Gospel of the Brazen Serpent

Introduction: The Centrality of the Gospel

0:01 This being the Lord's Day evening, we would normally be engaged in a study dealing at this particular point in our present series, the biblical concept of the necessity and nobility of labor as we're working through a series of studies entitled Practical Christianity. And I thought this being Labor Day weekend, it would be unusually strategic to preach on the subject until, in the course of various pastoral dealings with different members of the flock this week, I realized that we were having a major exodus. And without in any way saying who needs the truth more than others, suffice it to say that I believe a number who are away from us could greatly profit from that which I had proposed to bring this evening. Not to say that those of you who are here would not profit or do not stand in need of the proposed exposition, but I felt it the part of which...

0:56 to hold off on that next message in this matter, dealing with the apostolic perspectives on the subject of work and labor. And as I cast about in my mind and sought to know the mind of God with reference to what I should bring tonight, I decided that one is always safe in coming back to the central elements of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's impossible to have too great an acquaintance, with the gospel.

1:28 There's no person who's ever lived who had too thorough a knowledge of the gospel.

1:36 Now it is not only possible, but it is an actual experience of many that an inadequate view of the gospel brings, in some cases, spiritual death, and in other cases, it results in a crippled spiritual experience. For there is no believer who ever grows beyond, the need of a more penetrating, accurate, definitive view of the gospel. We do not grow beyond the cross. We grow as we glory in the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

2:14 And so our teachers concerning the gospel tonight will be the two greatest teachers recorded in Holy Scripture, Moses in the Old Testament and Christ in the New. And we're going to look at the gospel, as taught to us by our Lord and Moses. Our text is the text that was paraphrased in the last hymn we sang together, John chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. John chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.

The Context: Jesus and Nicodemus

2:50 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth, may in him have eternal life. Now just a word about the setting of this passage. It ought to be familiar to many of you, those of you who attend the adult class. A few weeks ago, Mr. Fisher led us in a study of this portion of the Word of God. Our Lord is discoursing with a man named Nicodemus. And in his discourse, he is touching the most vital issues of the soul's concern. He's talking about entrance into the kingdom of God, the necessity of the work of the Spirit in the heart, fitting a man to dwell with God now and to live in his presence forever.

3:42 He's dealing with such things as man's innate and native depravity, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, the sovereignty and efficacy of the work of the Spirit, likened unto the activity of the wind. Our Lord, in other words, is dealing with the most central issues of the soul's concern, entrance into the kingdom, the work of the Spirit, granting new life, overcoming that which we have by virtue of our first birth. And in that setting, our Lord leads Nicodemus on from these statements concerning entrance into the kingdom by virtue of the new birth, the necessity, the mystery of that work, and he proclaims the gospel to Nicodemus, in these words, even as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, and the issues at stake in this lifting up of the serpent, which prefigures the lifting up of the Son of Man, the issues at stake, I say, are nothing less than these, eternal life. Our Lord is dealing with the most fundamental issue, eternal life, the life of God. Life with God, now, and in the world to come. And in preaching the gospel to Nicodemus,

The Old Testament Incident: Numbers 21

5:06 whose mind has been baffled by some of the statements made by our Lord, our Lord preaches the gospel by means of an analogy, a type, from the Old Testament. An incident in the life history of the people of God, which on the level of the material, the temporal and the physical, prefigures the great issues, which find their fulfillment in the spiritual, in the eternal. And it is that incident in Numbers chapter 21, to which our Lord refers, and if we are to understand our Lord's proclamation of the gospel, we must have some familiarity with the incident upon which it is based. So let us turn to Numbers chapter 21, and I shall read verses 4 through 9. Book of Numbers chapter 21, verses 4 through 9. Speaking of the children of Israel, And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Eden.

6:13 And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water. And our soul loatheth this light bread.

6:31 Referring, of course, to the manna. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And much people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and against thee.

6:48 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 standard. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.

The Central Parallel: The Uplifted Serpent and Christ

7:08 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard. And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. Now according to our Lord, the central parallel, between the heart of the Gospel, and the incident recorded here in Numbers, is that of the uplifted serpent. Notice the emphasis in the text in John chapter 3.

7:41 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. It is this aspect of the parallel that is central in the teaching of our Lord. And some commentators and cautious expositors of the Word would say, since our Lord only underscores that one facet of the parallel, we are safe in teaching elements of the Gospel from the incident, to put emphasis only upon this one facet, namely, the serpent of brass was lifted up, publicly displayed, and from that position of public display, all who looked upon it lived. The only valid parallel for preaching and teaching is that of emphasis on the uplifted Christ, which in terms of Johannine language, has distinct reference to his cross. He must be lifted up upon a cross, and it is the sight of the uplifted Christ upon the cross which brings life. Now there is much to commend that position, if nothing else, its holy caution.

