Men, the part of the chapter that I want to focus on is beginning in verse number four
where we have this story about the fiery serpents that come among the children of Israel and
bite them and kill many of them.
It says in verse number four, and they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to
compass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of
the way.
They're going around Edom and they're going through a very wilderness route and the terrain
is difficult and they're getting discouraged because it's so hard to go through this desert.
It says in verse five, the people spake against God and against Moses.
Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
This is always a stupid thing to do, but it's human nature sometimes when things are going
bad in our life or when we're just going through something difficult to sometimes speak
out against God or maybe even say blasphemous things toward God or about God.
Things aren't really going poorly for the children of Israel in the scheme of things.
At this point, they're doing what God has told them to do.
They're following God.
They're on a path that God has laid for them, but sometimes in life we're going to have
to go through some rough patches.
We're going to have to go through some difficult things and God expects us to just grind it
out and to just put our head down and get through it and not to complain when the way
gets difficult, right?
Because there are going to be times in life when the way is difficult.
Don't get discouraged, push through, it's going to be better, brighter days are ahead
and so forth, but instead these people start getting blasphemous and speaking against God.
And then the next thing is they're speaking against Moses, who is the man of God, who's
their leader in an earthly sense.
And they say, well, wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
Now this is obviously a really stupid thing to say because in Egypt they were slaves,
their lives were made bitter with cruel bondage, but now all of a sudden they're acting like
it would have been better to stay behind in Egypt.
And this is a common theme that you'll see when you read about the children of Israel
complaining in the wilderness.
They'll say, hey, we should have just stayed in Egypt, wouldn't it God that we would have
died in Egypt?
Hey, let's make a captain and go back to Egypt.
And this is the same foolishness as a Christian thinking that somehow it would have been better
for them if they had not gotten saved or if they would have stayed with the worldly sinful
lifestyle that they had before they got saved and then started living for God, going to
church and so forth, when in reality the Christian life on its worst day is better than being
unsaved for a couple reasons.
Number one, because when you're unsaved you go to hell when you die, okay?
And so that's kind of a deal breaker right there, okay?
We're going to heaven, no matter how bad things get on this earth, at least we know it's going
to end at some point and we're going to spend eternity in heaven as saved Christians.
So there's that right there.
That should be enough right there.
But even so, the unsaved, worldly, sinful life, just living for the pleasures and cares
of this world, it's not what it's cracked up to be anyway.
It doesn't actually satisfy or bring real joy to people's hearts.
You know, even in laughter the heart is sorrowful when it comes to these worldly people out
there partying and living that lifestyle.
It's vain.
It's not worth it.
But they are foolishly acting like it would have been better to stay in Egypt.
You know, hey, why did you bring us out of Egypt just so we could die in this wilderness?
And let me just clarify too, when we see the word wilderness in scripture, we need to understand
that the word wilderness is used synonymously with the word desert in the Bible.
Because sometimes I think when we as 2023 Americans hear the word wilderness, we're
picturing some kind of like a jungle or forest or something.
But no, no, no, this is actually referring to basically, look out the window if you want
to know what it looks like, except without all the city.
So they're in the wilderness, there's no bread, neither is there any water.
Now if that were really true, that'd be pretty rough.
No bread, no water, we're just out in the desert with nothing.
But then look at the next thing they say.
And our soul loathed this light bread, wait a minute, I thought you didn't have any bread.
But now all of a sudden they've got bread, well, but it's just the wrong, it's just not
the bread that I like, it's light bread.
First of all, number one, white bread is the best bread, okay?
I don't eat any wheat bread, okay?
And that's, I'm not being like a little kid or anything, it's because of the fact that
I think white bread is better for you anyway because of all the phytic acid and all those
whole grain breads.
So your pastor, if you ever feel guilty about eating white bread, just say, hey, Pastor
Anderson said this is the healthy stuff, all right?
So anyway, but when you're going through hard times, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of
the big picture of where God has brought you from and where you're going and how much better
off you are in the liberty that's in Christ, even if you are going through a desert patch.
But also you can sometimes lose sight of the blessings that you do have in your life.
And so you'll constantly find people in the Bible saying things like, oh, there's nothing
at all in the house.
Well, except, you know, there's this little bit of meal and this little bit of oil and
whatever.
Oh man, we don't have any bread.
Well, I mean, except this light bread.
