We know He lives in our heart.
We see it clearly. We see it clearly. Oh, it doesn't
mean we don't have doubts sometimes. Oh, huh. We all have doubts. We start taking our eyes off
of the one who we should have no doubt in. We start looking
at this flesh that we walk in. And that's where our doubts come
in. But aren't you thankful that
our Lord gave us a picture of him? Something we can look at
two or three times a week, four or five times a day, maybe. Something
we can go into his word and see. I wanna bring a message this
morning, one that I brought before, but it's been some time, and
it's a message that we preach every Sunday, to be quite honest
with you. It's just some different verses. It's a picture of our
Savior. I'm gonna ask you to turn your
Bibles to the 21st chapter of Numbers, please. Numbers chapter
21. If you were to stand out here in the foyer and
look at that wonderful, beautiful picture that's painted, hand-painted
of this church, you would see the buildings, the trees, See the front porch. See Judy's roses. Some picnic
tables that are no longer here. They've gone away. Some octagon
looking ones. Some trees that were once out
here in the front. You'd see everything that there's
in the picture there, but you and I all know that there's a
lot more to what is here around us than just what you can see
in that picture, huh? I mean, there's a creek that
runs next to the building out here. You can't see in it. Oh,
and in the wintertime, after a nice storm, that creek just
gets a raving. I stood out here on the edge
of it and thought to myself, if I was really stupid, which
I am pretty much, but I mean, if I was really, really stupid,
I could get in a kayak and try to ride that creek out to Folsom
Lake. I'll bet you could go all the way if you're a big fool.
You get my point about the picture? Your mind can start, the picture
doesn't show that old antique building next door where the
post office is and where they have a hall upstairs. I don't
know if you've ever been in the hall upstairs next door. Got
the old wooden plank floor. You hear it kind of, you just
picture people dancing on it and clickety clanking on the
wood. Maybe a little soft band, none
of that new electronic stuff, electric guitar, but you know,
acoustic guitar, maybe a violin or something, banjo, playing
on the background of the stage. You see what I'm talking about,
a picture? There's way more to what is in
reality than just the picture. When we look at a picture, as
in a farm, you might see a barn or a house, or maybe just a portion
of the farm. Maybe you don't see the rolls
of hay that are out there in the field, just the barn house
itself. Or maybe you don't see the outhouse
next to the old house. You know, my grandfather, I can
picture in my mind, if you painted a picture of the front of his
house, you wouldn't see it, but in the back, there's an old outhouse
back there. Maybe you might see a lovely
vegetable garden. My point is this, that a picture
is only part of all that there is. Much of the Old Testament
is exactly that. It's a picture, a type. Moses was a picture. He was a
type of Christ. Joseph, you remember Joseph. Joseph was one of Jacob's sons,
and his brother sold him. And then those that they sold
him to took him down into Egypt and sold him again down there.
He was a picture of Christ. All of the Old Testament sacrifices,
all the bloodshed of the animals was nothing more than a picture. Didn't show the whole story,
the true picture, the true scene. In Hebrews 10.1, you don't need
to turn there. We'll be looking at numbers. But allow me to read
for you from the 10th chapter of Hebrews, beginning at verse
one. For the law having a shadow of good things to come. See,
that's the law that God gave Moses. That law that he gave to Moses
when he was down there on that Mount Sinai. It was a shadow
of good things to come. and not the very image of things
and can never, with those things, sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continually make the comers therein too perfect. All of those things, the law,
the sacrifices, they were a picture of something else. The law can't
save. The animal sacrifices can't save. Only one can save, and that's
the one who filled that law completely and perfectly in his own being,
and therefore his blood being shed on that cross is the only
blood that God would accept for sin. Everything else is just
a picture. Verse 2, for then would they
not have ceased to be offered. If those blood sacrifices had
been any good, they would have ceased to being offered. You
wouldn't have to do it every year. When Christ sat down or when
Christ went to that cross, he went to the cross once. This
is the picture of all those animals. Christ went to the cross one
time, shed his blood one time, and that's all that it took.
