Tis not that I did choose thee Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niber. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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 Nibert. I want to preach on the subject
revival. I'm reading from Numbers chapter
21, beginning in verse 4. And they journeyed from Manhor
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 the people spake against
God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light
bread." Speaking of the manna that came down from heaven. And
the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, And they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people
came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against
the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent, 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. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, He lived. He was revived. Now there is such a thing as
revival. God giving life or God reviving. It could be God giving a dead
sinner life. It could be God giving a whole
lot of dead sinners life. 3000 were converted on the day
of Pentecost when Peter preached the message, but still God only
saves by the one. It could be God giving a dead
sinner life. It could be where he takes one
of his people who have turned away from him, and he brings
them back. James said, Brethren, if a man,
if any of you do err from the truth, brethren, if any of you
go astray from the truth, it certainly could be that one of
God's people can stray away from the truth. And when the Lord
brings them back, it will be revival for them. Life from the
dead. Now this is a scriptural concept.
David said, wilt thou not revive us again? Now, you don't have
any understanding of death until you have life. And when you have
life, you have some understanding of spiritual death. So you say,
wilt thou not revive us again? It's also translated quicken.
Quicken me, O Lord, for thy namesake. Psalm 148, verse 11. If you read
the 119th Psalm, Nine times the psalmist says,
quicken me, give me life, raise me from the dead. It's actually
translated recover, as in recovering from an illness. life, being
given life. The word is actually found 262
times in the Old Testament. Now, before we look at our text
in Numbers 21, I want to read the Lord Jesus' comment on this
passage of scripture in John chapter 3. And we know from this,
this is a gospel illustration and a gospel message. The Lord
said in John chapter 3, verse 14, 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." So this lets us know that this is a gospel
story. The Lord Jesus Christ used it
to illustrate saving faith, what it is to look to Himself. Now,
if you're an unbeliever, This message is for you. You need
desperately to look to Christ. You have the venom of sin in
your veins and you will die. And the only way you can be saved
is by looking to Christ, not looking to yourself, not looking
to your works, not looking to your efforts, but looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're an unbeliever, you
desperately need this message. And if you're a believer who
perhaps you've left your first love, like the church at Ephesus,
or you've become tolerant of that which God hates, like the
church at Pergamos and the church at Thyatira, or if you're like
the church at Sardis, you're living in the past for today's
assurance, You have a name that you live, but in reality, you're
dead. You're looking to the past. You're looking to some experience
you had to give you assurance for today. Or if you're like
the church at Laodicea, lukewarm, neither cold or hot, saying,
I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And
the Lord said, whereas you don't know that you're wretched and
poor and miserable and naked and blind. Now, can a believer
get in a state like that? Of course they can. Oh, may God
use this message to cause us to once again look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, for us to understand being
revived or revival, we need to see what declension is, what
going backward is, what the cause of decline is. Now, I want you
to listen real carefully and see if this illustrates you. Now, we're reading about the
children of Israel. They had been delivered from
Egyptian bondage. God parted the Red Sea, and they
walked through on dry ground, and they knew salvation was of
the Lord. They knew it was the power of
God holding up the walls of water as they passed through. And they
saw all their enemies destroyed after they had all passed through
safely. These are the same people that
had manna come down from heaven and feed them. These are the
same people that had water come from the rock for them to drink.
These are the same people who saw the giving of the law. Now
these people had some kind of experience, all that God had
done for them, and this is not very long after all this had
taken place. We read in verse 4, of Numbers 21, and they journeyed
from Manhor by way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom,
and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way." Discouragement, disillusionment, disappointment. things are not
happening as I thought they were. I'm not happy. I'm discouraged." Well, that
was the statement of these people. This word is also translated
shortened The people were much shortened because of the way.
They couldn't see the big picture. They became very nearsighted,
and they couldn't see the big picture of God's blessing upon
them. They forgot all of God's blessing.
I love that song, Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust
Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. But they just couldn't see that.
They were discouraged. And then we read in 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 is no bread,
neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth. this light
bread, this insubstantial bread, this bread that can't satisfy.
It used to be manna from heaven, tasted like honey and wafers,
but now it's light bread. Now think about what the people
are doing after this discouragement. First of all, they spake against
God. And they spoke against Moses.
They became God's critic. They became God's judge. They
said what God was doing was wrong. We're not in agreement with this.
And they criticized Moses because he was God's spokesman. They
wrapped up Moses with God and they criticized them both. They
became judges and critics, very harshly critical. Now, when we
become overwhelmed with the spirit of criticism, We're always able
to see the faults of others and we're totally blind to our own. Now that's where these people
were at this time. And this is what Christ called
hypocrisy. Judging and criticizing the moats
in your brother's eye when you have a beam, a log in your own. Now, there was a mistrust of
God. They said, why did God bring us out here to die in the wilderness? God didn't bring them out to
die in the wilderness. He brought them out to save them.
