Scripture referenced 3 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
Numbers 20:14-29 Moses sending messengers to Edom, Aaron's death on Mount Hor
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers.
16 When we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.
17 “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.”
18 Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.”
19 The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.”
20 He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.
21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.
22 They traveled from Kadesh: and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,
24 “Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.
25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
26 and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there.”
27 Moses did as Yahweh commanded. They went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Numbers 21:1-9
the Canaanite king of Arad, the venomous snakes, and the bronze snake on the pole
1 The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of Atharim. He fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.
2 Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
3 Yahweh listened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. The name of the place was called Hormah.
4 They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom The soul of the people was very discouraged because of the journey.
5 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, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this disgusting bread.”
6 Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
7 The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh, and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people.
8 Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
9 Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of brass, he lived.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
John 3:14-16
Jesus telling Nicodemus the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted the snake, and God's love for the world
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The sermon worked through a strange, often-overlooked episode in Numbers 21, where God told Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole so that anyone bitten could look at it and live. Pastor Neil connected that story to Jesus's nighttime conversation with Nicodemus in John 3, where Jesus pointed back to that very moment and said the Son of Man must be lifted up in the same way. The point was that the gospel has always worked like this: God makes the way, and we either look to it in faith or we don't.
What was said
The Israelites were worn out, going the long way around Edom because Edom refused to let them pass through. In that exhaustion and frustration, they did what they had been doing since chapter 11 of Numbers: they grumbled. They complained that there was no bread and no water, and that the manna God was giving them daily was miserable. They had provision. They just did not like the provision they had.
God's response was to send venomous snakes. People were bitten and people died. Pastor Neil was clear that he does not think of God as waiting to slap people down, but he also was not willing to soften what the text says. The people recognized what they had done, came to Moses, said plainly that they had sinned, and asked him to pray for them.
Moses prayed, and God's answer was not what anyone would expect. He told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten and looked at it would live. There was no medicine, no antivenom, no instructions about the wound itself. Just look and live. Pastor Neil admitted it sounds like something it is not, but that is exactly what God said to do, and it was exactly what worked.
What makes the story matter beyond its own moment is that Jesus reached back and grabbed it when he was explaining himself to Nicodemus. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life. The cross is the pole. Jesus is what you look to. The logic of the old story turns out to be the logic of the gospel.
A quote from philosopher Cornelius Van Til helped frame why the exclusivity of that matters. The argument was that it is not kindness to tell patients who need strong medicine that nothing is seriously wrong with them. Christians are not wiser than anyone else, but they are responsible to tell the truth about the human condition, about the real nature of what is wrong, rather than pointing people toward false remedies like education, moral effort, or any other thing that promises to balance the scales.
The sermon closed with John 3:16 read carefully, with the note that "so" in that verse does not mean "so much." It means "in this way." For God, in this way, loved the world: he gave his Son, lifted up, so that whoever believes in him will not perish. That is the shape of salvation from Numbers 21 all the way through. God makes a way. The invitation is simply to look to it.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Patrick was captured as a slave and came to know Christ deeply during that suffering, then felt called to go back and share the gospel with the people who had enslaved him. Has there been a hard season in your life that God used to draw you closer to Him or to prepare you for something you did not expect?
- The Israelites were being fed manna from heaven every day, yet they called it miserable food and complained against God and Moses. Where in your own life do you find yourself grumbling about God's provision even when He is clearly meeting your needs?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,626 words
0:03
Speaker 2Today we stand up and begin to give God the the worship and the praise he so deserves. Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much stronger? Our Lord. Who breaks in power of sin and
0:42
Speaker 3the
0:54
Speaker 2king above the king above all all kings. Kings. And this is amazing grace. Let's sing it again. This is amazing grace.
1:06
This is unfailing love. That you would take my face. That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I say for all that you've done for me.
1:38
Amen. Who brings? And let's sing worthy is.
4:28
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements this morning. There's one of em that the slide did not go through that I know of. Turning point.
4:38
If I forget that one, call me out. Alright? The slide just didn't get in here this morning but Monday nights at first b is happening tomorrow night.
4:44
Speaker 2We are on. Tomorrow is corned beef and cabbage day and Monday night. Who likes that by the way? Anybody?
4:52
Speaker 3Love it. Okay.
4:54
Speaker 1Zero? Alright.
