I heard Brother Henry say several
times, we're going to go back to kindergarten today. Go back
to something simple, something plain. And there's a lot of times
I have a meal that I've ate 30, 40 times. I don't know. Some
meals I've had 100, 200 times. And I like them because I know
I like that meal. I know it's good for me. I like
the same thing. Make another meatloaf. I love
it. It's precious to Him. Now in our text, you can leave
your place mark there in Numbers 21 if you're still there, but
we'll go back to John 3. It says in John 3 verse 14, And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man. be lifted up. Even so, in the
same manner, the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Now we
remember, we've been going through John for a little while now,
who the Lord is speaking with. He's speaking to Nicodemus. This
is a well-educated, this is an older man, a ruler of Israel. Remember the Sanhedrin, way up
there. I'm a powerful man as far as
man is concerned. Nicodemus said he had saw some things and he
knew some things. He came talking to our Lord,
telling God Almighty in human flesh what he knew, what he saw. And Christ said, unless you're
born again, you can't see. That means you can't perceive,
you can't understand the kingdom of God. And then Nicodemus tried
to reason and jest and mock. He said, how can a man enter
his mother's womb a second time? And Christ said, unless you are
born of the water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God. It says in verse 6 there, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the Spirit is Spirit. There are people walking all
around this world. I'm walking in front of you right
now. You're right there. We're born of the flesh. We understand
that, don't we? How'd you get here? How's anybody
here? They're born of the flesh. But
their son, a remnant, not many, a few, the Lord's done a work
in. And they're walking around in
these bodies, like everybody else is walking around in these
bodies. But they've been given life by God. And they're living
by His Spirit. They have a new spirit put in
them. That is the will and the doing
of our Lord. He does it to whom He will, when
He will, when it pleases Him. That's when that new life takes
place, just as it was this physical life. By His sovereign mercy,
by His perfect will, His wisdom. It says in verse 7, 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." He said God's sovereign in absolutely
everything. Nicodemus knew that in the elements
in the world and the wind. If it rained, I'm sure he knew
of a God that made it rain. The Lord said in everything. Salvation, the new birth. It's
just like the wind. It's at His command and His will.
Then Nicodemus asks, how can these things be? I never heard
nothing like this. I've been in religion my whole
life. How can this be? He says in verse
10, Jesus answered 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 which we have seen.
And ye receive not our witness. told you this, you didn't receive
it. If I've told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that come down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven." He said, Nicodemus, no man ever, nor will
ever, ascend to these things. This understanding, this perception,
this entering, by their studying and their understanding and their
figuring it out. The Son of Man, the Christ, who
is in heaven, and standing right in front of Him at the time,
isn't He? who descended. None of us descended. Do you
know that? We're born. We're created here. This is where
we come on the scene. He was, always was. He came down. He descended. He must reveal
these things. They must come through revelation.
Having Christ revealed in a sinner's heart is having Christ exalted. Having Him revealed is having
Him lifted up. That's who He is. That's how
we see Him as He truly is. High and lifted up. Our Lord
in His perfect wisdom and His grace. An Old Testament picture
that Nicodemus ought to knew really well. I've heard, Nicodemus
has heard 75 messages out of that. He's probably preached
out of it a hundred times. Have you preached out of it? Have
you heard out of it a whole bunch? He goes to him with that very
familiar passage, and here's the comparison he gives. It says,
verse 14, John 3, verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
For those in the desert, those bitten by those serpents, Those
poisonous snakes, that brazen serpent must be lifted up. You
get that Nicodemus? He understood that. They had
to look at that brazen serpent on a pole and then they didn't
die of snake venom. He got that. That's an earthly
thing. I understand that. The cross of Christ is a must.
As much as they had to look to that brazen serpent to live,
we have to look to the Son of Man. We have to look to God for
salvation to live. Now he's heading home, isn't
he? If holy God is going to save guilty sinners, he must do it
in a way that's just and right. If God's judgment is not executed
on the guilty, then he's not just. And equally so, if he turns
an eye to sin and lets it go unpunished, he's no longer just. God cannot show mercy to sinners
at the expense of his justice, of his honor, of his holiness.
Christ said, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The Pharisees
and the disciples too, they thought that Christ was going to rebuild
an earthly kingdom. He's going to get back on the
throne in Jerusalem. Oh, He's going to help us out now. He's
going to get them Romans off of our back. They've been a headache. They've been bugging us to death.
