Nehushtan

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Sermon preached at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss on Lord’s Day Morning, 28th October, 2018

“Nehushtan.”—2 Kings 18:4

I woke up with this word about five o’clock Thursday morning. It is a word that is not in the English language, but it is a word that is in the Word of God. It has a very important message to us this Sabbath morning. “Nehushtan.” The interpretation of it is ‘a piece of brass.’ I want, with God’s help, to divide our meditation this morning into three things. First of all, the history of the brasen serpent. Secondly, the doctrine of the brasen serpent. And thirdly, the snare of the brasen serpent. Three things: the history, the doctrine and the snare.

The history is very instructive. As we read in Numbers 21, the children of Israel had just experienced a wonderful victory over King Arad. The Lord had given them great success, and they had every reason to be thankful to the God of all their mercies. But, as it so often has been in the history of the Church of Christ, and is in the personal experience of God’s people, when a victory has been gained and a blessing has been obtained, Satan is not slow to take advantage and bring a fresh trouble. He came in a very different way to King Arad. He came with a giant within their hearts – not one from outside. What did he do? Well, the children of Israel were journeying, as you know, to the land of Canaan. They were guided by the fiery, cloudy pillar, which did not err. They were commanded to follow that fiery, cloudy pillar in whichever direction it went. And they came to the land of Edom. The land of Edom is where the descendants of Esau lived. Of course, knowing the history of Jacob and Esau (going back generations), you can realise there was not much friendship and affinity between the two people. And, although Israel would have liked to have gone, as it were, diagonally across Edom to get to Canaan a bit quicker, the Lord said: ‘No. You are to go around Edom.’ Now, you young people know that if you come to a field and you see a gate diagonally opposite, the quickest way is to go straight across the field and not walk around the sides. But Israel had to walk around the sides. It meant a much longer journey. It meant much more energy and much more patience. Then we read in the Word of God – and do take note of this, young and old, because none of us are guiltless in this respect: “The soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.” The original meaning of the word ‘discouraged’ means ‘short of patience.’ And when sinners get short of patience (not just young sinners, old sinners as well), things are said and done that otherwise would not be said and done. Friends, how careful we must be with our tongues! You have only to read James 3 about the tongue, that “little member.” There we read: “It is set on fire of hell.” And, “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” It may be just a spark in a haystack, but the whole lot goes up. Dear friends, do set a watch over your mouth. Keep the door of your tongue. “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”

Well, what happened? The children of Israel began to murmur and grumble. First they grumbled within themselves, and then they started to speak. ‘Moses, it is all your fault! You should not have brought us up out of Egypt. We would have been much happier there!’ Oh, friends! They forgot the lash, didn’t they? They forgot the burdens. They forgot the sweat and the toil. Oh, how Satan blinds the minds! And they began to speak against God and said that the provision God had made for them was not enough. But then they said something very terrible. You have been singing in both your hymns this morning of the gospel food: the Bread of Life. (Hymns 886 & 979). The children of Israel said: “Our soul loatheth this light bread.” Young ones, listen! When your mother or father puts your food on the table, never say that. Just be thankful you have a meal in front of you. Remember there are hundreds and thousands on the face of this earth who would be only too glad to have the meal that perhaps you have despised. There may come a day when you are as hungry as they are, if you despise God’s provision. I will leave that as a thought for you. That is why at the beginning of every meal we give thanks, remembering where it comes from. (I hope there is no household here that does not begin a meal without giving thanks for it).

But, the children of Israel loathed the manna; that miraculous provision God had made for them. The manna was a wonderful provision. Day by day, except on the Sabbath Day, the manna fell. On the sixth day there was double manna so they did not need to gather on the seventh. The Lord was mindful of them, but they loathed it. They hated it. They despised it. And the Lord sharply reproved them. Why did He reprove them so sharply, you might ask? Was it not a little unfair of Him to be so sharp with them when, after all, they were in such dire straits? Friends, God is just. He never makes a mistake. He is:

“Too wise to err, and O, 

Too good to be unkind.