4:56
Speaker 2We're on at six. Neil, music message. We're in Colossians one on the supremacy of Christ. Amen. Excited to teach on that.
5:05
Speaker 1Amen. That happens at the same time as Awana, and there was a quiz here yesterday. Awana had a quiz in Lander sent their Awana group up and all the kids sat. You see them all answering C on the on the question right there. It was great.
5:23
We had and it's Bible quiz. It's all in good fun. Some of it is racing on memory verses and some of it is games like Awana has games and we Lander edged us out on the Bible quiz portion but we whipped them in the games, okay? Alright. Maybe we wish it was oh, in the name of Jesus.
5:41
I'm sorry. That's actually, it was just a lot of fun. It was a whole lot of fun and the kids came up from Lander and spent the night here. It was it was pretty cool, right? So, it was a nice thing.
5:52
Good, good fun. Monday nights, Awana happens this room, 05:45 to 07:30 and it really is pouring scripture in a fun way, pouring scripture into kids' heads to get to their hearts. We're going sing a song a little bit called From Head to the Heart. You take me on a journey. We've got another precept study.
6:10
It's Thursday from nine to 11:30. They are in the book of Acts right now and that is nine to 11:30 on Thursdays. Wednesdays, we have a community Bible study, study in Hebrews and I think this is the last week, right? Last week of Hebrews 09:30 in the morning or 06:30 in the evening on Wednesday. That's good.
6:30
Today, there's a discovery class in my office at 10:00 ish in between services down the hall. If you would like to be a member of the church or you just wanna know about membership in the church, the local church right here, then come on down and a couple of elders will be in there. We'll talk through a little bit of information, but discovery class happens today in my office. Second door on the left down the hall. We have connect hours.
6:54
There'll be coffee and goodies down there if you would like to do that and kinda connect with the folks who are coming in early for the 11:00 service. That's good too. Anything that I'm yes. There is something I'm missing. Turning Point.
7:06
So it's gonna be on April 7. There will be a movie that Turning Point is renting out the the twin, and we're gonna do a movie. It's called Unplanned. It's the story of Abby Johnson. It's pretty supposed to be a really, really good movie, and it's gonna be April 7.
7:27
First Bee has has kinda claimed 50 tickets. So if you wanna do that, talk to us. We'll get your name on a list if we don't actually put a ticket in your hand so that you can be one of those. But they had in order to do that, they had to basically rent out the whole theater to get them to bring it in. So it's a good movie called Unplanned about Abby Johnson's life.
7:47
She was an advocate for Planned Parenthood and then realized what was going on and had a change of heart. And it's a fantastic story. So anyway, that's happening. That's turning point, bringing it in, unplanned. Talk to Carolyn Marziniak.
8:03
Would you stand up for just a second? Wave your hand. Talk to her or talk to Diane or Nick and they will take your name down to get one of those tickets. Alright? Other churches in town are being contacted too but thank you very much.
8:15
Anybody else? Anything I'm forgetting? Okay. Very good. Anything else should be listed in your bulletin?
8:25
And sometimes there are things in the bulletin that I don't say up here, but grab one on your way in or on your way out, and you can have a kind of a record of what's going on in here. Anything else, Carl? Alright, would you stand up and greet one another and the band will crank up in a minute, bring you back together with a song. Bernadette.
12:28
Speaker 2Oh, Lord, we we we sing it, but we also pray it. Lord, may we be aware of your very real presence with us here this morning, that you are living, that you are active, that you are moving. But Lord, that we would see it, Lord, that we would pursue you and look to you to see you moving, to see how you're moving. To remember too, Lord, when when you do wonderful things for us, may we look back and go, that was you. That was you.
13:00
That was you working. That was you moving. Thank you, Lord. May we not take for granted how you live and breathe and you move in our lives. In Jesus name.
13:09
Amen. Amen. I wanna pray on that. God, you are life giving. Life giving.
16:47
Whom the son sets free is free indeed. I thank you for freedom. Freedom in you. Freedom from the power of sin and darkness and death and hell and the grave that you give life. May we look to you, run to you for the life that you give.
17:05
In Christ's name. Amen.
21:33
Speaker 1Frontline team come forward to you. God, we pray lord that you would fill us lord with your joy. For some of us that have been struggling for a while, lord, we pray that you'd Return us to the place of the joy of your salvation. In Jesus name, lord, we're thankful to be here with you this morning. Knowing that you're with us everywhere but in the body of Christ gathered together as one.