And this is the attitude that we sometimes can get where we ignore all the blessings
that we have and just focus on what we don't have and what we wish we had.
If we were all to stop and count our blessings, we have a lot going for us in our lives.
We have a lot of good things and blessings.
And so we should focus more on the things that are right about our life and not complain
and whine about the things that we don't have.
So they say there's no water, our soul loathed this light bread.
And so how does God react to this complaining and whining?
Well, the Bible says in verse six, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they
bit the people and much people of Israel died.
Now before we go into that, I want to back up a little bit and look at a similar story
in Numbers chapter 11.
So before we continue in chapter 21, we're going to go back to chapter 11.
And in chapter 11 of Numbers, we find a similar incident.
I'm going to start reading in verse one while you get there.
When the people complained, it displeased the Lord.
And by the way, whenever Christians are complaining and whining, it displeases the Lord.
And the Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burnt among them
and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
So in this case, it's not fiery serpents, but it's just the fire of the Lord that burnt
among them.
God just ends up torching some of these people and the people cried unto Moses.
And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched and he called the name of the
place Tabirah because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting.
Now the mixed multitude are people who've joined themselves onto the Israelites from
other nations, other tribes, people from Egypt, just other people who've mixed among
the people.
And it says the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting and the children of Israel
also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat?
We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely.
Now they didn't eat anything freely in Egypt.
What a bunch of baloney, right?
But again, what are they doing?
They're glorifying the past life.
They're glorifying sinful times when in reality those times weren't all that they were cracked
up to be.
We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the
leeks and the onions and the garlic.
But now our soul is dried away.
There's nothing at all, well beside this manna, which of course the manna is what they probably
were referring to with the light bread because they would actually turn the manna into bread.
They found all these creative ways of cooking it and grinding it up and using it in different
recipes.
But the manna, according to God in the Bible, was angel's food.
And if there was ever a food that you could at least know was going to meet your nutritional
needs, it's going to be food that's manna from heaven.
I mean think about it.
You don't even have to worry about is this junk food?
You don't have to read the label.
If God gives you manna, you know this is going to have the vitamins and minerals, it's
going to have the protein, carbs and fats that you need.
And so whatever it was, obviously it's a nutritious food that God's giving them.
But they're basically just complaining because there's a lack of variety in their diet.
Now obviously throughout their journeyings in the wilderness, they're supplementing the
manna with other things that they find and other things that are out there.
But this is kind of the staple.
It's the one thing that they always have.
It's the one thing that they reliably can eat is manna.
I mean at least they always know that they're fed.
And so God has promised to meet our needs.
God has promised that we will not starve to death and that God will provide us with food
and raiment.
And the Bible says that having food and raiment, let us be there with content.
But God has not necessarily promised us that we will always have a party in our mouth with
steak and lobster and all these fancy things.
God has only promised to feed us and sustain us.
And sometimes we're going to eat better than others.
Sometimes we will have the steak and lobster.
Other times it might be rice and beans, but we're going to be fed and we need to learn
to just be content with such things as we have.
And if it's oatmeal, if it's rice, whatever it is, we just need to eat it and be thankful
and not complain.
Now look, what is the point of telling us these stories?
The Bible says specifically about these stories about Israel in the wilderness, that these
things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the earth are come.
The ends of the world are come.
So as we read the Bible, we're supposed to be applying this to ourselves.
So when we read, we're not just going to be like, oh man, these Israelites, what a bunch
of whining complaints.
We're supposed to put ourselves in the story and say, wait a minute, are there times when
I complain?
Are there times when I don't see the blessings that I have and I focus on what I don't have?
Are there times when I am just unthankful for my food because it's not the greatest
food I've ever had or whatever?
We need to put ourselves in the story and apply it in that way.
And so they're complaining, God sent that fire, the burnt among them, they're talking
about how there's nothing except the manna, and then it explains how in verse seven the
manna was as coriander seed and the color thereof is the color of delium and the people
went about and gathered it and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar and baked it
in pans and made cakes of it and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil, which,
you know, doesn't sound bad at all.
And then verse nine it says, when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna
fell upon it and Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man on the
door of his tent and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly.
Moses also was displeased because when you're the leader and people are complaining, it
bothers you too, whether that's a father or a mother, when the kids are complaining about
their food, this is irritating not just to God in heaven, but even to your parents or
if you're complaining all the time, it could irritate the pastor or the boss at work or,
you know, whoever is in charge of whatever the situation.
