14
John 3:14-15 Num. 21:4-9 THE NECESSITY OF
LOOKING TO JESUS
Introduction:
In
an earlier text Jesus informed Nicodemus that one must be
born again in order to enter
heaven. Nicodemus inquired if a man
must could enter again into his
mother's womb in order to be born
again. Jesus said that it was not necessary to
re-enter mother's
womb because the new birth is
not a physical birth; it is a
spiritual
birth. Nicodemus then inquired how such
a spiritual
birth
is possible.
In our text last Sunday Jesus did not answer that question.
Rather He informed Nicodemus that what He
said about the new
birth
should be believed simply because the message is from God.
One should not have to understand what God
has said before he
will believe what God has said.
However, in our text today, Jesus proceeds to answer the
question. Keep in mind that the question is, "How
can these
things
be?" or, in other words, "How can one be spiritually born
again
so that he will go to heaven?"
I.
The brazen serpent lifted up on a pole
V. 14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness...," In order to illustrate what He is talking
about
Jesus refers to an event that took place
while the Children of
from
the way. And the people spake against God, and against
Moses,
Wherefore have ye brought us up out of
wilderness?
for there is no bread, neither is there any water;
and our soul loatheth this light bread."
The
Children of
land, but instead of being
appreciative of Moses, their leader,
and thankful to God for His
providential care, they griped and
complained
against both Moses and God. They accused
both Moses
and God of bringing them out
into the wilderness in order to
starve
them to death. God had miraculously
provided them with
water
in a desert area, but they were ungrateful.
God had also
miraculously
given them manna from heaven, but they were
ungrateful.
By their complaints they sinned a grievous sin
and God was
angry. He was angry and He punished them sorely for
their sin.
Num. 21:6, "And the LORD sent fiery
serpents among the people,
and they bit the people; and
much people of
order
to punish the people of
fiery
serpents among them to bite them. The
term "fiery
serpents"
was used for two reasons. First, the
serpents had a
fiery
look. They had brilliant red blotches
all over them. The
red blotches look much like
fire. Thus they were fiery in their
appearance.
The
second reason they are called "fiery" is because of their
fiery
bite. Their poison caused a very painful
burning
sensation. It was as though the person who has been
bitten has
been set on fire.
God sent the fiery serpents into the camp of
numbers. People were bitten by the hundreds and
thousands.
People were dying by the hundreds and
thousands. This was no
ordinary
punishment. This was a terrible
ordeal. But keep in
mind that they brought this
punishment it on themselves by their
sin.
Sin
always brings a terrible punishment.
When Adam ate the
forbidden
fruit, his sin brought a terrible punishment.
When we
sin our own sin brings terrible
suffering to us in this life.
But worst of all, those who die without
being born again, without
salvation,
without being born again, will suffer most all.
They
will spend eternity in the fires
of hell. The burning pain from
the serpent's bite, was but a
foretaste of what it would be like
to die and go to hell.
Num. 21:7, "Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We
have sinned, for we have spoken
against the LORD, and against
thee; pray unto the LORD, that
he take away the serpents from us.
And Moses prayed for the
people." The people, who had been
so
angry
at both Moses and God came to see the
error of their ways
and they went to Moses and
begged him to ask God to take the
serpents
away.
Apparently
Moses wasted no time in going to the Lord and
asking
Him, if He would, to please take the serpents out of their
camp. But the Lord did not immediately grant that
request.
Instead He provided a remedy for the
situation. Num. 21:8, "And
the LORD said unto Moses, Make
thee a fiery serpent, and set it
upon a pole: and it shall come
to pass, that every one that is
bitten,
when he looketh upon it, shall live." God instructed
Moses to make another fiery serpent. This serpent was to be made
of brass.
This serpent would have no poison.
It would never bite
anyone.
It would never cause pain. It would
never cause death.
Instead, this serpent would be the means
of their healing. It
would
take away their pain. It would take away
the danger of
death. Moses was to put the serpent of brass on a
pole and set
it up in the middle of the
camp so that it would be easy for
everybody
in the camp to see. Then when anyone was
bitten by a
serpent,
he could look at the serpent on the pole and live. He
would
not die.
Nobody
would be forced to look. Everybody was
told about the
serpent
and was promised that if one would look, he would live.
That was the promise of God. The choice was up to the person who
was bitten. He could choose to look and live or he could
choose
not to look and die.
