FBCWest 702 | Lifted Up
Recorded On: 03/08/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 411 “Serve the Lord with Gladness”
SCRIPTURE READING – Psalm 100
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Echo Holy”
“Good Grace”
“Battle Belongs”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Lifted Up”
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
Sermon Notes
Numbers 21:4 & 5 Because the people had to travel around Edom, they spoke against Moses
Numbers 21:6 God sends fiery serpents to bit and kills the people
Numbers 21:7 The people acknowledge their sin and ask Moses to intercede for them
Numbers 21:8 God tells Moses to make a serpent and put it on a standard and if those who were bitten look, they will not die
Numbers 21:9 Moses did so and if they looked, they did not die
John 3:9 – 18 Jesus will be lifted up and all who believe will have eternal life
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
What if you are in a situation of life and death? That's where the children of Israel find themselves. And God tells them something to do which seems unrelated to actually being cured from the problem. Do they trust God? Which is similar to us. God has also told us to believe in Him. Do we trust Him? We'll take a look.
The text is that while the children of Israel have been journeying from Egypt to the promised land and then because of their refusal to go in they were then compelled to remain into wilderness almost 40 years and now they're headed back to the promised land. However, Adam, a relative of the children of Israel, would not allow them to transfer through their land so that the travel would be quicker and because Adam was a relative of Jacob, Israel did not force the situation and decided to take a more secure route around Adam to get to the promised land. So that's the context and so if you have you should turn to numbers chapter 21 and we're going to start with the fourth verse rather than the first verse.
And it says this and then they set out from Mount Horde by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Adam and the people became impatient because of the journey. They've been traveling for almost 40 years and now they're impatient because they're close to the destination if you will and so they're ready to enter. Although if they had done what God told them originally they could have been there 40 years earlier because of their sin and their refusal to follow God. Now they're impatient and the people spoke against God and Moses why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness for there's no food and no water and we load the miserable. Now this is the 32nd first same as the first every time there's a problem every time there's a situation they complain against God and say why did we ever leave Egypt and why are we here and why there's no water and yet we just saw just previously that God threw an abundance of water from a rock that he told Moses to speak to instead Moses struck twice. Providing them water is providing them food. No there's no food and no water. Well that's a lie because first off God provided food and water but their second thing is with the food we do have we hate.
They don't like the mana. The mana comes every morning. All they have to do is go out and pick it up and prepare it. They don't have to plant they don't have to water they don't have to till they don't have to to harvest they just have to pick it up and eat it but it's not good enough and so they're gripping and complaining against God and against Moses which is it's kind of when when you don't see God then you blame the people who represent him and so they don't like Moses because he tells them what God is doing and so gripping and complaining kind of like church folk and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many of Israel died. Now the concept here is God and fire is now in essence it's not that they're claiming it's that when they bite the people it's a painful death it's not well they get poisoned and they just die it is a painful death. Now I want you to notice something in the previous complaints God would have it with his people and any would tell Moses I'm going to wipe him out and start over then Moses would intercede for the people and God wouldn't do it and he did that a few times I'm telling Moses what he's going to do and just started killing people and then either he and or Aaron would make a torment for the people and the judgment would stop. Notice God didn't tell Moses I'm going to take him out. I just said that's it I'm just going to send them fiery serpents and they're going to die a painful death.
So the people came to Moses and said we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you. Now here is a big change that we tend not to notice it used to be when the people sinned and God was going to either wipe them out and Moses interceded or started to wipe them out and Moses or Aaron interceded Repent it. Now we see them saying we have sinned we have recognized that we are sinful people and thus they're saying we have sinned against God and we have sinned against you so Moses you intercede for us because they don't feel that it's appropriate for them to seek God because they've been complaining against him. So they elicit Moses' help to intercede with the Lord that we may remove that he may remove the serpents from us and Moses interceded for the people. Moses is a lot better guy than me and I'm glad that he chose Moses for this and not me because I don't know I might have had it you know I go well you know your major bed played it for a while but he doesn't because Moses is a leader of his people he is God's represent and he is acting as an advocate for his people even when they don't deserve it.
