Participants: Hiram Rester
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000073
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 His Character Counts with Hiram Rester. 00:21 Hello friends and welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:24 Also known as the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:28 Where, if you've tuned in before, 00:29 you know that I'm the pastor here. 00:30 But tonight I'm glad to give the pulpit to someone 00:32 whom God has called and anointed to communicate the 00:35 message about the character of God. 00:37 If you've tuned in for the third time, this is the third of 00:40 the meetings that Pastor Hiram Rester has been able to 00:44 present to us through the series of the Anchors Of Truth. 00:47 And the overall theme has been and continues to be, 00:50 His Character Counts. 00:53 But tonight's message is entitled, 00:55 The Righteous Serpent. 00:58 Very interesting topic. 00:59 We know that God will bless your heart. 01:00 If you're tuning in via television or radio, 01:03 we pray that you'll spend the next hour with us 01:05 in the Word of God to find the strength and power 01:08 that is available only as we partake of the bread of life. 01:13 And I am encouraged that God has prepared his manservant. 01:16 But before we do anything, we like to always 01:18 go to the Lord in prayer. 01:19 So bow your heads with us as we invite God's presence 01:22 to continue here tonight. 01:24 Our gracious Father in heaven, whenever the bread of life has 01:27 been baked, the time comes for it to be served. 01:32 And Lord, tonight we pray that our hearts will 01:34 be the place where that bread will be stored, 01:37 our minds will be the place where that 01:39 bread will be activated. 01:41 We also pray, Lord, a blessing on your manservant, 01:43 Pastor Hiram Rester, as You've called him to uplift Your 01:47 holy and precious name, to represent Your character, 01:51 to make You, not a part of the message, 01:54 but the central theme of the message. 01:57 And so, Lord, tonight through the auspices and through the 01:59 message titled, The Righteous Serpent, 02:03 we pray that Jesus will be lifted up again 02:05 as He was in the wilderness. 02:08 And we do pray that as He is lifted up, all men will be 02:10 drawn to Him and find in Him their hope and their salvation. 02:14 So bless these meetings, bless those who are 02:16 watching and listening. 02:17 And may Your perfect will be accomplished 02:20 for and through Your manservant. 02:21 We pray in Jesus' precious name, amen. 02:25 Now tonight, I have the distinct pleasure of not only 02:27 introducing our speaker, which you will hear right after the 02:30 music for tonight, but I've chosen the song which is, 02:33 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, 02:35 for the fact that what we're going to do tonight 02:38 as he breaks the bread of life, we know that he's going to 02:40 turn our hearts and our eyes to Jesus. 02:43 In a world like ours today, the answer is and continues to be 02:48 not only the Word of God, but the person of Jesus. 02:52 So tonight, we pray that through this message and this song 02:54 we all turn our eyes upon Jesus. 03:17 O soul, are you weary and troubled? 03:26 No light in the darkness you see? 03:35 Yet there's light for a look at the Savior, 03:44 and there's life more abundant and free. 03:54 Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 04:01 look full in His wonderful face. 04:09 And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, 04:20 in the light of His glory and grace. 04:42 His Word will not fail you, for He promised; 04:51 believe it and all will be well. 04:58 Then go to a world that is dying 05:06 with His perfect salvation to tell. 05:17 Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 05:24 look full in His wonderful face. 05:31 And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, 05:44 in the light of His glory and grace, 05:54 in the light of God's glory and grace, 06:09 in the light of His glory 06:16 and grace. 06:35 Thank you so much, Pastor John. 06:38 Thank you for praying with me before the program begins 06:41 and having our opening prayer here tonight. 06:43 It's such a blessing to be with you and to have the opportunity 06:49 to share about the character of God 06:52 and point to the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 06:56 I would invite each of you to open your Bibles today 07:00 to the book of Genesis. 