He's going to get rid of our earthly enemies. That's what
they saw, because that's where they was living, wasn't it? They
was walking around, they didn't mind the flesh. They couldn't
see nothing else. God hadn't taught them nothing.
But it's an eternal heavenly kingdom He's speaking of. He's
King of kings. He's Lord of lords right now
in the hearts of the king. Yes, absolutely He is. But this is
spiritual life He's speaking of. It's forever. These things
are going to burn. These things are going to pass.
He's speaking of that eternal life. To understand the kingdom
of God, to see it, to perceive it, you must be born again. To enter that kingdom, a kingdom
that you understand something about now, you must be born again.
And God will not give life without His law and His justice being
perfectly satisfied. So, the Son of Man must be lifted
up. What's the outcome of that? What
does that do? Look here in verse 15. That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." The only
way that sinners can be saved from perishing, eternal death,
and have eternal life is through faith in Christ, looking to Him,
looking to Him exalted, seeing Him high and lifted up. That
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish Believe in Christ
means that we turn from looking to all of our flesh. We turn
from putting all of our confidence in our works, and looking at
us, and looking at others, and looking at this world, and looking
to Him alone. Looking just to Him. Now, let's see what he was referencing.
We probably all remember it well, but let's read it again. Numbers
21. Numbers 21. Mankind has a problem. The majority of people throughout
time and our generation and however many generations the Lord is
pleased to have on this earth, they don't know it. Man has a
problem. Here's the problem. Numbers 21
verse 5. And the people spake against
God. They were frustrated with the wrath they took around Edom.
We went the long way. I didn't like it. You did things
not the way I would have done them. You ever went the long way? You
ever got mad at God for somebody going the wrong way? That's who
we're getting mad at. And the people spake 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. Now you picture what was said
there. There's no bread and there's no water. as they're holding
light bread, that manna from heaven, in their hand. Probably
as they're eating it. We ain't got no bread. Om, yum,
yum. We ain't got no water. Gonk, gonk, gonk. It was right
there with them the whole time, wasn't it? Physical life was
sustained by God. Where'd they get that water?
Where'd they get that bread? God gave it to them. They watched
it. The rock was smitten. Woke up in the morning, manna's
on the ground. They physically had life because He gave it.
But they can't see. They can't enter into those things. God was sustaining them physically,
but He's going to have to sustain His people spiritually. Give
them life. Keep them forever. They haven't
seen it yet. They haven't entered into it
yet. They haven't perceived it. They spoke against God. That's the
first cause of our problem. That's the first cause of our
problem. We've sinned against God. The people who spoke against
God, they spoke against Moses. And what was they speaking against?
Moses was a picture of the law, wasn't he? He's the one that
brought it down from the mountain. We don't like them laws. I don't
like rules. Is there any laws you don't like? One, maybe. I think I can think of one or
two that I don't like. They didn't like Moses' law. They didn't like the Lord's law
that Moses gave. Moses was a prophet. He's a picture
of God's Word. Everything he recorded. Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible. Well, I'd have done things
different. I may not agree with that. That's
who they're speaking against. Since Moses was a prophet, he
pictures the Word, and they loathe the law, they loathe the Word
of God, and they loathe this white bread. Moses is a picture
of our mediator, too. They hated God, and they hated
Christ, and they hated that law that only Christ could fulfill.
They couldn't stand it. They were against God. They loathed
Him and His prophet. Have you ever loathed God? Oh, that's hitting home now, isn't
it? Have I? Have I ever hated God? Well, do we know what hating
God means? It's not to do the law. You've
got to agree with it. Has there been one day ever I
hated him? Adam said, I'm going to be like God. I'm going to
know good and evil. All those at Calvary said, we
ain't going to have this man raising over us. We've got a
king. We've got Caesar. Romans 5.12 says, Wherefore as
by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. If we're born of Adam,
we've hated Him. We come to this world hating
God. Shaping iniquity. Come from the womb speaking lies.
At war with Him. Well, I don't feel that way.
You can be at war and not be shooting bullets. You know that? There's
some countries over in the Middle East. Go hang out there and say,
hey, I'm from America and watch what happens. You're at war.
Didn't even know it. They're at war with you. We sinned
against God and we broke His law. And the result of that was
sin and death by sin. It says there in verse 6, and
the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. God gave them bread
from heaven. He gave them water from the rock.
Both of them shows Christ. Both of them's pictures are Christ.
But they said, there's no water. And we hate this white bread.
