Join me, if you would, in the
book of Numbers this morning, chapter 21, Numbers chapter 21.
And I wish to say happy Father's Day to all the fathers, and we're
going to spend some, an incident in this passage of Scripture
that deals with that. We're in the book of Numbers
chapter 21, and we have seen in the first few verses of this
chapter that the children of Israel went up against some horrifically armored people and totally destroyed
them. It tells us there in the first
part of that chapter that they went up against these people
who wanted to fight with them and they prayed to the Lord and
the Lord allowed them to defeat them completely and there was
nothing left. And the Lord delivered up the
Canaanites and utterly destroyed them. And they journey a little
bit further and in verse 5 it says that the people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness where there is no
bread neither is there any water and our soul loatheth this manna. The food that took care of all
of their needs was loathed. And they desired to have that
bread that was from Egypt. And it tells us in the very next
verse that 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 may take away the serpents from us. 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, when every one that is bitten, when he looketh
up, shall live. 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 a serpent of brass, he lived. Now just to go back a little
bit on what some of the things that Brother Mike said this morning,
the exactness of God, the absolute exactness of God, It took me
back a number of years to a couple that I had met, but prior to
me meeting them, they had traveled back from Oregon to Kentucky. because they heard somebody in
Kentucky was preaching something that they had not ever heard
of before. And so they went to church back
there in Ashland, Kentucky. And while they were there, they
asked the pastor if he would ever consider traveling 3,000
miles out to Oregon to preach for a group. And he said, well,
of course I would. And they said, how many would
you need to have in attendance before you would consent to come?
And he said, three, you, you, and me. So he came out to Oregon
exactly at the right time. He was invited by some people
who later I found out didn't know the first thing about the
gospel. They thought they did. They were those folks that have
a semblance of Christianity, but they mocked at the power. And that man came out to Oregon
like he had consented to. He preached several times down
there in the town I was living in. And the first time I heard
him preach, I said, I hate that man. My wife was stunned at a comment
coming out of a pastor's mouth at breakfast that I would hate
somebody. Well, I really did. From a spiritual
application, I hated him because he brought up a subject that
I was not familiar with, and I wanted him to speak on a subject
that I was familiar with, and that was religion. But he had
no time for religion. He had only time to preach Christ. Time is of the essence. Time
is of the essence. We're marching on here daily. And it is of the essence. And
we will never know whether we shall ever meet together again
as this group. You know, I thought my 10-year
class reunion, everybody would be there. Well, you know what?
Several were already dead. And the farther you go along,
the more you find out, pass away. And there will be a time when
this body will be laid to rest and I'll be in the presence of
the Lord. Well, that preacher came out and the Lord was gracious
to me. The Lord saved me after he left
and I was able to call him up and say, brother, I know exactly
what you were talking about. Christ is the issue. And all of those trivial matters
that I thought were important, like washing your hands before
you eat, and being careful about what you do on the Sabbath. Careful
about the clothes you wear, and careful about what you eat, and
careful about where you go, and careful about all of these things
that are so foolish from the pulpit because Christ is the
issue. And once the Lord God Almighty
saves us by His grace, He will take care of those issues. and
we don't have to worry about it. Well, we find here in the
book of Numbers chapter 21 that these people who were very religious,
descendants of Abraham, descendants of Noah, descendants of Adam,
when they're put out into a circumstance and from the very beginning they
thought this is going to be a wonderful thing to escape the slavery of
Egypt and they went out with a high hand and not even a dog
barked at them as they left. And they took all the gold and
the silver that those Egyptians gave them and says, get out of
here. We don't want to see your face
again. And before we know it, that the Lord came to the captain
of their army, the Pharaoh, and said, what did you do here? You
let all these people go. He stirred them up. He hardened
his heart. And he went after them with a high hand, and all
the Egyptian army, including their pharaoh, was ground in
the Red Sea. Now they're free. And it isn't
very long, we find out that the natural state of man is just
desperately wicked. and it didn't matter that they'd
been set free from all of that and that they had provision for
all their needs and were going to travel to the promised land
that had been promised to them from the very beginning, they
start to complain because they know not this God. There were
a few that understand. There were a few that understood,
I should say, that this God is going to lead them and demonstrate
to them that it's an importance to bow before Him who has made
all things. Bow to His will. Bow to Him.
