Numbers chapter 21. Numbers chapter
21. I will read some of this chapter,
but again, for the sake of time, I will not read the whole chapter. Most of you were made aware,
other than maybe some who are live streaming with us, were
made aware that this was my subject for this Sunday morning. Concerning
Numbers chapter 21, let me begin and say this. I want to give
you a few preliminary observations. Three in particular, I should
say. Here's the first observation.
Let us never rest on the laurels of our personal zealous success. Numbers chapter 21 in verse one. And when King Arad the Canaanite,
which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the
way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some
of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the
Lord and said, if thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand,
then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened
to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites. And they utterly
destroyed them and their cities. And he called the name of the
place Hormah. So again I say, let us never
rest on the laurels of our personal zealous success. You ever had
a prayer answered? You ever had a prayer answered? That doesn't mean you got merit
before God. Let me put it this way, there are enough people
in this world that I'm sure somebody has prayed for something, and
God never even give it any mind, but they still got what they
wanted simply by chance, as we look at chance. Prayers answered,
successes gained, reformations secured, is never solid ground
for merit before God. Never, ever solid ground for
merit before God. I am not downing these things.
I am not saying we should not seek after these things. Mason,
I am not saying we should not pray. I am not saying we should
not seek success. I am not saying that there are
some things that we should reform or try to make better. But in
this world, you will hear a lot. If you listen to much TV or radio,
and especially TV, you will hear a lot of X's. Do you know what
I'm talking about? E-X-S, X's. I was an X drunk. I was an ex-football
player. I was an ex-whore monger. I was
an ex-dope head. And it's always the laurels of
what they used to be, or rather I should say, what they are now,
or what they rather think they are now, compared to what they
were before. AA can cure you of your drinking,
but they can't get you to God. but can't get you to God. Again
I say, let us never rest on the laurels of personal zealous success,
even if we have reason to believe God was in it. Because we're
not righteous before God by our deeds. And I say that based upon
this. It's not solid ground to stand
on as to having merit before God because these always eventually
Fade, verse four. And they, who they? This same
Israel that had just had great success. This same Israel that
had cried out to God and God answered their prayer, correct?
Look, and they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red
Sea to compass the land of Edom and the soul of the people was
much discouraged because of the way. And there's nothing wrong
with that. There's no problem at being discouraged
in this world. It's how we respond to the discouragements
that is our problem. And the people, same people now,
just fought a mighty battle, took back their captive brothers
and sisters, whoever these Israelites were that were taken captive,
and utterly destroyed the enemy. And the people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water, and it's not just that. And our soul
loatheth this manna, that's what they were talking about, this
light bread. Oh, how often after a success,
we then at the first sign of trouble begin to murmur and complain. And it's almost like it catches
you blindsided. It happens even when you're trying
your best not to do it. So that's why I emphasize this
first preliminary observation. Let us never rest on the laurels
of personal zealous success. Number two. Second preliminary
observation. God always brings low before
he blesses. He always brings low before he
blesses. Verse six. And the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people. Now who sent it? not the devil,
not the enemy, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. And that would be For me who
do not, I do not like snakes very well. They startle me if
I see them and they're right close to me and all of a sudden
I recognize here's one right there. But that wasn't just the
problem. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people and they bit the people. You see it? And they bit the people. God Almighty even controls the
beasts of the field. the beasts of the, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. Do you see that? Note, note, can I say, God always,
the second preliminary observation, God always brings low before
he blesses. Note, but God does not do things
the way man wants man to do things. Therefore the people, verse seven,
came to Moses and said, we have sinned and that's a good thing
to say. Is it not? That's a good thing. People talk
about good works. There's a good work. Most people think of good works
as you don't ever do wrong. That's true, that would be a
good work. But it's also a good work to repent when you've done
wrong and God shows you that you've done wrong. Therefore
the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we
have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the
Lord that he take away the serpents from us. But he didn't. Did he? Now this prayer is not
answered, is it? He did not take away the fiery,
which means poisonous. Venomous serpents, that's what
it's talking. Not something that's blowing
fire like some mythical dragon. They should take away the serpents.
