Address—Bill Prost
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Good afternoon, could we sing together part of hymn #76?
Him #76.
Rise, my soul, thy God directs the stranger hands no more in peace.
Pass though on his hand protects the strength that has the captive freed. Written by a relatively young man at the age of 37 back in 1837, and the initials are well known JND Britain as a young man starting out in the work of the Lord and enjoying the thought that the Lord was before him.
Will sing the 1St 6 verses please of number.
76 And perhaps we can sing it to the same tune as what a friend we have in Jesus.
I would like you to turn with me, please, to a very familiar scripture in Numbers Chapter 21. Numbers Chapter 21.
This scripture is extremely well known.
And I would suppose that most of the children here are familiar with what we're going to read.
But it has much in it for our souls. Numbers 21 and we'll start reading.
In verse 4.
And they, that is the children of Israel, journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom.
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And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
And the people speak against God and against Moses.
Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread.
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned.
For we have spoken against the Lord and against thee.
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 thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh 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.
Again, I say a very well known story and this is not.
Especially a young people's meeting. But allow me to say that I hope the children and the young people will be able to understand what is brought before us in this scripture, but also those of us that are older.
Because here, the children of Israel, we're getting very near to the land of Canaan.
And we know of course, that it was actually only perhaps 11 days journey had they gone there directly. And that was God's purpose for them. But because they caused so many problems, when the spies looked out over that land of Canaan, you will remember that ten of the spies came back.
With a bad report.
And as a result, the Lord said, you will turn around and you will go 40 years through the wilderness until everyone that is over the years of 20 has died and your children that you were complaining about would fall prey to those giants in the land of Canaan. They will be the ones to go in.
Do you know the wilderness is not part of God's councils?
That is why when you read the history of faith in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews, you find no mention of the wilderness.
The mention of the Red Sea, yes. The mention of the Jordan, yes. But no mention of the wilderness. But the wilderness is part of God's ways with us.
And we learn two things in the wilderness. We learn what God is.
And we learn what we are.
It's not very nice sometimes to learn what we are.
But you know it is necessary.
Not to be occupied with ourselves, that's not the point.
The Christian that is occupied with himself is never happy.
Pardon my repeating that the Christian who is occupied with himself is never happy.
But if I don't realize myself and what I am, I will never really grow in my Christian life and in the desert. I learn what I am, but I learn what God is too.
And there is a parallel between what happened here.
And the day in which you and I are living.
Because the children of Israel at this point, and if you look at the chronology, I believe this is correct, they were only perhaps two years away from the land of Canaan. They had already been in the desert 38 years.
Only two years away.
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For you and me, I hope it's less than two years.
A few years ago, a man by the name of Harold Camping made a rather wild prediction about the Lord's coming.
And he made a date which was in the spring of the year. And then after it didn't workout, he said, well, I made a mistake. It's going to be October.
I said to someone I hope he's wrong and they looked at me rather shocked. I said I hope it's a lot sooner than October.
We're not expecting it to be two years.
But the point is, they were almost at the end of the journey here. And what happens it says in verse.
For the end and the soul of the people was much.
Discouraged because of the way? Hmm.
If you notice in the Darby translation it uses the word impatient.
And we might say, well, after all, can you blame them for being impatient?
But they weren't impatient in the right way.
They were impatient with the Lord.
And there is a lot of discouragement among believers today, and not only those gathered to the Lord's name. As I travel around, I not infrequently have a chance to talk to those who are dear believers but who are not gathered to the Lord's name, and the discouragement and the difficulties about which they tell me.
Is very real.
Difficulties differ from nationality to nationality and culture to culture.
But they are there.
And they are real.
And the sorrows and the heartaches that beset the Saints of God.
Are sometimes very hard to bear.
And they are there for two reasons. They are there, first of all, because we follow a rejected Christ.
And if we think somehow that we are going to have a nice, comfortable existence in this world and lead what we might call good, morally upright lives and then go to heaven at the end, oh, thank God for all that. But if we think that that is all there is to it, we will find that the Lord will stir things up for us. Because we are.
In a world that has rejected him.
But there is another reason which is coupled with the first one.
And that is that Satan is doing his utmost in these last days to spoil.
Any little iota of Christian testimony that he can.