And Moses said unto the Lord, verse 11, wherefore has thou afflicted thy servant?
And wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all this
people upon me?
Have I conceived all this people?
Have I begotten them that thou shouldst say unto me, carry them in thy bosom as a nursing
father, bear at the sucking child under the land which thou swear'st unto their fathers?
When should I have flesh to give unto all this people?
For they weep unto me saying, give us flesh that we may eat.
I'm not able to bear all this people alone because it is too heavy for me.
And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand.
If I found favor in thy sight, let me not see my wretchedness.
Moses is like, kill me now if I have to listen to all this whining and complaining of the
Israelites.
And this goes to show how complaining is so irritating that if you're a person who complains
all the time, the people around you literally want to die.
If you're whining and complaining, your parents are just like, kill me.
Is that what you want to do to the people around you?
And so the reason I'm showing you these stories here in the beginning of the sermon is just
to show you how serious this sin of complaining, discontentedness, covetousness is, and how
if we're going through suffering and woes, we need to learn to suffer in silence.
Not to complain and especially not to say things that are blasphemous or rude in that
way.
And so we need to take this thing seriously of being content and controlling our mouths
and not being a whining, sniveling little brat.
Okay, back to Numbers chapter 21.
So I wanted to show you that story just because it comes first in the book of Numbers and
it kind of shows a pattern here and there are many similarities that can elucidate the
story in chapter 21.
So God's punishment in chapter 21 is a little bit different than chapter 11.
In chapter 11 it says the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
So God kindles some kind of a wilderness fire that's burning.
Eventually it's quenched, but a bunch of people die in this fire that God sends among the
people.
Well, in chapter 21 it says he sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the
people and much people of Israel died.
Now the way I've always understood, because I remember reading this story as a little
kid.
I don't know why, but this is actually one of my earliest memories is going to Sunday
school as a really little kid and hearing about this particular story and in fact when
I was growing up also my entire life there was a book on the bookshelf in my house, which
we didn't have like tons and tons of books at my house growing up, but we had bookshelves
of books and there was this little children's Bible story book that I grew up reading when
I was a kid and the cover of the book was the fiery serpents biting people and they're
all like, ah!
And then, you know, the brazen serpents being held up on the pole.
Has anybody seen that exact book or no?
Anyone?
No, probably not.
But anyway, we had this book and it was a book that I grew up reading.
It was like a children's Bible story book and this was the cover shot, was like a painting
of this.
And so this story has always been one that stood out in my mind for that reason because
I, you know, I really grew up with this story.
And so my understanding of the fiery serpents, what does that mean?
What is a fiery serpents?
Are these like supernatural fire serpents or something?
The way that I always understood it is just that basically these are venomous snakes and
the reason that they're called fiery is because when they bite you it's a burning sensation
that you feel.
Now, I remember when we went to Guyana and you opened the window, Solomon, but it wasn't
your fault.
But anyway, I'm a little bitter.
But we went to Guyana and the window was left open the first night, doesn't matter who left
it open.
But the window was left open and these mosquitoes came in and they were fiery mosquitoes.
These mosquitoes came in and were biting us, okay?
And I remember just wrapping my head up in like the blankets and just trying to just
like, I had to like mummify myself to protect me from the fiery mosquitoes.
And the reason I call them fiery mosquitoes is because when these mosquitoes bit me, I
literally felt like I was on fire.
I don't know, did you, did you feel that way as well or did you remember?
What in the world?
That's just wrong.
This is like those, this is like those drunk driving accidents where the drunk driver survives
and everybody else dies.
Anyway, so, you know, okay, he doesn't even know what it felt.
Well, let me tell you what it felt like.
It felt like being on fire.
And I remember it so vividly.
I was laying in that bed and man, I'm not, I'm not kidding.
My skin felt like it was on fire.
And look, I know what it is to get a mosquito bite.
I've been bit by mosquitoes.
It's not a big deal.
In fact, typically when I get bit by mosquitoes, it barely even leaves a mark.
You know, I'm not really one that usually gets a big welt or anything, but I'm telling
you these mosquitoes were different.
I don't know what the deal was, but I mean, my skin felt like it was literally on fire.
I remember thinking like this must be what it feels like to be burning in hell when you
just, you just, your skin is just on fire and you're just burning.
