Tonight, for our Scripture reading and text, I invite you to turn with me to Numbers 21, verses 4 through 9. Numbers 21, verses 4 through 9. I think if we were to summarize the book of Numbers in one sentence, we could say that it describes Israel's 40-year experience in the desert. And this is but one of their experiences, one of the episodes, familiar episodes to us. For those who know the Old Testament well, one of the episodes in the life of Israel. The title put in my Bible by the editors is, my version here is, The Bronze Snake. Verses 4 through 9 as we consider the Word of God. They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way. They spoke against God and against Moses and said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread, there is no water, and we detest this miserable food. Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them. They bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. Look and live. That, beloved, is the message of this short text. That is the message of salvation. Now, we know that all of Scripture, beginning in Genesis already, points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some passages are more clear than others, but this one, you see, is unmistakable, and that's because our Lord Himself took this true episode in the life of Israel, and He applied it to Himself, as we read in John 3, verses 14 and 15, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. Now this story of the bronze snake or the brass snake is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and His salvation. And at the same time, this story points to the spiritual truth of man lost in sin. And tonight, as we consider for a few moments this bit of history, we notice the sad truth of the need for the bronze snake. But then we also rejoice because of the remedy found in the bronze snake. And we are to be amazed, beloved, by the application of this remedy. Again, the text begins, verses 4 and 5, They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom, But the people grew impatient on the way. They spoke against God and against Moses and said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread, there is no water, and we detest this miserable food. Now, we know from Old Testament history that this kind of behavior really was nothing new for Israel. To put it in our modern speech, the people of Israel often acted like spoiled brats. They never seemed to be content. You remember that they were barely out of Egypt and they were already complaining against the Lord and against His anointed Moses. They didn't handle times of testing very well. Yet, we also know from Old Testament history that God was often merciful and He would restore the people when they rebelled against Him. This is one of those places. They would feel the sting of judgment to be sure, But God's grace was always sufficient for them. Now here in this episode, we're not necessarily given any specific reason for Israel's behavior except for the reminder in chapter 20, especially around verses 20 and 21, a reminder that the king of Edom, with Edom's large and powerful army, would not let Israel pass through their territory. And therefore Israel had to go the long way around, we might say, and continue on their long journey through the hot and dusty desert. They became discouraged. Or as the text says, impatient. All they could see really was what was in front of them. All they could see was what they could see with their physical eyes. And that certainly didn't look like anything like the land flowing with milk and honey, which they had been promised. And in their nearsightedness, they lashed out with their tongues against the Lord and against Moses. But you see, the truth is, from day one, God had never left them. He was with them every moment in the pillar of cloud and fire and He led them day by day by the hand of Moses and Aaron. He had provided them with manna, incidentally, which they didn't have to plant. They didn't have to water. They didn't have to work to keep the weeds out of it. They didn't even really have to harvest it. Every morning it was simply there for the picking up. They didn't even have to work for it. It was provided in abundance by the miracle of God. And we read in the first part of chapter 20 of that episode where God provided cool water out of the rock. Remember the episode which gets Moses in trouble. But God provides that cool water out of the rock to quench their thirst. Over and over again, God proved His power in their favor by delivering them from those who attacked them and by always providing for their every need. Yet they were not strong. They did not take heart, as David says in Psalm 27. They did not wait on the Lord. They were not content with what God had done for them and they didn't trust Him for what He said He would do for them. And they literally said that this bread from heaven, this food of angels, they were literally saying here that this was no bread at all. They were saying that it was worthless. It was without substance. It's not meat and potatoes, man, like I want. It was miserable. In other words, they were saying here, it makes me sick. And I don't want it. And beloved, that resembles natural man who refuses to feed upon and