Look!

Our Father and our Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that it is powerful and effective

and it can change lives.

And so we ask now that by your spirit,

you'll open our hearts, our ears and our eyes

to see the message that you would so desire

for us to hear today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, many of you would know that I love ballroom dancing.

It's a sport with a huge amount of skill needed.

It seems to me that once you get to a point

of thinking that you've just learned something,

then you get told that you sort of got a long way to go

and you need to learn some more.

And I make many, many mistakes in my ballroom dancing.

Some of them are very innocent mistakes.

Most of them are because I didn't listen to my teacher.

And so when he tells me to do something,

I am not listening or I think that just maybe

I can do it in a better way.

Well, the Israelites here also seem to be slow

at doing what they are told as well.

The difference is that it is almighty God

and not a dancing teacher who is setting their path.

And we have seen constantly the Israelites questioning God.

Here again in Numbers and once again,

we see the familiar pattern for the people of God

and an unexpected punishment

and an unexpected cure or solution.

The setting in brief is this.

It's the time of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness.

The Israelites were originally under the control of Pharaoh in Egypt

and through Moses, God moved Pharaoh's heart to let them go,

but not without many plagues, as we know to convince him.

God was leading his people to a new land

and all they had to do was to trust him

and to obey his leading.

God promised to be with them and to protect them.

All these wanderings took many years,

not because God got them lost,

because God wouldn't do that,

but because of fear and disobedience.

It wasn't just the people who were disobedient.

We saw that there were a priest disobedient.

We saw the priest's family disobedient.

We've even seen Moses and Aaron disobedient

and the punishment was that they would not enter the promised land.

And here in this passage that we've got to today,

just beforehand, we see that Aaron has died

and he has buried outside of the promised land

as God had forewarned.

And still, our reading shows that God continues

to give victory to these wayward people.

King Arad wanted to capture the Israelites along the road

as they passed through the city,

but this king didn't count on the Israelites

calling out to their great God to help them.

In verse two, we see,

then Israel made this vow to the Lord.

If you will deliver these people into our hands,

we will totally destroy their cities.

So what is the Lord's response to these people?

Because if I was God,

which I know, you know, sort of long way from it,

I think I'd be sick of these people by now.

I would be saying,

listen, I've actually helped you characters long enough,

but that is not what God does.

We read in verse three,

the Lord listened to Israel's plea

and gave them the Canaanites over to them.

They completely destroyed them and their towns,

so the place was named Hormah,

which means destruction.

Now, God had shown himself to the Israelites again

in giving them victory,

and yet straight after this encounter,

we see Moses continuing on his chosen route

and he's leading the people further east

and up around Edom.

Now, I was trying to follow this on a map

and it's a great exercise

if you want to go home and do it,

but, you know, it is in the opposite direction

to where God is wanting to take the people.

It's down south and then over to the east

and then up and around Edom.

It's a long way out of where they should be heading.

And I ask myself, why?

Why would they be doing this?

Why all this wandering in the desert?

Well, because they refused to trust God's leading.

They had been led right to the border

of the promised land,

but they were afraid to enter.

They were frightened of the size

and the number of those already in the land

and they did not believe

that God would help them conquer the land

and that he had chosen for them.

And so they went in another direction.

And worse still, they started to complain.

Now, does this scenario remind you of anyone?

Because it does mean

I can easily complain about my lot in life

after I have chosen to do things my way

and not trust God.

And I'm sure that I am not alone.

But here the Israelites picked the wrong person to criticise.

In verse five, it says,

they spoke against God and against Moses and said,

why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the desert?

There is no bread, there is no water,

and we detest this miserable food.

The sin of the Israelites was to criticise God.

Their spirits were not faithful to God.

They refused to trust God's love and care.

They forgot the miracles that God had done for them.

In short, they were so focused on themselves

and what they thought was best

that they began to grumble

and speak words that weren't,

words that were harsh.

It's bad enough to do this to another person.

But these desert wanderers directed their words

directly to God himself.

And the consequence of speaking to God in that fashion

came upon them immediately.

Verse six says,

Now, isn't this strange?

They were just accusing God and Moses

of bringing them there to die.

And so it shouldn't surprise them

that they were in fact dying from these snake bites.

It's exactly what they had actually said would happen.

So God was only giving them

what they claimed would happen anyway.

It sure seems clear that the Lord was trying to send

a pretty big message to these people.

He wanted to show them that their rebellion

was causing them to suffer.

Many of them were going to go to their early graves

because of their sin.

But God was also sending a message here

that had to do with the snakes.

Do you remember the way that sin entered into the world?

It entered into the Garden of Eden.

The first sin was a sin of rebellion.

A disobedience of God that was ushered in

into the world by Satan

in the form of a serpent.

And it brought death.

And now the rebellious, God-criticising,

desert-wandering people

were again being sent to early graves

through the work of some more serpents.

And third, the message is greater

because it will point them to a cure

which we will look at shortly.

And so the people in the middle of experiencing agony

and near death recognised their sin.

They called to God and said,

we sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you.

Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.

Now, my first thought is very suspicious

of their confession.

