Good evening. I want to thank Brother Paul
and this church for inviting me to come. What a privilege. Every preacher says that, but
it's because it's true. It truly is a privilege to not
only preach the gospel, but to preach it to folks that love
it. It's also a privilege to be preaching
along with these two other faithful men whom I dearly love, Brother
Darvin and Brother Gabe. Brother Gabe and I, in the providence
of God, have preached together. This will be the fourth time
this year. We've thought about getting our own tent and hitting
the road, but that's not going to happen, isn't it? He's building
a church. He's got too much to do. When
I think of this church, I think of what Paul said concerning
the church at Thessalonica. He said, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only place there's
any hope, isn't there? Your patience of hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God our Father. I recently
spoke with a pastor who preached here in your pastor's absence,
and he just went on and on about those things concerning you,
especially concerning your kindness, your love and hospitality to
him. The beloved John said this, he
said that we know that we've passed from death into life by
our love for the brethren. What a testimony to God's grace
this church is. And I would like to speak on
behalf of Teresa and I both. We love you dearly. My text tonight will be found
in Numbers chapter 21. At home, we've been studying
through the book of Numbers. And it just so happened that,
just so happened, We say stupid things sometimes,
don't we? This past Wednesday night, we
were on these verses in chapter 21. And as you know, God with
a mighty hand delivered Israel out of Egypt. And pretty much
from the time that they left Egypt, they began to murmur and
complain. What a pitcher they are of you
and I. And speaking of the people of
Israel, we read here in verse 4, And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom. And notice these words, And the
soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. It was the
soul of the people that was discouraged. And the soul of a person is the
character and the reasoning and the consciousness and the emotions
of a person. Pretty much the real you is the
soul. These people's soul was discouraged
because of the way. It was God's way. And in verse
5, it says, And the people spake against God and against Moses. And this is what they said, Wherefore
have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For
there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul
loatheth This like bread. As I read that again this afternoon,
I thought to myself, well, they told on themselves right there.
They said, there is no bread. And then they said, well, we
hate the bread that you've given us. So there was bread. Israel, to the core, to the soul
of their being, despised the way of God. Despised God's bread. Despised God's water. God's way
and God's bread and God's water all picture Christ. What a picture
that is of us by nature. A biblical example of how men
and women by nature hate the Lord Jesus Christ without a cause. And it's without a cause. There's
no reason that we would hate Him who loved us and gave Himself
for us. And this is obvious by Israel's
actions. They spoke against God. They
spoke against God's servant. They spoke against God's provisions. And they were absolutely miserable. You know, that's what sin does
to a sinner. The Lord Himself said in the
book of Revelation, Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Now there's a description of
what we are by nature. It's sin that makes us wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. But still, God has a way that
leads such to life eternal. It's a narrow way. Few there be that find it. And
if you're here tonight and you've found that way, my encouragement
to you and the encouragement that you'll receive from these
other men is don't be discouraged because of the way. Christ is
the way. Keep your eyes on Him. Keep your
eyes on Him. I suppose every true preacher
has preached on the subject of tonight, the brazen serpent.
I know every student of the scripture knows about the brazen serpent.
And there's no question, no question that the brazen serpent is a
type of the chosen sinner's substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ and his
substitutionary work of redemption. I want us to look at this again
tonight. God was fed up with Israel's
murmuring. To complain against God's providence
is to complain against God, isn't it? God as our Creator has the right
to get fed up. I know it's a popular thing among
people to say that's not fair. Whatever Providence brings our
way, oftentimes the first thing out of our mouth, well, that's
not fair. But our Lord Himself said, is it not lawful? Is it
not right for me to do what I will with my own? Men have for so
long preached to God to be one who loves so much, loves men
and women so much, that in general, they know nothing. about the
wrath and the anger and the judgment and the holiness and the justice
of God. It's modern day preachers' fault. They haven't told the truth about
God. In John chapter 3, the Lord said,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life. That's not the
end of it. But the wrath of God abideth
on him or her. If a sinner does not believe
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only substitute and the
only sacrifice for their sins, God's wrath is going to abide
on them. Paul in Romans chapter 1 verse
18 wrote, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Men that stand up and just preach
that God loves everybody and Jesus Christ died for everybody
are holding the truth in unrighteousness. Yes, God is a God of love. Aren't
you thankful that He is? But His love for sinners is found
only, and I reiterate, only in His Son. No love for sinners
outside of Christ. Yes, God is a God of forgiveness. Aren't you thankful that He is?