S. Medley

And, when He lays on you and on me a Fatherly rod, there is always a reason for it. He is never unjust in His dealings. Now, remember that.

So, why was God so justly angry? It was because they were loathing the type of the Bread of Life, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Later on He would come, and say: “I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” They were loathing the type. They were touching the honour and glory of God in His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God is exceedingly and rightly jealous of the honour of His dear Son. Moses had proved it himself, hadn’t he? Do you remember how when Moses smote the rock the first time at God’s command the water came out? Then, later on we read in the Book of Numbers that God said: “Speak ye unto the rock.” But Moses was out of patience. He was angry and in a temper! Even that godly man; what he did in a temper! He disobeyed God and smote the rock. “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” ‘Moses! Where have you got to? You cannot fetch water out of the rock. It is God who gives it.’ God solemnly reproved Moses, godly man that he was. Why was He so sharp with Moses? It was again because he had touched the honour of Christ. Christ was only to suffer once, “the Just for the unjust.” Once for sinners He was to die. Once He was to hang on the cross. Once He was to satisfy the law under the divine displeasure at Calvary. And, once that was done, it never needed to be repeated. Moses broke the type by smiting the rock again. And the Lord prevented Moses from going into the land of Canaan, literally. It did not shut him out of heaven, but it shut him out of the literal Canaan. It was a cross he had to bear for the rest of his days. God is rightly jealous of the honour and glory of His dear Son.

So, on this occasion He sent fiery serpents, probably scorpions. They had a venomous bite. They bit the children of Israel, poisoned them and many died. We do not know how long it took for Israel to come to their senses and realise why it was. It was no accident; it was no coincidence. Who had sent the fiery serpents? Why had they come? God sent them, because the children of Israel had rebelled. At last the children of Israel come to Moses. “We have sinned.” Is there one under the rod this morning? Have you come to that point yet? Or have you tried to explain the rod away? ‘Well, if this person had not done that, or that one had not done that, things would be so different.’ Friends, who permitted it? What did Joseph’s brethren say? “What is this that God hath done unto us?” And Israel came to that conclusion: why had these serpents come? It was because they had sinned. We need to remember that.

So, the Lord very kindly did something which they didn’t actually ask for. They wanted the serpents taken away. The Lord did not do that. We do not read he did that. What He did do was provide a remedy for the bite when it came, a most unusual remedy. Moses was to take a tall pole, and on it he was to put a serpent made of brass. And God gave a promise. Whoever was bitten, if they looked on that serpent of brass, they would live. The venom would go. They would be restored and be completely healed. Those who had not been bitten might look on it as a work of art and admire it in that way. But if you were that bitten one, that dying one, that perishing one: how precious would the provision God had made that you should not perish in your sins have been! This is the history of the brasen serpent.

I just want you to notice that God did not take away the serpents at that time. I will just pause here a moment. Those of you who know yourselves as sinners this Sabbath morning and know what sin is within and the bites it give; oh, how you long to be freed from sin! And, that is right. It is a very blessed desire. But, while you are in the body, the serpent will be there. You must expect it. It will be there, and, from time to time it will bite. But, the remedy, blessed be God, is in the doctrine of the brasen serpent we will come to in a moment. Sin is there, but there is a remedy. Bless God for it.

So, the children of Israel were delivered in this terrible time of crisis. They went on with a mark of God’s favour yet to an un-meriting, disobedient people. How good and how kind God was to provide a remedy!

Let us come now to the doctrine; the doctrine of the brasen serpent. We are left in absolutely no doubt by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as to what was the true meaning of the brasen serpent. You have only to go to John 3 and hear the discourse; that precious sermon preached to a man called Nicodemus. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” The Lord Jesus Christ likens Himself to that brasen serpent. What humility! What condescension! How low was He to sink! He likens the look that the children of Israel gave towards the brasen serpent in the wilderness to the look of faith given to Him as the lifted up Saviour. Why did He liken Himself to a brasen serpent? Why does the holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb of God liken Himself to such a demeaning thing, we might say? Why? It is because, dear friends, the only remedy for sinners is that One should stand in the sinners place. And, blessed be His holy name, the dear Redeemer came to do just that. We read that word in 2 Corinthians (a very deep word): “For He” that is God the Father, “hath made Him” that is God the Son, “to be sin” not a sinner, note that “for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” In what way was He made sin? He was never a sinner in thought, word, or deed. He never gave way to an evil temper – blessed be His holy name. If ever there was a man who was sorely assaulted by sinners, by saints and by the devil himself it was the dear Redeemer. There was “no guile” in His mouth. “When He suffered, He threatened not.” So different to you and I when we get in the wrong spirit!