And I was just laying there in so much pain and I know it sounds like I'm really exaggerating,
but I mean it was, it was literal torture.
And I'm just like, I wrap, finally I just wrap my head, wrap my body in all these sheets
and I'm just on fire and this is what I was, this is what was going through my head.
Like this is stupid.
I'm never coming on one of these trips again.
I'm never going to Guyana again.
I'm never going on any missions trip again.
Why would I ever go on a missions trip?
Why don't I just go soloing in Phoenix?
I could, I could literally just give the gospel to people in Arizona for the rest of my life.
I will never go and I'm just like, I'm just like, okay, remember what this is like.
Remember this feeling next time you're tempted to go on a missions trip.
Don't do it.
And that's, that's what was lit.
I'm just being honest.
That's what was going through my head because man, my skin was just inflamed.
It was on fire.
Finally after hours of torture, I fell asleep and then after that we figured out the problem
and we would just every night we would turn on the light in just the bathroom, make the
rest of our lodging dark and attract all the mosquitoes in there and we would go and just
kill every mosquito manually before bed every night.
But that's what I, because I had that experience to me, I think that that's probably what is
meant by fiery serpents because whatever those mosquitoes, whatever they had in their mouths
when they bit me was causing a real burning sensation.
So I can see how, you know, getting bit by these venomous serpents would make it feel
like you're burning or feel like you're on fire.
But also of course there's a symbolism behind describing the serpents as fiery and I suppose
they could have been a, there's no reason why they couldn't have been some kind of a
supernatural snake that's on fire or something.
It just, it just doesn't seem as likely.
But the, but the thing is, uh, the fiery aspect of the serpents is symbolic as well because
God's judgment, God's wrath, God's punishment for sin is often in fire, right?
He sent the fire to burn them in chapter 11 and also of course people who are unsaved,
people who don't believe in Jesus, they're going to go to hell when they die.
And hell is a place of fiery torment, fiery punishment.
So the fiery serpents picture that as well.
And so, uh, he sent fiery serpents among them and they bit the people and much people of
Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, verse seven of numbers 21
for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee.
Pray unto the Lord that he may 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 again, this is another reason why it's unlikely that they're actually literally fiery,
but because how do you make a fiery serpent out of brass?
Probably more just you're making a brass serpent that looks like these ones that were hurting
them.
And so it says, make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it's to come to pass that
everyone that is bitten when you look at the pond, it shall live.
So this is a very odd passage in scripture because throughout the Bible there's a prohibition
upon making molten images and graven images, right?
But, but here they're actually being told to make this molten image of a serpent of
all things.
Now stop and think about it.
The serpent and, and you know, of course the serpent is a snake.
The snake, the serpent throughout the Bible is a picture of evil.
It's a picture of the devil, right?
Satan is that old serpent from the garden of Eden and so forth.
And so when we think of a snake or a serpent, we think of evil, the devil, something demonic.
And by the way, pagan false religions all around the world, they worship the serpent,
right?
The Aztecs in Mexico, they worshiped the serpent God right before the Spanish showed up.
And so all throughout the world, this is a thing, Hindus worship a serpent.
You know, Greeks would worship snakes in ancient Greek religion and so on and so forth.
And so, you know, it's, it's devil worship, right?
I mean, you're worshiping the serpent for crying out loud, worshiping a dragon or something.
I mean, it's just, it should be a no brainer.
So not only is it a molten image, but it's a molten image of something that you would
normally think of as evil, satanic, or something like that.
So it's very odd.
Now, there's a reason why, of course, it makes perfect sense once we understand the story.
I'm just kind of, you know, getting you to think about it in that way so that we can
understand the solution to the problem.
But if you stop and think about it, though, there are lots of times in the Bible where
there's kind of an exception to something like, for example, you know, men are commanded
to have short hair in the Bible and the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair,
but that for a woman it's a glory unto her, right?
And men and women are supposed to wear distinct clothing.
Men wear men's clothing, women wear women's clothing.
Men have short hair, women have long hair and so forth.
But then of course you have exception with a guy like Samson where he's supposed to let
his hair grow his whole life and it grows his entire life and he has hair long enough
where Delilah could weave it into the loom and so forth.
And he was actually told to let his hair grow.
But these things are exceptions.
We shouldn't look at that and say, oh, well, I'm going to have long hair too because I'm
Samson.
You know, I mean, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute.
