Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Numbers 21:4-9
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  March 11, 2018

Once upon a time, there lived an evil king. He ruled over the people for 55 years. Evil, perhaps, is too light of a word to describe him. Arguably, he was the worst king the nation had ever seen. He descreated the holy places. He worshiped the stars. He practiced sorcery and divination. He sacrificed his own son to try and appease the gods. His leadership led the people into more evil than any of the nations before them. This king shed so much innocent blood that it was said he filled the streets of the city from end to end. And then, at the very end of his life, this king was overthrown. He was humiliated. He had a hook put in his nose and he was led around like an animal.

What do you think this king deserves? He deserves what he got in the end, right? He deserves to be humiliated and punished for all the atrocities he committed. If he were in our justice system, you’d say he deserved the death penalty for all of his crimes, all of his murders. He sounds like some foreign kings, foreign leaders we’ve dealt with as a nation over the last 25 years: people like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.

So how would you feel if I told you this criminal king, this dastardly dictator, this wretched ruler is in heaven? Does that offend you? How can this be? How is it possible that someone who did such horrible things, committed such horrible crimes could be in heaven? That’s not fair! That’s the Offense of God’s Grace. Let’s continue our look at the children of Israel and see the offense of God’s grace and their story and see if we can’t see it in our story as well.

When we last left our friends, the children of Israel, they were making a covenant with God. God would bless them and provide for them and protect them and lead them to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and they would be his people, they would follow his laws, his directions he had given them. Well, God kept his end of the bargain, but Israel didn’t. Even before Moses returned from receiving the stone tablets with the commands of the Lord written on them, Israel had lapsed into worshiping a golden calf. And this pattern of disobedience and complaining would continue as God led them toward the Promised Land.

They complained about the lack of food, they complained about a lack of water. They complained that only Moses spoke through God. But finally, they reached the cusp of the Promised Land. They reached a place called Kadesh and God told Moses to send 12 men into the land to survey it and bring a report back to the people. The men came back and reported that it was just as God had said, a land flowing with milk and honey. They brought back fruits from the land as evidence. Two of the men said the land was ripe for the taking for God was with them. But the other ten didn’t trust God. They said there was no way they could defeat the people of Canaan. And they led the people to rebel against God. They talked about going back to slavery, back to Egypt. God was ready to destroy them and start over with Moses. But Moses prayed for the people. He held God to the promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, God did not destroy them, but those who rebelled would never enter the Promised Land. For 40 years they would wander in the desert. None of that generation, except for the two faithful men, Joshua and Caleb, would ever see the land.

So they wandered for 40 years. And slowly but surely, all of those people who rebelled died in the desert. Finally, after 40 years they came back to Kadesh, back to the place where their parents had rebelled. The shortest route to the Promised Land would take them through the land of Edom, along a well-known route called “The King’s Highway.” Moses sent a letter to the King of Edom, asking for permission. He appealed to him as a brother—since Edom was descended from Esau. But the king refused passage. Moses asked a second time and the king refused a second time, this time sending a large army to the border. So Moses and Israel were forced to go the long way, around Edom. And that’s where we pick up this morning. “They set out from Mount Hor along the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, but the people became very impatient along the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Look, there is no food! There is no water! And we are disgusted by this worthless food!””

It’s pretty clear that this generation of Israel had learned the bad habits of the previous one. Listen to their complaint: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” Do you realize that the majority of those who were complaining had never been in Egypt? Most of them were born as Israel traveled and wandered. It had been more than 40 years since they came out of Egypt. The only ones who were still living who had seen Egypt as adults were Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. The gall of these people to complain about something they hadn’t even experienced, to complain about God’s providence for them as they’d survived and thrived while wandering in the desert, to complain about bread from heaven! These people needed to see the folly of their ways. They deserved to be punished for their constant complaining and rebellion. “The Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and the snakes bit the people. As a result many people from Israel died. The people went to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to take the snakes away from us.””

Would you? Would you have prayed for them? Would you have prayed for a people who had been nothing but a thorn in your side, a pain in your neck for the last 40 years? Would you pray for a people who clearly deserved what they were getting? Moses did. And maybe that offends us. Maybe we think they didn’t deserve it. But Moses prayed for them and look at God’s response: “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake and put it on a pole. If anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” Moses made a bronze snake and put it on the pole. If a snake had bitten anyone, if that person looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

Imagine the looks Moses got when he shouted to the people, “Look at the snake on the pole and you’ll live.” How offensive that must have been! Look to the very thing that was killing them! Why would God tell Moses to make a snake? Why couldn’t it be something, anything else but the very thing that was bringing death? And yet, what do we hear? “If a snake had bitten anyone, if that person looked at the bronze snake, he lived.” Did those people deserve to live? No. Did they deserve to suffer and die for their rebellion and sin? Yes. But God in his grace provided salvation. God in his grace provided a complete rescue.The people needed only to trust in the promise of God. They needed to look at that snake, not trusting in a statue, but trusting in the God who told them to look at the statue. God would provide the rescue. God was giving his grace.

As New Testament Christians, we have the benefit of seeing this story the the context of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus made the connection for us in the Gospel for today. He said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  The parallels are uncanny. Just as Israel was faced with death because of their rebellion and sin, we too face death because of our rebellion and sin. Just as Israel had one remedy for death, one singular thing that would work—to look with faith in God’s promise at the snake, so we too have one remedy for sin, only one thing that will save—to look with faith in God’s promise at Jesus on the cross. Just as the remedy for Israel was complete, that those who looked in faith lived, so also our remedy is complete, that those who look in faith to Jesus will live eternally.

But those aren’t the only parallels we see. I think we can see the parallels to our situation can’t we? Sometimes, we’re offended when God shows his grace to those whom we don’t think deserve it. We’re offended that people can live their whole lives in the gutter of sin and then right at the end, repent at the last moment, and then get to go to heaven. Remember that king I talked about earlier. He’s known as wicked King Manasseh of Judah. And his story is true. He did all of those detestable things and yet, at the end of his life, he repented of all his sins and he trusted in God’s forgiveness. And by God’s grace, he’s in heaven.

The reason we’re offended by God’s grace is because sometimes we don’t think we need it. When we don’t view ourselves as lost and condemned creatures, then we don’t need God’s grace. When we view ourselves as good people, or at least better than most, we don’t see the need for God’s grace. But the truth is that we are lost and condemned by nature. There is no one who does good, not even one! We deserve death and hell just as much as the kid who shot up that high school in Florida. But we’re not going to get what we deserve because of God’s grace. Because of God’s great undeserved love for us, he raised his Son Jesus up on a tree to pay for all of our sins. And he says to you and me, “I have saved you through the life, death, and resurrection of my one and only Son. Believe I did all of this for you!” We do nothing except receive the blessings of what God has done! We do nothing and receive everything by simply trusting that what God says is true. That’s offensive to some, but that’s grace. AMEN