Numbers 21:4-9

OK, I guess I'll just be your. Well, good morning, good morning, good morning, welcome to coffee and devotions is where every day, every weekday morning, you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, you know, the coffee this morning. Oh, I copied. We have a little bit of coffee, we pray, we get into God's word, we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll go through the books of Hey, you're getting good at that. Pound it girl. Good job. That's not exactly a pound. All right. I'm going to have some coffee. You can have some if you want. OK, it's a high octane stuff today. Still don't want it.
OK, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We pray that you would please help us to read it, to understand it. By the way, especially that you would give us your Holy Spirit, that you would apply these things to our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
OK, Deborah, we are at let me see here. Numbers chapter twenty one. Numbers twenty one versus four through nine. Numbers twenty one, four through nine. Wait. You want to just remember the micro or the camera died. Yeah. So do you want to read the first verses four through nine or four through eight or four through seven or what do you want to read? How would you just read till you're done? Okay.
Then they journeyed from Matmore by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became very discouraged 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 water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.
So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore 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 then the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live so moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and so it was if the serpent had bitten if a serpent had bitten anyone when he looked at the bronze serpent he lived okay so Let's talk about this.
What happens? They're journeying from Mount Hoar by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And what happens to the people? They're just like, man, we love wandering in the wilderness. This is so great. Yeah, they get discouraged. And the people that who do they speak against? God. And? Yeah, right and their main thing is that they love love love this manna. They don't have to work for it They don't have to sow the fields for it. They don't have to reach the cheese bread Worthless, I thought God gave it to him. Mm-hmm.
They could probably sell it for a bunch of money But they're calling it worthless Why would they do that Because they're just tired of it like we'd get tired of something we had been eating for like a month and there had been like nothing else so if you ate nothing but like food from heaven for a month you would get tired of it maybe not food from heaven well that's what this is They're going to get tired of it. So when you go to heaven, you're going to get tired of the food there?
Probably not. Well, I think it's kind of... But they seem to be complaining a lot. Do you think it's easy for us to do that, too? They're not quite set. Yeah. Yeah, right, they're they're not satisfied with the good gifts that God has given them, right?
And so they complain. Complaining it's God, complaining it's Moses. And so what happens? Snakes on the plane. Oh, no. Yeah, right. And so there's so they God sends fiery serpents and what what do the people do? They Get bitten Yeah, they get bitten, right?
So they come to Moses in verse 7. We have sinned for we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. And what do they want Moses to do? Pray for us. And does Moses say, no forget it man, you guys complained against me. I don't want nothing to do with you. Nope, he does pray. He does pray.
And what does the Lord do? The Lord tells him to make a serpent. Okay, so he makes a serpent out of bronze and what's the promise? Everyone who looks at the serpent will live. Now hold on here. How does looking at a serpent made out of bronze save anyone? Because I guess it was the Lord Serpent Statue. Okay, so it's the Lord Serpent Statue. So there's like, okay, so if they look at it all of a sudden they get magic medicine.
Sort of. Not really though. Sort of, but not really though. No, right? And so it's by faith, right? They have to look at it, right? But do you think everyone looked at it? No. What do you think some people did? Some people tried to go to the village doctor. I mean, they went to the village doctor or something else and they're like, forget this junk. I hate Moses. I don't want the Lord. Right? So they refuse and what's going to happen to people like that? Why did I? Poison from the Lord's serpents cannot be cured except by the Lord. So what do you think is the best verse to summarize this section? Probably... Number four. Okay. Hmm. Yes. Yeah. I would have underlined five and six. That's what I got in my Bible, but I can see what you do for. So do you know that this bronze serpent has talked about two other places in the Bible? Yeah.
So place number one is talked about is in the Chronicles. I think something like that, where, uh, the people guess what they do with the bronze serpent hundreds of years later, they start worshiping it. and it has to be destroyed because the people actually start worshipping the bronze serpent like a god. So it's a tricky thing, right? Even good things that God gives us, we can even turn those good things into idols, right? So that's maybe lesson number one to take home for calling.
The second place that this bronze serpent is talked about in the Bible is, guess what? Talked about with Jesus. So as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. What do you think Jesus was getting at when he was talking about that? Comparing himself to this bronze snake. I thought it was always when Moses' staff turned into a snake. Yeah, nope, nope. It's this bronze snake.
What do you think he's talking about, that this, so the Son of Man must also be lifted up? Must be lifted up Well, I think it's him being lifted up on the cross right cuz snake was put up on a stick and lifted up I think Jesus was telling his disciples and his followers. You got to look up to me to be saved I'm gonna be lifted up and I'll be the cure for your grumbling for your complaining for your disheartened hearts for your sins and Alright, so you're going to walk out of here.
You're going to talk to your mom. She's going to say, Debra, what in the world did you learn in coffee and devotions? What would you tell her? That we should not have complaining hearts or snakes might come out of the garden and start biting us. You think that's the lesson you're going to tell her? Well, maybe, maybe. You know what I would tell her? God's merciful. Even though he may take sin seriously, for those who have faith and repent and look unto him, he shows mercy and grace. He does that with me all the time. I'm thankful for it. You ready to pray?
Father, we thank you so much that you have given us Jesus Christ who has lifted up as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. Lord, that whoever looks upon him believes in his heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead and confesses that he is Lord will be saved. Lord, we pray that you would please forgive us for our grumbling and complaining. Forgive us for our sins and let us hear you. Thank you for giving us a better mediator than Moses, a better savior than the snake in Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen. Well may the Lord bless you, may you walk in the joy and peace that comes from Jesus Christ alone, and we will see you next time.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.