believe in the Word of God. God's Word is miserable to mankind because it goes against human reason. It goes against the way I think things ought to be. It tells me I'm a sinner, that I need to be saved, and that I cannot save myself. It calls me to forget about myself and to consider others as more important than myself. It says that I don't know what's best for me. Who is God anyway to tell me that I don't know what's best for me? Even as believers, how often are we not content with what God has done for us and with what He has given to us? We often fail to trust Him to keep His promises. Sometimes when things don't go our way, we begin to question God. For Israel, in their sin and rejection of God, God sent judgment, as the text says, in the form of venomous, poisonous snakes, and Israel suffered the wages of sin firsthand. As it says, many died from the snake poison, for which there was no doctor's medicine. There was no cure. We know, of course, as the text teaches, that the people were brought to their senses. They saw, they recognized their sin. They humbled themselves. As well, they knew that they were unworthy to pray for God's mercy. So they asked Moses to intercede for them to pray on their behalf to God. And notice, maybe you notice that God doesn't actually answer their request the way they asked it. He didn't take the snakes and their biting away. But He provided hope for those who would put their faith and trust in Him. The Lord tells Moses in verse 8, make a snake and put it up on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. You see, first of all, those who needed the bronze snake were those who had been bitten. Makes sense, doesn't it? Those who had been bitten. It's clear that if you were bitten, you were in trouble. You were sure to die. It was a death sentence. You needed help. If you weren't bit, there was no need, you see, to look at the bronze snake. I know that I've used the illustration of a cancer cure here before. Let me use it again. If someone comes to your house and says, I've got a surefire cure for cancer. 100% guaranteed. Any kind of cancer, anytime, anywhere, it'll work. What's your answer going to be? Well, it depends, doesn't it? If you don't have cancer or have never had it, you're going to say, well, that's Nicaea. But if you have it, you're going to say, I want it. And you'll do anything to get your hands on it. Those who were bit desperately needed help. See, what we read here as venomous snakes is also translated, for example, in the NKJV as fiery serpents. The fiery part of the fiery serpents is most likely talking about the effects of the bite. You see, the venom burned. And one commentator says it heated and inflamed the blood so that every vein became a boiling river swollen with anguish. And other reports include that there would be a high fever. There would be unquenchable thirst with all of this leading to death. Kind of ironic, isn't it? Because they said in verse 5, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread, there is no water, and we detest this miserable food. You see, now water wouldn't quench their fiery pain. And indeed, their prediction of death came true. There was no cure. There was no anti-venom. And beloved, this is a picture of sin and its effect on man. The Bible is clear that Satan is the serpent of old and sin is the deadly poison of the snake. Sin totally depraves us from inside out, we might say. It inflames the mind. It makes one restless and discontent and full of fear and anguish. It makes one hate God and his neighbor and instead love himself and set himself up as an idol. And its end is death. Eternally. And just as only those bitten needed the bronze snake, salvation is not for good people. But it's for those who know the sting of sin and misery. You might say, now wait a minute, no one is good and you're absolutely right. Romans chapter 3 reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and there is none righteous, no not one. But the point is many think they are good. Many think they have nothing to be afraid of. Many think that they have not been bitten, that they are not sinners, or at least they haven't done something so bad. But the truth is so many die in the anguish of sin and misery. They die with no hope. They die fighting for life, but in the end they are swallowed by death. Jesus said, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, for I have not come to call the righteous. And we know that He's talking there about those who think they are righteous, who do not think that they need a doctor. He says, I have come to call sinners. Indeed, you see, the free call of the Gospel goes out to all men, And as Paul says in Acts 17, verse 30, God commands all people everywhere to repent. But the sad truth is that many do not see the need to repent just as those who were not bitten didn't need to look at the bronze snake. But Jesus Christ was lifted up for those who were brought to understand their need and to feel the fiery sting of their sin and misery. And to them, the Gospel message rings loud and clear, look and live. You see, the only sure remedy was found in the bronze snake. What hope? What hope God provided to those who cried out to Him through Moses? Now, we don't know