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But I'm one of five elders at 
our church. I've been an elder there for 
33 years. And the most important thing is I've been a Christian 
for about 44 years. And the first time I preach at 
a church, I normally like to give my testimony in under a 
minute, just so you know that I'm a Christian. I was raised 
a Roman Catholic. I was a very strict Roman Catholic, 
and according to the law of Rome, I was blameless. And then, I 
left home when I was 21, and I adopted the ways of the world 
in the 60s and the 70s, and I will not dignify those sins before 
you, but I was lost. And my brother Jim, who is a 
year younger than I was, began to witness to me And I kind of 
came to the point and said, Jim, if what you're saying is right, 
I'm in big trouble when I die, because I have all these sins. 
My immorality, my drunkenness, those things are against me. 
And so I went home to Karen. We were not married. We were 
living together. And I said, honey, we need to start going 
to a Bible study. And she was on board. She says, great, let's 
go. Let's do it. And the Lord saved us at a Presbyterian 
church through the preaching of Jesus Christ, because I knew 
I couldn't save myself. And I knew my future of maybe 
doing all the things that were necessary according to the Ten 
Commandments, I couldn't do. So I had no hope in myself. So I threw myself at the mercy 
of the Lord Jesus, and He had mercy upon my wife and I, and 
converted us. And we went to a Reformed Baptist 
Church, a very small Reformed Baptist Church, for five years. And then we've been at Trinity 
for 38 years. We have two sons that believe. They're 39, 41. They married 
very well. We have five grandkids. We are 
very blessed, we are very happy people, and I'm glad to be here 
with you, and trust that hopefully I will, I'm not replacing your 
pastor, I'm the guy that comes in in the eighth inning, I'm 
a replacement pitcher, I'm a relief pitcher, so hopefully I might 
be able to be of help and benefit to you. And now for the ministry 
of the Word of God. For God so loved the world that 
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life. That is probably the most 
popular Bible verse to believer as well as unbeliever, which 
is John 3.16, what I just quoted. I can remember before I was a 
Christian, sporting events in the 70s had the reference or 
the actual verse in baseball stadiums, basketball arenas, 
and football stadiums as well. It was everywhere. It was on 
shirts, it was on athletes, it was on walls, whatever it could 
be in plain view, it was there. After I became a Christian, I 
noticed John 3 16 more and more, and it just seemed like it was 
permeating society, and you would think that such evangelism would 
rival the great awakening of the 1700s. And many were converted. Many of our friends and family 
were converted. Very thankful. My brothers all 
became Christians. Close friends at work became 
Christians. And it would appear that there 
was a revival going on. What I noticed, though, is when 
we would go to churches, and John 3, 16 was quoted, and many 
churches claimed that it was the greatest Bible verse of all 
time. We went to a small Hawaiian church 
and the pastor made that statement that this is the most important 
Bible verse of all time, and he proceeded to butcher the passage 
and not to apply it properly. It was a gross use of God's Word. Very grieving. I think you can 
see the danger of such antics of saying this is the top Bible 
verse of all time. The Bible doesn't compete with 
itself. They don't have top 10 verses. they knock each other 
off like in some type of sporting event. The Word of God is still 
the Word of God, and granted there are certain aspects of 
God's Word that may have had a great effect upon us, may have 
been used for our conversion, might have been used for our 
reviving, might have been used to encourage us, or to reprove 
us, whatever it may be, it's still God's Word. Gold in different 
degrees. Yes, there are other passages. 
I'm sure if I were to break open 2 Chronicles, or 1 Chronicles, 
and to go and try to expose that passage, I would put you all 
to sleep, unless I was really a great preacher, which I'm not. 