07:02 The book of Genesis chapter 3, as we get into our topic 07:06 this evening, The Righteous Serpent. 07:10 The Righteous Serpent, Genesis chapter 3. 07:15 I grew up on a small farm in south Mississippi. 07:19 And on this farm we had four ponds that had fish in them. 07:24 In fact, two of the ponds had some pretty good bass in them. 07:28 And at the end of the work day sometimes, I would 07:31 go down and go fishing. 07:33 In fact, in one pond down below the barn, I use to 07:37 leave a little aluminum boat, a little skiff there and go. 07:42 And I would push out in the boat and fish. 07:46 Well, one day I went down and went fishing there in the pond 07:49 and I caught a few bass on a plastic worm. 07:53 And I, you know, took the bass off and threw them back. 07:56 But the worm, I guess, had the smell of the fish on it. 08:01 I didn't think anything of it. 08:03 That evening, I left my fishing pole with the plastic worm and 08:07 hook on it there in the boat. 08:10 And left the boat pulled up on the bank there. 08:13 And I knew I would be back the very next evening to go fishing. 08:18 So no problem, leave it there. Right? 08:21 So the next evening I went jogging down, running down. 08:25 I was ready to go fishing, I was excited about it. 08:28 I went running down the hill to the pond and 08:30 I grabbed the front of the boat and pushed it right out. 08:33 And as it was going out in the water, 08:34 I jumped on at the last minute. 08:35 And so I'm heading out into the pond. 08:38 And I reach down and I grab the fishing pole handle. 08:41 And I pick it up quickly. 08:44 But there's some resistance. 08:46 But I didn't think anything, I just pulled a little harder. 08:49 And there was a snake on the end of the pole. 08:55 You see, what had happened, apparently in the middle of 08:57 the night the snake had gotten over into the boat 09:00 looking for the smell of the fish, right? 09:03 And that worm smelled like fish. 09:07 And apparently, the snake tried to eat the plastic worm 09:10 and he got hooked on the big bass hook in his mouth. 09:15 Well, it was a hot summer day in Mississippi in an aluminum boat. 09:20 And so he didn't survive the day. 09:24 That cold blooded animal, his blood wasn't running anymore. 09:27 He was dead. 09:30 But as I picked him up... That big. 09:33 It was a big water moccasin, poisonous water moccasin. 09:37 He swung right in my direction. 09:39 I just about aborted the fishing trip to go swimming. 09:44 I almost jumped right into the water. 09:47 And then I got my composure. 09:50 And I thought, "Okay, I need to put on a new fishing lure. 09:54 How do I get the hook out of the snakes mouth?" 09:57 Then I thought, "You know what? 09:59 I'm not going to try to get the hook out of the snakes mouth. 10:00 I'm going to let him have this hook. 10:02 I'm going to cut it off." 10:04 Then I thought, "Better yet, I've got a snake on a string. 10:12 This could be useful." 10:16 And so I pulled off 15 to 20 foot of fishing line, 10:20 and I cut that off. 10:22 And that evening, I ended my fishing trip a little early. 10:27 And I headed up toward the house where I expected 10:30 my mother would be out working in the yard, 10:33 as she usually would. 10:36 And I took that fishing line and I tied it to my belt loop. 10:42 And so the snake, he was nice and limber, 10:45 was, you know, doing this behind me 15 to 20 foot back. 10:50 And I went walking right past my mother. 10:54 And when the snake got up close to being even with her, 10:57 I said, "Mom, watch out. A snake." 11:00 And as she looked up at it, I took a running step away. 11:03 Which made the snake lunge at her. 11:06 Yea, she still hasn't completely gotten over that one. 11:11 She's watching at home. Sorry, mom. 11:15 You know, it seems that most women... 11:16 I shouldn't pick on women. 11:18 Most people have a natural fear of snakes. 11:21 Even people that will tell you they're not scared of snakes, 11:25 if you end up with a snake in close proximity to you and 11:30 you didn't know it was there and you look over and see it, 11:33 your initial reaction is what? 11:35 Jump back in most cases. 11:38 You know, the Bible speaks of an enmity 11:43 between a woman and a snake. 11:45 But here, it's going beyond just women. 11:49 It's actually talking about God's people. 