And basically, God said no. Did he not? No. So again, I say
God always brings low before he blesses. Conviction of sins. And I will say that more importantly,
I believe, if you disagree with me, I will give you that because
I don't know that I can prove this by a direct statement from
scripture. But conviction of sins, and more
importantly, conviction of sin. Sin. Conviction of sins and conviction
of sins always precedes experienced deliverance. It always does. And of course, I think everyone
listening to me probably already understands the difference, but
just in case some do not, and just in case God would remind
us here this morning, our sin and our sins are different, but
the same. Our sins, that is what we do
wrong, flows from our sin, and that is what we are by nature. You remember the account of the
rich young ruler that came to Christ, said, good master, what
good thing shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? Do you
remember our Lord made this statement to him, will thou be perfect? Do you remember him saying that?
He didn't say, will thou do perfect. Wilt thou be perfect? Why? Because no nasty source
can bring forth sweet and abundance. Our evil, vile, corrupt, wicked
hearts cannot bring forth that which is pleasing to God. As
a matter of fact, our Lord put it this way, and he said it mainly
about self-righteousness, but I believe it would apply to many
other things. He said, that which is highly
esteemed among men. You remember the statement? Well,
we already rang a bell to some of you, haven't we? That which
is highly esteemed among men. What is it in God's sight, though?
It is an abomination. That's one of the strongest words
in our English language that we can come up with. It is an
abomination unto God. You see, too many people are
saved who've never been lost first. You know what I'm saying? Too many people are saved, put
that in quotes, if you will. Too many people are saved. They've
never been lost. No, and I don't mean, well, we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's true.
That is true. Israel said, we have sinned,
but God will bring you to a place to where you forget about everybody
else, that you don't worry about everybody else, and you with
David, as the psalmist cried out in Psalm 51, we have it recorded,
I have sinned against you. Against thee and thee only have
I done this sin, this evil wickedness in thy sight. So again, number
two, God always brings low before he blesses. God's gonna put you
in the dirt before he ever lifts you up in Christ Jesus. That's the way God operates.
Number three, the third preliminary observation. Victory by Christ
crucified. and Christ preached always precedes
warfare and work. Chapter 21, verse nine. And Moses
made a serpent of brass because God had told him to. God did
not take away the serpents. The serpents were evidently,
Mason, still biting some folk. And some folks were still under
the sentence of death. Many had already died. And the
Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it on
a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten
when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent
of brass and put it on a pole and it came to pass that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass,
what is it? He lived. He lived. Then and then only do we find
Israel then marching out and beginning to conquer the enemy. Too many people in this world
think along this lines, I'll give my heart to Jesus. I'll
serve Jesus. I will engage in the war with
and for Jesus and just maybe he may save me. No, sir. It does not happen that way. This is what the scripture says.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Unto good works. and it is unto good works. Do not misunderstand me here
this morning. Everyone God saves by grace through
faith, as our beloved pastor Earl Cochran used to say, don't
just do good works, they walk in good works. Why? Because God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. But the salvation by grace through
faith must always come first. Walk and warfare, that is verses
10 through 35, always come after deliverance, not before deliverance,
and never must we ever think that they bring about our deliverance. And we're not throwing off on
the walk and the warfare. We're not throwing off on the
walk and the warfare. So then, Christ lifted up is
central to all blessings, is it not? It's central to all the
blessings, and this is my title. I gave most of you this title
last week. Christ lifted up is Christ crucified
and proclaimed. Now, there are some disagreements
among men, and I don't want to - I don't want anyone to misunderstand
me here this morning. It's not a - I don't think it's
any kind of big controversy. God knows I'm not standing here
this morning trying to start a controversy. But there are
disagreements amongst those who believe God, and of course there
are disagreements amongst those who are religious but don't believe
God, but we expect that of them. And sadly, we've come to expect
it of ourselves as well. But there are those who differ.