But, bottom line is, it's still the Word of God. And just because 
there's been bad teaching on this verse, It doesn't mean we 
should despise it, we should love it, we should love that 
verse. I'm assuming you do indeed love it. But here's my point 
by way of introduction. You know that John 3.16 is really 
not, the whole passage is really not fully quoted. You may say, 
what do you mean it's not fully quoted? For God so loved the 
world? I understand that. But notice that it begins with 
the word for, it's a preposition. It's a continuing thought, for 
God so loved the world. You usually don't begin a story 
with the word for. You know, if you're writing a 
short story, kids, if you're writing paragraphs in school, 
you don't begin a story with for. It's a continuing thought. There'd be nothing wrong if you 
were to say, because God so loved the world, which would prompt 
you to say, what's the context of John 3.16? I preached this 
sermon years ago at my church, and I just did a little exercise 
a day before the preaching. We had an event, and I went around 
and I asked our members, what's the context of John 3 16? They 
looked at me like I had a third eye, but I was kind of amazed 
in one sense that they didn't really know. And this is a congregation 
that's been very well taught, and it's no crime if I don't 
know the reference to John 3 16. There's nothing wrong with it. 
It's John 3 14. I went to my work at my place 
of employment, and again, There are a lot of Christians there. 
I just simply ask them, what's the context of John 3.16? My assistant 
says, well, it's John 3.15. Well, it's really not. It's John 
3.14. John 3.14 is what it is. And 
our Lord here is teaching Nicodemus about the necessity of the new 
birth. I know you're going to turn to 
John chapter 3, but hold on before you do that, because our Lord 
is teaching Nicodemus of the necessity the new birth. Without the new birth you cannot 
see the kingdom of heaven. And Nicodemus is just thrown 
off by our Lord's teaching to the point where he says, how 
can these things be? He is bewildered. He has no idea where our Lord 
is going. And then our Lord uses an Old 
Testament reference from the book of Numbers. And it's found 
in verse 14, John chapter 3, Moses lifted up the serpent in 
the wilderness. Ah, there we go. There's an Old 
Testament passage that our Lord used, which is a common practice 
of the Lord Jesus when he taught. Whether it be the flood, whether 
it be Sodom and Gomorrah, he would use the Old Testament to 
bring out a point to his hearers. And the apostles did the same 
thing. And they would reference Balaam, 
they would reference Korah, the flood, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, 
just start going through it. So away with such foolishness 
that the Old Testament doesn't reveal Jesus Christ. It does. These are they which testify 
of Him. Now, in order for us to understand 
John 3, 14, 15, and 16, now we can turn to Numbers chapter 21. 
You can turn to Numbers 21. And my plan here for today, just 
so you know, is that I'm going to read Numbers 21 1 through 
9. I'm going to preach basically 
from 4 through 9 to help us get an idea of what our Lord is talking 
about, and then I'm going to do something I normally don't 
like to do. I'm going to stop the sermon with numbers, and 
I'm not going to give you gospel applications. I will give you 
some applications that are obvious from the passage, and I want 
you to come back tonight and hear the gospel references the 
application to Numbers 21. So I ask that you might be patient 
and hang in. There's a two-part message I'm 
gonna read. This is the Word of the Living 
God from Numbers 21, 1 through 9. The king of Arap, the Canaanite, 
who dwelt in the south, heard that Israel was coming on the 
road to Atharon. Then he fought against Israel 
and took some of them prisoners. Very discouraging time right 
now. So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, if you will 
indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly 
destroy their cities. And the Lord listened to the 
voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly 
destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was 
called Orma. Okay, now our passage. Then they 
journeyed from Mount Orr by way of the Red Sea to go around the 
land of Edom, And the soul of the people became very discouraged 
on the way. The people spoke against God 
and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out 
of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food, no water. Our soul loathes this worthless 
bread. So the Lord sent fiery serpents 
among the people, and they bit the people. And many of the people 
of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to 
Moses and said, we have sinned. But we have spoken against the 
Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take 
away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. 
