Hi, everybody. Would you turn to John chapter
3? I'd like to read verses 14 and
15 of John chapter 3. 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. I've entitled the message for
this evening, Look and Live. Now, if I say, look at me, nobody
scratches their head and says, what do you reckon he meant by
that? Very simple instruction. Look and live. That's where Moses put the serpent
of brass on the pole and cried, look. He didn't say, see, he said,
look. And as many as looked, lived. John chapter three is such an
important passage of Scripture, it's actually very unique. There's
nothing like this in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. And this is where
our Lord teaches of the necessity of the new birth. Now this message
is not over until verse 21, and every aspect of this message
is important, and it would not be complete, though, Without
verses 14 and 15, you could talk about the new birth all you want. And unless we see what is said
in verses 14 and 15, we're not hearing the gospel. You can quote
John chapter three, verse 16. It's probably the most well-known
verse of scripture in the Bible. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Now listen to this statement.
That's not the gospel. That's the reason for the gospel.
The gospel is found in verses 14 and 15. And I hope we'll understand
that by the end of this message. But let's look up in verse one
of John chapter three. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus. A ruler of the Jews, the same
came to Jesus by night. Now, why did he come by night?
Was it because he was ashamed to be identified with him and
it would bring him in trouble with his cronies? Perhaps, but
I don't really think that's what this means. This man was in the
darkness. He had no spiritual light. He
came to Jesus at night. He could not see. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And he talks about what he knew. Verse three, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, birthed from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Now what the Lord is saying to
Nicodemus is, Nicodemus, you do not know anything, except
a man be born from above. born again. He cannot see the
kingdom of God. Now, why is the new birth necessary? Because we're born into this
world dead. Dead in trespasses and sins. You remember in John chapter
two, verse 17, when the Lord said to Adam, in the day you
eat thereof, he didn't say if you eat, he said when you do. In the day you eat thereof, you
shall surely die. Now he didn't die physically
that day, you know that. He died spiritually though, didn't
he? A spiritually dead man cannot perform the functions of spiritual
life. He can't believe, he can't love,
he can't see any beauty in Christ, he can't see any glory in the
gospel. He's dead! Hence the necessity of being
born, birthed from above. Except God births me, except
God gives me life, I'll never see the kingdom of God. I'll never understand. You and
I are completely dependent upon God to birth us. And I say, Lord, birth me. Look
at verse five. In verse four, Nicodemus saith
unto him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the
second time into his mother's womb and be born? He had no idea
what the Lord was talking about. Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, this is very important.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, He cannot
enter the kingdom of God. Now somebody says, what's that
mean to be born of water? Does that have something to do
with being baptized? No. Dunking down under the water
and coming back up doesn't give anybody spiritual life. Ephesians
chapter five, verse 26, Paul speaks of the washing of water
by the word. The water represents the Word
of God. The washing of water by the Word.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his ways, by taking he
thereto according to thy Word. The Word of God. The Word of
the Gospel. The Word of God. Now, the Word
of God is not just talking about the Scriptures, although that
is so much the Gospel message. It's talking about the Living
Word. They can't be separated. The Word of God. And you can
hear the word of God, and that will do nothing for you, except
the Holy Spirit takes it and uses it as the seed that begets
life. Except a man be born of water,
the word of God, and of the Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit, taking
that word and begetting life. He cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. James 1.18 says, of his own will begat he us. through the word of truth. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Now, spiritual life, being born
of God, being birthed by God. Now look in verses 14 and 15. 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. Now this is the life the Lord
is speaking of when he talks about being born from above.