11:52 But let's look at this prophecy. 11:54 This prophecy is actually the first prophecy in the Bible 11:58 that foretells the coming of Jesus. 12:01 And we see it here together in Genesis 3 and verse 15. 12:04 It says, " And I will put enmity..." 12:06 Or animosity would be another word you can use. 12:10 "...between thee and the woman..." 12:12 Between the snake, the serpent, and the woman. 12:15 And it goes beyond just that serpent and that woman. 12:20 It's talking about an enmity between Satan and God's people, 12:26 or the church. 12:28 "...and between thy seed and her Seed." 12:31 Her Seed would be who, according to the book of Galatians? 12:36 Jesus Christ. 12:37 "...and It," the Seed of the woman, "shall bruise thy head, 12:41 and thou shalt bruise His..." What? 12:45 "...bruise His heel." 12:48 This powerful prophecy foretells Jesus' coming. 12:52 Jesus would die on the cross, a temporary wound, 12:56 from which He would be resurrected from. 12:59 Hence, the symbolism of the bruised heel; a temporary wound. 13:06 But the bruised head; that's a death blow. 13:09 And at the cross, my friends, Jesus delivered a death blow 13:13 to Satan. 13:15 Now I remember another snake story. 13:19 I've got lots of Mississippi snake stories. 13:21 It's not that Mississippi is overrun 13:24 and infested with snakes. 13:25 They have their share, but so do a lot of states. 13:28 But we were out in the woods a lot. 13:30 And at certain times of the year if you're out in the woods 13:32 and you're around water, you won't see a snake every time, 13:35 but it's not uncommon to see a snake from time to time. 13:39 Well, this one particular snake story comes to mind 13:42 of my dad and my grandfather. 13:45 Now I was named after my grandfather; 13:47 Hiram Sollie Rester. 13:49 He had a son, Hiram Sollie Rester Jr., 13:53 who was killed in the service. 13:55 And I am the oldest son of Grandpa Rester's youngest son. 14:02 I was born two months before he died, and so I'm 14:04 Hiram Sollie Rester III, but not directly you see. 14:09 And a story that took place before I was born, 14:13 my dad took my grandpa, with my name Hiram Sollie Rester, 14:18 his dad, fishing. 14:20 And they went fishing on the creek. 14:23 And instead of fishing there at the bridge where the road 14:27 went over the creek, like a lot of people would do, 14:29 they decided to walk. 14:31 Walk off where everybody didn't fish all the time. 14:33 Maybe there would be more fish there, right? 14:35 And as they get off into the woods, my dad tells grandpa, 14:40 "Now look, if there are any snakes, don't mess with them. 14:43 Because if you get bit, before I get you hauled out of here, 14:46 we've walked so far from the truck, you're liable to be dead. 14:49 Stay away from the snakes." 14:50 Because Grandpa Rester had this deal, if he saw a 14:53 poisonous snake, he was going to kill it. 14:57 And he typically with his boots, he'd just stomp it on the head. 15:02 That seemed to work. 15:04 Well, they're fishing along and there was this sandbar there. 15:08 And lo and behold, there was a poisonous water moccasin 15:11 laying out there, a snake, sunning. 15:14 Laying in the sun. 15:16 And my dad was watching grandpa, "Stay away from that snake. 15:19 Now you just leave it alone and it'll leave you alone." 15:22 No, my dad gets a fish on the line. 15:25 And so he's not able to give grandpa the daycare. 15:30 You know, to be watching him. You know how that goes. 15:32 The kids eventually start watching out after the parents. 15:34 Right? 15:36 And grandpa sees his moment. 15:37 Dad's got the fish on the line, and so what does he do? 15:41 He eases over there to where that snake is. 15:44 He's walking real soft because the snake can feel the 15:47 vibrations in the ground. 15:49 Right? The sand. 15:50 And he steps up beside the snake. 15:53 And he brings his big ole foot up over the snakes head. 15:57 And then... boom. 16:00 Only one problem. 16:02 Had it been a harder surface, it would no doubt have 16:06 immediately killed the snake. 16:09 But it was a sand bar, maybe even a mud bar. 16:13 And so the snake gets squished down into the sand, 16:17 into the dirt. 16:18 And he's not dead yet. 16:19 So what do you suppose he does? 16:21 Well, his head is caught under grandpa's boot. 16:24 And so his tail begins to wrap up around grandpa's leg. 16:33 So grandpa is like, "I've got the better deal here." 16:35 He keeps on fishing. 