9:02 For there is more fanciful interpretation with Old Testament history than perhaps any other portion of the Word of God except apocalyptic vision, and the Book of the Revelation a case in point. However, many judicious and wise and sane commentators feel that the passage in John 3 is not necessarily an exhaustive, account of what our Lord said to Nicodemus, but rather a summary account. And because there are so many striking parallels that give meaning to, and support, and undergird, and illustrate the central parallel emphasized by our Lord, that it is proper to draw out the analogy a little bit further than simply the emphasis upon the uplifted servant prefiguring the uplifted Christ. I cast in my lot with their judgment, and what I wish to do tonight is to set before you four distinct parallels, and in so doing, to preach the gospel according to the brazen serpent. We're going to consider the gospel that is preached by the brazen serpent. And I'm not at all embarrassed to say what my main purpose is.

Parallel 1: The Deadly, Desperate, Deserved Condition

10:21 It is to clarify and to emphasize the central truths of the gospel, to all in general, yes, but in a very special way to the young among us, that the children who sit here tonight will have a clear picture of the gospel, not in abstract theological language in which the gospel often comes to us, and in which it must be preached if it's to be preached biblically, but in terms of vivid pictorial language as we see the uplifted serpent in the camp of Israel, and realize that this, is a wonderful picture of the uplifted Christ, the only Savior of sinners. Consider then, in the first place, the parallel condition. You see, that which necessitated the lifting up of this serpent of brass, as well as that which necessitates the lifting up of the Lord Jesus upon the cross, is a condition present in men. And there is a tremendous, tremendous parallel between the condition of the Israelites which demanded the uplifted serpent, and the condition of all mankind which demands, once God is committed to save a people, it demands the uplifting of His own beloved Son. Notice then the parallel condition.

11:46 First of all, it was a deadly condition. The language of the book of Numbers is very clear. When the Lord, in judgment upon the people for their murmuring against Himself and His appointed leader, sends these fiery serpents, Numbers 21 and verses 6, 8 and 9, indicate that the condition was deadly. Verse 6, And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel.

12:23 Much people of Israel died. In the case of many, verse 6 says, that this condition was deadly. It doesn't say in the case of all who were bitten. Many were bitten, much people died.

12:38 But verses 8 and 9 seem clearly to infer that once bitten, it was only a matter of time before death would take over. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make a fiery serpent, set it upon a standard, it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live. The inference being, if there is no provision made, or the provision having been made, if they do not see it, they shall not live. And then the historical narrative that follows in verse 9 underscores that inference.

13:12 Moses made a serpent of brass, set it upon a standard, it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. What of those who were bitten and did not look? The inference is strong that it was only a matter of time before death would take its toll. So it was a deadly condition.

13:35 It was not a matter of a passing itch or a burning sensation as in the case of a bee sting, nor was it even partial but permanent dismemberment of one of the appendages of the body. It was a matter it was a matter of death. Secondly, the condition was not only deadly, it was a desperate condition. There is no indication that any man, any woman, any boy, any girl attempted a man-made means of deliverance or found such a means of deliverance at hand.

14:11 It was the very sense of the desperateness of their plight that forced them to acknowledge their sin and to come to Moses and cry to him that he would pray to the Lord that the Lord Himself would take them away. They see that the condition is not only deadly but it's desperate. There are certain conditions that are deadly but they're not desperate because man has within his own power the necessary remedy. But not so here.

14:40 There was the recognition of a condition both deadly and desperate and furthermore it was a deserved condition. This death was the result of their sin and rebellion and they acknowledge this in verse 7. And the people came to Moses and said we have sinned, we have spoken against the Lord. Go tell the Lord it isn't fair.

15:04 No, no. They acknowledge that it was a deserved condition. So then, the whole incident of the lifting up of the serpent of brass upon a standard that all who look upon it may live, takes its beginning point from this condition that was existent in Israel. A condition marked by death, desperateness and a deserved judgment.

15:31 Now when our Lord says to Nicodemus as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He speaks out of a context in which there is a power and a parallel condition even in this man Nicodemus. He has been speaking to Nicodemus in terms of that radical transformation which must occur before a man is ever fit to see or to enter the kingdom of heaven. He has said to Nicodemus in the language of John 3 that which is born of the flesh is flesh and as flesh is not fit for the presence of God is not a possessor of eternal life. And you and I will never have an appreciation for that uplifted Christ unless we have some felt awareness of the desperateness of our condition. No Israelite had any appreciation of the need for or the provision of the serpent of brass who had not reckoned with this deadly desperate deserved condition of death. And so likewise Christ can be proclaimed as he is proclaimed in this place week in and week out, month in and month out.