But He never forgives a sinner at the expense of His holy justice. Never. God loves sinners in Christ,
nowhere else. That's why we preach him. That's
why he's our message. God was fed up with Israel's
complaining, and we see that there's a consequence to sin.
You know that, I know that, because you've been taught. A faithful
man has taught you that, has shown you that, and by God's
divine revelation, you've seen that it's so. There's a consequence
for sin. Look at verse 6. And the Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit, they stung,
however you want to put it, the people, and much people of Israel
died. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 56, the sting of death is sin. That's what this true
story before us tonight is about. This is a story about the Lord
Jesus Christ being made sin for His people by the act of substitution. And this is also a story about
faith. Not as men proclaim faith today. Oh, if you've got enough faith,
you can have a big house and a fancy car and this, that and
the other. No, that's not the kind of faith
we're talking about. That's not faith at all. That's presumption. But it's a story about faith.
It's a story about believing and looking to Christ. That's
what faith is. Christ is the substitute for
those who are wounded. Those who are infected. Those who are dying from the
sting of the fiery serpent of sin. The wages of sin is what? Death. The soul that sins, it
shall what? Die. This is not a social club where
we get together and just have a good time. This is life and
death. Men and women are alive physically, but spiritually dead
in trespasses and sin. And unless they believe and look
to the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll die from the poison of sin. We see that forgiveness always
begins with repentance. Look at verse 7, Therefore the
people came to Moses and said, We've sinned, for we've spoken
against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that
he take away the serpents from us. Repentance is to be sorry
for sin, but it's much more than that. Sorry to have spoken against
the Lord. Sorry to have spoken against
Christ, God's servant. Repentance is to ask God to take
away your sin. I read an article about a man
from Kentucky. His name was Caleb Young. I haven't
been able to find out much about him, but the story goes that
he met a young man that he thought This man was serving a life sentence
and Mr. Young thought that this man had
been too severely and heavily sentenced and having some influence
with the governor, he presented to the governor the evidence
that he had gathered and he was able to obtain a pardon for this
man. He went to the prison and he
spoke with that very man. And he asked him a question.
He said, if you were to be released from prison, what would you do? What would be the first thing
you'd do? And the man very vindictively replied, well, the first thing
I would do would be go and shoot the judge that sentenced me.
And then I would go to the lawyer that prosecuted me. And then
lastly, I would go to the witnesses and shoot them that testified
against me. Mr. Young didn't say anything
to the man about the pardon. He left the prison and he tore
the pardon to pieces. What an illustration that is
of where there's no repentance, there's no pardon. Here in verse
7 we read that Moses prayed for the people. Aren't you thankful
that we have one mediator? There's one mediator. Oh, this
is a narrow gate. Narrow is the gate. Straight
is the gate. That means narrow. Narrow is
the way. That means narrow. It leads unto
life, and few there be that find it. One mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, and he's the one who gave himself
a ransom for his people. Look at verse 8, and the Lord
said unto Moses, now look closely, make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that
is bitten, everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall
live. Now I could sit down right now
and that would be the gospel, wouldn't it? The serpent raised
up on a pole, dear friends, is a picture and a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. No question about it. He's the
chosen sinner's substitute. And this is the heart of the
Gospel. Substitution. Only as a substitute does the
brazen serpent typify Christ. The Gospel is substitution. Where
there's no substitution, there's no Gospel. It's a picture of Christ being
made sin. Christ became the very thing
that kills all men and women spiritually and eternally. That
being sin. But to the child of God, the
gospel is God made Him, Christ, to be sin for us. What good news
that is. That's what the gospel is, isn't
it? Good news. That's good news. God made Him
to be our sin, those who believe, trust, and look to Him. And by
way of substitution, He makes us the righteousness of God in
Him. It's not a hard message. It's
impossible for men and women to believe apart from a divine
intervention and revelation by God Himself. That's so true. That's so true. The Gospel is
not what we do for God. I'm so tired of hearing men talk
about what they and their church do for God. The Gospel is what Christ has
done for us. If the Gospel is due, I'll tell
you, I'm in trouble. And I'm lost. But if the gospel is done, then
I have some hope. Hope that Christ provided to
God for me that perfection that God requires. God said it must
