1 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:13,040 Going to invite you to open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 21 2 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:15,760 today. If you're joining us in 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,520 Cambridge or in Kitchener online today. 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:24,120 So glad to have you here. And I want to start by asking 5 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:28,760 this question. What would you list in your top 6 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:33,280 five books of the Bible? You just listen your favorites. 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,320 What make your top five favorite books of the Bible? 8 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,880 I want you to think about that. Some of you are like, there are 9 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,760 books. That's OK. 10 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,000 If that's you, you're here today. 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,520 You've never walked in church before me and I am more than 12 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,520 excited that you are here. You don't have to answer this 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:52,920 one, but for those who've been around in church for a while, 14 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:58,920 what would you put in there? The Bible is made-up of 66 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:04,400 books. 39 of those books are found in the Old Testament, 27 16 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:09,760 in the New Testament. And I think there's some that 17 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:11,600 most people would kind of land in. 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:16,720 I, I could probably nail down at least a few of the books that 19 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,760 are probably in most people's top five because there's 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:21,880 definitely some that are more known and more popular than 21 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,360 others, right? So usually if you ask this 22 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,080 question, we will, we will put some gospels in, maybe one or 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,080 two gospels. So gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,200 John, you should all have Luke in there by now. 25 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,720 Just Mark that in Psalms, right? I know a lot of people just say 26 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,920 I love the Psalms. I just love the way that they 27 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,000 just reflect my emotions, my heart to God. 28 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,320 Some of you, you love the Proverbs, you love the wisdom 29 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,360 books, then the idea of just going and finding wisdom from 30 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,280 the Lord. Some of you and you're probably 31 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:59,080 maybe maybe you're more like sci-fi fantasy people in your 32 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,480 reading habits. You like Revelation and the 33 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,560 second-half of Daniel. That's where you land. 34 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,520 Maybe you're a former emo kid. So you love Ecclesiastes and 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,960 Job. That's your jam, man. 36 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:16,400 What are your top five favorites? 37 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,920 I bet you if I asked any of you as you came in the door this 38 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:25,360 morning, none of you would have listed Numbers in the top five. 39 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,560 No one was walking in like Numbers is my book. 40 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,720 I cannot wait for the fact that you were going to preach on 41 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,160 Numbers this morning. If you don't know what Numbers 42 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:38,200 is, Numbers is the 4th book in the Bible. 43 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,120 Here's how you know numbers. Numbers is the book where if 44 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:47,080 people actually make it through Leviticus, starting at beginning 45 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,240 to read the book the Bible from the beginning to end. 46 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,160 Numbers is the point where if they made it through Leviticus, 47 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,680 they're definitely out. They're done. 48 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,840 Like I OK, I I did Genesis in Exodus. 49 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:58,600 That was pretty cool and interesting. 50 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,160 Lots of great stories. I suffered through Leviticus and 51 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,080 now I'm starting in a book that's filled with a census. 52 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,320 I'm not, I'm just, I need to find something else to read. 53 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,000 And numbers got its name because it actually has two censuses in 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,120 it, one at the very beginning and one near the end. 55 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,560 And so like, if you're not into censuses, this is probably not 56 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,120 the book that you have immediately gravitated to. 57 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:31,000 But I think the Hebrew name for the the book of numbers is 58 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,800 actually makes it a book that you might be much more 59 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,120 interested in reading. So the Hebrew name for the book 60 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:41,960 of Numbers is BA Mead bar, which means either in the wilderness 61 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,680 or in the desert, in the wilderness or in the desert. 62 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:50,240 And that is a way better title, the Numbers, if you want to get 63 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:55,000 people interested, because unless you're an accountant or 64 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,360 you're like a numbers nerd like me, you like like fantasy sports 65 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:04,800 and statistics and poles and trend lines and graphs, most 66 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,440 people aren't excited by numbers. 67 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,120 But also it's a much better term because that's what this book is 68 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,880 actually all about. It's about being in the 69 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,200 wilderness. It's about being in the desert. 70 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,040 And so if you look, Genesis is the book of beginnings, Exodus 71 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,840 is the story of the salvation and exit out of God's people. 72 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,720 Leviticus, they begin to get some of the details of the law. 73 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,240 But then you come to Numbers and it's about this period of time 74 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,160 where the people have come out of slavery and they're headed 75 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,120 towards the promised land, but they haven't got there yet and 76 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,360 they're wandering in the wilderness. 77 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,360 And so the Hebrew name just makes way more sense of what is 78 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,520 going on in this book and actually makes it way more 79 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:53,000 interested because you may not be a numbers person, but sooner 80 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,800 or later everybody is a wilderness or desert person. 81 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,880 Sooner or later everyone is a wilderness or desert person 82 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:03,160 because every one of us sooner or later finds ourselves in 83 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,440 spots where we're in the wilderness or the desert. 84 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:07,320 Here. Here's what I mean. 