Look and Live
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Intro:
Scripture Intro:
Series working through the book of Numbers
Last week, Todd finished Numbers 14.
But with this being Easter Sunday,
we are take a bit of liberty and jump ahead to Numbers 21.
Don’t worry.… we’re coming back to chapters 15-20,
But for this Sunday,
as we are focusing on new life (resurrection life)...
we are going to a section of Numbers
that pretty much everybody in this room is familiar with...
Even if you don’t know the Bible,
you’ve seen this passage represented 1000’s of times in your lifetime.
It’s this symbol.
And where have you seen this most often?
On Ambulances
What in the world does that mean?
Scripture Reading (“Please stand…”)
When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive.
And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”
And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
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.”
Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
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.”
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.
Pray...
Intro:
Intro:
During the Great Depression,
financial markets crumbled, unemployment skyrocketed,
food was scarce for many,
and people feared for their very survival.
However, the United States faced a strange paradox:
While millions of Americans were hungry,
the nation simultaneously had massive agricultural surpluses.
Farmers were producing more than the market could absorb,
which drove prices so low that many couldn’t survive.
Meanwhile, families on relief often had nothing to eat.
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) attempted to raise farm prices by reducing supply.
They paid farmers to slaughter of six million piglets and destroy —
As you could imagine...
this caused public outrage,
because food was being destroyed while people starved.
The public anger over this “waste in a time of want” pushed the government
to redirect surplus food to relief programs.
To address this contradiction, the federal government created a series of programs
to purchase surplus food and distribute it to the unemployed and destitute.
2. The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC)
Created in October 1933, the FSRC (later renamed the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation) was tasked with:
Buying surplus agricultural goods
Processing, storing, and distributing them
Delivering them to state and local relief agencies for direct distribution to needy families
Between 1933 and 1935, the FSRC distributed over $265 million worth of food to the states
(about $6.8 billion in today’s dollars).
These were given “over and above” normal relief rations
so that they would not to disrupt private markets.
Guess how the people responded.
(Let me know if this sounds familiar...)
Even though the food was free and life‑sustaining, many recipients grumbled:
A. Complaints about monotony
Families received the same staples repeatedly — flour, beans, cheese, canned beef.
People grew tired of the limited variety.
B. Complaints about preparation
Some foods (like dried beans or certain cuts of meat) required long cooking times or skills many families didn’t have.
C. Complaints about quality
Surplus food was often:
Plain
Unseasoned
Unfamiliar
Not what families preferred
D. Complaints rooted in pride
Some felt ashamed to receive government food and expressed resentment rather than gratitude.
The result:
People grumbled about the very provisions that were keeping them alive...
Just like Israel calling God’s provision of manna “worthless.”
Our Disdain for God's Provision
Our Disdain for God's Provision
Timer: 15 minutes left ???
First thing we need to look at today...
the heart behind the grumbling.
And how does it help us see our own hearts?
And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”
And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
God gives them a great victory.
What may not be completely evident are the details of this battle.
Who?
Canaanites
Where?
Hormah
Do you remember that Todd just preached on that place last week?
He covered that last half of Numbers 14...
When the people refused to go into the land,
God told them that they wouldn’t enter the land.
Instead, everyone 20 years old and up would all die in the wilderness.
Remember, after they hear that,
“Ok, we’ll go now.”
They went into battle, even though Moses told them too late.
Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.
Back at Numbers 21:3
And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
This is decades after the initial defeat,
but they certainly understood the significance of this place.
Hormah - means “destruction”.
God gave them the victory that their parents had wanted nearly 40 years prior.
Yet, that didn’t last very long.
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.”
Timothy Ashley:
"The cause of the complaints is lack of water and acceptable food."
"The objects of the complaint are both Yahweh and Moses."
This is just like the people of the Great Depression
complaining about the food that keeps them from dying.
“we loathe this worthless food”
loathe - “to detest”, “disgust”, “to abhor”
Feeling of hostility against something.