be perfect to be accepted. Our problem is we can't provide
God with what He requires, and that's perfection. That's perfection
is something we don't know much about. Well, anything, I don't
suppose. What I couldn't provide for myself,
lifted high upon the cross, our Lord said, it is finished. It's done. It's accomplished. What? Perfection. For me, who
couldn't provide that perfection, it's substitution. And that's
my only hope of being saved from sin. Now, first substitution
shows us how God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ took
on human flesh. He took upon Himself the likeness
of flesh, yet without sin. Secondly, Christ taking the believer's
place reveals the necessity of His substitution in that He was
made the very image of the very thing that put me and you to
death. Moses made the brazen serpent
in the likeness of the fiery serpents. The fiery serpents
picture sin and the result of sin, which is death. We read
there in verse 6, for much people of Israel died. The gospel is
about sin, but more importantly, it's about sin's remedy. The making of this serpent was
for the sin that God's people had committed. There are many
things in the Old Testament scriptures that typify and represent how
the sin of God's people is put away. One way is by the sacrifices
of the old covenant. But here, not one lamb, not one
bull, or one goat is mentioned. The writer of Hebrews said, neither
by the blood of bulls and goats can sin be put away. But there's
not one mention of a lamb or a bull or a goat in this story. Not one animal was slain, offered,
or sacrificed. No high priest is mentioned here. No offering of blood for the
atonement of sin. There's no blood shed upon the
mercy seat in this story. Why? Because they're all represented
in a singular way. The remedy for the saving of
a chosen sinner's life from the poisonous sting of death was
the brazen serpent. Just one remedy. The brazen serpent. The brazen serpent was the only
remedy for the sting of death, which is sin. And the brazen
serpent deals with deliverance from sin in God's singular way. Did you hear me? Singular. Just
one way. One way. The remedy was given
and received by faith in the promise of God. And when this
serpent was high lifted up on the pole, it was God saying,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him,
look to him, trust in him, believe on him. The brazen serpent was fastened,
impaled upon a pole. It's as if he would take a pole
and sharpen the end of it to a point and drive it through
the serpent's head to kill it. So was this serpent made and
exhibited. You know, I looked online at
the different artists' depictions of the serpent on the pole, and
most of them was a cross, you know, with a kind of a brass
snake just hanging on it. No, I don't believe that's the
right depiction at all. That pole impaled that serpent's
head, went down through the body of that That serpent, whatever
it was, snake, I don't know. What a picture that is of our
Lord and Savior. This brazen serpent was made
and displayed as a serpent slain. This serpent was hung up dead
for all eyes to see. It was shown as being pierced
by the pole. The serpent appeared as being
run through. It was lifted up as a slain serpent. I want to reiterate that. And
should that surprise us? Our Lord condescended to become
flesh. But He humbled Himself unto death. But that's not all. Even the
death of the cross. You'll see the condescension
and humility of the Lord no greater than in His death upon the cross
as a criminal. Why as a criminal? Because that's
what you and I were. And by the substitution of Himself,
He's paying our debt of sin. Our Lord was fastened, pierced,
and nailed to the cross. The Greek word for cross literally
means a pole. Christ was crucified with Roman
spikes run through His hands and His feet. But here's a great difference.
The brazen serpent had no venom. Christ is no sinner and in Him
is no sin. Paul is very clear. In Him, He
knew no sin. The Lord Jesus knew no sin. He's
no sinner, and in Him is no sin. The brazen serpent was in the
form of a serpent. Our Lord Jesus was sent forth
by God in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came under the law,
and for the sin of His people, sin was imputed. It was charged
to Him. And therefore, He came under
the wrath and the curse of God for His elect's sake. That's
good news. If you see Christ upon the cross,
you see that sin is slain. Sin is hung up as a dead serpent. We were dead in sin, and now
we're dead to sin. Big difference. And Christ's
death has also put to death, death. Paul wrote, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. That's how we're going to hear
about this, is through the gospel, through God's servant. Our Lord
was made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem them
that were under the law. That's you and me. To redeem
them who had been stung with the sting of sin and death. And those that looked to Him,
high and lifted up on that pole, shall live. Shall live. To look to Christ
is the only means of life. spiritual, eternal life. Life everlasting. And that's
what I'm interested in. I'll be honest with you, I don't
care too much about living here a bunch more years. I've grown
tired of it. The Lord weaned His people from
this world. Three score and ten is just about
enough. Sin, death, and the curse are
dead and gone. to all those who look to Christ.
