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Christ in the Old Testament - The Savior and the Serpent (John 3 and Numbers 21:4-9) | Warren... | Warren Wiersbe | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Christ in the Old Testament - The Savior and the Serpent (John 3 and Numbers 21:4-9) | Warren...
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Summary
Core Theme
The core theme is the salvific power of faith in Jesus Christ, illustrated by the Old Testament story of the bronze serpent and Jesus' own crucifixion, emphasizing that salvation is a divine provision accepted by faith alone.
we turn to two passages in the word of
God we turn to Numbers chapter
21 beginning at verse
4 and we turn to John 3 beginning at verse
verse
14 first the Old Testament fact and then
214 and they journeyed from Mount
by the way of the Red Sea to Compass the
land of
Edom and the soul of the people was much
discouraged because of the
way and the people spoke against God and
against Moses wherefore have ye 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
and the Lord sent fiery serpents among
the people and they bit the people and
many people of Israel
died therefore the people came to Moses
and said we have sinned for we have
spoken against the Lord and against thee
pray unto the Lord that he take away the
serpents from us and Moses prayed for the
the
people and the Lord said unto Moses make
thee a fiery Serpent and set it upon a
pole and it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten when he lookth
upon it shall
live and Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it upon a pole it came to pass
that if a serpent had bitten any man
when he beheld The Serpent of
brass he
lived now our lord Jesus explains this
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
the
wilderness even so must the son of man
be lifted up that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish but have eternal
life for God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten
son that whosoever believeth in him
should not
perish but have everlasting
life for God sent not his son into the
world to condemn the
world but that the world through him
might be
saved he that believeth on him is not
condemned but he that believeth not is condemned
condemned
already because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God
and this is the
condemnation that light has come into
the world and and Men Lov Darkness
rather than light because their deeds were
were
evil for everyone that doeth evil hateth
the light neither cometh to the light
lest his deeds should be
reproved but he that doeth truth cometh
to the light that his deeds may be made
God the Sanhedrin has had a meeting
and they're discussing this new teacher
Jesus of
Nazareth and the Sanhedrin has asked
Nicodemus to go and interview him and
find out who he is and what he's
doing Nicodemus is a student of the
word he's no
fool he came to Jesus by
night and he said to him
teacher we know that you are a teacher
come from God for no man could do the
Miracles that you are doing except God
be with
him and our lord Jesus immediately saw
the need in the heart of
Nicodemus he realized that though
Nicodemus was a leading
Rabbi though he was a profound thinker
and a trained
teacher that Nicodemus did not know what
it meant to have eternal
life he was a religious man but his
religion lacked
reality he was a righteous man outwardly
but his righteousness had not gotten
into his
heart and so Jesus began to teach
Nicodemus what it meant to be saved what
it meant to be a child of God and though
Nicodemus was a trained teacher and a
student of the word nicod had to be
dealt with like a little child and Jesus
had to use illustration after
illustration to try to penetrate the
mind and the Heart of this man he began
with birth he said Nicodemus you know
what birth is all about you've got to be
born again and Nicodemus said how could
a man be born again when he's old can he
enter a second time into his mother's
womb Nicodemus said Jesus this birth is
from above it's a birth of the Holy
Spirit In Your
Heart then he tried the illustration of
wind he said the wind blows where it
wants to blow and you can hear the sound
but you can't see it and this is the way
it is when a person is born from above
Nicodemus do you remember back in the prophet
prophet
Ezekiel the prophet saw that vast valley
of dry dead bonees Nicodemus said yes do
you remember that the word said to the
prophet preach to the wind and the wind
began to blow and life came into those
bones that's a picture of what the Holy
Spirit does when you put your faith in
me and still Nicodemus couldn't
understand finally Jesus reached back to
a story in the Book of Numbers he said
Nicodemus do you remember
when our people were going through the
Wilderness and they sinned against God
and the serpents came and bit them he
said I remember that story do you