16:57 He can be proclaimed by parents to children sitting at family worship. He can be proclaimed in the reading of the scriptures but there will be no appreciation until there is a felt need and a felt awareness of how desperate is our condition and what is our condition? It parallels in the realm of the spirit the condition of the Israelites in the realm of the temple. They were afflicted with a deadly sting of this venomous creature and the scripture says that we are in exactly the same position spiritually for the wages of sin is death and the soul that sinneth it shall die and that death is not just the temporal death of the body that is simply the external declaration and the final result of that death as it touches this part of our manhood but that true death, that frightening death is that death of alienation from the life of God in the language of the apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians. And so our condition is parallel to theirs theirs in terms of the flesh and physically was a deadly condition. Ours in terms of the spirit in relationship to God and his law and eternity is a deadly condition

18:24 and then our condition is likewise desperate. The scripture says when we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. You see the last place the human heart will ever turn left to itself is to Jesus Christ. One of the most insidious workings of human sin upon the human mind is that even when it will acknowledge its need it will not acknowledge the desperateness of that need a need so desperate that the sinner must go completely out of himself to another for the remedy.

19:08 Yet there is a strict parallel between the condition of those Israelites they were not only afflicted with that which was deadly but brought them into a desperate state and so with us our condition of spiritual alienation such that God declares it to be a desperate state one in which we cannot bring aid to ourselves or to our fellow men and as their condition was deserved so is ours. You and I deserve this condition of spiritual death. Because of our involvement in the sin of our first father as in Adam all die. Because of our own individual personal conscious sins against God God has not been some kind of a cruel tyrant in declaring us to be condemned and under wrath. No, our sin is our sin and the wrath that rests upon our heads is deserved wrath. Wrath just as surely as the news would be embraced as good news in that camp only when the Israelites knew their condition to be deadly desperate and deserved so with the message of Christ. Why is it that Christ is preached in many places fervently earnestly prayerfully

20:34 and preached with even some measure of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven and men despise and treat lightly the proclamation of the uplifted Savior. You say well ultimately it's because they are blind. Yes, that's true. They are blinded by the God of this world to the glory that shines in the face of Christ but is it not in the most practical terminology the result of their having no felt awareness of their true condition.

21:06 Once these Israelites came to the conviction look these fang marks in us are not just pretty little ornaments they are the signs of death and it's only a matter of time unless the influence of the venom is neutralized we've had it and it was that conviction that drove them to humble themselves and to come to Moses and say we deserve what is upon us we're in a deadly and desperate state Moses cry to God for us and so it is with every man every woman every boy every girl every man in a country in a country still in a concept that is fry and do But no sinner ever truly looked to the uplifted Christ who simply said, out of some kind of pressure of logic, well, the Bible's true, it says I'm a sinner, I must be, I better look to Christ. No, no, my friend.

22:24 As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him may have life. And none will believe in Him who does not see his need of a remedy outside of himself that God alone can provide and that answers to his need.

22:47 You see, the problem in the realm of the Spirit is this. It was easy for an Israelite to see his condition because it was physical. He could feel his own fevered head. He could see the fine marks of the serpent that had bitten him.

23:03 He could feel his own. He could feel his own vital powers waning. He could feel life, as it were, slipping through his fingers. It was easy for an Israelite to know the desperateness of his condition because it was physical.

23:19 You know, the Scripture makes it abundantly clear that no man will know the first measure of the desperateness of his spiritual condition without a mighty work of the Spirit of God. Jesus said in John 16, when He, the Spirit, is come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Sin has so blinded us that we do not see our malady. We do not feel our malady.

23:48 We are blinded to our own blindness.

23:56 May God be pleased by the power of His own Spirit to bring home that indictment from the realm of general propositional truth of Scripture. All have sinned. All. All are dead.

24:09 All are under wrath. All are in opposition to God. May God take it from the realm of objective truth that it is and ever shall be and bring it home into the inner chambers of your heart until you would stand with that publican and say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Lord, whatever other sinners have existed upon the face of the earth, have mercy upon me, the sinner.

Parallel 2: God's Provision in Christ

24:37 The sinner. So there is in the first place, then, the parallel condition. Now, secondly, there is the parallel provision.

24:47 The parallel provision. Notice in the first place its origin. Verse 8 of Numbers 21. What was the origin of this provision?

24:57 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a standard. The origin of this provision was, The living God, Jehovah.

25:15 Moses did not conceive of this provision. Certainly the people did not conceive of this provision by coming together and having a little conference on what to do about our problem. They came to Moses and said, Cry to God. And God in mercy took the initiative and said, Moses, this is the provision that you are to make on behalf of the people of Israel.

25:42 It was a God. God initiated means of deliverance. Notice, secondly, its substance.

25:51 The remedy was greatly to resemble the malady. It's a strange thing, isn't it? All the strange things to do. To take the very image of that which was causing the malady.

26:05 It was similar and yet dissimilar. He was to take not one of those living serpents and tie it to a standard, or to crush its head and take the dead form of it, but he was to construct a serpent of brass. That which would look like the malady, similarity, and yet had no life. It was made of brass, dissimilarity, and that was to be held upon the standard in the sight of all Israel.