That rock is Christ. That bread is Christ. And they
hated it. They loathed it. Not much has changed, has it? How many nowadays find fault
with the God of the Bible? They get mad at me. I didn't
say that. Right there, it's in black and
white. Can you read? It's in English. It ain't no
complicated words. I don't like that. They hate
it, loathe it. How many people profess Christ?
Oh, that doctrine sounds good. That's where I'm going to meet
up with. I'll stay right there. That's agreeable to me. But soon
they loathe that white bread. Why do you all preach about Christ
and Him crucified all the time? Why don't you preach about something
about the sinner? Talk about me. Tell me something I can do.
Tell me something I can serve with. How do I serve? How do
I do works? Talk about themselves. And they grow just loathe at
preaching of Christ and Him crucified, that true bread from heaven.
That's what they ask Him. They told Christ, they said,
our fathers, they ate bread manna from heaven. And He said, I'm
the bread of life. Can we perceive that? Can we
enter into that? Have we ever been bit by a serpent?
You ever had that poison running through your veins, and you're
getting hot, and you're running a fever, and your throat's swelling
up? You're gonna die. Have we ever needed a cure? That
venom sin, that serpent struck Adam with, and it got in every
one of us. It's hereditary. Have we ever
needed a cure for that venom running through our veins? Because
we hated God. Not because we drank a beer or
we said some bad words or we saw a movie we ought not seen.
Because we hated him. Sinned against him. Or we just
wounded. Did we have a limp? Did he just get a pinky finger
but we got tourniquet on it? I got a boo-boo. If we haven't
been, you're not blessed. I know what we looked at the
other night, Sunday night. Those B-attitudes. Blessed or poor.
I'm poor in spirit. There's venom in it. I need you,
Lord. Blessed are they that mourn.
I stuck my hand in front of that snake. It was already in me.
And I was playing with the snake. Those that are meek, those that
are hungry and thirsty, I need your bread and I need your water. Do we have a need? Do we have
venom in us? There's no cure in ourselves, is there? We don't
have a cure. There's no cure for that serpent's
bite. We can't produce a cure for that condemnation we earned. Spiritual death's in us. We've
inherited that and acted on it. Physical death is upon us. It's
coming. Life's a vapor. Every one of
us is going to die. Maybe it's not. And eternal death awaits us outside
of Christ. We're spiritually dead, physical
death coming, and eternal death waits at the doorstep. James
said, sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. It's a
fact. Somebody told Marvin Stonker
that one time. They said, I ain't gonna die.
What? I mean, a fool knows better than
that. Argue with him. You know what happened two weeks
later? The Lord killed him. The Bible kills people, don't
it? They were convicted of sin through this trial. I'm scared
of death of snakes. I can't stand them. It's hard
for me to study. And I thought, Lord, don't teach
me something with a snake this week. That was me begging. That was a trial for them. That
would have been a trial for me too, even if it was just physical.
Through this trial, the Lord convicted them of sin. They went
to Moses and said, intercede for us. Only Christ is the intercessor. He's the only mediator between
God and me. And Moses is a picture of Christ here, isn't he? They
go to him begging. God's grace and mercy are only found in the
one we sinned against. God in human flesh, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's who we go to. It says
in verse 7, Numbers 21-7, Therefore the people came to Moses and
said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord
and against thee. praying to the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us and Moses prayed for the people.
That's true repentance. Not I've done something bad,
I've sinned against God. That's what David said, wasn't
it? He said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in your sight. He caused harm to Uriah. He caused
harm to Bathsheba. He caused harm to his people,
to that congregation that was there with him. But he sinned
against the Lord, so he sinned against. Prodigal son, same thing. And he come back, he's eating
them husks, blew his inheritance, living with pigs, come home,
and he said, Daddy, I've sinned against the Lord and you saw
it. I did it in your sight. I've offended you. I've sinned
against Him and I've hurt your feelings. But look what they ask here in
verse 7. 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. Paul prayed for something like
this, didn't he? He had a thorn in the flesh and
he prayed three times, Lord take this from me. Take this thorn.
Take this physical infirmity I have from me. And he said,
For this thing I have assaulted Lord thrice, that it might depart
from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul said,
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. How was it that these
people were brought? What was the means the Lord brought
to bring them to look to Christ? getting bit by deadly snakes
and a whole mess of people died. All around, loved ones, children,
little bitty ones, old people, rich, poor, didn't make a difference.
It was killing everybody and it hurt. There was side effects. It's a miserable way and the
Lord used that thing right there. What we see so bad was a fear
of mine to bring to Christ. Boy, now if I got snake bit,
I wouldn't be so mad about it, would I? I wouldn't be so upset.
