It has been well said that in
preaching the gospel, we are proclaiming the gospel, not explaining
the gospel. And that's true. In the preaching
of the gospel, we are giving a proclamation of divine truth. We're declaring what God has
said. We saw last week when Nicodemus
said, How can these things be? The Lord pretty much answered
him. They are because I said they
were. It was a declaration of the divine
word. So that's true in preaching the
gospel. We're not so much explaining
as proclaiming, but that does not mean there's not some explaining
going on. And in this passage of scripture,
we are given an explanation of the gospel. This passage of scripture
that I just read is an explanation of the gospel. Now, I think it's
interesting that this comes directly before what probably is the most
well-known verse of scripture in the Bible, John chapter three,
verse 16, 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. We're going to consider that,
Lord willing, next week. The gospel is stated in verses
14 and 15, and the reason behind the gospel is stated in verse
64, God so loved the world. But we're going to consider the
gospel message. The Lord says in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. Let's turn back to Numbers chapter
21. This is what this is a reference
to. Numbers chapter 21, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness. Verse 4, And they journeyed from Mount
Hor, Numbers 21, verse 4, And they 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. The people, the children of Israel,
had been journeying in the wilderness for 40 years. That's a long time. And they are now preparing to
enter the promised land. And they can't enter the promised
land because of the children of Edom. The children of Edom
were preventing them from entering this land that God had promised
them. And they had been marching for 40 years in the wilderness. And the scripture says that they
were much discouraged because of this. They were very depressed
over this. Now, they had just acted very
courageously. Look at verse one of Numbers
21. And when King Arod the Canaanite,
which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the
way of the spies, that he fought against Israel and took some
of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the
Lord and said, if thou will indeed deliver this people into my hand,
then I'll utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened
to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites. And they utterly
destroyed them and their cities and called the name of the place
Hormon. Now, here we see them acting in courage, don't we?
We see them acting in faith, believing the word of God and
fighting these enemies. But now they're discouraged. Truly disappointed. They're not
able to get into the city, they're disillusioned. They're frustrated. Have you ever been there? Discouraged. Verse five. And the people, because of this
discouragement, things were not going their way, things had not
happened as they thought they would. They were discouraged.
And the people, verse 5, 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, they lashed out at God. They lashed out at Moses in their
discouragement. They were tired. They were disappointed.
They were frustrated. You know, I once heard someone
say, the occupational hazard of being the son of Adam is discouragement.
And I thought, you know, that's a very true statement. Being
discouraged. I understand their discouragement.
I don't excuse it, but I understand it. I know where they're coming
from because I've experienced this discouragement. But in their
discouragement, the scripture says they lashed out at God and
they lashed out at Moses. Why have you brought us here?
And look what they said, their discouragement was all based
on a lie. They said there is no bread,
neither is there any water. Now, wait a minute. The bread
is still coming down from heaven, that manna that was called angels
food, it's still coming down from heaven and there is still
water gushing from the rock. They still have all these things,
yet their discouragement in reality was based upon falsehood, wasn't
it? There was bread. There was water. And look what
they say about this bread that came down from heaven. They said,
our soul loathes this light bread. We're sick of it. We're tired
of it. We're tired of eating the same thing every day. We
want something different. We're tired of this bread that
comes down from heaven. And they call it light bread.
That means not substantial, not enough to give us true satisfaction.
We're not getting what we need out of this Now, you and I both
know that that man that came down from heaven is who? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the bread that came
down from heaven. He said that in John chapter
6. And yet the people, what did they say? We're sick of it. We're sick of this light bread. Now, understand what this is
a reference to. Is that bread that came down
from heaven? Christ is all in all. And they were saying this
isn't enough to satisfy us. We need something else. There's got to be something more.
We're tired of this light bread, this bread who is Christ. They
said he's light bread. He's not substantial. He's not
enough to keep us satisfied. Now, I don't know of a greater
act of wickedness than this. It's just as bad as them making
that golden calf. They said, we're tired of Christ.
We're tired of this light bread when he who is all is not enough
to keep us enthralled and satisfied. There's a real problem in there.
Our soul loathes this light bread. So what happened? Verse six.