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:15,840 We will, or we are all going through periods of time where 86 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:21,440 we're wandering. We we are, or we will go through 87 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:27,480 times where we know what it feels like to feel like we're 88 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:34,960 lost, to feel like we're stuck. To feel like we're going in 89 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:43,440 circles, To feel discontented, to feel impatient, To feel like 90 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,160 we're suffering, like we're desperate. 91 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,040 Those are wilderness times. That's what it's like to be in 92 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,320 the wilderness. And if you're there or you've 93 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,880 been there, then you know that this, that's a wilderness time. 94 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:03,320 That's a desert time. And today I want to look at a 95 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:08,480 story from In the Wilderness that that really it has nothing 96 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,560 to do with numbers, but a lot to do with those types of feelings. 97 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,200 It has a lot to do with the people who have found themselves 98 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,040 in a spot they didn't expect to be in. 99 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:22,000 And they start to get frustrated and they start to get impatient 100 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,360 and they start to get discontent and they feel like God has 101 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,800 dropped the ball. And that's probably something 102 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,760 that if you don't resonate with that now, at some point you're 103 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:35,520 going to be in that spot. And also it has snakes. 104 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:40,880 So that's exciting. We're actually going to then see 105 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:46,920 how all of this story, this, this weird wild wilderness snake 106 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,800 story ultimately has to do with Jesus. 107 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,320 So let me just pray for us and then we'll jump into our 108 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,760 scripture for today. Father, thank you for your word. 109 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,040 Thank you that all of your word is beneficial. 110 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:07,600 It's helpful. It's good for us to grow us up, 111 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,840 to train us in righteousness, to help us see You more clearly, to 112 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:15,280 help us see ourselves in our blind spots and weaknesses more 113 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,560 clearly, to help us know what it means to walk in light of your 114 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:22,920 grace more clearly. Father, I pray as we go through 115 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,920 this story that You would help us if we've seen the story, if 116 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,440 we know the story, if we're familiar with it, to see it with 117 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:35,680 fresh eyes, and for all of us to see Jesus in the story and to 118 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:37,880 see where we relate to Jesus in the story. 119 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,120 I pray this in Jesus holy name, Amen. 120 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:44,520 All right, let's read this together. 121 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:50,000 Numbers chapter 21, verses 4 through 9. 122 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,680 Then they sent out from Mount Hore by the way of the Red Sea 123 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:03,120 to bypass the land of Edom. But the people became impatient 124 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,440 because of the journey. The people spoke against God and 125 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,880 Moses. Why have you LED us from Egypt 126 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,000 to die in the wilderness? Sounds like my kids in the back 127 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,320 of the car. There is no bread or water, and 128 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:24,480 we detest this wretched food. Then the Lord sent poisonous 129 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,840 snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many 130 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,880 Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses 131 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,880 and said, We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and 132 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,480 against you. Intercede with the Lord so that 133 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,240 he will take the snakes away from us. 134 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:46,280 And Moses interceded for the people. 135 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,680 Then the Lord said to Moses, make a snake image and mount it 136 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:55,440 on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks 137 00:08:55,440 --> 00:09:00,040 at it, he will recover. So Moses made a bronze snake and 138 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,320 mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten and 139 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,280 he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered. 140 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,280 May God bless the reading of his word. 141 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:18,200 So I want to start off right off the bat by just saying I can 142 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:25,680 identify with the Israelites in this story because I know that I 143 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:31,240 can struggle with impatience and I especially struggle with 144 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,440 impatience when I'm traveling. I like to travel, don't get me 145 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,680 wrong, and I don't mind a long journey. 146 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,240 I do mind interruptions or delays on that journey. 147 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:48,640 So we could go on Saturday, I made an 18 hour drive and it was 148 00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:54,000 beautiful because I usually make that drive in about 20 hours. 149 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,440 That's what made it beautiful. There was no delays. 150 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:02,520 It was a perfect drive. We went from Ormond Beach down 151 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:04,280 in Florida. We left at 5:00 AM in the 152 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,920 morning and by 11 PMI was walking in the door of my house, 153 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,920 ready to sleep in my own bed. And it was a good day. 154 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:19,680 But if that 18 hour trip had somehow taken 36 hours, it would 155 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:23,040 have been a very, very, very bad day. 156 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,000 Especially for my family who were in the car with me. 157 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,560 I mean that I don't have a lot of patience for detours, for 158 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:34,480 delays. And these guys are going through 159 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:40,080 a delay because they set out for Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea. 160 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,120 But they went about it in a way that was going to take a lot 161 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,800 longer than the quickest way. And I don't like taking long 162 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:47,960 routes. I don't know about you. 163 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,800 Maybe you love the scenic route. I like the scenic route if the 164 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,680 scenic route is my plan. But I'm not a fan of the scenic 165 00:10:54,680 --> 00:11:01,520 route when I get detoured. But the people became impatient 166 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,840 because of this journey. They were on a journey. 167 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:11,800 In fact, at this point they're on a 40 year journey that is 168 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:16,200 taken away longer than anyone wanted. 169 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,200 Like you and I, we've probably, you maybe been on long trips. 170 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,800 I've been on long trips. I've never been on a trip where 171 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,800 I started the trip and then like by the time I finished the trip, 172 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:27,720 all the other people that started on the trip with me were 173 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,280 dead and I was with a whole new group of people. 