It says in the Book of Revelation, when Satan is cast out of heaven, that he cometh down with great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
That's in the middle of the Tribulation week.
But we might transpose that to our day, because Satan is no fool, and he knows that the day of grace is drawing to a close, and in that sense he knows that he has but a short time.
And I believe he's redoubling his efforts to trouble and discourage believers. I've said this before, and I don't mean to make a joke in the middle of a serious address, but if he can get you and me paralyzed in our Christian lives.
He has accomplished his aim.
Like the person who comes into work and I've seen it sometimes on a Monday morning, bleary eyed and groping from a lack of sleep and looking for the cup of coffee or something. And you say to them, how are you this morning? Well, I'm here as if don't expect too much more, at least not for a while until I get this coffee down me and until I kind of get my act together.
And the devil wants to make you and me as if we're just, well, we're here.
That's about it.
Here the people became discouraged because of the way.
Impatient.
The word also, and anyone can look this up, has the sense of grass or wheat or something being cut down, just not able to go on.
And you know.
We have to realize that discouragement.
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Is a sin.
Discouragement is a sin.
Do we realize that?
A dear brother, long since with the Lord, made this remark, which stuck with me.
He said the believer who is truly humble is never discouraged.
I remember reading that over 10 times and really trying to wrap my mind around it. The believer who is truly humble is never discouraged.
I must have read that 30 years ago. And you know it's true. It's true because when we are discouraged, it is because we are expecting something and not getting it. Sometimes from our fellow man, sometimes from our fellow believer, and sometimes, sad to say, from the Lord himself.
And we're not getting it. And then we get discouraged and it's a sin because pride has lifted itself up. And it literally says, Lord, I have this coming to me. We don't often think of discouragement that way, do we? And don't think that I have not been discouraged. Don't think that I am pointing the finger at any of you here.
But it is a sin before God, because really it is pride lifting its head up in God's presence and saying.
This ought to be happening and it isn't happening.
And these Israelites were discouraged, impatient because of the way.
And what happens?
And the people, and notice the order here. The people speak against God and against Moses.
The Lord was at the root of the problem in their minds, and they spoke against God. And how solemn that is. And maybe you and I wouldn't do it out loud.
But have we in our hearts become impatient with the Lord sometimes and upset with His ways with us? It can happen, can't it?
And don't get me wrong, I am not accusing anyone of all of this. All I say to my heart and to yours. As the old saying goes, if the cap fits, maybe I should wear it. Is that fair?
They spoke against God and then against Moses. And if I become upset?
With my brethren, if I become upset with the condition of things among my brethren.
Once again, that is self and pride.
Is there plenty to be upset about? Yes, there is.
But there is also plenty to be upset about right here, isn't there?
And you know, the man of God that the Lord used in difficult times among his people in both the Old and the New Testaments were those who were the first to identify with the ruin and the failure. You think, for example, of a man like Moses? He identified with the people of God and interceded for them.
And a man like Ezra who identified with the failure of the people of God and interceded for them. A man like Daniel who associated himself with the failure, even though you could say, but he wasn't part of it. He was a godly man, but he connected himself with it and the Lord could use him.
And the one man. Can you think of who it was who interceded against the people of God in the Old Testament?
The only case where the failure of an Old Testament St. is recorded in the New Testament.
Dear Elijah.
And the Lord says, as soon as he did that, I can't use you anymore. I can't use you in that spirit anymore.
And you know, this passage really speaks to my own soul, because these people, they spoke against God and then against Moses.
And you know when we start finding fault with the condition of things.
Feeling the burden of it, feeling the last days and the failure of them, yes.
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Bearing a real exercise before the Lord and groaning about it, yes.
But complaining about it? No, no.
The world has a saying. Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution?
Well, it works in spiritual things too. And what do these people have to say?
Verse 5. Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and are so loathe this light bread.
They are hankering to go back to Egypt. It was still there.
Way back when the spies went into the land, they were so upset at the bad report of those 10 spies that they said let's make a captain and go back to Egypt.
And you know.
There are two things that are connected in their lives in the wilderness that ultimately speak to your heart and mind, and in English they both begin with AC.
