See the simplicity that is in Christ. Pretty loooong:)

Believers, remember when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21?) Christ spoke of this to Nicodemus in John 3, right before the most popular verse in the entire Bible:

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.16 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."

These verses show us how we are saved from perishing and assured of eternal life: By "believing" exactly the same way the Israelites that were bitten by serpents believed and thus were saved from the sting of the snakes and certain death. But how did the Israelites believe?

The children of Israel had just won a victory over the Canaanites by the Hand of the Lord as they journeyed to the Promised Land. They soon forgot their God-given victory and started complaining, longing for Egypt and despising the manna that the Lord provided for them, much like many of us unwittingly do today with our "If only I hads:)" But He loves us still!

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. He can't just sweep sins under the carpet. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His Throne. The serpents bit the Israelites and they died. They confessed their sin and Moses prayed for them.

8 "And the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 

9 "And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze (attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze), he lived."

The law demands that every sin be punished. There has to be a righteous foundation for forgiveness. That righteous foundation is Christ lifted up on the cross for our sins. The faith picture of the serpent lifted up tells the story of our salvation in Christ Jesus. Remember Christ's words to Nicodemus in John 3:14-15-

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Also, 1 Corinthians 15:56 says- "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."

This "sting of death" that is sin is a picture of the sin/old nature that Adam passed on to his descendants after his fall. Everyone has been bitten. Remember Romans 5:19-

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Here we see that committing acts of sin is not what make people sinners; Adam's sin that made all mankind sinners. Acts of sin, sickness, fear, lack, etc are products of the sin/old nature (sting of death) that mankind inherited from Adam, much like the snake venom in the Israelites. Anyone with this old nature will produce sins, much like anyone that has been bitten by a poisonous snake will manifest snakebite symptoms that lead to death.

Trying to obey the law/stop sinning by human effort in order to get right with God and be saved from death is akin to the Israelites putting plaster on the site of their snake bite in order to escape the effects of its venom and certain death. See this in Romans 8:3-4 (MSG)

"The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us."

Christ died to rid us of this sin/old nature that all mankind inherited from Adam and which produces acts of sin that lead to death. See Colossians 2:11-

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

In Christ, made righteous by "one Man's obedience" and not our law-keeping, we are a new creation, no longer having that sin nature inherited from Adam. No more root of sin (snake venom) to produce acts of sin (symptoms of the venom within) but the root of His righteousness that produces a "harvest of good deeds for God." See Romans 7:4-

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

The old/nature is characterized by trying to get right with God by obeying the law, thus rejecting His gift of righteousness to us in Christ by which we have life; this is akin to the Israelites that had been bitten by snakes rushing off to obey the law, pay tithe and sow seed in order to deserve or earn God's healing. Distracted from looking at the snake on the pole by these works of the law that can achieve nothing, the venom of sin within spreads fast and its effects worsen. Good works are EVIDENCES of our salvation; not CONDITIONS. In Christ, God fills us with His goodness and mercy to overflowing so much that with what is spilling over, we can't help but be a blessing to those around us, even when we seem to have nothing.

The only thing that the Israelites had to do to be saved from their suffering and certain death was look at the bronze snake on the pole. God said:

"everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."

They looked and were healed.

Just imagine what would have happened if the Israelites that were bitten by snakes had rushed off to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to God, started promising to obey the law better or started fasting and sowing seed in order to get God to heal them. The snake venom would have spread faster and killed them faster with all of their unnecessary movement! Remember 1 Corinthians 15:56 says- "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."

Trying to obey the law to get right with God strengthens the grip of the venom of sin in the lives of those who try.

Believer, believe right. Christ says In John 3-

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.16 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."

Looking to Jesus and stopping our silly efforts to save ourselves is the only way to put an end to acts of sin, sickness, depression and everything else resulting from the sting of sin that all mankind inherited from Adam. These things are all symptoms of the sting of sin. Keeping the law to attain right-standing with God is of the old nature and will only cause sins to increase: Romans 7:5-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

Today, many in the church are dying from the sting of death that is sin, a death preceded by its symptoms aka all of the curses in Deut. 28; much like how the Israelites were dying from the venom of the snakes: a death preceded by the effects of the venom in them (pain at the bite site. difficulty in breathing. vomiting and nausea. blurred vision.sweating and salivating. numbness in the face and limbs.) And all because of rejecting God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ for that which comes from puny efforts at obeying the law and doing "good things." These things cannot save anybody or make any righteous in God's sight (Romans 3:20.)