We're going to see His strength, just as Paul did and just as
these people. Aren't you glad the Lord and His wisdom doesn't
give us everything we ask for? Those snakes weren't made to
go away. Some people argue that. Go out here in the hills and
walk around for a day. You'll see some snakes, won't you? Snakes
ain't gone off the face of the earth. They were still there.
These people still got bit. It still happened. They still
had some venom, probably some swelling and stuff with it too, but they
didn't die. The physical need didn't go away, just as the spiritual
need doesn't. If we truly earnestly have been
brought to call on Christ, you're going to keep calling on Him.
It ain't going to stop. He leaves His children in this
world. He doesn't save us and you die right then. He leaves
us in this world. He gives us trials and sometimes
those trials last a lifetime, from birth till death. He gives
us grief until His purpose is accomplished. What's that? His
child to believe on Christ and look to Him alone. God provided the cure. It says
in verse 8, And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery
serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Who provided the remedy? The
Lord did, didn't He? Make a serpent and put it on
a pole. The very thing that was causing the death of all those
people of Israel, make it just like it and lift it up on a pole.
In eternity, before sin entered, and death by sin, God the Father
chose a people to be represented by Christ, for Him to be their
substitute, to be put in Him, and that every one of those He
was going to call to faith in Christ, God was just, yet He
shows mercy to sinners. How can that be? How can He be
just and merciful? Only by sending His Son to represent
His people. Putting those people in Him,
and Him being our surety, our substitute, our redeemer. He
told Moses to make a serpent of brass, the exact thing that's
causing all that death, and to lift it up on a pole. A serpent
was made in the likeness of those fiery serpents. It wasn't a fiery
serpent, but it was made in likeness to those fiery serpents, wasn't
it? The only way to save his people
was that Christ must be made like unto his brethren, and he
must be lifted up. It says in Hebrews 2, Wherefore,
in all things that behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. He
must be made like unto his brethren. Paul told us in Romans 8, for
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, because of our sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. That
serpent of brass had no venom in her. Christ knew no sin. He was tempted in all points
like unto we are, but without sin. No venom in Him. No guile in His mouth. God had
them make a serpent like what was biting them and lifted up
on a pole. Christ said, He must be lifted up. God made His Son
the very thing that was killing His people, you and I, in order
to be just in putting away our sin. Justifying us and making
us the righteousness of Christ. For He hath made Him sin. who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. That's what happened. Where did
He do that? Paul told us in Galatians 3. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Hangeth on a pole. Lift it up. Made us, put on a
pole. This is what Christ meant when he told Nicodemus, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. Well, if I could preach in one
sentence. He can. He can, can't he? He said a whole
lot, Nicodemus. Only what he spoke in his heart.
What did he bring back into remembrance? Words he's read. Things he's
heard. He spoke to him in power. By Christ being made sin for
us, God executed justice on His Son instead of His people. Therefore,
His justice has been honored upon everyone that Christ died
for. It's been satisfied. There's no condemnation. It's
done. Christ made all whom He represented
the righteousness of God in Him. Law satisfied for us. Justice
is settled in Christ. And God's just now to show His
people mercy. He's holy. That's holy mercy
that He shows His people. That's why it was a must that
cross be lifted up on that cross. Now, seeing all that work's finished,
all that justification's accomplished, all that sanctification's been
given, that righteousness has been given, what's left for me
and you to do that we have all this justification from sin?
Look and live. Look and live. That's all we
do. It says in verse 9, Numbers 21, 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. Any of them. You got a different
program for children? Any of them. If they're babies,
if they're teenagers, if they're young adults, if they're old
and gray, any of them, if they look to him, if they look to
that brazen serpent lifted up on a pole, exalted, they lived. It says, any man. And our text
there in John 3, it says, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life. You know what? He's saying
this to Nicodemus. We'll be in John 3.16 next week. The world, Nicodemus. Nicodemus'
whole life was surrounded by his heritage of who he was. His
outward righteousness. And God said, I'll save Gentiles. That may not offend us, we're
Gentiles, but I tell you, that offended Nicodemus. Hitting him
hard, isn't it? Notice what God did not tell
them to do. I got this from Old Brother Pink.