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit
the people. And much people of Israel died. And we can see why the Lord sent
these fiery serpents. His judgment came against their
sin. And they're called fiery serpents because when they bit
the people, they created such a fever, such a horrible feeling,
such pain and agony. They're called fiery serpents.
I suppose that when the venom entered your veins, it felt like
fire in your veins. And it was so painful and horrible. And the scripture says when they
bit the people, much people of Israel died. Now, why don't you
put yourself in their place? Can you imagine what a horrible
thing this must have been? To be out in the wilderness in
a camp, and there's all kinds of serpents all over the place
biting people, and you can't get away from them. You can't
drive them off. They come in and bite people, and many of
the people of Israel die. I can imagine what a horrible,
horrible thing this must have been. You know, most people are
afraid of snakes. I guarantee you're afraid of these snakes,
these fiery serpents. It was a miserable, miserable
time. So verse 7, much people of Israel
died, verse 7. Therefore, the people came to
Moses and said, We sinned. For we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Now what we have is the confession
of sin. We sinned. And there's not going
to be any remedy if there's not a confession. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, in
our experience, here's where we begin. If we confess our sins. Now, what's it mean to confess
your sins? Does it mean to audibly say every one of them before
the Lord? Well, I did this, I did this, I did this, I did this.
I'm sorry. Beloved, you are incapable of
confessing all of your sins. A couple of reasons for that.
Number one, there's not enough time in the day. If you spent
24 hours a day, you couldn't confess all your sins. And number
two, most of them, you don't even know what they are. What
confession is, is agreeing with God. It's taking sides with God
against yourself. That's hard to do, isn't it?
But that's what it is. You're taking sides with God.
You're agreeing with God. We've sinned. What we did was
we were agreeing with what God says about us. That's what confession
is. When's the last time you really confessed your sins? Sometimes
I ask myself the question. I'm praying and I say, well,
I confessed my sins. And just by rote, not really
even meaning it, just saying, you know, I confess my sins.
And when's the last time you really stood before God in your
closet and confessed your sin before Him? That's what these
people did. They said, we've sinned. We've
sinned against God. We've sinned against Thee. And
let's go on reading verse 7. We've spoken against the Lord
and against Thee. Pray unto the Lord, they ask Moses. Pray unto
the Lord that he take away the servants from us. And Moses prayed
for the people. Can you see how Moses is a type
of Christ here? Pray for us. We can't come into
the Lord's presence. You pray for us that he'll take
away these fiery servants. Verse seven. And Moses, the last
phrase of verse seven, and Moses prayed for the people. Now, you think of the enormity
of their sin and their guilt. They have considered Christ light-bred. Is there anything worse than
that? They considered Christ light-bred. The enormity of their guilt.
Verse 8. So Moses prays for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole. We know from verse 9 that this
serpent was made of brass. You make you a fiery serpent
in the likeness of those serpents that are biting the people and
set it up on a pole. And it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Now hear the gospel. Oh, may
God give us grace to enter into what He said. What was their problem? Serpents. Fiery serpents biting the people. So God tells Moses, you make
a serpent of brass. Well, what's brass? Brass is
an alloy made of two metals, copper and zinc. He said, you
make a brazen serpent. These two metals represent the
two natures of Christ, the divine nature and the human nature.
And brass signifies strength and power. Oh, the strength of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You make a serpent of brass and
you set it up on a pole. Now, here's something that I've
never really thought about before. You've seen on ambulances the
serpent on the pole, and you know, that's what that refers
to. It's supposed to signify healing and so on. And it's this
serpent that is alive. Kind of crawling up the pole.
You know the scene I'm talking about. I can't remember what
you call it. But this serpent that was put on the pole was
not a living serpent. It was a dead serpent impaled
upon that pole. I know that's true because our
Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, be crucified. So what
that was a reference to was a crucified serpent, not a living serpent
crawling up the pole who was getting healing. Now, we couldn't
be saved apart from the life of Christ. No doubt about that.
