Untitled Sermon

Bitten but Not Broken: Overcoming the Serpent's Bite

Bible Passage: Acts 28:1–6, Genesis 3:1–15, Numbers 21:4–9, John 3:1–9, John 3:14–16

1. Protected on the Island

1 Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold. 3 As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ac 28:1–6.

Paul arrives safe on this island named Malta. He meets the indigenous people there and treat him very well. He helps to start a fire and a snake bites him. The locals think this is a sin of Paul’s history, which indeed is correct. He is a murderer. However, the snakes bite does not kill him or afflict him. Paul, is then looked at as a holy man and is given license to heal the sick and witness to the power of Jesus on this Island name Malta.

Today, I want to talk about the power of our enemy the devil who is known as a snake, crafty serpent. The disease we have because of falling for his craftiness is called sin. The power of sin is death not just ceasing to breath but to dwell eternity apart from God.

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 6)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The great thing therefore we should beg of God for ourselves and others in the time of sickness is the pardon of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and the sting of it.

Matthew Henry (Nonconformist Biblical Exegete)

And, I want to speak about how we can overcome the power of the serpent bite in the same

2. Peril in the Garden

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The original temptation was to question God’s Words. Did God really say…

Story about Stacey Neal… (How do I know, who is influencing me if I do not know the word)

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

This is not what the Lord said…

4 “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The Pattern of Sin

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 1)

James 1:13 I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone. 14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 3:1–7.

My each of our eyes be opened to our sinfulness and the shame that it brings to ourselves, but also to the Hope of The Gospel

What I need us to see here is that each of us, every single one of us, no matter how good we think we are. We are sinners in need of saving.

3. The Blame Game

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

The natural response to sin is to blame someone else. This is the response of our culture as well. When we get caught we blame someone or something else…

13 So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

We need to take responsibility for our own actions. This is something we lack in our culture today. Taking responsibility for our own actions despite what someone or something else has happened.

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 3:8–15.

Were it not for sin, death had never had a beginning, and were it not for death sin would never have had an ending.

William Dyer; Anonymous

Man is not naturally mortal; death is not the debt of nature but the wages of sin.

John Murray (Professor)

4. Provision in the Wilderness

Context: Moses in TheWilderness

4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.

The pattern begins again, the people begin to question God’s faithfulness. Not only this but the people begin to complain about the leadership of Israel.

I want to say something here that is not popular and I might get hit hard for this.

We should not come against God… This is easy

We also should not come against his chosen and anointed ones. Unless those anointed ones are in unrepentant sin.

Gripping, Gossiping, and Stirring Up Trouble against God’s chosen vessels will only net you hurt and pain.

7 The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

When the wrath of God comes against them what do they do?

They turn to the very one they complain against to say. Save us!!!

If you were Moses, what would you do?

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 21:4–9.

This is a foreshadowing event… The foreshadowing is Jesus being lifted up on a wooden cross and all those who look to him and place their faith in Him, He will be faithful to save them from the sting of sin and the fate of the serpents deception and death.

5. Pursuit of New Birth

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jn 3:1–9.

Born Again Christian -

Nicademous is asking the question that all of us needs to be asking?

What does it mean to be born again?

To be genuinely born again is the miracle of becoming a partaker of the divine nature. It is more than just a religious expression; more than the hyphenated adjective we often hear, such as “He’s a born-again man.”

A. W. Tozer

We are not born again by faith or repentance or conversion; we repent and believe because we have been regenerated.

John Murray (Professor)

6. Power in the Cross

14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Look how Jesus connects the story of Moses in the wildness to what his finished work on the cross will complete.

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Jn 3:14–21.

What is Jesus saying

I was sent here from the father. And, I was sent here to die.

I was sent here to be slaughtered like a lamb for the atonement “forgiveness” of your sin.

Those who look to me, trust in my finished work on the cross “will be born again” “Will have everlasting life”

Those who turn away will be judged, will be condemned, and will be sentenced.

There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.

John Owen (Puritan Divine and Statesman)

Death stung himself to death when he stung Christ.

William Romaine

Where sin is pardoned, death has no sting.

Leon Lamb Morris

There are the flames of hell. Would you escape them? You must be born again. There are heaven’s glories sparkling in their own light. Would you enjoy them? You must be born again. This is the one condition that never moves. God never alters it. You must, must, MUST. Which shall it be? Bow yourselves down and say, “Lord, I today, right now, I submit, I surrender, I ask to be born again…

Charles Spurgeon

Today, I want to speak to all of us…

Many of you need to be born again. The Lord is speaking to you right now and he is saying “surrender” If the Lord is speaking this over you “you do not need to be afraid or ashamed but greatful” Because the spirit of God is speaking to your heart this means he loves you and has a plan for your life. Relent, Release, & Look Up To The Cross of Christ and say; “I surrender”

Many of us in this place are saved, we have surrendered but still. We need to be reminded of who we are apart from Christ. Too many of us treat our salvation as an event and not a process. Salvation is not a one time thing. It is a lifetime of being saved. We call it justification, sanctification, and glorification. Today I want to impress on your heart to take a moment in worship to really reflect on this truth

The last people I want to speak to are the people who are not feeling anything. If you are in this place and you are not moved by the preaching of God’s word. If you are not moved to really reflect in some way shape or form, then today you are the one who needs the deepest petitions cried out for your name and for your heart because today, your heart is cold, caused, and apathetic to the things of God. And today you need to come to this altar and beg God to soften your heart. Because you are by far the person that is the most in trouble.