THE CASE OF THE VICIOUS VIPERS

Samuel Rozolem

HOPE FOR HOPELESS CASES • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

Numbers 21:1–9

0 ratings

· 5 views

Notes

Transcript

Numbers 21:1-9

PRAY...

Intro: The events of our passage occur very near the end of Israel’s 40 year journey through the wilderness. God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt 40 years earlier. It took them 2 years to reach the Jordan River. During that time, the Lord gave them His Law, and taught them about worshiping Him. When they arrived at Jordan, they refused to cross over the river into the Promised Land. Because of their lack of faith and rebellion against God, the Lord sentenced the entire nation to wander in the wilderness until every member of that rebellious generation, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, died. It took 38 years for them all the die.

During that 38 year period, God was faithful to walk with Israel, to feed them with Manna everyday, to lead them from place to place, and to protect them from their enemies. God had been faithful to His people.

The Israelites had grown sick and tired of wandering through the wilderness. They were tired of God’s plan. They were tired of the Manna. They were tired of their leader Moses. They were just sick and tired of everything.

In this text, we are told that “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. ” v. 4. The Israelites were forced to go this way because the Edomites would not grant them permission to cross their land. This forced Israel to walk through a terribly harsh desert area. It was mountainous, rough, and desolate. The people didn’t like it. Verse 4 says And the people became impatient on the way. ,

“The word “impatient,” had the idea of something “being frustrated, and they are short tempered, out of patience with the whole process of getting to Canaan.

Their frustration over the path they were being forced to walk, brought to the surface other complaints they had in their hearts. “if you want to get the juice out of an Orange you need to squeeze it”. So In verse 5 they voice several complaints.

• They complain that God and Moses brought them out of Egypt just to have them die in the wilderness.

• They complain about the lack of food.

• They complain about the lack of water.

• They complain about the Manna God was sending them every day. (Manna, if you remember, was a miracle meal. It fell on their camp at night. It was plentiful. It was free. It was tasty. It was nutritious. It was a gracious gift from God to feed His hungry people. A mathematician has calculated that it would have taken 240 truck loads, 53 ft long box, loads of Manna every day to feed a nation the size of Israel. The amount and quality of the Manna illustrates the grace, power, and generosity of Almighty God.)

But, despite God’s grace in delivering them from Egypt, despite His generosity in feeding them, and despite His guidance in leading them, they began to murmur and complain. They complained about the leader God gave, and they also lodged their complaint against the Lord.

In response to their complaints, God sent judgment upon Israel in the form of “fiery serpents.” Yet, along with the punishment came the pardon, and this is the magnificent truth that I want you to see today.

onde abundou o pecado superabundou a Graça de Deus!

This passage is a harsh look at the consequences of sin, but it also illustrates the love and grace of God for the lost.

This passage, though ancient, is a vivid illustration of what Jesus did for sinners on the cross.

When speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus used this event as an illustration of His Own death for sinners on the cross at Calvary, John 3:14-15

John 3:14–15 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For Israel this situation quickly degenerated into a hopeless situation. They were being bitten by vicious vipers and many people were dying. There was no treatment for the snake bites. There was no escape from the snakes. They were trapped in hopeless circumstances from which they could not escape.

I would like for us to consider the facts of yet another hopeless case. This passage teaches us, once again, that there is Hope For The Hard Cases. Today, we will consider The Case Of The Vicious Vipers. (Víboras mortíferas)

This passage will teach us there is hope for those trapped in the grip of sin.

There is salvation for those who are perishing. There is hope for the hopeless.

I. V. 4-5 ISRAEL’S SIN

Num.21.4-5 “From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.””

In this event Israel was guilty of several terrible sins against God.

A. They Rejected God’s Person –

Verse 5 says, “And the people spoke against God.”

One thing this people knew how to do, and knew how to do well, was complain. That is about all they had done for thirty-eight years.

Just listen to the record of their wretched whining found just in the book of Numbers:

• “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD,” Num. 11:1a.

• “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness,” Numbers 14:2

• Numbers 16:41 “41 But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.””

