Nov 21
14
The Brazen Serpent
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Num. 21:4-9), even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
Preachers are like the pole to which Moses fastened the brazen serpent. Our only function, our only usefulness is to hold up Christ crucified before sinners. The Gospel we preach is Jesus Christ. We do not merely preach a Christ centered gospel. Christ is the gospel we preach. There is a huge difference. That man must not be considered a faithful Gospel preacher who does not preach Christ; and any sermon that does not tell immortal souls how God saves guilty sinners in and by Christ Jesus is not a Gospel sermon.
Don Fortner
THY FAITH HATH SAVED THEE
“Thy faith hath saved thee” (Luke 18:42). We know that strictly speaking, it is not our faith that saved us. Faith did not keep the law for me. Christ did! Faith did not die on the cross for my sins. Christ did! Faith was not raised from the dead, Christ was! Yet the Lord says, “Thy faith hath saved thee.” Why does the Saviour put this high honor on our faith? Because faith looks to Christ alone! It rests in Him only, and looks nowhere else! It gives all the honor of salvation to Christ! A faith that does not do that is not saving faith to begin with. Christ puts such honor on faith because true faith puts all honor on HIM! Pastor Todd Nibert
~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~
No one has ever found the true interpretation of any passage of scripture until they have found in it somewhere a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the message and the subject of all the scriptures. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27) That is why we preach, “Christ and Him crucified. The Bible, God’s inspired Word, is truly a “revelation of Jesus Christ.” Pastor David Eddmenson
Behold His precious Gift transfixed to it!
(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32
Look at the cross!
Behold His precious Gift transfixed to it,
and that by His own hand, and for your sins.
Then look at your present circumstances, survey . . .
your needs,
your trials,
your chastisements,
your bereavements,
your heart sickening, heartbreaking tribulations,
and know that God still is love.
If He had love strong enough, deep enough, to give
you Jesus; to tear Him, as it were, from His bosom,
and to transfix Him on yonder accursed tree for your
iniquities; has He not love enough to bow His ear
to your cry, and His heart to your sorrow?
Will He not . . .
rescue you from this difficulty,
deliver you out of this trouble,
shield you in this temptation,
supply this need,
support and comfort you in this grief?
Oh yes, He will! doubt it not!
The cross of Calvary is a standing pledge; standing
until sin and guilt, need and woe, shall be known no
more; that God, who “spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, will with Him also freely
give us all things” necessary to our good, and
promotive of His glory.
At the cross alone
(J. C. Philpot, “Meditations on the Blessed Redeemer”)
“Jesus has become our wisdom and our righteousness
and sanctification and redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
An experimental knowledge of crucifixion with his
crucified Lord, made Paul preach the cross—not only
in its power to save, but in its power to sanctify.
The cross is not only the meritorious cause of all
salvation—but is the instrumental cause of all
sanctification. As there is no other way of salvation
than by the blood of the cross—so there is no other
way of holiness than by the power of the cross.
Through the cross, that is, through union and
communion with Him who suffered upon it, not
only is there a fountain opened for all sin—but
for all uncleanness!
All our . . .
pardon and peace,
acceptance and justification,
happiness and holiness,
wisdom and strength,
victory over the world,
mortification of the body of sin and death,
hope and confidence,
prayer and praise,
gracious feelings,
spiritual desires,
warm supplications,
honest confessions,
godly sorrows for sin,
spring from the cross!
At the cross alone can we . . .
be made wise unto salvation,
become righteous by a free justification,
receive of His Spirit to make us holy, and
be redeemed and delivered from . . .
sin, Satan, death and hell.
To the cross we are to bring . . .
our sorrows,
our trials,
our temptations,
our sufferings,
to get life from His death,
pardon and peace from His atoning blood,
justification from His divine obedience, and
resignation to the will of God from His holy example.
At the cross alone is . . .
the world crucified to us, and we to the world;
sin mortified, and its reigning power dethroned;
the old man crucified and put off, and the new man put on.
For the most part, it is only through a long series of . . .
afflictions,
bereavements,
disappointments,
vexations,
illnesses,
pains of body and mind,
hot furnaces, and
deep waters,
as sanctified to his soul’s profit by the Holy Spirit,
that the child of God comes to the cross.