174 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:37,680 That's this trip. If you can relate to the idea of 175 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:40,760 feeling like you're in the middle of something that is 176 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:46,120 taking way too long, that is just dragging on, that's where 177 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,160 these guys are. Maybe maybe you're in a season 178 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:53,200 of life where it it's a wilderness time. 179 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,640 You, you feel like you're just wandering now. 180 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,960 You're you're in a spot in your life or you're like, I thought 181 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,520 by now I wouldn't be living in my parents basement. 182 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:10,480 I would be owning a home. I thought by now I would make 183 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:18,440 enough money to pay the bills. I thought by now it wouldn't be 184 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,960 just me that, that, that I'd have a partner to do this with, 185 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,040 that I'd be married by now. Maybe you're in a spot where 186 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:31,520 you're like, I really thought by now they would have moved past 187 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,520 this, Thought my kids would have moved beyond this. 188 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,720 I thought my spouse would have grown past that. 189 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:43,600 Even more frequently, if we're honest, we look in the mirror, 190 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,840 we have times where we thought. I thought by now I would have 191 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,480 moved past this. I would have grown up a little 192 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,560 bit more. I wouldn't keep on falling into 193 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,800 the same things. Or maybe you're in a spot where 194 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,000 you're in the waiting for a medical treatment. 195 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:03,120 Maybe you're in the spot where, again, you're just in this 196 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:05,480 season. It just feels like spiritual 197 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:12,640 stuckness, these wilderness, these waiting times, man, it's 198 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,680 easy to get impatient and frustrated in them. 199 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,320 And this is what happens when these people, and often times 200 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,920 when we get impatient in our frustration, in our stuckness, 201 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,760 in our wilderness times, it says the people spoke against God and 202 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,760 Moses. Why have you let us up from 203 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:38,560 Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no bread or water. 204 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:42,680 We detest this wretched food. See, when we're in these 205 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:45,080 wilderness seas, one of the dangers that we can run into is 206 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:49,080 the wilderness seasons can cause us to distort reality. 207 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,440 They they put us into deep seasons of nostalgia. 208 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,120 Nostalgia is a reality distortion field. 209 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:03,000 We all find ourselves in moments because of where we are in the 210 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,880 present that we look to the past and we miss the good old days, 211 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:11,680 right? And I, I, I, I know at times I'm 212 00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:15,440 there as a parent and, and I'm, I'm parenting teens that are now 213 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,400 growing into young adults. And if your parents there in 214 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,040 that same spot, you know that sometimes you can fall into the 215 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:28,040 trap of thinking, man was so good when they were small and I 216 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:33,080 knew where they were all the time and, and, and I could be in 217 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:34,840 control of some of you are groaning because you're like 218 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,440 you, you forget. I know I'm going to talk about 219 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,800 that. Married people, right? 220 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,800 You're like, man, sure was a lot easier when I was single. 221 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:52,960 Working people who are like, if I could just go back to the good 222 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,760 old days of college, university. Sometimes some of us, it's like 223 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:03,600 high school retired people then who are like, no, no, no, I miss 224 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,880 work. I miss going. 225 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:11,080 I miss having a schedule in my day and we won't even get 226 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:18,080 started on church nostalgia. The thing is, if we're really 227 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,600 honest, the past we long for is almost always a past that never 228 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:26,200 actually existed. So when when, when you're in 229 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,680 that spot where you wish your kids were younger. 230 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:33,760 It's never the part where you wish your kids were younger and 231 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,400 you were constantly exhausted because your kids didn't sleep 232 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,480 through the night and whenever you were riding in a car, Bluey 233 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,600 was blaring right. That's never the you're never 234 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,200 missing that you've forgotten all about that or you've blocked 235 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:49,680 it out of your mind intentionally. 236 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,680 A married person who is frustrated in their marriage and 237 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:59,120 thinks, man, this would be so much easier when it was single, 238 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,920 never thinks about all the parts of being single that they 239 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:07,880 despised and hated. The the feeling of being alone 240 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,960 and not having somebody else there and then having to go on 241 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,680 terrible dates. You know, they don't think about 242 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,120 that. No one who misses high school 243 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,920 thinks I would like to get back to the acne and insecurity, 244 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:23,960 please. Right. 245 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,800 That's not the part that you're thinking about in, in in church. 246 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:32,680 World Church could not have been that good for 60 years. 247 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,880 We've been in decline. There may have been a whole 248 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,760 bunch of things that you enjoyed, but we've been in 249 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,000 steady decline for 60 years and fulfilling our mission in the 250 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,760 country of Canada. So it wasn't that good. 251 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:54,280 The Israelites, they missed a version of Egypt that never was. 252 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,800 They missed Five Star Resort Egypt, right? 