I hope your Bible's with me to
John's Gospel Chapter 3. We're very grateful for what
the Lord did for James and his family with little Lily. He showed
me a picture of her back where they just split her back open
and brought her home yesterday. She's a tough little girl. Oh
boy. I'm going to read this first
15 verses and then we're going to go to Numbers Chapter 21 when
we bring the message. 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, didn't call him the Lord, didn't
call him the Savior, didn't call him the Master, said unto him,
Rabbi, teacher, we know that thou art a teacher come from
God. For no man can do these miracles that thou dost except
God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith 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? Our
Lord 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. TWO THINGS, CAN'T SEE AND CAN'T
GET IN. TWO THINGS, CAN'T SEE AND IF
YOU CAN'T SEE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET IN. GOT TO HAVE EYES
TO SEE BEFORE YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS TO GET IN. AND THAT WHICH
IS BORN, VERSE 6, 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, YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. THE WIND BLOWETH
WHERE IT LISTETH, OR WHERE IT WILL, 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. Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered, 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
you evidently ain't seen nothing or don't know nothing, because
you ain't got nothing to testify about. That's what our Lord said
to him. And you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly
things, told you about earthly things, how in the world shall
you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath
ascended up to 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. All right now I want you to look
with me if you will over in Numbers chapter 21. Numbers chapter 21. You know our Lord Jesus told
Nicodemus as he talked to Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus
and started a conversation with him and wanted to talk about
what a great teacher he was and what miracles he had done. And
our Lord just turned right around told him you must be born again.
And this man, this Nicodemus, was a devout student of the Old
Testament. And yet he did not see or know
anything about Christ from the Old Testament, as a lot of people
don't. But our Lord referred to himself
in his death using an Old Testament type. He says, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him might have everlasting
life. Now the Lord's people who've been regenerated see things from
God's words that other men don't see. That's what our Lord said
to Nicodemus. He said, except a man be born
again, he can't see the kingdom of God. A man can see a lot of
things about religion and can see a lot of things about God
and a lot of things about God's word. And yet never, never see
the things that speak of Christ. Never see them. And if And that's
what our Lord told Nicodemus and he can't not only can't see
but he can't enter And I don't know how many times have you
heard said I just can't see that. Of course. They can't see it
You know how many times if somebody told you I just don't see it
that way. Well, you can be wrong I heard if you'd be wrong if
you want to but this is what God said, you know And and and
that's why Lord, you know They came to the Pharisees came to
the Lord and they said to the Lord Jesus Christ They said,
If you're the Christ, just tell us plainly. Just tell us. Our
Lord said, I've told you. I've told you and told you. But
you believe not, because you're not of My sheep. That's why He
said they don't believe. He says, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. Not only do I know them,
but they know Me. They hear My voice, and they
know Me. And what a joy and what a blessing to be able to see
our salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament types,
the Old Testament symbols, and the pictures and shadows of the
Old Testament. And so let's hear Numbers 21,
verses 4 through 9. Let's look at this together,
and we'll see at this serpent of brass And that's this serpent
of brass prefigured our Lord's death on the cross for sinners
because that's what he said as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness. And he talked about this here.
That's what he's referring to as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. And this prefigured the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Look at verse 4, down
through verse 4 and 9, down through 9. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass or go around the land
of Edom. And the soul of the people was
much discouraged, grieved because of the way, because of the way. 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 neither
no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth
this light bread, this bread that God has provided, called
it angels' food, the bread of God. Then 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 against the Lord and against
thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from
us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he shall
look upon it, shall live. And Moses made a fiery serpent,
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 let me say, by preaching
from this and seeing it, it's obvious, obvious how salvation's
accomplished. Obvious that it's all of grace.
And let me tell you, first of all, that a serpent was an appropriate
figure. Appropriate figure. A serpent
bit these people, and a serpent is what they had to look to.