That's not God's will for your life, young man, you know, it's just, you know, you don't
want to just take something that's exceptional and then just go run with that.
Because God has people do strange things or unusual things for a specific purpose,
right?
What about when Isaiah is told to preach naked, right, in what, chapter 20, chapter 22, somewhere
around there?
And obviously that's not, chapter 20, that's not normal.
That's not, you know, what a 21st century preacher should just decide, hey, I'm the
new Isaiah or something.
Okay.
That would obviously be absurd.
And so I believe that this is one of those exceptional things and there's a big reason
why God had them make this brazen serpent and lift it up on a pole so that whoever would
look at that serpent upon the pole would live, right?
Because they're going to die from the venom that's coursing through their veins.
Once they get bit by the fiery serpents, they're going to die.
And the antidote to the snake bites, because many people have already died, the antidote
is the look to the serpent upon a pole and live.
Now go if you were to John chapter three, this is where this story is expounded in the
New Testament.
Keep your finger in numbers 21 because we'll be back there, but go to John chapter three
in the New Testament.
Of course, this is one of the most famous passages of the entire New Testament, John
chapter three, where Jesus speaks to Nicodemus and the Bible talks about being born again.
And of course, it culminates in this most famous verse of the entire Bible, John 3.16.
I mean, if people only know one verse, it's John 3.16, and man am I thankful for that
because it really is the best verse.
And so it's so great that people know this.
And really, this is the reason why a lot of people are going to be without excuse on judgment
day, oh, I didn't know.
And then God's going to be like, for God, so... and they're going to be able to quote
the whole thing.
And what were you saying about you didn't know?
Because I can't even count how many times I've been out soul winning and knocked on
somebody's door and started to quote John 3.16, and they finish it for me.
And then I ask them, what do you have to do to be saved?
Oh, live a good life, be a good person, keep the commandments, they just quoted it.
But what a lot of people maybe are not as familiar with are the two verses leading up
to John 3.16, the build up to John 3.16, starting in verse 14, it says, 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 then it restates that with, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And so that second part of John 3.16 is identical to verse 15.
And verse 14 is a different beginning to that most famous verse.
And you can understand why it's not quite as popular because it's kind of odd, isn't
it, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up.
So not only is this molten image of a serpent, which seems like a very strange thing for
God to ask them to make, not only is that an issue, but now we find out that it represents
Jesus.
Now what in the world is an idol of a serpent doing representing Jesus, right?
This is kind of shocking when you look at this, but it makes sense in light of the fact
that Jesus Christ, when he was lifted up on the cross, he who knew no sin, the Bible
says, became sin for us.
So here's what's interesting.
So in John chapter 12, if you want to flip over there, John chapter 12, because the Bible
said in John chapter 3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up.
Well that term lifted up is defined in John 12.
It says in verse 31 of John 12, now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
John chapter 12, verse 32, and I, if I be lifted up, notice that same wording from John
chapter 3, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men under me.
And then it's defined this, he said, signifying what death he should die.
And so the being lifted up from the earth is referring to being put on the cross.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, he's lifted up from the earth, right?
He's suspended up above the earth, he's lifted up above the earth, just as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, right?
By putting that brazen serpent on a pole and lifting it up, Jesus Christ is lifted up from
the earth on the cross as well.
And he said that by being lifted up from the earth, he would draw all men unto him, right?
That basically by being crucified, that message of Christ's crucifixion is going to go all
over the entire world.
And it has.
All over the world, people have heard about the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified, dying
on the cross, being lifted up from the earth.
Every country, every continent, that message has gone around the world over and over and
over again over the last 2000 years.
And so as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the son of man had to be lifted
up so that he could draw all men unto him.
But the Bible says in second Corinthians 5 21 for he hath made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So Jesus Christ previously knew no sin.
What does that mean?
It means that Jesus had no experience with sin because Jesus never sinned.
He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
So Jesus goes through life living the perfect life that none of us could live.
He's tempted in all points like as we are yet totally without sin.
He knew no sin, but he was made sin for us.
When he was on that cross, he took upon himself the sins of the whole world.
Every sin that I've ever done, every sin that you've ever done, it was as if Jesus had done
it.
And if you think about it, he became the epitome of sin on that cross.
Okay.
I mean, the Bible says he made him to be sin.
What a statement.
He made him to be sin.
It didn't say he made him a sinner.
It's like he made him sin, like the epitome of sin, just the essence of sin.