Some say Christ lifted up is Christ crucified on the cross,
period. And there's a sense in which
that is true. Because Christ lifted up on the cross is the
foundation of any man or woman's salvation in this world. but in our text. And as we actually
read our Lord Jesus Christ use of this illustration of the fiery
and brazen serpent being lifted up, we know that it also includes
the crucified Christ being proclaimed. Being actually not just put on
a pole, but lifted up. And lifted up in order that those
who were bitten might look and live. So there ought not be any
controversy. The only time, and I'm not saying
it's really controversy, it's probably more of disagreements.
And I understand, we don't all understand the scripture to the
same extent. I understand that, but we certainly
ought not be casting a finger of dispersion toward one another
if we don't agree on every single thing. But both are in the scripture. Christ must needs go to Jerusalem
and suffer and die. We have no salvation apart from
that. But let me also say, we have no salvation from that being
proclaimed and that being preached and by the blessed sweet work
of the Holy Spirit, he giving us life by himself and then conversion
by the gospel being preached, that is the gospel of Christ,
we find deliverance. Three thoughts, this is my message.
Three thoughts for this morning. Here's the first one. The brazen
serpent lifted up is only for those bitten. Did you hear what
I said? The brazen serpent lifted up
in both its aspects. Jesus Christ crucified, literally
on the cross, being buried, dying, buried, raised him again, ascending
back to the Father, Jesus Christ being proclaimed in that official
office and work is only for the bitten. There were thousands
of people that perished or went to hell before Jesus Christ ever
even died. Wasn't there? There were many
Israelites died. before God ever said, make the
fiery serpent out of brass, put it on a pole, and those that
look and live. But even then, it's only for
the bitten. Men say, how can I believe in
Christ if I don't know for sure Jesus Christ died for me? Does
that sound like a good question? Sounds like a good emotional
question. Paul put it this way. Here, you
wanna know, who did Jesus Christ die for? I'm not gonna give you
the passage. Most of you will know, well,
okay, I knew that one, but listen to me. Here's the passage. Christ
died for the ungodly. The bitten. Christ died for the
ungodly. And if someone says, well, I'm
a sinner, but I'm not ungodly. Well, then you've got no right
to believe Christ died for you. Because Romans, I'll tell you,
Romans 5 verse 6 says, Christ died for the ungodly. You see it? Nowhere, especially
in the book of Acts, where we hear God sent men preaching,
do they ever call upon men and women to believe on Jesus Christ
because of the fact that he died for them. But we do find them
saying, Jesus Christ died and brought about forgiveness, and
this forgiveness is unto all that believe. That's what we
find them preaching. So again, I say the brazen serpent
lifted up is only for those bitten. Number two, a fiery serpent set
on the pole was the object to which they were to look, right? Now think about this. It was
a fiery serpent put on a pole. It was a serpent of brass. Now
it doesn't tell us what the pole was, right? And that really doesn't
matter, because what really matters? The fiery serpent sat on a pole. Notice it was not a pot of manna. Moses was not taught, make a
brazen, a brass pot of manna. Put it on a pole and lift it
up, did he? Did he say, make a brass figure of that rock that's
following you around? Did he say that? No, he didn't
say that. Did he say, make a brass figure
of Aaron, your great high priest, whom God has just killed, put
him on that pole. Make a brazen image of him, put
it on the pole. Did he do that? No, all three
of those would have been valid things to look toward though.
Do we not look to our heavenly bread, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Is he not our rock from which we get our water? Is he not our
great high priest? Huh? But that's not the point.
The point is it's a fiery, it's a poisonous serpent. Put that
on a pole, lift that up, and anyone who's bitten can look
and they'll live. You don't look to keep from getting
bit. Get bit, you must be first. To be bit, oh, there's snakes
all around. That's bad, but that ain't the
problem. It's when one bites you. That's when the problem
comes. That's when the problem comes.