253 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:03,120 Somehow in their minds, after 40 years of desert, Egypt looks so 254 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,160 good. But it was a place of slavery 255 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:10,520 and bondage and oppression. But in their head, all they can 256 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,760 think about is but they we had lots of bread and different 257 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:19,079 fruits. The season you're in right now, 258 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:26,400 yes, it, it's less than ideal. It may be incredibly tough, but 259 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,600 I just want to let you know out of the chute, the past you 260 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:31,600 remember wasn't as good as you remember it. 261 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:39,400 And when when untruthful nostalgia begins to kick in, it 262 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:44,800 can pour rocket fuel on a couple other dangers that begin to take 263 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,160 root in the hearts of people. We're going to see that here 264 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:51,200 because it's not just that wilderness seasons can distort 265 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,000 reality, but when that reality gets a distorted wilderness 266 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,240 seasons can cause us to begin to doubt God, right? 267 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,080 It wasn't a problem that the Israelites were feeling a 268 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,080 certain way. I need us to understand that God 269 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,960 is not offended by your feelings in tough times. 270 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,280 He gets it and He understands, and He would likely agree with 271 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:17,600 you when things are hard and His heart off often breaks at the 272 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:19,480 difficulties that we find ourselves in. 273 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,200 It was true that the wilderness was hot. 274 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:29,600 It is absolutely true that there wasn't a lack of water in the 275 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:34,800 wilderness, that there wasn't a lot of variety to eat in the 276 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:39,360 wilderness. It I, I can't imagine I 277 00:18:39,360 --> 00:18:41,920 traveling with the I just got back from traveling with 11 278 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,640 people who I love dearly, But traveling with 11 people can be 279 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,160 frustrating. Traveling with two to 3 million 280 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,440 people, absolutely. These guys are frustrated. 281 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:56,800 I have no question about that. The problem was that they 282 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:02,320 allowed a difficult situation to cause them to to doubt, to 283 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,920 distrust, and ultimately to blame God. 284 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,720 It's when we move from our our feelings about things to 285 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,640 accusations against God where we run into problems. 286 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:18,360 It says the people spoke against God and Moses. 287 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,560 They they went from feeling like man, this is less than ideal to 288 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:28,520 God this is your fault. You did this actually you and 289 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,120 your boy Moses, this is all on you. 290 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:37,680 You gave us bad directions. You, you, you put us in this 291 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:42,480 situation. What type of God would cause us 292 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:45,240 to wander around here for 40 years with limited food and 293 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,840 water in the heat? Like, what type of God are you? 294 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:53,240 God, we would have been way better off just staying put 295 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,040 where we were and never listening to you. 296 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,520 Following you just got us into all sorts of problems. 297 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,600 In fact, if we're really honest, slavery in Egypt was so much 298 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:06,280 better than life with you in the wilderness. 299 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:09,760 You ever found yourself in a situation where your heart 300 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:16,080 begins to get into that space? God, I don't get how could you 301 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:23,440 do this to me? God, life was so much easier. 302 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,520 In fact, maybe it was Even so much better without Jesus. 303 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:34,080 God, I, I, I know you told me to do this, I did this. 304 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,240 And now I'm pretty sure you have no idea what you're doing 305 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,640 because look how all of this is turning out for me. 306 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:48,600 And if we aren't careful in the wilderness, it can become a 307 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:53,040 breeding ground for doubt and for distrust, and ultimately for 308 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,920 blame against God. Closely tied to that wilderness, 309 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,560 seasons can cause us to forget God's goodness. 310 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,040 In fact, he can even cause us to disdain God's grace. 311 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:08,320 So there's a couple things I want you to see here. 312 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:16,000 One, this is not the first time the people of Israel have fallen 313 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,080 into complaint and grumbling against God. 314 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:22,680 This is actually the last of seven times in in the book of 315 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:27,920 Numbers where the people just start blaming God and thinking 316 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,320 about how good it was back in the old days. 317 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,680 In fact, the in the immediate context of of this particular 318 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:41,200 story, God has just shown up for them again in a miraculous way, 319 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:45,080 defeated their enemies. Verses 1 to 3 is a story of God 320 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,680 doing work and defeating enemies they couldn't defeat on their 321 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:53,800 own. And then 4 is but it's so long, 322 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:58,800 you're taking us the wrong way. We're so hungry and so thirsty 323 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:05,440 we wish we'd never left. And we can quickly say, man, how 324 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:10,480 ungrateful. How could they forget so quick? 325 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,440 How could they go from verses one to three to complaining 326 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,760 again in verse 4? I don't know about you, but 327 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,160 there's been a lot of times where I've moved from verse 3 to 328 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,560 verse 4 in my life where a week ago God does something great. 329 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,880 Sometimes a day ago God does something great, but the next 330 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,680 day something isn't going my way and I'm quickly back to 331 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:34,680 complaining. Because that's what we do. 332 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:42,680 We forget what God has done for us and we focus on what we think 333 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,920 he should do for us, right? What what you did for us 334 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,480 yesterday is old news, God, Let's get to the new stuff. 335 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,760 And I'll just say this. If that is a consistent reality 336 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:03,440 and posture in your heart, it's likely because you want 337 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,520 something from God that is more than God you. 338 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:14,200 What you most deeply desire is not God Himself, it's God to do 339 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,560 things for you. You don't recognize God Himself 340 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:24,360 as the greatest gift, but you are looking to His gifts as the 341 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:28,960 greatest thing in your life. And if that's the case, if it's 342 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,200 always about the next thing and the next thing and the next 343 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,680 thing and God doing another thing for you, you'll always end 344 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,640 up dissatisfied. You'll always end up grumbling. 