That's why we pray. God's people pray for one reason.
Lord, conform me to Your will. I'm not praying to change you,
I'm not praying to change your mind, and I'm not praying to
change your purpose. Please change me, conform me
to your will. And that's what some of those
people did. Moses, Joshua, Caleb. Well, we find here a mess took
place. The children of Israel are out
there and they're complaining, and they're about that far from
the promised land. They've been that far for quite
a while. When we looked at this to begin
with, we found out that the property that they're traveling on is
about the size of the area of three counties in the state of
Oregon, 24,000 square miles. It would have taken them just
less than a month to walk that far. But God said, I will try
you. And he certainly did. Well, it
tells us here that in this time complaint took place and the
Lord did something that we don't find anywhere else in scripture
like this. And that is he sent fiery serpents. You know, the Lord told these
Israelites that when they get into the promised land, if there's
some people that are going to give you some trouble, I'll just
send some hornets. Have you ever had a hornet nest
come after you? It didn't matter what was around you. You're going
to try to escape. Little bitty bugs that we run
from. Well, can you imagine how often they had run into this
circumstance of having a snake around? I know some people that
are direly if they don't like snakes. Kill every one of them. Well,
they'd seen these snakes and now the Lord sent a multitude
of snakes among them. This incident is mentioned a
couple of other times in the Bible, in the New Testament in
particular. We heard read there this morning, as brother Lauren
read in John chapter three, even as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. And
if He be lifted up, He'll draw all unto Him. All those that
belong to Him, He'll draw unto them. We find in the book of
John, would you turn with me to the book of John chapter 12,
and he mentions this again indirectly. In John chapter 12, the Lord
of glory shares with us this passage, this message of grace. John chapter 12, verse 32, these
words are left here for our encouragement and admonition, it says in verse 32, And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said,
signifying what death he should die. And then if you'll turn
with me over to the book of 1 Corinthians, this is a negative comment that
is made by the Apostle Paul to the saints at Corinth about this
incident. And it tells us in 1 Corinthians
10, verse nine, neither let us tempt Christ as some of them
also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye,
as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened
unto them for our instruction, for our example. And they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. So Paul goes back to the book
of Numbers. He brings out that passage of
scripture as the Holy Spirit leads and directs him and says,
look at this and don't be like this. Look at this! Now you know,
if it isn't for the grace of God, we'll go just like they
did, we'll do exactly like they did, and we find that that is
so common among natural man. This problem here is brought
up that there are snakes everywhere and they have bitten people.
Now, it doesn't tell us in the scriptures, probably for good
reason, but it doesn't tell us in scriptures how that venom
affected them. Now, if you do a little study
about snakes, you find out that venom has different kinds of
effects on people. Sometimes it affects the muscles,
sometimes it affects the breathing, sometimes it affects the nervous
system, and that's how God made them, just like that. Well, however
it worked, we know the end of the effect on people. Whatever they went through, Whatever
dire experience they went through as they were bitten by these
snakes, we do know this, they died. That's the problem. Now, I can just imagine that
there were some, after this pole is raised up and a brazen serpent
is on it, and the word goes out, if you'll look and live, there
were many of them says, well, my mom put a polis on it. Yeah,
that'll take care of it. Or, you know, the guy next door,
he had a sharp knife and he came over and crossed exit and he
sucked all the poison out. That'll take care of it. You
know, all kinds of remedies can come up in a circumstance like
this. Just like in religion, all kinds of remedies have been
proposed about how to take care of the problem. And that is the
bite of sin. You know, as I thought about
this last night, there was a man, that God created of the dust
of the earth and turned over the most beautiful place in all
the world. the Garden of Eden, to he and
his wife, with one restriction, don't eat of the tree of life. This one tree, don't eat of this
one tree. And you know, his wife ate it and nothing happened.
She was beguiled by Satan, that serpent, serpent, hmm, beguiled
by that serpent. And she took it to her husband.