This is way past dislike.
worthless - insignificant, light, contemptible, miserable
The best I could come up with is when an 18-month-old eats something they detest.
Their face crumples up.
They spit it out.
Beyond the food itself,
what is going on?
They have missed the grace of God entirely.
Great victory in battle.
The fact that that they have food at all.
The manna that is provided to them everyday...
This worthless food.
Notice the irrational complaint,
“we have no food” (bread)
“this worthless food” (bread)
When we lose sight of grace,
we begin to assess life according to our own desire and preferences.
As if we can make them happen...
Our hearts are exposed.
Impatient
Speaking against God
Instead of thankfulness,
we become filled with contempt and disgust.
But this disgust is not about food or tangible provision.
This disgust is about a disgust for God.
B/c he is the one who has given you all that you have.
App. What are you feeling is a “worthless” provision in your life?
God's Response to Our Rebellion
God's Response to Our Rebellion
(Timer: How much time left?)
Remember, in the early part of Numbers 21,
God brought judgment on the Canaanites (nations around his people).
Now, he brings judgment on his own people.
Death - What all sin deserves.
Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
“fiery serpents”
Fiery inflammation and burning
OR intense fever and thirst.
The Purpose of Judgment
And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
“This punishment brought the people to reflection. They confessed their sin to Moses...” (Keil and Delitzche)
Often times, it takes the consequences and results of our sin to fall on us...
in order to show us who we truly are...
to wake us up
To draw us to him.
It’s been said, “He is the God who wounds in order to heal.”
What do they say?
“We have sinned”
They see it.
No denying it. No lessening it. No blaming.
They did it....
They own it.
And they are brought to the place of humility/repentance by God’s judgment.
Pray to be saved
They know they cannot save themselves.
God must deliver them.
Moses can’t even deliver them.
Moses pray for us...
but God must save.
God's Unexpected Way of Deliverance
God's Unexpected Way of Deliverance
(Timer: How much time left?)
God is all powerful
God sent the serpents in the first place.
He can remove them from the camp.
Instead...
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.”
What?
God doesn’t remove the serpents.
He provides a rescue in the midst of judgment.
The bronze serpent...
the symbol of death becomes the means of life.
Not surprisingly,
the bronze serpent became a stumbling block for them later in their history.
King Hezekiah… “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”
He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
The bronze serpent had become an idol.
The very thing that displayed God’s mercy and grace...
they worshipped IT rather than God himself.
Our Need for Faith to be Healed
Our Need for Faith to be Healed
So the serpent what put up on the pole,
but the serpents were still in the camp.
And they were still biting people.
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.
Pain and suffering were still coming.
God didn’t remove that.
He provided a way to be healed.
He provided a way of deliverance.
What was it?
“look at the bronze serpent and live”
Shockingly simple...
“Look and live”
No rituals, no payments, no merit
"see" and "look" (2 different words)
"look" - "fix one's gaze" (a definite act of the will)
Our Need to Look to Jesus and Live
Our Need to Look to Jesus and Live
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.
The wilderness story becomes a window into the cross
The lifted serpent becomes the lifted Son
"so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”
The same pattern repeats
Sin that kills
A Savior lifted up
Faith that receives
Life that is eternal
The cross is the true and final “look and live”
The judgment we deserved is borne by the One lifted up.
The heart of God revealed
God loves, so He gives.
The Son is lifted up, not to condemn but to save.
Nicodemus learns the true nature of salvation
- Not earned
- Not inherited
- Not achieved
- But received through new birth and faith
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The heart of God revealed (John 3:16–17)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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.
- God loves, so He gives
- The Son is lifted up, not to condemn but to save
- The cross is the ultimate “look and live”
Close in Prayer
Close in Prayer
Closing Song:
Closing Song:
“All Hail King Jesus”
It recounts the events of the cross and resurrection,
and it calls everyone to bow before him as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Benediction:
Benediction:
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