26:35 And then notice not only its origin, its substance, but its manner of presentation. And God is very clear in his directions to Moses. Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a standard. He didn't say put it in a tent and then send out the news that anyone that wants to get healed come to the tent and pay a nickel and you'll come in and take a look and you'll be well.

27:00 No, no. He said having made this provision, this brassy serpent, you are to set it upon the standard, that is, elevate it so that everyone in the camp who will can behold it. And the record in verse 9 is very clear that Moses obeyed his orders. Moses made a serpent of brass, set it upon the standard, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he looked under the serpent of brass, he lived.

27:32 Now do you see the parallel in this provision?

27:38 What provision has God made for sinners afflicted with the deadly, desperate, deserved condition of spiritual life? Spiritual death? Under the wrath and judgment of God? Well, the origin of that provision is God himself.

27:56 If you'll turn back to John chapter 3, that best known of all gospel texts is introduced with a connecting word, the word for.

28:10 And it is the thought inherent in verses 14 and 15 that leads on to, the statement of verse 16. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. You see, John is careful to underscore that the origin of this provision in the uplifted Christ is to be found nowhere else, but in the infinite love of the great God of heaven and earth. And do you see, that's what makes the gospel the gospel. That it's an announcement of what God has done. It's an announcement of divine initiative and divine accomplishment. It's not a summons for man to do something to extricate himself.

29:12 It's the provision of God who in mercy says, I will take the initiative, I will take the initiative to extricate man. There were the Israelites afflicted with that deadly venom in their veins, dying left and right. And Moses cries to God and God was under no obligation to rescue a one of them.

29:33 And if rescue was ever to come, it would come because God in grace takes the initiative. And so it is with us as sinners. As in Adam all die, a just, a deserved death. God was under no concern.

29:49 He restrained but the constraints of his own sovereign love to set his love upon one or two or any number of sinners. And if any sinner is ever saved by a sight of God's provision in Christ, it's because that provision is rooted in God himself.

30:09 And is there not a parallel in the substance of that provision? What is the provision? It is one who is made like unto us. In the language of the apostle Paul in Romans 8, made in the likeness of sinful flesh.

30:26 Made in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was the serpent that brought the sting and death. The scripture says, he who knew no sin was made sin for us. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

30:48 I would not press that parallel, but I cannot avoid. I'm thinking that something in the arbitrariness of that arrangement. Imagine how arbitrary it appeared in Moses' day. Why a serpent of brass?

31:01 There was no virtue in that serpent. The virtue was in the obedient look. I'm convinced that God did it, that our Lord might have the gospel according to the brazen serpent to preach to Nicodemus, and that I might have to preach to you in this place tonight.

31:20 But certainly we are right in seeing the parallel in the manner of presentation. Under that provision, there is a parallel of origin, of substance, and certainly in the manner of presentation. The phrase lifted up is that which refers in the language of John to the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. I refer you to the two other places in his gospel where it is used.

31:47 John chapter 8 and verse 28.

31:52 Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. And here he attributes the activity of lifting up to these Jews who accomplished that when they instigated his death upon a Roman cross. And then in John 12, we have the word of our Lord and the interpretive comment, of John himself. John chapter 12 and verses 32 and 33.

32:30 And I, if I be lifted up, the same phrase, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself, but this he said signifying by what manner of death he should die. And so there is this wonderful parallel. The heart of the parallel in the emphasize, this is of our Lord in John 3. In the provision not only of divine origin, not only in its substance, that which is like unto the thing cursed, but different from it, but in the manner of presentation.

33:10 As the serpent lifted only a symbol, no virtue in it, the virtue being in the believing look. So Christ must be lifted up upon a cross. God's answer to, in man's dilemma, is the lifting up of his son. And pressed into that language is all the richness of the biblical teaching concerning the precise activity involved in the triune Godhead in the lifting up of the son of God.

33:42 It was not his being lifted up as a physical act that became the presentation to sinners. Many others had been lifted up, and may I say it reverently, even Jesus Christ, if we're thinking simply as a physical act of crucifixion, could have been lifted up upon a Roman cross and put to death by people who hated him, and not one bit of saving virtue would flow from that cross. If all we think of when we think of lifted up is Jesus dying as a physical act,

34:17 the lifting up involves the whole teaching of pino, satisfaction, what do we mean by those words? For I remember that I said I want to speak to the children. It means that in being lifted up, Jesus Christ was bearing punishment, not primarily from men, but he was bearing punishment from the hand of his own father. In the language of Isaiah 53, it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

34:48 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, it was this that our Lord felt when in the act of being lifted up, there came from his holy heart and lips that cry that eternity will not be able to exegete. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Being lifted up was not just a physical act of nails being placed in his hands. And you children are very, very moved by the thought that one who never did anything but kindness and spoke nothing but words of gentleness and grace should be so physically abused.

