Two Wilderness Incidents

Two Wilderness Incidents

(No. 3214)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY
30, 1863.

"And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell
that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against
Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel voweda vow unto the
LORD, and said, If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand,
then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the LORD hearkened to the
voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly
destroyed them and their cities: and He called the name of the place
Hormah. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to
compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much
discouraged because of the way. And 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 bread, neither is there any water and our
soul loathes this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among
the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died."
Numbers 21:1-6.

OUR text is a long one, but we must have it all in order to get the
sense of the passage, so as to contrast the two wilderness incidents
which are here mentioned and to learn how we may use them to our own
spiritual profit.

I. So, in the first place, LET US CONTRAST THESE TWO WILDERNESS
INCIDENTS.

First of all, let us examine the details of the first incident. We
learn, from this part of the narrative, that the children of Israel
were in real danger. They were attacked by a ferocious foe who, being
probably aware that he was doomed to destruction, determined to
anticipate the contest by fighting against the Israelites while they
were unprepared, and so injuring them as much as he could. Arad appears
to have been a king of some considerable power and his skill in warfare
is proved by the fact that he was at least partially successful against
the Israelites, for he, "took some of them prisoners." So that the
people were in real danger. And have you not noticed, dear Friends,
that God's people often behave best when they are in their worst case?
Usually, when they are in imminent peril, they cry to their God to
deliver them, and so they soon obtain relief–but when they make
trouble for themselves by a willful fretfulness of spirit–then it is
that they lose their confidence in God and, instead of playing the man,
they play the fool!

You must have noticed how often accidents happen to people when they
are engaged in play rather than when they are at work. I always warn
our friends to be especially careful when they are leaving for a
holiday, for I have observed how frequently they come back with signs
of having suffered injuries of one kind or another, though they have
been perfectly well while occupied with their usual avocations. It is
very much the same in spiritual things. While we are hard at work for
the Lord, watching against temptation, striving against sin, or bravely
enduring trial, we behave ourselves well. But full often when we are
engaged in what ought to be mere child's play, getting rid of
self-inverted and unreasonable fears, we stumble and fall and bring
disgrace upon ourselves and upon our Christian profession. I think that
if a Christian is to grow to the full stature of a man in Christ, he
must be subjected to the strong winds of trial and temptation. The
dross must be separated from the gold by the fierce heat of the
furnace. I have heard such a remark as this many a time, "I never knew
what a Christian, So-and-So was until he lost his property, or his
wife, or his children, or until he was stretched upon the bed of
sickness and death." There is something in the keen wintry air that
braces us and strengthens us for work–but the soft summer zephyrs make
us feel faint and languid and unfit for vigorous exertion. So, in a
spiritual sense, the summer zephyr of ease often weakens us, while the
sharp, stern trials of our seasons of adversity make us strong to
endure in the time of testing–

"Often the clouds of deepest woe

So sweet a message bear.

Dark though they seem, 'twere hard to find

A frown of anger there.

It needs our hearts be weaned from earth,

It needs that we be driven,

By loss of every earthly stay,

To seek our joys in Heaven."

It was, therefore, for good rather than for evil that the Israelites
were allowed by the Lord to be placed in circumstances of real danger.
Notice what they did–they resorted to their God by simple faith They
did not depend upon their own prowess in war. God had enabled them to
rout the Amalekites and to defeat many other adversaries. But when this
new foe appeared, they did not rely upon their own swords, or spears,
or bows–they went at once to the Lord and spread their case before
Him. In humble, earnest prayer, they sought His aid and then they
registered their solemn vow that if God would give them the victory
over these Canaanites, they would execute His judgments upon them and
utterly destroy their cities. This is still the right way for the
Believer to go to God in times of real peril and trial! And this is the
way in which he does go when the Spirit of God guides him. He comes to
God, no longer resting in any carnal confidence, or depending upon his
own wit or strength, but realizing that, "blessed is the man that
trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Like Hezekiah, when he
spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, the Believer pleads with
God for His name's sake, for His Son's sake, for His promise's sake, to
deliver him out of all his troubles. And it may be that he is moved to
add a solemn vow unto the Lord, for although vows are never to be made
wantonly or wickedly, there are times when a vow may be incumbent upon
us. Many an important step which I have taken, and which God has
blessed, has been taken because of a vow that I have made to Him when
my soul was in trouble. And I sometimes think that trouble is, in my
own case, always a preparation for entering upon some new path of duty,
or beginning some new enterprise for my dear Lord and Master. Should it
not be so with all of us who are, indeed, children of God by faith in
Jesus Christ? Let us, each one, say, "Lord, if You will deliver me out
of this trial, then, whatever service I may have rendered to You in the
past, I will add something more to it in the future. I will seek to add
a few more acres to the fields which I have, up to now, attempted to
plow, sow and reap for You. Or, if I cannot increase my sphere of
service, I will try to serve You better in it than I have ever done
before." You are not to make such vows as these as though they were a
sort of bribe to the Most High, for you know that your best resolutions
are only empty words unless His Grace enables you to follow them with
corresponding deeds. Still, if you do it in humble dependence upon Him
and in sincere gratitude for anticipated favors which your faith causes
to be present to you, you may make such vows and expect God's blessing
upon them!