A lot of people will talk about how can lawyers represent guilty people and we usually say well because in our system people don't act as judge jury and in whatever executioner that they're entitled to a defense even people when Moses is doing the same thing Moses is defending his people not because they're innocent but because they are guilty and he advocates for them and let's face it we do have an advocate with the father and praise God and as I Jesus is the greatest lawyer that ever was he never lost a single case and never represented an innocent person and so Moses intercedes for the people then the Lord said to Moses make a fire resurpent and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it he will live now I want you to notice something it's going to take some time to make a fire resurpent you either got to take bronze and mold it make it a liquid mold and implore in or you got to take the bronze and hammer it out to make a snake so it so this is not an immediate remedy so there are people who are going to continue to die and be bitten because they're working on the cure and so Moses is told to do that and I find it interesting well for let me say this and so the the result is make this serpent place it on a standard and then if the people look at it and when they look at it he will live God is saying trust me notice he didn't say I want you to train a bunch of medics and to learn how to take scalples or rocks or whatever and make incisions and suck out and whatever God says no I want you to look at a serpent and if you do that you'll live and if you do not do that you will die so God says even though it appears a cure has no connection to the ailment trust me and if you trust me you will live the next thing I find interesting is that he chose a serpent it didn't choose a lamb you didn't choose man choose a rock he chose a serpent the very thing that bit them that is causing them to die I don't know why he did that I'm going to give you my thoughts and my thoughts and some money will get you some coffee I find it interesting that when Adam and Eve sinned who's there a snake and even though he didn't bite them he caused them to sin so I think what God is to look because the reason you are dying is because of your sin and I want you to trust me that you will live because of who I am not because of who you are told to do that now I find interesting the medical community their symbol is a serpent on a standard which I find amusing because when they don't know what their problem is I say it's an art but when they send you the bill it's a science and so they supposedly know what they're doing and yet their symbol is trust God don't trust your doctor trust God and that's probably maybe a good symbol rather than trusting your trust God so Moses made a serpent and set it on the standard and it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked to the bronze serpent he lived so those who trusted God lived but those who didn't because well that's stupid why should I look at a serpent I just got bit by one will guess what you die interesting story why is it there is Jesus is going to compare himself to it so if you will turn to John chapter 3 sorry with verse 9 it says this Nicodemus said to him because Nicodemus one of the Pharisees who came to him at night to question him and said that he was a good teacher and all these things so we wanted he had a conversation with you they could even says how can these things be and Jesus answered said to him are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things truly truly I say to you we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony so he is but Nicodemus and the Pharisees for not understanding the teachings that they've been given.
When Jesus has been made to make it more clear he goes if I told you of earthly things and you do not believe how will you believe I fail you have any things in Jesus I told them in order to our life you must be born again and Nicodemus has happened difficulty understanding the whole concept of being born again and says well can I get back into my mother's womb and in whatever Jesus said you're not understanding what I'm teaching you if you don't understand the physical how do you understand the spiritual ascended into heaven but he who has ascended from heaven the Son of Man so Jesus says I am the Son of Man no one is ascended to heaven but he who is descended from Jesus I've come down from heaven so for those people who say well Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God the entire gospel of John tells you he's the Son of God Matthew talks about him being the Son of Man which is the Son of God all you got to do is look at the Old Testament writings and he says this Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness and this old must the Son of Man be lifted up Jesus remember the story that we just took a look at where there was a firey serpent a bronze serpent that was placed on a standard and lifted up and on it you would live Jesus it is necessary that I must be lifted up because Jesus as a Son of Man when he's on that cross is sin he who knew no sin became sin for us that our sin might be dealt with appropriately once and for all so one of the reasons I think it was a serpent was saying sin and Jesus became a new no sin that we might now the difference between Jesus and the serpent in that situation is this so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life you see of Israel when they were bitten by that snake if they didn't look at the serpent would die for those of us if we refuse to believe in Jesus we don't die we're dead already dead in our sins and our trespasses but when we believe in Jesus when we look upon him having been lifted up then we have eternal life not just life so I think it's entirely appropriate so my thing is the reason of signify sin and Jesus was lifted up to deal with sin permanently for God so love the world that you and me not just to choose not just Moses not just Aaron for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not bear but have eternal life it doesn't matter what your ethnicity your educational level your smarts your employment or lack thereof your riches your poor God's is whoever believes will have eternal life the people in the wilderness who saw the serpent continued to live until they died we looking upon Jesus who had been lifted up given though we are dead will live forever not because of who we are because of who he is and of his great for us now I want I want us to catch this the sons of Israel right and complained and sin after and after and after and there were times take them out you start over and you look at them and you go how could they be so often how could they be all and then you start looking if you're truthful with yourself you're at your life you say yeah instead of throwing the Lord with gladness I'd dig right and complain Lord why not this when how come what why is the journey to to the promised land forever instead of taking us out it's starting over God loves us so much so that he sent Jesus so that we would not be under condemnation so when we sin and we do even though we've been instructed through the scriptures that we are dead to sin and we should live and we should live in the spirit we don't we have an advocate who hung on that cross who identified with us as sinful and took on not only your sins but mine in the worlds still loves us still advocates for us even better than Moses for God did not send his son into the world to judge the world Jesus had to come here as we are condemned already but that the world might be saved through him he who believes in him is not judged take that seriously when we send what does Satan do he accuses us you're not a great Christian look at what you did what how what a weak person you are God should just give up on you he who believes in Jesus is not judged not maybe won't be not judged present tense so when you go out mess up this afternoon and you will and I will we're not judged he who does not believe has been judged already
See there are two groups in this world who are judged in those who aren't praise God I'm in the group that isn't not because I'm wonderful not because I'm sinless not because I'm better than anybody else but because what Jesus did who became sin on that standard that I might leave in him and might have eternal life and I've never judged again because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God the people in the wilderness had a big decision once they were a bit we're goanna look at the standard or not look at the standard you live don't look at the standard you don't we have an even bigger decision in our lives see Jesus on that cross and believe and live forever refuse to believe and be judged and damned and dead one was this life our decision reflects eternity it's a big decision the one we can only make because the spirit of God unfortunately we have all been bitten by sin for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God there's none of us who hasn't been bitten but thanks be to that he's provided us a remedy that we might have at just life but have eternal life
And all God's people said