remember what Moses did yes yes Jehovah
told Moses to to make a serpent of brass
and put it on a pole and lift it up and
whoever looked at the serpent was healed
and then Jesus spoke those wonderful
words 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 our
lord Jesus reached back many hundreds of
years to the story of the serpent in the
wilderness we'd like to do that today I
want to take on the one hand the serpent
in the wilderness on the other hand the
Savior on the cross
and put them together because Jesus is
saying to us there is a lesson to be
learned here if you want to know what it
really means to be saved to have your
sins forgiven to have eternal life then
look at this
comparison of the serpent in the Old
Testament and the savior in the New
Testament now there are several
comparisons that will teach us what it
means to be saved and and the first is
this both The Serpent and the
Savior were
provided to meet a great
need you see the people of Israel were
dying and they were dying because of sin
the wages of sin is death the soul that
sinth it shall die in the day that you
eat thereof you shall surely die
except you believe that I am he you
shall die in your sins and Israel was
dying now death is not
funny no matter what may be the means of
death death is always tragic except of
course for the believer who goes to be
with the Lord here were people wandering
through the Wilderness in Disobedience
to God they had sinned against God and
they had sinned against Moses
now this is the problem we have today
we've sinned against God and we've
sinned against one another when God gave
through Moses the two tables of the law
he gave to us two aspects of
sin in the first table of the law there
were the laws that related primarily to
God Thou shalt have no other gods before
me I am the Lord thy God Thou shalt
worship me and me only
but in the second table of the law we
have sins that though they are against
God are also against men Thou shalt not
bear false witness Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not commit adultery honor thy
father and thy mother and Israel had
broken both tables first they complained
against God now people do this today
complain against God God had delivered
them from Egypt God had protected them
from their enemies enemies God had
directed them through the Wilderness and
it wasn't God's fault that they were
there had they listened to the Lord they
would have been in Canaan land but no
they would rather be in the
wilderness and they murmured against God
God was sending down the Mana that
sweet Angel's food bread that was coming
down from heaven and the people were
saying we loathe this light bread we are
tired of this Mana this is what what has
happened to people in Chicago and other
places people have gotten tired of what
God gives them they're looking for
something more exciting something that
that ravishes the heart something that
satisfies the body God knows what's best
they s they sinned against God and they
sinned against Moses they came and they
blamed Moses for what was happening and
these are the two sins that are being
committed today people are sinning
against God God and sinning against one
another and as a consequence there is
death God permitted the serpents to come
and people were
dying as I read this passage in Numbers
chapter 21 I shake my head and I say to
myself my oh my people today are just
like those Jews back in the wilderness
wilderness
wandering when they ought to have been
in the promised land in the wilderness
when they should have been enjoying
God's blessing dying when they should
have been exalting in God's life this is
the way people are
today now in answer to the death that
was going on around
them God provided a Brazen
serpent my friends may I remind you why Jesus
Jesus
came for God sent not his son into the
world to condemn the
world but that the world through him
might be saved did you get that many
people have the idea that Jesus came to
be a judge he didn't have to come to be
a judge judgment had already been
pronounced men were Sinners and they
knew it God provided his son to meet a
great need what was that great need
people were
dying now I want to remind you of
something something that is very
important in the case of the nation of
Israel this was physical death here were
living people who had been bitten by the
serpents and they were dying because of
their sin in our case we are already
dead in
sins when Moses lifted that serpent up
on the pole it was that he might Restore
Life to dying people but when Jesus
Christ was was lifted up on the cross it
was not that he might Restore Life to
dying people it was that he might give
life to people who were already
dead and you hath he made alive who were
dead in trespasses and sins and if I
speak just now to someone who has never
looked to Jesus Christ for salvation my
friend you are
dead you are spiritually