Then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent, set it 
on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he 
looks at it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, 
put it on a pole. And so it was, if a serpent had 
bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, He lived. Well, by way of background, because 
we're right here in the middle of Numbers 21, and I just want 
to give you a context of what's going on. The Israelites had 
been released from slavery from Egypt, and God had delivered 
them with the ten plagues, as well as the Egyptians were chasing 
them. They get to the Red Sea, the 
Red Sea parts, they go on dry land, their enemies go after 
them. God causes the water to come 
over, so he destroys their enemies. They've had great success in 
terms of God being merciful unto them. And then God gives them 
the command to go in and take the land. This is in the beginning 
of Numbers. And they are to go in and take the land that was 
promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, they send out 12 
surveyors to look at the land. Ten of them come back and give 
a bad report. They say, these guys are too 
big. We can't take them. And they discourage the people 
and convince the people, okay, we're not going to take the land. 
So they disobeyed God. They disobeyed Him. Ten of the 
twelve surveyors convinced the people not to obey God. And they 
disobeyed Him. And God gave them consequences 
for their disobedience. They now had to travel in a circuit 
around a hot, dry desert. I'm being redundant. Hot and 
dry deserts, all they are is hot and dry. And they had to 
do it for 40 years. At this point, what we just read, 
Aaron and Miriam had already died. Moses is near the end of 
the 40 years, and he's given the promise that he is not going 
to partake of the land as well. But God gave them water at times, 
even from a rock. He rained manna down daily, except 
for on the Sabbath, to feed them. There's a lot of people there. 
Over 600,000, some would guess, maybe close to a million. And 
God was very gracious to them. In spite of the fact that they 
disobeyed God and didn't take the land, He still gave them 
water. He still gave them bread. It was out of His grace towards 
them. So, 40 years, almost up. And what Israel now had to do, 
after they had a great victory against the Canaanites. You just 
see that in the first, oh, first three verses that I read. great 
victory. Some of them were taken by the 
Canaanites and they fought against them. They made a vow to the 
Lord and the Lord answered it and they had great success. Great 
success and they recovered them from their enemy. So they had 
great victory here. However, they now had to take 
a more indirect and longer route to get to the promised land and now they begin to complain. 
So that's the context. Hopefully I've briefly, as best 
that I can, giving you an idea of where we're at. And so when 
we look at the passage verses four through nine, we're going 
to look at two things. And the first thing we'll look 
at is the sin as well as the consequence of the people of 
God. And then secondly, we will look 
at the remedy that God has for the people of God. Again, I ask 
that you would come back tonight because of the gospel application, 
which would be very encouraging. for believer and unbeliever as 
well. So anyway, let's take a look 
at their sin. They journey from Mount Orr by way of the Red Sea. 
They go around the land of Edom. They can't go directly to Edom. 
Edom will not let them go, even though they say, hey, we'll give 
you money for the water that we take. That's not going to 
happen. So the soul of the people became very discouraged. Now 
there's nothing wrong with being discouraged, going through a 
very difficult time. It's how you respond to it. They 
should have made it a matter of prayer. as it did when they 
lost some of their people to the Canaanites. They didn't do 
that at all. Instead, in spite of the difficult 
providence that they had, and the fact that they had to look 
for a different solution, they had to walk a lot longer is what 
they had to do in a hot desert. They sinned by complaining against 
God and against Moses. I mean, look at the words that 
they use. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in 
the wilderness? No food, no water. They're lying. They're God didn't. He gave them 
food and water, and they loathe this worthless bread. It's a 
sin against God. Now just think for a moment. These people have been delivered 
from cruel Egyptians that had them working seven days a week. God delivers them, and even though 
they are delivered And even though they do sin along the way and 
do not take the land, God is still merciful to them and still 
provides for their needs. You just see so much mercy here. 
And then they begin to complain. Now, in this day and age, some 
do not think of complaining as that big of a deal. Spouses complain 
against spouses. Children complain about their 
parents. We might even complain against 
our bossmen, and we have to be careful with regards to complaining 
about the government. And sometimes we look at that 
as not that big of a deal. Well, I would submit to you that 
is a very big deal. Some would say, well, it's not 
murder or adultery. But remember that we serve an 
infinitely holy God. God does not tolerate complaining, 
disobedience. He simply does not. When you 
complain against God, and this is some application here, what 
we will get to later on, it does indeed violate the first commandment. 
