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Driving Our The Snakes |
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I’m told that on St Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish! I’m a tea-toddler so I won’t be drinking any “green beer”, but I do plan to feast on corn beef and cabbage!. (And I want Robin’s recipe from Sunday night!) St. Patrick was an interesting historical character – he was neither an official “saint” nor was he actually Catholic as most have been led to believe. As a matter of fact it might be more correct to say that St Patrick was a “Baptist”; not the kind we think of today, but he wasn’t Protestant (that came much later during the reformation) and he wasn’t Catholic. (To assume he was Catholic is actually to confuse him with another Catholic priest named Palladius – who spent some time in Ireland as well, but failed miserably in his missionary endeavors) Patrick (Patricius) died on March 17 (465 or 493). He was the son of a deacon and the grandson of a priest. As a young boy he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. For six years he served as a shepherd or cow-herder. If he had lived in America we would have called him a cowboy. It was during those years as a slave and shepherd that Patrick began to cry out to God. In his own words he tells that some days he would pray as many as 100 prayers a day (and as many at night), probably asking God why and when he was going to get out of the situation he was in. Patrick escaped after seven years and went to either France or Britain, but was caught and made forced into slavery again. Yet, it was also about that time that Patrick received a vision from God. In that dream he saw a man he called Victoricius who handed him many letters from Ireland begging him to come over and help them. Patrick never got over the dream and after winning his freedom, returned to the land that had held him captive – this time as an independent missionary, not tied to any specific church. He devoted over sixty years of his life to preaching the Good News to the inhabitants of Ireland (AD 440-493?) His own words were: “I am greatly a debtor to God, who had bestowed his grace so largely upon me, that multitudes were born again to God through me. The Irish, who never had the knowledge of God and worshipped only idols and unclean things, have lately become a people of the Lord and are called sons of God.” Literally thousands came to accept Christ as a result of Patrick’s determination to serve God fully. As with many great historical figures, much folklore and legend has developed around Patrick; none more popular than, “Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland.” The truth is there probably never were snakes on the Island of Hibernia. But the story is told that Patrick succeeded in removing all the snakes but one. And a great argument ensued between that final snake and Patrick. Finally Patrick tried to get the snake to slither into a small box which the snake said was much to small to hold his vastness. To prove the point, the snake finally slithered inside to which Patrick slammed on the lid and threw the final snake into the depths of the ocean. (And for those who would say that Patrick tricked the snake – just remember what the first snake did to the first man and woman!) Today we all celebrate the “luck of the Irish”, but there was no luck only God’s grace that sent such a humble man as Patrick to the people of Ireland.
Read with me the event as it is recorded in the Old Testament book of Numbers, chapter twenty-one. “The Canaanite king of Arad lived in the southern area. When he heard that the Israelites were coming on the road to Atharim, he attacked them and captured some of them. 2Then the Israelites made this promise to the LORD: “If you will help us defeat these people, we will completely destroy their cities.” The LORD listened to the Israelites, and he let them defeat the Canaanites. The Israelites completely destroyed the Canaanites and their cities, so the place was named Hormah [completely destroyed]. The Israelites left Mount Hor and went on the road toward the Red Sea, in order to go around the country of Edom. But the people became impatient on the way and grumbled at God and Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert? There is no bread and no water, and we hate this terrible food!” So the LORD sent them poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we grumbled at you and the LORD. Pray that the LORD will take away these snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, “Make a bronze snake, and put it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, that person will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then when a snake bit anyone, that person looked at the bronze snake and lived.” Numbers 21:1-9 Poisonous snakes! Poisonous, burning, deadly snakes! Not a pleasant thought. I’m not sure what type of snake these little creatures were that struck out at the Israelites – but we do know that their bites were deadly. The stinging sensation was not a temporary annoyance – it meant death. So the big question is why would people who are known as “the children of God” be faced with such a terrible ordeal as a plague of snakes? If we were to go back and read the first chapters of the book of Exodus we would see that while the Israelites were in Egypt they had been kept from all the plagues God sent on the Egyptians. But now they were confronting something even the Egyptians had not been forced to face. So why the snakes? However, before we look at why the snakes came, maybe we should see who actually sent the snakes.