This is important to you and I. This is important to us because
we need to know that our sins have been covered. What I'm going
to go out and do this afternoon, I need to know is covered. What
I may think about tomorrow as I drive on the freeway, I need
to know, is that covered too? If you're in Christ, it is. For then would they have not
ceased, then would they have not have ceased to be offered,
because that worshipers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, in those
pictures, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Every year, the high priest had
to go into the Holy of Holies. Every year, he had to go in there
and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. Why? Because every year,
the sins that he was atoning for did nothing. It did nothing
but point the people to the one who could. A picture of the very
one who would. For it is not possible, as it
says in verse four, that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Isn't that what God's word says? Wherefore, when he, when our
Lord, cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then he says this, he says, Lo, I come in the volume of the book,
And then over in chapter one of Hebrews, we read these words,
and God, in sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in
times past unto the fathers by the prophets. Folks, even in
the New Testament, our Lord uses pictures. It's not just here
in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament, he used
pictures to speak to the people. They're called parables. That's
a picture. It's a spiritual picture of things
in heaven. That's why several times the
disciples were confused. What do you mean by that? What
does this parable mean? What does the parable of the
sower mean, Lord? We understand what it means to
plant seed in rock. It's not going to grow there.
We understand what it means to plant seed in with the thorns. Thorns are going to grow up and
choke it. What do you mean by this, Lord? Only God can plant
seed and good ground. Folks, there's no good ground
in us. There is no good ground in us. God has to make something
new. This is called the new birth.
This is what he does to each and every one of us. My message
this morning is a picture of salvation. Oh, is that not what
we want to do every Sunday? See the picture of our Lord,
how he saved us from our sins, how all the stuff that we've
done this week can be put away. We don't have to carry it with
us. We confess it before the Lord and he takes it upon himself. I do this all the time. I hope
you do too. And if you're a child of God,
you are and you will. If you don't, you need to get
on your knees and ask for the Lord for mercy. If you don't
have to ask the Lord for grace and mercy in what your life is,
you need to get down on your knees and asking for it. And
if he's giving it to you, you know he's giving it to you. You
are experiencing grace because you can say to yourself as you're
in that closet, praying for God's mercy and forgiveness of what
you've done this week, you can say, I know my Lord is true. He shows me the truth in his
book. Israel was not all Israel. Paul
said that. Many of the people were of this
world and they were not of God. But God used the people as a
spiritual picture, as a picture of spiritual Israel, the Jerusalem
of God, the bride of Christ, the loved of God. And this morning
we're gonna look at a type, a picture of salvation of God's people.
Now look with me if you would at verse four, Numbers chapter
21. beginning at verse four, and
they journeyed from Mount Hor. This is the people of Israel.
These are those that God used as a picture of all of Israel,
all of God's chosen people throughout all time. 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. Oh, Much discouraged because
of the way, in verse five, and the people spake against God
and against Moses, wherefore have ye 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. God had given his chosen people,
those to picture his people throughout all time, bread to suffice them,
and it wasn't good enough. Isn't that the way the world
is? Trust in me, says the Lord. Believe upon me, saith the Lord.
That's not good enough. I gotta have something to do. What do I have to do to be saved,
saith the world? Well, if you come to church every
Sunday, If you get into this pool and
get baptized, if you come down here to the front and say a prayer
with me, if you send $5, what must I do to be saved? That's
our nature. That's what we are. I don't want
to do it God's way. The bread from the Lord is not
enough. I've had loved ones tell me who
have come to this church Say, I don't want to go there. I'll
go somewhere else because I need more to do. There's a lady who
came to this church quite some time back. And I won't use any
names. We went to her. Bill and I went to her several
years later. Oh, nice to see you again, ma'am.
Where have you been? Well, I've been down here at
this church where I can work with the children. Oh, well,
how's that working out? And the preacher, well, you know.
Not really. I mean, you got to get kind of
past all that. No, you don't. No. Either God's word and the
message of Christ and him crucified is good enough for you, or you're
not a God. And I know that's kind of bold
for me to say that. But that's the truth, folks. That is the truth. If you are
of God, His word, the story of who He is, the picture of our
Savior, because salvation is of the Lord, is it not? All of
salvation is of Him. And that picture is good enough
for me. Is it good enough for you? Verse six, and the Lord sent
fiery serpents. If I, oh God, send fiery serpents
into my life. Lord, cut my legs out from underneath
me if you have to. Careful what you pray for. Whatever it takes, Lord, bring
me to look to you. If it's fiery serpents, so be
it. It's for my good. If you have to witness me go
through torment and torture, maybe it's for your good. Maybe
it's for somebody else's good. Maybe the towers of New York
had to fall so that one of God's children would see that and say,
where do we go? The only place you can go, the
Prince of Peace. 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. Oh, here is the world slamming against me. My little
ship is getting overfilled with the floods, the winds blowing
the waves over me. Therefore, the people came to
Moses and said, where we have spoken against the Lord and against
thee, pray for us, pray unto the Lord that he take away the
serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Here's that picture, the picture of salvation. Our Lord prays
for us. Father, he says in chapter 17
of John, Father, I pray not for the world, but
I pray for them, those that thou has given me, all of you. that belonged to him. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass that everyone that is bitten. Now I'm gonna ask
you something. Stop right there for one second.