how big the bronze snake was. We don't know how high Moses had to put it so it could be seen from all parts of the large Israelite camp. But we can be sure with the sunlight by day and the moonlight by night shining on that bronze, reflecting the light of the sun and the moon, that its brightness could be seen by anyone who needed to and desired to look upon it. And now we know, and Israel knew that the bronze snake itself did not have healing power. There was nothing magical about it. Again, there was no earthly cure. But the power came from God alone. The healing came from Him. And the bronze snake was a means to test their faith in His promise, to test their faith in His Word. Sadly, we know that this very same snake became an idol for God's people later on. We don't know. Maybe throughout their continued journey in the desert, that bronze snake continued, I suspect, to be placed in the midst of the camp. Once they entered the land flowing with milk and honey, no doubt they didn't need it as before, but it became an idol. And in 2 Kings 18 verse 4 we read that Hezekiah king of Judah broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made. For up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. You see it may have seemed strange to the people to have to look at this image. This likeness of that which had caused their misery and death. The snakes were their enemies you see. And now they have to look at this image of a snake. But what they were to see in this bronze snake, which itself, again, had no deadly venom because it wasn't real, of course. It was an image. But what they were to see was the death of their cause of death. That bronze snake lifted high on that pole represented the end of the snake's deadliness to those who looked upon it. And in the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ had no sin but He was made in the likeness of sinful man. He took our sin and sin's curse upon Himself as He was lifted high on the cross. He was lifted up as a transgressor. And as our Lord was suspended between heaven and earth, a sign that earth had rejected Him and that heaven had forsaken Him, that was a demonstration that as He bore the curse of sin, He put an end to that curse for you and me. And as He was slain by sin, He was destroying the power of sin. And as His heel was being bruised, He was crushing the serpent's head. Beloved, as our eyes behold by faith the Savior who was crucified, we are to behold, as the title of John Owen's book beautifully declares, we are to behold the death of death in the death of Christ. and just as there was only one bronze snake to provide the remedy for the poisonous snake bites there weren't two or three or four strategically located throughout the camp but only one there's only one Savior who provides the necessary remedy for sin the Bible says for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved than the name of Jesus and that bronze serpent provided an ongoing and enduring remedy. You see, again, God didn't take away the venomous snakes, at least not right away, and one could get bit again and again. And each time, the remedy was the same. Look and live. And in the same way, Jesus saves to the uttermost those who look to Him in faith. And just like some may have thought it foolish to look at the bronze snake. Many find the cross of Jesus to be foolishness. That's a sign of weakness, not strength. It's a sign of death, not life, they say. It's a sign of defeat, not victory. Because the victor doesn't die. The victor lives. They don't understand that our victor lives again forever and ever. Yet again, God says, look and live. The application of this remedy was simple. Look. Simply look. Look and live. Not look and bring. Not look and do. Not look and keep. Look. Those who were bit didn't have to rub the bronze snake over the bite wound. They didn't have to chant special words or phrases. They didn't have to have the priest come from a different part of the camp and have a special healing ceremony. They didn't even have to get up from the place from where they had been bitten and go and bow down at the base of the pole. There was no priest. There was no holy water. There was no hocus pocus. Look and live. They were to look in faith. They were to simply believe God's promise that if they looked they would live salvation is by faith alone they were called to trust the word of the lord there was nothing at all that they could do to help and the cure the song on their on their lips was was to be not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul nothing in my hands i bring simply to thy cross i cling and beloved it didn't matter how far poisoned they may have been whether they had just been bitten or whether the poisonous venom had already spread throughout their body and they were burning up and they were at the point of death, the promise was the very same. Look and live! And that's the same with all who look to our Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. It doesn't matter how far gone one is in this life. As long as there's breath of life, there's hope. Sure, many say, Oh, my sin is too terrible. God certainly cannot forgive me. Yes, He can. The thief on the cross found that out. And we see that