But that might have something to do with my heart

more than the hearts of the people of God.

But we see here that they had at least the presence of mind

to know that they had first sinned against God.

Whenever we sin in any way, to whatever degree,

we must understand that whoever else is involved

and whatever the hurt we cause anyone else,

we have sinned first against the Lord.

He is really the only one whose offence at sin is pure

because he is perfectly holy.

And if you ever find yourself in the position

of having to go and seek another person's forgiveness

for a wrong that you have done them,

remember that you have first offended holiness

and own it and confess it to almighty God.

Now, this is what true repentance is.

We can criticise them for their ungratefulness

and their rejection of God's goodness,

but let's be careful to stop and ask ourselves.

Whether any actions or attitudes of our own,

even in recent days, have come out of unbelief

or in ingratitude and forgetfulness of God

and his goodness to us.

And God, in his mercy, heard the people

and provided a way for them to be saved from death.

Now, God's answer to the problem here was rather odd.

At least I think it was rather odd.

At least on the surface, it was odd too.

God told Moses to make a snake and put it up on a pole.

Anyone who is bitten can look at it and then he would live.

And sure enough, verse nine tells us

that Moses indeed made a bronze snake,

put it on a pole,

and then when anyone who was bitten by a snake

looked at this bronze snake, lived.

I find that totally amazing.

Totally amazing.

So, it's important for us to understand

what is happening here

because on the surface, I just think it's weird.

But let me give you five short points.

Notice that God did not remove the snakes from the camp

as they had requested.

The consequences of sin remained with the Israelites.

They were still bitten.

They still felt the pain and the poison.

The snakes are a type of sin

and when we became believers in Christ,

sin didn't die completely.

Sin is very much alive.

And we too experience the consequences of our own sin.

Sure, we might seek forgiveness,

but that might not mean

that a particular relationship is restored automatically.

It might not mean that you are treated any better at work.

It might not be that you trust another person

as easily as what you would have done

before the sin was committed.

If trust is broken,

relationship needs to be built again.

And so, there's always consequences.

Even though there may be forgiveness that is given,

we still have to work through consequences.

So, sin and consequences are alive and well.

The second thing is that the snake on the pole

is not preventative.

It is for the bitten people.

Verse 8 tells us it's for anyone who has been bitten.

The poison of sin is in them

and without divine intervention,

they will die.

What we need to do is acknowledge

that sin is present in us.

Only when we see the problem

for what it is and accept the remedy,

we will be healed.

Thirdly, the snakes in the camp are from the Lord.

It's not by accident.

He sent them there.

The wrath of God is on this people

for their sin of ingratitude

and grumbling and rebellion.

God's wrath is real and it is deadly.

It was real and deadly back then in the Old Testament

and it is real and deadly today.

And the means that God chooses to rescue people

from his own curse

is a picture of the curse itself.

That is, the snakes,

which were the curse to the people,

was what they had to look at on the pole.

And all they had to do

in order to be saved from God's wrath

is to look at his provision hanging on a pole.

Now, fast forward 1,500 years,

about,

Jesus applied this very well-known event

to his own lifting up on the cross.

He said in the passage that we read in John 3,

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, if Jesus had not told this story to Nicodemus,

I, for one,

would not have thought

Moses having a bronze snake on a pole

was about Jesus.

I might be very slow,

but I don't think that was an easy fit.

But we're on the other side of Jesus

and we have the full benefit

of him explaining what this really meant.

So listen and take note

because it should be easier for us.

We know that Jesus read the Old Testament

believing that it was pointing to him all along.

There were pointers and types

and foreshadowings

everywhere throughout the Old Testament.

But we might expect him to skip this story

and use another one of those pointers.

But Jesus goes out of his way

to help Nicodemus

by sharing with him

the comparison of the Son of Man

to a snake.

Let me give you another five short things

about Jesus here.

Jesus identifies himself

with the term Son of Man.

In John chapter 9,

John 9:35

verse 35, if you're interested,

Jesus speaks to a man

who has been healed from blindness.

And he asks him,

do you believe in the Son of Man?

Who is he, sir, the man asks.

Tell me so that I may believe in him.

And Jesus said,

you have now seen him.

In fact, he is the one speaking with you.

So when Jesus speaks of the Son of Man

being lifted up,

he is talking about himself

and his own crucifixion.

Jesus also, in the place of the snake,

is a source of healing.

He is a source of rescue from sin

and the wrath of God.

He is a source of eternal life.

We are being told

he was the source back then

and it is still the same today.

Jesus is the only one

who can rescue any of us.

And Jesus is portrayed as a curse

as he takes the place of the snake.

This is what is so shocking.

The snakes were evil.

They were killing people.

The snake on the pole

is a picture of God's curse on the people.

Why the need to be portrayed as a curse?

Well, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says,

God made him who had no sin

to be sin for us

so that in him

we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 3.13 says,

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

by becoming a curse for us.

For it is written,

cursed is everyone

who is hung on a tree.

In becoming a sin

and a curse for us,

he took ours away.

And Jesus gives eternal life

from the cross.

In our John passage with Nicodemus,

we see that whoever believes in him

may have eternal life.

