Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. Have you ever wondered what being
born again means? Or what the new birth means?
Perhaps you have heard about it, people claiming to be born
again, and you think, what does that mean? Do you feel differently?
Do you have a different life? Do you have a different attitude
toward the world? now have less trouble with sin
and more likeness to Christ? What is meant by this thing of
being born again? Now, it is a scriptural reality. The Lord said to Nicodemus, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of heaven. And barely I say unto you, except
a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Now, what does he mean by being
born of water? Is that talking about water baptism?
No. Paul spoke of the washing of
the water by the Word. That's speaking of the Word of
God. In being born again, I must hear
the Word of God and it must be empowered by the Holy Spirit,
giving me a new nature that I did not have before. Now, this sounds
very mysterious, doesn't it? This thing of being born again. What happens when you are born
again? Now, I think it's very interesting
that the Lord selected a passage from the Old Testament of an
event that happened in the Old Testament to illustrate what
happens when one is born again. And he talks about something
that happened in Numbers chapter 21. Now I'm going to read first
verse 14 of John chapter three, when he was talking about the,
uh, new birth, he said at four, as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. And he's talking about what took
place in numbers chapter 21. Even so, must the Son of Man
be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life." This life given in the new birth. So what happens when one is born
again? Whatever happened in Numbers
21, When the children of Israel looked to that serpent on a pole
and lived, the Lord uses this to illustrate to us how one is
born again and what they experience when they're born again. Now
I'm going to turn to Numbers chapter 21, and I want to begin
reading in verse four. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom. They had to walk around the land
of Edom. Now, let me remind you why the
children of Israel are in the desert in the first place. God
had delivered them from Egypt. And through their unbelief, God
had sentenced them to walk through the desert 40 years before they
entered the Promised Land. And they were getting close to
the promised land and they asked the Edomites to let them come
through and the Edomites said no. And so this was going to
add at least six weeks to their journey walking through the desert. How miserable that must have
been. When we read in verse four of
Numbers chapter 21, And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the
way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom, to encircle
it, walk around it. And the scripture says, the soul
of the people was much discouraged because of the way. What? We have to stay in the desert
marching around in this blazing heat, this sun, for another six
weeks? Oh, they were so discouraged
over this. Much discouraged because of the
way they had to go. Now, discouragement, the occupational
hazard of being human. The common conundrum of being
a man. I know something about this.
I know you do too. Discouragement. Disappointment. Being disillusioned. Things aren't
the way you thought they would be. Dejected. Dispirited. Despondent. Disgruntled. depressed, demoralized,
much discouraged. I'm not happy. That is the feeling of discouragement. I'm not happy. This is not how I expected it
to be. Perhaps there's discouragement
because of the difficult circumstances. There can be discouragement with
other people, disappointed by others. They didn't act the way
you thought they would and you're disappointed. Discouragement
with regarding to yourself. When you see how sinful you are
and what a failure you've been in so many respects. They were much discouraged because
of the way. Have you ever been there? discouraged. I know I have. And my marginal
reading says shortened. They were shortened, certainly
short sighted. So let's go on reading in verse
five, when they're so discouraged 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? Now they're speaking
as victims now. You've brought us up so we could
die in the wilderness. They're angry, they're upset
over their circumstances and they're speaking as victims,
even blaming God. They speak against God and they
speak against Moses. Do you know any murmuring and
complaining we have? It's always against God because
he's the first cause. He's the first cause of everything. And he has wise and holy purposes
in everything we do, and any complaining we do, it's against
God. They murmured against God and
against Moses, saying, why 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 souls loathe this light bread. They spoke against Moses. Quite often, when people are
upset in a church, they won't say, I don't believe the doctrine
being said, but they'll get upset with the preacher. You're the
reason. You're the problem. They spake
against Moses, and ultimately, they were speaking against God,
and they speak as victims, critics, and judges. Their perception
was based upon falsehood. They had water that very day
from the rock. Water gushed out of the rock,
that rock that followed them. Paul tells us about in 1 Corinthians
10, verse four, when Moses smote the rock and water came out,
picturing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ is
smitten, the saving water of salvation comes forth. They had
eaten manna that very day, that manna that came down from heaven,
they'd eaten that. And yet, what do they say? There's
no bread, neither is there any water, and our souls loathe."
That's a strong light word. Our souls loathe this light bread. Now, that's the manna that came
down from heaven. At one time, they saw it as angels' food.
But now they say, we loathe this. We can't stand it anymore. This
light bread, this insubstantial bread, it's not enough to satisfy. It's not enough to motivate us.