• Numbers 17:12 “12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.”

Up till now Israel had been guilty of speaking against their leaders. In this passage we are told they “spoke against God.” Instead of talking about other people, they now turn their anger toward their God.

Can you imagine the audacity and the arrogance it took for these puny humans to speak against God?

Before God chose them, and before God saved them by His grace, they were nobodies. They were nothing but common slaves in the land of Egypt. Now, they dare to speak against God.

B. They Rejected God’s Promise –

Here is what they said to God,

v.5 “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”

God had promised the nation of Israel that he would bring them into the Promised Land.

They had His word on it. Yet, they looked God straight in the eye and said impudently, arrogantly, blasphemously, “We don’t believe You.” In effect, they called God a liar.

Lesson: You remember this: every time you doubt the Word of God, you discredit the worth of God. Remember what John said

1 John 5:10 “Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar,”

.and Paul said “Let God be true; but every man a liar,” Rom. 3:4

Just so you know, God holds His Word in high esteem! The Psalmist said this, “Psa. 138:2 “I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”

He expects us to read, honor, obey, and make His Word the standard of our lives.

C. They Rejected God’s Provision –

To add insult to injury, they said,

Numb.21.5 “And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.””

God provided them with bread every day. When they needed water, He gave it to them.

They lied, and they did not appreciate the things they had received from the hand of the Lord.

Two words in this verse are worth noting.

• The word “loathe,” means “to be disgusted by.” God graciously gave them the Manna from Heaven every day. He used it to keep them fed and healthy. Yet, they looked at God’s gracious provision and they said “that stuff is disgusting.”

• They said that the Manna was “worthless!” Manna was far from worthless. While they were in the wilderness this bread was not only their strength, their sustenance, it was their very salvation. Without it, they would have starved to death! Yet, the one thing that gave them life, they renounced.

D. They Rejected God’s Prophet –

Not only did they speak against God, they spoke “against Moses.” If a man rejects God, he’ll reject God’s man.

If you fall out with God, you will eventually fall out with the man of God.

If you are going to live for God, the world is going to turn on you; people are going to reject you.

If you love Jesus, and you live for Jesus, you will be disgusted by the world.

The Lord Jesus Himself said, “

John 15:18-19 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Paul adds this truth: “

2 Tim. 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

So here is a group of people for whom God has provided everything necessary for them to be happy, healthy, and holy.

What should have been the sweet smell of God’s goodness had turned into a stench in their nostrils.

That for which they should have praised Him resulted in them turning their backs on Him.

They despised Him for His grace.

They hated Him for His generosity.

They criticized Him for His guidance.

The sin of these people wasn’t unique to them. It happens every day in our world.

The world, the breathes God’s air, eats His food, drinks His water, and enjoys His world, but despises God’s Word, they reject His authority, and they refuse to bow to His will.

They shake their puny fists toward Heaven and boast of their sin and voice their defiance of God.

Every day, in every way, the lost world proves that they are wicked, depraved sinners, who deserve the judgment that God sends their way, Eph. 2:1-3.

What makes Israel children’s sin so bad is the fact that they knew God.

They were in a relationship with Him. They had His Word. They had His presence. They had His promises, and had seen Him fulfill those promises time and again.

Yet, they turned on Him, and rejected Him out of hand. That is a terrible tragedy, and it happens far too often. But, when it does, there will always be a price to pay.

I. Israel’s Sin

II. V. 6 GOD SENTENCE

Numbers 21.6 “Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.”

Because of Israel’s rebellion, God sends judgment upon them in the form of “fiery serpents.”

A. The Serpents Were Deserved –

The serpent, as you know, is a symbol of sin. Satan disguised himself as a serpent in the Garden of Eden. Throughout the Bible the serpent is a symbol of sin, evil, rebellion against God. It is fitting that the Lord should send serpents among the people.

Sin is like serpent. Sin holds tremendous power over us. It is always there, in the depths of our fallen natures, waiting like a cobra to strike us and fill us with its deadly venom. If sin is allowed to sink its fangs in your life, it will coil itself around you until it has choked the life right out of you. It will not stop until it has destroyed you and everything you love.