Christ was made a curse for the people of God, for cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. There's but one remedy for the
bite of the serpent. There's but one remedy for the
sting of death. Look at verse 9. And Moses made
a serpent of brass, and he put it upon a pole, and it came to
pass. Don't you love those words? Every
time I read that in the Scripture, I know that God brought it to
pass. He brings everything to pass.
And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, When he,
that man or woman, beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. The serpent was made of a fired
brass. Brass is an enduring metal. Our
remedy is an enduring one. Our remedy is eternal. It's everlasting. Brass signifies judgment. Brass
is the evidence of withstanding intense heat. Is that not what
our Lord did? My, the wrath and the judgment
of God was laid upon Him. Fiery wrath and indignation.
That's what we deserve. This pictures Christ who was
the bearer of the fiery wrath of God. And when this serpent
was raised up by Moses on a pole, it had already been through the
fire. It had already been tested and
proven worthy. It was finished in a complete
remedy, having already been tried by fire. That's what we do in
preaching the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what you'll hear this weekend. I'm convinced of it. The finished
work of Christ. Not do, but done. We lift up the One who was crucified. We lift up Christ who bore God's
judgment, that bore God's wrath. We lift up Christ who arose from
the dead victorious. He rose victorious over sin and
Satan and the grave and death. And if you and I are in Him,
good news, so shall we. So shall we. Did you notice that
it was Moses that lifted up that serpent? As you know, Moses represents
the law. Now the law was honored. And the law was glorified in
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was God's law that
put Christ on that cross. He paid the wages of the law
which was dead. The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. God is too holy and He's too
just just to simply excuse sin. God's law must be honored. God's
justice must be satisfied. Someone has got to pay sin's
wages. A holy God demands it to be so. God's holy justice demands it. Look into the brazen serpent
saved the sinner's life. That means that all who are stung
with sin and look to Christ have their sin forgiven and live eternally. Are you looking to Christ? I know some of you are. Because God's shown you that's
the only means. Do you see How personal this
remedy was and is. One bitten couldn't be cured
by anything or anyone else. Only by looking to the serpent
of brass. No physician could help them.
No priest could pray for them. No mother could plead for them. There was only one thing they
could do. They must look to the serpent of brass. Is there anyone
here that has been bitten by sin? All self-help has got to
be abandoned. God must be trusted. Christ must
be looked upon. You can't look at your wound
and hope to get better. No matter how much it burns and
swells and turns black from the venom, you cannot look to yourself. You can confess and profess all
the days of your life, I'm a sinner, I'm just a sinner, I know I'm
just a sinner. That won't break his life. No,
it won't do it. You've got to look away from
self. And you've got to look to the brazen serpent high and
lifted up on that pole. Are you looking? He's the one remedy. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. And I'm telling you that when
an enlightened sinner looks to Christ high and lifted up, they
cannot say that they healed themselves. For they only looked. A believer
never claims merit on account of their faith. Faith is a self-denying
grace that never dares to boast of self. Paul made that very
clear in Ephesians, didn't he? For by grace are you saved. Whose
grace is that? God's. Where's that grace found? Darwin read it to us. In Christ. In the Beloved. Saved by grace through faith.
And that's not of yourself. What's not? Neither the grace
nor the faith. It's a gift of God. Not by works,
lest any man should bow. Not by do, but by done. Now, if the infected sinner had been
touched by a priest and healed, I guarantee you they would have
well credited the priest. You would have and so would have
I. But there was nothing but the
brazen serpent to look upon, so the one healed is driven to
the conclusion that it was God's love and God's mercy and God's
grace and power in Christ that healed him by looking to Him.
