Look and Live

If you would turn with me to the Old Testament book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 21, please. Numbers 21. There's a short phrase, just three words, which are the only hope. And I reiterate, only hope. For every sinner born condemned by nature, and that's all of us, we're all sinners born dead in trespasses and sin. What are these three words?

Look and live. Look and live. The scriptures leave no uncertainty about where sinners must look and to whom they must trust. look and live. We know that speaks of Christ. The phrase look and live is drawn here from Numbers chapter 21 when Israel in their rebellion and grumbling against the Lord.

That was one thing they were good at. God delivered them out of Egypt. A casual reader of the scripture knows something about that and most everybody's seen the movie The Ten Commandments. God delivered Israel out of Egypt, out of slavery, out of bondage, by sending these plagues one after another. God sent those plagues. God delivered them out of Egyptian bondage.

They came up to the Red Sea. They've got Pharaoh's army behind them. They've got the Red Sea in front of them. And Moses said, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God's going to deliver you. And God did. Israel walked to the departed sea, and God drowned the Egyptians. And they all died. And Israel, after that, all they did was grumble and complain. Grumble and complain.

Now, turn your attention here to verse 4 of Numbers 21 and let's read this account together. Their rebellion and grumbling against the Lord came under divine judgment by the Lord sending fiery serpents to bite them. Verse four, and they Israel, they being Israel, 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.

In John chapter 3 that we read a moment ago, when Christ was speaking Nicodemus, He illustrated salvation to Nicodemus. And this story in Numbers 21 was the very story our Lord chose to do so with. Old Testament illustration of the Lord Jesus Himself used when speaking to Nicodemus to teach him something of salvation. He chose it, so it certainly carries deep and instructive meaning. My prayer this morning is that the Lord may enable you and I to benefit from this story also.

So the first thing we see here in verse 4 is that the people of Israel had rebelled against God. They were rebelling against the God who had delivered them miraculously. That's what unthankful sinners do. They grumble, they complain. The people were discouraged here because of the way. Now, what's that talking about? God's way. They were discouraged because of God's way. It was the way that God had chose for them, and they didn't like it. So why did they murmur? Because they wanted their way. When do we murmur?

When we don't get things our way. Isn't that right? Let's just be honest. Let's just be honest with ourselves. They wanted their way, they didn't get their way. Natural men and women act like entitled children. All of us do. We always wanted our way. That's what they believe they deserve. We live in an entitled world. I just want what I deserve. Well, I don't. I'll be the first to tell you because God has shown me what I deserve. I don't want what I deserve.

Verse 5, And the people spake against God and against Moses, What did they say? Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Did you deliver us out of the Egyptian bondage to just let us die out here in this God-forsaken wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth.

That means hates. We loathe, we hate this light bread. Well, they just told on themselves right there. They said, there's no bread. Then they said, we hate this light bread that you're giving us. They hated God's way. They detested God's provisions. They complained about everything. They spoke against God and His leadership, Moses. So God's way was rejected. God's leadership was refused. God's servant was rebuffed. And God had enough. God has the right to have enough. He's God.

God's spirit will not always strive with man. That's what God said when he destroyed the world in Noah's day. He said, my spirit shall not always strive with man. God's patience is real, friends, but not endless in that way. Sometimes God has enough. And man has portrayed God as a little old man upstairs who just loves everybody and wants everybody to just have a good time and live the high life. And that's not the God of this book at all. Sinners need to be careful. God may just give them what they insist upon. This day, He let many of them die in the wilderness. This has been the history of man since his fall in Eden. We will not have this man to rule over us. We will not have this God. We want to be our own God.

Do you? Their complaint revealed their hearts. Instead of gratitude for what God had done, they grumbled at what God was doing. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Have you and I ever done that? They complained, why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? They murmured, there's no bread or water. Well, that wasn't true. That wasn't true at all.