We are to have the Lord our God before His eyes. And when we 
are praying, we have God before our eyes. When we're complaining, 
I should say when we are complaining, we're not having God before our 
eyes. When we're praying, we have God before our eyes. But 
it also violates the 10th commandment of covetousness. We just don't 
have what we want, And as a result, there's this intense desire. 
They have an intense desire right here, but it's a complain. So 
complaining, sometimes people don't think it's that big of 
a deal, but it is. It is. And there's consequences 
to their particular sin. And we're continuing on here 
as we see that God sends fiery serpents. That's the consequence 
of their sin of complaining. He sends fiery serpents. Now, 
the reason why Moses wrote fiery serpents. It could be the color 
of the snakes or it could have been when they were bitten. The 
poison going through them was a burning sensation that produced 
a fever. But one thing we do know that 
the consequence eventually ended in death. They died. Now the snakes had probably always 
been there. You're in a desert and there's 
snakes in a desert. So the chances are the snakes 
were probably there in the desert, but God kept them from harming 
the people, but yet the people commit a very serious offense, 
and then when they are bitten and some of them die, now they're 
going to come to their senses and do the right thing and make 
it a matter of prayer, and they decide then to go to the Lord 
through Moses and ask Moses, because of their transgression, 
they acknowledge their transgression, go to the Lord and take away 
these snakes. That's what their request is. 
Now, I notice something here in my study. They did something 
that Pharaoh did. Notice the Israelites wanted 
them to take away the snakes. Pharaoh and the Egyptians did 
some of that take away the snake stuff when they were asking Moses, 
okay take away the flies, take away the frogs. Instead of the 
dealing with their sin, take away my sin, it's take away the 
consequence of my sin. And here they imitate their past 
slave driver, Pharaoh. Pharaoh just asks, instead of 
forgive me of my sins, it's take these things away from me. And 
the people do the same thing. Yet God is very gracious here. 
Very gracious. Now, their request is take away 
the serpents. That's their request. Moses proves 
himself a man of God by praying for his people. These people 
at times wanted to stone him. These people spoke against him. 
He could easily have said, well, you made your bed, sleep in it. He could have said, you're getting 
what you deserve. Doesn't do that. He's a man of 
God. It would be ungodly for him to 
say that. Instead, he shows himself to 
be a godly man and he prays for the people. And now we come to 
the remedy. God doesn't answer their request 
their way. He doesn't remove the snakes, 
but provides a remedy, because God knows what is best. It's worth noting that God answered 
the request of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, take away the flies, 
take away the frogs, take away this, that, and the other. God 
answered that request to him. But for the people of God here, 
he doesn't answer that request. I find that interesting. He gives 
a completely different solution. What is the solution? Well, Moses 
prays and a bronze snake on a pole. That's the solution. That's the 
remedy. Now, I think it is legitimate to ask the question, Why a bronze 
serpent on a pole? Because we know God doesn't do 
anything in an arbitrary manner. God does things according to 
his wisdom. So there has to be a reason why Moses is directed 
to erect a bronze snake and it to be lifted up and the people 
would be healed. It would appear to be foolish. 
It does nothing. There's no connection there between 
lifting up something in the desert And I've been bitten by a poisonous 
snake, rattlesnake, some sort, whatever it may be. And just 
by looking at this, I'm going to be healed? It would appear 
to be foolishness. You fast forward to 2 Kings chapter 
5. You'll see why I'm mentioning 
this. And there's a man there by the name of Naaman. He was 
a Syrian, and he had leprosy. He goes to Elisha. Elisha won't 
even go to the front door for him. He just sends his servant, 
telling him to go dip in the Jordan seven times. And Naaman's 
all upset. He says, he didn't even come 
out and talk to me. And aren't there better rivers, better bodies 
of water than the Jordan? And his servants said, well, 
look it, I'm just going to use 21st century language. He said, 
what have you got to lose? If he told you to do something 
great, would you do that? Well, yeah. Then go do that. 