16:38 There's a snake wrapped up around his leg, but I mean, 16:41 the snake can't do nothing. 16:42 He's standing on his head, so he's fishing. 16:44 My dad looks over, "Hey pa, you know, 16:46 looks like that snake has got you." 16:48 He goes, "No, we've got each other, it's okay." 16:50 And so they did, they had each other. 16:52 Grandpa stood there like he was putting out one of his 16:55 old cigarettes or something. 16:56 He kept doing his boot like this back and forth, back and forth. 17:00 And finally after a little while, that snake began to, 17:05 you know, I guess he passed out, died, whatever. 17:08 His tail begins to fall down. 17:11 And grandpa realizes the snake is loose. 17:13 He just kicks it off out in the water and keeps on fishing. 17:19 I heard that story. 17:20 And then re-reading the book of Genesis, I saw this prophecy 17:25 of the bruised head and the bruised heel. 17:30 And I thought of that story where grandpa had stomped 17:32 on that snakes head. 17:34 But you know something? 17:35 And though Jesus delivered that permanent death blow 17:38 at the cross, Satan still has a tight tail hold, if you will, 17:45 on this world. 17:46 His tail's still wrapped around, so to speak metaphorically. 17:49 He hasn't let go yet, though the death blow has been delivered. 17:53 Yes or no? 17:54 And he's holding on. 17:56 But, my friends, Jesus is returning very soon and he 17:59 will be kicked loose. 18:00 And it will be permanent, my friends. 18:02 Praise the Lord for that. 18:05 As we look into these powerful prophecies, 18:08 last evening we looked into Genesis and the 18:11 historical aspects of this chapter. 18:14 How sin entered the world. 18:16 How Satan in the form of a serpent had encouraged Eve 18:22 to question God, to question God's word, 18:25 and to see God differently. 18:27 And how that influenced sin coming into this world, 18:32 with man having a marred picture of what God is like. 18:36 And how that marred picture continued to grow 18:39 after sin came into the world, as now fear and shame 18:45 and condemnation caused man to hide from God. 18:49 And to project that feeling of fear and shame and condemnation 18:53 they had as coming from God. 18:57 Even though it was coming from within with the change of nature 19:02 that came as man entered into sin. 19:06 And we talked about how Jesus, in John 3 verse 17, 19:12 that He did not come to condemn the world. 19:14 We mentioned briefly the woman caught in adultery, 19:16 and He says, "Neither do I..." What? 19:18 "...condemn thee. 19:20 Go and sin no more." 19:22 And we went through some of these things last evening. 19:25 But here in Genesis 3 and verse 15, we find 19:29 the promise of the coming Messiah. 19:32 And it uses the symbol of the serpent and the Seed of 19:37 the woman, and enmity between them. 19:41 An animosity between them. 19:45 Now this is a powerful prophecy. 19:48 But let's talk about the symbol of a snake 19:50 here for just a minute. 19:52 Now, snakes are used or seen in different 19:56 capacities in the world today. 19:58 You find that some people in some parts of the world 20:03 will kill and eat snakes for food. 20:05 Yeah. 20:07 You find some people will keep snakes around as deterrents. 20:11 In fact, I remember a story of a fellow in Mississippi. 20:15 Back in the days before they got strict with the DUI laws, 20:20 the drinking and driving laws, there was a guy 20:23 years and years and years ago, long before I was born, 20:25 in south Mississippi, that he got tired of the cops 20:28 stopping him and taking his beer away. 20:31 So he kept two rattle snakes in his car. 20:34 And the first time the cop, you know, started searching his car 20:37 and found the snakes in there, they didn't bother him anymore. 20:39 And so he just kept snakes in his car, 20:41 and the law enforcement left him alone. 20:44 So that was a deterrent, right? 20:46 But other people keep snakes as pets. 20:50 Right? 20:51 Lots of different uses, we see, for snakes out there. 20:54 There are some for medicinal purposes. 20:56 Of course, anti-venom often comes from 20:59 the harvesting the venom of snakes, etc. 21:02 Now of course, if I come in contact with a snake, 21:05 I use to think there are mainly only two types of snakes. 21:10 Dead and alive. Right? 