Snake Bite!

10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Parable of Snake and Mouse)

A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake’s glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan.What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. No matter how hard we try to cover or deny our sinful nature, it’s fool’s work. Sin will eventually awake from sleep and shake off its cover. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master’s hand, sin would eat us alive.

Numbers 21:4-9

Sin has a lethal bite we can avoid!

The Bite of Discouragement. 4

The way was difficult. MAP

Travel was tough.

This was an indirect route because of their rebellion and not believing God to take the land the first time.

The 12 spies took a direct route to search the land in Numbers 13.

Numbers 14:34–38 AV

After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

The High Priest, Aaron has died (40 year of wandering) so the people are close to going into the land! But the way is hard.

There will be tough times in life and difficult consequences because of our poor choices or because our our not believing or obeying the Lord.

The Bite of Complaining. 5

God provided Manna.

God gave them Water.

God directed their path.

But they complained still. We can be good at complaining as well.

Anytime we talk about things that are out of our control in a negative way, we are complaining. in essence they are complaining about God.

They acknowledge their sin was against God in verse 7.

The Bite of Forgetting Truth. 5

Their Egyptian life was not wonderful.

Slavery was not wonderful.

The food was OK, but not as good as they made it out to be when complaining and discouraged.

Sometimes we do not see things the way they really are or really were.

It is easy to forget the TRUTH.

Conclusion: God sent serpents in verse 6. God is correcting the sinfulness of His people once again.

“Look and Live” comes from this Bible scene. 8-9.

This story is a demonstration of their future when Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross.

John 3:14–15 AV

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.

Music teacher and Civil War Vet (for the North) Bill Ogden wrote: “Look and Live.”

I’ve a message from the Lord, Hallelujah! The message unto you I’ll give. ’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah! It is only that you “look and live.”

Refrain: “Look and live,” my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. ’Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah! It is only that you “look and live.”

Sin has a lethal bite we can avoid!

D and A:

What tempts you to be discouraged?

Discuss ways to curtail complaining.

Share ideas about not forgetting truth.

How can reminders of truth help us not sin?

Why does look at the Cross/Gospel change our perspective?