35:33 But oh children, listen, that's not the real message of the cross. To be lifted up meant that Jesus Christ was voluntarily choosing that cross as an altar upon which he would lay himself as a sacrifice so that his own father would consume him in holy wrath and anger that your sins, the sins of all who look to him in faith might be fully paid for in the person of the substitute of sinners. And so the manner of presentation finds a tremendous parallel. The serpent of brass must be lifted up. The son of man must be lifted up primarily signifying death by crucifixion but surely, in the language of the New Testament there is a secondary reference. He is lifted up when the message of that cross is faithfully proclaimed. Paul describes his gospel preaching in this vigorous language in Galatians 3 and verse 1.

36:44 Look at it. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified, literally before whose eyes Jesus Christ was placarded as crucified. That's his own description of gospel preaching. It is a placarding, a setting forth visibly, demonstrably, with clear, unmistakable statements of truth that Jesus Christ died in the womb instead of sinners.

37:24 That upon that Roman cross the wrath of his father broke upon his own head until he swallowed up that wrath and was given some sense of consciousness by his own father that the last drop of that wrath had been swallowed. And then he gave the triumphant cry, It is finished! And he bowed his head and yielded up his spirit. This is why the apostle can say the preaching of the cross is the power of God.

37:56 The power of God to them that believe. Surely, the manner of presentation essentially refers to Christ being lifted up upon the cross and the transactions between the Father and the Son by the Spirit when he hung upon that cross. But certainly it refers to Christ being lifted up in the proclamation of that cross saying to men that as you sense and feel and have come to an awareness that sin, sin has taken its toll upon you that there is death in your system and your condition is desperate.

Parallel 3: The Direction to Look/Believe

38:35 The answer to your need is in the provision of God and that provision centers in the uplifted Christ. Then will you notice in the third place not only the parallel condition, the parallel provision, but the parallel direction. When the provision had been made, what directions were given? That the virtue of that provision might be experienced by the bitten Israelites.

39:05 And here again, the directions of God in the obedience of Moses and the people are very clear. Verse 8, The Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, set it upon a standard, and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he seeth it shall live. Verse 9, That if the serpent had bitten any man when he looked upon the servant or unto the servant of brass, he lived. What was the direction?

39:42 Once Moses has constructed the serpent of brass. Can we use our imaginations? He's making his way out into the center of the camp to set it up upon the standard so all may see. Perhaps, perhaps, because the word is silent, as he's on his way from the place where he constructs his serpent of brass and fastens it to the standard.

40:04 And he's moving out through the camp to the central point where all may see. Some ask him, Moses, what are you doing? And on his way, he says, I have an errand from God. I cannot pause to chit-chat.

40:15 I must take this serpent of brass out in the midst of the camp. What are we to do with that serpent of brass, Moses? Maybe some try to touch it, thinking it has some magical virtue. Maybe others begin to scrape together their little bit of savings.

40:29 Maybe they think Moses is going to raffle it off and whoever can pay the highest price, some virtue will come. Many thoughts may have gone through their minds, but can you imagine something of the astonishment that must have come when Moses stood in the midst of the camp and then announces in the name of Jehovah that this is Jehovah's provision. And the only condition to receive virtue of healing from Jehovah is to gaze with the naked eye upon the serpent of brass. upon the serpent of brass.

40:58 upon the serpent of brass. upon the serpent of brass. You didn't have to come and touch it. You didn't have to take it to your home and live with it for a week.

41:07 You didn't have to purchase it. You only had to look. And the scripture says, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.

41:20 Now obviously this meant the crippling of natural pride. Skeptics lived in that day as in ours. You see the skepticism of the very language that brought on this judgment as God brought us out here to kill the whole bunch of us.

41:37 Can't you see the sneer, the curl of the lip when they say it?

41:43 And perhaps there were some who manifested the spirit of skepticism and said, Ridiculous Moses, another one of your foolish schemes. First of all, you bring us out of Egypt and there's no provisions in this wilderness and now you tell us as we feel life slipping through our fingers all we need to do is look ridiculous. And maybe some who felt it was ridiculous even got together and formed their little club of those who were all agreed that this was the most stupid, the most ridiculous, the most unreasonable way.

42:14 And while they debated and discussed, life ebbed through their fingers and they died while all around the camp others who humbling their pride and casting behind them all human ideas of what would be the best direction. They embraced the direction of God through Moses and looking with the naked eye upon the serpent of brass they feel a neutralizing of the venom in their system and they feel strength surging back into their frames and little children whose eyes were about to close in death leap for joy and go out and play hopscotch and go on out and jump rope and dads who thought they were looking upon their wives for the last time feeling new vigor surging into their bodies embrace their wives and give praise to Jehovah and what was the direction? Simply look. Oh, do you see the parallel direction in the words of our Lord? Look at the language of John chapter 3.