21:12 And if I came across one that was alive, 21:14 there was a good chance he may become dead. 21:17 But I only try to kill poisonous snakes. 21:20 But you know, if it's a non-poisonous snake, 21:26 we're not going to kill it unless it becomes a nuisance. 21:29 For instance, last week on my parents place in Mississippi, 21:33 there was a... 21:35 Some people call them chicken snakes down there. 21:37 Other people call them rat snakes. 21:38 It's a non-poisonous snake. 21:40 And it got into the chicken pen. 21:43 And it had killed and eaten four of the biddies, 21:47 the little chickens. 21:50 And so my dad killed it. 21:52 He had to go in and get it out, the snake was trapped. 21:56 You see, it had went through the chicken wire, 21:59 which is about this big around. 22:00 He could crawl through it. 22:02 But once he had eaten the biddies, 22:04 he couldn't get back out. 22:07 Because now he's got this big lump, right? 22:10 And so anyway, put that one out of his misery. 22:14 But also today, something interesting happened. 22:17 I went on a walk this morning with a couple of friends 22:21 of mine from Springfield, my church, who had come over; 22:24 Dale and Zach. 22:27 And we went out walking this morning here around 3ABN. 22:31 And walking down the road, guess what we came up on. 22:36 Yea, so it's not just Mississippi who has snakes. 22:39 Here we are in southern Illinois and there was a snake. 22:42 Yea, they're putting up a picture of it right now. 22:46 You remember, they come two major ways. 22:49 How is that? Dead and alive. 22:51 This one had been run over in the road. 22:53 It was dead. 22:55 We tried to take a picture of it. 22:57 We ended up having to move it out of the road 22:59 because it was so close to the color of the pavement 23:01 we couldn't get a good picture. 23:03 We moved it over onto the clay. 23:04 And so I called up someone from 3ABN. 23:07 I said, "I want to use that as a sermon illustration tonight 23:10 since I'm preaching on the righteous serpent. 23:12 And I found a dead snake this morning. 23:14 Wow, you know, coincidence. 23:15 Wow, let's put that together." 23:17 And so I was on the phone with Dee. 23:19 If you're around 3ABN, you know Dee. 23:22 Dee Hilderbrand, right? 23:24 And I was talking to Dee about helping make that happen. 23:27 And she said, "You know, when you said last night that 23:29 most ladies are afraid of snakes..." 23:31 I mean, she then went on to talk about 23:33 how afraid of snakes she was. 23:35 And wanted to make sure that I had not left that snake 23:38 in the road where she might go walking sometime 23:42 and accidentally walk up on it. 23:44 So, Dee, it's not in the road, and you can go walking. 23:49 Don't worry about that. 23:50 I know that will bring you some peace of mind. 23:52 It's just right there in the bushes ready to jump out. 23:55 No, it's dead. It's gone. 23:58 It's not going to do that. 23:59 But at this point, my friends, we think about the fact that 24:03 a serpent, there's a fear that most people have of snakes. 24:07 And the Bible, from Genesis to the book of Revelation, 24:13 uses serpents, uses snakes, as a symbol of sin and Satan. 24:22 But I came across a verse many years ago. 24:25 I was reading along and all of a sudden, an apparent dichotomy 24:29 jumped out at me. 24:31 And I said, "Wow, what is this?" 24:33 I read across a verse where it was applying the symbol 24:38 of a serpent, of a snake, to Jesus. 24:44 And I said, "Wow, how could this be?" 24:46 In fact, it was Jesus Himself making the application. 24:50 But a serpent, from Genesis to Revelation, is a symbol of 24:53 sin and Satan. 24:55 But here, it very clearly was a symbol for Jesus. 24:59 Look with me in John chapter 3, and let's look there together. 25:02 John chapter 3, we'll see that here in the New Testament. 25:07 John chapter 3. 25:09 And you know, how could a serpent, a snake, 25:13 be used as a symbol for Jesus? 25:15 Jesus never sinned. 25:16 He was never tainted with sin. 25:18 He never entered into sin. 25:20 He was the pure and spotless, the perfect Lamb of God. 25:29 And a serpent. 25:31 You say, "Well, you can't say that." 25:32 Well the Bible does. That's the point. 25:34 It says that there's a serpent that represents Jesus. 25:37 How could that be? 25:39 He was sinless, He was spotless, He was perfect. 25:41 Yes, and a serpent. 25:43 Say, "What?" 25:45 It's hard to swallow. 