He goes, he does, and he's healed. See, just at times, God will 
provide that answer. That doesn't sometimes make sense, 
but it's always best to obey God, like Naaman the Syrian. 
And here, God is going to do something a lot different, and 
He is not going to remove the snakes, but provide a remedy 
for those who were bitten. Now it is legitimate to ask the 
question, why bronze? Why bronze? And here I'm just 
being suggestive. I'm not gonna be dogmatic. I 
wouldn't build a church around this. But if it's bronze, remember 
one of the altars that we use to sacrifice the animals for 
sin was bronze, and it was a picture of judgment. Bronze at times, 
or brass, can be looked upon as a judgment. When the people 
of God were to forsake God in the book of Deuteronomy, the 
heavens will be as brass. That's judgment right there. 
And of course, in Revelation chapter one, where the Lord Jesus 
has feet of bronze, it's to trample his enemies. It is indeed a potentially 
a picture of judgment. But also remember that it's durable. Bronze is durable. If you were 
to take, kill one of those snakes and staple it and fasten it to 
a beam and hold it up, well after three, four days, let's face 
it, that snake's going to rot. So it's going to last. It's going 
to endure. So that is probably one of the 
reasons why bronze was used. But why a snake? Why does he 
use a snake? You know, really a snake is not 
exactly a picture of health, is it? In this particular case, 
it's a reminder of their sin as well as the consequence of 
their sin. There's a reason for their deadly 
estate. It wasn't Moses' fault. It wasn't Edom's fault. It wasn't 
God's fault. It was their fault. They're the 
ones that committed the crime. It was their grumbling, their 
complaining, their discontentment against God and his leader, which 
was Moses. And as a result, This snake is 
a painful reminder of their crime against God. Now, no one enjoys 
getting their nose rubbed into their sin or the consequence 
of their sin. No one enjoys that. I am certain 
when Adam had to bury Abel, he had to have thought the reason 
my son died is because of my sin. He had to have thought that. 
Again, I'm being suggestive here. When David walked on his roof 
after he had committed adultery, I'm sure he walked on that roof 
a different way, looking at the sin that he had committed. Maybe 
even looking into the face of Bathsheba would remind him of 
his sin. How about Peter walking on the 
courtyard where he had denied his Lord? I'm sure if he even 
hears a rooster crowing, it might be a painful reminder of his 
sin. There are consequences to sin. 
There are painful reminders to sin. I'm sure all of you that 
are in Christ may have painful reminders of sin, but it's there 
for a reason. Definitely there for a reason, 
and it is to humble us under his mighty hand. So the snakes also could remind 
the Hebrews of something else. When I see a snake, for some 
reason, I think of Adam and Eve. They were deceived. Eve was deceived. Adam, being our federal head, 
sinned by partaking of the fruit. And can it be that this bronze 
snake would remind these Hebrews of their original state? All 
of our original state. We derive our nature from Adam. And our nature from Adam is sin 
continually. And so it could have been a reminder 
of that. You know what I noticed too, 
the snake is lifted up as a reminder that the very God that he complained 
against was very gracious to them. See the sin? They complained, you see the 
consequence of the sin, they see that. And God was very gracious. He didn't command them to go 
on a long pilgrimage to a far country for healing. Could have, 
but he didn't. Nor did he command them to go 
to some snake healer. He didn't command them to figure 
out a solution, come up with some miracle anti-venom, and 
He didn't command them a long list of penance or good works 
to offset their bad works, their sin. If they would have done 
that, they would have died. If they did not look, look was 
the solution. That's all it was. It was look 
to that servant. Believe God's word and look to 
that serpent and you will be healed. God gave them a remedy. God did the healing by his appointed 
means to look. Just the serpent alone wouldn't 
heal them, they had to look to that serpent. And of course God 
does not always remove the consequence of our sin. You know before being 
a Christian, The drunk who does come to Christ doesn't get a 
brand new liver. He's got consequence to his sin. 