Do you think that those who weren't bitten looked to that pole? Oh, man, I got to look to the
pool this morning. I got bit by the snake. The other guy in
the same household, ah, you go ahead. I'm out of here. I'm on
my way to work. I'm going to go down to the local pub and
hang out with the guys that aren't bitten. Think about that. When we're suffering, when we're
facing something that is just a great turmoil in our life,
Can we not thank our Lord for bringing us to the point to look
to him, our brazen serpent on a pole? And the Lord said unto Moses,
make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass that everyone that be bitten when he looketh upon
it shall live. How many of those people that
were bitten thought to themselves, maybe, are you serious? I mean, I can feel the poison
coming up in my leg. I can feel it. You know, a fiery
serpent, you know what that means? That means it burns. That means
the venom in your bloodline is burning. That's what a fiery
serpent is. You got the blood coming up in
your leg. It's heading for your heart. You can feel the death
coming to you. You can feel it. It's coming.
How many of them thought to themselves, why would I go look at that stupid
thing that Moses put up out there? How's that going to save me?
That's exactly where every one of us were before God came to
us and brought us to look to him. Every one of us. I was burning. I was burning
with poison in me, and I didn't know it. In fact, I loved it. I picture a guy sitting on a
pole, or on a mast of a ship, and a storm. Yeah, that's right,
a force gun. And a storm just slamming him
left and right, and he's, ah! Ah! Thinks he's fighting God. There's a lot of proud men like
that in the world, aren't there? You know what? There's a lot
of proud women just like that, too. And Moses made a serpent, verse
9. And 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. Now, this is the very picture
our Lord chose to give that religious Pharisee, that one who practiced
religion, and oh, he was good at it, too. You know he was good
at it. You know he, to be a Pharisee,
you gotta show up every worship day. If it's a Sunday, you gotta
be in church at all time, every time. You gotta be there every
day, every time they come to worship, you gotta be there dressed
in your garb, dressed in your best, ready to be a servant to
the people You're a good Christian. Gotta be a good Christian. That
Pharisee boy, he was good. His name was Nicodemus. You know
about him? And we'll look at that in the
third chapter of John in a moment, but first let's consider the
condition of the people in this brazen serpent and how it could
be a picture of the one who saved his people. I'm gonna read some
for you, and I'm gonna refer to some verses, and you'll be
happy to, I'll be happy to give you these verses at the end,
if you'd like. For the sake of time, I'm just
gonna read through them. The people rebelled against God.
That's in verses four and five. They were discouraged because
of the way. They were discouraged because here we had it so good. We were slaves, yeah, but we
had it good. We knew what tomorrow was going
to bring. We knew that guy was going to
whip us with his whip tomorrow. But out here, we don't know what's
going to happen. Out here in the wilderness, we just don't
know. We don't know where the food's going to come from. It
looks like there's no food around. We don't know where the water.
And desert, where's the water going to come from? They couldn't. Do you know when the Lord told
Abraham to leave his people, He had no idea. Where am I supposed
to go, Lord? Don't worry about it. I'll take
care of it. Okay. What am I supposed to do
tomorrow, Lord? Don't worry about it, John. I'll
lead you the way. I'll show you the way. I'm gonna
make plans for tomorrow. But oh, how often does God step
in and show us that his plan is what's gonna happen. We planned
on seeing Bill that Friday night, didn't we? I'm sure thankful for God's plan.
I miss my brother, but I am so thankful that he stands with
our Lord today and no sin in him. I look forward with a glee in
my heart for the day when I can serve my Lord perfectly like
our brother Bill. When I don't have any more of
this sorrow of the flesh to deal with, and I can stand before
my Lord and say, Hallelujah! In perfect harmony. Instead of like I am today, rebelling
against my God. I do. I think I know better sometimes.
That's rebellion. These folks, they were discouraged
because of the way the people had chosen to go a certain direction,
which was smooth and easy, but they chose a direction that was
away from Canaan, and the Lord let them go. Jonah chose to run
from God, and God let him go. He could've stopped him. He could've
stopped him right there, but God had a way of, he had a way
to stop Jonah that Jonah didn't have any idea of. And if Jonah
had any idea of what the way of the Lord was ahead in store
for him, he wouldn't have ran that way, I'm sure of it. It was the way that they had
chosen when they were in Kadesh Barnea. They could have and they
should have entered into the land of milk and honey, but their
unbelief turned them away, and you can read about that in Hebrews
3.19. Folks, our wanderings in this wilderness are of our own
choosing. In our father, Adam, we chose
not to believe God. You don't think I'm right about
that? Read Romans 5.12 when you have a moment. We wanted to be
our own God, to have our own way, and the consequences of
that is death. It's death for the whole race.