Moses
made the serpent of brass as God instructed and put it
on a pole in the middle of the
camp. Num. 21:9, "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." The fiery serpents were still in the camp
and people were still being
bitten. But now there was a remedy
for the bite. Moses had made the serpent of brass and had
put it
on a pole so that all could
see.
When
any person was bitten, and many were, he was faced with
a choice. He could look or he could say, "I don't
believe all
that stuff." He could refuse to look. But God's record stands.
Everyone who did choose to look
lived. Everyone who refused to
believe
and refused to look at the serpent on the pole died very
quickly. Of course, once a person died, it was too
late to look.
Pretty soon he would be buried.
II. Jesus to be lifted up on a pole
Jesus explained to Nicodemus what this means concerning the
new birth. (V. 14), "...even so must the Son of
man be lifted
up." Just as many of the
Children of
fiery
serpents, even so every man has been bitten by that old
Serpent called "the Devil." Each and every man, woman, boy and
girl has been bitten by the
Serpent Satan and Satan has injected
the poison of sin into us
all. The Bible says that we have all
sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Adam
sinned and
through
him the sin nature has entered us all.
Yet we not only
have the nature of sin within
us, but because of that nature we
have all committed sin. We have all sinned repeatedly. We have
committed
all manner of sin. We have sinned in our
thoughts. We
have sinned in our speech. We have sinned in our hearts and we
have sinned in our conduct.
Brethren, the penalty of our sin is very severe! The end
result
of our sin would be to spend eternity suffering the
penalty
of our sin. We would feel a painful
burning sensation,
but the pain would not be from
a serpent's bite. The pain would
be from the very fires of hell
and it would never end.
But
Jesus said that even as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness and put it on a
pole so that all could look and
live, even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up. He was talking
about
Himself. He must be placed on a
pole. He must be nailed
to a pole and lifted up even
as that serpent of brass was lifted
up by Moses.
In
effect, what Jesus was telling Nicodemus was this: He who
had no sin would suffer the
penalty of sin in order that those
who were guilty of sin could be
set free from the penalty of sin.
He would die so that the guilty could
live.
But
now get this point. Just as the guilty
sinner in
could
look to the serpent and live physically, even so, the
unworthy
guilty sinner may look to Jesus and live have eternal
life. He can look to Jesus and be born again
spiritually. He
can look to Jesus and be saved
from his sin. He can look to
Jesus and be saved from the dangers of
hell. He can look to
Jesus trusting Jesus to be his Savior and
to take care of his
soul's
need.
V. 15, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have eternal
life." That is God's promise. God has promised
that the guilty sinner can look
to Jesus and have eternal life.
He can be saved from the terrible
consequences of his sin. He be
born again! He can enter the
heaven!
Nicodemus
had asked, "How can these things be?
How can a man
be born again without
re-entering his mother's womb? How can a
man be born again spiritually
without being born again
physically?
How can a man be
born again so that he will stay out
of hell and enter into heaven?
Jesus
answered that question. As Moses lifted
up the serpent
of brass in the wilderness and
put it on a pole, even so the Son
of man, the God-man, the
Christ of God, must be nailed to a pole,
and lifted up. He must be put on a pole to suffer so that
the
guilty
sinner can be spared from suffering. The
One without sin
must suffer on the cross so that
the one guilty of sin can enjoy
the glory of heaven. Whoever will look to Him by faith and will
live. Every person who looks to Him will be
saved. Everyone who
looks
to Him will be born again. No one who
looks to Him will go
to hell. Everyone who looks to Him will enter the
and go to heaven.
Some
of us have already trusted Jesus as our Savior.
I have.
I trusted Him when I was sixteen years of
age. Many of you have
already
trusted Him as your Savior. Yet there
may be someone
here this morning who has never
called upon Him for salvation.
That someone may be you. You know that you have sinned. You
know that you have been bitten
by the Serpent Satan and that you
have the poison of sin in your
system. It is my responsibility
to inform you that unless you
look to Jesus to be your Savior
that you can never make it to
heaven. It is also my
responsibility
to inform you that Jesus is well able to save your
soul and that what He is waiting
for is for you to look to Him in
faith,
trusting Him as the God-sent Savior. If
you will look to
Him, He will save you. If you will look to Him, you will live.
Conclusion:
Let
me ask you a question. If you had been
in
had been bitten by one of those
serpents, would you have looked
to that brazen serpent on the
pole? What is even more important,
will you look to Jesus to save
you from your sin? Will you do it
right
now?