First of all they made a golden calf, and then they made a captain, or wanted to, to go back to Egypt. A calf and a captain. The calf speaks of idolatry, the captain speaks of rebellion against God.
And both can happen even in the Christian's life, maybe not actual idolatry, but in spirit idolatry, which is chasing after the things of this world and wanting to go back in spirit to Egypt, which speaks of the world. And they couldn't get that out of their system, as we say.
Do we have trouble with that? Sometimes? Yes, we do.
Worldliness bothers us in North America more than we realize, because it's insidious and it creeps in and there are opportunities here, perhaps not the way they once were, but it creeps into my heart, It creeps into my Christianity, it creeps into my life and spoils my enjoyment of heavenly things.
And as a result, they said, there is no bread and no water.
Had the Lord ever failed them?
Can you imagine the amount of food needed?
To serve probably between 2 and 3 million people every day, and yet the Lord had done it at this point for 38 years.
He had never failed them.
And the same with water.
And I want to say this to your soul and mind. Sometimes we hear a complaint we are not being fed.
Some of us who are older take that to heart because it can happen where the kind of food that you young people especially really need is not given to you in the right way. We admit that and it's humbling. And I sometimes ask young people after a Bible conference, did you enjoy it? And it always gratifies me.
And they say yes.
And I'm always humbled when they sometimes say I had a hard time understanding some of it.
But the point is, the Lord wants to feed your soul and mind. He wants to do it. And if you and I want food, the Lord will give it to us. You will remember in the book of Judges when Gideon.
Was threshing wheat behind the wine press? It was at the same time that the media Knights were taking all the food that belonged to Israel. Where did he get the wheat? I don't know, but he got it. He was going to have food and God will provide you and me food. But let's be careful that we're not like these Israelites that call it light bread. Oh dear, what a way to talk light bread.
That manner spoke of Christ.
Do we get tired of the ministry of that Blessed One?
That one who fills all things at God's right hand now.
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That one whose earthly pathway gives us the example for our lives down here.
Are so low that this light bread.
And yet there is more in Christ to fill your soul and mind than anything in this world to discourage and take away. There is more to give us enjoyment in our hearts.
But you know, we have to get the other things out of the way. We have to get the hindrances out of the way. That's all we have to do. And what a difference it makes. Are we willing to do that?
Well, you know the Lord dealt with these people here and it says in verse six and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died.
We hardly need to comment on what the serpent speaks of, do we?
Because it was the serpent that caused all the problems in the Garden of Eden. It was Satan appearing in the guise of a serpent that caused all those difficulties.
Brought them in.
And he still referred to in scriptures that old serpent, the devil, and he's out there waiting to bite you.
He can't do it unless the Lord allows it.
But may I say this, the Lord is allowing Satan as a fiery serpent to bite many of the Saints of God today. And I'm not referring to anyone thing, don't get me wrong.
A serpent's bite can take many forms.
And don't again misunderstand me. In no way am I implying that all of the difficulties and problems in a believer's life are traceable back.
To worldliness and disobedience to Christ.
Nor are they all due to Satan's influence, no.
But I do say this, that as it was in the case of Job, so often in the case of believers that the Lord is allowing Satan to bite.
And the power of Satan is very real, and he can only go so far as the Lord gives him permission.
But here he sent these fiery serpents among the people, and he is doing that among many of the people of God today, and not simply in North America. It's happening everywhere in this world. Fiery serpents. Why does the Lord do it?
Oh, because he wants to recall us to himself.
Are we willing to be recalled to themselves?
Now again, don't misunderstand me, I lookout here and I see older ones, I see people who are middle-aged and I see a good number of young people. And it does my heart good to see you here. And I know that in many of your hearts and maybe most of you, there is a real desire to go on for the Lord and you have a most difficult day in which to live for the Lord, because the devil is marshalling all his forces.
And men's hearts are beginning to fail them for fear because of the condition of things in this world.
And all I would say to you is, and we don't have time to dwell on it, but there is a path for faith and it is a happy path.
There is a path for you today through all of the complexity and irregularities of this world.
We may look at the economic situation, we look at the political situation, we look at the condition of the Church, which is worse than anything.
And we may look at other angles of things in this world and say, oh, how can I possibly make any headway in this world?
And you know what is happening.
Morally and spiritually, as it says here, much people are dying.