It was a serpent in the Garden of Eden that deceived our Mother
Eve. And as that serpent was cursed
by God Himself, so our Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse for us.
to redeem us out from curse of the law and why wasn't one that
why didn't they take one of the serpents that had bit the people
why didn't they take one of the actual serpents and put it up
on the tree well it was the serpent that destroyed him and that would
be the sinner saving himself that would be a type of the sinner
you know why why didn't we Why didn't we save ourselves? Why
would they use a serpent that had destroyed them as a figure
of the one that's going to save them? Put it up as a sinner saving
yourself. It'd be a sinner representing
himself. But it was a brass serpent, and it was in the likeness of
those serpents that bit those Israelites. It was in the likeness
of it, of these fiery serpents. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
made in the likeness of men. And when he is made in the likeness
of men, he was made to be sin for us. God made him to be sin
for us. And he was made like unto his
brethren that he might make resiliation for us. And so our Lord Jesus
Christ, this serpent, was made like that serpents had bit him.
Our Lord was made in the likeness of flesh. And that serpent lifted
up, prefigured our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. But why
would it be a serpent of brass? Well, brass speaks of two things,
two things. I used to work in a machine shop
years ago when I first got out of the Marine Corps and got my
first job, second job really. And I, and I, they made, they
had brass there, you know, and they made all kinds of things
out of brass, iron and all kinds of stuff, but they made things
out of brass. And they had lots of things made out of brass.
Brass is one of the hardest things there are, but it's an emblem.
Brass in the scriptures is an emblem of God's just judgment,
of divine judgment. First of all, they had a brazen
altar. Why was the altar made out of brass? because the eye
the the the fire would fall and the fire would be upon that brazen
altar and god's judgment was fell upon the sacrifice on that
brazen altar and god in judgment that fire fell on it and that
brass could take the fire the brass could take the heat and
god in judgment said he would make the heavens brass that he'd
make them so hard that nobody could get through I'LL MAKE THE
HEAVENS BRASS, I'LL NOT HEAR ANOTHER WORD YOU GOT TO SAY,
IS WHAT HE SAYS IN JUDGMENT. AND BOY, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE
YOU THOUGHT, BOY, THE HEAVENS SEEM TO BE BRASS, I CAN'T GET
THROUGH, I CAN'T GET THROUGH. AND IN REVELATIONS, OUR LORD
JESUS CHRIST HAD FEET LIKE AN UNDERBRASS BY WHICH HE HAD TREAD
UNDER HIS FEET. AND BRASS, SECONDLY, BRASS IS
HARDER THAN IRON, SILVER, GOLD, And it speaks of our Lord's mighty
strength that He was able to endure the awful judgment which
fell on Him on that cross. When God's wrath fell on Him,
when God's judgment fell on our Lord Jesus Christ, He was able
to bear that judgment, able to bear the wrath, able to buy the
fire of God's judgment upon Him. And, beloved, not only did it
fall on Him, but He consumed the judgment of God consumed
the wrath of God and it'll never never fall on anyone for whom
Christ died now let me give you seven things here these these
people they're in the wilderness they've been bit they they they
started speaking against God speaking against Moses these
are high this this awful thing when you start talking against
God and you start talking against God's the the the mediator that
God said Moses And they not only got upset with God, but they
got upset with the one that God sent over. And they got angry,
got upset, and they told them, said, we don't even like this
light bread anymore. And Christ was the type of that
bread sent from heaven. No, we don't. We loathe it. That's
like saying, I love Christ. And here they got upset, they
got angry, and then all of a sudden, fiery serpents was everywhere.
And they went to biting people. And after a while, a whole bunch
of people started dying. And when they started seeing
people dropping and dying, they had snake bites all over them.
And they started saying, oh Moses, oh, we've sinned against God,
we've sinned against you. Would you please ask God to have
mercy on us and take these serpents away? I hope that you don't say
nothing against God, and I certainly hope you don't say nothing against
God's people and God's preachers. Because I'll tell you something,
the judgment of God is awful. Awfully. He says, don't speak
against my prophets and against my preachers. That's what God
said. And then the seven things these people were not told to
do. And this is what preachers do. Seven things they were not
told to do. They were not told to manufacture
some ointment or some salve. He said, look at the serpent.
