SIN, SERPENTS & THE SAVIOR


The World, the Word & You! Broadcast
Commentary by Dennis L. Finnan

"WOULD YOU BELIEVE GOD HAS A REMEDY FOR THE GREATEST AILMENT IN THIS LIFE? WOULD YOU BELIEVE AN AMAZING FORMULA FOR SUCH HEALING IS FOUND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE?

I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the WWY Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about this strange healing remedy that can heal all the world's greatest sickness and sin…

…Hello friends, and thanks for tuning to the World, the Word & You! Broadcast , featuring thirty minutes of biblical commentary and beautiful music for your listening enjoyment. I'm Dennis Finnan your host and speaker. On today's broadcast I opened it with an intriguing statement I want to further develop from God's Word. For in it we find a very necessary truth that surrounds everyone who claims to know Jesus Christ in the faith called Christianity. But before we get to my message for today, I'd like to say thank you to all you listeners and friends who have faithfully supported our Christian Gospel outreach; and, have made it possible to be on the year now for 20 years.

Yes, we give thanks to God for that continued support by prayer and care, and want our whole listening audience to know that. Each week we try to bring you interesting, informative and up-to-the-minute commentary on events and happenings from a biblical perspective, and judging from our mailbag, we are accomplishing that for each one of you. By the way, have you visited our interactive Internet website? Why there on the Internet, we have a host of good things for you. For starters you can listen again to any and all messages you hear on these weekly broadcasts, and you can read and download the printed uncut transcriptions of every single broadcast for over the past five years! Please visit there and invite a friend who has Internet access to do so too. Now our Internet access URL is simply http://www.wwy.org . Well now, it's time to get down to today's message which I've entitled: "SIN, SERPENTS & THE SAVIOR," This is a true story taken from the Old Testament Bible that teaches us a modern day lesson. But first let's pause and listen to this…

… The other day I was teaching a Sunday Adult Christian education class. We were reviewing the book of Jude in the New Testament. As I talked on Jude's message of warning to those who professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I came across a very sobering warning of apostasy. Apostasy friend is the act of once professing faith in Jesus Christ, even following after Him and his Word, but at a later date turning away and defecting by repudiating that faith once believed. Jude the Bible writer says this,

Jude 1:5 (NIV) "Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe."

The context of this warning was to show that simply professing faith, even following after God, may not truly be a decision along life's way to change one's eternal destiny. I know we in the evangelical fundamental circles stress heavily the need to "confess" faith in Jesus Christ, and the need to show forth the fruit of it in the life ¾ but often we stop there and encourage followers that all is well between them and their Creator God. Yet the Bible seems to say, be careful for it is possible that such a one can in the end be lost for all eternity. Now, I want to explore the Bible today, and look at some illustrations that surround this truth. Then, we'll come to a solid biblical conclusion that should help every one of us to know for sure, we can be saved from our sins and avoid the pitfalls of peril so clearly marked along life's way. But, before I get down to today's example, we'll pause one more time for this delightful moment of music…

… Jude, the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, was commissioned by the Spirit of God to write inspired revelation called the New Testament Book of Jude. Therefore, the words written down and preserved for us are indeed the very "breath" mind and heart of God's thoughts; and exact words communicated to us. Let's read this startling verse of Scripture that speaks of apostasy in days of old.

Jude 1:5 (NIV) "Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe."

How strange that sounds that God delivered "his" people out of Egypt only to later destroy them in the desert where he held seemingly held them hostage. Can we explain this? Well the answer is yes, and to do this we must go to the passage of Scripture in question found in Numbers 21:4-9. Let's read the text there,

Num 21:4-9 (NIV) "They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea… But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said… 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

Now we need to understand the context of this event. You see God delivered the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt more than thirty-eight years before. These Israelites had now wandered in the desert these long years, never entering into the promised land of Canaan, God said He was giving them. Why? Simply because of unbelief! Earlier after many weeks camping in the desert, the entire nation that was delivered out of Egypt rejected God's mercy and grace of deliverance by refusing to enter the Promised Land. After sending in 12 spies to search out Canaan, upon their return the majority, save two, reported the following in,

Num 13:31-33 (NIV) "But the men who had gone up with Joshua said, "We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored… That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron… 4 And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt ... 10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb.. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites."