sometimes today too, don't we? Unfortunately, sometimes we tend to take it for granted. We look at some and we say there's no hope for them. I thought that about a couple of former co-workers of mine in the company I worked at in Los Angeles. One in particular who worked side-by-side with me in the office, he said early on after I joined the company 18 years ago, he said he believed in God. But there was no evidence to support his claim. In fact, in my eyes, there was more evidence to disprove his claim. Yet one time when we were on vacation to California from Michigan, and I visited the company as I always did, he couldn't wait to tell me that he was attending and had become a member of a Dutch Reformed church. He had to get that in because he knew I was Dutch. He knew that I was Reformed and had become a Reformed preacher. And to this day, he is faithfully and he is actively involved in a Reformed church in Paramount, California that I know some of you are aware of. His faith seems genuine. And then there was another gentleman in the warehouse. This man was terrible. In fact, it seemed that he tried his hardest to get you to hate him. His language was absolutely disgusting. And he treated everybody except the boss, of course, very badly. And about a year, a year and a half ago when I was visiting, he was different. The look on his face was different. The tone of his voice was different. And he told me about his bout with cancer and how the Lord grabbed him. How the Lord grabbed him. unfortunately, no thanks to me. Because I was too scared and afraid to really share my faith with my co-workers. So they knew that I went to church. They knew that I wouldn't lie to the customers when I was asked to. They knew that I wouldn't take God's name in vain. And since I left the company, they knew that I'd become a preacher, but that was about it. Yet God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? His wonders to perform. And allow me to tell you about one other lady. About a year and a half ago, a former neighbor lady of ours in Michigan, she passed away. She and her husband were next to her neighbors, very special to us. And they were the adoptive grandparents for one of our daughters. Every year, Grandparents Day, because our children's grandparents were not close enough. And they never missed, as far as I can remember, they never missed one of the children's programs, whether it was in church or at school. Yet she didn't go to church. She didn't go to worship. and talking with her, the sweetest thing, but there was no evidence at all of a life of faith that I could tell. She was a wonderful lady, a heart of gold, the kind of neighbor that any one of us would want. And after not much of a spiritual upbringing, years and years ago she'd become a member of the Reformed Church, one of the Reformed churches in Kalamazoo that her husband was a part of. But a couple years later she left the church because of some unchristian comments made to her in ladies' Bible study by one of the older, long-standing female members. Drove her out of the church for many, many years. Now, her husband attended the church I was serving in Kalamazoo on many Sunday mornings, but Betty didn't. After we moved here to Escondido, we began to hear that she started attending church worship with her husband. And then after a period of time, they began to attend to the church that they were at years before and were members of. And about a year before she died, the Lord led Betty to reaffirm her faith in Christ. He brought her to look once again to see His love displayed through His Son on the cross. May we never forget that, beloved, no matter how far someone has drifted, as long as there is breath of life, The message that we need to bring to them is look and live. And this is indeed personal, isn't it? The Lord said to Moses, anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. The one who was bitten had to look at it in faith. A reminder that no one is saved based on another's faith. Oh, indeed, we pray for others. Sometimes for years, But truly, we cannot pray others into heaven. You know what I mean. Sometimes God uses prayer as a means then to touch another's heart. But each one must look for themselves. My children are not saved based on my faith. I'm not saved based on my wife's faith. In Israel, if a child or husband was bitten, a mother or wife could look at the bronze snake and pray all day long until she was blue in the face, She could plead with her child and husband to look, but if they wouldn't, there was no hope. Now, how often hasn't someone, maybe a neighbor or co-worker, asked you, or maybe even a stranger you struck up a conversation with on an airplane, for example, how often hasn't someone asked you to pray for them? You see, when many find themselves in trouble, they want prayer. They ask for prayer, but they themselves don't believe. Yet they think there's something magical about God's people and our prayers. Well, what should our response be when one like that pleads for our prayers on their behalf? Well, indeed, we should pray for them to be sure. Pray for their salvation. But we must also respond by urging them to look. Look to Jesus Christ. Look and live. Tell them where true hope and true