It's light bread, unsubstantial. It won't nourish us. Now, on
the very surface, That bread had not changed, they had changed. And this is more than just being
tired of the same food. As a matter of fact, I know that
I'd be right there with them if I had the same thing to eat
every day and no variation, I'd get tired of it. You would too,
no matter how good it is, you'd get tired of it. And that, I
suppose, on some levels is what their problem was. All we have
to eat is this light bread. But the Lord said in John chapter
six, I am the bread that came down from heaven. You see this
manner represents the Lord Jesus Christ coming down from heaven. And in reality, what was going
on here when we say our souls loathe this light bread, they're
saying Christ is light bread. He is not enough to satisfy. He is not enough. We need something
more. Being saved by Christ alone is
not enough. It's insubstantial. Now, of course,
this was wicked and ungrateful on their part, but the reality
is they were questioning the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
Now, what do I mean by the sufficiency of Jesus Christ? I mean this,
if all you have is Christ, you have all. The onlyness of Christ. the simplicity of Christ. I'm
saved for one reason, not because I did anything, but because Christ
saved me. I'm not saved by my works, I'm
not saved by my preaching, I'm not saved by my praying, I'm
not saved by my giving, I'm not saved by my baptism, I'm not
saved by anything that I do. The only reason I'm saved is
because Jesus Christ took full responsibility for my salvation
before time began, He came to this earth and accomplished my
salvation. He kept the law for me. He died
for my sins. He put my sins away. He takes
His righteousness and gives it to me. Salvation is of the Lord. He did it all. My works They have nothing to
do with my salvation. He is my salvation. It has nothing
to do with anything I do. Now somebody hears that and they
say, there's got to be more than that. There's gotta be more. Why, I believe that you're taking
away our motivation for obedience and good works. If you say we're
already complete in Christ and there's nothing we can do to
make ourselves better, you're taking away all of our motivation
for effort and missions. This is deadening us. We need
more. This is not enough. This is light
bread. This is insubstantial bread. Verse six. And the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people. And much people of Israel died.
Do you remember when I read from John chapter 3 where the Lord
says, Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness? Even so, must
the Son of Man be lifted up? Now this is talking about this
event. As a judgment, the Lord sent
fiery serpents into the camp of the children of Israel. And
much people of the children of Israel died. Now most people
get squeamish about snakes. These were poisonous snakes,
and they were everywhere. If you turn your bed over, there
they were under the covers. If you opened up a cabinet, there
they were. I mean, they were just everywhere. Can you imagine
how miserable this would be? And I'm sure they tried to find
ways to extract the venom. I'm sure they tried to find ways
to prevent them from getting into their dwelling places. But
everywhere you went, there were these fiery snakes biting the
people. And much people of Israel died. Some have said that the fire
means the pain that they felt when the snakes bit them. And this was God's judgment against
Israel. He sent these fiery serpents
to bite the people and much people of Israel died. Verse seven,
therefore, the people came to Moses and I want us to notice
how differently they come. They didn't come speaking against
God and against Moses and saying, why have you brought us up out
of Egypt to die here in the wilderness? We don't have any bread. We don't
have any water. We're sick of this light bread.
Nothing like that. They now come to Moses and say,
we have sinned. Now here, my dear friends, is
the confession of sin. Before, they were victims. Before,
it was not their fault. But now, whatever has taken place
is all my fault. No excuses. All my sin is all
my fault. It's not my mom and dad's fault.
It's not my circumstance fault. It's not genetics. All my sin
is all my fault. We have sin. Now, this is the confession of
sin. Now, John said in 1 John 1, 9,
if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, what is this thing of confession
of sin? Does it mean you are able to
articulate each sin you've committed and admit them before the Father?
Well, that's impossible because you don't have enough understanding
of your sin to be able to confess them. Well, most of the sins
you've committed, you're probably not even aware of. I'm probably not even
aware of. If we spent all of our time confessing our sins,
that's what we'd be doing 24-7. And most of the sins we don't
even know that we've committed them, but to confess your sin
is to agree with what God says about your sin. It's to take
sides with God against yourself and to bear full responsibility
for your sins. When I confess my sin, I'm saying
it's all my fault and the only hope that I can have is mercy.
The grace of God, the mercy of God, have mercy upon me. If you
don't do that, if you give me what I have coming, I'll be sent
to hell. Now that's what these people are saying. We have sinned. This victim mentality is gone. They take full responsibility
for their sin. We have sinned, for we have spoken
against the Lord and against thee. What sin that was. And now their prayer. Pray unto
the Lord that he would take away the serpents from us. The reason
of our death, the serpents, ask him to take those serpents away. Now I'm sure that they had tried
to prevent the servants from biting them. They were on the
watch out for the serpents. And probably when some people
were bitten, they were trying to come up with some kind of
antidote for it. I'm sure there was all kinds of things done
to try to prevent from being bitten. But once you were bitten,
You were bitten. And they saw that they could
not fight these serpents. They were losers before these
serpents. The only thing that could do
them any good is for the serpents to be taken away. That was the
cause of death, that the cause of death might be taken away. Now, have you ever seen your
sin in that light? The only thing that can be done
about my sin is for the Lord to do something about it and
to take it away. That is really what the Publican
in the temple was praying when he said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. It's literally God be propitious
to me, the sinner. God be a sin removing sacrifice
to me, the sinner. Do something about my sin. I can't do anything about it.