He made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin?
I mean, here's a guy who's never sinned, right?
Jesus Christ, the son of God, and he became sin for us on the cross.
He was made sin for us on the cross so that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
So he's the epitome of sin because he took upon himself the sins of the entire world.
I mean, think about the most sinful person you can imagine, right?
And that's just a fraction of the sins that were put on Jesus.
You know, you think about the most sinful, all the bad stuff the most sinful person has
done, you put that on Jesus, that's like less than 1% of the sin that Jesus is carrying.
Take the 100, just make a list of the 100 most wicked people, all that sin goes on Jesus,
and that's still not even 1% of the sins he's carrying.
All the sins you've done in your whole life are just one tiny fraction of this.
I mean, Jesus took just this enormous, incredible amount of sin upon him that we can't even
comprehend.
Just the sins of the people in this room, right?
I mean, that's a lot of sin.
All put upon Jesus, and he's bearing all that sin.
And when Jesus Christ is on the cross with all that sin, what did he say when he's on
the cross?
He said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
You know, because if you think about it, it's like God the Father is not sparing his own
son.
The Bible says, he who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
And so God the Father is basically pouring out his wrath and punishment on the son, because
the son is just taking on the responsibility for all this sin.
I mean, what an incredible thing the death of Christ on the cross is, when you actually
stop and think about that substitutionary death, where he became sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And so now when you stop and think about Jesus on that cross, once he takes upon him all
the sins of the world, there's darkness for three hours, and he screams out, my God, my
God, why is that forsaken me?
He's got all that sin.
Now it kind of makes sense why he could be represented by a molten serpent on a pole.
Because yeah, is a serpent a picture of wickedness?
Yeah.
But Jesus, it's not that Jesus is wicked, Jesus is obviously righteous and sinless,
but he was made sin for us.
And so that picture of the serpent upon the pole is a picture of Jesus as he was when
he has taken on all that sin.
Now he's pictured by a molten serpent, and then it makes sense at that point.
And so what was the plan of salvation in the Old Testament in Numbers chapter 21?
The plan of salvation was look and live, just like the song in the hymnal, right?
Look and live is the plan of salvation.
In order to be saved, all people had to do was just look at the serpent.
I mean, think about that, right?
That's the cure.
Just look at it.
And that's exactly how to be saved in the New Testament, right?
All we have to do is just look to Jesus as our savior, right?
Place our faith and trust in him.
It's not work that we perform.
It's not self reformation or turning over a new leaf.
It's really just looking to Jesus as our only hope and our only way of salvation, putting
our faith and trust in him.
And that's why it said as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the son of man be lifted up so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life, right?
So just like you were going to die unless you looked at the serpent, if you've been
bit by the snake, if you look at the serpent, you're going to be okay.
Well, you know, you're a sinner.
If you look to Jesus, you'll be saved.
And what does that look like?
Well, the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him.
How do we look to Jesus as our savior?
We believe in Jesus.
So they had to look at the serpent on the pole.
We have to believe in Jesus.
But here's what believing in Jesus and looking at the serpent both have in common.
They don't require works.
It didn't require works to look at the serpent.
It doesn't require works to believe in Jesus.
And a lot of people will say, well, you know, believe actually means work there.
Right?
No, no.
Believe doesn't mean work.
And in fact, the Bible specifically says you're saved by faith, not of works.
And here's the verse.
Here's the verse to just end work salvation forever.
Romans four or five.
But to him that worketh not, this destroys all varieties of work salvation.
But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness.
Because Romans four or five gets around this thing of, well, you know, faith and works,
you can't separate them.
Really, that's funny because Romans four or five just did.
It just separated works because it said him that worketh not.
Let's go real slow.
So as you ask, but to him that worketh not but believeth.
Well, everybody who believes is going to have works.
All right.
Start over.
Worketh not but believeth.
So you got a guy who believes, but he doesn't work.
Which way is he going?
His faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto God impudeth righteousness
without works.
And what did the Bible say?
He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
That's the imputed righteousness of Christ, right?
Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto God impudeth righteousness
without works.
What does imputation mean?
What does it mean that the righteousness of Christ imputed unto us?
It basically would be like if I said, hey, go on your online banking right now and you
look at your online banking and there's $7 and 34 cents and then I push a few buttons
on my phone and I'm like, okay, refresh that screen.
Boom.