God had fed them with bread from heaven called manna. God had quenched their thirst with water from a rock. Both the bread and the water pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the bread from heaven. And He is the solid rock which flows rivers of living water. And what they said was, that's no good, not enough. This wasn't a food complaint. This was a heart problem. And what they were really saying was, we're tired of God's provision. We want something else. Does that sound familiar?

So secondly, we see the judgment of God in verse 6. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much of Israel died. Died. Because of their sin and rebellion, God sent a curse. That's what's wrong with us. Curse of sin. God sent judgment in the way of fiery serpents.

Since they despise God's life-giving provisions, God also allows them to experience what life apart from Him actually produces. What is it? Death. What is it? Poison. What is it? Helplessness. Sin's not merely disobedience, friends. Sin is self-destructive rebellion. God is giving them a taste of what they have chosen. Again, let me reiterate, I don't want what I deserve.

The bite of the serpent was fatal. Much people of Israel died. Some in their own family died. Many of their friends died. Many of our friends have died. Many in our family have died and went out to stand before God without a substitute. And these folks knew why they died.

They had murmured and complained against God and His servant. And it's the same today. It's the same today. The results of sin have not changed. Rebellion against God still brings the same results. The wages of sin is what? Death. Death. So thirdly, we see the turning point here, and that was their confession of guilt.

Verse seven, therefore, the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned. For we have spoken against the Lord and against thee, praying to the Lord that he take away the servants from us. And Moses prayed for the people. Isn't it striking that the very ones that they complained and murmured against are the very ones that they asked for help and the very ones who could and would help them. We murmur and we complain against God and then when we get in trouble we're like, oh God help me.

That's just us. That's just us. What's their confession of guilt here? We have sinned! That's the reason this curse is upon them. That's the reason they were dying. It's all because of sin. And we're not left to doubt as to why. As I just said, the wages of sin is death. James said, sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. That's just another way of saying the wages of sin is death. We see the results of sin all around us.

Old age being one of them. Teresa and I have an echo show or whatever, you know, these digital picture frames that constantly bring up new pictures. And I think most of ours that come up on this come from her phone. And a lot of times I haven't ever seen these pictures before. And I'm like, oh, I've never seen that picture before. But this morning I saw a picture of Teresa with cold black hair. And then the very next picture was her with gray hair. And listen, they had a picture come up of me. And I said, who is that? I'm telling you, getting old's not for sissies, is it? That's the result of sin. All around us we see hospitals result of sin. We see asylums. We see jails. Courtrooms. War.

Hatred, cemeteries, all the result of sin. These are the result of man's rebellion against God. With sin, there are eternal consequences. This is serious, serious business. Real repentance is not just saying that you're sorry. It's saying, I have sinned. I've sinned. Lord, I've sinned against You. Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight." That's what David said. No negotiations, no excuses, no blaming, just confession. Lord, I've sinned. I've sinned against You. I know that I have. Would You have mercy? Would You have mercy?

Then fourthly, we have the means of salvation. Verse 8. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." There's the means of salvation right there. Here we see that God provided a remedy.

Moses didn't say, hey Lord, I think what we ought to do is make us a brass serpent and put it up on a pole and tell everybody to look at it. No, that's not how this went down. The Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass. Why? Because He's going to make it come to pass. that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, he shall live."

No man, not even Moses, could produce a remedy. Moses was not God's deliverer. You know, a lot of people say that. Christ was. Moses was simply God's representative. He was God's mediator between Israel and God. He was their fleshly mediator, but Jesus Christ is God's heavenly spiritual mediator. There's only one, the man Christ Jesus. If we're going to be saved, if we're going to be reconciled to God, if we're going to be brought back into fellowship with God, it's going to be through Jesus Christ.

God the Son provided the remedy for the poison of sin. And that poison permeates through all of our bodies. And it's killing us. Matter of fact, it's already killed us. We were born condemned, as we read in John 3. But the remedy for us, and the remedy just like it was for Israel, was look to the One who was made to be like that poisonous serpent in order to be delivered and saved. And this brings to mind just one verse of Scripture that describes this so well, and I bet you already know what it is. For He hath made Him, for God hath made Christ to be sin for us, He, Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

2 Corinthians 5.21. Moses, you make a serpent of brass, and you lift it up on a pole, and you tell all these people that have been bit with these serpents, this poison, that's dying to look and live. Verse 9, And Moses made a serpent of brass, and he put it upon a pole.