25:46 It's hard to wrap your mind around, right? 25:48 You say, "Well, hold on. You can't apply that to Jesus." 25:51 Well, Jesus did. 25:52 And that's what jumped out at me. 25:55 I'm reading along from Genesis to Revelation. 25:57 Generally, almost always, you read about a serpent in the 26:00 Bible as a symbol, and it represents sin or Satan. 26:05 And here, it applies to Jesus. 26:06 And it was messing with my head. 26:08 Maybe it will mess with your head. 26:10 I don't know. 26:11 But then I learned that God has an answer. 26:13 And He shows that to us. 26:14 But look here in John 3 and verse 14. 26:17 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 26:21 even so must the Son of man," that's Jesus, "be lifted up." 26:27 So, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 26:31 Jesus must be lifted up. 26:33 He's saying, "That serpent represented Me 26:37 and My death on the cross." 26:40 Wow. 26:41 And it says in verse 15, "That whosoever believeth in Him 26:44 should not perish, but have everlasting life." 26:48 You see, the serpent that was put on the pole and lifted up 26:52 in the wilderness, those that looked and believed, my friends, 26:55 when they saw that serpent they would not perish, 26:58 they did not die. 27:01 And so, this is used as a symbol of Jesus. 27:05 Jesus applies it to Himself. 27:08 Now what would this mean and what would this tell us, 27:11 this symbol, this rather unique symbol in Scripture of Jesus, 27:16 tell us about the character of our God? 27:21 You say, "Well, there's nothing sinister there, is there? 27:23 No, certainly not. 27:24 God is infinitely good and perfect and selfless, 27:29 and focused on others, my friends. 27:32 But there are some powerful aspects, we shall see. 27:36 Let's first go and look at the story that's being 27:39 referenced here, the account of Israel in the wilderness. 27:42 You see, it was the exodus. 27:43 Go with me though to the book of Numbers, okay. 27:45 If you're thinking about what the book of Numbers is about, 27:48 it's real simple and it kind of rhymes. 27:50 Numbers wanders. 27:52 The book of Numbers is all about Israel 27:54 wandering in the wilderness. 27:55 So, Numbers wanders. 27:56 And you'll remember what Numbers is about. 27:58 So they're wandering in the wilderness. 28:00 They've been led out of Egypt. 28:02 Which is a symbol of sin in the Bible, okay? 28:04 And they're wandering in the wilderness waiting to 28:07 enter into the Promised Land one day. 28:11 And we look at it, they had been cared for by God. 28:16 God was showing His love to them and He had supplied 28:19 every need that they had. 28:21 And He was supplying. 28:22 Their clothes weren't wearing out. 28:24 Their feet weren't swelling when they walked. 28:27 He was providing them food, He was providing them water. 28:30 And what did they start doing? 28:32 They started grumbling and complaining. 28:36 We read about it here in Numbers chapter 21 verse 4. 28:41 "And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, 28:44 to compass the land of Edom. 28:46 And the soul of the people was much discouraged 28:49 because of the way." 28:50 It was harder than maybe they thought it was going to be. 28:53 Or maybe the scenery wasn't as nice as they wanted. 28:55 They were discouraged. 28:57 Verse 5, "And the people spake against God..." Uh-ho. 29:02 "...and against Moses..." 29:04 God had sent Moses to pastor and to shepherd His people, 29:07 and now they're complaining about Moses as well. 29:10 "Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt 29:13 to die in the wilderness? 29:15 For there is no bread, neither is there any water. 29:18 And our soul loatheth this light bread." 29:21 The light bread; they're referring to the manna 29:23 that God was providing every day. 29:25 They're saying there's no bread, while God is giving it 29:27 to them every single day. 29:30 Now, God has delivered them from slavery, from bondage. 29:35 He had parted the Red Sea to bring them out. 29:40 And now they're complaining. 29:42 He was providing them their daily portion of food, 29:45 He was showing His love, His compassion, 29:49 that He cared for them. 29:51 And they're murmuring and they're complaining. 29:55 And ultimately, that murmuring and complaining caused the 29:58 protection of God to be removed. 30:00 Verse 6, "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, 30:03 and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." 