That's what he told him to do. Whosoever looks at that serpent,
though he were bitten, yet shall he live. And I tell you what,
there's what folks do. People go over to Israel and
they put water in a little glass or something, in a little cup,
and then they put a stopper in it, and they'll sell that stuff
for holy water. And they go bring some dirt in
from over in Israel, and they'll say, this is holy dirt. And then
they got handkerchiefs that preachers sell, said, this is a handkerchief.
If you put that thing in your pocket, you'll get healed. But
it's only going to cost you $25. But there ain't no holy dirt,
there ain't no holy water, and there certainly ain't a handkerchief
that's gonna do anything for you. And that's what he says,
don't do this. Like that woman taken with the
issue of blood, she went to all her physicians and spent everything
she had trying to get well. And she just got worse and worse
and worse. And that's what people do. They
just, they keep trying to go to this thing or that thing or
another thing and they just get worse and worse and worse and
worse. Oh my, and they were not told
to minister to others to get relief for themselves. Oh, y'all
go out here and start winning some souls, start passing out
some tracts. You start helping other people
and God will bless you. Oh, go feed the poor, go and
give all your money and give a bunch of money and help all
these poor people, help these folks, this social gospel. you
know this that this social gospel is get up and go somewhere and
do something do something for somebody else and then god will
bless you and you'll get a clear conscience and oh the more works
you do the more god will bless you well i'll tell you something
a drowning man can't be saved by someone who can't swim that's
a fact we you know one dead man can't give life to another dead
man So don't get up here and go out and start trying to do
something for somebody else. You can't even do nothing for
yourself. That's what people don't understand. They can't
even do nothing for themselves. They brag about their free will
and their powers and their free will can't even get rid of a
headache, much less save their soul. And I tell you something
else they were told not to do. They were not told to fight,
to fight them serpents. Oh, get out there and start killing
them serpents. Go out there and get you a stick
and start killing snakes. No, that's not what they were
told to do. If they'd have killed a thousand serpents, they're
still going to die because it's already been. Huh? And oh my,
just get a committee. I'll tell you what, let's get
a committee together to kill serpents. Steve was in a place one time
putting in some carpet, and he told me about this bunch of committee,
a bunch of women on the building committee or something come in
there and start telling him what they need to do and how they
need to do it. And he just told them, said, fella, give me a
penny, and I'll walk off his job. So where are the committee? a committee, but oh listen, get
a committee to fight communism, get a committee to fight drinking,
get a committee to fight picture shows, get a committee together
against pornography, get a committee together against abortion, get
a committee together against people listening to rock music,
and none of that stuff has ever brought one soul to the Lord
Jesus Christ. You can preach against everything
under the sun, and not one soul has ever been brought to Christ.
That's what he told Nicodemus. You can't see, Nicodemus. You
ain't got no eyes to see. You're a master of Israel. You
ought to understand these things. You ought to understand the things
about what a new birth is like. The Old Testament's full of it.
Right here's one of them. And oh my, I tell you, get a
committee together. We'll get a committee together
and we're going to straighten the world out. We'll get us some signs
and we'll go marching. And we're going to tell folks,
we're against this and we're against that and we're against
another thing. But not one soul has ever been brought to the
Lord Jesus Christ preaching against anything like that, not one.
And I tell you something else they were not told to do, to
make an offering to the serpent. I tell you what you do, go make
an offering. Give an offering. Take those
serpents, you know, and go give an offering. Put you in altar
up there and start making an offering there. But there ain't
no payment price for healing. There ain't no payment price
for being bit by the serpent. I tell you, grace can't be bought
by works. Grace can't be earned by your
will. Grace can't be given to you because you have some merit
in your life. If it could, If grace could be
bought by the works or the will or the worth of anybody, it immediately
would cease to be grace. Immediately like that. The very
fact that you add anything to grace means you've fallen from
grace. And if you could add anything to grace, then it ceases to be
grace. If there's anything a person
can do to come to God other than on the pure, free grace of God,
bringing nothing. In your hands, bringing nothing.