Now 38 years had passed since that first rejection of God and exercise of unbelief by many of the Israelites who were rescued from Egypt. God had "put" up with their grumbling, their murmuring, and even rebellion that through the years displayed itself often. But now the time came where God had had enough. Yes friends, there comes a time when God will no longer "strive" with men. He will no longer be long -suffering and "put up" with the sin, rebellion and unbelief of those who claim to follow God, but have not experienced a heart change toward Him.

The "unbelief" of this vast majority of Israelites in the desert was seen in their open rebellion, complaining, and failure to give glory to God for the very lives and existence God sustained in the barren desert these almost forty years. Remember now, these people some 2-3 million camping in the desert had seen God's mighty miracle works, His hand of mercy and grace, His long suffering with sinning saints, they all experienced, first hand, of His loving care for them ¾ yet they still were in what the bible calls the state of "unbelief!"

Now complaining is nothing new for those Israelites, nor for we who follow Christ today, but one thing in common is its dangerous to complain against God and the circumstance He places us in. Here in Numbers 21, we find that the Israelites complaining took on a more sinister role. Before their complaints were always thrust at their leaders Moses and Aaron, but now they step up in even bolder fashion and began speaking out blatantly against God Himself!

Num 21:5 (NIV) "they spoke against God … and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!""

Can you imagine such ingratitude and rebellion? The Bible says that is where the vast majority of followers of Jehovah had come these 38 years in following the Lord God. This we discover was the touchstone that energized the end of God's long suffering mercy toward them. We read that God sent judgment that day against their murmuring, complaining and angry defiling of the Name of God. How? Listen

Num 21:6 (NIV) "Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died."

Indeed these followers of Jehovah who bitterly complained and lashed out at God had crossed the line of God's patience, failing to honor and obey God, He sent a fiery judgment of death to all who had not reached the state of turning their hearts over to God in surrender and faith. You see my friend the Bible warns us all that even to this day we are born in this state of unbelief, and we find the vast majority of Israelites in the same state, who were delivered some 40 years ago. They had not entered a "saving" faith in the promised Messiah, who alone can placate the wrath of God for sin. Amazingly, they followed God because, He promised them in this life a better way of living, and daily care, but as yet they had not accepted Jehovah's deliverance as seen in their rebellion and ingratitude of heart. God says, in His Word that all sin is punished, in this life and the next,

Rom 3:23 (NIV) "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Rom 6:23 (NIV) "For the wages of sin is death…"

There comes a time when God can no longer overlook sin in this temporal life. He must deal with it and judge it. Such was the case there in the desert. Now what did God do? Let's read the text,

Num 21:6-9 (NIV) "Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

You know this story is unique in Scripture for it reveals a New Testament truth,

Gal 6:7 (NIV) "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

We simply cannot ignore sin and rebellion in our lives. It matters not how much we've followed God, or agreed to His terms for life and living, the issue is our "hearts." You see there are two kinds of faith ¾ "saving faith," and "temporal faith.' Only the first, saving faith is acceptable to God for His eternal blessings and the forgiveness of sin. What is a temporal faith? I believe the Bible says there is a faith that does not save. It is a faith that is in essence simply an intellectual faith, a faith for this life alone, which seeks the rewards, care and blessings of God, without any commitment of the heart and will to Him. God's Word tells us that the vast majority of Israelites, whom He rescued out of Egypt, were such followers.

They saw the benefits God offered them in this life and that was the only reason they followed Him. They expected riches, keeping, care, and a life of ease in exchange for simple acceptance of saying "You are God!" It was a faith that ¾ went nowhere!