345 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,760 You'll always end up complaining because God is not enough for 346 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,600 you. You want his gifts more than you 347 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:46,920 want him. Here's, here's a great example 348 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:52,160 here in in this passage, they, they talk about the wretched 349 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,440 food. God, we, we don't get enough to 350 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:55,800 eat and we don't get enough to drink. 351 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,240 All we get is this wretched food. 352 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:58,880 You know what they're talking about, the wretched food. 353 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:04,720 You know what that is? It's manna from heaven. 354 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:10,520 That's the wretched food. It is the thing that God has 355 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:15,240 provided for them that allows up to 3 million people be sustained 356 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:20,920 in the desert without all dying. It is, it is a miracle. 357 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,560 Every day in the morning they wake up and God has provided the 358 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,240 food that is necessary for this whole crowd of people straight 359 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,640 from his hands. And they're like boring. 360 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:37,800 We want something else. And they've actually already 361 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,160 gone. If you go back to one of their 362 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,040 complaints, God got fed up with them. 363 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,600 He gave them, so he gave them quail. 364 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,000 It says he gave them so much quail. 365 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,120 I'm going to give you so much quail. 366 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,040 You're going to be so sick of you puke it out your nose. 367 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:49,720 Go read. If you're a junior high student, 368 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,280 you'll love it. Go read it. 369 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,200 That was the Numbers 11. You can go read that one. 370 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,280 But how many things, how many times do we receive grace from 371 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:02,920 God? God does something for us. 372 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,560 He answers a prayer. He's so good. 373 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,760 And so kind of the fact that we wake up in the morning is a gift 374 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,840 of God's grace and we're like, well, could you do something 375 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,080 else? Because this is getting a little 376 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,720 old, I could use a little more grace in my life. 377 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,720 Here's a spiritual example. We've been talking about how 378 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,680 this is all about Jesus, right? This is all about Jesus. 379 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:37,440 John 647 to 48. Jesus says that he's manna. 380 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,320 He's the bread of life. He's the bread, he says, that 381 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:43,480 came down from heaven. He's referring right back to 382 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:50,360 this reality in the wilderness. He ties this into communion to 383 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:53,560 the Eucharist, depending on your tradition, which literally means 384 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:58,680 giving thanks that at all times, in all places, God's people 385 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,720 ought to be thankful because of the things that we sang about 386 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,080 this morning. The God sent his Son to die for 387 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,840 us, and there is nothing more that he could give us that is 388 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:15,200 greater or better than that by his body, his blood, that Jesus 389 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:16,720 would do that. That's the gospel. 390 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,040 That is the heart of the heart of the gospel of the good news. 391 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:31,200 And without fail, I constantly and sometimes am a Christian who 392 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,920 can get tired of the gospel. Sometimes it's even phrased to 393 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:41,760 me this way as a pastor. When are we going to move beyond 394 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:48,080 the milk and get to the meat? Now, if someone comes to me and 395 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,480 what they mean by that, when are we going to talk about repenting 396 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,880 of sin and following Jesus fully surrendered? 397 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,600 Then I'm all in for that, if that's what you mean. 398 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,880 Yeah, let's keep on moving towards that fully in all 399 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,200 things. That's what meat is. 400 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,000 Jesus says his bread is to do the will of the Father. 401 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,720 So if you're like, hey, help me grow and being fully surrendered 402 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,000 to Jesus in all areas, it's absolutely what we want to do as 403 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,640 a church. If you mean when are we going to 404 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,320 stop talking about the gospel so much? 405 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,360 When are we going to move past the doctrines of grace? 406 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:24,480 Like, I get it. I get it. 407 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,640 I get Jesus died on the cross. He rose again. 408 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:28,960 Could we get to something more interesting? 409 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:31,920 Why we have to talk about the gospel every week? 410 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,120 I want to learn obscure Bible facts. 411 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:36,600 When are you going to give me more obscure Bible facts? 412 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,280 Well, I'll try and give you some of those too. 413 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,720 I want to go down the rabbit hole on biblical prophecy. 414 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,000 That's not meat, by the way. Scripture never talks about that 415 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,720 as meat. Meat is the gospel. 416 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:54,200 The gospel is the full meal. It is the full meal. 417 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,440 It is how we come to faith and how we grow in faith. 418 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,400 If what you mean is when are you going to tell me all the things 419 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:06,240 that I have to do in a list that's actually milk, that's not 420 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:10,000 meat, that's you needing somebody to feed you all the 421 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,680 time. That's what babies need. 422 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:18,800 Meat is like I so get the gospel and the Holy Spirit and my heart 423 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,480 is so surrounded to the Holy Spirit that I think the 424 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:23,720 everything through the lens of the gospel. 425 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,920 I'm allowing the gospel to transform every area of my life 426 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,600 and the area of how I deal with people and forgive people. 