God himself sent the snakes among them. Here’s what we need to remember this morning: NOTHING happens that God is not ultimately in control. God sent the snakes. But, you ask, why would God do something so drastic as to send deadly snakes? Why? Because God knows what we need to understand: The price, the result, the consequence, “the wages of sin” is always death. Romans 3:23 tells us “When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death.” These men and women marching toward the shores of the Red Sea did not realize that their sin and rebellion was threatening their very lives and souls! Here’s the point: God loves us so much that He will do whatever it takes to get our attention and keeping us from destroying ourselves. These Israelites were heading toward huge trouble. They were committing spiritual and physical suicide and they were not even aware of it. God intervened in a manner that they would not be able to ignore: He allowed the pain of their sins to become obvious. Hang onto that point for a while. God allowed the pain of their sins (the consequences of their sins) to become so obvious that they could no longer ignore them. As I studied this passage I noticed at least four serious sins committed by the Children of Israel just prior to the snakes. And each of those sins were hurting them and putting them into danger. Yet each sin had become common place in their lives. Look at the four with me. First, they quickly forgot God was working in their lives. They forgot God’s intervention and salvation. So back and look at the first four verses of Numbers chapter twenty-one. Israel had been minding their own business when the Canaanite King of Arad attacked and carried some of them off as prisoners. They cried out to God in their distress (they were good at that) and even made a vow to God. God answered their prayer and the Israelites were victorious – the prisoners returned and the King destroyed. But within days they had already forgotten what God had done to save them! They forgot God’s intervention. Anytime we forget what God did for us when he freed us from our enslavement to sin – we’re headed for deadly troubles! We forget where we came from and what God did to get us from there to where we are now. I think that’s one of the positive effects of movie THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. It’s visualization of the Gospel story has caused a lot of us to see what God did for us in a different light. All of Jesus’ suffering was to free us from what we were: sinners without God. “When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death.” Romans 3:23. Their first problem was that they forgot that God is always working in our lives. He is always working, most often we’re not even aware of His work in our daily lives – it just happens. The next sin the Israelites stems from the first. It is the natural consequence of forgetting that God is working in our lives: They became impatient with God’s direction. It happens often: we forget God’s intervention, then we get impatient with God’s plans. They didn’t like the fact that God was leading them in circles and not letting them head the few miles north into the Promised Land. “…the people became impatient on the way”, Numbers 21:4. The Hebrew word here literally means be become discouraged or to SLOW DOWN. They started dragging their feet! How often do we get impatient with God’s work in your life. How often do we try to hurry up God? It’s a common trait among believers who want “Instant Christianity”. Yes, salvation is an instantaneous event. When God gives His forgiveness and eternal life it is an immediate thing – the moment you come to Him in true repentance and faith – salvation is yours. But salvation is only the beginning of the process of God creating within you His image. That’s why Romans 8:28-29 states: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son,” God is taking each of us as His people on a journey to become like Him. He knows far better than we do where we need to be and what we need to be doing. If you look back a chapter you will see that the Israelites wanted to take the easy route through Edom – but they were refused passage. Instead they had to make their way through mountains and into the dessert. They grew impatient with the journey. Never forget God has a purpose and a plan and His time! You may get weary, but don’t get impatient with God’s timing – it’s always right, even if you can’t see it! Some of you want to see God work in your family. He is working. You can’t get discouraged or frustrated with God’s timing. He knows what He’s doing. Your job is simply to cooperate with God. Don’t fight Him. Don’t slow down. Don’t drag your feet. Instead keep on doing what you know God has purposed you to do! Now notice the progress of their sin… Third, They developed a negative, complaining attitude. Because of their impatience they began to complain and speak against both God and His appointed leadership. What is