And it came to pass, that if the serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. This verse tells us that anyone who had been bitten, When he beheld, that simply means looked upon. When he looked upon that serpent of brass, he lived.

Life is received by looking, not by working. There's simplicity in these three words. This is much more than a slogan. This is much more than a good little thing to put on a bumper sticker or on a billboard. Look and live. Much more than that. This functions in the text as a command. Look and live. If you don't, you're gonna die. Now listen, it's still the message today. Look and live. Look to Jesus Christ and live or you're gonna die. That's exactly the message. The bronze serpent lifted up was to be looked upon.

No suggestion there of effort. No suggestion there of merit. No suggestion there of delay. The instruction is direct. Look. The result is life. Look and live. That's not a hard message, is it? That's pretty direct, pretty simple. Do this and earn life. Now hear me on this.

The healing wasn't in the act of looking itself. The healing was in trusting the provision God made. Because I'm gonna tell you what happened. If salvation is in the looking, then pretty soon we'll make looking salvation. We'll make it work. We'll say, well, I'm saved because I looked.

It's who you look to. It's looking to that one high and lifted upon that pole that brings life. Look and live is a command. It's a command that carries the weight of God's promise. If you look to Christ, you will be saved. If you don't look to Christ, you're going to die. This is God's promise to the sin-bitten sinner.

And the simplicity is absolutely intentional because it strips away all human pride and all human effort. Look and live. You know, as men lay on the ground dying, how ridiculous would it have been to look upon one of them and to say, you need to try a little harder to live. Would it not be absurd to say there is that poison is streaming through their bloodstream, and they've already lost a lot of bodily functions, and they're just laying there to say, you know, you should try to pull yourself up by your sandal straps and give your heart to Jesus. How can anyone do anything for themselves when poison flows through their bloodstream and it's taking their life?

That's what sin did to us, and that's what sin still does. And yet, that's exactly, exactly what preachers tell sinners today. Give your heart to Jesus. Make Jesus your Lord. You're dead! God doesn't help those who help themselves. I've heard that all my life. God helps those who CANNOT help themselves.

There's a big difference. The deeper issue wasn't the bite of the serpent. The reason for death was sin and rebellion. That's the reason these fiery serpents came. They were grumbling and complaining about God's provision, God's way. They were discouraged because of the way. We don't like this bread. We don't like this water from the rock. It tastes gravel in it. You know, just complain, complain, complain.

Sin is the serpent's poison. And that's what these serpents represent. They were the visible consequence of inward sin. And there's only one thing, just one thing that a man could do as he lay dying. He could look. He could look. Sin had taken away his ability to stand. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. You can't. It had taken away his ability to walk. I walked down to the front of the church. No, sir, can't walk. But as he lay dying, God did enable him to still be able to look. With the command, God gives the ability. God gives the power.

The believer never, ever graduates beyond looking. Did you hear what I said? We never graduate beyond looking. I look to Christ when God saved me. I look to Christ right now and I'm going to have to look to Christ again tomorrow and next week and next year if the Lord enables me to live. I'll have to continually forever look to Christ until God takes me right on home. Look to Christ. Look and live. That's the title of my message. You probably already realized that. Look and live. That's the gospel. Look and live. It's a continual dependence on the one who we look to. We must continue to look away from ourself. We must continue to look away from sin. We must continue to look to Christ.

His finished work for us. Fifthly, this whole story points us to Christ. I'm almost done. Our Lord took this passage and He applied it directly to His own crucifixion with Nicodemus. Now, I want you to turn back with me to John 3. Did you stick your marker there? I told you. John chapter 3, let's pick up this time in verse 14.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent into the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Listen, when those men not mention women, but I'm sure some of them were bitten too.