Not physically, but morally and spiritually. Many people are dying in this world. Many believers are morally and spiritually dead because of the bite of the serpent. They are basically saying this is too much.
This is too much.
And compromise becomes the way to get around it. Because if we're willing to compromise, Satan will.
You'll make a way for life to be easier if you're willing to compromise. Young people in my dear brethren, don't do it. Don't do it.
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Make no compromise, You and I have been given the most precious truth that God ever gave to man.
And we live in the most wonderful day in the history of the church, right on the eve of the Lord's return. Maybe you say, I would like to have lived back in the early days of the church, or I would like to have lived 150 some odd years ago when there were tremendous revivals in every part of the Western world and there was tremendous blessing in the Gospel. Tremendous blessing.
Half of me would too.
In one sense. But in another sense, I wouldn't trade. I wouldn't trade. Why? Because it's wonderful to live right near the end, on the eve of the Lord's return, right on the cusp if you like, to see everything heading right up to that wonderful time.
Well, the Lord sent fiery serpents, and what happens? Our time is going verse seven. Therefore the people came to Moses.
And again notice the right order and said we have sinned.
For we have spoken against the Lord and against thee.
They recognize that their first.
Complaint had been against the Lord himself and then against His servant. Let's remember that if I find fault with someone else, one of my brethren.
And I don't mean that it's wrong for us to identify perhaps areas where someone else whom we know well is perhaps going down the wrong road and seeking to be a help to one another. That's scriptural. But complaining and finding fault just for the sake of doing it?
That's wrong. That's really speaking. First of all, against the Lord and against thee. But notice what they say. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us.
And you know, my first thought is when there is a serious problem or difficulty and they can be very, very serious.
As I travel around, I get to know some of you better.
And I know as I look into your faces, I can see those right now sitting in this audience whom I know are passing through deep waters. My heart aches for you. I see some who have family problems, real difficulties, financial problems, other difficulties that maybe they don't voice out loud too often.
But they are a constant ache in the soul that never goes away.
And our first thought, perhaps, is to pray, Lord, take away the fiery serpents.
Moses was a man of God, and what does he do when he prays?
And I say this to each one of us. It simply says in Moses prayed for the people. He did not pray that the fiery serpents would be taken away. He prayed for the people. Why? Because he knew that underneath it all, the Lord had blessing in store for them far greater than merely taking away those fiery serpents. He knew that if there was a cause, the root needed to be addressed, and he didn't want them simply to have.
Problem taken away. He wanted there to be real blessing. He wanted them first of all to know themselves, as we said, and then he wanted them to know the Lord in a deeper, fuller way.
And what happens here?
As I say, probably the youngest child here, except the baby's, knows that what happened next. Verse eight. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, And it should come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when you looketh upon it, shall lift.
Moses prayed and the Lord gave an answer.
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And I say to your heart and mind.
Sometimes we get the idea that the more people that pray about a matter, the more likely the Lord is.
To answer.
I was rather amused in reading in our written ministry quite a few years ago now, where? An older brother said.
He said whenever I want something, want the Lord to do something quickly, I ask some young people to pray for him. He said because they don't see any of the difficulties, of the problems. They just pray simply and in real faith. And very often the Lord does it. Well, that was an interesting twist, but the point is.
Prayer is founded not on the fact that allowed crescendo of prayer going up to heaven will get the Lord's attention.
But prayer is rather founded, as another dear brother most aptly put it, prayer is founded on the immense privilege of our having common interests with God.
May I repeat that prayer is founded on the immense privilege of our having common interests with God.
It is far better for one individual to be praying for a situation who has the mind of the Lord and is walking with the Lord.
And 1000 people who merely hear about a problem and start praying about it.
Moses prayed for the people, he prayed in fellowship with the Lord, and the Lord told him what to do.
Make a fiery serpent. That's the last thing that you would have thought would have been right to do.
Can you imagine an Israelite looking at one of those serpents coming along and biting him and saying, and look, there's another one up on a pole just to remind me of it?
Uh, there was something most precious there.
And this is for our hearts.
We all know.
What that fiery serpent spoke of.
If there's any doubt, it tells us in the New Testament, doesn't it? It tells us very clearly.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, third chapter of John, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
The Lord Jesus had to be made sin on the cross.