dead and the only way you can ever be
become spiritually alive is by looking
by faith to Jesus Christ both The
Serpent and the Savior were provided to
meet a great need
secondly both The Serpent and the Savior
were provided by God
Alone now my friends this was God's way
of Salvation it wasn't moses' way Moses
didn't call a committee meeting and say
we've got to figure out some way to keep
these people from dying it was God who
came to Moses you see Israel was saved
because somebody interceded for
them and my friend the only way you're
ever going to be saved is because
somebody intercedes for
you the only way God can ever save is through
through
intercession and Moses came and he plad
for his people his people broke his
heart his people brought burden to him
his people discouraged him but Moses
loved his people and Moses came and said
oh God you know what they're like
they're just Clay they're just sheep no
sooner have we been delivered from the
land of Egypt than than my people begin
to sin and they're going to be this way
oh God can't you do something for them
on more than one occasion Moses had to
intercede for his
people just a little picture of what
did Jesus was hanging there on the cross
and he prayed father forgive them
they're so ignorant they know not what
they do they don't know the meaning of
their sin they don't know the enormity
of their sin they don't realize the
them Moses came interceding and God said
I'm going to supply a way of salvation
this is purely by God's grace purely by
God's love now if you and I had been
there we would have had other ways to do
it let's think about some of the ways we
could have tried to help these people
because they're being used today someone
could have said I think we ought to get
a great group of sticks and let's
organize an anti- snake society and if
we go up and down in the camp we can
kill these
snakes and while you're killing the
snakes people are dying but we still
have this philosophy today
Reformation oh if only we can reform
people if only we can get rid of this
and get rid of that my friend you can
get rid of all of the so-called kinds of
sin that you see in the city of Chicago
and people will still die because people
are born with the poison of
sin my Bible tells me that the wicked
are estranged from the
womb you and I were born Sinners and so
Reformation is not going to do a great
deal of good you may have some dead
snakes but you're going to have some
dead people too someone else comes along
and says well what we really need is is
some medicine we can just get our our
technicians together and manufacture
some kind of medicine and while you're
manufacturing the medicine people are
dying and a serpent is such a stealthy
sneaky subtle creature when you least
expect him he gets
you we still have people today
manufacturing medicine trying to conquer
the awful poison of sin and sad to say
the medicine's not
working somebody else comes along and
says well let's just pretend they aren't
there if you just close your eyes and
wish they'll be gone now there are
people today who who deny the existence of
of
sin they say now if we just deny that
it's there it's not going to bother us
really you can die denying the existence
of the serpent you come into your tent
in the camp of Israel and here is your
son lying there and he's ring in pain
and you say what's happened oh he says a
serpent that wasn't there bit
me oh it's all in your mind I'm sorry
but I'm
dying you see we don't call it sin
anymore we call it
um or we call it accidents we call it
weaknesses uh we call it psychological
Hang-Ups I'm glad to see that one of our
leading psychologists has written a book
entitled whatever happened to
sin and he's bringing back into the
focus of man's attention the fact that
there is such a thing as
Sin and taking away the symptoms does
not remove the
cause let's suppose someone has been
bitten by The Serpent and it's it's f
it's it's like burning and someone comes
along and puts some sort of a pus or a
Sav on it and the burning disappears ah
but the poison is still in your system
in fact I would much rather know that
I've been
bitten no we're not going to kill the
serpents we're not going to manufacture
medicine we aren't going to pretend they
aren't there somebody who is very
legalistically inclined will say let's
pass a law against
serpents good how will you get them to
it's impossible to pass a law against
sin now God gave the greatest law ever
given and yet men still sin the problem
is not with the law the problem is with
men and Paul points it out so perfectly
in Romans chapter 7 that in me that is
in my flesh dwells no good thing you can
pass all the laws you want to it's not
going to keep people from
dying somebody else comes along and says
well we have a religion there's a
tabernacle here there's sacrifices and
and altar of incense and and we have a
religion did you notice that this whole