22:00
Here in one accord, looking to you, looking to the scriptures, In Jesus name, lord, we ask that you bless everyone that's here, everyone that has come. In Jesus name, lord, we ask for your blessing to be here. We ask that you bless this offering right now that you do your kingdoms, work with it, lord, that you would direct, and that you'd multiply this to advance the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. In Jesus name, lord, we come together and in Jesus name, we pray and in Jesus name, we do take this offering up and lord, we distribute it in Jesus name.
22:43
Would you do your will and your way among us this morning? We ask for your blessing. Amen. And now it's time for children's church downstairs. Peak Children's Church is cranking up down there right now.
27:20
I heard one of the teachers practicing during the announcements. Going over something down there. So, good morning. How are you this morning? More well adjusted to the time change from last week.
27:34
Yeah. I think we are. I've got a continuation. So, I like going in order and so, I like going in order and as I was going in order this week, I looked at numbers 20 last week. We went through Moses and striking the rock in place of speaking to the rock and the glory of God was thematically what it was about but as I look forward this week, I saw numbers 21 is next and there's a great story.
28:02
It's just four weird little verses in the Old Testament. I think that they're weird. I think you'll probably think they're weird too. I didn't even hear. I've read the Bible before when I was little, you know, but I didn't remember this story.
28:12
I didn't remember anybody ever teaching it in Sunday school or anything but Jesus calls back to it and so I'm going to bring that one up but this week, 03/14. 03/14, y'all heard pie day. Y'all heard people talk about pie day because it's 03/14, right? I am not a math guy. I'm a word guy, you know.
28:32
I I did I actually was on the math team in high school. Can you believe that? Mathlete. It is an infinite decimal. That is the first 812 digits of pi.
28:43
And people have figured this. You know, the ancient Egyptians figured it to two decimal places basically and Babylonians did to 1400, fifteen hundred BC and then people have figured this to the ten trillionth decimal place. Computers are constantly working on it all the time and that's never it doesn't repeat. It just keeps on going into infinity. And that's kind of weird and so I think they're celebrating a day, big deal.
29:10
But it's an infinite decimal and it doesn't seem to make any sense to us. Are they thinking they're going to get to the end of it? It's what I wonder if they keep on going. It doesn't really make sense to us but it hints at infinity. Okay, or eternity.
29:26
God has set eternity on our hearts. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes I think that. Three fifteen. Three fifteen this week is beware the odds of March. Now, the middle of March Julius Caesar, Shakespeare play, you know, beware the odds of March.
29:39
He doesn't beware the odds of March and he ends up stabbed on the senate floor, right? Three fifteen. We'll skip three sixteen for a minute and three seventeen. Saint Patrick's Day. Oh, green pen.
29:52
Please don't pinch me. Okay? Saint Patrick is an amazing guy. If you don't know the real story of Saint Patrick, I'm not going to share it this morning but he was a missionary to Ireland and it was an amazing story. He was in a maybe I will share a little bit of it.
30:09
He was captured in a raid when he was 16 years old and brought back to Ireland. So, Irish raiders, pagans came in, captured him, and took him back and he worked as a slave for six years before he was awake in the middle of the night by a dream and there would be a boat coming and he got up and he got away and the more that he prayed, he became a steadfast Christian during the time that he was in slavery. He'd been taught some before but he really got to know Christ in his time in slavery and he really developed a prayer life and listen, listening to the Holy Spirit and serving as a slave. Difficult but true. When he came back, as he continued to pray and he continued to process everything.
30:57
God was calling him back to Ireland. To evangelize the people who had been his captors. So, this is, he didn't run all the snakes out of Ireland. Who knows what he thought about the color green? He did try to teach about trinity with the shamrock but there's a whole lot of misinformation and it's not about green beer, okay?
31:18
Saint Patrick's Day. Saint Patrick's incredible. If you don't know the story, look it up. There are a lot of different sources but look up the true story about Saint Patrick. He's a good good guy, good good missionary actually.
31:28
Good missionary. Took the people from where they were, contextualize the gospel, and brought them to new place. Now, numbers 20. This is where we're to start. This is exactly where we left off last week.
31:38
Numbers twenty thirteen was the last verse I went into last week. Imma read this rather quickly because it's just prologue to what we're getting to those four weird verses, okay? The pink slides. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the King of Edom saying, this is what your brother, Israel says. You know, Jacob and Esau, the story way back.