But, why was He made sin? What does it mean? It means He was made a sin-offering. It means that He bore in His own soul, body and person as He hung on the cross the curse that was due to His people. The wrath that they should have endured, He endured. The curse that they should have endured to all eternity, He endured. The displeasure of God against their sins, He felt. He was made a curse, in that respect, for His dear people. In that sense He is like the brasen serpent. He says, even this Sabbath morning to all those here in Old Baptist Chapel who have a feeling of their sinfulness and are mourning over their guilt and plague: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” You have tried to put things right. You have tried to suppress your sins. You have tried to find an answer to the guilt that mounts day by day, week by week and month by month against your name, and there is no answer to it. But the Lord Jesus says that there is an answer. “And as Moses,” the type of the law “lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,” the type of our Lord Jesus Christ “even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” It does not matter what his age is. It does not matter how long he has been a sinner; he has been a sinner from his birth, anyway. It does not matter what his history is, how deep his sins have been, what havoc he has made of his life or what havoc he has made of other people’s lives by his sins. Sin is not a personal thing in that respect; it is like a ripple that goes out. Oh, the effect our sins have on others! But, to a bitten sinner, feeling the bitterness of your sin and the guilt of your sin, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” He bids that sinner look to Him.

You say, ‘But do you know how black I am?’ Well, you know how black you feel, and God knows how black you really are. All the more reason to look! Go back to the Israelites for a moment. Suppose there is a bitten sinner. ‘Perhaps I will go and see what my mother or father says! Perhaps they have a remedy in the cupboard for me!’ That will not do. ‘We will get the best doctor or physician in who may understand these things!’ That will not do. No. There is only one remedy for rich or poor, known or unknown. “Look!” So simple, wasn’t it? Those who had not been bitten did not really value it. They may have admired the structure of it and the skill of the man who made the serpent. But, because they had not been bitten it did not mean anything to them. I wonder if there are some here this Sabbath morning like that? You have not been bitten in that sense. You have not been convinced of your sin. It is not a wound that you are mourning over. It is not a grief that makes you sign and cry and groan. As yet you are insensible to the solemn, awesome condition that you are in. May God send an arrow of conviction into your soul! May you know what the bite means that makes you cry for mercy.

But there are those here whom I believe do know what it is. You are groaning and are truly humbled this Sabbath morning under the sense of your sins. You look back to your earliest days: what a mess you have made of your life! What a horrendous state it is in the sight of God! What is the answer? “Look.” Look to this precious Saviour, whose perfect obedience covers the blackest of sinners. His precious blood atones for the deepest debt that has ever been known of a sinner. This One welcomes the vile and the black, the poor and the needy. “Come unto Me,” He says, ‘all ye that labour under a sense of sin; ye that labour under the curse felt in your heart.’ “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” There is the answer to your sin – it is in Christ.

“Out of self to Jesus lead!”

“Pore not on thyself too long, 

Lest it sink thee lower;

Look to Jesus, kind as strong – 

Mercy joined with power.”

This is the doctrine of the cross: Jesus in the sinner’s place. He is that brasen serpent; He is, as it were, the great antitype of it. He was made a curse that His people might never be cursed. He bore the wrath of God that they might never feel it.

So, dear friends, there is a wonderful doctrine here before us this Sabbath morning.

“The vilest sinner out of hell, 

Who lives to feel his need,

Is welcome to a Throne of Grace, 

The Saviour’s blood to plead.”

You say, ‘But I do not know that I am one of His dear people.’ Listen, dear friend. You must come as a sinner. That is the way to come.