Now, the Bible says he was not beguiled. The Bible tells us
clearly that he ate in total and complete disobedience to
God. I am just as good as this. I
can do what I want. Now, I've heard preachers and
commentators say that his wife had already fallen and he's just
going to follow her, and that's not what happened at all. She
had nothing happen to her when she ate that fruit, and everything
happened when he ate that fruit. Now, can you imagine? After that
incident, God allowed them to reproduce, and we have Cain and
Abel. And they're sitting at the dinner
table one day, and Adam and Eve decide it's time to tell them
why the world is in such a mess as it is. why they are whiners,
and why they complain, and why all the fuss that goes on, why
they have upset stomachs, and why they have problems with their
digestive system, and why they have nosebleeds, and why all
the things that we go through as children and as adults, the
problems. So they're sitting down at the
table, and Adam says, let me explain something to you. I was told by Almighty God Listen
to me, boys. They're playing with their food,
and he wants them to listen. Listen, boys. I have something
very important to tell you. I was created of God, and so
was your mother. We're the first of a line. And
we sinned against God. And when we sinned against God,
we hid ourselves because we hated Him. We went and covered ourselves
with fig leaves, thinking that that would be enough to take
care of the problem of our nakedness. And we went and hid in the garden.
And God came down in the cool of the eve, just like He had
the day before, and the day before, and the day before. And He came
down in the cool of the evening, and He came and was looking for
us. And he said, Adam, where art
thou? Now we know, they could tell their boys this clearly,
we know that he didn't ask that because he didn't know where
we were. He knew where we were and he knew the condition that
we were in. We were in darkness instantaneously. My spirit died
within me. Instantaneously, spiritual darkness
fell all over me. I could not even believe how
quickly that took place. But it happened, and here we
are. And I have passed this terrible venom onto you, my boys. Now, I want to tell you something
else, boys. God shared with us the absolute remedy for the problem. He shared with us that the seed
of your mama, there's going to be hope. Now, it appears for
a season that Adam and Eve both believed that one of these boys
was going to be the deliverer that was promised in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 15. that the seed of this woman is
going to bruise the head of that serpent. Something has to be
done with this problem of sin. Something has to be done with
the problem that we have in ourselves. It's inheriting us. We pass it
on. Now, it didn't come from your
father. All of that belongs to me. I'm the responsible party,
and I sinned against God, and lo and behold, God's promise
has been passed on, and you now have it. And you know what, boys? You're going to pass it on to
your children, the gene that God did to me because of my disbelief,
unbelief, and sin against Him. I have this gene that I'm passing
on to everyone. Now, your mama's not going to
do that. She's not going to give you this. In fact, the seed of
the woman is going to be the deliverer. The seed of the woman
is going to be the remedy, the seed of your mama. Now, we go
down through many, many generations and we find the seed of the mama,
Eve, is going to be Mary. of Nazareth. That's it. That's
the promise is going to be fulfilled right there. But generations
have taken place there. So we have Adam explaining this. He says, now there's only one
hope in all of this, and that is that God grants to you a substitute. You can't take care of the problem
yourself. I tried and God revealed them
to me. when he took those skins of animals,
those skins of those sheep that he slaughtered and skinned out
and put over your mama and I, when he did that, he revealed
to us that we need a substitute, and this substitute must be a
lamb, and this must be a lamb that God promised from eternity,
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is the message
that Adam and Eve are sharing with his two boys. Do you know
what? One of those boys said, You know,
I've got a friend over here, and he's got a polis, and he'll
take care of that problem." Now, he didn't have any friends. The
only friends he had was his mom, dad, and his brother. But he
had in his mind that he wasn't quite as bad as dad had explained
it, and he really didn't need the substitute that they talked
about. But that other brother He said,
God reveals something to him that he reveals to all of his
people, and that is, I need a substitute because I am an absolute sinner
before God. What Adam tried to explain to
him that he was a sinner by nature, practice, and choice, it doesn't
strike us. until God reveals that to us. We cannot comprehend the totality. You and I cannot comprehend the
totality of sin that lies within us until God reveals that truth
to us. Over there in the book of Numbers
chapter 21, those people could not realize What a terrible thing
it was to complain against a thrice holy God, and He has all the
right by creation, and all the right by Saviorhood, to do what
He wants to do, and needs to do, and His purpose to do, and
that was to send fiery serpents among them, and many people,
and many aunts and uncles, mothers and brothers, fathers and daughters,
died as a result of it. And then they come to God and
says, we're sorry we got caught. We're sorry. We're sorry. We're
sorry. You know, that's the most overused
word in our language. Someone comes up and slaps you
right in the face. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, what's that
supposed to mean? You know, sorry used to mean
I'm not, I had kids at school. They'd say, Mr. Wells, I'm so
sorry about that. I says, if you were sorry about it, you'd
change this. But you just keep doing it over and over. You have
some interest in changing it. Well, these people had no interest
in changing their lives. They had no interest in changing
anything. They were quite happy with the place they were. But
some of them, they came up and said, Moses, Moses, Moses, we're
sorry. Would you talk to Jehovah for
us? I remember when I first came
here, I told the church, don't ever ask me to pray for anything
that you haven't prayed for. I'm not a priest. Can you imagine
them coming up to Moses and saying, Moses, Moses, we've done something
terrible. We've done something terrible.