scheme that God gave Moses had nothing
to do with their
religion I hear people saying well I I'm
not worry about dying and being lost
forever I'm not worrying about dying and
possibly going to that place the Bible
calls hell because I'm
religious religion without Jesus Christ
is just as condemning as IR religion
so and so religion and reformation and
medicine and legislation and education
all all of these things could do nothing
to solve the problem and so what did God
do God said I'm going to give you a simple
simple
solution what was it that bit you a
serpent all right make a serpent
not a lion the tribe of Judah would have enjoyed
enjoyed
that a serpent get some brass Moses and
make a serpent and put that serpent on a
pole and lift it up high you see God
provided the only way of
Salvation you'd think that after all
these centuries people would know better
but you still hear people say well just
as there are many roads that lead to
Chicago there are many roads that lead
lead to heaven and you are traveling on
one road and I am traveling on another
road but somehow all of us are going to get
get
there I have news for you there may be
all sorts of roads that lead to
Chicago but there's only one road that
leads to
heaven and in all of the camp of Israel
if you had been bitten and you were
dying there was only one way of
Salvation and escape and that was by
looking to the Brazen serpent that had
been put up the
pole there is none other name under
Heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved God does not say well Choose
Your Own Way God says there is one way
and that way is Jesus Christ
crucified now it was Christ Alone that
was provided to be our Salvation not
Christ plus the law he didn't say put a
serpent plus the Ten Commandments up
there I feel so sorry for these people
who are trying to get saved by trusting
Jesus Christ plus keeping the Ten
Commandments it wasn't Jesus Christ plus
anything else it was just put the
serpent on the pole why a serpent why
you know
why when Jesus Christ was crucified he was
was
made the very thing that killed you
you
sin I can just see the children watching
Moses Moses what are you doing I'm
making a serpent a serpent but that's
what's causing all the trouble serpents
I'm making a serpent and I'm going to
put this serpent up in the pole it's a
picture of Jesus Christ who was made sin
for us who was made a curse for us when
he died on the
cross that's the meaning of Romans 8 verse
verse
three God sending his own son watch this now
now
in the likeness of sinful flesh he
didn't send his son in sinful flesh
because my Lord had a perfect body he
sent his son in the likeness of sinful
flesh Moses what are you doing I'm
making a creature in the likeness of
those that have caused the trouble
that's the meaning of 2 Corinthians
521 for God hath made him to be sin for
us us he who knew no sin that we might
become the righteousness of God in him
both were provided to meet a great need
death and both were provided by God
Alone May I drop two thoughts into your
heart for your
consideration number
one the serpent in the Old Testament didn't
didn't
suffer but Jesus
did number number two the serpent in the
Old Testament didn't
die but Jesus
did and so when the word of God says
look and you'll live we're saying to you
look to one who suffered for you now my
friend you and I have never really
suffered for sin all we've had
sufferings because of
sin there have been hangovers and
headaches and sicknesses and financial
problems we have suffered because of our
sins we have never yet suffered for our
sins Jesus did and none of us has ever
died because of our sins Jesus
did both were provided to meet a great
need both were provided by God alone
it's his way of Salvation And if you
don't want it there is none other
thirdly both were provided to be
accepted by
faith you see the easiest thing a person
can do is look I'm glad that the text
does not say
see there could have been some blind
people in the nation of Israel who
couldn't see but they could look where
is it it's in right there and they could
look you see God's talking about
faith God's way of Salvation is provided
to be accepted by faith you say why does
God do it by faith for several reasons
number one it's the one thing people can
do you live by faith all day long
sometimes I have to pray for patience
when unsaved people say to me but pastor
this business of faith I can't believe
my friend you believe all day
long why it takes more faith to ride
some of the elevators in the city of
Chicago than it does to trust Jesus Christ
Christ
when you go to the pharmacist and you
hand him that impossible to read piece
of paper your doctor gave you that's
faith when you take that medicine and
you swallow it that's faith when you get
on I75 or I64 I 95 that's
Faith you live by faith all day long the
difference between a Christian and an
