Okay, the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers, chapter 21. And we see here a glorious, glorious picture and type of the Lord Jesus and how God saves sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning that we, through the gospel, might see, know, and believe and see Christ. In His book revealed, we see the beauty and glory of Christ in Him crucified. Christ crucified throughout the Old Testament. We see Him pictured in promise and type. We see different types, and we can put them in three categories. Christ in the Old Testament. Pastor Mahan has a whole series of books on Christ in the Old Testament. We see the Lord Jesus Christ pictured in instituted types. Instituted types. You can think of some. Instituted types. How about the Passover? That was instituted of God. How about the Day of Atonement? That was instituted of God. All those feast days and sacrifices, they were all instituted of God. The peace offering, the burn offering, the sacrifice offering, the meal offering. All those offerings were appointed and instituted by God. But they're all types and pictures of Christ and Him crucified. Not only do we see Christ pictured in instituted types, but also personal types. Personal types. Can you think of some of those? How about Aaron? Aaron was a priest. The Lord Jesus Christ is that great high priest, but Aaron is a personal type of the Lord Jesus Christ and his priesthood. How about Moses? He's also God's prophet, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the prophet that God said he would raise up to speak God's truth. So even Aaron and Moses are both personal types of the Lord Jesus Christ as priest and prophet. How about king? What would be a personal type in the Old Testament, a person in the Old Testament that's typical of the Lord Jesus Christ in his kingly office? Well, I can think of one. David. I like to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as the greater David. King David is a very good picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is called king of kings. And Lord of Lords. He is King and Lord over all things. So we see the Lord Jesus pictured throughout the Old Testament. Instituted types. Personal types. And I said, there's three, right? What would the third one be? How about providential types? Providential types. That whole exodus out of Egypt is a providential type of God in His providence, and what in providence is just the unfolding of God's decree in time, that's His good providence. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning. This story here is a providential type of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God brought this to pass by His good providence. Now all this whole story happened that the Lord Jesus one day as he walked among men as the God-man mediator and as he confronted Nicodemus there in John chapter 3 all this happened for the Lord Jesus Christ could take that story providential type of himself of the gospel and explain to Nicodemus as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness Even so, must the Lord Jesus Christ be lifted up that whoever looks to Him will be saved." You see, salvation is in a look. It's looking to Christ. It's not a one-time event. It's looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord used this very story to preach the gospel to this very religious man, and it says that Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus by night. I guess he was ashamed to come by day and to inquire of the way of grace, and the Lord told him, Nicodemus, your problem is you were born wrong, born dead in sin, and you need to be born again, born from above. Now, in this story, I have four or five different things to point out. The first thing we see in Numbers chapter 21, in verse 4 and verse 5, we see sin and rebellion among the people. Sin and rebellion in the camp, in the camp of Israel. Now, this is not a small gathering here. Two or three million people Two or three million people wandered around in the wilderness, and God cared for them. Their shoes. You girls won't appreciate this, but can you imagine having one pair of shoes for 40 years? And walking around for 40 years with a pair of shoes that never wore out? That would be something, wouldn't it? That's the power of God. Their clothes never got ragged. ragged or thinned out, never wore out. God provided bread and water and all these things He provided for them, and yet we see rebellion and sin in the camp. And it says in verse 4, the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. That was a way that God determined for them to go. But it was also a way that God gave them, because the way He originally told them, they rebelled against. When He sent the twelve spies in, and they came back, and ten of them said, we can't take the land. And God gave them forty years of wandering because of their sin and unbelief. And our wanderings in sin are due to Adam's choosing his own way. own way, rather than believe in God. The sinner's own way will always be a way of discouragement because it's the wrong way. There is a way that seems right unto men, but the end of that way is death. I was bringing a message. Turn over here to Numbers chapter 23. Numbers chapter 22, rather. I was bringing a message last week from this Numbers chapter 22. In verse 32, number 2232, this is the story of Balaam. And Balak paid Balaam, or wanted to, tried to, a large sum to come and curse Israel, but God determined to bless Israel, and God told Balaam not to go down with Balak and to see Balak and to curse Israel, but he went anyway. You remember the story of his jackass? How God opened the mouth of that jackass and told him to stop in your madness. But when the angel of the Lord came to him, look what it says here in Numbers 22, verse 32, I went out to withstand thee because thy way is perverse before me. And I tell you, man by nature, his way is perverted. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Our own way is a way of perverseness. It's not the way of grace, not the way of mercy, not the way of Christ. Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. They rebelled against God and His servant. Look at verse 5. Here we see sin and rebellion in the camp. And what is true of these people are true of all people by nature. Look at verse 5, "...and the people spake against God, against Moses, and they said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die?" Now many times, you can read their story, at one time they were about to stone Moses and make captains and say, Let us go back to Egypt, we had it so good down there. You see how perverse our way is? God brought them up out of Egypt And they said, you just brought us out here to die in the wilderness. There's no bread, neither is there any water. Now, they lied on both counts. They lied on both counts. And our soul, we hate this light bread from heaven. At one place, God called it angel food that fell from heaven. You see, men don't love God by nature. They don't seek for the bread of life, the water of life. Our Lord said, Oh, everyone that's thirsty, come to Me. Men won't come unless they're drawn by God, His power, His grace. And our generation is no different. Men today still hate the way of free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not saying that men are not religious. They are. But when you tell them and shut them up to the sovereign mercy of God in Christ Jesus, they begin to get angry. Men are still today haters of the way of grace, the way of truth, the way of Christ. They still prefer ceremony to Christ, tradition of man and their own way rather than the truth of God in Christ. They still refuse to feed upon Christ. Our Lord said, you will not come to Me that you might have life. He said, you search the Scriptures and in them you think you have eternal life, but there they would testify of Me. And He said, you won't come to Me. Salvation is in Christ. Men still delight in lies, they still drink iniquity like water, have no need for the water of life. And that's what they're saying here. We have no bread, we have no water, and we hate what you've given to us. And men have no use for the gospel of God's grace in Christ. They don't now. I know they have their little refuge and they have their little silly religious thing, but you tell them the truth of Christ and the way of grace and the way of blood atonement alone, and they say, wait, what's that? Brother Mahan, one time, I'll tell you this. It's a true story. He was preaching. Years ago, in a congregation there in Ashland, he was invited to preach. And the pastor was gone, and Pastor Mahan went there and preached about the successful, effectual redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. He represented a people. He died for his people. And those people for whom he died, they will be saved. They were saved and justified by his blood. Well, when the pastor came back and he heard What Pastor Mahan Prince, he made this statement, if Christ died only for the sin of God's elect, he's no savior of mine. You see, men have no use for the true and living God unless God is pleased to do a work of grace in their heart. Men like these in this story, they hated what God provided for him. And men have no need for the true gospel unless God gives them the thirst and the hunger and the desire. Like that deer that panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, the true and the living God. So the first point is this. sin and rebellion in the camp. And that's true of all men by nature. The second point of this message is this. Look at verse 6. Verse 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Not only rebellion and sin in the camp, but you know what happened? death and judgment in the camp because of sin. Because of sin, God sent judgment because of sin in the camp. Because of sin, God sent these fiery serpents where God's beckoned call to execute His justice at God's command. God is sovereign over all things. Now, you think about this. How do you corral thousands of snakes and send them among a people? I tell you, God is God over all things. And the devil himself is God's devil who serves God's purpose. That's right. He's sovereign over all things. Old Satan couldn't touch Job without God's permission. The serpent of sin, my friend, and this is a picture here of what happened in the garden when Adam sinned against God. What happened? Judgment. Judgment fell. The serpent of sin has left its deadly venom in every son of Adam. In Adam, death. Death and judgment. By one man, sin entered in, and death by sin, so death Passed upon all men in whom all have sinned. And Adam all died. Our sin has separated us from God. We're born in sin. Shapen in iniquity. As lovely as your little daughter is, you know already she has that same fallen nature that you have. And you have. And we don't need to teach our children these evil things that flow out of them. That's their nature. Their nature to lie. I used to tell my wife, our children learn how to lie before they could even talk. That's right. They cry a lie. They're sinners. Born in sin. Shapen in iniquity. Our sin has separated us from God. Sin and death and judgment in the camp. We have a vile nature received by birth. which is impossible for us to do anything with or to change our condition. Our whole head is sick. Our whole heart is faint. You know, we call it total depravity because it affects our whole total makeup. Our will, our affections, our minds, our thoughts are evil. Continuate. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is spiritual death in us. Spiritual death separated from God. The wages of sin is death. There's physical death upon us. When sin is finished with this body, it brings death. Death. And eternal judgment, eternal death, and the judgment awaits us. It's appointed on the man who wants to die, and after that, the judgment. That is for those who are not in Christ. Now, in Christ, there's no condemnation. Sin and rebellion in the camp. Secondly, death and judgment in the camp. Thirdly, look at verse 7, "...therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned." Here we see conviction and confession. It's a good place to be. The people came to Moses and said, We have sinned. We have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpent from us. And Moses prayed for the people now. They were helpless. They couldn't do anything about taking those serpents and taking them away. They couldn't get close to them. There were so many. They were infested with this beast. It had a deadly stain. They confessed their sin. They said, we've spoken against the Lord. They realize their sin under the judgment of God, and only when God is pleased to convict us and to convict our soul with guilt will we confess that we are sinful. And it's not what I do. That's not what I confess. I confess what I am. I am a sinner, born in sin, shapen in sin, shapen in iniquity, loving darkness rather than the light. But I won't know anything about that until God is pleased to convict me of my sin and show me that He is holy. And in the light of that holiness, I see my sin. And you know what happened? They became mercy beggars. They became mercy beggars, praying to the Lord. No longer speaking against Moses. They say, Moses, would you pray for us? Help us! Mercy beggars. Mercy beggars unto the Lord. And pray this, that He might take away our sin. Take away the serpents from us. Oh, that's a good place to be. Mercy beggars. Mercy beggars. Pray for us. They were shut up to the sovereign mercy of God. alone, God have mercy on me, thee, sinner." And then they cried to Moses, and Moses prayed for them. It says there in verse 7, the last part, that Moses prayed for the people. Prayed for the people. Now you think about this. This man had been hated on several occasions. They were going to kill him. They constantly complained that these are unworthy people. These are God-haters. They hated Moses. They hated Aaron. They hated the way of God. And yet, he prayed for them. Oh, I tell you, I want that kind of attitude to pray for those. Our Lord said, pray for your enemies. If you have any, pray for them. And Moses intercedes for the people. I'll tell you what this is a picture of. The Lord Jesus Christ. He came and He interceded and He made intercession for whom? When we were yet without strength, without hope, and without God, Christ died for the ungodly. God commends His love toward us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Oh, the love and compassion we have from our Lord Jesus Christ. Here in His love, He said not that we loved God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son to be the sacrifice, the propitiation, the satisfaction for my sin. I prayed for them. Moses prayed for those who had cursed him. What compassion! I want that kind of compassion. And here we see the Lord Jesus. This is a picture of His intercession for us. Paul said this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save. Whom did He come to save? sinners. I take my place right there as a sinner. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. That is lost. Well, in verses 8 and 9 we see the remedy. I like this point. The remedy. Remedy in the camp. And the Lord said to Moses, now this is God's remedy. You see, salvation is of the Lord. This is exactly what God told Moses to do. The Lord said to Moses, You make thee a fiery serpent, make it out of brass, make it like unto that one, and set it up on a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that's bitten, when he looks upon it, will live, will live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, put it up on a pole, and it did come to pass. Just as God said that it would, God said, you luck and you live. You luck and you're healed. And just as God said, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, when he beheld the Savior lifted up, he lived. He lived. Now, remedy in the camp. Our Lord, Use this story, and he said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. How could this brazen serpent picture the Lord Jesus Christ? How could it picture the Lord Jesus? This brazen serpent. Well, why didn't he put an actual serpent upon a pole? Well, that wasn't God's way. That wasn't God's instruction. Plus, that would have marred