No, it wasn't manna, it wasn't a rock, it wasn't Aaron. Let
me tell you something. God doesn't intend for us to
love Jesus Christ out of pity. It wasn't a sweet little puppy
dog or a kitty cat hung up on that pole either. Now was it?
Now was it? No, sir. You don't love Jesus
Christ out of pity. Oh, poor Jesus, he died on a
cross for us. That is not the gospel. That is not the, he told
some folk when they were mourning, when he was carrying that cross,
you remember the account? It was so heavy, he'd been beaten
so severely, he actually stumbled under the weight and another
guy come along and carried it for him. Am I not right in that,
if I remember correctly? Come along and carried it for
him. And there were people bewailing and moaning and he said, you
don't weep for me, you weep for yourselves and for your children. What am I talking about? When
you love Jesus Christ, it will be a reverent love. It'll be
a love wrought first by fear, fear of God's judgment, fear
of God's condemnation, but then a holy, reverent love for God. He's my only hope. He is merciful
and compassionate to the ungodly. That gives me hope. It didn't
just give me hope yesterday when I screwed up. It gives me hope
this morning when I open my eyes and I realize I was still screwed
up. I'm trying to preach the gospel
to you this morning, but I'm still screwed up. I'm still bitten. And I don't want to jump ahead
of myself. But do you get what I'm saying?
A fiery serpent. Brass was made. I don't know
what it looked like and put on a pole and lift it up. Why? Because Jesus Christ the son
of God was made to be the actual problem that we have the fiery
serpent the book of God says he was made to be a curse and
He was made to be sin. He's made to be the very thing
that is the problem, not puppy dogs and kitty cats. Do we understand
that? Yes, he is our manna, he is our
rock, he is our Aaron, our high priest, but he also took upon
himself the worst thing that we are, sin. Sin, and he dealt
with it in justice before God Almighty. Isaiah 53 says, when
thou shalt make his, this is amazing, I can't explain it to
you. I don't even, maybe there is
some illustrations, I just don't have one. When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin. He was beaten to a pulp, he was
tortured. And had it not been that the
purpose of God was that he had his life in his own hands, they
would have killed him. by beating him to death. But
of course the Romans wanted to please the Jews so there wasn't
some insurrection, so they made sure they didn't kill him before
he got to the cross. And men were told, you're guilty
of murdering the Lord of glory, yet the Lord of glory laid down
his life. He gave up the ghost on the cross. Isn't that amazing now? Now,
those of you who want to think of human justice, go figure that
one out. Because men would have killed
them had they been able to. That's right. You see, our problem
is what? Sin, sin, sin. But here's number three. The
object of hope had to be manifested, lifted up. And that's not just
put, you could put one on a pole mason and just lay it on the
ground. Right? It's not make a serpent of brass,
put it on a pole and put it over there in the tabernacle in the
Holy of Holies. Was it? No. Make this serpent
of brass, put it on a pole and do what? It's going to be lifted
up. Lifted up. Lifted up for what
reason? So that those who were bitten
could look, could behold, and could live. So again, I say the
object of hope had to be manifested and beheld. And we read that
in chapter 21, verse eight and nine. And the Lord said unto
Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon
it, looketh upon 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. Now, turn to John chapter three.
John chapter three. All of us are aware, I'm sure
that probably everyone listening to me this morning, or who may
hear me later, are probably aware of this verse. 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. You know what Rolf Barner said
about that? I'll see if I get the same response he probably
did. There ain't a bit of gospel in that verse. I can just see him say, he said
there ain't a bit of gospel in that verse. He said this verse
is testimony about the gospel. He said it ain't the gospel,
the gospel's in verse 14 to 15. I'd love to have been there.