So you see, dear Friends, that the Israelites were in real peril, but
they took their case to the Lord and, therefore, He gave them speedy
and complete deliverance! "The Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel
and delivered up the Canaanites." They seem to have marched straight
out to meet their foes and to have routed them at once. So, Beloved,
put your case in the hands of God and your difficulties will soon be
over. Or if the trial is not removed, you will receive Grace and
strength to bear it. The word, "impossibility," seems to block your
road, but there are no impossibilities with God! With Him all things
are possible. A man left to himself would break his back under the
crushing burden that rests upon him, but that would not have happened
to him if he had cast his burden upon the Lord. Many have lost their
reason because they tried to carry their cares, themselves, instead of
casting all their care upon Him who could easily have carried them.
Brother, Sister, is it night with you? Then wait God's time to make the
sun to rise again upon you. Is it ebb-tide with you? Wait a little
while and God will again bring the silver streams up from the sea till
the mud and filth are covered by the rising waters. What is there that
He cannot do? If there is anything that you can do, work as if
everything depended upon you–and then trust in God remembering that
everything really depends upon Him!

The action of the Israelites, in appealing to the Lord, not only
brought them prompt deliverance, but it also advanced them in the path
of duty. They were brought out of Egypt on purpose to smite and
exterminate these Canaanites–a race upon which God's long-suffering
could no longer be exercised–and the Israelites, as the Lord's
executioners, "utterly destroyed them and their cities." Ah, my dear
Friends, our troubles will help us to advance in the path of duty if we
will but take those troubles to God! There is much to be learned in the
furnace of affliction. There are some of God's writings that can only
be read by light from a furnace. God has been pleased to write some of
His promises in sym-

pathetic ink which can only become visible as it is held close to the
fire! You can see the stars in the daytime if you go to the bottom of a
deep well–and you can see many a starry promise shining brightly when
you are at the bottom of the well of trouble! The Lord sends trials to
bring us to Himself, as Joseph sent the rumbling wagons to bring Jacob
and all that he had to him in Egypt. And if we only know how to use
them aright, we shall find that–

"Trials make the promise sweet,

Trials give new life to prayer!

Trials bring us to God's feet,

Lay us low, and keep us there." This, then, is the first of the two
wilderness incidents. Now, turning to the second, I want you to note
that there was no real cause for distress whatever. "The soul of the
people was much discouraged because of the way," but there was nothing
that need have discouraged them if they had looked upon the way with
the eye of faith. It is true that God had led them a long way
roundabout, but then that was because of their unbelief. And it is also
true that God had "led them forth by the right way, that they might go
to a city of habitation." It is true that the sun was hot, but then the
cloudy pillar always shielded them in the daytime. It is true that they
had to wander in the wilderness, but then God gave them bread from
Heaven to eat and water out of the Rock to quench their thirst. It is
true that they had no means of buying new clothes and new shoes, but
then Moses was able to say to the whole nation before he left them,
"Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your feet swell,
these forty years." It is true that many trials befell them in the
wilderness, mostly through their own sin, yet were they the most
highly-favored people upon the face of the earth! As Balaam "saw Israel
abiding in his tents, he took up his parable and said, How goodly are
your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys
are, they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of
lign aloes which the Lord has planted and as cedar trees beside the
waters." Yet, with all these privileges, "the soul of the people was
much discouraged because of the way." It is true, dear Friends, that
there are many troubles in the world, but probably the worst are those
that we make for ourselves–or that we only imagine when there really
are none! Last week I saw my dear old grandfather who is about 87 years
of age, and I said to him, "I suppose, Grandfather, you have had many
troubles in your long life." And he replied "Well, I have had none too
many, except those that I have made for myself." And I expect that is
true of the most of us! We have a little (or big) trouble factory
somewhere in our home, or we carry it about with us wherever we go, and
the suits we make there last as long as a suit in Chancery–they seem
as if they would never wear out! And those home-made suits fit us very
badly and are most uncomfortable. But if we would only leave ourselves
in God's hands, we would be much more free from anxiety and trouble–