31:57
So, Jacob is the father of these folks that Moses is leading and the king of Edom is in charge of the people that were Esau's people Moses sent messengers to from Kadesh to the king of Edom saying, this is what your brother Israel says We're kin. You know about all the hardships that have come on us. Our ancestors went down into Egypt and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. Four thirty years in slavery there.
32:26
But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our cry and he sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. He sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. They'd had a lot of plagues but that last one with the angel of death coming is what? Got em out of Egypt. It's pretty hard medicine there.
32:45
Now, here we are at now now we're here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. They've been camped out there in Kadesh Barnea. Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King's Highway and not turn not to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.
33:09
He's asking him for passage. But Edom answered and said, you may not pass through here. You shall not pass. Actually, first time might not have been that angry, but he did say this, if you try if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword. So they're prepared.
33:30
You may not pass through here. Next, it says, the Israelites replied, we will go along the main road. And if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we'll pay for it. We only wanna pass through on foot. Nothing else.
33:44
Again, they answered. You may not pass through. And then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. Now, these folks have been traveling and they're worn out and there's it's not just soldiers, it's everybody, men, women, children, all of their animals, and everything and Edom came out against some of the large powerful army and since Edom refused to let them go through their Torrey territory, Israel turned away from them. So, Edom was between them and where they wanted to be and they can just about see across it.
34:22
They know that it's not far. If you can pass through without eating or drinking, it's not very far, right? And so, the whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor at Mount Hor near the border of Edom. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Aaron will be gathered to his people and he will not enter into the land that I give the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. That was last week's sermon, right?
34:50
Moses had already been told straight up, you're not going to go into the promised land and then now, Aaron's being told. Because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Maribah. Get Aaron and his son, Eliazar, and take him up to Mount Hor. Remove Aaron's garments and put them on his son, Eliazar. For Aaron will be gathered to his people and he will die there.
35:12
So, that's what they did. Moses did as the Lord commanded. Oh, note of obedience. They went up to Mount Hore in the side of the whole community and Moses removed Aaron's priestly garments and put them on his son, Eliazar and Aaron died there on top of the mountain. He climbed the mountain and then died.
35:33
Think I would too but I think that what I'm saying is God said it would be so and it was. Aaron died there on top of that mountain and Moses and Elijah came down from the mountain. He'd taken over the priestly duties. He's a younger guy and able to go into the promised land and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourn for him there thirty days. That's in the chapter 20.
35:57
So, numbers 21 is a slight break but it's right there. This is all kind of sequential text and the first three verses are quick little story about what happened along the road. Now, they can't go through Edom. They have to go around. This is still prologue.
36:09
They're going around Edom and it's out of the way. Edom is a pretty big place and they're going all over the Sinai Peninsula to get around it. And they come upon someone else and when the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. He didn't, they didn't ask him. He just attacked them.
36:32
When he saw him coming and there are bunch of em. He captured some of them. Lot about raiders capturing people this morning. He attacked the Israelites, captured some of them, then Israel made this vow to the Lord. If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities which is a common place in the Old Testament.
36:52
I don't like it. I don't like it anymore than you do but it's just kind of the way that things work at this time. The Lord listened to Israel's plea and he gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns so the place was named Hormah. Now, God be praised.
37:09
He gave the victory. They asked him and he delivered them into his hands. Did these people, if you'll give us these people, there, they had taken some of their people in and he was saying, please give them these people. It could've been if you'll give us these Canaanites, could be either way there. God be praised though.
37:27
He did give the victory exactly and then we start in numbers 24 and they travel. Keep on going. They had the victory They keep on going. They travel from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. That's what they're doing.
37:41
But the people grew impatient on the way. Oh my goodness. 20 chapters of this. 10 chapters is kind of prologue of there's obedience, obedience, obedience without a whole lot of complaining and since chapter 11, chapter 11, they start complaining and it's just repetitive no matter what God does for them. They fall back into this grumbling and complaining but the people grew impatient on the way and they spoke against God and against Moses and they said, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
38:13
This is the same old song for them. They've been doing this for a while. Grumbling and complaining. After the sermon last week, I thought the sermon was about the glory of God. More of y'all contacted me about the grumbling and complaining than you did about about anything else.