Romans 8:32 says - "He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

Many are running up and down trying to obey the law better and doing things in order to deserve or earn God's blessings that are given FREELY to all who are in Christ. Believers, let's not be found here. God will never ask you to first go and fast for 21 days or sow seed before He saves you from any kind of wahala. Just look at our Saviour Jesus Christ throughout the gospels. He never asked anyone whether they had obeyed the law or to go and fast and sow seed before He saved them. He came to save you from those very sins that you think will not make Him answer your prayers so beware of false teachers. See Titus 2:14-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

The only way for a believer to get cut off from Christ and fall from Grace is if he rejects God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ. This happens when a person starts trying to be godly by obeying the law:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

Beware of false teachers. Our Saviour who came to save us from our sins will never use the effects of the snake bite that we are struggling with and which He came to save us from as an excuse for not saving us. Christ saves from sins. But many are not receiving this salvation from sins and earthly ills because they are trying to earn it by human effort.

Romans 5:9 says: "And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

The only way to be saved from wrath is to have Christ as your righteousness, forsaking that which comes from obeying the law.

Believers, all have sinned. Just as the snakebite victims who looked at the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up lived, anyone who has the sting of death that is sin (all have sinned!) and believes in Jesus (believes and confesses Him as their righteousness) gets delivered from the sting of death that is sin and all of its symptoms - sins, sickness, depression, lack, oppression, every earthly ill.

Christ came in the likeness of sinful man though He was without sin; much like how the bronze serpent had the outward form of a serpent but with no poison within. He took our punishment that we might go free.

The pole that the bronze serpent was set on is a type of the cross on which our Saviour Jesus was lifted for our salvation and looking to Him is believing in Him- believing His finished work of making even the vilest offender who believes RIGHTEOUS, and not because we obeyed the law.

Believers, Christ hung on the cross in our place, redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3;13;) He has set us free from generational and other curses. Let's not patronize Christ-deniers with their generational curse-breaking sessions for believers!

His body was broken to make us whole and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53)

Bronze speaks of judgment. Christ bore the fiery judgment for all of our sins. God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21.) And He died our death, paying the full wages of sin for all mankind.

To not believe Christ is to try to do His finished work of making us righteous all over again with puny fasts and such and trying to keep the law to get right with God. This is looking at one's self for salvation and shunning Christ who was lifted up like the serpent. This is rejecting Christ.

Recall Numbers 21: 9 "And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of bronze (attentively, expectantly, with a steady and absorbing gaze), he lived."

"When he looked" here doesn't capture the essence of "nabat," the Hebrew word it was translated from. It means "to scan, i.e. Look intently at; by implication, to regard with pleasure, favor or care."

By God's grace, look to our Saviour and His finished work at the cross and see just how much you mean to Him; enough for Him to lay down His life for us that we might not perish but have everlasting life, and not because we did anything to deserve it. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Believe and receive what He has done for you and you will Live in triumph over sin and death through Him as it is written in Romans 5:17-

"17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ."

Any Israelites who was bitten by a snake only had to look at the bronze serpent and be saved from the sting of the snake and its effects that lead to death. Likewise, all we need to do to be saved from the old nature (sting of death that is sin,) it's effects (acts of sin) and the death that it brings is to believe in Jesus Christ: believe that we are righteous by His blood and that He has finished the work of our salvation; we have nothing to add to it.

No need to run helter-skelter looking for deliverance at "signs and wonders" conventions. The Lord does it by the hearing of faith!

"Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?-" Galatians 3:5

Understand that "the law is not of faith" so any pastor that is telling you that it is your own human effort at obeying the law, paying tithe and sowing seed that will save you from your sins, death and all of its symptoms and grant you everlasting life is a liar. Christ paid the full price for our salvation. Good works are EVIDENCES of our salvation, not CONDITIONS.

We have nothing more to do except believe: look to Jesus, and even this we do by His grace. For every demand made, He is the Supply.

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.