It's a simple message. Look and live. Pardon is not a work of time. Salvation is not an installment
plan. When the Lord healed on earth,
immediately the sick were made up. You ever notice that? Immediately. You believe and you live. You
look and you live. No doctor can cure a fever in
that fashion. Oh, they'll prescribe you some
antibiotics and some other stuff and then you've got to go to
the drug store and then you've got to take ten days of it or
whatever. But when the Lord says, Fever
be gone, immediately it's gone. Our Lord works perfect cures. Immediate faith brings immediate
forgiveness. An instantaneous look brings
about an instant cure. Now I have to ask this before
I finish. Was this a universal cure? Not everyone in Israel was healed, but everyone that looked was. If you look to the one who was
made sin, you will be made whole. There's no conditions but to
look. Turn with me to John chapter
3 and I'll finish. John 3, look at verse 14. I want
to read four verses here. John 3, verse 14. Verse 14, 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,
who the Son of Man that's lifted up, 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. Now the death of Christ upon
the cross is a There's no greater exhibition of the greatest display
of God's love and mercy and grace to a chosen sinner. Whosoever
looks to the Son, God's Son, shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. That word whosoever doesn't have
any universal application. The whosoever's mentioned here
are those who, prior to looking to Christ for salvation, were
guilty, just like Israel was, of despising the provisions of
God. If you believe not, you're condemned
already. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world, and men and women love darkness
rather than light. We're already condemned. Remember, by nature, we hated
Christ without a cause. In God's provision, like Israel,
hated God's way, God's bread, and God's living water, all which
picture Christ, as we said in the beginning. The world, then,
is not the whole world without exception, but the world of bitten
sinners who are dying of the serpent's bite and who are made
aware by divine revelation their doom. Oh, that takes a divine revelation.
I'm telling you it does. How many people do you know?
How many people in your own family don't give a second thought,
a minute's thought about doom, dying in their sin? No, everybody's
skipping along right on to hell, happy as they can be. Sad, sad. God's going to have to intervene.
God's going to have to show. Aren't you glad God showed you? We know this to be so because
our Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent, and even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. That which applied when Moses
lifted up the serpent on the pole must spiritually apply to
Christ being lifted up. Salvation has to do with faith
in the person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are in this world that have faith in Christ are the
ones who are saved. Why did God cause Moses to lift
up that serpent? Our Lord tells us, even so. It
was the love of God for His bitten and dying loved ones. Even so
must. Christ must be lifted up. You're
going to have to look to Him in order to be saved because
you're condemned already. Just as God slew beasts to cover
Adam and Eve after they'd been smitten by sin and were left
for dead. Just as Moses lifted up this
serpent in Numbers 21 to deliver his loved ones who were bitten
and dying in the wilderness, even so in love and mercy and
grace, God lifted up His Son to deliver whosoever. You know, that's not a bad word. I think sometimes Calvinists
think it is. Whosoever? I thought it was the
elect of God. Listen, if you're a whosoever
that believes and looks to Christ, you are the elect of God. Christ died in the room instead
of His elect because God so loved. He loved all His elect in the
world. Having received the sentence
of death, God sent the brazen serpent to save them that looked. Are you looking? Why did He do it? Because He
loved them. Before the foundation of the
world, God set His affection on a people. And He gave them
all to Christ. And the Lord Jesus Himself said,
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. And in no wise,
no way, no reason will I cast them out. That sounds to me like
salvations of the Lord, and it sounds pretty secure to this
sinner. You know, the first sin was with
a look. Eve saw that the fruit was good,
but now we're saved with a look. Christ says, look unto Me and
be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else. Looking unto
Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, And we're still
looking. We're looking for that blessed
hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ. We're still looking. Mike, you're
still looking, aren't you? So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and to them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Sinner, you can only see Christ
in this Gospel. But if you see him there and
if you have need, if you have need of him, if you're dying
of the serpent's venom, if you're dying of sin, then look and you'll
live. I have no better news than that. It's the one remedy. It's the
only way. And the Lord said unto Moses,
make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall
come to pass. It shall. Ain't that a blessed
word? And it shall come to pass that
every one 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 a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld
the serpent of brass, he lived." God will enable every sinner
that desires to be saved the ability to look. Do you desire
to be saved? I sometimes wonder if people
really do. Now, they may not be able to
come to Christ. The poison has made them unable
to walk. No man can come, the Lord Jesus
said, except the Father which sent me draw him. How does he
draw us? By enabling and causing us to
look to him. They don't need to reach out
and touch the Lord. I love that little course, but
I can't reach out and touch the Lord unless he makes me able
and willing to do so. So what do I do? What must I
do to be saved? Look. Look. And live. That's all you need
to do. May God enable you to do just
that. Look and live. Amen.