In the experience of every Christian there are many fluctuations. At one time, grace is in lively exercise, and the soul is filled with peace in believing. At another time, the divine life seems to languish, and gloomy fears prevail. There are seasons when the tide of assurance reaches, what may be called, high-water mark; and the believer, basking in the full sunshine of God’s reconciled countenance, is enabled to rejoice with exceeding joy! Precious moments, when faith is vigorous, when hope is bright and beaming, and when love fills the heart even to overflowing! But soon, alas! the scene changes. The spiritual sky is overcast. Where all was clear and cloudless — thick darkness spreads its gloomy shadows around; and the spirit so recently triumphing in the exuberance of its bliss, is now filled with dejection, and goes mourning because of the oppression of the enemy.
Should it be with the reader what the prophet terms “a cloudy and dark day,” let him be assured that there is only One who can turn the shadow of death, into the morning. Christ is the light of life; his gracious beams can scatter the thickest mists, and restore to the downcast, and even to the despairing, the joys of his salvation.
It was not by viewing and mourning over their wounds, that the bitten Israelites were cured — but by simply looking at the brazen serpent. So, if we are for having our stripes healed, our strength renewed, our doubts removed, our darkness turned to day — we must turn our eyes to Him who is exalted at God’s right hand as a Prince and Savior. It is his exclusive prerogative “to comfort those who mourn, to give them beauty — for ashes, the oil of joy — for mourning, and the garment of praise — for the spirit of heaviness.”
John MacDuff
SIN
The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon,
“The Smoke of Their Torments”
No. 602. Genesis 19:27, 28.
See the blackness of your sin by the light of hell’s fire!
Hell is the true harvest of the sowing of iniquity.
Come, lost sinner, I charge you to look at hell–
Hell is what sin brings forth.
Hell is the full-grown child.
You have dandled your sin.
You have kissed and fondled it.
But see what sin comes to.
Hell is but sin full-grown, that is all.
You played with that young lion; see how it roars and how
it tears in pieces now that it has come to its strength.
Did you not smile at the azure scales of the serpent?
See its poison; see to what its stings have brought those
who have never looked to the brazen serpent for healing.
Do you account of sin as a peccadillo, a flaw
scarcely to be noticed, a mere joke, a piece of fun?
But see the tree which springs from it.
There is no joke there- no fun in hell.
You did not know that sin was so evil.
Some of you will never know how evil it is until the
sweetness of honey has passed from your mouth,
and the bitterness of death preys at your vitals.
You will count sin harmless until you
are hopelessly stricken with its sting!
My God, from this day forward help me to see through the
thin curtain which covers up sin, and whenever Satan tells
me that such-and-such a thing is for my pleasure, let me
recollect the pain of that penalty wrapped up in it. When
he tells me that such a thing is for my profit, let me know
that it can never profit me to gain the whole world and lose
my own soul. Let me feel it is no sport to sin, for only a
madman would scatter firebrands and death, and say it is sport.
Spurgeon, from his sermon, “Christ Crucified”
There was a time when I lived in the strong old
castle of my sins, and rested in my works.
There came a trumpeter to the door, and bade me open it.
I with anger chide him from the porch, and said he never
should enter.
Then there came a goodly personage, with loving
countenance; his hands were marked with scars, where
nails were driven, and his feet had nail-prints too.
He lifted up his cross, using it as a hammer–
at the first blow the gate of my prejudice shook;
at the second it trembled more;
at the third down it fell,
and in he came.
And he said, “Arise, and stand upon your feet,
for I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
“His free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Has won my affection, and held my soul fast.”
Looking at the world through the cross!
(Octavius Winslow)
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
Jesus could accomplish man’s redemption in no other way than by crucifixion. He must die—and die the death of the cruel cross.
What light and glory beam around the cross!
Of what prodigies of grace, is it the instrument,
of what glorious truths, is it the symbol,
of what mighty transforming power, is it the source!
Around the cross gathers all the light of the Old Testament economy:
it explains every symbol,
it substantiates every shadow,
it solves every mystery,
it fulfills every type,
it confirms every prophecy,
of that dispensation which had eternally remained unmeaning and inexplicable, but for the death of the Son of God upon the cross.