But now they're mistrusting the Lord. They have no trust of simply
resting in Him and who He is and what He's done and relying
on Him. They're saying, we've been brought
out to die in the wilderness. And look what it says next. It
says, there's no bread, neither is there any water. Do you know
that very day they'd eat manna? Yes, there was bread. The water
was still coming from the rock. Yes, there was water, but they
said there's no bread and there's no water. Now what happens when
someone is either an unbeliever or departing from God, their
reality is based upon falsehood. If you're an unbeliever, you
have a false view of God and you have a false view of yourself
and your ability. You think you can turn things
around one of these days. If you're a believer and are
in a bad way like this, you base your reality on falsehood. That's
what they did. There was bread and there was
water, but they said there's no bread and there is no water. And that was their reality. Now, when a person is turned
away from the truth, Their reality, what they perceive, what they
think, what they feel is based on complete falsehood. And look what they say next.
They say, our soul loatheth. We hate. We despise. We can't stand this light bread
anymore. Now this is the manna that had
come down from heaven. Had it changed? No. Had its taste
changed? No, it still tasted just as good. They had changed. What once tasted
good to them, no longer tasted good. What once satisfied them,
now tasted light and unsubstantial. The gospel was no longer enough
to satisfy them. It's become dry. Old, dry, dead
doctrine. Now, it's not dry, dead doctrine,
but to that person who's hearing it, that's how it comes out,
because their reality has changed. They no longer see it as good
news, as the only gospel, but it becomes dry. The preacher's
getting dry. He may be, but perhaps you're
the one that has become dry. Dry, dead doctrine. That's what
they were calling the gospel, light bread. unsubstantial. Now what happens? Verse 6, And
the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. Now, I don't know
many people who aren't afraid of snakes. They symbolize something
to us and we're afraid of them. Now, can you imagine being in
an environment that was filled with venomous snakes? How could
you lay in bed at night knowing they might get into your tent?
I'm sure the people were spending all kinds of time trying to find
ways to prevent them from getting in their tents, or when they
would see them, they'd do what they could to kill them, cut off their heads.
They were scared to death. And many people of Israel were
dying. Now, this ended up being a blessing. You say, how could
that be a blessing? Because here's what it produced.
Verse seven, therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have
sinned. They would have never come with
this confession had God not sent these fiery serpents their way. This reviving really begins with
God sending the fiery serpents. Yes, it was a judgment. Yes,
it was mercy. And that's the way the gospel
is. It's all justice, justice being satisfied, and it's all
mercy. So the people come back and they
say, we have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against
thee. Now, revival is this, we have
sinned. The confession of sin. Now, what is the confession of
sin? Does that mean you verbally confess every sin you've committed? Well, there are two problems
with that. Number one, most of the sins you and I have committed,
we don't even know about. And number two, there's not enough
time in the day to confess all of our sins. This is not being. taking each individual sin and
verbally acknowledging it before the Lord. What is the confession
of sin? Well, first of all, we're saying
our sin is all of our fault. We take personal responsibility
for our sin. It's all my fault. I can't blame
the sovereignty of God. I can't blame my parents. I can't
blame my circumstances. I can't blame blame the way I
was raised? No, all my sin, every bit of
it is all my fault. You see, if your sin is not all
your fault, you'll never ask for mercy. Did you know that?
It's only when your sin is all your fault that you'll need mercy
and that you'll need grace. When we confess our sin, we take
sides with God against ourselves. God is right and we are wrong. When we confess our sins, we
justify God. We say what David said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when you speak and clear when
you judge. Whatever you do is right. If you Cut me off. It's right. I don't have any claims on you
because of my sin. And there is a recognition when
we confess our sin that there's nothing we can do about our sin. Look what they said in verse
7. Notice they don't pray that we might be enabled to defeat
these serpents or that we might be able to keep them away or
that you teach us what to do about these serpents. No, take
them away. I have to have my sin taken away. I can't do it. The only hope
I have is what the Lord does about my sin. I need Him to take
my sin away. I John 3, 5 says He was manifested
to take away our sins. And that's what he did on Calvary
Street. He took them away. He didn't give you the ability
to fight them and conquer them, and all of a sudden now you're
sinless because of the ability he's given you. That's just not
the way it works. That's not real. Somebody that
makes that claim is a liar. I don't believe him. No, the
only way My sin can be dealt with is for him to take it away. And that's exactly what took
place on Calvary's tree. There's a recognition that there's
nothing that I can do about my sin. And the only way my sin
can be dealt with is for him to remove it, which is what he
did on Calvary's tree. Now verse seven or verse eight, Moses has prayed for the people.