"Eternal God, we look to You,

To You for help we fly.

Your eyes, alone, our needs can see,

Your hands, alone, supply."

When the Israelites became discouraged because of the way, did they
take their trouble to God as they had done with the former one? Oh, no!
It would have been a far happier thing for them if they had done so,
but they, "spoke against God, and against Moses," saying, "Why have you
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no
bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loathes this light
bread." Often, when professors of religion fancy they are in trouble,
they begin to rail at God–and at what they imagine to be the second
causes of their troubles, as the Israelites "spoke against God, and
against Moses." They say, "If my father had been a more prudent man,"
or, "if So-and-So had given me wiser advice," or, "if my husband were
not such a spendthrift, I would not have been in such trouble." These
Israelites sinned doubly in speaking against God and against Moses, for
the Lord had delivered them with a high hand and with a stretched-out
arm. And Moses, also, had done them real service. He had taken the iron
yoke from their necks and led them out of the house of bondage. Yet
they talked as if he had been their enemy, or had deceived them! They
said, "We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all, but
this manna before our eyes." Thus do men often murmur against their
best friends and frequently the murmuring against man is only a covert
way of murmuring against God! Some grumble at the minister when they
really mean that they do not like the Gospel that he preaches! Talking
against Moses, it was not surprising that the Israelites also "spoke
against God."

Further, these people were in such a sad state that they ignored the
mercies they were then enjoying. They said, "There is no bread, neither
is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread." So there
wasbread, after all! That bread of which the Psalmist afterwards wrote,
"Man did eat angels' food"–the best possible food for them in the
wilderness! And there was water continually gushing out from the Rock
that followed them. We, too, meet with many who can talk glibly enough
of their miseries, but who are silent concerning their mercies! I
daresay some of you know old Mrs. Complaint. If you ever go to see her,
the moment you sit down she beams to tell you how she has been
tormented all the week with rheumatism and then she says troubles never
come alone, for that son of hers gives her constant anxiety and her
neighbors are continually slandering her–and so on, and so on! You
give her some relief and others give her relief, but she is never
satisfied. When I have visited such a person, I have usually thought it
well to say to her, "Well, Sister, you have told me about your
troubles, now let us hear about your mercies! Surely you have some
mercies for which you desire to praise the Lord." If you will talk thus
to those who complain to you, it may be that after a little while, the
conversation will take a more profitable turn. There are other
grumblers beside that miserable old woman. There are other friends, in
business, who try to persuade us that they are always losing money, yet
they appear to live in considerable comfort–and we would like to have
for the Lord's work some of the money that they spend upon luxuries of
various kinds. So, when they complain of the hard times, and the keen
competition in business, and the losses they are continually making, we
are not greatly impressed by the sad story with which we are now fairly
familiar! Then there are our farming friends who are far too often
found in the ranks of the grumblers. If they do not actually speak
against God, they frequently complain of the weather which He sends! It
is either too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold! When crops are
plentiful, prices are low–there is generally something or other which
gives them an excuse for complaining, and so they sin against the Most
High as the Israelites did in the wilderness!