The lazy worker, though he is a Christian, and let's say he 
does remain lazy, he suffers hunger. The death row prisoner 
that becomes a Christian, even though he is a Christian, still 
has a consequence to pay. It might be his death or it might 
be a life in prison. There are consequences to pay. 
It's not pleasant. But here, You see how gracious 
God has been to give them the snake. A snake on a pole. Might be a painful reminder, 
but he didn't remove the snakes. He granted them healing. Healing. Now, there are those who are 
upset with the consequences of their sins more than their sin. And I'll touch on that a little 
bit later, but just keep that in mind. There are those who 
are more concerned about the consequences of sin. Could be 
the child getting a spanking for disobeying, instead of them 
being grieved at the disobedience, they're grieved that they get 
spanked, if I could use that illustration. But it happens 
to all of us in different ways. But I want to address the skeptics 
of our day that look upon a story like this and they reason, how 
could a bronze serpent heal? These are just stories in the 
Bible. They're not true. They don't make any sense whatsoever. 
You get bit by a snake and you look at this bronze pole and 
you're healed, and they were skeptics of this day that doubt 
the miracles that go on here in God's Word. They may have 
even told the bitten Jews, you know, how can a bronze serpent 
heal you? The problem is the snakes. Get 
rid of the snakes. Just say no to snakes. That's 
what they would say. Well, The problem is not the 
snakes, it's what brought about the snakes, and that is their 
sin. And they're complaining, their 
discontentment against a good God. But I want you to notice 
that none of the ones that got bitten here doubted. You don't 
hear of any of them dying. When they got bitten, they looked, 
they were healed, there were no skeptics. Now, we're sitting 
here in a nice cool auditorium. have bitten by a snake, but the 
experience of getting bit by a snake, I was almost bitten 
by a snake, and that scared the daylights out of me. Imagine 
getting bit by that snake, and you are going to be pretty desperate, 
and when the command comes from Moses, look to that serpent, 
no problem. They're going to look, they're 
going to give up all other remedies, and just look to the Lord their 
God to obey Moses' word here, I would submit to you, took faith. They believed God's word. They believed the servant that 
was given to them, Moses, and in his preaching, if you will, 
they believed. And again, here you see such 
grace on God's part to heal them in spite of the fact that if 
they did complain, they were bitten by the snakes, they looked, 
and they were healed. Now imagine the first one that 
was bitten. So all of your friends have died 
that have been hit by the snakes. You get hit by that snake. It took great faith, even greater 
faith for that first one. Because after the first one looks 
and is healed, and the second one, you gain momentum and faith 
when you start seeing all these being healed of their snake bites, 
if you will. So I think this was a... A very 
encouraging time for the people, even though later on they still 
continue to complain. It's a grief. Obviously, it's 
a lot like us at times, which we need to take heed to. Can you imagine if God took away 
the snakes and provided no remedy? People would still die. The snakes 
leave, the people might conclude, well, either chance or luck drove 
the snakes away. But there would be no faith needed. And without faith, it's impossible 
to please God, to believe upon those means that He has ordained. Because they were not to look 
to themselves or to Moses, they were to look to the God-ordained 
means, which was the serpent on a pole. Now, there's two things to note. 