Look to that serpent up on a pole. That was the same as believing. That was the same as believing what God had said. Look to the serpent on the pole and live. Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, and Christ should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The serpent Moses lifted up represented the curse. You see, though it had no venom of its own, it was a serpent of brass, it represented the fiery serpents that bit the people. And likewise, Christ, who had no sin, He had no venom of His own. He knew no sin. He was made sin for us. Christ, our brazen serpent, high and lifted up, was not a victim of wrongdoing.

That's the way a lot of people preach Christ today. He's a victim. No. He was the appointed substitute and sacrifice for sinners who were under divine judgment. What must I do to be saved? You can't do anything to be saved. But thank God the Lord Jesus Christ did it for you. That's the gospel message. It's about substitution. Christ doing for us what we could not and would not do for ourselves. Then sixthly, we see the simplicity of saving faith.

The bitten Israelites were not told to analyze the serpent. They were not told to debate with the serpent. They were not told to improve themselves before they looked. That's what a lot of preachers say today. Well, you know, get your life straight and then come to Jesus. Well, you'll never get your life straight and you'll never come. They were told to look and live. To look to Christ is simple faith. And it's the result of simple faith. The result of simple faith is to live. Do you want to live? Look to Christ. Not hard. Impossible unless God enables you, but it's not a hard message.

Sinners are not saved by understanding anything. How much do I have to understand to be saved? I don't understand hardly any of it. I'll tell you what I don't understand. I don't understand how God Himself would come and become a man to die for somebody like me. I don't understand that at all. Do you? No, I don't understand that. Sinners are saved by trusting in Christ alone. The problem is not complexity. The problem is refusal to look. When did men die? When they didn't look. If a man lay there bitten, refused to look to that brazen serpent, they died.

Some may have said, well, you know, I don't really care for this Moses guy. I didn't like him from the first time he showed up in Egypt, and I'm not going to look at anything he holds up. And some may have said, well, what good is looking to something going to do anyway?

I've got to do something to save myself. And others may have said, it makes no sense to look. And I bet some even said, you know, that's too easy. There's got to be more to it than that. Got to be more than just looking to something. It won't work for me. I'm sure some say it. I'm too far gone. And I'll look if others are saved that way first.

Or maybe I'm going to try an old remedy that my mama gave me before I try looking. I'm too busy dealing with the pain to look. I'm just too cast down to look. I'm just too depressed to look. You're going to die. You're going to die if you don't Every excuse is the same. All excuses are nothing more than simply unbelief. Unbelief is resistance to the divinely appointed remedy. Unbelief is the offense of the simplicity. Unbelief is the offense of grace. Unbelief is the offense of having to look away from self.

Because we want to do something. Men and women by nature won't have God's remedy for salvation. They desire to make their own. So lastly, we have the seriousness of refusing to look. There are no other remedies, not in Israel's camp and not in ours. If a man refused to look, he died where he laid. He did not die because God lacked mercy. He died because he rejected the only appointed means of mercy.

And it's still true today. Still true today. There's only one Savior. There's only one mediator. There's only one gospel message. There's only one cross. There's only one Lord and Savior. There's only one way to life. Look to Jesus Christ and live. That's it. That's it.

The remedy is still effectual, but it's not for the healthy. It's for the bitten. It's not for the righteous, but to the dying. It's not to the self-sufficient, but to those who are under judgment. The gospel is not fix yourself and come. The gospel is look and live. Look to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look to Jesus Christ risen. Look to Jesus Christ exalted. This story is not just ancient history. It's a mirror reflecting the truth of how sinners are saved. God has lifted up His Son, and the message is still the same. What is it? Three words. Look and live. That's our message. Are you looking to Christ alone? May God truly enable you and I to do so. It's the only, only, only means of eternal life.

Look and Live

Sermon Transcript

About David Eddmenson

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Look and Live

Sermon Transcript

About David Eddmenson

Comments

More from David Eddmenson

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by David Eddmenson

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book