When our sin

and God's wrath are taken away,

God is totally for us.

And if God is for us,

we will never die

but live with him forever in joy.

Jesus is the one we look to.

We look and we believe.

Verse 15 again,

everyone who believes in him

may have eternal life.

Everyone.

Not some.

Not a few.

But everyone.

So, what is it that we must do?

We must look

to the one

who has been lifted up.

This is so exciting

and you cannot pretend to look.

Many try to pretend.

They go through the motions.

And yet,

we will see it in each other

if we truly have eternal life.

Our lives will not be static.

There is joy

when we live for Jesus.

There is joy

when we see others

turn to Jesus.

Life is not static

and if you are feeling

that your life is static

in a spiritual sense,

then you need to look afresh

at Jesus today.

The passage in Numbers

reminds the wandering Israelites

of the profound depth

of their depravity

and of God's mercy and love.

The cross is there

to do the same for us.

We need to have the cross

in our midst.

It reminds us

that through the cross,

an instrument of execution,

our saviour

lived out his dying love for us

by dying on it

for our salvation.

Our sins were carried

to the cross by Jesus,

buried with him in the grave.

And his resurrection victory

assures us

of our eternal destiny

as God's children.

We just need to look,

not glance when it suits us,

but have our eyes fixed

on Jesus

at all times,

in all situations,

individually

and as a church.

We need to look.

A great way to finish

and illustrate this

is for me to read a story

of Charles Spurgeon's conversion

and it's in his own words.

The day is January 6, 1850.

Spurgeon is not quite

16 years of age.

I sometimes think

I might have been

in darkness and despair

until now,

had it not been

for the goodness of God

in sending a snowstorm

one Sunday morning

while I was going

to a certain place of worship.

When I could go no further,

I turned down a side street

and came to a primitive

Methodist chapel.

In that chapel,

there may have been

a dozen or 15 people.

The minister did not come

that morning.

He was snowed up,

I suppose.

At last,

a very thin-looking man,

a shoemaker

or a tailor

or something of that sort,

went up to the pulpit

to preach.

He was obliged

to stick to his text

for the simple reason

that he had little else

to say.

The text was,

Look unto me

and be ye saved

all the ends of the earth

from Isaiah 45, 22.

He did not even pronounce

the words rightly,

but that did not matter.

There was, I thought,

a glimpse of hope

for me in that text.

The preacher began thus,

My dear friends,

this is a very simple text indeed.

It is just look.

Now looking,

don't,

I can't do this.

Now looking,

don't take a great deal

of pain.

It ain't lifting your foot

or your finger.

It is just look.

Well, a man needn't go to college

to look.

You may be the biggest fool

and yet you can look.

A man needn't be worth

a thousand a year

to be able to look.

Anyone can look,

even a child can look.

But then the text says,

look unto me.

Many of ye are looking

to yourselves,

but it's no use looking there.

Ye will never find

any comfort in yourselves.

Some look to God the Father.

No, look to him by and by.

Jesus Christ says,

look unto me.

Some of ye say,

we must wait

for the Spirit's working.

You have no business

with that just now.

Look to Christ.

The text says,

look unto me.

Then the good man

followed up his text

in this way.

Look unto me.

I'm sweating

and great drops of blood.

Look unto me.

I am hanging on the cross.

Look unto me.

I am dead and buried.

Look unto me.

I rise again.

Look unto me.

I ascend to heaven.

Look unto me.

I am sitting

at the Father's right hand.

Oh, poor sinner.

Look unto me.

Look unto me.

When he had gone

to about that length

and managed to spin out

ten minutes or so,

he was at the end

of his tether.

Then he looked at me

under the gallery

and I dare say

with so few present

he knew me

to be a stranger.

Just fixing his eyes

on me

as if he knew

all my heart,

he said,

young man,

you look

very miserable.

Well,

I did,

but I had not been

accustomed

to have remarks

made from a pulpit

on my personal appearance

before.

However,

it was a good blow.

Struck right home.

He continued,

and you will always

be miserable,

miserable in life

and miserable in death

if you don't obey my text.

But if you obey now,

this moment,

you will be saved.

Then lifting up his hands,

he shouted,

as only a primitive Methodist

could do,

young man,

look to Jesus Christ.

Look,

look,

look.

You have nothing to do

but to look

and to live.

I saw at once

the way of salvation.

I know not

what else he said.

I did not take

much notice of it.

I was possessed

with that one thought.

Like as when

the brazen serpent

was lifted up,

the people only looked

and they were healed.

So it was with me.

I had been waiting

to do 50 things,

but when I heard

that word look,

what a charming word

it was to me.

Oh,

I looked

until I could have

almost looked

my eyes away.

There and then

the cloud

was gone.

The darkness

had rolled away

and at that moment

I saw the sun

and I could have

risen that instant

and sung

with the most

enthusiastic

of them

of the precious

blood of Christ

and the simple faith

which looks alone

to him.

and now

I can say,

e'er

since my faith

I saw the stream,

thy flowing

wounds supply,

redeeming love

has been my theme

and shall be

till I die.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

weapon