That's the only way you can come. Can't come any other way. If
it's of works, then it's no longer of grace. If it's of grace, then
it's no longer of works. They don't mix. They just don't
mix. And they were not told to pray
to the serpents. And that's what people say. Boy,
if you'd go home and start praying, if you all, you need to pray
through. If you all would pray more, this would, God would do
this for you and God would do that for you. If you just pray
more. But that's not what they were told to do. They was told
to look. Look, see that serpent up on that pole? That brass serpent? Look and live. And I tell you
something else they were not told to do. They were not told
to look at Moses. If you'll just go to Moses, everything
will be all right. And that's why folks, they want
people to go to Moses. They want him to go to the law. That's all he was, was the lawgiver.
He was the lawgiver. He couldn't save anybody. Never
did save anybody. The law was given by Moses in
grace and truth. came by the Lord Jesus Christ.
You remember when our Lord Jesus Christ went up on the mountain,
was transfigured. You know, Moses and Elijah appeared
with him. And Peter, James, and John, just
as an aside, they both recognized who they were. Never seen Moses
before, never seen Elijah, but they knew who they were. And
after they left, they were there to speak of the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ and what it should accomplish. Moses was
the law. Elijah was the prophets. The
Law and the Prophets both testify of Christ and speak of Christ.
To Him all the Prophets give witness. The Law was given by
Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. And that's why Simon Peter said,
Lord, it's so good for us to be here. Oh, I'm so happy to
have been here. He said, I'll tell you what we're
going to do. We're going to build three booths here. We're going
to build three altars. There's going to be one over
here for Moses, one over here for Elijah, but you're going
to have the prominent place. You're going to be, here's one
for you. God said, that's not going to work. That's not going
to happen. You're not going to worship Moses
and you're not going to worship the prophets. He said, this is
my beloved son. You listen to what he's got to
say. And that's why he said one time, you know, the people says
we have Moses to our disciples. And our Lord Jesus says, Moses
wrote of me. Moses talked about me. When you
read about Moses, Moses was talking about me. The first thing in
the scriptures talks about Christ being the light, being the one
that took the soul and was without form and without void and gave
light to it and gave form to it. He did it all. Oh my. They were not told, and
that's what, if anybody ever tells you to go to the law, to
get sanctified, to do anything, get as far away from them as
you can, as fast as you can. And they were not told to look
at their wounds. Boy, look at how bad a shape
you in. Look at how bad a shape you in. Oh, and this is what
folks think. If I'm just a big enough and
a bad enough sinner, maybe God will save me. He didn't say how
bad a sinner you was, how big a sinner you was, how great a
sinner you was. He's your sinner, your sinner.
He came to save sinners. Huh? Oh my. All's it is, beloved,
is they knew they were bitten. And that's all that was necessary.
That's all that was necessary. They knew they were bitten. Look
and live. Now, let's look here at what happens here. Got this
serpent lifted up. Look in verse 8. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole.
And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld
the serpent, he lived. And the Lord said, Set it upon
a pole, and everybody that's bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall live. First of all, this serpent was of the Lord's
providing. God provided this serpent. God
provided it. Moses was commanded to make the
serpent by God. God provided this. The people
were strung by fiery serpents and mortally wounded. Their blood
was filled with awful, awful poison. And I, how do you know
how our blood, our blood, you know, God said in Acts 17, 26,
he said, God has made up one blood, all nations. Everybody's
got the same blood. It's sinful blood. And this has
the poison of sin in it, just like these people here. They
were filled with poison, and they were going to die. And our
Lord Jesus Christ, as you see, our blood is filled with the
poison, and after many died, that's when God made the provision.