Now to separate those who were true believers, God in judgment, gave them one last chance to truly believe God and experience His mercy of forgiveness and grace. Moses was to fashion a serpent on a pole and place it before the center of their camp in the desert. Fashioned in the image of the fiery snakes which descended upon the Israelites and bit them with venomous poison, God was going to save them from dying, simply if they would repent of their rebellion and ingratitude and "by faith," believe God and His cure for their sins.

Now some will ask, why serpents? The answer is these rebellious Israelites who stood against God, needed to know who they were really following. It was Satan! Satan is represented as the serpent from Genesis to Revelation, for God describes him a such. Since they followed their true god, Satan in their rebellion against God, they would now suffer his fate a fiery death, picturing Hell to come for all unrepentant sinners. If they continued to follow the serpent of sin, the devil, they would not only perish in this life but in eternity without a Savior. But God gave them a lesson for faith. IF… they would simply come forward before all the camp and publicly acknowledge their sins, God would save them, heal their wounds, and grant them repentance unto life eternal. Let's enter the story,

Num 21:7-9 (NIV) "The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."

All that the sinning Israelites had to do was "look" up at the bronze snake fashioned on a pole in the center of the camp. When they looked, by faith, seeking God's healing, forgiveness and restoration ¾ God would heal them and accept them into His fold for all eternity. Now this serpent of brass was actually a New Testament picture to come of the true Lamb of God who would come to take away the sin and judgment of the world. It was a picture of the Messiah Jesus Christ who died for our sins upon a "pole" or crossed poles. You see the ultimate cure for sin is death, but God substituted another in "type" in the wilderness to show the promise of a coming Savior who would die in our place. It's interesting to note that even in the Old Testament the only ingredient God was looking for in them was a "repentant faith!" Faith was necessary in the wilderness and it still is necessary today. Publicly, they had to acknowledge before the people they had sinned, and that the sufferings in this life were a result of their disobedience before God. Moreover, as they confessed this openly, and publicly they were to "look up" at the brass serpent on that pole and believe God would heal them as they exercised such faith! Indeed, God did heal those who came.

There in the Old Testament God gave the most thrilling illustration of the Cross of Calvary for us to this day. In a like manner we too are born sinners, that is, we are bitten by sin and the old serpent, the Devil. We rebel against God we murmur against Him and call Him names! The unsaved world ridicules God and His Son Jesus Christ, either by cursing His Name, or murmuring against His laws, His Word, and His offer of salvation by grace alone.

Yet God still says, if you want to be healed of your sins and the results of it in this life ¾ you must come to the forefront of the world of sinners and embrace the cross of Christ. We are to, "by faith" look up to that fiery serpent on the cross, the picture of Jesus Christ crucified and made sin for us. We are to by faith look up, and believe God accepted His death on our behalf and frees us from our sins and its penalty ¾ and God will SAVE US! All that was required was faith, and all that is ever required is "faith" in Jesus Christ the Lamb sacrificed for our sins.

Now when the snake bitten, dying Israelite in the wilderness that day long ago did this, he was miraculously healed! Now remember the serpents were a judgment from God. No human plan of attack could circumvent this judgment, nor save them without God's remedy and way.

Yet today many people who are bitten by sin and are dying from it, try every other way to be saved. They exercise "good works," and a life of doing good. Still others, simply ignore the swollen bite of sin decaying their lives and say it doesn't exist. Moreover, others attempt to buy off God in the hopes He will stave off the judgment for sin. They give money to the Lord's work, in the hopes of buying God off. But these Israelites were told there was only one thing they could do to be healed and live ¾ BELIEVE GOD! What a picture of God's grace and mercy, of the cross of Christ. The serpent was lifted up on the pole by Moses, and Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross. Both required faith to receive the benefits God offers. In the Old Testament it was physical healing, in the New Testament it is spiritual healing and a new life and heart to live for God in Christ. The Bible clearly illustrates this event and says,