He said these seven things God did not tell them to do. First
off, they were not told to produce their own cure to heal their
own wounds. You bandage them up real good, you put some salves
on them or something. No, look to Him. Look and lives,
that's all He told them. They were not told they would
be healed by ministering or serving others. Sinners can't save ourselves. Why would we try to save somebody
else? That's like you're seeing somebody drown and you jump in
and save them. You can't swim. We have no ability. We will serve others. We will
minister to others. Not for salvation. They were
not told to fight the serpents. That would be my go-to. Where's
the shovel? Give me some snake shot or something. We can't combat
our sin. We can't stop sinning. We're
not told to. We're told to look to Him and
live. When we look to Him and we're His, that's disgusting
to us. I despise it. I loathe that.
When we love Him, we loathe ourselves. We loathe our sin. But sorting
that sin out isn't looking to Him. We look to Him. Brother Pink said, fourthly,
they were not told to make an offering to the serpent on the
pole. There's nothing we can bring to him. We don't bring
our works. We don't bring our good doings. Nothing. We just come. We look and live, don't we? The
fifth are told to say a prayer to Moses. Salvation ain't in
the preacher. It's not in ceremony. It's not
in work. It's not walking an aisle. It's looking to Christ
and casting all you care on Him. And we're not told to go to the
law. The law just says we're guilty. That's our schoolmaster. That brings us to Christ. It
shuts our mouth. And the end of the law is Christ
for all who believe in it. And we're not told to look at
our wounds. We have wounds. Some people mourn over sin so
much that's all they can talk about. Not the one that saved
them from it, but how sinful. Then it becomes, where I grew
up, it becomes a contest. Who did the worst? Salvation is not by our mourning
sin. We will mourn sin when God gives
us repentance and faith. But never look to your mourning.
Look to Christ. He alone is the remedy for sin. God commanded them to look at
the serpent on the pole. How absurd do you think that
sounded? That command was to them. That's against our logic.
Get some doctors in here. Make up some more. You got a
vaccine? Is there an antivirus or something
you can give us? Are we supposed to rest, ice, compress, and elevate?
What are we supposed to do? Cut an X and suck the poison
out? I got to do something. Oh, just look. Just look. Trust on Him. God sends us trials
in this life, like He sent those snakes, that physical Israel. And in every situation, in the
trials that the Lord sends us, He's showing His people the only
way to be saved is to look to Christ. In every trial right
now, in the trial of, we need to be saved from our sins, whatever
it is, whatever that trial is that we had, anything. Look to
Christ. All those that looked, lived.
So they shall live. That's a promise, isn't it? Look
to Him. You'll live. Those who did nothing
else except look to Christ, they were given eternal life. He told
us there in Isaiah 45, Look unto Me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. Anybody.
Any man. Whosoever. I don't know who they
are. He does. Look to Him. For I am God and
there is none else. There's none else. Quickly, I'm
going to give you some anti-types. This serpent is a picture of
our Lord, us looking to Him. But there's some ways that this
serpent is not like our Lord. The serpent only physically healed.
Those that got bit by snakes in their bodies on this earth
and they looked to that serpent on a pole, they lived. They didn't
die of that poison. Christ heals all our diseases.
sin, death, and hell. He has victory over the grave
for his people. Fully heals them. The people that looked at that
serpent on the pole, they were healed physically, but eventually
they died. Physically, they died. They're not still alive. They're
not still walking around this earth. Those that look to Christ alone
will never die. Never die. That serpent was a
temporary type. It was used for that time. Christ, our great physician,
He is an eternal priesthood. He ever lives to intercede for
his people. That's forever. They only look
to the serpent once. You got bit? Look to the serpent.
Go back to work. Get back to it. Man them tents.
You're alright. Drink some water. Walk it off.
God's children continually look to Him. I need Thee every hour. I need You when I wake up. I
need You when I'm eating lunch. I need You at dinner. When I
go to bed, I need You while I'm sleeping and I don't even know
to look to You. We continually look to Him, continually need
Him, don't we? We can read the outcome of that brazen serpent
over in 2 Kings 18. We might look at that some other
time. Hezekiah found that Israel took that brazen serpent, and
they put it in a velvet-lined box, and they covered it, and
they worshipped it. Just a piece of brass. They might
have sawed the pole up so it was short enough lengths to put
in a box, and they burned the incense to it. You know what
we do in our day? Isn't that prevalent all over
in our tendencies? Make an idol out of something. We don't worship the cross, we
worship the one that hung on the cross. We worship a person. That's who we come to. That's
who we bow to. We see His work, what He did on there, but it's
a person we go to. That's who we're looking to.
Amen.