38:26
Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no bread. There's no water. And we detest this miserable food. Now, it's interesting if you read, I don't I'm not a Hebrew guy but I do look things up, you know?
38:41
The word word for food right there and the word for bread are the same word. We don't have any bread. Well, we don't have any bread we like. This stuff's miserable. They've been provided.
38:52
You know what the provision was? Manna from heaven. Miraculously and daily, they're given the food that they need to survive. Y'all ever had food that you ate that was good for you that you didn't like? That's what God was giving him.
39:08
Ugh. Aggravating as can be. So, here are the four weird verses and I wouldn't mention em probably except that Jesus does. Then, the Lord sent venomous snakes among them. Oh gracious.
39:23
That follows the Israelites grew impatient along the way and began to complain against God and against Moses saying, there is no bread, there is no water, and we detest this miserable manna you're giving us from heaven. The Lord sent venomous snakes among them and they bit the people and many Israelites died. And the people came to Moses and they said, we sinned. When we spoke against the Lord and against you, well, they recognized it. They did recognize it.
39:51
Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. Now, Moses had God's Holy Spirit upon him. He had he spoke to God. God spoke to him and the people called out and asked him to pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. They complained against God and against Moses.
40:08
And it says, so Moses prayed for the people. Moses, last week, we saw a humblest man on Earth but still fallible, still goes wrong from time to time but it seems Moses learned a lesson and began again to pray for the people which is great and the Lord said to Moses, make a snake and put it up on a pole. A bronze snake. Lord said to Moses, make a snake and put it up on a pole and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. Is that weird to you?
40:40
That's pretty weird Sounds like voodoo hoodo. Don't that's odd to me. It sounds strange So, Moses made a bronze snake and he put it up on a pole. So, we he could've said and Moses did just as the Lord had commanded him, right? So, Moses made a bronze snake and he put it on a pole and then, when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
41:03
That to me is just weird. I don't think I had ever heard it or processed it before I was an adult and it was in studying a different place in the Bible. Numbers twenty one four through nine tells the story. It says, he sent fiery serpents in some translations and fiery, some people take it to mean the color they were red or some people take it to mean that they were venomous. They were obviously venomous because people were dying but that's the story.
41:33
People are bit. They're snake bit and they have no hope and they're crying out. Moses prays and God says, do this. Moses does this and then, anyone who looks at the way that God has made, anyone who trust and looks at the way that God has made, lives and anyone else does and it seems weird to me. I'll I'll give you that.
41:59
So, what's the story about? If I were Southern Baptist Pastor, I would say it's about three S's. The first S is for sin. They complain, spoke against God and Moses and said, why have you brought us out in this Egypt to die out from Egypt to die? There's no bread, there's no water.
42:17
We detest this miserable food. Grumbling and complaining. I think we'd do well to take Paul's advice to in all circumstances give thanks. Give thanks to God in everything. It could've gotten really a lot worse when they started this complaining and then it did and I don't think of God as some cosmic killjoy that's just waiting for you to mess up before he slaps you down.
42:40
I don't think that way. We're living in an age of grace and generally, I don't see it that way at all but this is scripture. It's Old Testament. It's scripture. It's pointing towards something and we'll see that it's pointing towards something in just a minute.
42:57
The second S is for sorrow. They actually were sorry for their sin. They recognized that they had sinned and they said so and they were sorrowful about it. Partially because of what it had brought them, I think, but whatever it takes to get you to rock bottom. Second S is for sorrow.
43:14
They snakes bit the people many died. Third S is for salvation. Their salvation to me doesn't make any sense. Anyone who has bitten can look at it and live. It's the provision that God gave us the way.
43:30
It's what he decreed. It's the way he said it. It's I think the reason we don't teach it in Sunday school is because it's really uncomfortable and weird. Do you agree? So, what?
43:39
There were, you know, no tourniquets. There's no talk of medicine. There's no anti venom. Have you ever met anybody? Have you ever seen anybody that was snake bit?
43:47
I have. You're praying for anti venom. You're praying for it to work. You're praying for the serum to work. Praying for something to work to stop the nerve damage to stop it getting to the heart or whatever brain.
43:58
I don't know that much about snake bites. But he doesn't talk about that. He just says, this is what you're going to do. Moses made a bronze snake just as the Lord had commanded. He put it up on a pole and then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
44:16
It's just like that. It's the way that God had decreed. So, a a top Mount Nebo. Now, next week, a lot of folks that were going, I'm planning on being here. I'm supposed to be right here next Sunday at this time but a lot of folks who are going to Israel will already be on that trip.