unsaved person is that a Christian has
taken that inborn faith
and put it in Jesus Christ you see God
didn't say to these Jews work climb the
pole you couldn't climb the pole I'm
dying run around the pole I can't do it
touch the pole I'm too far away look at
the serpent I can do that that's Faith
you see faith glorifies God if God had
any other way of Salvation we'd brag
about it because we're born
braggards when Jesus said don't let your
right hand know what your left hand is
doing he was being very wise if our
right hand knows what our left hand is
doing we just start patting ourselves on
the back we love to boast and to brag
and Paul writes and says for by grace
are you saved through faith that not of
yourselves it's the gift of God not of
Works lest any man should boast if you
have a Salvation that you can brag about
it's not God's salvation by grace it's
your own and it won't work
both were provided to be accepted by
faith now I can just see some of these
dear Jewish people arguing with
Moses and here they are dying and Moses
gets the word out look to the serpent
just look and you'll live look at the
uplifted serpent and someone says I
don't understand
it my friend you can die while you're
trying to understand it now I'm not
saying that our Plan of Salvation given
in Jesus Christ
cannot be
understood but I'll say this to you you
could die while you're trying to
understand it all a person has to
understand to be saved is that he is a
sinner and Jesus is the savior and if
you look to Jesus Christ you'll be saved
that's the minimum now when you trust
Christ and receive his life then you'll
have all eternity to Plum the depths of
understanding of God's grace but a
person could die in one of the tents of
Israel saying I just don't understand it
and if I can't understand it I won't do
it did you understand the last medicine
you took did you even understand what
happened when you pushed the button in
the wall and the lights came on or you
turned the little knob and the TV came
on I don't understand those things never
to somebody else comes along and says
Moses this is so simple
I mean you know we're used to an
elaborate religion we have a priest who
wears robes and they they have
sacrifices we blow horns and but this is so
so
simple my answer to that is thank God it is
is
simple thank God it's so simple that the
youngest child can look and be saved
thank God it's so simple that the most
ignorant person can look and be saved
what is there about us that wants to
make everything so
complicated God doesn't do that in fact
Paul warns us about those who want to
take us away from the Simplicity that is
in Christ that simple-hearted openness
to God Moses it it's too simple somebody
else says how
humiliating Moses don't you know how
rich I am don't you realize who I am in
the camp of Israel do you mean I have to
be saved the same way as those ordinary
people get saved that's right
I've told you I have I not about Robert Murray
Murray
McShan let me repeat it the great
saintly Presbyterian preacher Robert
maray mcshain was out passing out tracks
one day and he handed a track to a
rather well-dressed lady who immediately
pulled herself to her full height put on
her most pompous air and said sir you
must not know who I
am and in his own quiet way Mr McShan
said madam there is coming a day of
judgment and on that day it won't make
any difference who you are are there
some of you here today who say oh that's
such an easy way look to Jesus Christ
believe on him I don't understand it
it's it's something that's beneath me
I'm too great for a Plan of Salvation
like that then you'll have to
die you see God makes it easy for people
to be saved will you lay hold of that
some of you have the idea that God makes
it so difficult God makes it easy for
people to be saved he says make a
serpent everybody can see it put it up
on a pole Don't Take It Outside the camp
put it in the camp they can all see it
everybody can
look oh God has made it so easy for you
to be saved you're the one that's making
it difficult you're the one raising the
objections you're the one thinking up
the excuses you're the one finding the
obstacles God didn't do that God put
Jesus on a
cross and he said as Moses lifted up the
serpent even so must the son of man be
lifted up that if you just believe on
him look to him by
faith you'll receive eternal life which
comparison both were provided to meet a
Alone both were provided ided to be
accepted by
faith and both
worked when men believed that's the
beautiful part of it it worked back in
the Old Testament they they were saved
by a look by the way we were lost by a
look and when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and to be desired
to make one wise she took we were lost
by a look and thank God were saved by a
look a woman looked at a tree and she
ate and gave to her husband and plunged
mankind into sin ah Jesus came and died