John 3:14-15 (NIV) "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Now the sad truth is, many died in the wilderness for they refused to come forward before the watching world that day and acknowledge they had sinned against God. They covered over their festering wounds, and hid in their tents. They cursed God, grumbled even more, and silently died alone. This will be the fate of many even to this day. Have you acknowledged your sins, the festering wounds they've produced? You know them alcoholism, drug-addiction, immorality, sexual perversion, divorce, broken homes, pride, rebellion to God and His Word, and the constant mocking of the Bible and those who follow it, we see so prevalent today? The only way you can ever be saved from your sins and the wounds they will bring in this life is to "look up" to the cross and see the sin offering nailed there for you and for me. AND, by faith alone, believe God has through this substitutionary death of the God man Jesus Christ paid for your sins and will heal you now and for eternity.

Yes, the Bible says Christ died for our sins, but now He lives to offer His life given in death as the healing balm for your sin, disobedience, and rebellion. Well, many Israelites died that day. So, Jude gives in his illustration,

Jude 1:5 (NIV) "Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe."

This same truth is also illustrated for us in the Book of Hebrews where we read,

Heb 3:7-11 (NLT) "That is why the Holy Spirit says, "Today you must listen to his voice. 8 Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God’s patience in the wilderness…"

Heb 3:15-19 (NLT) "… never forget the warning: "Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled." 16 And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren’t they the ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. 19 So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief."

Friend the lesson is clear. One can follow God, even for many years and yet not be saved from their sins. Many today follow God in the hopes of a better life here and now. Still others follow because the crowd around them does. Oh, they attend church, sing religious songs, even do good works ¾ all in the hope that God will bless their lives with good things. But when God leads them around in the wilderness of sin, and they don't see the benefits after time they defect, turn away, murmur and criticize God, His Word and the people who follow. These are called apostates, those who were never saved. The Bible describes them for us in,

1 John 2:19 (NIV) "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."

Indeed, our only hope is to look to the cross, to look up by faith and ask God to heal us from our sins and their effects in this life. God will hear and heal your soul, and grant you life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes "sin, serpents and the Savior" ¾ the choice is still with us today. Have you come? Have you been healed? Have you acknowledged your sinfulness and corruption experienced through it? If not do so today and be saved now and for all eternity.

Well friends, you've been listening to Dennis Finnan, your host and speaker. I trust you've inventoried your heart today to see if you have truly repented of your sins and are trusting Christ alone to save you. Trusting in anything else, even a religious system of works, cannot save you from your sins and the judgment coming ¾ only Christ saves, and He alone by way of the cross. Now if you've enjoyed today's message and would like a copy, please write to us and we'll send it free of charge, Our address is: the World, the Word & You! Broadcast Post Office Box 575, St. Charles, MN 55972 USA. Meanwhile as this is the weekend, please attend a bible believing church or fellowship of your choice and be sure to tune us in again next week for another look at our world, God's Word and its relationship to busy thinking people like you. God bless you my friend, and may His healing power not only save you, but keep you till that Day He returns in glory for you and for me. God bless, and good by for now.

The World, the Word & You! Broadcast is a non-denominational ministry based on the historic fundamental evangelical interpretation of the Scriptures. A copy of our doctrinal statement is available upon request. These weekly radio commentaries are not exhaustive studies of any particular subject due to the time limit of broadcasting. Actual broadcasts can be heard in selected areas around the nation, as funding provides. Dennis Finnan has been the speaker for over 18 years, and serves as General Director.

These transcripts are available free of charge to all who desire them. Also available are actual radio cassette tapes and printed booklets of each message. A free listing of recent messages is available upon request also.

For further information, reprints, or a listing of all topics, please write to our speaker, Dennis L. Finnan(dennis@wwy.org),or visit our webpage at http://www.wwy.org/