this day and age about this serpent on a pole. Eventually, this symbol 
here had to be destroyed in 2 Kings chapter 18, because the nation 
of Israel began to worship it and burn incense to it. Now, 
you may say we don't have that around today, do we? I was raised 
a Roman Catholic, and they had a dead man in all their churches 
on a cross and people burned incense to it, bowed to it, worshipped 
it. And I see a connection there. Whenever you are in a religious 
service and people are bowing, whether it's statues or whatever 
it may be, it's in violation of the Second Commandment. And 
it does indeed appear to be somewhat connected to what these folks 
did in the Second Kings when the pole with the serpent had to 
be destroyed because of that. Another thing I want you to notice 
for this day and age is that we can see a serpent on a pole 
these days. Do you guys know that? You see 
them on ambulances. I was watching a TV show with 
my wife and sure enough, there's the two serpents on the pole. And I thought, This is a while 
ago when I thought this. I wonder if this is in reference 
to Numbers 21. So, of course, I go to Wikipedia and they don't 
mention anything at all about Numbers 21. It's about some god, 
Hermes. But the article did say, however, 
it doesn't make any sense that a snake would be a symbol of 
healing. It appears to me that it looks like the internet and 
man is just completely ignored this story here in Numbers 21, 
which gets quoted by our Lord in John 3, 14, 15, 16. I'm at 
work talking to people that are not believers, and I just asked 
them, I said, do you guys know anything at all about those two 
serpents on the pole? That's on ambulances, that's 
at doctors, when you go to your doctor's office, it's there. 
You ever notice that? They go, yeah, why is that? I 
said, I would submit to you. It's from, and I just told them 
the story of Numbers 21 and how that happened. I'm saying all 
that to say I find it vexing that it's not even referenced 
at all in Wikipedia. I even checked two days ago and 
looked at it just to make sure I wasn't speaking lies here. 
And sure enough, there's nothing in there. It deals with Hermes, 
it deals with some other false god. And this is completely ignored, 
which is a great grief. So just remember, it can be a 
possible witness tool when you're talking to someone and you see 
it's all over the place. You can't miss it. Just notice 
it this week when you do your driving and look at the ambulances, 
look at the hospital, the doctors, it's there. So it might be an 
opportunity there. Now, I'm going to have some application. 
But later this afternoon, we will apply this past. I know 
it's the third time I said this. Not pleading with you, but encouraging 
you. Try to come back here for the evening service and we'll 
have gospel application. Because I'm going to give you 
a bunch of don'ts. And I hate when the preacher gives you a 
bunch of don'ts and that's it. I hate that and I'm going to 
do that right now. But for now, our application is pretty simple. 
Don't complain. Don't complain against God. authority. It is our pattern to complain. Children, it's your pattern to 
complain against your parents. You may not see it outwardly, 
but inwardly you're probably not going to tolerate to get 
out of this place. Could be. Or if I was a parent, I would 
eat chocolate ice cream for dinner. But you need to be careful kids 
of complaining against your parents. If you do, repent of that. Turn 
to the Lord, ask him to forgive you of that. Spouses, if you 
complain against each other with other people, you should repent 
of that. Brethren, should not be complaining 
against brethren. Should not be complaining against 
your pastor. I have no idea if you do that. I'm just a guest 
preacher here, so don't think that, you know, Pastor Butler 
is telling me about four or five, whatever it may be. Congregation 
of the size, there's bound to be some people bumping up against 
each other. The Lord's Supper is a good place to put that all 
behind you. and to move forward. But also regarding your complaint 
against your boss man, the one that you work for. Don't do that. Just work for him. And realize 
that those in positions of authority over us are for our protection. 
Kids, your parents were given to you to protect you. It's the 
first commandment with a promise. Honor your father and mother 
that your days may be long. All the days of your life. That's 
not absolute, but that's a good way to live a little bit longer, 
is obey your parents. But remember, parents were given 
to you, kids, for your protection, just like spouses, wives. The 
husband was given to you for your protection, and husbands, 
the wife is given to you. Granted, you are the head of 
the house. Remember, that is for your protection. Pastors 
have been given to a flock like this for your protection. And, 
believe it or not, government leaders are given to us for our 
protection. Now, I understand that there 
are times when our government leaders do not practice justice. 
There's something that rises up within us when they come out 
with, okay, we're going to close the churches down and yet they 
continue to keep the abortion clinics open. And something rises 
up within us that's grieving and maybe angry. That's justice. God has made us into his own 
image. It's not infallible. Because 
you mix sin in there, and sometimes the way we respond is sinful. But remember this, is that there's 
that sense of justice within us. But we have to be careful 
that we still respect our leaders, pray for them, pray for their 
conversion, pray to God to work in them in such a way that we 
might lead a peaceful life with reverence. And if they're overly 
wicked, pray for their removal. But we shouldn't be always complaining 
about it. There's nothing wrong with talking 
about how things are just not just. That's fine. Be careful 
of always talking about it. I'm 70 years old. I don't want 
to be a bitter old man where I'm just walking around the cafeteria 
screaming against socialism. I don't want to be bitter. And 
for us as Christians, we want the law of kindness on our lips. 