427 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,720 I look to the truth that Christ has so forgiven me and I just 428 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,200 know. I don't even need you to tell 429 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,160 me, pastor. I know it because that truth of 430 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:47,120 the gospel is so present to me when I struggle with am I loved, 431 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,320 am I accepted and I struggle with insecurity. 432 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:57,360 The gospel tells me, man, I'm so loved and so secure because of 433 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,440 what Jesus did for me on the cross and because I am one with 434 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:05,000 Christ in the Father's eyes. You, when you get that, that's 435 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:09,080 when you got meat. And when we get bored with the 436 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:14,360 gospel, we want to move on from the cross in the empty tomb. 437 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,680 When we have fully understood the gospel and are fully living 438 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,160 out its implications, then we'll be fully mature. 439 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,440 If you're a Christian, you should never tire. 440 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:32,840 You should never get bored of the bread of Heaven come down, 441 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:40,760 should never grow past the gospel, should never grow 442 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,960 ungrateful for the provision of spiritual man and God's grace. 443 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:51,760 That is just new for us every single morning and every single 444 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,960 time we fail to measure up because Christ's death on the 445 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,920 cross is sufficient for all of our sins. 446 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:05,040 It is amazing to me how people who are filled with gratitude 447 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:09,320 and are overwhelmed with the sense of what God has done for 448 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:13,360 them in Jesus Christ and and have grown and and put deep 449 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,360 roots down. None of us are perfect in this, 450 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,320 none of us. But the more it happens, the 451 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,680 more steady they get, the more even when they're in the 452 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,880 wilderness, they never seem like they're in the wilderness 453 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:29,440 because of their heart is so full of gratitude, because they 454 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,160 full so fully and more fully understand the grace of God 455 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,480 through the gospel. Be careful. 456 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,600 The wilderness can cause us to doubt God. 457 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:45,640 It can cause us to even become ungrateful or want to move on 458 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,720 from his incredible goodness and grace towards us. 459 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,880 And just a reminder, like Pastor Kirk said last week, sin at its 460 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:01,600 core is not simply about what we do, but why we do what we do. 461 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:07,120 It's it's not just about the acts, it's about the posture and 462 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,480 the motives of our heart that drive the act right. 463 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,200 The failure to trust God, the failure to listen to God, the 464 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,200 failure to acknowledge God alone as God. 465 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,160 And like Pastor Kirk talked about last week, sin has 466 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,240 consequences. That's what we see here in verse 467 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:30,400 6. The Lord sent poisonous snakes 468 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,080 among them, among the people, and they bit them so that many 469 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,400 Israelites died. See, when you distrust God, when 470 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,960 you disdain His grace and his gifts, you put yourself in 471 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:47,440 danger. Last week a serpent convinced 472 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,760 Adam and Eve to sin and that led them to death. 473 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:58,520 This week, God uses serpents and snakes to punish people sin, 474 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,040 which also leads to the death of many. 475 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:09,920 It is a reminder that sin has consequences and we all sin. 476 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:13,280 Pastor Kirk talked about that last week too. 477 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,720 And I'm telling you this out of love. 478 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:20,080 We are all sinners in and of ourselves. 479 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:27,960 Some of you here right now, your frustration in your situation is 480 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,920 driving you towards distrust of God and disdain for His grace, 481 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:38,040 and it is putting you in danger. You have lost your appreciation. 482 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:44,600 You have lost your awe at the goodness and grace of God. 483 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,200 You just don't feel it anymore. We sing the songs, you go 484 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,360 through the motions, but you're just like, yeah, whatever. 485 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,440 God, get on to the thing that I actually want you. 486 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,840 You're not answering my prayer. You're not doing the thing for 487 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,680 me. And so all the rest of it is 488 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,840 just noise. And if that's where you are, 489 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,040 that's where you are today. And you know it. 490 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,680 Your heart, ultimately, even as we sing songs of God's grace and 491 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,760 mercy and forgiveness and tremendous sacrifice, your heart 492 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,920 is still full of complaint and murmuring and grumbling and 493 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,720 hardness. It's grown cold towards God. 494 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:33,360 The question for us when we're in that spot is, is there 495 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,480 anything that can be done? The good news of this story is 496 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,760 there is verse 7. Then the people came to Moses 497 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,440 and said, we have sinned by speaking against the Lord and 498 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,320 against you. Intercede with the Lord so that 499 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,480 he will take the snakes away from us. 500 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,440 And Moses interceded for the people. 501 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:57,040 And so I would say to you, if you are in a spot where doubt 502 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,920 and disdain have taken root in your heart, call out to God and 503 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,600 repent of those realities. Repent of that sin. 504 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,000 And and unlike the Israelites, you don't have to go to anybody 505 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,679 else. You can go directly through 506 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:16,000 Jesus who intercedes on our behalf. 