43:15 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever and instead of the word looketh he uses a synonym in the realm of spiritual exercises whosoever believeth believeth in him or believeth may in him either is permissible the language or the translation of the 1901 is that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. Everywhere in scripture faith is given many, many analogies. Our Lord likens it to drinking. If any man thirsts let him come to me and drink.

44:00 He that believeth on me it is likened unto eating in John chapter 6. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood that is whoso has a believing apprehension a believing appropriation of me as crucified hath everlasting life. God says in the language of Isaiah look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved. Here our Lord simply uses that terminology common to the scriptures as Moses lifted and all who look lived so must the son of man be lifted that whoever believeth that is whoever looks now get the parallel for the Israelite it was the naked eye physically looking upon that physical serpent of brass and independence upon God that physical sight brought physical healing. Now the Lord Jesus lifted up upon the cross and proclaimed and set before us in the proclamation of the gospel. He says look upon me with the eye of faith. Do not look upon me as an external symbol.

45:15 It does not mean that I conjure up an image of a crucifix and I try to remember that Romish church into which I went and there was a gory crucifix and now I'll conjure up a crucifix type image of Christ and look and look and look and hope I'll be saved. No, no. To look is to look not with the physical eyes turning inward a mental image of Christ upon a cross to look upon Christ is with the eyes of the soul to cast oneself upon him as he is presented in the gospel not in his physical form not in the outline of his physical frame or his physical appearance but in the great reality that the uplifted Christ was the object of divine wrath and the uplifted Christ is the only refuge for guilty sinners and the uplifted Christ is the only means of approach unto God and so there is this parallel direction that you are to look unto Christ. Now that humbles human pride. Oh, I must do something to earn the virtue of the serpent. God says, no, look.

46:29 Oh, I must do something. Surely I must mourn for at least an hour. I must grieve for my sins at least for a day or a week or six months. No, no.

46:40 Whosoever looks lives.

46:45 But surely that's too simple. Ah, yes, it's simple if God were to devise a gospel that would allow any vestige of human pride to remain. But you see, it's the very simplicity of faith that cuts the last nerve of pride. That's why Paul can say it is a faith that it may be holy of grace.

47:10 Faith is the only spiritual faculty or exercise that is wholly receptive that goes wholly out of itself to another.

47:23 He says, look.

Parallel 4: The Result of Life

47:26 That's believing. Looking upon Christ as he's uplifted. Well, consider then in the fourth place the parallel results. Verse 9 of Numbers 21 says, And whoever looked upon the serpent of brass lived.

47:45 What were the results? Having looked, the effect of the deadly venom as we mentioned earlier was neutralized by the power of God. And how do we know and how would any Israelite know that they had looked and therefore lived? Well, look at the subsequent record.

48:04 How do we know that those who looked truly lived? Verse 10. And the children of Israel journeyed.

48:13 Dead men don't go on journeys in wildernesses.

48:17 We know they lived not because someone made a little sign and hung it around the neck of corpses saying, this man looked and he's alive.

48:28 You say, that's ridiculous.

48:31 Yes, it is ridiculous. But it's done all the time in a realm that's far more tragic than that which has reference to physical death. You see, the result of any Israelite's looking was that he lived. That is, the effect of the deadly venom was neutralized so that all of the normal expressions of vigorous physical life were manifested.

48:54 They journeyed. They were able to pick up their tent stakes and roll up their tents and do everything necessary to journey in the wilderness. And so our Lord says, Whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. And when a man believes in Christ, immediately he possesses eternal life.

49:14 And how is that life manifested by the neutralizing of death? Our spiritual death is manifested by our indifference to the law of God, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. Spiritual life is manifested by a love for and voluntary submission to that holy law.

49:40 The death of the soul is manifested by its indifference to communion with God. But when life has been imparted by a look at the Savior, that life will be manifested by delighting in communion with God. Spiritual death is manifested by its indifference to the people of God, to the ways of God, to fellowship with God. And spiritual life is the antithesis of each one of those.

50:10 Isn't that the teaching of the book of 1 John? Hereby do we know that we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren, keep His commandments, believe upon His Son, walk in the light. All of these things are not the means to attain life. They are the manifestations of the life possessed in the believing sight of Jesus Christ.

50:34 The tragedy of the evangelical church is that it's strewn with people who are spiritual corpses with a sign around their neck saying, I've looked to Jesus and I'm alive. But my friend, the stink of death is all over them. There's no serious regard for the scriptures. The thing that breaks the hearts of pastors is I meet with them in pastor's conferences all around the country and the world.

50:59 You know what breaks their hearts? They say, Brother Martin, what can I do? I preach the word, expound the word. The people don't want to obey.

51:07 And yet they're all, quote, Christians. Oh yes, they've looked to Christ. They'd swear on 10,000 Bibles that they're believers. They're looking to Christ.