We want to be gracious. And even though there are things 
that are going on that is completely against God's justice, grace 
be upon our lips. When you consider how the apostles 
dealt with their persecution, I mean, Nero, give me a break. 
He torched Christians and yet the command still came to submit 
to those who are in authority over you. Remember that they 
are indeed God's ministers. For those who do evil, we must 
not be those who do evil. A good way to stop complaining 
is pray. Pray. Make it a matter of prayer 
to pray for your government leaders, to pray for your spouse, to pray 
for your parents, parents to pray for the children, because 
that will give us a very humble approach to God, which is very 
important. Remember, think of this for a 
moment. What do you deserve? And then consider how gracious 
God has been to you. And some of the sins committed 
against us are nothing compared to the sins that we have committed 
against God. And yet in the gospel, we have forgiveness of sins, 
peace with God. A word to the wise is enough 
right there. And then secondly, I've touched on this. There are 
consequences to our sin. That indeed is a whole new sermon, 
but I do want to mention that sometimes we may be just more 
aggrieved at the consequence of our sin than the sin itself. The adulterer that now is getting 
divorced and has to pay child support, whatever, sometimes 
the adulterer is more upset about having to do that as opposed 
to being upset with the fact that he or she had committed 
adultery against God, or if children have been disobedient and they 
get spanked. and they're more concerned or 
more grieved at the spanking as opposed to the fact they sinned 
against God. Children, when you disobey your 
parents, remember this, you're disobeying God. He's the one 
that gave the command. He's the one that gave your parents 
for your protection. And so, whether you are turning 
from sin because of the consequence of your sin, whether you're turning 
from your sin because you know that you're sinning against a 
good God, take it! Take it. I'll take anything. 
It is important for us that, name the name of Christ, not 
to reason our way into sin, but we should think, what would God 
have me to do? And if the consequences stings 
you, great. The sin stings you, great. Let's just say you're just not, 
you haven't been doing well spiritually, the consequence of the sin is 
something that keeps you from the sin. Great. Keep praying 
that God might give you eyes to see your sin as well. And 
this afternoon, tonight, we will see the remedy found in Jesus 
Christ. So, here we see in John chapter 
3, Verses 14 and 15 and 16, and 
I'll open this up a little bit tonight as well. And as Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, we know that now, 
I hope we know it very well right now, even so must the Son of 
Man be lifted up. We'll look at what that means 
tonight. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but 
have eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, 
we thank you for being gracious to us. We thank you for giving 
us your word. We give you thanks and praise 
that you love to feed your people. Our prayers, the message will 
be remembered, the messenger forgotten, that you will be glorified, 
that we walk away giving thanks and praise to you for your kindness 
to us. We thank you, O Father, for having 
children here in this assembly, save them from their sins. For 
us, cause us to grow in that grace and knowledge that we would 
be a gracious people with the law of kindness upon our lips. But we worship you, we praise 
you, we give you thanks for your word. You've not taken this word 
and hidden it somewhere, but it is openly proclaimed throughout 
this country, throughout the United States of America. We 
thank you for that, richly blessed pastors and your people throughout 
these two countries this day, hear our prayers, do good to 
our souls, encourage the souls of your people, for we pray in 
Jesus' name, Amen. We will close the service by 
singing the doxology, number 568, in your hymnal. And then 
after we have finished singing, there will be a time of meditation. 
When the piano finishes playing, then you are dismissed. Peace on earth, all blessings 
flow. ♪ Praise him all creatures dearly 
adored ♪ ♪ Praise him above the heav'nly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost ♪