interesting here is what the Israelites complain about. They never really address their real issue – God’s timing! They complain about food and water (both of which they had seen God provide over and over again…) They even started complaining about what they KNEW FOR A FACT that God didn’t do! (“to die in this wilderness”) They accused God of bringing them through the wilderness to kill them. We don’t have the time to go back and read the story – but write this down: Numbers chapters thirteen and fourteen. Read them this afternoon and you will see that the reason they were in the wilderness in the first place was because they had refused to follow God’s direction the first time. God had already taken them through the wilderness and to the edge of the Promised Land. It was there that they became fearful and would not go into Canaan. They wouldn’t trust God to do what He said. So God sent them back into the Wilderness to wonder in circles for another thirty-eight years. During that time a lot of them died. It wasn’t God who caused their problem – it was their own unwillingness to follow God’s direction. When you get impatient with what God is doing in your life, you will soon find yourself looking EVERYWHERE for reasons to be cynical, skeptical, critical, negative. So there they were complaining to God about what He had done – when it was what they had done. We often do the exact same thing! Instead of being honest with God that it is we are the problem – we look at everyone and everything else, looking for their problems. We blame God for the problems instead of seeing where we are the cause. We start speaking against God and God’s leadership. If God plans a leader and plans a direction – if God has shown His deliverance, direction and blessing – we have no right to speak against it. One other point – their complaining, their speaking against God and His leadership did nothing but get them into trouble and slow down their journey even more! They were only making things worse for themselves by complaining. They forgot God’s constant intervention. They became impatient with God’s direction They began to complain about God. Finally, they literally began to loath the very things with which God had blessed them! The things of God began to disgust them! Can you imagine? “we hate this terrible food!” vs.6 What food? The manna that God provided free of charge with little effort on their part. The “bread of angels” – what God gave them! You forget God is working; you become impatient with God’s direction and slow down, drag your feet; you start criticizing God’s leadership and soon you begin to hate the things of God! You say that can’t happen? But it does! Have you ever found yourself having a hard time listening to the Pastor or Bible Study leader because in your heart you were “speaking against them”? Have you ever found yourself reading or studying God’s Word more out of habit, more out of pride – but actually closing yourself off to the very lessons God was trying to teach you? Anytime you fail to listen to God’s Word whether straight from His Word the Bible or the truth shared by another believer – you may as well tell God you hate what He is giving you! We started by asking “Why did God send the snakes?” Let’s give the short answer! BECAUSE SIN ALWAYS KILLS! Sin kills your fellowship with God. Sin kills your fellowship with God’s people. Sin always kills – it always destroys. So God sent the snakes. God allowed the pain of their sin, the consequences of their actions, to become very, very real. And many people died! It was an epidemic. I’m sort of like Indiana Jones in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark movie: I don’t like snakes! However, I’ve seen many believers who would rather live with the snakes, live with the consequences of critical, impatient, disobedient lives than do what the Israelites did that day. Yes, they had sinned enormously against both God and Moses – yet they were smart enough when the snakes appeared to cry out to God for help. And notice what God told Moses to do… MAKE ANOTHER SNAKE! Now I want you to get this, the snakes were NOT SIN! God never sends sin into the believer’s life! The snakes were the consequence of the sin. The snakes were a drastic object lesson about the consequences of forgetful, impatient, critical spirits. God tells us not to sin. He does that because He knows that sin always hurts. It hurts us and it hurts those around us. Actually, in my opinion, the snakes were good! They got the people’s attention. It caused them to see the real problem and cry out to God for forgiveness and help! Sometimes when we face the consequences of our actions, our sins, it causes us to take an honest look at what we are doing. “We sinned when we grumbled at you and the LORD. Pray that the LORD will take away these snakes.” Vs. 7 Moses prayed and God told Moses what to do: make a brass serpent and mount it high on a pole. Then everyone who was bitten by a snake and dying, who would in faith