
we've been bitten. It's a confession that we're
dying in sin. It's a confession that we have
hated the bread which God provided. It's a confession of being wrong. It's a confession of repentance.
It's a confession of saying, I know now to look to the one
that I once rejected. And secondly, it's a plea and
a cry for mercy. It's a plea and cry for help,
for redemption. Until God shows you that you've
been bitten and that you're dying in sin, you'll never cry for
mercy. But when God shows you that in
and of yourself, you're dying. Oh, I'm telling you, it's then
that you'll cry. It's then that you'll confess
your sin. It's then that you'll look to
Christ alone. I was thinking earlier this week,
as I read these verses, that it was Moses who lifted up the
brazen serpent. And we know that Moses represents
the law. I found it interesting that the
law is only called the law of God seven times in all of scripture. All the other times, 22 times,
it's called the law of Moses. Moses is associated with the
law of God because he is the one who on Mount Sinai received
the law from God. Now my question is this, how
does the law of Moses lift up Christ on the cross? Christ was
lifted up on the cross to meet all the demands of the law and
fulfill and glorify the law of God for God's people. The law
required death because the wages of sin is death. And the soul
that sinneth shall surely die. And Christ died the just for
the unjust that he might bring his people to God. And he died
on this pole upon this cross. You remember when they came to
Christ in the garden and the Lord Jesus said the second time,
who is it that you seek? The first time they asked him
that, he said, I am. They said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And they fell
backwards. But this time his words didn't
knock them down. This time he showed them and
he shows us that he's the substitute for chosen sinners. He said,
I am, but he added this. He said, if you therefore seek
me, let these go their way. Oh, that's substitution. The
law and justice of God cannot punish Christ and punish his
people too. That would make God unjust. Friends, Christ is the only way
that a chosen sinner can be justified and God can still remain just. He must remain just in order
to justify. He is a just God and a savior. He's both just and justifier
of them that believe. Again, John chapter three, verse
14 says, 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. And that word,
whosoever, Oh, I'm so thankful that it's there. Christ here
is talking about Numbers 21, the whosoever that believes is
those whosoever have been bitten and look to Christ for salvation,
whoever they are, they look to Christ. They are the chosen of
God. You don't have to believe in
election to be saved. Oh, I love the doctrine of election.
It removes all doubt about who does the saving. But you don't
have to believe in a doctrine. Believing in a doctrine won't
save you. You've got to believe in Christ to be saved. You don't
have to understand the doctrine of election to be saved, because
in reality, no one can understand the doctrine of election. You
got to look to Christ high and lifted up in order to be saved.
And remember, the sin of the Israelites was that they rejected
God's singular provision of the Lord Jesus Christ. They said,
we loathe this life bread. We're tired of it. We don't want
any more of it. Religion today tries very hard
to shove Christ down people's throat, even if they don't want
him. They endeavor to pressure men and women, boys and girls,
into a profession of faith in Christ whom they have yet to
see. They tell folks, you need Christ,
but they don't. You just ask them, they don't
see their need. I'm telling you, if they do,
you won't have to tell them. You won't have to beg a drowning
man to take a life preserver. He'll take it if he's drowning.
He'll take it if he wants to live. He'll take it because he
sees that he needs it. Whosoever believes in Christ
is whosoever needs Christ. Do you need Christ? Oh, if you're
dying of a snake bite, and the only way you can be saved is
by looking to a serpent on a pole, and you want to be saved, you'll
look. You better believe you'll look.
In the wilderness, the ones who were bitten were the ones who
were told to look. Now you think about that. Those
who were bitten by the serpents in the wilderness were the ones
who were told to look. They are the whosoever. Not everybody. No, not everybody. He that is
well has no need of a physician. He that is not bitten has no
need to look. All in the fall of Adam, all
mankind has been bitten. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But God doesn't reveal it to
everyone. But whosoever is bitten, whosoever feels the effect of
the poison, whosoever sees that they are dying, they will look. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, You can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431 or log on to our website at freegraceradio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m. Worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m. Wednesday evening
services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next Sunday
morning at 10 o'clock a.m. for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.