Be pleased to take my sin away. Verse eight. And Moses prayed
for the people and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery
serpent and set it upon a pole. Now we know from the ninth verse
that Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. A serpent in the likeness of
these fiery serpents without the venom. but it was made of
brass, two materials, copper and tin. And I know that that
signifies the two natures of Jesus Christ. Now here's why
Jesus Christ can save. Here's why Jesus Christ can take
sin away. Because of who he is. First,
he's God. Jesus Christ, oh I love saying
this, Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He's the creator of the universe,
the second person of the blessed trinity, incapable of failure,
all-powerful, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in
a body. He is God, God over all, blessed
forever. And here's his second nature,
Jesus Christ is man. He's just as much a man as you
and I are. You see, some 2,000 years ago,
the Word was made flesh. Christ came in the flesh, To
glorify His Father and to save men. Now this is the one who
can take away our sins. The God-Man. Fully God, just
as if He were not man. Fully man, just as if He were
not God. The God-Man. Now He lived a perfect
life for 33 years, yet He was crucified. Why? Now this is what
the serpent on the pole represents. Why was He crucified? He never
sinned. because he was made to be sin by God. God lifted the sins of the elect
off of them and put them in his son and he bore them in his own
body on the tree. Now let's go on reading. And
the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set
it upon a pole. You know, the Lord was fastened
to a pole. You know, this, that people talk about the symbol
of the cross, that's not the cross. The cross is the pole
he was stretched out upon. They wouldn't have used two pieces
of wood to kill a felon. They just put, stuck them on
a pole. And that's what happened with
the Lord. He was nailed to a pole. Why? Because his father put him
there. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain." You see, Christ is a
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He had come in
time to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And the Lord said to Moses, you make a serpent that looks just
like those fiery serpents and you fasten it to that pole and
lift it up. And everyone, here's the language,
everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, he shall
live. Now here's what happens when
God gives somebody the new birth. They look to Christ. That's the
evidence of being born again. It's not some kind of feeling.
It is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone who was bitten,
who was dying, I tell you this, I know the only ones who looked
were the ones who were bitten. The ones who were not bitten didn't
need to look. They had no need. But that one
who was bitten and saw the venom of sin killing them, when they
simply looked upon that brazen serpent, that's it. They looked. That's the great example of what
faith is, looking to Christ. And we read in verse nine, 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, he lived. And the Lord uses this to illustrate
what it is to be born again. You're bitten and you behold
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this cross that Christ was
nailed to, listen to this scripture from 1 Corinthians 1, beginning
in verse 22. He said the Jews require a sign.
The Jews are the religious. They need something they can
see before they can believe. They need some kind of evidence
that God's working before they can believe. The Jews require
a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
These are the intellectuals, the wise men of this world. They're looking to make this
world a better place. They're not talking, this is
not talking about the wisdom of God, but they want the wisdom to change
the culture, to have better healthcare, to have better education, to
have a better economy. They seek after wisdom. Paul
says, but we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. The serpent
nailed to a pole that anyone who simply looks to him lives.
We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews this is a stumbling
block. You mean to tell me that I'm saved just because of what
he did and has nothing to do with my works? Why stumble at
that? To the Greeks this is foolishness.
How can this improve the world? But to them what you're called.
both Jews and Greeks. Christ, the power of God, the
power of God to put away sin. Christ, the wisdom of God. He
made a way to be just and yet justify the ungodly. Christ,
the wisdom and power of God. What were you called upon to
do? Look. Just look. Look to who He is. The God-man. Look to his suretyship
before time began when he took full responsibility of the salvation
of his people. Look to him in his life when
he perfectly obeyed God's law. Look to him in his death when
he actually put away sin and made it not to be. He paid the
sin debt by his death. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Look to him in his resurrection
where he was raised from the dead. Everybody he died for by
that resurrection was justified. That means there without guilt
before God, without sin before God. They look to Him in His
intercession, Him representing you right now. The reason you
will persevere in the faith if you're in the faith in the first
place is because He prays for you. He represents you as your
great high priest and intercessor. Oh, what a glorious thing to
simply look to Christ. Not do, not work, look. That's it. and all who looked
lived." Now, I would like to close by reading a passage from
2 Kings 18, speaking of Hezekiah. It says, he removed the high
places and break the images and cut down the rows and break in
pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those
days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he called
it the hushten, a worthless piece of brass. Now that brazen serpent
that Moses made, the children of Israel started worshiping
it. And Hezekiah had it ground into dust as a worthless piece
of brass, because it wasn't the brazen serpent that saved. It
was the one that brazen serpent represented. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Look, not do, not get your life
straightened out, not wait for anything. Look to Christ right
now, who He is, what He did, where He is now. That's what
folks who have been birthed of the Spirit and born again do. They look to Christ only for
all. To receive a copy of the sermon
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