B. The Serpents Were Dreadful –

They are called fiery serpents. I believe they were called fiery because of the intense pain that they could inflict on their victims.

These were most likely a type of viper found in the Middle East. The bite of these vipers is said to be immensely painful.

Research on that type of viper reveals the following symptoms from the viper’s bite:

• Injection of venom initiates a fiery pain at the site of the bite.

• Swelling begins right away.

• Discoloration at the sight of the bite varies from white to flaming reds, purples, and dark blues.

• Victims would experience nausea, vomiting, excruciating stomach pains and cramping.

• Victims begin to experience extreme thirst

• The liver and kidneys are damaged from filtering toxins resulting in extreme tenderness in the lower abdominal area, and many times diarrhea sets in.

• Hemorrhaging occurs in the form of nosebleeds, or bleeding from the mouth or the eyes.

• The viper’s venom is a hemotoxin, it destroys blood cells and causing bleeding where capillaries are close to the surface. A person usually bleeds to death internally.

• Quick deaths from a viper’s bite are unusual. Generally the suffering is prolonged for one or two days.

What is the point? The point is, God is trying to teach us here that suffering follows sin just as surely as night follows day.

The devil has tried to sell us on the idea that it’s hard to be a Christian. Well Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” Matt. 11:30.

Friend, it is not the way of the Christian that is hard. Pro. 13:15 tells us, “The way of the transgressor is hard.”

As hard as it is to say, lost sinners get exactly what they deserve from the hand of God,

Ill. Psa. 9:17; Matt. 7:21-23; Rev. 20:11-15! So do the saints of God who wander off into sins playground, Rev. 3:19.

C. The Serpents Were Deadly –

We are told that “many people of Israel died.” But that’s just like sin! Sin thrills, Heb. 11:25b, then sin kills.

The Bible says, “The soul that sinned, it shall die,” Eze. 18:20.

It also says,

James 1:14–15 “14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

And, “For the wages of sin is death…,” Rom. 6:23a.

The Bible says that sin is a debt, and when a person has a debt, either the debt is paid, or the debtor is punished.

Either your sin was paid for by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross, or your sin debt will be punished in the fire of Hell.

Defiant sinners always face the judgment of deadly serpents.

All those who reject Jesus Christ will suffer the consequences of the poison called sin . 2 Thes. 1:9 ...

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,”

Listen again to verse 6, “And many of the people of Israel died.” Now that’s putting it mildly. People are dropping like flies, an dying all over the camp of Israel.

• Keep in mind that we are talking about two to four million people in a twelve square mile area. Poisonous serpents are biting them, and t hey are getting sick and dying.

• There was no hospital, and even if there had been, it wouldn’t have been big enough to treat all those who were sick.

• There are no doctors, and even if there were, there wouldn’t be enough for all the patients.

• There is no anti-venom and no other medicines, and even if there were, there would not be enough to go around.

• This is a desperate situation. People are dying everywhere and there seems to be no cure available and there is no help in sight.

What a tragic picture this paints of the lost sinner and his fallen condition. Left to himself, the lost sinner is in a hopeless, helpless condition. He cannot change his situation. He cannot save himself from the poison of sin that flows through his veins.

That is why I rejoice in a tremendous thought that presents itself in this passage. Here it is: even though a situation may be desperate, with God it is never hopeless.

I. Israel’s Sin

II. Israel’s Sentence

III. V. 7 ISRAEL’S SORROW

When you have been bitten by a deadly snake, there are only two things you can do: You can sit and die, or you can get up and do something about it.

The Israelites chose to do something about the situation. They took three steps that every person has to take if he is going to be cured of the snake bite of sin, and escape the fiery judgment of hell.

A. There Was Conviction –

“Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned.’”

No matter what else you do, until you get to that point in your life where you are willing to say, “I have sinned,” you will never be saved.

That is what Jesus meant when He said, John 6:44 “44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

B. There Was Confession –

The people went on to say, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.”