What did those people get as the result of their murmuring? Did the way
become any shorter because their soul was much discouraged? Did the
sharp stones become any smoother? Did the thorns and thistles of the
wilderness become changed into vines and olive trees? Did their
adversaries all sheathe their swords and flee from them in terror? No,
the way was just as long as ever, the stones just as sharp, the
brambles just as plentiful, their enemies just as fierce and each day
was just as wearying as all those that had gone before! And now, in
addition to all their previous troubles, "the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel
died." They complained when they had no reason for complaining–but now
they had good ground for complaint or something to make them truly
sorrowful! Their discontent, like a fire which never has sufficient
fuel, was as a burning fever within them, so now fiery serpents set
their veins aflame with their deadly poison! They were, indeed, rightly
punished. They would not be content with the mercies which the Lord
showered so abundantly upon them, so they were made to smart for their
ingratitude! And our experience will be similar to theirs if we act as
they did. We shall not be delivered from our troubles as the result of
our complaining, but the Lord will chastise us with His rod of
correction until He brings us humbly to confess our sins and to seek,
for the future, to walk in His ways.

So you see, dear Friends, the contrast between these two wilderness
incidents. In the first case, real trouble carried to God in prayer was
turned into an advantage. And in the second case, foolish and wicked
discontent, for which there was no reason, was allowed to spend itself
in murmuring against the Most High–and so brought down upon the people
fiery serpents which bit them until many of them died.

II. Now, secondly, LET US LEARN HOW WE MAY USE THESE TWO INCIDENTS TO
OUR OWN SPIRITUAL

PROFIT.

Fellow Believer in Christ, you may do one or other of these two
things–you may either cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will
sustain you–or you may be like the bullock that is unaccustomed to the
yoke and that kicks against the sharp goad and so angers his master and
injures himself! Remember that true faith is a holy thing, but
murmuring is sin. Do not think that it is a light thing to murmur
against God, or to complain of His Providential dealings with you. No,
it is really setting up your fallible judgment or your self-will
against the Infinite Wisdom of the Most High! It is high treason
against the King of kings to seek to–

"Snatch from His hands the balance and the rod, Rejudge His judgments,
be the god of God."

Are you, poor feeble mortal, able to drive the chariot of the sun? Can
you control the whirlwind and put a bit into the mouth of the storm
when it is raging in all its fury? You know that it is God, alone, who
can say to the mighty ocean, "To here shall you come, but no further:
and here shall your proud waves be stayed." How dare you, then, set up
your feebleness against His Omnipotence, and your ignorance against His
Omniscience, and your folly against His consummate Wisdom? Bow down in
the dust before Him lest your murmuring should bring upon you His
righteous wrath and He should send upon you, if not fiery serpents,
some other punishment that shall make you wring your hands in agony for
many a day to come!

Further, to trust in the Lord is both helpful and pleasant. It is said
that if a man would lie quite still in the water, he would float–that
it is his kicking and struggling that causes him to drown. Whether it
is literally s o, I cannot tell, but I know that it is most delightful
and most blessed–

"To lie passive in God's hands And know no will but His."

It is the kicking and struggling against the will of God that bring us
trouble and increased suffering! God would use the knife very gently
upon us, but we dash ourselves against the sharp instrument and then
there is a great gash which need never have been made if it had not
been for our own folly! Who are the happiest men in the whole world?
Are they not those who tell the Lord all their trouble, and cast all
their cares upon Him, knowing that He cares for them? And who are the
most miserable people in the world? Are they not those who are
constantly complaining of their miseries and who never seem to realize
how many mercies they have received? If you need to make yourself
miserable, you will not have much difficulty in doing so! He who is
looking for sorrow will probably not have to look far before he finds
it, but it is a great pity that he is not rather looking for sings and
tokens of God's Providential care and of His forgiving mercy! Happy is
he who can sing with Faber–

"Ibow to Your will, O God,

And all Your ways adore.

And every day I live I'll seek

To please You more and more!

I have no cares, O blessed Lord,

For all my cares are Thine–

I live in triumph, too, for You

Have made Your triumphs mine." Again, dear Friends, I think you can
easily make a wise choice if I remind you that to trust in the Lord
honors Him. For a child of God to repose in Him in full confidence must
be pleasing in His sight. But for any child of His to be fretting,
worrying, complaining, questioning must be dishonoring to Him. How
would you feel if it were the case of one of your own children? If you
heard him complaining that he did not know whether he would have any
breakfast tomorrow morning, or where he would get any new clothes when
his were worn out, you would say, "Trust me, my Child, and I will
provide for you." But when your child says, "I know that my father will
provide for me–no care about that matter ever crosses my mind," he is
honoring you by his confidence! And it is the Christian who trusts God
most who honors Him most.