or born again, this eternal life is that life that He gives when
He gives spiritual life. And that
spiritual life is given through what is said in John 3, verses
14 and 15. This is where spiritual life
comes from. I think it's interesting, perhaps
the most well-known verse, and I love John 3, verse 16, Perhaps
the most well-known verse in the Bible, but how many people
know anything about John 3, 14, and 15? Now the gospel is John
3, 14, and 15. The reason behind the gospel
is John 3, 16. So let's consider John 3, 14,
and 15. 14 and 15, and it's the story of
Numbers chapter 21, if you want to turn there. And I think it's
interesting that of all of the stories in the Old Testament,
the Lord selects this story to illustrate the life that is given
through this story. He had a lot of stories to pick
from, and this is the story he selected. Now, turn back to Numbers
chapter 21. But before we can really much
understand what was going on in Numbers chapter 21, let's
look at what had taken place in Numbers chapter 20, verse
15. Verse 14, and Moses sent messengers
to Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel.
Now they're wandering in the wilderness at this time. And
he says to the Edomites, Thou knowest all the travail that
have befallen us. how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we
have dwelt in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians vexed us and
our fathers. And when we cried unto the Lord,
he heard our voice and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth
out of Egypt. And behold, we're in Kadesh,
a city in the uttermost of thy border. Let us pass, I pray thee,
through thy country. We will not pass through the
fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the
water of the wells. We will go by the king's highway. We will
not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we pass through
thy borders. And Edom said unto him, Thou
shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
And the children of Israel said unto him, We'll go by the highway,
and I and my cattle drink of thy water. Then I'll pay for
it. I will only, without doing anything else, go through on
my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go
through And Edom came out against him with much people and with
a strong hand, and Edom refused to give Israel passage through
his border. Wherefore Israel turned away from him, verse four
of chapter 21, and they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of
the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom, and the soul of
the people was much discouraged because of the way. Now they
said, let us pass through Edom, we'll get to our destination
quickly. Edom said, no, if you do, I'm going to war with you.
And so they had to go along the borders of Edom, and it added
three weeks to their journey. In the hot desert, miserable
existence, and because of that, we read in verse four, and they
journeyed from Mount Hoare by the way of the Red Sea to Compass,
to Insert, to go around the border of the land of Edom. And the
soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." Have you
ever been there? Much discouraged, disappointed,
disillusioned. Things have not happened as I
thought they would. Things have not happened as I
wanted them to. They now were going to go through
a very vexing, long, tiresome journey, and they were much discouraged. That's a horrible feeling. Much
discouraged. Because of the way. Discouragement. The common conundrum
of humanity. Discouragement. Disappointment. Disillusionment. So what did they do? Verse 5. 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's no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul
loatheth this light bread. Now they were very discouraged.
They were very disappointed. And anytime I'm disappointed
and discouraged, you know what I'm doing? I'm speaking against
God. I've done that a lot, haven't
you? I'm speaking against God. And that's what they were doing.
They were speaking against God. They were saying, we don't like
this. All of a sudden, they were becoming God's judges. They were
disagreeing with what God was doing. They were saying, this
is wrong. We don't like this. And they said to Moses, why have
you brought us out of Egypt to make us die here in the wilderness?
Now, remember what they'd say. They left Egypt with great riches.
God had moved the Egyptians to give them all their wealth. God
had parted the Red Sea for them to go through. They had seen
man come down from heaven on a daily basis to feed them. They'd
seen water come out of that rock. You remember when Moses smoked
the rock? and the water gushed out to give
him drink, which is nothing less than a picture of the gospel. Christ's mitten in the water
of life comes out of him. And they'd experienced all these
things, but what did they say? You just brought us out here
to die in the wilderness. We don't have any bread. Now,
wait a minute. Man had fallen that very day.