Please intercede for us. Well, we do find that the Lord
Jesus Christ sends those people as a type and a shadow in the
picture as Moses, as a representative of the son of God who is able
to hear our complaints. And still the scriptures tell
us even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. complain
about his actions, complain about his doings, complain about everything,
and yet because he loved the people before the foundation
of the world, he says, I'll lay down my lamb life for you. I will give myself a ransom.
So we have this great picture of sin. The children of Israel
have sinned against God. God sends them these serpents.
Many people die. And then they come and says,
we need help out of the mess we're in. And Moses goes to God. Did you notice Moses didn't do
a thing? He couldn't do a thing just as
well as all the rest of the people around. All the policies in the
world wouldn't fix it. All of the cutting across, you
know, all the things that we're told to do at first aid, now
they tell us that's not going to help. All the things that we depend
on in our religious form and formality cannot change the problem. We've been snake bit. We have
venom running through our veins, and the outcome, left unchecked
by Almighty God, will be certain death, physical, and absolute
death, spiritual. Moses went to God. Jehovah, Jehovah,
Jehovah. These people have erred. They
have sinned. But do you have a remedy? Do
you have some way to take care of the mess we're in? And you
know God Almighty and His good pleasure and purpose spoke out
to Moses there. Let's go back to the book of
Numbers chapter 21. Numbers chapter 21 and we read
the response. Numbers chapter 21. They said in verse 7, we have
spoken against the Lord and against thee, pray unto Jehovah, capital
L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that he take away the serpents
from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
You know, the Lord did not take away the serpents from among
them. He took care of their bite. Sin will be with us till the
very last breath. Till the last person on this
earth. Sin will be so prominent and so evident. You know, we
don't have to go to New York City or Portland to find sinners.
All we have to do is go out here to Friend. Or Doofer. Or our own backyards. That's
where we're going to find them. All right, it tells us here in
verse 8, And the LORD said unto Moses, Make a fiery serpent. Can you imagine what those serpents
look like? They look like a fiery serpent.
He is required by God, if there's going to be any help for anybody,
he must make this fiery serpent out of brass. It must represent
and look like those things crawling on the ground that are biting
people. Make thee a fiery serpent. Now, this is the second thing
you have to do. Set it upon a pole. That word
pole is often translated banner or ensign. No, they had ensigns
that separated the tribes. The tribe of Judah had an ensign.
The tribe of Levi had, well, no, Simeon and all the rest of
them had an ensign. Well, here we have an ensign.
There's going to be a brazen serpent, a brass serpent. Now,
this is going to take some time, but the purpose has already been
set in order. Did you know it took time for
God to work out His eternal purpose? Not because He had to, but that's
just the way He did His business. Before the foundation of the
world, He purposed to send a son. But we're going to have a couple
of thousand years take place before He arrives. So, Moses is to take some brass,
heat up this brass, make a form, put it on a pole, and it come
to pass that if a serpent had bitten any person, when he beheld
the serpent of brass, he lived. All right? So Moses made a serpent
of brass. It looked like the problem. Do
you know what? We find that the Lord Jesus Christ
came and looked just like us. yet without sin. It was no wonder
that they employed Judas to kiss his cheek because they just couldn't
pick him out of a crowd. You know, that's on purpose. He looked like the rest of us.