And when Adam died, God made a provision for us. When sin
got in our blood, God made a provision for us. and that provision was
the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on a pole lifted up on the
cross and everybody that looks to him and looks to him alone
will be saved from that poison just like these people were when
that that that serpent was lifted up but that serpent was lifted
up under Moses the law but our Lord Jesus Christ was lifted
up and he was lifted up under the law when god when the fullness
of time was come god sent forth his son made of a woman made
under the law to do what to save us to redeem us out from under
that law our lord jesus christ he said He said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must I be lifted up.
And this he spake of the death, that he should die. And look
what he said here in verse six. And the slaughter sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much
people of Israel died. men will die, men will die because
of God's judgment upon them, but God's made a provision to
keep us from perishing. We sang that song, Look and Live,
My Brother Look, Look and Live, and it was of the Lord's provision,
and I'll tell you something else, this serpent was put out publicly
that everybody could see it, everybody that was bitten, those
that hadn't already died, but those that had been bitten, it
was set out for everybody could see it no matter what direction
you look from you could see that serpent up on that pole if you
was behind it you could see it on the side you could see it
if you was in front of it and if you was bitten this is the
thing about it it was only hung out publicly for people that
was bitten And Christ has been set forth, God set him forth,
set him forth in his birth, set him forth in his holy life, set
him forth in judgment, set him forth under the law, set him
forth under sin, set him forth to be a sacrifice, set him forth
to be a substitute in Christ our Lord has been set forth crucified
crucified and was made a public spectacle and you know who he's
made a public spectacle for people that'll look people that will
look and oh I tell you people will do anything under the sun
to try to be saved other than look to Christ and Christ alone
they'll go everywhere do everything So the Lord provided this serpent,
God said, Moses make thee a serpent of brass. And then the Lord's
promise, He said again in verse 8 and 9, And the Lord said unto
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass, when he looketh upon it, it shall live. He that
looketh upon it, when he looketh upon it, it 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
the serpent of brass, he lived. He lived. And that's what our
Lord's saying here. He says when a man is bitten,
when he looketh upon it, he shall live. And all you've got to know,
all you've got to know, have you been bitten by sin? Is sin
in you? Have you sinned? Are you a sinner? Have you spoken against God? Have you spoken against Christ?
And that's what he says. Moses of the law could not save
the people. They couldn't do it. Only, only
by looking to that brazen serpent could a man be saved, could a
man live. And only the Lord Jesus Christ
himself I've said this, I don't know how many times, if I ever
got a chance to preach to a lot of people. The text I would use
would be Acts 4, 11 and 12. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that this man, who you crucified, God hath made
both Lord and Christ, and there's no other name, no other name
among men given under heaven. Not a, no other name, no other
name given under heaven, whereby we must be saved. And I tell
you, beloved, our Lord said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, and
I'm the life. And only by looking. That seems,
that seems pretty, pretty, you know, just look. Look. Look to
Christ. That's what we say all the time.
Look to Christ. And the serpent was lifted up to those, so those
who were so far away and bitten so bad that they couldn't crawl
or they couldn't cry out, but at least they could look. If
they was just, if they was on the ground, And just about ready
to die, if they barely lifted up their eyes and saw that serpent,
they'd live just like that. Just like that. Just like that. There's dead people around them.
And they said, oh my, I don't want to die. I don't want to
perish. I don't want God's judgment on me. I don't want God to punish
me. I don't want to die out here
in the wilderness. And God said, well, I've got
you a remedy. See that serpent on that brass?
And that's so, couldn't crawl, couldn't cry out, so weak. But
if they lifted up their eyes toward that serpent, the moment
they lifted their eyes toward that serpent, life was given
just like that. They could get up, they could
get up and had life. And a serpent is what killed
these people and is the look of a serpent that brought them
to life. A serpent wounded them, a serpent
healed them. And as far as God's concerned, there's only two men
in God's view, only two men in God's purpose. And that's the
Lord Jesus Christ and Adam. And Adam represents the whole
human race. For as by one man sin entered
the world, and death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned.