People spoke against God. In 1 Corinthians 10, 9, Paul
said they spoke against Christ. They murmured against Moses,
God's prophet and leader. Nothing that the Lord or Moses,
his servant, had done pleased them. They spoke against the
way of God and the word of God, and our generation today is no
different. It's absolutely no different.
It can't be that way that you're saying up there at Rescue. I
have a free will. That's Jesus. Our God says it's not of him
that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Isn't that what he says? Am I wrong? But the world, the world wants
to make it their way. We murmur against the Lord, we
murmur against his way, his word, and his servants. We have the
lust of our own way. Read about that in Isaiah 53.6,
also in 55.8. It got us in the mess that we're
in, yet we still reject God's way and desire our own, don't
we? The people found fault with the bread from heaven, the manna,
the very picture that we're talking about, the picture of God himself.
He says, I am the bread of life. This is the bread from heaven.
The true bread, that bread that Moses gave you, that was nothing.
That just sustained you for a little bit. The one who will sustain
us through eternity is Christ Jesus. What a horrible, condemning statement
to say, our soul loatheth this bread. especially in the light of the
fact that that rock, that rock that they drank from was Christ,
a picture of Christ Jesus himself. God's gift of life. How many
in the world of religion today are content with Christ, the
bread of life? I need more. I need something
for my disabled son to do. There's nothing there where God's
word is preached. I need to go somewhere, I know
they don't preach the truth, but that's okay. No, not to God's
children, it's not. Listen to the words of John chapter
five. In John chapter five, beginning
at verse 39, we read these words, search the scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me. And you will not come unto me.
This is God's word. This is what the Lord's word
is, folks. And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves. The very religious
world of that day strove, striving. What do you mean eating of your
flesh? How can we eat of this flesh and live? saying, how can this man give
us his flesh to eat? And in verse 55, we read this.
Our Lord says, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead, but he that eateth this bread shall live forever. And
these things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. He
went into the very place where people declared to be worshiping
him and declared these truths, and listen to these next words.
Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this
is a hard searing, who can hear it? How can I hear this word
that he's saying? This is exactly what the world
is. This is exactly what you and I were before the Lord came
to us and called us out of darkness by his grace, by the preaching
of his word. Blind, blind Barimaeus, right
here. That was me. And that was every
single one of you if you belong to the Lord. every single one
of us, and we know we were blind. And by his grace, we see the
truth of his word today. Like Israel of old, the Jews
of the apostolic days, we will not have this man to reign over
us, nor rejoice in the way, in his way of life. In our text,
We read in verses six and seven, the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people. Why? Because their sin of murmuring
and rebelling against God. God judged the people. He sent
deadly poisonous serpents among them, and the people bitten by
those serpents died. Our sin has separated us from
God. The serpent of sin has left its
poison in every son of Adam and death, and the wages of sin is
upon us. Isn't that what we were reading in Romans 5, verse 17?
Through 19, for if by one man's offense, death reigned by one,
much more, they which receive abundance of grace and the gift
of righteousness shall reign in life by one Christ Jesus. Therefore, and by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men. To the condemnation, even
so by the righteousness of one. the free gift came upon all men
under justification of life. For by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Folks, grace is God giving us
what we do not deserve. Mercy is not giving us what we
do deserve. Mercy is taking what we deserve
and laying it upon his son. Next, we see how it is God and
God alone that provided the remedy in verses eight through nine.
A picture of Christ, our Redeemer. A serpent was made in the likeness
of fiery serpents. So Christ, our Lord, was made
in the likeness of flesh. That's what it says in Romans
8, 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of simple
flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Philippians
2, verse 7, we read these words, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men. Isn't that what God's word says?
Our Lord became flesh. He was made of a woman, bone
of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, as it says in Luke 24.
He was numbered with the transgressors, as we read in Isaiah 53. The
serpent of brass had no venom in it. It wasn't one of those
snakes that was going around biting people. It was a brass
serpent. There was no venom in it. It looked like the serpents
on the ground with all the poison in them, but it didn't have any.