507 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:22,760 You can go to him and say, God, I'm sorry for blaming you. 508 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:28,040 I'm sorry that you haven't been enough for me. 509 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:34,400 I'm sorry for thinking my plans and my ideas and my priorities 510 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,760 are better than yours. I'm sorry that I've been taking 511 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:42,280 your grace for granted and all that I have seen and what has 512 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:47,000 been omnipresent in front of me is what I want from you. 513 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,040 Sorry for growing impatient with you in the midst of the 514 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:55,600 wilderness. Now, if you've been around 515 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,080 church, and probably even if you haven't, this part maybe all 516 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,560 makes sense to you. But we're going to get to the 517 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,680 part of the story that's a little confusing unless we 518 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,520 insert Jesus into it, because the last part of this story 519 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,600 reads this way. The Lord said to Moses, make a 520 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:13,560 snake image and mount it on a pole. 521 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,520 When anyone who has bitten looks at it, he will recover. 522 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,360 And so Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. 523 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,320 And whenever someone was bitten and he looked at the bronze 524 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,920 snake, he recovered. What's going on here? 525 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:32,320 Well, this is where Jesus says he really fits into the story. 526 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,680 In John 314 to 15, Jesus is sitting down with a guy by the 527 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,040 name of Nicodemus who is a religious teacher, a Jewish 528 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:43,120 religious teacher of the day, and he's having a long 529 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,960 conversation with Nicodemus. And within this conversation, in 530 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:51,520 verse 3, verse 14, he says just as Moses lifted up the snake in 531 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,560 the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that 532 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,520 everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 533 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:04,080 And ultimately Jesus is saying this healing from sin doesn't 534 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,320 come from anything that we do, but it comes from what God does. 535 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:12,280 Just like the people didn't do anything, they simply trusted 536 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,320 God and took him at his word and looked to the bronze snake. 537 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,480 Jesus saying that the same is true with me. 538 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,080 In fact, I'm the ultimate fulfilment of this, that if you 539 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,880 really want to receive healing and wholeness, not just a one 540 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:28,000 time shot, but for always it's found through faith. 541 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:33,040 And that faith is in me. I'm the fulfillment of what 542 00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,680 Moses was pointing towards way back in the desert. 543 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:40,560 That snake was a one time offer for that moment. 544 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:46,640 But I cover it all. See, back then the only way that 545 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:50,840 the Israelites could be healed was to believe God and take him 546 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:54,920 at His Word. God's solution was not for them 547 00:36:54,920 --> 00:37:00,080 to do a bunch of acts of contrition, go through a lot of 548 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,840 religious motions. Now he just said here's my 549 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:09,440 solution, trust me. And those who trusted recovered 550 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,960 just like God said they would. That didn't mean there wasn't 551 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,320 any pain involved in the snake bite originally, but they 552 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,680 recovered. God was faithful to his word. 553 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:26,720 In John 3. Jesus is saying that's me, that 554 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:31,080 I have come to fix the consequences of sin, not just 555 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:37,040 for a moment, but for forever, and Jesus can save us from any 556 00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,280 sin, and anyone can be saved from sin by Jesus. 557 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,880 See the next words in that section in John chapter 3. 558 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:52,080 John chapter 314. John chapter 315 means that the 559 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:57,600 next verse is John 316. Probably the most famous verse 560 00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:01,720 in all of scripture is directly related to this story. 561 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:10,040 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so 562 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,880 that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have 563 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:18,200 eternal life. Every one of us has a snake 564 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:20,600 problem. It started in the garden. 565 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:27,840 It's led to death for all of us. All of us have a sin problem. 566 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,360 All of us have a death problem. We've all been poisoned by the 567 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,560 serpent and with God's, without God's intervention, we are all 568 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,440 toast. There's nothing we can do for 569 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,400 ourselves. But thanks be to God, he 570 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:48,520 intervenes. He saw us in our desperate 571 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,000 straits, He saw us in our sin problem, He saw us in our death 572 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,520 problem, and He sent Jesus to die for us so we wouldn't have 573 00:38:55,520 --> 00:39:00,520 to die forever. Just like the snake gets lifted 574 00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:04,640 up on a pole, Jesus gets lifted up on a cross. 575 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:06,320 That's what we're going to celebrate on Friday. 576 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,560 Just like the people needed to believe God and take Him at His 577 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:17,000 word, that that snake on a pole would lead to their healing, we 578 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,160 need to believe God and take him at His word that when Christ 579 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:24,160 died, He died for our sins. That our sins were nailed to the 580 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,320 cross with Christ and we can receive healing through Jesus 581 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:31,360 Christ. And just like those who looked 582 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:38,800 at the serpent lived, those who believe Jesus truly live forever 583 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:43,640 and all time. The snake represented what was 584 00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:47,600 killing the people. And when Jesus went to his death 585 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:52,480 on the cross, Jesus became what's killing us. 2nd 586 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:55,000 Corinthians 521 the apostle Paul put it this way. 587 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,000 He became sin. Who knew no sin that we might 588 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:03,200 become the righteousness of God. That's why we celebrate Easter. 589 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,280 That's why God's grace is so amazing, because we were all 590 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,840 dead and Christ died so that we could be alive. 591 00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:14,800 If that's your story, then your story is the Easter story. 592 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,360 Then your story was foreshadowed in this story that we're talking 593 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,680 about today. That's why that story is our 594 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:26,000 story, because Jesus makes it true and Jesus makes it whole. 