True conviction is always followed by full confession. In fact, confession not only follows conviction, but conviction really forces confession. The sinner must get honest about his condition before there can be salvation.

C. There Was Contrition –

The people went on to say, “Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people.”

The final step is when you realize that your only hope is God.

When the sinner comes to see his lost condition, and confesses that need before the Lord, the sinner will be at a place where he will turn to the Lord for the help he needs.

These three steps always work together.

• In conviction you acknowledge you have done wrong to yourself.

• In confession you admit you have done wrong to others.

• In contrition you accept that you have done wrong before God.

• Then and only then is the Lord ready to accomplish His work of salvation in the lost soul.

Every single one of the steps I have mentioned here is the work of God’s grace within the sinner’s heart.

The sinner cannot convict himself. The sinner cannot draw himself. The sinner cannot even see his own need until God reveals it to Him for he is “dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph. 2:1.

• It is God Who makes the sinner aware of his lost, sinful condition.

• It is God Who convinces the sinner of his sin.

• It is God Who draws the sinner to Jesus Christ.

• It is God Who gives the sinner the faith to believe the Gospel, Eph. 2:8-9.

• It is God Who saves the soul!

• To put it simply, from beginning to end, “Salvation is of the Lord,” Jonah 2:9.

I. Israel’s Sin

II. Israel’s Sentence

III. Israel’s Sorrow

IV. V. 8-9 ISRAEL’S SALVATION

Numbers 21:8–9 “8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

Incredibly the cure for this serpent problem is not a pill or a potion.

The solution is a brass serpent raised up on a pole.

There are some precious truths I want you to see in that brass serpent.

A. The Provision Of God –

Who came up with a plan like this in the first place?

Verse 8says, “Then the Lord said to Moses.” The plan of salvation is God’s idea, and God’s idea about salvation has never changed.

The way people were saved here in the Old Testament is exactly the way people are saved in the New Testament.

And, it’s the way people are still saved today.

In Num. 21, Looking to the provision provided by God saved them.

I want you to see something about this wonderful salvation.

B. The Power Of Grace –

1. It Was Infallible –

Everyone who looked, lived. They didn’t just feel better, they got well.

2. It Was Individual –

Everyone had to look for themselves. Nobody could look for another person.

If you were bitten and wanted to be healed, you had to look for yourself.

Anybody could be healed, but not everybody was healed, because not everybody looked.

3. It Was Instantaneous –

The people who looked at that serpent did not have to wait, pay for this salvation OR pray!

The moment they looked was the minute they lived. Salvation was not a process. It Was Instantaneous.

4. It Was Invaluable –

The healing God provided through that serpent was free, readily available, sufficient, and it would work for anyone.

Now there are some lessons we need to glean from this passage. listen to what Jesus Himself said about this story in...

John 3:14–15 “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

In the Old Testament the Bible says, “look and live.”

In the New Testament the Bible says, “believe and be saved.”

John 3:16–19 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

John 3:36 “36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 8:24, “24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.””

In the Old Testament the Bible says, “look and live.”

In the New Testament the Bible says, “believe and be saved.”

• Think about it. The only condition placed on these people was simply to look.

The Israelites could have tried all kind of homemade remedies.

They could have bathed their wounds with tears of remorse.

They could have put on the ointment of religion.

They could have bandaged themselves with good works.

You know what would have happened? Those snake bites of sin would have killed them.

Hear me well. The people who died did not die just because they had been bitten.

Ultimately, they died because they would not look, v. 8.

Take a moment to go back in your mind to that day and try to imagine the scene.

Here’s a man who has been wonderfully cured by looking at that serpent. He begins to go from tent to tent trying to get other people to look.

One man says, “Oh, I’m too sick, I’m too far gone. Not even that raised serpent could heal me.”

He goes to the next tent. He says, “Sir, if you will just look you’ll be saved,” and the man says, “Well, I don’t feel like this snake bite is all that bad. Matter of fact, I haven’t been bitten as bad as some people. I’ve only been bitten once.