You know, everybody Moses prayed for, the Lord answered him. And
in that, he's a great type of Christ. Moses prayed for the
people. The people said, we can't come
to the Lord on our own. We forfeited all rights. You pray for us that the Lord
would take away the fiery serpents. Verse eight, 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 that serpent was made of brass. Brass is an alloy made
of copper and tin. This represents the two natures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His divine nature, he's God. His perfect human nature, he's
man. Now this serpent didn't have
any venom. Those other serpents did. This
serpent did not have any venom. And yet, God called it a fiery
serpent. The fiery serpent comes from
the fiery feeling when the poison goes through your veins, the
pain that you experience. Christ Jesus, while He never
sinned, He was made sin. HE BEAR OUR SINS IN HIS OWN BODY
ON THE TREE. ALL OF THE SINS OF ALL HE DIED
FOR WERE MADE TO BE HIS SINS, AND HE BORE THEM. HE'S THE FIERY
SERPENT. AND WHAT WAS MOSES TO DO? PUT
IT ON A POLE. Christ said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Now this is a reference to the
crucifixion of Christ. And what was Moses called upon
to do? Just lift the serpent up. He didn't tell people how
to kill the snakes. He didn't tell people how to
avoid the snakes. He lifted up that serpent on
the pole and look what it says. And the Lord said to Moses, make
thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come
to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looketh upon it. shall live." Now there is revival. That man who's bitten, when he
looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived. Salvation through a
look. This represents saving faith.
Now, let me remind you of what the Lord said about this in John
chapter 3, verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
be crucified. Now, why must the Son of Man
be crucified? Why is it necessary for the Son
of Man to be crucified? Let me give you three reasons.
Number one, because it's God's purpose. Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He must be crucified
because He was crucified in eternity. Therefore, He must be crucified
in time as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Secondly, He must be crucified because God is just. God is going
to punish all sin. The sins of God's elect became
His sin so that He became guilty of them and the justice of God
killed Him and punished Him. Third reason, because God is
love. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should
not perish but have eternal life. Now, Christ compares his own
crucifixion to Moses taking that pole and lifting it up in the
wilderness. And everyone that was bitten
looked. You know who didn't look? Folks
that weren't bitten. But you know who did look to
that serpent on the pole? Everyone that was bitten. and everyone that was bitten
and looked to that serpent on a pole lived. Now we know from later on in
the Old Testament that there wasn't any saving efficacy in
that brazen serpent. As a matter of fact, some years
later, the children of Israel started worshiping it and Hezekiah
had it ground to powder and said it was a worthless piece of brass.
There wasn't any saving efficacy in that brazen serpent, but it's
what the, or who the brazen serpent represented. Now what's it mean
to look to Christ? To look to Christ is to look
to who he is. He's God almighty, holy, sovereign,
all powerful. He's man. There's one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And he is able
to save me. I look to who he is. If he died
for me, I must be saved. Because who He is. I look to
His life as my personal righteousness before God. You see, I'm not
saved by my own righteousness, but He is. I look to His death
as my complete sin payment. I don't owe anything. He paid
it all. I look to His resurrection as my justification before God.
Why did God raise Him from the dead? Because God was satisfied
with what He did, and He was satisfied with everybody He did
it for. So everybody that Christ died
for is justified. If you're justified, that means
you don't have any guilt. That means you don't have any sin
to be condemned for. And that's what Christ did. I look to Him. Seated at the right hand of the
Father right now is the reason I persevere, as the reason my
sins are continually forgiven. I look to His return as the time
I'm going to be glorified. We know that when He shall appear,
we'll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Now, this was God's remedy, simply
looking to Christ. not trying to kill the snakes,
not trying to get rid of the snakes, looking to that brazen
serpent lifted on a pole. And you can be sure of this.
Moses didn't lift up that serpent on a pole and say, here's what
you need to do. You need to get rid of the snakes yourself. No,
look to Christ. Now this was God's remedy. And
we read in verse nine, and Moses made a serpent of brass and put
it upon a pole, just like God said, And it came to pass that
if a serpent had bitten any man, any man, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived. They didn't look at the wounds.
They didn't look at the snakes around them. They looked to that
brazen serpent. on a pole and lived. And you
know what? God's remedy had and has a 100%
success rate. If you look to Christ, you will
be saved. The writer to the Hebrews said,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily
beset us and run with patience the race that set before us,
looking unto Jesus. That's the only way you run this
race. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our
faith. This is Todd Nyberg, praying
that God will be pleased to make himself known. To request a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to messages
at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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