But if all he did was live and go back to glory, if all he did
was keep the law and go back to glory, what good would it
do me and you? It wouldn't do us a bit of good. It's the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was to take that brazen serpent
made of two lambs, signifying the deity and the humanity of
the Lord Jesus Christ, blended in one, that brazen serpent in
the likeness of the serpents that bit them. He was to impale
that serpent of grass on that pole and lift it high up so everybody
could see it. And the Scripture says that anybody,
once they were bitten, that mucked, they just mucked on that serpent. Scripture says, They lived. What was Moses to do with this
raising serpent? Lift it up so that all could
see. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, he lifted it up high so that all could
see. Don't cover the serpent, as many
do. Now, there are parts of the doctrine
of Christ that many cover up. They don't preach it. You don't
understand this. False doctrine, and this is invariably
so. False doctrine isn't so much
what men say, although plenty of preachers preach false doctrine.
I realize that. But here's what's so deceitful.
False doctrine, that which is false, usually isn't seen in
what they say. It's seen in what they leave
out. It's seen in what they cover up. Now, don't cover up the doctrine
of Christ. Don't leave out any part. You
lift it high on a pole. So that all can see. Turn with
me to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. I want to begin
reading in verse 27. And these are the words of the
Lord Jesus. And He says, Now is my soul troubled. He knew he was getting ready
to go to the cross. That's why he said, my soul is troubled.
And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
But for this cause, the cross, came I unto this hour. Father. Glorify thy name. That's the only satisfaction
our Lord could find at this time, knowing he was getting ready
to die on the cross, was that the Father would glorify his
name through this. So he says, Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both
glorified it and will glorify it again. The people, therefore,
that stood by heard and said that it thundered, another said
an angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice
came not because of me. But for your sakes, now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said,
signifying what death he should die. This lifting up of Christ
has to do with his death. And I, if I be lifted up, will
draw all men to me. If I be crucified, I'll draw
all men to me. You'll notice that word men is
in italics. Did you notice that? As supplied
by the translators, supposedly to make it make more sense. But
obviously, the Lord does not draw all men without exception
to him. He doesn't do it. There are many
who don't believe. This is talking about those who believe. This
is talking about his people, the all. And I, if I be crucified,
will draw the all to me. Now, may God give me grace to
lift up the brazen serpent right now. Lift him high. You look at that
brazen serpent impaled on that pole. We're setting up the death
of Christ. That's what we're talking about, the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Who is it that's on that pole?
That's the God man. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is he there? Why is he on
that pole? I'm seeking to lift him up. Hold
him high so you can see him so I can see him. That's what Moses
was to do. To hold that puddle up. What's he doing there? Why
is he there? We see who's there. It's the
God man. Why is he there? God purposed it. He's called
the land slave from the foundation of the world. He's there because
he willed to be there. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to pick
it up at Him. This commandment of I received
of my Father, He's there because He willed to be there. Why is
He on that pole? Why is He dead on the cross? Why? What is this about? Why
is there death? There's only one reason for death
and one reason only. Guilt. The sins of His people
became His. That's why He died on the cross.
What did he accomplish by that death? Everybody he died for
is saved. Now that's the gospel. You look
to him. You look. Just look. That word lift up means to elevate
and to glorify. Moses was to lift it up high.
That's the preaching of the gospel. And whosoever is bitten, when
he looked upon it, just look. He lived. And what a simple illustration
we have of the act of faith. Just look. You cannot see. Until you look. If you say, well,
I can't see, there's only one reason you can't see. You're
not looking. If you look to the Lord, if you look to the serpent
on the pole, you will see. And if you don't see it's because
you are not looking. Now what does that bitten Israelite,
what is he told to do? Now you put yourself in this
fellow's place. He's bitten with sin. You know
anything about being bitten with sin? You're going to die. There's no way you can heal yourself.
There's nothing you can do to make yourself whole. What was
that bitten Israelite to do? He was to look. He wasn't to
look at his wounds. What good would that have done
him? He wasn't to look at other people, look at their wounds,
what good would that have done? He wasn't to look at Moses holding
a pole, what good would that have done? Absolutely nothing.