In order that you and I might be saved. In order that the bite of that fiery serpent might be nullified.
That's the first lesson to learn from this is to be taken back to Calvary's cross.
You and I are getting discouraged by the way, if you and I are getting impatient if you and I are finding the way rather rough and difficult.
We need to go back to Calvary's cross and see that one there who gave everything for you and me. And it's particularly poignant when you look at what this serpent spoke of, because it speaks of Christ being made sin for us.
It doesn't speak of the physical sufferings of Christ, terrible though they must have been. It speaks of what took place in those hours of darkness when he was made sin and forsaken of God. In order that you and I.
Might be brought into blessing.
We need to go back to Calvary's cross.
But there's another point to be made here too, and that is this.
If that serpent of brass speaks of all the judgment of your sin and mine laid on him.
And it really should be copper, not brass. Brass is an alloy, but copper is pure, and it should be copper. A serpent was made of copper.
And copper in Scripture or brass speaks of judgment.
But it also speaks of self judgment.
And there needed to be, not merely.
In tight here a going back to.
So where their redemption originated, there needed to be self judgment.
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It's not an easy thing to do and God never, never occupies you and me with ourselves except in self judgment.
But it's a necessary thing.
And has another has very well remarked many, many years ago that self judgment is the inseparable condition of a walk in communion with God, Self judgment. And if I am unwilling to exercise self judgment, I stunt my growth as a believer, because there is an area then of my heart which the Lord wants to open up.
And to cleanse out, as it were. And I if I firmly close that door, do not let the Lord in.
And how often that's a problem. I remember once, quite a few years ago now, there was a dear brother who had.
A particular thing in his life that he needed to judge. And I guess I knew him well enough to draw to his attention. And his first response, as I kind of half expected it would be, was to, as we would say, to get his back up a little and.
To say, well look brother, the Lord is blessing me in this area of my life and that area of my life and in this area of my life.
How can there be something that I need to deal with? The Lord is using me.
Oh, I said brother, thank God he is.
But I said, brother, I grew up on a fruit farm, which is true.
And I said we learned that we pruned a good tree far more carefully than we pruned one that was not producing fruit very well. But the good tree needed pruning.
The good tree needed pruning.
Why? In order that it might produce more fruit. And I said the Lord is using you brother, but he's trying to prune something that will allow you to bear more fruit. Well, I'm very happy to say that he took that advice and he dealt with that issue and he is producing even more fruit today.
But sometimes we refuse to believe that we need self judgment. We say no, I don't have that problem.
We're in what we call denial.
And that's a solemn thing, isn't it?
Self judgment a very necessary thing.
And so Moses makes that serpent of brass, and puts it upon a pole.
And it says.
If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
All we need more living Christians today. We need more Christians that are alive for the Lord's glory, alive for his interest down here. It's a day of opportunity. We just heard in the prayer meeting about the opportunities in Brazil, although they are so frequent and so many that there are not enough workers to satisfy the needs.
There is plenty to do for the Lord.
In these last days, the fields are white to harvest, plenty to do, not only in preaching the gospel, but in seeking to be a help to souls that are saved. The needs are tremendous.
And may I say this, that I am persuaded that there is a lot of gift and a lot of energy there that could be used for the Lord.
Let's see Grace to do it for him. Let's not become discouraged because of the way. Let's not.
Allow the serpent.
And his bite.
To kill me morally and spiritually.
Let's look to that serpent of brass. Let's first of all, have our hearts touched.
By that sacrifice on Calvary's cross.
Let's have our conscience is touched.
And be ready to exercise self judgment.
And we all have to do it.
And let's be among those in these last days who live.
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Our time is gone. Let's finish that hymn, please.
#76.
The last four verses.
Last verse There are no stranger God.
And that's meant to be a hyphenated word. There are no stranger Gods shall meet thee, stranger thou in courts above.
He who to his rash shall greet thee, greets thee with a well known love on his death bed. The author of this hymn made these remarks. He said, Well, it will be a strange thing to be in heaven.
But he said.
Thank the Lord it will not be a strange Christ. It will be 1 whom I have known and loved.
For many years.
#76 verse seven and we'll sing it to the same tube.