44:31
They're already in the air flying out or already there. This is in Jordan. We'll probably be able to see Mount Nebo in the distance while we are there but atop Mount Nebo in modern day Jordan, there's Giovanni Pantonis, serpentine cross and it points to this incident but it also points to another. It stands as a memorial to two separate events in biblical history. So, one of them being the story I just shared from numbers 21.
44:59
The other one though is New Testament from John three. Nicodemus comes at night. Y'all know the story. Nicodemus comes in at night and he's speaking to Jesus. He says, listen, he's a he's a Pharisee.
45:12
Nicodemus is a Pharisee. He said, listen, we know that you come from God. This is early on. It's before that whole confrontation period had gotten there. We know that you come from God because nobody could do what you do if they didn't.
45:24
So, what's the deal? Oh, you're a teacher of Israel and yet you don't know this simple thing. He's talking about trusting and believing. And he says, you must be born again. So, we we know that.
45:37
We hear that message quite frequently. You must be born again. You must be born from above. And as he's explaining to Nicodemus what he means, Nicodemus is confused the whole time. What do you mean born again?
45:50
I can't go back up into my mother's womb a second time. Can I? There's not a chance for that. I can't be born again unless you're born of water and the spirit. You can't.
45:58
Well, I don't understand that at all and Jesus when he's trying to explain, he gets to this. Three fourteen, it says, and just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. So, thus, in this way, in just such a way as this, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so in this way, the son of man must be lifted up. A son of man is Jesus's favorite name for himself. If you look through all the gospels, you look through the New Testament, you'll see that Jesus calls himself that or he's called that 80 plus times in the New Testament, 80 something times.
46:33
So, just as Moses stood, lifted up the snake in the wilderness. So, in this way, the son of man must be lifted up. Jesus was lifted up on a cross, right? So that everyone who believes and looks to him may have eternal life. Two verses right there.
46:52
Turns the corner on my weirdness of that old story because I see in the Old Testament that that doesn't make any sense. Yet, that is the way that God established and the people that thought that didn't make any sense. I'm going to do all I can to fix this wound. I'm going to lop off. People do that, you know, lop off pieces, lop off their hand, lop off their feet in order to get rid of the poison where it went in but it doesn't help.
47:22
Blake, is there a slide from Cornelius Van Till somewhere? I'm bring it to right here. He was a philosopher. It's usually you see what's in green here but you don't see what's in white very often Christians are in themselves no wiser than other men. I think it would be would do well to admit that.
47:45
Okay? Don't be too big for our breaches as last week's message in this one too. Christians are in themselves no wiser than other men. What they have, they have by grace. They must be, yes, like Paul said, all things to all people but it is not kindness to tell patients that need strong medicine that nothing serious is wrong with them.
48:07
Does that make sense? We need a way. We are snake bit. We are sinful people. We all start out in the same condition and our condition is terminal.
48:20
Temporally and eternally unless acted upon by almighty God in his provision accepted by faith. That's what Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about. It is not kindness to tell patients that need strong medicine that nothing serious is wrong with them. Christians are bound to tell men the truth about themselves. About the nature of their malady.
48:46
That is the only way of bringing them to recognize the mercy and the compassion of Christ. God did not have to make a way for those Israelites to be saved from those snakes, did he? But he did. In mercy, he did. In compassion, he did.
49:04
For if men are told the truth about themselves and I would say with Paul here, the truth and love, please. If men are told the truth about themselves and if they are warned against the false remedies that establish men in their wickedness. Like better education acts of penance, acts of service, all of those things that if you just balance the scales, if you reach your inner oneness, whatever. They're warned against the false remedies that establish men in their wickedness then by the power of the spirit of God they will flee to the Christ through whom alone they must be saved. I know the exclusivity of the gospel is a hard concept.
49:54
I know it's a hard concept for our world. I know it's a hard concept for you because it's a hard concept for me but in our modern day, one of the biggest heresies that's facing everybody is universalism that everybody no matter what will be saved whether it's immediately or through some sort of purgatory or purgation system. Christ alone saves. We sang in Christ alone this morning. That's the way that God has made.
50:18
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. In this way, so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. That's where it's available. It's through the way that God has made and like it or not, you can look and live or you can resist and die. Temporally in the case of Moses and Israelites there.