And by one man's obedience, by one man's obedience, shall many
be made righteous. And as in Adam we all die, even
so in Christ shall we all be made alive. You see that God
only views this world in two men, Adam and Christ. That's
why we want to be found in Christ. We've already been found in Adam,
but oh, to be found in Christ, to win Christ. You see, by Adam
came death. By Christ came life. By Adam
came sin. By Christ came righteousness. By Adam, we got a sin nature. By Christ, we got partakers of
a divine nature. In Adam, we're separated from
God. In Christ, we're reconciled to
God. And that's why God, that serpent,
killed him, wounded him. And when that serpent, when Christ
was lifted up and that brass serpent was lifted up, he'd done
everything and restored man back to the condition he was before
he was ever bitten. And that brazen serpent, I'll
tell you this, That brazen serpent healed only the wounds of the
body, only the wounds of the body, and saved from temporal
death, but our Lord Jesus Christ. When they looked at that, they
just got healed from the serpent's bite. They had life from the
serpent's bite. not only saved from temporal
death but Christ our Lord He heals the soul and He saves to
eternal life. He said as Moses lifted up that
serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up that whosoever believeth on Him hath everlasting life. Huh? You see, He heals the soul
and saves to eternal life because He puts away the cause of death. And you know what the cause of
death is? Sin. Sin. He puts sin away by the
sacrifice of Himself. By His stripes, we're healed. And I tell you something, He
don't deal with just the branches. That's what religion does and
that's what work does. It just deals with the branches.
It deals with the sins of people. sin itself, that nature, that
guilt, that power. He put sin away by the sacrifice
of Himself, and when He put sin away, He put away the cause of
death, and that's why we have eternal life because we will
never die because we have no sin, and if you have no sin,
there's no judgment, and there's no there's a physical death,
but there's no eternal death. That's what's called eternal
life because we'd have no Sin's gone. What's the strength of
sin? It's the law. But we're not under
the law. Christ bought us out from under
the law. And he put that serpent up there.
He didn't say, go to Moses. He said, look at the serpent.
Oh, my. And I tell you what, he heals
all who are bitten. And it's been a long time, a
long, long time since I've seen anybody that says, I'm bitten.
I'm bitten. It's been a long time. I know
there's some in here that have been, but they don't know it.
That's why they don't look. That's why they don't look. They
ain't been bitten. And I tell you what, the serpent
lost its virtue to heal and save. And it was not to be worshiped.
I'm going to show you something. You go, you keep numbers and
go over here to second Kings. Go over here to second Kings
chapter 18. You know, that serpent lost its
virtue and it was not to be worshiped. But that's what man does. He
is so prone to worship anything other than Christ that this brass
serpent, after everyone was healed, it had no more purpose. And look
what he said here, talking about Hoshua, the son of Hezekiah. He said, He did that which was
right according to all that David his father did. And verse 4,
He said, He removed the high places, break the images, cut
down the groves, and listen to this, and break in pieces the
brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the
children of Israel did burn incense and called it Nahashtah, a piece
of brass. They started worshipping it.
They turned around and started offering incense to it and worshipping
that serpent of brass until they had to destroy it. And I tell
you what, that's what God's going to do. He destroys everything
that a person tries to worship other than Him. He's the only
one worthy of our worship. And our Lord's blood and power
to save will never ever lose His power. That brass serpent
did, but Christ's blood will never lose His power to save.
And His will will never lose His power to save. He's the same
today, yesterday, and forever. And He's to be worshipped forever.
That's why we sang that old hymn, Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the rest of the Church
of God be saved to sin no more. And no matter how many times
and how much poison was in a man, he is told to look and to live.
He is told to look and to live. That's what he told Nicodemus.
Oh, Nicodemus. No matter how many times a man
had been bitten, how much poison was in him, he is told to look
and he is told to live. If the eyes was weak, they could
still look and live. Weak faith will save as much
as strong faith will. If it's true faith, it'll save.
