that I might be filled with the
Spirit of God to preach the gospel, and that you would be given hearing
ears. In verse 9 of Numbers 21, we
read, 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. He was quippened. He was recovered. I've entitled
this message Revival. Revival. Now there is such a
thing as revival. It could be God giving a dead
sinner life. It could be God giving a whole
lot of dead sinners life. but he always saves by the one. It could be where he takes one
of his people who have turned away from him and he brings them
back. James did say, brethren, brethren, brethren, If any of you do err
from the truth, if any of you stray off, do you not see how
easily you could stray from the truth? But thank God, he does
bring his people back. Now, I pray that both of these
things will be done this morning, that God will give a dead sinner
life, maybe a lot of dead sinners life, and that he would cause
his straying people to return. Now, this thing of revival is
a scriptural concept. Psalm 85, 6, David said, wilt
thou not revive us again? Now, the only way that I can
have some understanding of death and the need of life is by having
life. Wilt thou not revive us again? David said in Psalm 143, verse
11, quicken me, O Lord. for thy name's sake. That's my
only ground of asking. But quicken me, give me life
for thy name's sake. Nine times in the 119th Psalm
we read, quicken me, quicken me. Do you pray that prayer?
Lord, quicken me. Give me life. It's actually translated
to recover as in recovering from an illness. The word is actually
found 262 times in the Old Testament. This idea of being quickened,
being given life, being revived. Now before we go to our text,
I first want to see what the Lord Jesus said about this passage. So hold your finger there in
Numbers 21 and turn to 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. Now, we know that this is a passage
regarding the Gospel, don't we? The way the Lord quotes this
passage of Scripture to illustrate the Gospel. Now, if you are an
unbeliever, if you've never lived, this message is for you. May
God give you grace to behold His Son and live. If you are a believer who perhaps
you've lost your first love, like the church at Ephesus, or
perhaps you've become tolerant of that which the Lord hates,
like the church at Pergamos and the church at Thyatira, or perhaps
You're living in the past, like the church at Sardis. You've
got a name that you live, and you're dead. You're looking to
your past experience for a present comfort. Or perhaps you're like
the church at Laodicea, lukewarm, saying, I'm rich. I'm increased
with goods. I have need of nothing. But you
don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Now, if that would be the state
of your soul, this message is for you. As a matter of fact,
this message is for everybody. that God would enable us to look
upon this one of whom we read. Now for us to understand being
revived, we first need to understand something about declension. What
happens when people decline? What happens when people Turn
away from the Lord. What happens when people err
from the truth and go astray? Now I hope you will listen very
carefully to see if this describes you. Now these people were the
same people who walked through the Red Sea. Same people. And they understood
intellectually at any rate that salvation was of the Lord. They
knew they didn't keep those waters of, walls of waters coming down
upon them. They knew this was the Lord's
work. They had seen the ten plagues. They had seen this miraculous
deliverance from Egypt. They saw manna fall from heaven. They'd seen water come from a
rock and drank that water that very day. They'd seen the giving
of the law at Mount Sinai. They'd heard the spies report
of the land. And of this much we know about
these people, they had heard the gospel, hadn't they? They
had heard the gospel. But look what it says about them
in verse 4 of Numbers 21. And they journeyed from Manhor
by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Eden. And
the soul of the people was much discouraged. Much discouraged because of the
way. Discouragement. Disillusionment. Disappointment. Things were not
happening as they wished. You know, I'm really not happy. I'm not happy. My marginal reading says this
word discouraged means shortened. They had become short-sighted,
nearsighted. They couldn't see the big picture
anymore. All they saw was the way I feel
right now. I love what the songwriter said,
judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his
grace. Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face. But in their condition, they
could not see this. 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. Now here is what takes place
in this state of decline. We become God's judge and God's
critic. They murmured against the Lord.