51:18 They've got a sign around their neck saying, I looked. But their spiritual corpses and the stench of death is in their resolute refusal to obey the word of God. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. John says, He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

51:40 My Bible says, Christ became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him. That's the teaching of the word of God. As those Israelites looked and lived, the evidence that they lived was all the normal activities of physical life.

51:59 The evidence that you've looked to Christ and lived is that there will be the normal expressions of the life of God in your soul. Oh, there will be degrees to which that life is manifested. Your own spiritual pilgrimage will not be like a straight line from here to glory. It'll be like the curve or the lines in the back that record our tape sales that gets Roger upset sometimes when it takes a dip and goes across and the rest.

52:28 But it's encouraging if you look at it from 73 to 76. It's still making its way upward, you see. That's the Christian life.

52:36 But life is manifested. And so there are those parallel results.

Concluding Observations: One Remedy, One Way, One Reason, One Evidence

52:44 Is this true of you? You say you've looked to Christ. And in a sense of your sin and your need, you've turned from all hope in yourself and in your fellow human beings. And with the naked eye of faith, you've gazed upon Christ as he's offered in the gospel, as the only sin bearer, but as the adequate sin bearer, the only one who can take, take care of the problem of your offending God in breaking his law and making yourself liable to death and judgment from his hand.

53:15 If you have, my friend, then the burden of proof rests upon you to manifest that life in all of those ways that God has delineated in his word. Well, as we conclude our study, I want to make several concluding observations. And I trust that this will provide fuel for your own meditation in the future. Will you notice in the first place that there was one and only one universal remedy for any bitten Israelite?

53:48 The old man that was bitten, the young man in the full vigor of his manhood, and the little three-year-old child. If bitten, there was one universal remedy. There was not a remedy for old sinners, old Israelites, another remedy for middle-aged ones, and young men and infants. There was but one universal remedy.

54:14 And if you'd been bitten, if you didn't get that remedy, you had none.

54:20 Jesus Christ is the one universal remedy for sinners. There is not an adult Savior and an old man Savior and a teenage Savior and a child Savior. There is one Savior who receives all who look upon him in faith. Three years, thirty years, or ninety years old.

54:39 It matters not. It mattered not whether there was an old Israelite in whom the venom had almost completed its deadly work so that all he could barely do was lift one eye, half-mast gaze upon that serpent, or whether it was a youngster who'd just bitten and just beginning to feel the effects of the venom and who could with the vigor and strength of two eyes. Look, it mattered not how extensive the snake bite had worked its way in. There was one universal remedy.

55:13 And it matters not to what extent your innate sinfulness has worked itself out in deeds of vileness and patterns of ungodliness. There may be some of you children who in terms of the blessing of a Christian nurture and family are wonderfully preserved from many external patterns of sin and rebellion. There may be some of you in whom the walls have gone down for years and you've lived in profligacy and ungodliness and indifference to God and His law and His people and His word. There is but one universal remedy and that's the uplifted Christ.

55:52 Whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life. Second concluding observation is this. There was but one way of receiving help from that remedy and it was to look. It was to look upon the serpent.

56:08 Suppose there was some clever chap that said, well, I wonder, if I get a set of mirrors so I can see the serpent in the mirrors, if that'll work. No, he had to look upon the serpent of brass. Maybe there was someone else that said, well, if I can just get close enough to people who've looked, maybe some of the virtue that has entered them will enter me. And so he goes around and snuggles up into the circles of those who've looked.

56:32 What would happen to him? Or maybe there was someone else that said, well, my parent has looked and there's such an intimate bond between parent and child in the purpose of God. That if I just snuggle up to my parents, maybe the virtue of their being healed will enter me.

56:50 You see the obvious answer, don't you? Anyone who tried to get healing by using a set of mirrors, by associating with those who had already looked, or by sharing in the virtue of the look of mother or father was doomed to die. There had to be an individual look. And that alone brought healing.

57:13 You see, Christ is wonderfully mirrored in the spirit and the sacraments. He's wonderfully set forth in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. But my friend, don't look upon the mirrors. Look upon Christ.

57:25 Don't gaze upon the mirrors and put your hope in the mirrors. You'll perish. As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life.

57:42 Don't trust to your intimate association with others who've looked. You're among the people of God. And when they sing their praises, your own spirit somehow coalesces with theirs and you find joy in singing these great hymns of praise and these psalms of adoration. Ah, my friend, don't be deceived.

58:01 That sense of exhilaration that comes in being among the people of God can be just a veiled and deceptive sign of death. Have you looked beyond His people to Christ Himself? And you, dear children, it's not enough that your parents have looked. There is not enough virtue in your parents to bring healing to your soul.

58:26 You must look as an individual to Him. And thirdly, there was but one reason why an Israelite would look.

58:37 And that was the deep-seated conviction that his condition was desperate. That's the only thing that would make an Israelite look. If some guy was going through the camp of the Israelites and he had the fang marks on him and somebody said, hey, you've been, you'd better look. He said, oh, no, that's just a couple of birthmarks.