Where was he to look? He was to look at that brazen
serpent on that pole. Look. Now, if I say to you, look
at me, look at me. There isn't anybody here that
says, well, what's he mean by that? Now you might not do it,
you might refuse to look, but you know what I'm talking about
when I say, look at me. Look to Christ on the cross and
you will see. And let me tell you what you'll
see when you look. You look to Christ on the cross and first
of all, you'll see the evil of sin. Now, if I ask you to look
within your own heart to find out how evil you are, you know
you're never going to see. You know, a lot of people, they
think, well, I just need to see myself as more sinful and I need
to have a more deep conviction of sin and a more deep experience
of sin and then I'll be able to look to Christ. Well, I'm
all for a deep experience and so on. But understand this, you're
not going to see your sin by looking within. It's not going
to happen. You know when you're going to
see the evil of your sin? When you look to the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. That's when you're going to see the evil of sin.
Now here's the evil of sin. It's not so much what you do,
although what you and I do is pretty bad. I'm not excusing
that in any way. But the evil of sin is where
if God left me to myself, what would I do? If God left me to
myself, I would bail Jesus Christ to a cross. Now there's the evil
of sin. It's a hatred of God. It's a failure to love God as
He is. That's what men did when they
were alive. If you want to find out how sinful
you are, look at the cross. That's the only way you'll know
how sinful you are. What will you see in looking?
Well, you'll see the sinfulness of sin, but you'll also see the
only remedy for sin. The only remedy for sin. When you look, you'll see this
is the only remedy for sin. You'll see the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at his life. Look at his
perfect obedience to God's holy law. He kept the law. And beloved,
the fact that he died tells me he did it for somebody. Because
the only reason he died is because he was made sinner, that perfect
righteousness. Remember, what he did, he did as a substitute.
And that perfect law keeping that he did, that is my righteousness
before God. You look to the cross, you'll
see that. You look to his death. I look to His precious blood.
That's my sin payment. I don't need any other argument.
I don't need any other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. You look to Christ on the cross
and you'll really believe His precious blood is enough to make
you holy in God's sight. You really believe that? You
look to His resurrection. Here's my justification before
God. When He walked out of that tomb, when He walked into the
tomb, He came into the tomb with my sin. When he walked out of
that tomb, where is my sin? It's gone. I don't have any.
I'm just before God. You look to his resurrection
as your justification before God. You look to his intercession
right now. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. Your hope right now is that there's a man representing
you right now, representing your interest before the Father, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God man. Now, that's it. You look to him. Is it that simple? Yes. If it was any harder, what could
you do? What if I gave you something else to do? You'd be in trouble,
wouldn't you? Look and live. What do I see when I look? Well,
I see the Gospel. And remember this. The Gospel
is a person. The Gospel is a person. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the Gospel. Fourth, it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed. Now, when I look to that brazen
serpent, when I look to the Lord Jesus Christ nailed to a cross,
bleeding and dying, I see the righteous character of God. I
see how He will not let sin go unpunished. I see a righteousness
that I must need, but I see a righteousness provided for me. In the Lord
Jesus Christ, I see a righteousness accepted by God all in looking,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now,
let's turn back to John chapter three. That's the story. As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness and anybody when they were bitten and the
fire was going through their veins, when they simply looked,
the scripture says they were healed. Now look at our Lord's
words in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And the same manner that that
serpent was lifted up on that pole in the wilderness, The Lord
Jesus Christ says, I must be lifted up. I must be crucified. And I want to call your attention
to the word must. Even so, must the Son of Man
be lifted up? Why? Must he? That word must
means it's binding. It is necessary. It cannot not
be. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. Now, why does he say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Let me give you three reasons.