“For sinners, Lord, Thou cam’st to bleed; 

And I’m a sinner vile indeed;

Lord, I believe, Thy grace is free,

O magnify that grace in me.”

J. Hart

And, as you find a welcome at the Throne of Grace, as all coming sinners do, you will find that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God will show that to you, in due season. But, in your coming, you come as a sinner.

“Marks of grace I cannot show; 

All polluted is my breast.”

J. Newton

That may be how you feel this morning. You feel yourself to be a sinner. Well, that is how we have to come.

“Convinced as a sinner, to Jesus I come, 

Informed by the gospel for such there is room.”

And, the Holy Ghost, who is the Giver of living faith and who opens the wound in the heart of the sinner that can only be healed by the gospel; He who has wounded the sinner will lead him to the fountain. He who has opened up the wound will lead him to the Balm of Gilead, where the Physician is. It is He who says to the dear sinners here this Sabbath morning, who are groaning under a sense of sin: “Look.” Look where? Away from self, away from family, away from denominational names, away from works, away from this dying world: look to this dear Saviour hanging on the cross at Calvary. See what He has done for sinners.

“Venture on Him, venture wholly; 

Let no other trust intrude.”

J. Hart

That, dear friends, is the doctrine of the brasen serpent. “And as Moses,” the type of the law, “lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” God’s law demanded the Surety should suffer. God’s law demanded that the Substitute should take the place of the sinner. Thus, there is the welcome this Sabbath morning that we may preach the gospel to you. It is not of free will; it is not of man. It is all of grace, from beginning to end. May God open your eyes to see the freeness of it and the simplicity of it. You can imagine, even in the wilderness, that there were those who perhaps were very educated saying: ‘Well, that does not seem right. It is too simple for us! Surely there must be something more complicated to heal this dreadful wound!’ Dear friends, the gospel is wonderfully simple. It is so blessedly simple that even a child here this Sabbath morning, if the Holy Spirit were pleased to open their eyes, would see it. Yes. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Thus we need the simplicity of a child to trust the dear Redeemer for that blessed word He has set before guilty sinners this Sabbath morning: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” In the wilderness it did not matter how young they were, or how old they were. It did not matter how rich or poor they were, or whether they were known, or unknown. It did not matter how long they had been bitten. It did not make any difference. The remedy was just the same: “Look.” “And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” As one put it:

“There is life for a look at the crucified One.”

A. Hull

Oh, dear friends, that some of us would get a glimpse of Him again.

“Here it is I find my heaven, 

While upon the Lamb I gaze;

Love I much? I’ve much forgiven; 

I’m a miracle of grace.”

So it is. You will be standing in amazement. ‘Why?’ ‘Why should I, who was wallowing in sin and running in the broad road that leadeth to destruction, heedless of the danger, heedless of the wound that sin was giving me day by day: why should my eyes be opened? Why should I be made to feel the want of a Saviour? Why should this vile wretch have a Saviour revealed to him? Why?’ It is all of grace.

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,

And enter while there’s room;

When thousands make a wretched choice, 

And rather starve than come?”

I. Watts

They love the sin. They love the serpent and would rather die than see a precious Christ. ‘Why was my eye opened? Why was my ear opened? Why was my heart opened?’ Grace: free grace has done it, as only it can. Well, this is a poor description of the doctrine, but I just set it before you this Sabbath morning. May the Holy Ghost open your eyes to see this is the remedy. There is no other remedy I can preach to you, and nor would I desire to preach any other remedy. I desire to know it more deeply myself. I hope you do, as well.

So, we have just had a brief hint of the history, the remedy and the doctrine. But, what about the snare? Let us go back to the verse I read where our text is found; let us read the whole verse again. Hezekiah “removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.” ‘That is, a piece of brass.’