595 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,520 And if you have never come to a point where you have trusted in 596 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:34,960 Jesus and Jesus alone to pay the penalty for your sin to make you 597 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:39,760 whole and heal you, then the good news is that you can do it 598 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,400 today. And he does it. 599 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:46,920 If you look to the cross and believe in Jesus, you are made 600 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,720 whole. There's nothing else you need to 601 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:51,280 do. Turn to Him. 602 00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:59,880 But the story of Numbers isn't just a story about Jesus on the 603 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:01,520 cross. For people who haven't known 604 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:05,160 Jesus on the cross like we've been walking through, the story 605 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,400 of numbers is a story of people in the wilderness, people who 606 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:13,400 God had showed his grace to, who already were his people. 607 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:19,600 People he had called out of slavery and was leading to the 608 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,960 promised land. The people who he continued 609 00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,640 leading to the promised land even though they messed up again 610 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:35,600 and again and again and again. And some of you here today, you 611 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:41,760 belong to Jesus. Your sins have been forgiven 612 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:46,760 because of your faith in Jesus. So you came to that point. 613 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,640 But maybe you're in a season of wilderness and desert in your 614 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:56,760 life today. Maybe it's because of a sense of 615 00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:03,120 nostalgia, even for the sin and the slavery that Jesus rescued 616 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:09,360 you out of through his death. You haven't been walking in 617 00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:10,800 trust. You haven't been walking in the 618 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:12,560 surrender. You haven't been walking in 619 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:16,920 gratitude. Some of you right now, in this 620 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,400 moment, I don't have to say the thing because the Holy Spirit is 621 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:23,240 telling you right now what The thing is. 622 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,240 It's telling you the snake that's biting you, that's 623 00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:34,320 putting you in pain. I want you to know Jesus doesn't 624 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:36,560 punish his children, but he does discipline his children. 625 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:42,320 He disciplines his children for their good to call them back to 626 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:46,120 healing and to wholeness. I want to invite you, if your 627 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:51,280 heart's grown cold, if you're in a spot where you're in the 628 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,760 wilderness and and the wilderness is leading you to 629 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:59,520 doubt God, to disdain his grace, to blame him, cry out to Jesus, 630 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:04,160 look to him afresh and a new see his grace again through new 631 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:07,560 eyes. Would this Easter season be a 632 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:12,240 season where man, Pastor Kirk and I have been praying this? 633 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,440 That we would see the grace of God like we've never seen it 634 00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:21,360 before in even more powerful ways than you saw when you first 635 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:25,400 came to Jesus. That that your heart would be 636 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,360 set on fire again by the goodness and the grandness of 637 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,680 God's grace. You would just have a heart full 638 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,920 of gratitude and surrender to a God who loves you so much as you 639 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,120 look at the cross and you look at the empty tomb. 640 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,840 It's so easy to grow impatient when we travel and we journey 641 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,520 towards the true and ultimate promised land of a new heaven 642 00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:50,280 and new earth. As we walk through this time, 643 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,040 we've come to Christ, but we're still on the road to where He's 644 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:59,120 taken us, and we get frustrated. We frustrate ourselves, people 645 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,400 frustrate us. Circumstances frustrate us. 646 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:06,560 It feels like a big detour. And it gets so easy to forget 647 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:11,800 just how good God was and taking us out of our slavery. 648 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:19,120 To forget just how big the price was that was paid to rescue us. 649 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,800 To develop feelings of entitlement with the gifts of 650 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:30,400 God and boredom with the grace and gospel of God. 651 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:37,040 I mean, it's hard living in the wilderness, but keep your eyes 652 00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,640 fixed on Jesus and he'll see you through. 653 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:47,800 And when you fail, and you will many times, when your heart 654 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:52,040 grows cold, and it will, when you're tempted to blame God, and 655 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:57,040 you will be call out to Him anew, fix your eyes on Jesus 656 00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:02,040 anew and allow him to refresh you again with the manna from 657 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:17,160 heaven. Let's pray, God help us to see 658 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:24,840 the wonder of Your grace. Help us this Easter season to 659 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:32,720 see the wonder of God made flesh, the perfect Son of God, 660 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:39,200 sinless, spotless Lamb of God, as we'll talk about on Friday, 661 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:48,240 nailed to the cross simply and solely out of your incredible 662 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:56,120 grace, out of your love for us, out of your pursuit of us. 663 00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:01,240 Help us to see again how great your miracles and your mercies 664 00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:05,480 are. Help us never to get cold in our 665 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:09,160 hearts about the idea that we have resurrected people if we 666 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,320 have trusted in Jesus. We were dead and now we're 667 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:14,920 alive. You did that for us and You paid 668 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:20,800 such a price to do it for us. God, if there's anyone here 669 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:25,120 today who is yet to fix their eyes on Jesus, who is yet to 670 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:30,720 understand that Jesus and Jesus alone is the only solution for 671 00:46:30,720 --> 00:46:36,080 the problem of sin in their life, for the problem of death 672 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:39,880 and destruction, I pray today the scales would fall off their 673 00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:42,200 eyes and they would see that grace for the first time in a 674 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:43,560 way that would just overwhelm them. 675 00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:49,320 By the power of Your Spirit, put us in tears because you've been 676 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:54,560 so good to us. May we be a people who are 677 00:46:54,560 --> 00:47:05,160 marked by a deep sense of awe, a deep sense of gratitude at the 678 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:10,840 Jesus who fulfills all of Scripture, who fulfills the 679 00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:13,560 deepest needs of our soul to be made right with you. 680 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,520 And it's in his name we pray. Amen.