Our Lord had no sin in Him. That's important. Lay your heart to that, folks,
that are saved by God. He had no sin in Him. That's
important because His blood must be perfect. Only the perfect
sacrifice of Jesus Christ would pay for all the sins of all of
His people. Only the perfect blood of Christ
will satisfy the justice of God the Father. Your blood can't do anything,
Roger. Mine can't either. It's tainted. We needed a perfect
sacrifice, a lamb that is spotless, perfect before God. Did you know
that God said about that lamb, he says, this is my son in whom
I'm well pleased. I like that. That means his blood
really did cover all my sins. That means that perfect, spotless
Lamb of God. His blood was worthy. It was
worthy. It was successful. And it didn't just save part. It saved all. I don't know about
you folks, but I need to hear all. I need to hear all of it's gone.
Because these eyes of the flesh, I see it every day. Do you? Do you see your sin ever before
you? Yes. Send it at the feet of Christ. His blood is sufficient. There was but one remedy. It
was looking to that serpent, that brazen serpent. There was
one remedy. It was to look to that one brazen
serpent that was raised up. Notice that it was raised up
above everything. It wasn't men who were up there
with it. It was raised up by itself. He's on a pole way up
there all by itself. That's how our Lord had to go
to the cross, by himself. You know, his disciples say,
he said, the Lord was, let me, I'm gonna turn over there. I
don't wanna make, I don't, it just came to my mind just now,
thinking about that very thing. His disciples, God's people. James and John, sons of Zebedee,
chosen men of God, loyal apostles, had been walking with the master.
They came unto him saying, master, we would that thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he saith unto them,
what would ye that I should do for you? And they said unto him,
grant unto us that we may sit, one on the right hand and the
other on the left, in thy glory. Now listen to this. But Jesus
said unto them, ye know not what ye ask. To sit in that glory
spot, you got to go to the cross. You got to shed your blood. You know not what he asked, can
you drink the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism
that I be baptized with? Oh, in their vanity, they said,
yes, we can. And the Lord went on from there
to show them that the day would come when they would in Him. There is but one Savior, one
Redeemer, one Deliverer. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
our substitute. You can read about Him in John
14, Acts 4, and John 3. And all the people were required
to do was to look to Him. God must provide all the remedy
fully and completely. His command is this, to look.
The command to you and I is the same, look and live. Listen to the words of 1 John
5, verse 11. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal. I'm sorry, let me read that again.
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. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. The remedy, folks,
for sin is the sufficient and effectual for dying sinners,
no matter how severe the case is, it is to look and to live,
to look to Christ and live. The common notion is that salvation
is for good people. If I could just be good. Mike, you back there got a big
ol' smile on your face. You know that, don't you? You
were learning that for several years. If I could just be good. God's people know that we can't,
don't we? We are brought to the position Some of us were brought from
the position of standing in the synagogue saying, Lord, I'm so glad I'm not like those
people outside. Thank you. Some of us know that
we were brought from that to the very one over here in the
corner who can't even look up our heads and see our Savior.
But yet, Isn't that what it's like? Isn't
that what it's like for you? Lord, isn't that what we do? Aren't you thankful Christ is
the Savior of sinners, not righteous people? If our Lord is the Savior
of righteous, then I lose. I lose big time. But it says in Romans 5 verse
6, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet preadventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards
us. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more now, much more than
being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath
through him. God's mercy is for the miserable
who cannot help themselves. We have no gospel for sham sinners,
no pretend professors. Our gospel is for the lost. As
Moses' serpent was for those that were hopelessly bitten by
the earth, bitten, these Israelites come to Christ. So as a picture
of salvation, look to God. Look over at John chapter three
for just a moment, and we're gonna look at that picture that
our Lord paints for Nicodemus. John chapter three. And I'll
just be another moment, we're almost done. In John chapter three, you're
familiar with this story, but we're gonna read it anyway because
God's word never gets old. In fact, it's mercy's new every
day to me. Beginning at verse one, we read
in chapter three of John, there was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said unto
him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus said, answered,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not, that I said unto
thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Now Nicodemus answered and said
unto him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered him and
said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our
witness. If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly
things? No man hath ascended up into
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man, which is in heaven, 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. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. 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. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
wrought of God. Now, many went to the grave that
day in unbelief, but yet some were saved. If you've never heard the gospel
preached, if you've never heard the truth of God's sovereign
grace, what do you mean by that, John? I mean, But you don't have what people
call free will. You come into this world bound
by the sin nature that Adam thrust every man, woman, and child into. There's only one place for salvation,
and that's at the feet of Jesus, the sovereign the Lord of everything, including
my will. As a child of God who had been
enlightened by his word, by his spirit, I love that God exercised
his will and didn't leave me to my own. Look to Christ and thou shalt
be saved. Amen. Would you stand with me,
please?