The Son of Man must be lifted up because God purposed it. Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He will take it. And with wicked
hands He'll crucify Him and slay Him. He must because God purposed
it. Now, did God know that you would be
sitting where you're sitting this morning. Did God know it
would take place? Of course He did. Is there any possibility whatsoever
that you wouldn't have been here if God wouldn't have been here? No. God purposed it. And God
purposed the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. So He must be lifted
up because God purposed it. It was necessary Because he was guilty. It was necessary because the
sins of his people were placed upon him, and the law of God,
the holy law of God, demanded his death. That's why he was
crucified. That's why he must be crucified. My sin became his, and so he
had to die for God to be... God could not be just and let
him go. God could not be holy and let
it just slide. He must be crucified because
He was guilty. It was necessary for the salvation
of His people. Even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. Now let's go on reading verse
15. That whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, But have eternal life. Now, here's one of the
most precious words in the Bible. Whosoever. You're not going to
find a better word in the Bible. Well, yeah, you will find a better
word in the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to say that,
but this is a good word. Whosoever. Now, what if the Lord
said this? He said, even as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up that the elect may have eternal life. What if it
said that? I'd be wondering whether I was
one of them, and I wouldn't really have much assurance whether it
meant me. It would scare me. What if it said that as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up that the truly penitent and the truly
sorry and the ones who do better will have eternal life. Where
would that lead you? I wouldn't have any hope or confidence
that He meant me. But listen to what our Lord says.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man I can get myself in that group. Whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life. I don't care how sinful you are. I don't care how blind you are.
I don't care how far off you feel. I don't care how ignorant
you are. I don't care how stupid you are.
It doesn't matter how little you know. It doesn't matter how
much you know. Whosoever will. Are you willing to be saved by
Christ? Are you willing to be saved in a way that he gets all
the glory and none goes to you? Are you willing to be saved by
his blood? Are you willing to be saved by
his righteousness? Are you willing to be saved by
the cross? Whosoever will, I don't care what your condition is,
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely without
a cause in him. The door is wide open. Come and
welcome. But nothing. The door is wide
open. Come and welcome. Don't let conscience
make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. The only fitness
He requires is to have a need of Him. Do you have a need? Do you need the Lord Jesus Christ? Come and welcome. He is for you. I promise you. that whosoever believeth in him. To believe means not simply to
believe that he was crucified. It means you rely on him. You trust his shed blood really
did make a full, sufficient sin atonement. You trust his righteousness
as all you need. You really believe You really
believe you're relying on this. That he is all you need. You really believe that he is
all that God requires. And you really believe that he
is all that God will accept. You really believe Christ alone. Nothing more. Nothing less. And nothing else. You really
believe that? Now, whosoever believeth on him,
the scripture says, the Lord says he should not perish. I like that language. It just
doesn't say he will not perish. It says he should not perish.
Do you know that if you believe on Christ, the law of God demands
your salvation? Justice demands your salvation. You will not perish because you
should not perish, and if you should not perish, you will not
perish. You see, I love this word should.
If Christ died for your sins, where should you be? Now, where should you be? I know
what you deserve in yourself, but if Christ died for your sins,
where should you be? You should be in the very presence
of God. Accept. Whosoever believeth, whosoever
relieth on him should not perish. But what's he going to have?
He's going to have eternal life. And when he's talking about eternal
life, he's not just talking about the length of existence. You
know that. What is eternal life? Turn to John 17. Verse 1, These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. How many times do we read, His
hour has not yet, His hour has not yet come? Talking about His
death, but He says now it's come. glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power,
authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee." the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Eternal life. It's more than
going to heaven and not going to hell, although that's certainly
included. It's more than reciting doctrines like a parrot. It's knowing God. And I mean
knowing Him in this sense. He knows me. You've been around
name droppers. Well, so-and-so and so-and-so.
If you ask that person they're talking about, they don't have
any idea who they're talking about. You've been around people like that.
I'm not talking about a name drop knowledge. I'm talking about
where God would say, I know Him. He's mine. I know Him. This is
eternal life. That they might know thee now. I know Him. He's my Savior. He's my Lord. He's my husband. He's my provider. He's my righteousness. He's my God. He is my all in all. I know that that humbles me and
astounds me to think that I know God. But if you're a believer. You know, God. You don't know
him as well as you will one day know him. Our knowledge of God, our knowing
him, I'm talking about our saving knowledge, it's very small. He's
so vast and He's so infinite. I'll tell you this, I do know
Him. This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Now, I am one
of those whosoevers that believeth. Are you? If you've never believed before. Listen to what Paul said to that
Philippian jailer. When he came in and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? You know what he said? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. Would to God that maybe for the
first time you look. If we look, we will see. May God give us this look. Let's pray together.