the type and misrepresented our sinless substitute. How does this brazen serpent picture the Lord Jesus Christ? Three things. Number one, the brazen serpent, the serpent was made in the likeness of the fiery serpent. In the likeness of. And the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of time, He came in God's own time, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was a real man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, identified with us in our humanity, but He had no sin. He was like this brazen serpent. It had no venom in it, and the Lord Jesus Christ had no sin. Knew no sin. Did no sin. He's the spotless Lamb of God who died for us. Secondly, the brazen serpent had no venom. Our Lord, as I said, He was the perfect God, man, mediator. He was tempted and tested in all points like as we are. Yet, no sin. No sin. No sin. Even His enemies said, Pilate said three times, I find no fault in him. Even Judas later came back when he threw the money back, those 30 pieces of silver, and said, I betrayed innocent blood. Even that Roman soldier that day at Calvary said, surely this was a just man. Even his enemies testified that he had no sin. Such a high priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. He couldn't find one sin on him. He had no venom. Tested and tested, yet without sin. Satan himself even came and tempted him and tested him forty days in the wilderness. Forty days! And he said, the prince of this world came and he found nothing in me. Nothing. Thirdly, the serpent of brass was to be lifted up on a pole. Even the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up to die for the ungodly. Lifted up. Put it up on a pole. Now, Christ was lifted up to die by the decree of God. I want you to turn to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. Look at verse 30. John chapter 12. John 12 verse 31, verse 30, Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, If I be lifted up from the earth, now he's talking here about his crucifixion. He's talking here about dying as a sinner's substitute. And if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all, and see that word M-E-N right there? Look at it again. Verse 32, M-E-N. You see it's in what we call italicized. Italicized, that means it's added. It's not in the original. If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me." Now, who's he going to draw? Turn to John chapter 6. If I be lifted up, who's he going to draw? Now, you good country folk know a little bit about well water, don't you? Did any of you ever drop a bucket down a well to draw the water? Did any of you ever do that? I've never done that. Now, when you go to the well and you get the bucket, you don't stand up there and look down in the well and say, Water! No, you take the bucket, put it in the well, fill the bucket, and then you draw it to yourself. That's what the Lord says right here in John chapter 6. John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. If I be lifted up, I'll draw men to Me. He's talking about all that the Father... Look at verse 37, John 6, verse 37, All that the Father hath given Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. No man can come to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. And I'll raise him up at the last day. The Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up by the decree of God. No one could touch Him. He said on several occasions, My hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. And then one day He said, It's here! The hour has come! When He must be lifted up as our substitute. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ was no accident. He died on purpose. God's purpose. God's Lamb. God sacrificed for sin. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory." Lifted up to die. I thought about this. How high was he lifted? I've not lost my mind here. How high was he lifted? Well, when he was crucified, he was lifted up a little bit, wasn't he? And he died God's sacrifice for sin. God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was lifted up then, and then they buried Him and put Him in a tomb, and on the third day, He was lifted up again from the dead. being delivered for our transgression and raised again to justify us, because He justified us. And then 40 days later, He was lifted again. How high was He lifted? When He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. That's pretty high. God has highly exalted him. God has given him a name above every name, that at that name every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. You see, he's lifted up. You know, even Simeon in the temple, when the Lord Jesus was eight days old, and they brought him in to do, according to the custom of the law, on the day of circumcision, Simeon took him by the hand and lifted him up and said, Now my eyes have seen thy salvation. He was lifted up then even as a babe. And then John came along and said, Behold the Lamb of God. He lifted him up in his preaching. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of God's people. And then he was lifted up to die in our room and in our stead. And then he was lifted up from the grave. the third glorious day. Now, I hope, I tell you, they've got this thing going on TV right now. Maybe some of you are not aware of it, about how they said they found the tomb of the Lord Jesus and they found some of His bones in there. Well, I don't intend to watch that thing tonight. I think it's going to be on the Discovery Channel tonight. But if there be no resurrection from the dead, we're in big trouble. If his bones are in that tomb, he's an imposter. His soul's in hell. Furthermore, there is no God. Oh, I tell you, my friend, he is risen from the dead. He is exalted and seated at God's right hand, victorious over sin, death, hell and the grave. Lifted up to die. Oh, he was lifted up to die. And you know what? Fourthly, something else about this brazen serpent. There was one maid. God didn't instruct all them Israelites, now each one of you go in each house, you go and make you a brazen serpent. There wasn't many brazen serpents in that day. There's one. There's one. He told Moses to make one. And my friend, I'm saying as clear as I can, there's salvation in one. There's salvation in no other but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. There's one gospel. It's the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the gospel that magnifies His grace, His holiness, His mercy, His love. There's only one gospel. There's only one way. There's only one salvation. Just as this day there was one brazen serpent, There's just one remedy for sin. There's just one gospel, one righteousness provided. There's one foundation upon which we can rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's just one Christ and Him crucified. My last point is this. Turn back to Numbers 21. My last point is this. Verse 9, mercy and grace in the camp. Mercy and grace in the camp. You see, verse 9, And Moses made a serpent of brass, put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that the serpent had bitten any person, young, old, male, female, doesn't matter. Anyone who was bitten, when he beheld the serpent, he was healed. He was healed. Here we see revival in the camp. Revival. When they beheld the serpent of brass. And that's Christ. The instructions were very simple. They weren't complicated. Look. That's it. Look. Look. Look. Look and live. You know, the commandment of the gospel is the same. Look unto Christ. Isaiah 45 said, Look unto Me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I am God, and there is no else. What a Savior! The spiritual meaning of looking is believing, trusting, resting in Christ for everything in salvation. It's a look of faith. We begin by looking. We continue by looking. And I'm still looking for Him. Two things about this look. It was a personal look. Mom couldn't look for Dad. Dad couldn't look for the child. The child couldn't look for Dad. You see, it was a personal look. You must look yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him and trust Him yourself. Pastor Mahan, on the radio broadcast this morning, our Lord said, come unto Me. And I'll give you all you who labor and are heavy laden, come to Me, and I will give you rest." Rest. You must look to Christ yourself. Come to Christ and trust Him yourself. Look to Him. Look to Him. You know, it's the result of life. We look to Him because God has given us life in Christ Jesus. This looking to Christ for salvation is all of grace. God has given us His picture as a means to demonstrate it wasn't do, it was look. And the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not do this, do that, do that. It's believe. Salvation received by believing. Not doing. Believing Him. We receive Christ by God, given God, wrought faith. Faith is a gift of God. Not of work, lest any man should boast. Now, consider this in closing. Man became lost by a look. Adam looked and lusted and sinned and fell, didn't he? Man became lost by a look. The woman saw that the tree was good for food and she gave to Adam. In like manner, we're saved by a look. Looking to Him. Looking to Christ. Life begins by looking. We continue through life looking unto the author and finisher of our faith. And our life ends by looking unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. One day, faith will end in sight. And I'll see Him as He is. And I'll be just like Him. Now, I want to show you something very interesting here. I want you to find 2 Kings. Now, I want you to turn and see this. 2 Kings 18. 2 Kings 18. You know, whatever happened to that serpent of brass, you know what they did? You know they saved that thing? They made an idol out of it. 2 Kings 18, verse 1 down through verse 4, when old Hezekiah began to reign in Jerusalem, in Judah, And 2 Kings 18 verse 3 said, "...he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his father did. And he removed the high places," that is, the places of idolatry, "...break the images, and cut down the groves," and watch it, "...and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense unto it, and he called it Nehushtan." And I worked this piece of brass. You see what he did here? He told them that it was nothing. It pictured Christ. Now, he told them to destroy it. It's a piece of brass. It's a piece of brass. Now, let me ask you a question. If you could find the very piece of wood that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified upon, what would you do with it? I know what religious men would do with it. They'd save it, enshrine it, and make an idol out of it, and worship it. Wouldn't they? If you could find the very piece of wood on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, burn it! It's idolatry. I'm telling you to look to Christ right now and be saved. Salvation's in Christ.