Not the past only—but all future splendor gathers around the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It assures us of the ultimate reign of the Savior, and tells of the reward which shall spring from His sufferings. And while its one arm points to the divine counsels of eternity past—with the other it points to the future triumph and glory of Christ’s kingdom in the eternity to come! Such is the lowly yet sublime, the weak yet mighty instrument, by which the sinner is saved and God eternally glorified.
The cross of Christ is . . .
the grand consummation of all preceding dispensations of God to men;
the meritorious procuring cause of all spiritual blessings to our fallen race;
the scene of Christ’s splendid victories over all His enemies and ours;
the most powerful incentive to all evangelical holiness;
the instrument which is to subjugate the world to the supremacy of Jesus;
the source of all true peace, joy and hope;
the tree beneath whose shadow all sin expires, all grace lives.
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!
What a holy thrill these words produce in the heart of those who love the Savior!
How significant is their meaning, how precious is their influence!
Marvelous and irresistible, is the power of the cross! The cross of Christ has . . .
subdued many a rebellious will;
broken many a marble heart;
laid low many a vaunting foe;
overcome and triumphed, when all other instruments have failed;
transformed the lion like heart of man, into the lamb like heart of Christ!
When lifted up in its own bare simplicity and inimitable grandeur—the cross of Christ has won and attracted millions to its faith, admiration, and love!
What a marvelous power does this cross of Jesus possess! It changes the Christian’s entire judgment of the world. Looking at the world through the cross—his opinion is totally revolutionized.
He sees the world as it really is—a sinful, empty, vain thing.
He learns its iniquity, in that it crucified the Lord of life and glory.
His expectations from the world, and his love to the world, are transformed.
He has found another object of love—the Savior whom the world cast out and slew.
His love to the world is destroyed by that power which alone could destroy it—the crucifying power of the cross.
It is the cross which eclipses, in the view of the true believer, the glory and attraction of every other object.
What is the weapon by which faith combats with, and overcomes the world? What but the cross of Jesus!
Just as the natural eye, gazing for a while upon the sun, is blinded for the moment to all other objects by its overpowering effulgence; so to the believer, concentrating his mind upon the glory of the crucified Savior, studying closely the wonders of grace and love and truth meeting in the cross—the world with all its attraction fades into the full darkness of an eclipse.
Christ and His cross infinitely better than the world and its trinkets!
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
The most accessible and precious spot!
(Octavius Winslow)
“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother.” John 19:25
Take your place with Mary — near to the cross of Jesus.
There meet and blend . . .
suffering — and love,
sorrow — and sympathy.
Standing in faith near the cross — you are near . . .
the suffering Savior,
the loving Son,
the sympathizing Brother born for your present grief.
Jesus, in the depth and tenderness of His love, is at this moment all that He was when, in soul travail — He cast that ineffable look of filial love and sympathy upon His anguished mother.
Likewise, He can enter into your circumstances, understand your grief, and sustain and soothe your spirit — as one only can, who has partaken of the cup of woe which now trembles in your hand. Drink that cup submissive to His will — for He drank deeply of it before you, and has left the fragrance of His sympathy upon its brim. Your sorrow is not new to Christ. Stand close to the cross of Jesus! It is the most accessible and precious spot on this side of Heaven — the most solemn and awesome spot on this side of eternity!
The cross of Jesus is the focus of . . .
divine love,
divine sympathy,
and divine power.
Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, and in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity — and in the gloom of adversity.
Go to Christ’s cross in trouble,
repair to it in weakness,
cling to it in danger, and
hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you.
Near to the cross, you are near your Father’s heart, and your Savior’s side. You seem to enter the gate of Heaven — to stand beneath the vestibule of glory!
Nothing but love will welcome your approach to the cross of Jesus — divine love that . . .
pardons all your sins,
flows over all your unworthiness,
heals all your soul-wounds,
soothes all your sorrows,
and will shelter you within its blessed pavilion — until earth is exchanged for Heaven, and you lay down the warrior’s sword for the victor’s palm, and spring from the foot of the cross to the foot of the throne — to be forever with the your precious Lord!