I don't care how weak it is. Our Lord said if it was the grain,
it was mustard seed. If you had that much faith, that
much faith will save you as much as a barrel full of it. That
woman said, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, just
the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. Those lepers came
down off the mountain and they said, Lord, if thou wilt, they
fell down in worship and said, if thou wilt, thou can make us
clean. And he said, I will. And they
were clean just like that. That's all it takes is look at
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, that serpent,
that serpent was an unlikely thing to human reason to heal
wounds. is an unlikely thing to human
mind and human reasoning to heal the wounds. Oh my, why in the
world would a serpent or brass do anything for a man? Because
God, that's what he provided. And the promise was that if you
was bitten, you could look and you could live. And I tell you,
our Lord Jesus Christ crucified his foolishness to most people. To the Greek, they want a sign.
They want a sign. And the Greeks, they counted
foolishness. The wise people of this world,
They counted foolishness. They make fun of it. They make
fun of Christianity. They make fun of Christ. They
make fun of the Scriptures. And that's why, you know, when
our Lord Jesus told them, said, I must, the Son of Man must,
I must go up to Jerusalem, and I must suffer, and I must be
delivered into the hands of sinners. And Simon Peter said, oh no,
be it far from thee. And our Lord rebuked him, rebuked
him. And oh, it's foolishness. But
to those who looked, it wasn't foolishness. But to those who
see him, it's not foolishness. But to those who see him, it's
the power and wisdom of God. It's very life from the dead.
And let me tell you, man become a lost sinner by look. He saw
that the tree was good for food and the fruit was able to make
one wise. He said, I'll be, it's good for
food, it'll make me smart. And it made her stupid, it made
her sinful, she lost everything that was right and good. And
she lost all sense of what wisdom really was on that day. And as
we was lost by look, by through Eve, looking at that food, taking
that food and eating that food. The sinner saved by a look. There's
three scriptures that tells us the sinner saved by a look. Life,
the believer's life begins with a look. God said, look unto me
and be ye saved. I'm a just God and a savior. Mr. Spurgeon was just a kid,
16, 15 or 16 years old. I believe he was 16. the big snow got on he's place
where he normally went to worship the snow got on and he turned
into a little chapel and the preacher couldn't make it there
that day and just a a man got up and read the scriptures and
made a comment on it and what he did he read from isaiah 45
22 look unto me and be you saved i'm a just god and a savior and
spurgeon that day looked and lived that day from that verse
of scripture he was converted that day And he says he was saved
because he said, life in a look. And it continues. Our life, a
believer's life, continues with a look, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. And our life will end with a
look, for our conversation is in heaven, from which we look,
look for the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, to change this foul
body and fashion it like unto His. So from start to finish,
One thing required, one thing a sinner must do, he must look,
and he must look at God's Son, not anyone, not at anything,
but God's blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, life, death, his
burial, his resurrection, and his ascension to glory, seated
at God's right hand. Look and live. Our Father, thank you for the
gospel. Thank you for the truth as it is in Christ. We bless
you that you was lifted up. And Father, I look, I look to
Christ. I looked yesterday. I looked
this morning. I looked last night. I look now. And if you let me live, I can
keep on looking to him. I can't find anything in myself
to encourage, to give me any hope. that I've done, or I've
said, or I've accomplished in my life. But Lord, I can look
to Him. I can look to what He did. I
can look to who He is, the Lord of Glory. I can look to the salvation
He accomplished by the sacrifice of Himself. I can look and see
that He put all my sin away. I can see that He is my righteousness. I can see that I'm accepted in
the Beloved. Lord, I keep looking, and I'm
going to keep looking by Your grace. And if my mind gets so
bad that I can't see, and I get so old and feeble that I can't
hear, God, I've looked. I've looked, and I've faced my
soul in eternity. And I'll go into eternity looking,
looking, seeing, believing the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.