Remember, also, that it is to your own honor to trust in the Lord. This
was the Master's own words to His disciples, "Take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or, What shall we drink, or, How shall we be
clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek). For your
heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek
you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you." Any worldling can fret and fume about
food, drink and clothing–but will you, a child of God, thus misbehave
yourself? Why should you be groveling in the dust with the children of
this world, when you should be soaring upward like the eagle, far above
the mists and clouds of earth? Rise, Believer, to the dignity of your
new-born nature, and cast all your care upon your God, who cares for
you!

Besides that, believing in Jesus will be likely to make you more useful
We are hardly likely to bring sinners to Christ if we carry about with
us a long and care-worn countenance! That will not be the way to
recommend the Gospel to others. There are some professors who seem to
think that the more wretched they can be, the more communion will they
have with Christ, but they are greatly mistaken if they do! They appear
to aim at being altogether unbearable in society and to

be utterly miserable in retirement. If they imagine that in leading
such a life as that, they are reflecting credit upon their Master,
nothing could be more erroneous! You would not like your servant–I
will go further than that and say–you would not like your horse or dog
to be so lean that you could count his bones! It would be no credit to
you to have such a servant, or horse, or dog–people who saw them would
think they must have a sorry kind of master! The God of Love no more
wishes to have miserable servants and followers than we do! Many of His
servants have good reasons for being sad, but no true servant of God
who is in his right senses, thinks it is his duty to make himself sad!
Paul was Inspired when he wrote to the Philippians, "Rejoice in the
Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice." And I believe it is the
cheerful Christian, and especially the Christian who can be happy in
sickness, patient under adversity and joyous even in the hour of death
who will win fresh adherents for the Lord Jesus Christ!

For all these reasons, then, I would have you follow the example of the
children of Israel in the first of the two wilderness incidents we have
been considering–but not in the second.

But, Beloved, suppose and alas, we need not put it as a supposition,
for it is only too true–some of us have been murmuring and God has
sent a fiery serpent to bite us? We were discontented because of some
fancied trouble and now we have a real trouble–what then? You remember
how the narrative continues. "Therefore the people came to Moses, and
said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against
you; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us. And
Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make you a
fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass, that
everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live." So, when
they sincerely repented of their sin in murmuring against the Lord and
prayed to him through Moses as their representative and mediator, He
revealed the remedy by which they could be healed. You remember when
you first looked to Him of whom that bronze serpent was a type, and how
you were immediately healed? So you must again look unto Him and He
will cure the suffering which you have brought upon yourself by your
murmuring! God loves you too well to let you perish despite your
ingratitude and unbelief! He abides faithful and before our eyes He
holds up, once again, His well-beloved and only-begotten Son, and bids
you look unto Him even as you did at the first! Happy is the Christian
who is always "looking unto Jesus." Believer, if you have lost your
evidences. If through your murmuring against God you have been so
sorely chastened that you cry out in agony! And if you are now walking
in darkness and can see no light, remember that Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today and forever! So still look to Him! Say to Him,
"Just as I am, as once I came to You, O Jesus, my Lord and Savior, I
come to You again! Though stained once more with my own wanton
wickedness in murmuring against You when Your many mercies ought to
have comforted me and made me rejoice, I still come to You and I
believe that You can pardon, and relieve, and succor, and save, and
sanctify me, now, even as You did at the first."–

"Just as you are, without one trace

Of love, or joy, or inward Grace,

Or meetness for the heavenly place,

O guilty Sinner, come!

'The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.'

Rejoicing saints re-echo, Come!

Who faints, who thirsts, who will, may come!

Your Savior bids you come."

If any of you have never come to Jesus, come now! If you have never
looked to Him who hung upon the Cross, sin-bitten Sinner, look to Him,
now, and you shall be saved at once! If you have looked to Him, before,
look again, now, and never take your eyes off Him until they are closed
in death! And even then, the eyes of your soul shall still continue
looking unto Jesus–only they shall look upon Jesus sitting upon the
Throne of God as now, by faith, you look upon Him hanging on the Cross!

May the Lord add His blessing, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: NUMBERS21:1-9; JOHN 3:1-15.