58:55 Man, I can see the fever break. Oh, no, just a warm day. You see, no man who was not convinced of the deadliness of his state would look. It was too humbling a thing.

59:09 And none of you will ever look to Christ until you're convinced of the desperateness of your state.

59:16 And further, there was but one explanation for refusing to look when once one was bitten. And you know what that explanation is? Sheer madness.

59:28 Sheer madness.

59:31 When an Israelite was bitten, the fever was on his brow and he could feel his vital powers ebbing away and the announcement is made, look, and there is life in the look. What would keep an Israelite from looking? Nothing but the sheerest madness.

59:52 May I say that there is nothing short of spiritual madness. That will keep any son or daughter of Adam from looking to Christ when he is set forth in the gospel. Oh, my dear friend, man, woman, boy or girl, sin is in your system doing its insidious and deadly work and it's only a matter of time before it will land you in hell unless its influence is neutralized by the virtue of the uplifted Christ. Why will you not look to him?

60:26 Why? Why? Why? Sheer madness.

60:33 Spiritual madness. Spiritual insanity.

60:38 And that's exactly the thing with which the devil holds his captives.

60:46 This unbelievable madness that perpetuates unbelief. And finally, there was only one indisputable evidence that a man had looked. And I've already underscored this so I'll not do anything more than just reemphasize. He had life in all of its manifestations.

Exhortation and Prayer

61:08 The gospel according to a brazen serpent. You've not heard anything new tonight. But oh, I trust that for those of you who have looked and continue to look, God will give you fresh impetus to continue to look the moment you begin to look in any other direction when wrestling with the issue how shall my sin be pardoned? How shall I be forgiven?

61:33 How shall I find acceptance with God? How can the question of God's justice in my sin be resolved in any other way but one that results in my damnation? When the mind is occupied with those questions, you're to look nowhere but to the uplifted Christ. The uplifted Christ.

61:54 And I say to every man, woman, boy or girl who has never looked, maybe this has been the very stumbling block to you. You've read enough in your Bible and you've heard enough preaching to know, well, the Bible teaches that God is sovereign and He's even sovereign in grace and He's chosen a people for Himself. And I've read in the Bible about repentance and I know something about this and all these things and I just can't seem to get them all sorted out. Oh, my friend, you've got the cart before the horse.

62:24 You'll never begin to make head or tails out of all the biblical truths and responsibilities and glorious doctrines that God has given you. You'll never begin to make head or tails out of all the biblical truths and responsibilities that cluster around Christ until in the naked look of faith you've gone out of yourself to Him and you've asked God for Christ's sake to be merciful to you in your sin. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must, and that word must is a powerful little word in the original, so must the Son of Man be lifted up and He was lifted up for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Let us pray.

63:29 Oh, God.

63:35 Our Father, we confess in Your presence that in the pride of our own hearts we would never have conceived of this way of deliverance for needy sinners, but how we bless You that in Your own infinite wisdom You conceived a way of delivering sinners that ascribes all of the glory and praise to You and to You alone. And we pray that it would please You by the mighty power of Your Spirit to bring home to the heart of some this night boys, girls, men and women the great truth that their only refuge is in the uplifted Christ. Our Father, we despair of ever thinking that we can by any effort of our own tear away that madness of unbelief.

64:42 Oh, blessed Lord, bring some to sanity this night. May some feel and own the desperate need of the Lord. May some feel the desperateness of their plight and then find glorious rest in the offered Savior. And we pray for us, some of us who many years ago looked for the first time.

65:09 We confess that all of our problems come upon us when we cease to look. Oh, teach us how to have that proper fixation upon Christ. That we may know what it is to say with your servant Paul, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, our Father, have mercy upon us.

65:38 We confess the fickleness of our hearts, the dullness of our affections and we pray that you would grant us a greater tenacity as we seek to cling to Christ crucified. As we seek to cling to Christ crucified. As we seek to eat of his flesh and to drink of his blood. As we attempt believingly to feed upon all that he is to us in the gospel.

66:04 Oh, Lord, assist us by your mighty power as we come to the close of this Lord's day. We give you thanks for your presence with us. We thank you for your people. We thank you for your word.

66:20 We thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. We pray that you would pray now as we part from one another to go to our respective spheres of duty that we may all be by your grace lights shining in the midst of darkness. Oh, Lord, help us. Help us, we pray.

66:42 Use us by our lives and as opportunities present themselves by our lips to proclaim this flesh withering, humbling truth that the only hope of sinners is in the uplifted Christ. Hear our prayers. Receive our thanks. Be with all of your people scattered throughout the four corners of the earth.

67:08 And we ask, oh, Lord, hasten the day when the role of your elect will be made up and complete. And our Lord Jesus shall come in glorious power to take us to himself. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

67:28 Amen.