Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 7, Session 2

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Edited Mar. 25, 2022 by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A.

Summary and Goal

In the last session we looked at God’s people failing to trust in His faithfulness to bring them into the land of Canaan.

In this session, we will see that the next generation of Israelites, the children of the people who had rejected God’s provision of a land flowing with milk and honey, grumbled and complained about God’s provision for them in the wilderness.

We will see once again that God is gracious and merciful, but He also takes rebellion against Him seriously.

We will also see that just as God made a way for the Israelites to be saved through the judgment He poured out on them, He has made a way for us to be saved from the ultimate consequence of our rebellion, which is eternal separation from Him.

Session Outline

++1.

God punishes sin and desires repentance from His people (Num.

21:4-7a).

++2.

God provides an intercessor to appeal on behalf of His people (Num.

21:7b-8).

++3.

God provides a way of salvation through faith for His people (Num.

21:9; John 3:14-15).

Session in a Sentence

God is just and will punish sin, but He is also gracious and will provide a way of salvation.

Christ Connection

Just as the Israelites looked upon the bronze serpent lifted high on the pole in faith believing and were healed, so also we look with faith upon Jesus Christ lifted high on the cross and are saved from the punishment of our sin.

Group Time

Introduction

Interact: Ask group members the following question.

What are some things people put their faith in hoping that everything turns out well for them in the end?

(in themselves; in money and stuff; in the pursuit of happiness; in good deeds; in a god who overlooks our sin)

God has provided only one way for things to go well for us in the end.

He has given us Jesus to save us from our sin.

He alone must be the object of saving faith for our destiny and for life’s journey.

Trusting in anything else only leads to death, or at least produces the works of death; it does not matter how sincere or strong that faith is.

Faith is effective only when it is placed in the right object—in Jesus Christ

God’s only provision for sinners to be saved.

God’s people failed to trust in His faithfulness to bring them into the land of Canaan.

The next generation of Israelites grumbled and complained about God’s provision for them in the wilderness, and both God’s judgment and grace in response, point us to Jesus Christ lifted high on the cross for our salvation.

Point 1: God punishes sin and desires repentance from His people (Num.

21:4-7a).

This event in the life of the Israelites took place almost forty years after their rebellion and refusal to go into the promised land.

Most of the previous generation died in the wilderness, as God had said, and the next generation came of age seeing God lead them and provide for them every step of the way.

Read Numbers 21:4-7a (DDG p. 21).

4 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.

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.”

6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7a And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.

DDG (p.

21), Because all sin offends a holy, righteous, just, and eternal God, all sin demands a holy, righteous, just, and eternal response, a punishment.

The Israelites sinned against God once again as they complained about the food God was providing.

If we focus on the Israelites’ offense, we might not understand what follows.

But when we recognize that the Israelites sinned against a holy God, we find it easier to see that God’s judgment was just.

God showed the Israelites the magnitude of their offense against Him by sending killer snakes into the camp.

Ask the following question on p. DDG (p.

21)

How do you tend to see your sins?

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Innocent Damnable

Because we often focus on our sins to the exclusion of the One we have sinned against (Ps.

113:4-6), we fail to remember that all of our sins—even the “small” ones that don’t seem to harm anyone—are acts of rebellion against our Creator.

We fail to understand that what is deemed culturally appropriate changes from generation to generation, but God’s Word remains unchanged.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p.

21).

Sin and Death: The ultimate consequence for sin is death—physical death, spiritual death, and eternal death.

Spiritual death, the separation of a person from God, continues in a permanent state when someone dies apart from the reconciling work of Christ.

Essential Doctrine “Sin and Death”: The ultimate consequence for sin is death—physical death, spiritual death, and eternal death (Rom.

6:23).

God was clear to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die (Gen.

2:17).

The type of death that would result from the fall in the garden of Eden wasn’t only physical death but spiritual death as well, the separation of a person from God. Spiritual death continues in a permanent state when someone dies apart from the reconciling work of Christ, who defeated death through His own death on the cross and subsequent resurrection.

DDG (p.

21) We must repent of sin immediately because sin disrupts our fellowship with God.

The snakes that God sent brought about His desired result—repentance.

Like the Israelites, the first thing we should do to repent of sin is confess that we have sinned against God.

We don’t try to hide anything, but we lay bare before Him what we have done and why, acknowledging our damaged hearts behind our sinful conduct.

Interact: Ask group members the following question.

What are some responses (positive or negative) that people have when they realize they have sinned against God?

(deny it; feel sorry; try to fix it; confess it and repent)

Say: True repentance begins by agreeing with God that we’ve sinned and that it is serious.

We have to own our sin, to take responsibility for it, and we have to agree with God that what we have done deserves death.

Point 1: God punishes sin and desires repentance from His people, so that they might enjoy restored relationship with Him.

Point 2: God provides an intercessor to appeal on behalf of His people (Num.

21:7b-8).

Read Numbers 21:7b-8 (DDG p. 22).

7b Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people.

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.”

DDG (p.

22)

Remembering His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God had raised up a deliverer, Moses, to lead His people.

From the start, Moses was to be His intermediary and His people’s intercessor.

Whether it was a promise of salvation, laws to follow, or a message of condemnation, God spoke to His people through Moses.

But Moses also spoke to God on behalf of the people, asking for provision and the forgiveness of sin.

That was the role of an intercessor between God and man.

· In Numbers 21, Moses had yet another opportunity to intercede on behalf of God’s people like he did with the golden calf incident and the rebellion with the spies.

At times, Moses had done this apparently on his own, but here the people asked him to intercede for them.

They knew they had sinned.

They recognized God’s judgment.

They understood that Moses was able to plead for grace and mercy on their behalf.

· In a similar and even greater way, God has revealed Himself and His plan of salvation through the perfect intermediary of His Son, Jesus.

Through faith in Him, we have been delivered from the oppressive slavery of sin and death.

However, we still sin on a daily basis.

So Jesus, similar to Moses with the Israelites, continues to intercede for us with the Father (Rom.

8:34 “who is the one who condemns?

Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”;

Heb.

7:23-28 “And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.”).