30:08 You see, it was a snake infested area, no doubt, 30:11 where they were going through. 30:12 But God had been protecting them from that as well, 30:15 and they did not know it. 30:17 But now, they're rebellion against God caused God's 30:22 protection not to be able to cover them. 30:25 Now, all of a sudden, this area, this snake infested region, 30:31 they are being plagued with venomous serpents. 30:36 And so, now they're desperate and dying. 30:38 These fiery serpents had a sting that was deadly. 30:42 Not a sting, rather a bite that was deadly. 30:45 Venomous serpents, poisonous snakes. 30:49 And then as they realized what was happening, 30:53 that they were dying from these snake bites, 30:56 they turn and they say, "Moses, we messed up. 30:59 We're sorry. 31:01 We complained about God and we complained about you. 31:04 Please, Moses, go to God on our behalf and come up with 31:07 something to save us. 31:09 Please, we're dying here." 31:12 And so that's what happened. 31:14 We read about it there in verse 9. 31:17 Actually verse 8, "And the Lord said unto Moses, 31:21 'Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. 31:24 And it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, 31:27 when he looketh upon it, shall...'" What? 31:31 "...shall live." 31:34 Okay, "And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole. 31:38 And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man," 31:41 anyone, "when he beheld the serpent of brass, he..." What? 31:46 "...he lived." 31:47 Okay. 31:49 Simple, look and live... 31:53 ...or perish. 31:56 Now, not to look was to perish. 31:59 How does this apply, or does it have really any application 32:02 or any value for us today? 32:05 I believe that it does. 32:06 Look with me, would you, in the New Testament, just to 32:09 see how this applies to us, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 32:13 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 9. 32:15 We're going to look at it here together today. 32:17 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 9. 32:21 We see it in the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 9. 32:28 "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, 32:33 and were destroyed of..." What? 32:37 "...serpents." 32:39 "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, 32:42 and were destroyed of the destroyer. 32:44 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: 32:47 and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the 32:52 ends of the world are come." 32:57 An example for those of us that are living 33:01 in the time of the end. 33:03 These things happened to them for examples. 33:05 They were complaining, they were tempting Christ. 33:08 They were literally saying that though God had delivered them, 33:12 "You brought us out here for us to die in the wilderness." 33:16 Oh my. 33:19 Egypt, the symbol of sin, they had been delivered. 33:24 We are walking, as it were, in the wilderness of this earth. 33:29 If we claim to be following Jesus, delivered from 33:32 bondage, from Egypt, delivered from sin, 33:36 waiting by God's grace to enter the heavenly Promised Land. 33:42 And so this applies to us. 33:44 Let us not do as they did. 33:47 It's an example for us, the Bible says. 33:52 Now, God's goodness had been forgotten. 33:56 God had given them token after token of His goodness, 34:00 of His love, of His mercy, but they had forgotten. 34:04 Let us not forget. 34:05 Let us be thankful. 34:07 Let us see what God has done so wonderfully for 34:12 each of us in our life. 34:16 Well if we forget God's goodness and we don't keep our eyes 34:21 on Jesus, then we're going to fall into sin. 34:24 That is, we're going to be bitten by the serpents. 34:30 That's right. 34:31 The serpent is a symbol of sin. 34:35 And we must look and live. 34:37 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 34:40 even so must the Son of man be lifted up," John 3 and verse 14. 34:46 Now, why would a snake be used to represent Jesus? 34:52 And what would this say about God's character? 34:55 And why did they even need a brass serpent on a pole. 35:03 Well the same question, at least as the last question there, 35:07 is then, why would we need Jesus on the cross? 35:12 The reason is because we have all been bitten. 