It was promised every day. I love the way the manna came
down by noon, it would melt. You had to gather up enough for
that day. You couldn't eat yesterday's manna, it would breed worms and
stink. You couldn't save today's manna
for tomorrow, it would breed worms and stink. Understand this,
faith is only for the present. It's for the right now. I'm looking
to Christ right now as the only hope I have. But look at all
these other things the Lord's doing in your life. I look to
Christ as the only hope I have. right now. His blood, His righteousness. I have nothing else. And they said, regarding that
bread, we don't have any bread. We don't have any water. Now
wait a minute. You remember when Moses smote
that rock and the water came out? And 1 Corinthians chapter
10 verse 4 tells us that rock was Christ and that rock followed
them around. Now somebody says, how could
a rock follow them around? Well, how could water come out
of the rock? That rock was Christ. And God
provided everything they needed. They had this manna coming down
on a daily basis. They had water coming from the
rock and all they could say is, We had no bread. We had no water. And then they said concerning
the manna, our soul loatheth. That's strong language, isn't
it? Our soul loatheth this light bread. We're sick of this light
bread. That's all we ever have. Every
day, same old meal. We're sick of it. Our soul loathes
it. There was a time when that manna
was considered angel's food, bread from heaven. It tasted
like wafers and fine honey. It tasted good. Now, had the
composition of the manna changed? No. Had the taste of the manna
changed? No. They changed. They changed. When the gospel
becomes light bread. Here's what becomes light bread
to me, insubstantial, not enough to satisfy. You know, I remember
one time Lynn brought in some light bread into our house, 30
calories a slice. It had no substance to it at
all. Don't ever bring this stuff in again. It's light. It doesn't do any good. When
I quit seeking, that I'm complete in Christ and
have nothing else. If that's not enough to satisfy
me, all of a sudden the gospel becomes a gospel light, and I
need something else. Now, this is what was going on.
Our souls loathe, despise this light bread. Verse 6, Numbers 21. And the
Lord sent fiery serpents among the
people. And they bit the people, and
much people of Israel died." Now, most people feel very squeamish
around sex. You might not be one of them,
but most people do. I don't like them. I don't... But can you imagine if poisonous
snakes were just covering your property, getting in your house? And if they would bite people,
the fire would enter their veins, and much people of Israel died.
What a horrible existence that would be to have snakes. You
do everything you can to fortify your walls, you do things to
your windows, your doors, you do everything you can to keep
those snakes out. Or you try to figure out ways
to kill them. You do anything you could to deliver yourself
from those snakes. And they did. I have no doubt
they took every precaution they could I need to be saved from
these snakes. I don't want to be bitten by
a snake. I don't want to find a snake in my bed. Can you imagine? You're shaking your clothes because
you're afraid there's a snake in there. How horrible that must
have been and much people of Israel died. No matter what they
did, it did not help. Nothing would avail. They could
not protect themselves from those snakes that the Lord sent into
the camp. Verse 7. Therefore, the people
came to Moses and said, We have sinned. Would to God, that would be my
confession right now. You take sides with God against
yourself. And you agree with what God says
with regard to you. We have sinned. This is the confession of sin. We have sinned. For we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. All of our murmuring were lies
and wickedness. We've spoken against the Lord
and against thee. And Moses is such a type of Christ
here. They say to Moses, they can't
come into God's presence the way they feel on their own. They
say to Moses, praying to the Lord that He might take away the serpents
from us. Now, I want you to notice what
they asked for. They didn't say, pray to the Lord that He will
enable us to kill all these snakes. They didn't say, pray to the
Lord that He will enable us to deal with these snakes and handle
these snakes and keep them out. He says, pray to the Lord that
they might be taken away. I know enough about my sin to know that
I can't do anything to make it go away. My only hope is that he takes
it away. I can't kill it. I can't make
it not to be. My only hope is that the Lord
take it away. That's the only way my sin can
be dealt with. It's for the Lord to take it
away. Listen to this scripture. First
John chapter three, verse five says, he was manifested to take
away our sins. Romans 11, 23 says, this is my
covenant with them when I shall take away their sins. The blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sins. Now he's asking, They're asking
Moses to ask the Lord to take their sins away. Now, when you and I have some
understanding of who God is and who we are, we know that the
only thing that can be done for us is for Him to do something
for us, to take away our sins. And Moses prayed for the people.
