Sermon Tone Analysis

Numbers 21:4-9

4 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.  5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

for /there is/ no bread, neither /is there any/ water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have 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.

8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9 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.

KJV

I.    Visible.

(21:8a) And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole:

A.    God wanted the cure to be visible.

He did not hide the cure under a bushel.

B.    God wants THE WORD to be visible, available.

1.     John 3:14-15 “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.”

2.     John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

II.

Vital.

(21:8b) …and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

A.    Vital – that which is essential to life.

B.    It was a matter of life and death.

A choice that was simple, yet had profound consequences.

C.    Imagine the scene of a father in a tent, bitten by a serpent, who refused to look.

D.    John 3:15 “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

III.

Victorious.

(21:9) 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.

A.    God never removed the snakes.

B.    He provided victory over the snakebites.

C.    God does not remove sin, but he grants victory over sin.

D.

The truth we hold, the message of salvation we preach, is more than a theological argument or a religious viewpoint.

IT IS A RAISED HOPE in a world surrounded by fear.