against his providence. And they murmured against Moses
too, God's spokesman. You see what they knew of the
Lord came through Moses. And they weren't really upset
with Moses. He bore the brunt. They were
upset with the Lord. And it came out in their speaking
against Moses. They became judges and critics. Now when we become overwhelmed
with a spirit of criticism like they did, we're always going
away. When you see the faults of others
so clearly and are blind to your own, You're always in a state
of decline. It's what the Lord calls hypocrisy. When you're an expert at seeing
the moat in your brother's eye and are completely blind to the
log that's in your home. And there was a mistrust of God
in this decline. You brought us out here to kill
us in the wilderness. No, we didn't. That was a complete
falsehood. And that which is not true became
their reality. We don't have any bread. They
had eaten manna that very day. We don't have any water. They
drank water from the rock that very day. And our soul loatheth
this light bread. When I have turned from the Lord,
That which is not true becomes my reality. We don't have any bread. We don't have any water. My perception, the things that
I see and feel, just are not true. Now over the years, I have been accused of not preaching
the gospel on many different occasions by many different people. But I was preaching the gospel.
But in their perception of things, I wasn't. That was their reality. But that perception was not true. But to them, it was. To a person who's turned away,
they can't hear, and their reality is something that just is not
true. We don't have any food. We don't
have any bread. We don't have any water. Yes,
they did. And look at their new perception
of manna. Our souls loathe this light bread. It's insubstantial. It's not
enough to satisfy us. Our souls loathe this light bread. The gospel was no longer enough
to satisfy them. It's become dry and boring. The preacher's really slipping.
He's becoming boring and dry, and his doctrine is dry doctrine. Perhaps. Maybe the dry one is you. You see, their perception had
become deception, hadn't it? Our souls load this light bread. Did the manna change? Did the taste of the manna change? No. Who changed? They did. Our souls load this light bread. Now this is not to say that sometimes
maybe the preacher does get in a rut. dry and so on. I'm sure I've done that. I don't
have any question about it. But here's the state of someone
in decline. Our souls loathe this light bread. Now these same people, there
was a time when they esteemed their brethren so highly and
now all they can do is criticize them the way they criticized
God and Moses. This is a part of that which
is not true that has become their reality. Now verse 6, And the
Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people. And much people of Israel died. Now, can you imagine a scarier
scenario? I don't know of anybody much
like snakes. Can you imagine going to bed at night knowing
that you might have a snake in your bed? Can you imagine all
the pains they went through to try to keep these snakes out?
I'd fortify my tent. I'd make sure every way of access
into a snake, I'd stop it up. I'd be out there with a shovel
killing every snake I could. I'd be trying to get rid of those
snakes. Can you imagine how scary that was? and much people of
Israel were actually dying. Death all around. This was God's
response to our soul loathes this light bread. He sent fiery
snakes that bit the people and you'd feel the fire. It has something
to do with what I've read where the fire you would feel in your
veins while that poison killed you. I can't imagine a more scary
circumstance. How long did it last? Was it
just that very day? Was it several days? Was it several
weeks? But whatever the case, much people of Israel died. Let me ask you a question. Did they deserve this? With their response to the manna
that was once honey and wafers, it's insubstantial. It's not
enough to satisfy us. And this, we don't have any food. We don't have any bread. We don't
have any water when they did. God sent fiery serpents and much
people of Israel died. Verse seven. here's revival. Here's revival. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, we have sinned. Now this, my dear friends, is revival. We have All of a sudden, their self-indication
and self-justification and complaints against God becomes a confession
of sin. We have sinned. Now, there's only one reason
that they confess their sin. It's because God sent those snakes.
They wouldn't have done it on their own. They would have kept
going, but as they saw the people dying, they come up with this
confession, we have sinned. Now let me tell you four things
that always take place in a true confession of sin. First, my
sin is all my fault. I can't blame the sovereignty
of God. I can't blame my circumstances. My sin is all my fault. Well, my sin's not my fault.
I was born a sinner, so what can I do about it? You'll stop
that kind of speaking if you ever truly confess your sin.
You see, if your sin's not all your fault, you're not confessing
it in the first place. You're blaming God for it. Know my sin
is all my fault. You see, when you confess your
sin, you believe there's something about your sin that makes you
the worst person alive. You're the chief of sinners.