This man goes to the third tent. He says, “Sir, if you’ll just look you’ll be saved.” The man says, “Well, when I get well I’ll look. But I’m just not going to look till I get that healing feeling. But I tell you, when I get my life straightened out, and I get over this snake bite, then I’ll look.”

He goes to a fourth tent, and a man says, “Oh, I don’t believe in that brass serpent theory. I don’t buy into that. I don’t see any relationship or connection between a serpent raised up on a pole and this snake bite that’s killing me. I’m not interested.”

He goes to another tent and he says, “Sir, you’re so sick. If you’ll just look at this serpent you’ll live.” The man said, “You know, I’ve really kind of gotten attached to this snake, or at least he’s gotten attached to me. I kind of hate to give it up. I kind of enjoy it. If I look to that serpent I’ll have to give up this snake, and I believe I’ll just hold on to what I’ve got, and what’s got me.”

Now that all may sound ridiculous to you, but the world is full of people who give those same kind of excuses day in and day out as to why they will not look to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

The only reason people die in their sins and go to Hell is because they refuse to look to Jesus for salvation.

Let your imagination wander back with me just one last time.

Imagine you hearing the sobbing and the wailing all over the camp?

Every family’s been affected by the bites of those poisonous snakes. Eyes are red with weeping; cheeks are blanched with fear; lotions and potions have been applied; herbs have been compounded; medicines have been drunk; for people are dying by the hundreds and the thousands, and still the people, young and old perish.

Everywhere you look there are funerals and burials.

Then all of a sudden a shout splits the air like a knife going through butter.

“A cure! A cure! A cure!”

People, who had been bitten, people who were dying, are now running in and out from tent to tent, saying, “Look and live! Look and live! Look and live!”

Soon, by the hundreds, and then by the thousands, fevered, pain-wrecked, expiring snake victims, are evacuated from their tents to places where they can simply look and see that brass snake on that high pole, and everywhere instantaneously people are cured, and people are saved.

In one tent a mother is bending over the weak, feverish form of her dying son. She’s just buried his dad, and now she knows she’s about to bury her son.

All of a sudden a neighbor rushes in and says, “Your son does not have to die. There is a cure!”

The mother, with wide-eyed awe and amazement, said, “What do I need to do?”

She said, “Pick him up and bring him out. Get him to look at the brass serpent on the pole”

The mother brings him out of the tent, and she says, “Look, there it is!”

She lifts up the head of that little boy. She pries open just one of his eyes and says, “Son, look.”

That little boy looks, and does he see it? Yes, he sees it.

The color comes back into his cheeks. The fever leaves his sweating brow. His headache stops. His limps straighten out. His eyes open. He sits up. He stands up. He leaps, he shouts, he dances, because he’s been totally and wonderfully healed!

Has that ever happened to you? It has happened to me. If it has happened to you, you’ll want it to happen to others. It’s just natural when you look to Jesus; you want to lift up Jesus.

Conc:

Where does this sermon find you today? Have you been bitten by the serpent of sin?

Can you feel its poison working through your system?

Are you aware of the pain and problems sin has caused you?

Are you conscious of the fact that you are going to die, and when you do, you are going to Hell? Does that describe you?

If it does, let me tell you that you do not have to die without Jesus.

You do not have to live one more minute as a slave to sin and his power. You do not have to perish!

I am here today to invite you to look and live. Look to Jesus and and be free! It is as simple as that,

Isaiah 45:22 “22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

Romans 10:9 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

One look saved Israel, and one look will save you too!

If you are saved, are you lifting Him up to those around you?

Are you “pulling them out of the fire,” Jude 23?

Has The Great Commission, Mark 16:15; Matt. 28:19-20, become The Great Omission?

Do you need to ask the Lord to forgive you for not telling the lost about Christ?

Do you need to come and pray for lost souls today?

• If you are saved, how long has it been since you bowed at His feet, loved on Him and thanked Him for all He has done for you?

• How long has it been since you lifted your voice to testify of His saving grace?

• How long has it been since you have been overcome and overwhelmed by His power, His love, His grace and His glory?

Related Media

Related Sermons