Now you have 100 grand in your account, right?
It's like, it's like somebody else's bank balance has just been moved over to your balance,
right?
Somebody's money has been moved from their account to your account.
Now all of a sudden you have all this money in your, in your account that you didn't work
for.
That's an explanation.
Christ has this bank account of righteousness.
You're in the negative.
Your bank account reads negative $1956 and 34 cents and then God imputes his righteousness
and now you have the wealth that can't even be imagined, right?
The edges in your, in your account.
That's what it means to be imputed the righteousness of God.
It's without works.
Okay.
And so what a beautiful picture of salvation look and live, right?
And so, uh, back to the story and while you're turning back to Numbers 21, let me just mention
to you also that there's another mention of the story in the Bible because all the way
in second Kings chapter 18, so second Kings chapter 18, we're talking many, many centuries
later, okay?
You know, almost a thousand years later you have this incident where, um, Hezekiah begins
to reign second Kings chapter 18.
So this is toward the end of the monarchy and the kingdom of Judah.
And one of the things that he does is he removed the high places because remember they do false
religion in the high places and he break the images and cut down the groves and break
in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made.
So the children of Israel still had this thing centuries later and Hezekiah broke in pieces
the brazen serpent that Moses had made for under those days the children of Israel did
burn incense to it.
So people had started at some point burning incense to the brazen serpent.
They were actually worshiping the brazen serpent cause they'd kept it as a souvenir, as a relic,
and they start worshiping the serpent itself instead of understanding that it's a picture
of something.
And so Hezekiah has a way to take care of that.
He just smashes the thing.
He just destroys the brazen serpent.
And you say, oh, it's such a tragedy, destruction of this artifact.
You know, stuff like that needs to get destroyed.
You know, throughout the Bible, people are crushing all kinds of idols and burning images
and destroying traces of these false gods.
You know, anthropologists are crying and whining because they want to study it.
But you know, it's better sometimes if these things just get wiped out.
You know, you wish, you know, I wish more of it had gotten wiped out.
Oh, the culture.
But it's wickedness.
You know, when people are worshiping idols, it's got to be stopped.
So that just goes to show you that obviously, you know, in general, molten images are a
bad idea, right?
This was an exceptional thing.
And that's why it eventually just needed to be destroyed because, you know, people at
some point stopped understanding what it meant and what it was supposed to represent.
And so back in Numbers, chapter number 21, I'll wrap up with this.
It says in verse eight, the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it
upon a pole.
And it's come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he look 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.
So that's the end of the story.
Let me just kind of give a few thoughts about the story overall.
What do the serpents represent?
Well, again, the serpents themselves represent sin.
And that's why the serpent on the pole represents Christ on the cross because he was made sin
for us.
And so the serpents represent sin.
Why do they represent sin?
Because of the fact that our sins themselves will sometimes come back to bite us as it
were, right?
Even a sin that you might think is pretty innocent, pretty mild, like covetousness,
whining, complaining, being unthankful, being discontented.
Well, you know what?
Sin is still sin, even if it's a minor sin, quote unquote, and it could still anger the
Lord quite a bit.
And not only that, covetousness is sort of the mother of all sins, because usually any
other sins that people commit, they started with covetousness, and then being discontented,
unthankful, and covetous leads us into other sins that are more serious.
And so one of the things we can get from this, symbolically too, is that any sin is enough
to send us to hell.
Because a lot of people think, well, I'm not going to hell because I haven't really done
anything that bad.
But I'll bet you they've all complained and they would all admit, yeah, I've whined and
complained about my situation and I've been discontented and I wasn't happy with what
God provided for me.
I mean, everybody's done that.
Even if we haven't committed murder or adultery, we've done that.
And the Bible even says all liars shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with
fire and brimstone.
So, hey, look, even a so-called minor sin here was still enough to condemn these people.
And that's picturing the fact that we're all condemned to hell without Christ.
We would all deserve hell.
We would all be heading there without Jesus Christ.
And so that's the picture here.
Also the fact that our sins have consequences even on this earth, because not only are the
people going to die, but they're also going to suffer a lot of fiery burning pain before
they die.
And our sins cause us a lot of pain and grief and suffering on this earth.
They look to the serpent in order to be healed, just as we look to Christ to be saved.
Why is the serpent made out of brass?
Brass is a picture of God's judgment.
And throughout the Old Testament, they would offer sacrifices on a brazen altar, right?