In fact, the scripture said he had all ways, was like us, yet
without sin. And then it tells us here, put
it upon a pole. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
mentioned that the Son of Man must be lifted up, signifying
by which means He would die. He was put on a cross. He was
lifted up. Who put Him on the cross? Well,
we know the Romans did that. Who put Him on the cross? Well,
we know the Jews did that. Who put Him on the cross? God
Almighty put Him on that cross. This is part of the everlasting
covenant. There must be someone die for
the sins of his people. There must be someone who would
pay the price of the sins of his people. Now, the price of
sin is death. We find that in scriptures. The
price of our sin is death. You know, the Lord may give us
a new birth in time, but the price of our sin is a physical
death. God is going to pay for all that
hinders us from meeting him, but it's not going to stop us
from dying. It's just the way we go from
conception to death. That's where we are. In Adam
all died. Oh, the feelings of our father
Adam as he began to explain to his boys. Now it was made effectual. The message was made effectual
to one. You know what the other boy did? Killed his brother because he
didn't like effectual revelation. He did not like grace. He wanted
works. And we're going to have a bunch
of people here that could not, could not imagine looking up
to a brazen serpent Just like we have people every day that
cannot look to Christ. Why should I look to Him? He's
no different than we are. Why should I look to Him? I'm
just as good. I can carry myself, and I've
heard a number of people just recently, when I see God, I'm
gonna give Him, and I've told them both, don't you ever think
that because your mouth will be shut. This God will not allow
you to bring any railing accusation against Him. Sin when it is finished
bringeth forth death. In Adam all died. And here we
find a brazen serpent. Now it doesn't tell us how big
it was. Doesn't tell us the length. Doesn't tell us the girth. Doesn't
tell us anything. Just imagine it as big as you
possibly can hanging on a pole. It's a dread. A serpent is a
dread. Did you hear what the Lord told
the woman about a serpent, you're not going to like serpents. That's what he said. You know
what? He could have said that to the
men too because we don't like the cure by nature. We don't like a brazen serpent.
We don't like someone that looks like us. and says, I'm the Savior. That has to be revealed to us.
The heart and mind, though the venom of the serpent may have
been entered into the leg or the hand, death is the result. But here is the solution. Here is the remedy. The remedy
of the bitten was a brazen serpent, and the only remedy for sinners
is Christ crucified. That's our only hope, our only
remedy. And many... This word remedy
only produced a laugh. Moses said, look and live. Are
you kidding me? I'd rather go down to my tent
and ask someone to come in and do... You know that word serpent
is the same word in Scripture. I had it here. This word serpent is the same
word in Scripture that we find for divining or practice divination, enchantment,
to observe signs, to practice fortune-telling. This word means
exact came from that word that means all of that stuff and you
know to a whole bunch of people, that's all it was. It was just
superstition. Same is about Christ. To most
people, He's nothing but superstition. You can't see Him. You can't
feel Him. You can't get Him to come to
you at your command. Where is He? Where is He? And
yet, to the believer, He is right with us, walking beside us. We trust in an invisible God. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, not with
the flesh. The flesh profiteth nothing. Well, they lifted up this serpent,
and there in the book of Numbers chapter 21, Moses made a serpent
of brass, he put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, just as
sure as you're sitting there, that if a serpent had bitten
any man, Serpent has bitten anybody. If
a serpent has bitten anybody, if you look, he lived. What a statement. My goodness. Turn with me, if
you would, to the book of 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. In 1 Peter chapter 2, we have
this wonderful statement about our Savior. 1 Peter chapter 2
and verse 24. This is who we're looking to,
someone who could deal with the problem of sin. It tells us in
1 Peter 2 and verse 24, who his own self bear our sins in his
own body on the tree. This is the one lifted up. And
he, now that serpent looked just like those that are crawling
on the ground, biting people. But did you know inside it was
just brass? The view from the outside had
not changed the molecular structure on the inside. Thus it is with
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, even though he bore our sins,
he did not become a sinner. He became sin for us for the
payment of death, but that is it. Going on here, it says, "...bear
our sins in his own body on a tree, that we, being dead to sin, should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." So the
Lord is going to give us His righteousness. bear in his own
body that we, being dead to sins, know the payment price is made.
If payment is made, it cannot be charged again. If payment
for all sin has been made, then God cannot charge that sin to
our account. What did it say there? Being
dead to sins. No longer is there a charge.
You know, the scriptures tell us that if a lady is married
and then she separates and marries someone else, that's an issue.