You're worse than other people, not just like everybody else,
but worse if you really confess your sin before God. Secondly, when we confess our
sin, we take sides with God against ourselves. You ever done that? Complete
agreement with God. We're not excusing ourselves.
We take God's side against ourselves. He's right and I'm wrong. When we confess our sin, we justify
God. 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. When we truly confess our sin,
we justify God. He's right and we're wrong. And there is a special recognition
When I confess my sin, there's a special recognition that I
can't do anything about it. And the only hope I have is that
He would take it away. Now notice this confession. Therefore
the people came to Moses and said, We've sinned, for we've
spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that
He take away the serpents from us. Not that we'll be given skills
to fight them and kill them. Take them away. Now, with regard to the sin,
I'm confessing there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. My
only hope is for Him to take it away. 1 John 3, verse 5, He was manifested
to take away our sins. And that's exactly what He did
on Calvary's tree. He took them away. He removed them from us. He separated them from us. He took them away. Now, if you
confess your sin, You're going to know that there's nothing
you can do about your sin and that he must do something for
you. The publican. God be literally
propitious. Do something about my sin. Make
it to where you don't have a reason to be mad at me. Through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what propitiation is.
It's the removal of the guilt. Lord, do something about my sin. Now that's where revival begins. We've sinned. Now here Moses is a type of Christ. Pray unto the Lord that he may
take away the serpents from us. They knew they had forfeited
all rights. And they say, Moses, represent us. We can't come on
our own. There's no way we can do that.
Represent us. Pray for us. And isn't that what
we do with the Lord Jesus Christ? Lord, represent me. Plead for me. Represent me before
the Father. I can't come on my own. I can't
come at all. My only hope is that you would
represent me. Now that is what Moses represents. He's a type of Christ here. Now
look in verse, it lasts or the last statement of verse 7, and
Moses prayed for the people. You know, I'd like to have Moses
praying for me because you know every time he prayed for the people,
the Lord answered him. Wouldn't you like to have Moses praying
for you? Well, this is just a type of the Lord Jesus praying for
me. Peter, I prayed for you. Oh Lord, pray for me. Represent
me. May I simply be represented by
you to where all God hears is you. Moses prayed for the people. Verse 8, and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent, a
likeness of the serpent, not one of the serpents, but a likeness
of the serpent. We know from verse 9, it was
a serpent made of brass. And the Lord said unto 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, he shall live. Now, this fiery serpent that
Moses made was made of brass. We know that from verse 9. And
there wasn't anything much valuable about it, because hundreds of
years later, you know, they kept that thing. And hundreds of years
later, the children of Israel started worshiping it. And I
think it was Hezekiah who said, get rid of it, ground it to powder,
it's a worthless piece of brass. Now you can see where they'd
start worshiping it. There's that brazen serpent. So it's what
the brazen serpent represented. It was made of copper and tin
representing the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
and man. The God man. God manifest in the flesh. One thing about this serpent
It didn't have any venom. Christ had no sin. Yet that serpent was placed upon
a pole. Turn back to John chapter 3. And as verse 14, and as Moses,
some 1,200 years before this, when our Lord was speaking, everybody
knew about this. Didn't know what it meant, but
they knew about the event. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, that serpent was placed upon a pole, raised
up where everyone could see it. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, be crucified. That's what this is a reference
to. Now why must the Son of Man be lifted up? Why must the Son
of Man be crucified? Let me give you three rock-solid
reasons. Number one, because it was God's
purpose. That's where we got to begin. He's the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. It was the purpose of God for
Him to be lifted up and crucified. Secondly, it's because God is
just. Christ had to die because the
justice of God demanded it. Because my sin actually became
His sin. And the justice of God put Him
to death. And here's a third reason why
he must be crucified, because God is love. And he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Now, in seeing Christ hanging,
lifted up on a pole, And this is significant. He wasn't on
a cross like that. He was on a pole. His hands and
feet nailed to that pole. The idea of a cross didn't even
come into the third century. No one had ever heard of anything
like that. Christ nailed to a pole. In that I see the end of sin and the end of sin. I see the end of sin. How bad
is sin? How evil is sin? How much does
God hate sin? How sure is God to punish sin?