life is to be found. And just as the bronze snake was a display of divine love, so Jesus, who was lifted up and paid for all of the sins, for all of those who look to Him in faith and trust, Jesus is a demonstration of the love of God. We sing of the cross, love so amazing, so divine. Only in Him is there eternal life, as He said in John 3, verse 15. And Jesus then goes on to say why with these familiar words, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. And we are familiar with the beautiful words of Romans chapter 5, that God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And that cure, beloved, is immediate. Those who looked at the bronze snake with faith in God's promise of healing, they experienced the same immediate healing as those whom Jesus healed when He said, take up your bed and walk. The same transformation, for example, the man with the legion of demons experienced when they were cast out. He was unrecognizable once that legion was gone. Or we think of the paralytic healed in Jesus' name by Peter and John, and we read that immediately he was walking and leaping and praising God. You know as well as I do that our medications take a little time to work. The fever doesn't come down right away. Beloved, there is no earthly cure for some of our modern day diseases, even for some of the deadliest venom, but there is a remedy 100% guaranteed for sin. Not a remedy man can create. And we know that even some of our earthly medicines make one worse before they make them better. That was my experience with chemo. On Chemo Tuesday, as we called it, Brenda and I would drive to Grand Rapids and I would drive feeling very good. Three hours later, she would drive home as I was sleeping, sick as a dog. But those who look to Jesus Christ in faith and trust Him alone for the forgiveness of sins, the moment they look to Him with a heart filled with repentance and faith, their sins are remembered no more because God removes them as far as the East is from the West. Beloved, this isn't just for those whose faith is strong and never fails. Who of us here fits that description? Faith the size of a mustard seed, that is genuine faith, is all it takes. As someone has said, even little faith receives a great Christ. Isn't that beautiful? Even little faith receives a great Christ. Salvation's design is really quite simple. Many try to make it something hard to accomplish and they never obviously accomplish it. But God says, look and live. Such a free gift. A sufficient gift. And not one, not one who looks to Jesus will be turned away. And our task, beloved, is those who have looked to Jesus in faith by the grace of God and who enjoy the certainty of new life in Him is to carry the banner of the Gospel to others. That's the idea behind the pole here in the text. It was an end sign. It was a banner, as it were. And we are called to lift up the banner of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for others to see. And as we mentioned this morning, we do that with our words and actions. We are called to preach Him, to teach of Him, to make Him visible to all. In our daily lives, others are to see the grace of God because of Jesus Christ in those lives. For example, they are to hear in our language, language that is pure and uplifting and not language that tears down. They are to see in our actions, actions that are selfless and not selfish. They are to see in our obedience, obedience that is offered out of thankfulness to God and not obedience to those in authority over us out of fear of getting caught. They are to observe, beloved, as we feed our hearts and minds, junior high kids, as we said the other night, as we feed our hearts and minds with that which is pure and lovely and admirable and praiseworthy, as Paul says. And they are to witness God's people openly desire to please God in all that we do. Hold the banner up high. May each one of us go home tonight and consider how faithfully we are lifting up, lifting high the truth of the cross of Jesus. Have you looked to the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ for salvation? You see, there is no other remedy for the deadly wages of sin. But in Him, Satan's power is gone. Sin's death grip is stripped away. Hell's mouth is closed tight and heaven's gate is wide open. And Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. May we leave tonight with encouragement from these words from Hebrews 12, verses 2 and 3. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Beloved, look and live. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, again, our response to Your Word is Amen. We thank You. We praise You for this blessed truth which alone sets men free, which has given to us freedom in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Father, we confess that at times we really don't know how to lift high that banner. We are scared to do it. Give us confidence and lead us by Your Holy Spirit with the confidence that as our Lord's disciples, we don't have to be worried about the words to say. For the Holy Spirit will equip us at just the right time. May all that we do please You in every way. And Father, may many look to You in faith and live forevermore. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.