50:48
Spiritually, in our case today. I have a little bit to read here. The three S's are still the same. There's sin, there's sorrow, and there's salvation. So, a metaphor, we all were enslaved to something or are, either were or are and as God wills, we are working our way away from that place of slavery or bondage and when we hit hard times, even the humblest among us gets frustrated but God provides.
51:27
He provides what we need in the moment. When we look to him, when we get a glimpse of what the life he has for us is like, that promised land. Sometimes, we're afraid that it isn't possible to actually live in that kind of a gracious place and we want to go back into slavery because we know it. If we do believe it's possible at times, we just wish it could be easier. We just want to go the easy way.
51:50
Can you just let us pass through? Really? Eat them? Really? Instead of going all the way around, can we just come through there?
51:58
We'd like to be able to go pass through the most direct route but sometimes it just won't be allowed. For whatever reason, other people sometimes stop us. And they'll fight with us if we try to go that way and they might fight with us. We try to go around. So, we have taken the harder way and we end up having to fight battles along the way and as we pray to God, he gives a victory and we will get through but all along though, we're tempted to grumble and complain and try to negotiate for an easier path.
52:30
But in everything, give thanks. It could actually get worse. Even if we slip and when it does get worse, if we reach out to God in faith, he makes a way. In fact, it's better to say, he has made the way. We sang Rock of Ages last week.
52:46
Some of this is stream of consciousness, y'all know. We sang Rock of Ages last week and it says, let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin, the double cure. Save from wrath, that's salvation, and make me pure. The same gospel that saved us is the one that sanctifies us. Paying attention to Jesus, the way, and the truth, and the life.
53:10
So, Moses in the desert wandering shows us a lot about our own human tendencies but Jesus calls back to this story at that nighttime meeting with Nicodemus and he says, I must be lifted up. Now, three fourteen and three fifteen proceed John three sixteen, right? And so, I said, I come back to 16 in a minute. I might come back to sixteen in a minute. 03:16 is that?
53:32
03:16. Okay. I had a Sunday school teacher asked me what time, what's your favorite verse? And I thought, I never had thought to differentiate between em and she said, well, like John three sixteen and I thought, I would look that up. It's really good.
53:48
Actually, turns out it's probably one of my favorite verses now. But John three sixteen, is really, really good. Right now, Blake, if you can skip down just to the text of John three sixteen and then I'll go back to Alan's talk. For God, so, so is misunderstood a lot of times in our language. It means so much.
54:12
How big are you? So big. So, but so is in this way. For God, in this way, love the world. This is the way that he showed his love for us.
54:24
For God loved the world. In this way, he gave his own one and only son. He had him lifted up that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is an effective call to anyone who would believe, you may have eternal life. You can resist to your peril or you can accept.
54:45
You're still on your journey. I didn't say you arrived but you definitely are guaranteed because it says it. Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That's what it comes down to. I I'm on clip.
55:00
There's a clip. It's three minutes and twenty nine seconds long. It's audio only by a friend of mine named Alan Levi and I think he boiled it down really well. So, Blake, would you play that?
55:10
Speaker 3Once upon a time, only once for a short while in the history of the world, God who had created all things became one of us. Born a baby to a common woman, grown a child in a common town, employed at common labor and spending his life with common people. He took a name, Jesus, and walked among us inviting, welcoming, at times pleading with us to return to God and to love the right things in the right way. Few of us listened, eventually, as you know, we killed him. We whipped him almost to death, drove nails through his hands, and made him hang on a wooden cross until he died, all because he was guilty of calling us to love God and to love one another.
56:00
Maybe you wonder, what's with the cross? Why is that such a big deal to the followers of Christ? Why can't we just be nice to each other, sing songs on Sunday, feed the poor, and skip all that part about Jesus dying on the cross? I'll be honest with you. It is rather difficult, especially for our twenty first century minds, to grasp the necessity of Jesus' death.
56:26
After all, I suppose that God could have waved a wand or issued a blanket pardon to humanity, but that's not what he did. Instead, from the very start, when we defied God and ate the forbidden fruit, you know, the Adam and Eve story, God said that there must be justice, a payment of a penalty. Now it might seem cruel to us, and it is cruel, but sacrifice was the means of rescue that God established from the outset. For thousands of years, the people brought animals to God, bulls, goats, lambs, doves. But none of those was ever fully acceptable to make things right.