How bad is sin? Don't look in your own heart.
You won't figure it out. Look to the cross. That's how
bad your sin is. I see the end of sin. There's
where sin ends. But you know what else I see? I see the end
of sin. Christ is the end of the law. righteousness to everyone that
believes. Now notice back in our text in
Numbers 21 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 notice the language everyone that is
bitten when he looketh upon it shall live everyone that's bitten Great
significance to that. You know who didn't look to that
serpent on a pole? Folks who weren't bitten. They're
fine. They might have felt sorry for
their neighbors dying, but they didn't feel the fire going through
their veins. Who looked to that serpent on
a pole? Everyone. That was bitten. Now I can tell you exactly who's
going to look to Christ. Everybody who's a sinner. Everybody
who is an evil, ungodly, hell-deserving sinner. Would that be you? If it is, I know what you're
going to do. You're going to obey the command,
and you're going to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're
not bitten, it's not an issue. And you know you'll look if you
ever need to. But what was the snake-bitten
Israel called to do? One thing. Now listen real carefully.
One thing. Now, you put yourself in that
position. If you had fiery snakes all over the camp trying to get
into your house, you'd do everything you can to keep them out, wouldn't
you? I know I would. I mean, it'd
scare me to death. And if you're able to kill them,
get rid of them, you'd do whatever it took to get rid of those snakes.
But what did God say to do? Any of that stuff? One thing. Look. Look. What's that mean? If I say, look
at me, does anybody in here say, what's he talking about? No. You just look. Now, what does
it mean to look to the Lord Jesus Christ? You know it means faith.
I know everybody in here knows that intellectually. But what
happens when you look? Well, when you look, you look
to His person, the Almighty God, the perfect man, as being able
to save you. Now, here's what I want to ask
you. I don't care what your condition is. Is He able to save you? Do you believe He is? Is He able to save you with no
contribution from you? You look to His life as your
personal righteousness before God. I'm doing that right now. I don't
want to have anything to do with my own personal righteousness.
I really don't. I look to His life as my life
before God. You look to His death as your
complete sufficient sin payment. You don't offer anything because
you know He did it all. You look to His resurrection
as your justification. I'm not justified because I did
anything. I'm justified because He was
raised from the dead and completely satisfied all God's requirement
for me. I look to His intercession as the
reason I am preserved. I'm kept by the power of God
through faith and to salvation because of His intercession.
Because of Him, there's one reason why I persevere. Because of His intercession.
You know, I'm looking to His second return as my glorification. We know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him. for we shall see him as he is. Do you know I believe there's
such glory and power in his person that all it's going to do is
take a look at him and I'm going to be made just like him. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him, the joy of doing his father's
will, the joy of saving his people from their sins, looking unto
Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him, despised, discredited
the shame that he was experiencing as the sinner's substitute. He
despised the shame. For my sake. He endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down. Sat down. He's seated because
there's nothing left for him to do. He sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high. Now, verse 9. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and he put it on a pole. Can you imagine Moses with that
serpent on a pole saying, now, here's how you need to live.
Here's what you need to do. Here's what you can give in all
kinds. No, he had one message, didn't he? Look at this serpent. 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, beloved, you look to Christ. you live. And that's what revival
is, living, being revived. What is revival? Looking to Christ
and seeing the completeness and the sufficiency of his salvation
once again. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough. that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Now I think you'll find this
interesting in John chapter 3 when it speaks of Christ being lifted
up on a pole as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now that's a reference
to him being crucified. The manner of death he would
die but you know it's the same word that's translated exalted. The cross of Christ is his greatest
exaltation. You know why? Because through
what he did, he saved somebody like me and you. What glory goes
to him. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would enable us to look and to live. Lord, create life and revive life for the Lord's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. We
got Mitch.