Verse 8. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent. Now this is what the Lord is
talking about in John chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. He's referring
to this event. And the Lord said, I'm so thankful
the Lord speaks. The Lord said, this was not Moses'
idea. He just came to the Lord with
the problem. They need this taken away. And the Lord said unto
Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, just like these serpents that
are biting the people, and set it upon a pole, and it shall
come to pass that everyone that's bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it upon a pole. Now, what was the altar made
out of? Brass. The altar for sacrifice. What
was the brazen labor made of? Brass. What is brass? Well, it's
a compound of tin and copper. Two substances that would make
this brass. That's how they would make it,
tin and copper. And I really believe that this refers to the
two natures of that one who was nailed to the tree. Jesus Christ,
fully God, just as if He were not man at all. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, fully God, equal to the
Father, He's the Creator, He's the Sovereign of the universe,
fully God, fully man, just as if He were not God at all, with
all the limitations of manhood. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The God-man. Now somebody says
serpents are the problem. Why would he want it to be a
serpent? Because it's as a man that the Lord Jesus Christ saved
us. As the God-man. He came in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Now turn back, hold your finger
there in numbers, and turn back to John for a moment. John chapter
three. Verse 14, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, now you remember he made the
serpent of brass that looked just like the fiery serpents.
He set it on a pole and he lifted it up, and I guarantee you that
pole was high. I mean, he wanted everybody to see it, and I could
just see him running around the camp of Israel, look, look, with
that serpent on the pole. The Lord tells us, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, in the same manner,
must the Son of Man be lifted up. Even so, must the Son of
Man be crucified. Now I want to dwell for just
a couple of minutes on this word, must. He didn't say even so will
the Son of Man be lifted up. He didn't say even so may be
the Son of Man or could the Son of Man. He said even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. That means it was absolutely
necessary. Now why does he use this word
must? Let me give you three reasons. Here's why Jesus Christ had to
be crucified. Here's the first reason. Because
it was God's purpose. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. The reason this must take
place is this is God's determinate counsel. This is His purpose. This has always been His purpose.
This is the reason the universe was created. that the lamb would
be slain, that Jesus Christ would be nailed to the cross. First,
reason is necessary. It's God's purpose. Second reason
this was necessary because God is just. God is just. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Justice and judgment are the
habitation of his throne. God is You see, my sin became
his sin. He became guilty of the commission
of that sin. Now, nobody say, well, you're
saying Christ sinned. No, I'm not saying anything of
that nature at all. But I am saying this, my sin
became his sin. So that he became guilty of that
sin. God is just, God must punish
sin. He wouldn't be just if he didn't.
What would we think of if we had a judge in Danville or Lexington
that somebody would commit horrible crimes and they say, well, I'm
a loving judge, I'm gonna forgive them. They'd lose their job,
wouldn't they? God must punish sin. Hold your finger in John
3 and turn to 2 Corinthians 5.21. It's hard to preach the gospel
and not go to this verse. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, 4, He,
God the Father, hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be
sin. You want to know what sin looks
like? Look at the cross. That's the only true you, you
and I are going to have. Don't look in your own heart.
You look at the cross. He made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. You and I know sin so well. We're
used to it. It doesn't even bother us the
way it should, but he knew no sin. Holy, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens. He knew no sin,
but he was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now hear what that says. Doesn't
say he imputed sin to him. He did, I suppose. That's all it says. It says He
made him sin. It doesn't say righteousness
was imputed to us, although I suppose it is, but that's not what it
says. It says that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. My sin was lifted up off me,
and He bore it in His own body, and He took it away. That's what
I need done. I need my sins taken away, made
not to be. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Let me give you a third reason. First, because it's God's purpose.
Second, because God is just. But thirdly, because God is love. God didn't send his son to make
a way to love. He sent his son because he did
love. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. And when Moses made that serpent
of brass, let's go back to Numbers. Moses made that serpent of brass
and put it on a pole. And he was given this instruction. The Lord said, verse eight, make
thee a fiery serpent and set it up on a pole. And it shall
come to pass that everyone that's bitten, when he looketh upon
it, he shall live. Do you know tonight, if you and
I look upon this, We will live. We will have spiritual life.