What had happened? Man, ever since the fall, is a natural idolater. Remember that. You and I are born natural idolaters. When man was created and given a soul, he was different to every other part of God’s creation. That soul was the place where man was to worship God; in his affections and in his heart. He was to adore his Creator. He was to be a spiritual person. But, we know that ever since the fall, the place that should have been reserved for his Creator has been taken by Satan, the prince of darkness. Satan blinds the minds of sinners that they might not see the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. Thus, anything that takes the place of Christ in your heart is idolatry. And here was a piece of brass – we will come back to that in a moment. It may be wealth with you. It may be leisure, it may be popularity or it may be your business. It may be anything, dear friend, that has the first place in your thoughts, and everything else is subservient to it.

Now, examine yourself this Sabbath morning. Where are the idols? We do not have to look far. You need not look beyond your own self, if you understand a little of what I am saying. The old preachers used to talk about the great ‘I’. ‘I must do this and I must have that!’ That is the language of the day of human rights in which we now live. Man has human rights: it is all centred around the great I. Yes, and look what a mess it is making of society! It is destroying itself because men are worshipping the great ‘I’ of self. It is all: ‘What I want. No one is going to hinder me. No one is going to tell me what to do. They have no right to do that. I have got a human right to do this, that and the other, irrespective of what God’s Word says.’ “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” Friends, if that is your attitude, you are doing just what the children of Israel did and Hezekiah was given grace to see it: you are making an idol. God will remove that idol in due time, I tell you, whether it be this side of the grave, or the other.

What were the children of Israel doing? Of course, they looked back with great pleasure on the history of the brasen serpent. But, they forgot one vital thing. It was not the brass that saved them. It was the promise God had given to those who looked to it. They forgot the One who had made the provision, and, instead made an idol of the means. It is very easy to do that. In the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians you read of a division in the Church. The division was this. Some said: ‘I was baptised by Peter.’ Some said: ‘I was baptised by Paul.’ Some said: ‘Well, we are Christ’s.’ They were dividing between various factions and making an idol of the means. Friends, there is only One whom we should adore, and that is a precious Christ. Paul says: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Man must never take the place that belongs to Christ. Do remember that. We are so apt to make an idol of the means rather than He who is the God of the means. If you go to Gloucester Cathedral, I believe there is some relic there that is supposed to be the very wood that Christ hung upon. What foolishness! What folly! As if that could save! It cannot.

We go a little further. The way in which the Romish Church has produced, we might say, the communion of the Lord’s Table. In their view, the bread literally becomes the body of Christ, and the wine the blood of Christ. They adore the host as they carry it into the Church, bowing before it. Friends, it is just like the serpent of brass. They have made an idol of something. You may say, ‘Well, what does the Lord’s Table mean?’ I will tell you what it means: it is a window through which we view the suffering Saviour. We see the bread broken; it reminds us of His dear, broken body. It is not the same, but it reminds us of it and it speaks to us of it. We see the poured out wine; it reminds us of Him who “poured out His soul unto death.” We put no confidence in the bread or the wine. But, we do put a confidence in He whose body is represented, whose blood was shed and whose life was laid down. Oh, blessed remembrance! “This do in remembrance of Me,” He says to sin-bitten sinners who know the remedy; those who have been to the foot of the cross and found where the real remedy is: in the precious blood and righteousness of our dear Saviour.

So, this brasen serpent had to be broken down. The children of Israel were burning incense to it. They were offering to it as if somehow it was to be worshipped. Never to be! “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” What happened to the brasen serpent, dear friends, must happen to all the idols of our hearts. They must be broken down, because Christ must have the first place, not the second, or the third. And, if He doesn’t, if you are a child of God, be sure the Lord knows how to break the idol down, and teach you to worship Christ and Christ alone. One said in one of our hymns:

“The dearest idol I have known, 

Whate’er that idol be;

Help me to tear it from thy throne, 

And worship only Thee.”

‘Tear’ it – that is a big word, isn’t it? That idol has such a hold on your affections, hasn’t it? It has taken such a hold on your life that you think you can’t possibly live without it.

Help me to tear it from thy throne, 

And worship only Thee.”

That word ‘only’ is a big word, too, but it is real religion.