I mean, that man was rough, evidently. People think I'm rough. Old Barnard,
my brother, a whole lot rougher than I am. Look at what it says.
And this is Christ's own words, mind you. Think about it. People
say, well, I get tired of y'all talking about all that Old Testament
stuff, and you keep saying it means Christ. It means, well,
Christ here says it means Christ. So you can disagree with me about
this chapter or that chapter. You disagree here, you're not
disagreeing with me. You're disagreeing with God Almighty in the flesh.
Here's what he said, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and
that means both aspects. Actually, literally, on the cross,
and actually proclaimed. We proclaim, not just Jesus crucified,
but Jesus Christ and him crucified, because he's not crucified today.
But look what it says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
There's the gospel. There's the gospel right there
in a nutshell. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have eternal life. I like that as Joe says, don't
you? See Christ and him crucified must be preached. We have not
fallen into that trap here. I pray God we never do, but some
have fallen into the trap. Jesus Christ died for the elect
and that's it, doesn't really matter. If you're one of the
elect, you'll wake up in heaven one day. Now yes, some of the
elect will be converted, some will be changed, but if you're
one of the elect, everything's gonna be okay, it don't matter.
That is a lie. That is a lie. Jesus Christ was
crucified. so that Jesus Christ would be
preached by God-sent men, and that men and women who have been
bitten can look to Jesus Christ and live. That's what God purposed. That's what God purposed. So
I say that Jesus Christ and him crucified must be preached. And
that's what Paul says in Romans 10, verses 13 through 15. Another
verse is quoted a lot. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But does that mean that just
anybody out there will say, Lord, save me, and it's all done with?
No, sir. Because you first got, before
you can ever call on him, you gotta believe in him. And before
you could ever believe in him, you got to hear who he really
is. And that ain't gonna happen unless God Almighty sends another
sinner that he's already done salvation for, and he's gonna
send that sinner to you, and that sinner's gonna tell you
the same message they heard, and you're gonna see and believe
and live. Do you see snakes all around
you? Most people do. I even had one crawl over my
foot. It's spooky, ain't it? Don't mean squat. Does it? This is for only, this is only
for those who are bitten. Do you see it? You see it? Oh,
we're all sinners. Oh, I'm pretty bad. Well, I ain't
bad as that guy. I'm as bad as that guy. Are you bit? If you're bit by
a fiery serpent, a poisonous snake, you ain't worried about
the other guy. No, are you? If you are, you're probably just
about out of it because of the poison and you're just about
ready to go off into glory. I'm saying, it ain't about seeing
snakes all around you. Have you been bit? And I wish
I could, I wish right now I could say that in a way that it would
enlighten everyone that hears me, but I can't do that, only
God can do that. Only God can open your eyes and your ear and
give you that experience of what it is to be bit. Are you bitten? I didn't ask you, have you been
bitten back yonder, because remember now, don't try to squeeze the
proverbial blood out of the turnip. These Israelites were bitten
one time, and they could look and live. And the serpents, they
move off, right? They move off. I am bitten every
day. Now, if you're still on John
three, look at what it actually says. Verse 15, that whosoever believed
in him. Is that what it says? No. That whosoever believeth. That
is, they believe, they look, They behold, they trust, they
bow down to, that believeth in him should not perish but have
everlasting life. Why? For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him and only for those who believe in him should not perish
but have everlasting life. I feel the serpent's bite every
day. All the time. But when I look
to Christ, Mason, I feel life. I feel life. If you could ever
get away from the serpents, you have done gone off the deep end.
The snakes are all around you, but you got to be bit first. I pray a snake bites you. if
you've never been bit before. And I also pray that if you have
been bitten, you will never get over being bitten all the time,
because the snake didn't come from out here. You know where
that snake come from? That snake lives right down inside
of me. I got that snake right inside
of me, it's called my heart. And it's desperately wicked above
all things, and I still don't even really know it. Mac, would
you close us in prayer, please?