Now, I doubt that Moses was asking them what their lapsarian view
was. I doubt that when he lifted up
that pole, he asked them about whether or not they were pre
or post-millennialists. He did not tell them they first
needed to get the sin taken care of in their life before they
could look. He said, right now, look on that pole. Look. He didn't say, see. He said, look. Somebody says,
I can't see. Then you've never looked. If you look, you will
see. If you don't see, you've never looked. And I'll tell you
this. If a blind Israelite turned his eye sockets without eyeballs
in them toward that Serpent on a pole, he'd live. Look ye blind and see. Isaiah 42, 18 says, look at the serpent on the pole
and you will live. Don't look at the serpents that
are biting you. Don't try to figure out how to keep them from
biting you. Don't try to figure out how to
exterminate them. Just look at that serpent on the pole. Nothing
else, just look. And you'll live. Verse nine. 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, now I like this word any man, it
doesn't say the serpent had bitten one of the elect. It doesn't
say if a serpent had bitten someone who'd been born again. It doesn't
say if a serpent had bitten one that Jesus Christ died for. It
says if a serpent had bitten any man. Now listen to me, real
carefully. I love God's electing grace and
you can't preach the gospel and not preach election. I love God's
giving his son and putting away the sins of his people, his effectual
redemption for the elect. I love the invincible and irresistible
work of the Holy Spirit. I love the gospel of his grace. But my job is not to figure out
whether or not I'm elect. My job is not to figure out whether
or not Christ died for me. My job is not to figure out whether
I've been born again. I'm called upon to look. Everybody
in this room, you don't need to worry about whether or not
you're elect. You are called upon by God right
now to look upon this serpent on a pole, the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look what it says, verse
nine. And Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it on a pole. It came to pass that if the serpent
had bitten any man, When he held the serpent in brass, he lived.
Now, you know folks who didn't look, folks who weren't bitten,
why bother, right? That's meaningless. If you weren't
bitten, who needs to look? I mean, I guess if I ever get
bitten, I'll look, but I don't need to look right now, you know?
I mean, I'm okay. But if any man was bitten, and
he felt the fire going through his veins and knew he was gonna
die, When he looked. That's all. When he looked. Not when he worked. Not when
he's got to change life. When he looked. He lived. Look and live. Now this thing of looking unto
Jesus, I love that scripture, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Look to Him in who He is as God-man. Is He able to save you without
your help? Does He need any contribution from you? Look to Him in His
life, His perfect obedience. That's the righteousness of God.
Is His righteousness enough to make you accepted before God?
Look to Him in His death. There's your sin payment. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Is his blood enough to make you
without sin before God? Look to his resurrection. There's
your justification. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. I stand right now before a thrice
holy God, sinless, because he was raised from the dead. Do
you believe what he did is enough to make you just before God,
and you leave nothing else? Look to Him in His intercession.
That's why you'll persevere. He's praying for you. He said
to Peter, Peter, I pray for you, that your faith fail not. You know the reason I'm going
to persevere? Because He prays for me. You know, you look to
Him in His return for your glorification. When he shall come, when he shall
appear, we'll be like him, for we'll see him as he is. One sight
of seeing him as he is is gonna perfectly conform you to his
image. You'll be perfectly glorified in your experience. Heaven will
be looking to him. All who looked lived. May the Lord cause me and you
right now in our hearts to look. Look. Somebody says I can't do
it. Yeah, you can. You look, you
could be graced to do it. With the command comes the ability.
Look unto me and be ye saved. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
simplicity of your gospel. Lord, enable each one of us to
look to thy son and live. Lord, we know life comes from
a look at thy son. Oh, the eternal life that comes
from looking to him. Lord, enable us to enter into
this. 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 be condemned, but have eternal
life. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.