“Nothing in my hand I bring; 

Simply to Thy cross I cling; 

Naked, come to Thee for dress; 

Helpless, look to Thee for grace; 

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”

W. Cowper.

“Nehushtan.” When all is said and done, it is just a piece of brass. That is all it is. Oh, that we might be delivered from anything inferior to Christ and His gospel! It is to know Him: that is the point. Paul said: “That I may know Him.” ‘Not know of Him; not know about Him, but that I may know Him personally as my Saviour.’ “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.”

Here we have it then. “And he called it Nehushtan.” ‘A piece of brass.’ In other words, Hezekiah cleansed and reformed the Church in his day of all that would hinder the true worship of the one and only true God, as God helped him.

Let us come back to the brasen serpent. Let us meditate on He who is the great anti-type of it. “As Moses,” the type of the law, “lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” What a lifting up it is! The office of the gospel minister is to lift up a precious Christ. Not to be seen ourselves, but that sinners may look to Christ, a lifted up Saviour. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

And, He is not just to be lifted up in the pulpit, and in the hymns and in the sermon. What about your life? How much of a lifted-up Christ is there in your life? Do others really know the difference? We read in the Acts of the Apostles concerning those that opposed the dear disciples: “They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” In other words, it was known. It was noticed. It was seen. There was a great change wrought in the heart and the lives of those who “had been with Jesus.” He was first in everything. Is He in your life, and in mine? We sometimes sing:

“If Jesus should come to our meeting today,

To call out the Christians by name,

O how we should listen to what He would say! 

How solemn the moments would seem!”

Young People’s Hymnal

Yet, Jesus is here, isn’t He? Even this Sabbath morning His eye is upon us. He knows where our hearts are. He knows where our affections are. He knows where our desires are. Does He look into your heart this Sabbath morning and say, ‘Yes. I can see that which the Holy Ghost has created within: a living, loving, longing desire for none but Jesus.’ Sadly, Queen Mary I was an idolater. But, she said that after she died, if anyone were to open up her heart they would find ‘Calais’ written on it. She had such affection for Calais, which was part of England at that time. She so loved Calais, it was like an idol to her. Well, dear friends. Leave Mary I to one side (sad woman that she was). If your heart was opened up before God this Sabbath morning, what would be written on it? Self? Money? Pleasure? Leisure? Work? Family, perhaps? We have to be careful, even in that. But, would the name of Christ be there? We read of Lydia, “whose heart the Lord opened.” When Lydia’s heart was opened, what was written across the fleshy tables of it? “Jesus only.” We sometimes sing:

“Jesus, engrave it on my heart,

That Thou the one thing needful art; 

I could from all things parted be, 

But never, never, Lord, from Thee.”

S. Medley

‘Engrave it’ – that is cutting work! Permanent work! Oh, He must be the One thing needful if we are to be right in His sight in the end.

“Nehushtan.” ‘A piece of brass.’ May God deliver us from trusting in anything like that; even our own feelings. I want a feeling religion; do not mistake me. But, be careful lest you make even grace a snare and boast of your feelings to others. What wonderful blessings you have had! Be careful. The great ‘I’ creeps in. It is:

None but Jesus

Can do helpless sinners good.”

J. Hart

It means, dear friends that again and again you have to come back like this:

“Yes! I’m a poor sinner and nothing at all 

But Jesus my Saviour is my All in all.”

There was a minister in the early 20th Century who preached in Bedfordshire (I did not know him myself). On one occasion, he had a very wonderful experience of the Lord’s blessing. But, although it was wonderful to him, it became a snare. As he went around preaching, he measured everyone else by his own standards. If they hadn’t had the same experience as he had, he felt they were out of the secret. He became very cutting and very separating. Eventually the Lord took away the feeling of that blessing, and he then felt to be the vilest sinner; the vilest he had ever felt! The Lord showed him he was making an idol of his experience and was forgetting where it came from. How careful we have to be! As John Berridge says, even grace can become a snare if we lose sight of Christ.

If we lose sight of Christ we are wandering. May He be kept in our view this Sabbath morning: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” That is not a piece of brass. That is salvation. May it be yours, and may it be mine.

May God add His blessing.

Amen.