Numbers 21:1-4. And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the
south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he
fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel
vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If You will indeed deliver this
people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the
LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites;
and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and He called the
name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way
of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people
was much discouraged because of the way.They were not allowed to go
through the land of Edom. They had, therefore, to turn around and go
right away from the land where they one day hoped to dwell. And the
road was a particularly trying one, over hot and burning sand, "and the
soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way." Sometimes
God's own people, when they find that they are not so far advanced in
the Divine Life as they thought they were, when they find old sins
reviving and when troubles multiply upon them, get "discouraged because
of the way." If this is our experience, let us not fall into the sin
into which these Israelites fell, but even in our discouragement let us
turn to our God.

5. And 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
bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light
bread. One gets tired, in reading of the wanderings of Israel in the
wilderness, of this parrot cry, "Why have you brought us up out of
Egypt?" For nearly 40 years, this was their cry whenever they met with
any sort of difficulty. How weary God must have been of their cry–and
of them, too! And now it was raised because they had been fed with
"angels' food" which they called "light bread." It was easy of
digestion, healthful and the very best kind of food for them in the
wilderness–but they wanted something more substantial, something that
had a coarser flavor about it, more of earth and less of Heaven! There
is no satisfying an unregenerate heart. If we had all the blessings of
this life, we would still be vying for more.

6. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and many people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD,
and against you; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents
from us. And Moses prayed for the people. Like a true mediator, he was
always ready–even when they had most insulted him and grieved his meek
and quiet spirit–still to bow the knee and intercede with the Lord on
their behalf. The people implored him to ask that the serpents might be
taken away from them, but apparently they still continued to trouble
them. However, if God does not answer prayer in one way, He does in
another. The fervent prayer of a righteous man may not prevail in the
particular direction in which it is offered, but it "avails much" in
some direction or other! Just as when the mists ascend, they may not
fall upon the very spot from which they rose, but they fall somewhere.
And true prayer is never lost–it comes back in blessing, if not
according to our mind, yet according to Another mind that is kinder and
wiser than our own!

8, 9. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make you a fiery serpent, and set
it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is
bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of
brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. [See
Sermons #285, Volume 5–

MAN'S RUIN AND GOD'S REMEDY and #1500, Volume 25–NUMBER 1500–OR,
"LIFTING UP THE BRONZE SERPENT."]

John 3:1-3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler
of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi,
we know that You are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that You do, except God is with him. Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a man is born-

again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. [See Sermon #130, Volume
3–REGENERATION.] There must be a new birth because a new nature is
absolutely necessary for the discernment of spiritual things. The
natural man cannot comprehend spiritual things–they must be
spiritually discerned. The new birth is therefore necessary that we may
have a Spirit within us which can see or understand the Kingdom of God.
But until a man is born-again, "he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

4, 5. Nicodemus said unto Him, how can a man be born when he is old,
can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, Isay unto you, Except a man is born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. We understand
the passage to mean, "Water, that is, the Spirit," but it may refer to
the purifying influence of the Word as symbolized by water. I do not
think that Baptism is referred to here at all.

6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.Parents may be the most
devout people who ever lived, but that which is born of them is only
flesh.

6. And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit It is only then, as
we are born of the Spirit of God that there is any spiritual life in us
whatever.

7, 8. Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born-again. The wind
blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell
from where it comes and where it goes: so is everyone that is born of
the Spirit [See Sermon

#1356, Volume 23–THE HEAVENLY WIND.] He undergoes a mysterious

change. He becomes a new man and he enters into a new life which others
cannot comprehend. Though they hear the sound of it, they cannot tell
from where this man's new life comes, or where it goes. He has become a
spiritual person, not comprehended of natural men.

9-10. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you a master of Israel, and know
not these things?"So learned in the Law of God, are you ignorant of the
Spirit of God? Have you read the Law so many times and yet not found
out that natural births and outward washings are of no use in spiritual
things?"

11, 12. Verily verily I say unto you, We speak what We know, and
testify what We have seen; and you receive not Our witness. IfIhave
toldyou earthly things, and you believe not, howshallyou believe ifI
tell you of heavenly things? "If, at the very entrance to the Kingdom
of Heaven, you say, 'How can these things be?' what will you say if I
take you into the central metropolis of the Truth of God and introduce
you to the great King, Himself?"

13-15. And no man has ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from
Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven. And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life. [See Sermon #153, Volume 3–the mysteries of the bronze serpent.]