57:08
They were just a symbolic and temporary remedy of sorts until an adequate payment could be made for our sin. What the animal offerings really did was point to Jesus, who would one day come as the one and only sacrifice that God would accept once and for all. In short, it's through the cross that Jesus rescues the world. Well, maybe you say, I still don't get it. Maybe we're not supposed to get it.
57:39
Maybe the cross is something that we merely accept by faith whether we fully understand it or approve of it or not. The cross is not a place for argument with God, but rather a place of surrender and humility for us. We have to simply confess that Jesus' death was my fault, that it was made necessary by my sin, that it had to happen because nothing else could fix the fall, not education, morality, government, therapy. If we're to be forgiven and accepted by God, it will be on his terms. And his terms quite simply, take it or leave it, are that we trust him and receive his means of salvation, Jesus on the cross.
58:26
It is a pure gift. And in a very real sense, Aaron, when Jesus died, every one of us was there.
58:40
Speaker 1Amen. And we're going into a time of communion right now. The Lord's supper and I'll invite the elders to come forward to distribute but if if you are sitting here, everyone of us was there, everyone of us was there. He died to take sin and hail it to that cross but he said it was through belief in that. Belief in him and so, if you have never trusted in Christ before and you want to, it is available and you can.
59:14
If you want to talk to me about it, Please do. I'll stay all afternoon and I'm here all week. If you have accepted Christ, this is the time where we celebrate the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. His body, perfect life, lived without sin and his blood, innocent blood that was shed as a ransom for many. In Jesus name, lord, we ask you to bless this little cracker and each one that receives it, lord, that you would humble us and remind us of our our sin and in our sorrow may we continually look to you for our salvation and sanctification and lord for those who have not yet trust in you I pray lord that you would Amen.
1:00:00
Lord, that you would reach through us to them, reach through your word to them, that they would look upon Jesus and trust in him. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. On the same evening that he was betrayed, Christ took bread after supper and after he had given thanks, he told his disciples there, this is my body given for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me.
1:04:01
Amen. Lord, we thank you for showing us the way to live by doing it. We thank you for being our example but lord, also we thank you for being our savior for taking on the way for being lifted up in pain and agony on our behalf. So, lord, we thank you for your blood and we ask you to bless this cup as we distribute it, lord. Each who would partake and for each that lets it pass.
1:04:27
I pray that it would be a blessing and a place to call back to, to remember. The day when they did. Lord, accept you. In Jesus name, lord, we ask for your blessing. Amen.
1:04:50
Let's go ahead and do that but the song he just plays too beautiful to let pass. In the same way that he taken the bread, he also took the cup and he told them, this is is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. We proclaim the left and we proclaim proclaim the death, the life, and the death of Jesus Christ when we do this and I have one more thing before y'all go. I know it's late.
1:09:06
Would you stand up with us? I'm going to invite up everybody that's going to actually, I'm inviting up Richard and Andrea Largie first. Where are they? Richard and Andrea, would you come forward? They are headed to Ghana on a mission trip.
1:09:21
We that just went to Kenya. They're going to Ghana. There's an another group I'd like to bring forward to. The elders, all the elders that are here, and all the missions committee members, if you would get up here so people can see you and we want to lay hands on them and send them out with a commission in prayer. Would y'all pray with me?
1:09:37
I have a microphone so I'm going start but please, please, be praying not just right now but as they are gone, they'll be gone before we meet here again. In Jesus name, lord, we pray that you would bless Richard and Andrea. We feel that you have been motivating them, lord. I know that from the time that they got here, Andrea has been to Ghana. Richard has not.
1:09:58
They have served on various teams in different places and lord, you prepared them for these upcoming moments and we pray that you would give remembrance of the scriptures in the appropriate time that you would give them the responses and the defense of the faith when they are asked and lord that you would through them show your goodness and kindness and love for everyone that they will come in contact with as they travel to Ghana. We pray lord for your boldness that they'd speak the word without fear. Amen. And lord that they would be effective in ministry while there. Would you show us lord what you would have for us to do and all of us.
1:10:43
Walk in those steps. In Jesus name, we pray for Richard and for Andrea and for all of the kids lives that they'll impact while they're there, adults around them. Amen. Amen. And for the benediction today, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, submit to him and he will make your paths straight.
1:11:05
Amen.
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