look to the serpent on the pole would be healed and live! There’s an old song we used to sing in church when I was a kid. It was titled LOOK AND LIVE. “Look and live, my bother live…” So why a snake on a pole? What was the snake on the pole a symbol of? Imagine with me what it would take to get a “snake” to stay on a pole? I’m assuming Moses had to attach a “crossbeam” to the pole to hang the serpent on. Every snake bitten Israelite who wanted forgiveness and healing had to look to a cross! On that cross they would see the cause of their pain. It wasn’t about the snake – it was about the cross! The snake was a picture of the penalty, the consequences of sin. The cross was a picture of the cure. Their “sins” hanging on a cross! And that’s exactly what happened thousands of years later at a place we call Calvary! Jesus hanging on a cross – bearing our sins – His death was the consequence of our sins. It’s interesting that in John chapter three Jesus is talking to a religious leader – Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a very knowledgeable man. He was a student of the Old Testament. When He came to Jesus one night wanting to know who Jesus really was, here is part of what Jesus told him…
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,
the Son of Man must also be lifted up. So that everyone who believes can
have eternal life in him.” John 3:14-15 Maybe you noticed already the address for that passage in the Bible. It’s right before the most famous verse in all the Bible – John 3:16. “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” Right before Jesus tells Nicodemus how to receive eternal life – he explains that He must be hung on a cross just like Moses hung that snake on the cross. “So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.” Everyone - everyone who is willing to look to the cross of Christ for forgiveness and healing – finds it! Not just the moment of salvation, but throughout our journey. The forgiveness and healing we found the day we accepted Christ is the same forgiveness and cleansing He offers today. I think it’s interesting that the medical profession chose the sign of the snake on the pole to represent healing. (This passage in the Bible is where that symbol comes from.) Whenever we find ourselves in trouble, struggling with the pain that comes from ignoring God’s purposes in our lives – all we have to do is look to Jesus for forgiveness and healing. Notice what they did: First, they acknowledged the problem: their sin. They specifically dealt with what had caused the pain in their lives. Secondly, they asked God specifically to help them. Finally, they listened to God and followed His directions. So often we want God to deliver us from our problems, but we are not willing to do the very things He tells us to do to be delivered from those problems. Do you know what happened to the people who refused to look to the cross? Do you know what happened to the people who assumed that the pole was just some stupid idea? Do you know what happened to the people who tried to heal themselves? They died. Only those who looked – lived. I wonder how many here this morning are suffering from the snakes? As a believer you’ve allowed yourself to forget that God has worked and is still working in your life and in your church. You’ve become impatient and discouraged with the journey God has called you. You’ve begun to drag your feet, slow down, attempt to thwart the work of God in your life. You’ve been guilty of speaking against God’s plan. You’ve spent more time criticizing and challenging God and very little time actually listening to God. And honestly, you would have to admit that you’ve actually begun to hate some of the very things God is attempting to use to bring blessing and direction in your life. And now you are suffering from the snakes? Deadly isn’t it? It hurts! It’s time to “look and live”. It’s time to take those things and put them on the cross. It’s time to cry out to God for forgiveness and healing. I want you to remember what happens when you focus on Jesus, God heals! God will heal. And then He will lead you to victory. If you read on through the remainder of Numbers chapter 21 – you will see that they immediately faced a great battle – and this time they remembered and won! It was a bloody battle – but they were victorious. God heals and He will return you to a life of victory over the very sins that brought the snakes! St. Patrick may have driven out the snakes – but Jesus Christ crucified them on a cross. |
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(c) Paul Newell 2003 FamilyFellowship Church P.O. Box 465, Beaumont, CA 92223 |
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This
week we celebrate St Patrick’s Day. 
That’s
a nice piece of history to go along with your corn beef this afternoon,
but for a few minutes this morning
I want to share with you another powerful
story about snakes. 
Did
you catch it back in Numbers 21:6?
-- God sent the snakes.