on a tree and now if we but look to him We're
We're
saved you remember the story of the
conversion of Charles Spurgeon young
Spurgeon as a teenager had been
wrestling with God under conviction
could not find peace and one winter
Sunday day he was out roaming the
streets and couldn't go to his own
church he went to a little primitive
Methodist Chapel it was so snowy the
preacher didn't even show up a Layon got
up he had no sermon but he had a good
text look unto me and be ye saved all
the ends of the Earth and because his
sermon was so weak he kept quoting the
scripture which is a good thing to do
and he saw Spurgeon sitting over there
and didn't know who he was but he looked
miserable he said young man you look
miserable if you will but look to Jesus
Christ you will be saved and SP says I
works people in the camp of Israel could
look around and see it
happening they'd say hey he used to be
sick he was almost dying look he's well
they could see it happening you can see
it happening I will introduce you to
hundreds of people who have looked to
Jesus Christ and they have been healed
of their sin sickness don't tell me it
doesn't work it
works there are only three people for
it doesn't work for those who don't know they're
they're
dying those people who think that
they're all right that God's going to
accept them who don't realize they've
been bitten by The Serpent of sin and
they're dying it won't work for them
because they don't think they need
it and it won't work for those who have
uh never been told of the remedy that's
sad oh wouldn't it be an awful thing for
someone to be in one of the tents of
Israel die
and then he expires and someone comes in
says well why didn't he go out and look
at the serpent what serpent there's a
serpent out there in a pole if you look
you're safe why didn't you come and tell
question Jay Hudson Taylor won a Chinese
scholar to Christ over in China and the
man said to Hudson Taylor how long have
your people known this message why he
said for hundreds of years
oh he said my father died looking for
the truth why didn't you come sooner and tell
tell
us that's a good question why don't we
tell other people that they don't have
to die there's a serpent there's a
savior who's been lifted up and made sin
and so the person who doesn't know his
need can't be helped and the person who
has a need but doesn't know the remedy
can't be helped there's a third person
that we can't help that's the person who
knows his need knows of the remedy but
he won't
look I can't make you
look God can't even make you look all he
can do is bring you the message that if
you look to Jesus
saved let me tell you a story about PW
Philpot it was under his ministry that
this church Auditorium was
built a young man back home from the war
he'd been overseas in the war this is
the first world
war was walking down the street outside
with his
mother while he was in the service
overseas he contracted um the narcotics
habit they tried everything they'd gone
broke almost trying
to bring this boy back to health and
Sanity as they were walking past the
auditorium one of the electric lights
outside came on I don't know which one
it would have been and the boy said to
his mother they tell me it's a very
beautiful Auditorium let's go in and see
it and so they came in there were many
people around they were amazed at the
congregation they sat down they had a
had the went through the
service Pastor Philpot preached the
gospel about Jesus Christ and the boy
turned to his mother and he said um you
know we've tried everything else we've
tried doctors we've tried hospitals we
haven't tried Jesus let's give Jesus a
try and right there in the sea
the two of them committed themselves to
Jesus Christ and were born again they went
went
out the boy later told the story to Dr
Philpot and this is how we know it he
said pastor Philpot as I walked out
there were a group of people getting on
a street car we had street cars back in
those days you'll remember he said the
street car had stopped and he said I was
feeling in my pocket and here was my
package of dope he said I was standing
right by a sewer I took it out of my
hand out of my pocket
and I
said in the power of Jesus Christ I
claim victory over you and I threw the
dope down the sewer and he said pastor
Philpot I've never had a problem since I
went home and went to bed and slept like
a baby and Jesus Christ has saved me and
given me Victory you see people are still
still
looking to Jesus and finding
life that's what we want you to do today
if you've never looked to Jesus Christ
oh my friend look to him because when you
you
live our father we're thankful that we
have a Salvation that
works we can simply put our faith in
Jesus Christ who was crucified for us I
pray that there will be many today who
hearing this message will trust in
Christ for it's in his name that we pray amen
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