And so Jesus Christ is being offered as the sacrifice for our sins.
He's the recipient of God's justice and God's wrath for sin.
And so the serpent is made of brass.
So the main things to take away from this story are that, number one, we don't want
to lust as they lusted.
We don't want to be discontented, complaining, whining, feeling sorry for ourselves because
God could hear that and God's going to be upset by that.
And then that's our takeaway as saved Christians, because we're already saved.
So what do we learn from the story?
Quit complaining, quit being a baby, quit complaining about your food, be willing to
eat the same meal over and over again.
That's what we learn as Christians.
And then the message for the unsaved is that salvation is through Christ.
Now look, people came to Moses in this story in verse seven and said, we've sinned, we've
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.
But here's the thing though.
Even when God takes away the serpents, when they're like, oh, we're sorry, take away the
serpents, guess what?
They've already been bitten, they're going to die anyway.
Like if God takes away the serpents, does that change the fact they've already been
bit?
Now it could prevent future bites, but the problem is they've already been bitten.
And this is the same thing with people who think like, oh well, I'm going to go to heaven
because I'm going to stop sinning.
Like first of all, that's foolish because no one's ever going to successfully totally
quit sinning.
But even if you somehow could quit sinning, what about all the sins that you've already
committed?
You've already been bit.
You've already got the venom in your veins, right?
It's got to be through Christ because here's what Christ does.
Christ actually heals you even from the sins that you've already committed, the sins that
are past even.
You're healed.
He takes away the problem going forward, obviously, but he also takes away the past and so he
forgives our sins past, present, and future.
And so therefore, we need Christ to be saved.
It's not enough just, oh, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do it anymore.
That's not going to fix things.
They needed the serpent on the pole.
That's what they needed to actually fix the problem.
And by the way, the people who came to Moses and said, we've sinned, we've spoken against
the Lord, that's not necessarily all the exact same people as are looking to the serpent
upon the pole.
Each person didn't have to go through this kind of self reformation before they were allowed
to look at the pole, at the serpent on the pole, right?
No, it's just anybody who looks at the serpent on the pole is saved.
Now, look, obviously the vast majority of people feel bad about their sins and feel
sorry for their sins.
In fact, I would say virtually everyone has a guilty conscience about their sins and feels
bad about their sins, right?
And every single person on this planet, unless they're just total psychopath, probably their
conscience is pricked by things that they've done and they're sorry for things that they've
done.
Wouldn't you agree with that?
That the vast majority of people, they do bad, I'm talking saved, unsaved, Christian,
Buddhist, atheist, people feel bad when they do wrong things unless they're a psychopath.
People have a conscience.
But the plan of salvation isn't feel bad about your sins and thou shall be saved.
And it's not feel bad and believe and thou shall be saved.
Now one thing that's silly about that is that feeling bad about your sins is something
that virtually everyone does anyway.
Preachers get up and, hey, you know, you got to be sorry for your sins to be saved.
You got to be sorry.
The stupid thing about that is 99% of people are sorry anyway.
In fact, 99.9% of people at some point in their life, okay, at some point in their life,
before they became a psychopath, boy, everybody was sorry for their sins at some point.
And you know, people who are believing on Christ are probably sorry anyway because human
nature is obviously, we feel bad about stuff.
That's not what needs to be emphasized when we're preaching the gospel because that's
not the plan of salvation.
The plan of salvation is believe.
Don't muddy the waters.
Make it about faith in Jesus Christ.
Make it clear that we're saved by faith in others because the problem is when you start
going on and on about how sorry you have to be, you know what that makes it sound like?
Well, you got to be willing to turn things around and you got to make some promises to
reform your life and you're going to stop sinning and all this stuff.
And you can see how that's a slippery slope that could really easily get you into a works
based salvation of turn over a new leaf and thou shall be saved.
But no, salvation is as simple as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be
saved.
Look and live.
Let's borrow this and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful story and all the things that we can learn
from it.
Lord, help us not to complain.
Help us to be thankful for all the blessings that you've given us.
Help us to recognize all the blessings that we sometimes forget about.
And Lord God, those that aren't saved, I pray that they would understand how easy it is
to be saved, that you did the hard part when you died on the cross and were lifted up from
the earth and that all they have to do is simply believe on Jesus Christ in order to
be saved.
And it's in his name we pray.
Amen.