But if a lady is married and her husband dies and she remarries,
thank God, there's no charge. Well, we were married to the
wrong family. God comes along, kills that family,
and allows us to be married to Christ, and He says, no charge.
I paid it all." Well, let's go over here to the book of 2 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthians 5, this passage
of Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, it tells us here
without question how this was done. We have a serpent on a
pole. It represented sin. Lifted up
this represented our Savior made sin for us, but he knew no sin
He became sin for us in the eyes of God But he was not a sinner
for he hath made him to be sin for us 2nd Corinthians chapter
5 and verse 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew
no sin The molecular structure was not changed. It was placed
on him imputed to him that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And then if we go back to the
Old Testament, to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53, we
have this wonderful statement made here by Isaiah about the
same subject, Isaiah chapter 53. You know, I used to think
that Isaiah 53 was the only gospel chapter in the Old Testament.
Boy, was I mistaken. Every chapter is the gospel chapter.
Some of it is clearer than others, but as we go through and look
at it and see the types and shadows and pictures and how they reflect
the Savior, the Lord of Glory, we say it's all gospel chapters. Well, Isaiah chapter 53, and
there in verse 21. Uh-oh. Oh, Isaiah 53, verse 4. I'll get to the right passage
there. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted." Did you notice that? Smitten
of God. Now, the Romans did participate
in raising him up. The Jews participated in raising
him up. The law participated in raising
him up. But who truly raised him up?
It was in the covenant of grace. He must be lifted up. And when
he was lifted up, he would accomplish all that he set out to do. He
would make the full payment. And he would draw. All right. Goes on. Verse five. But he was
wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. What a glorious statement is
made. The wicked men lifted up Christ,
but God lifted him up. Turn with me back to the New
Testament, if you would, to the book of Philippians, the book
of Philippians. Who was he while he was there?
Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter 2, as we
think about the message that our first father must have told
his first two sons, we need a substitute. You need a substitute. Nothing
else will do. You must have a substitute. You
cannot bear it alone. Well, what do we have? One son,
one day, going out and slaying a lamb and placing it on an altar,
and there he's sharing with us, as it's recorded there, down
to our very day, he's sharing with us, I am a sinner and I
need a substitute. And God was pleased. with his
sacrifice. The other brother says, I am
okay. I'll bring some fruits and vegetables.
I'm just as good offering this as he is with that. And God did
not find favor with that, never will find favor with that, just
as much as he did with our first parents, Adam and Eve, covering
themselves with fig leaves. not good enough. You must have
a substitute. All right, here in the book of
Philippians chapter 2 and verse 9, wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and
things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What a blessing
the Lord has delivered to us. What were the people to do? Look. Oh, to have our wretched heads
lifted to look. I had a teacher. I loved my teacher,
Mr. Sunnyville. He was a metal shop
teacher and auto shop teacher. And I didn't do very good in
auto shop. I didn't like my hands that greasy. But he was a highly
respected by me. And you know, I used to go visit
him. And before he ended up his life, he had to sit on his back
because he was all bent over. Now, I'm beginning to get the
feeling of that. We find people in the scriptures that were all
bent over and the only hope they had was someone who came along
and took care of that, raised them from being all bent over.
Well, thank God for those that he touched and raised them that
were all bent over and couldn't look. They had crooked backs,
they had wretched heads. They're blind and he healed so
they could look. By his gift of faith to look
in faith at this one lifted up as our only savior. The gift of faith to look and
live. Before we close, turn with me
again to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. John chapter 1, good news. His
brother was saved by the grace of God and he went to his brother
with that good news. And it says here, Philip findeth
Nathanael. John chapter 1 verse 45, Philip
findeth Nathanael and said unto him, we have found him. of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Philip said unto him, Come and
see. You know, he just said, I've
got my, I've got my polis. There's no need for me to go
over there, I've got everything I need. Jesus saw Nathanael coming
and said unto him, Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is
no guile. And Nathanael said unto him,
Whence knowest thou me? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the
fig tree, I saw thee. What a glorious statement. Verse
41, He first findeth his brother Simon, and said unto him, We
have found Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ.
Someone over here said, You know, I looked, and God gave me life. All I can do is encourage you
to look. May God give you life. Brother Mike.