35:17 Romans 3 and verse 23, "All have sinned and 35:22 come short of the glory of God." 35:24 We've been bitten with the sting, with the bite of sin. 35:29 And Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is..." What? 35:34 "...death." 35:35 We've been bitten. 35:37 And what was going to happen after you're bitten? 35:38 You would die. 35:41 But as we move ahead, as we look ahead, we find in 35:45 Romans 6:23, "But the gift of God is eternal life 35:51 through Jesus Christ, our Lord." 35:55 Now as the Word of God speaks to the issues at hand, 36:01 I want to take a moment and contrast 36:05 two opposing characters or sets of character attributes. 36:11 And that is between Christ, the righteous serpent, 36:17 and Satan, the unrighteous serpent. 36:23 Is it fair to call Satan a serpent? 36:25 Does the Bible call him a serpent, yes or no? 36:28 Yes. Is he unrighteous? 36:31 Did Jesus apply the symbol of a serpent to Himself, yes or no? 36:36 Well I would have to say He is the righteous serpent. 36:40 Okay? 36:42 Two sets of character attributes. 36:45 Satan is constantly trying to superimpose upon God 36:54 his own character attributes. 36:57 He would have Eve believe that God was trying to keep her down, 37:06 and keep Himself up by keeping her down. 37:09 "God knows if you eat of that fruit, you'll be like Him. 37:11 He's trying to keep you down here and Himself up here." 37:14 In other words, that God is selfish and self-centered, 37:20 and trying to keep Himself up. 37:24 But that's actually the attributes of Satan. 37:30 He is self-centered, he is selfish. 37:32 And 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 speaks of 37:37 the antichrist beast power, that it would seek to 37:40 exalt itself above God. 37:43 Now the root of that goes back to Satan himself. 37:46 Isaiah chapter 14:12-14, where it says, "How art thou 37:50 fallen from heaven, O Lucifer... 37:51 How art thou cut down to the ground, 37:53 which didst weaken the nations. 37:54 For thou said in thine heart, 'I will ascend into heaven. 37:56 I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.'" 38:00 He is full of self exaltation. 38:05 He is self-centered. 38:07 And yet, he wants us to think God is that way. 38:10 No. 38:11 He has applied his own attributes to God 38:14 and tried to get the world to think that... 38:17 Well, he's got the world deceived in many ways 38:20 that he doesn't exist. 38:22 But for those that do believe in him, do believe he exists, 38:25 he wants them to think that he has the attributes of God. 38:29 That he wants to give you freedom, that he wants... 38:32 You know, and all of this stuff. 38:34 Now as we dig into this, we find the attributes 38:39 of the righteous serpent; of Jesus. 38:42 And what attributes do we find of Him? 38:45 While Satan was trying to exalt himself higher, 38:49 the One who could go no higher 38:54 humbled Himself. 38:56 He did. 38:58 Isaiah chapter 53 is a great example of that. 39:01 Let's look there just briefly. 39:03 And then we'll go to another favorite passage of mine 39:05 in Philippians chapter 2, okay. 39:06 We look here in Isaiah chapter 53. 39:10 Isaiah chapter 53 here. 39:12 We see it together in the Word of God. 39:15 We look here, Isaiah 53 and we see it in verse 3. 39:19 "He is despised and rejected of men; 39:21 a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. 39:23 And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. 39:26 He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. 39:28 Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. 39:32 Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 39:36 But He was wounded for our transgressions, 39:39 He was bruised for our iniquities. 39:42 The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; 39:44 and with His stripes we are healed. 39:48 All we like sheep have gone astray." 39:51 We have followed after the character attributes of Satan. 39:55 We have gone astray. 39:58 We've done it our way. 40:00 Here in America, most folks are... 40:02 Well I should say, North America and the United States. 40:05 I realize there are other folks that, you know, South America. 40:09 They claim to be Americans as well. 40:11 And rightfully so. 40:12 Here in North America, here in the U.S., most of us 40:15 are familiar with a song by Frank Sinatra, 40:18 or at least he sang it; I Did It... How? 40:21 ...My Way. 40:22 And that's what Satan encourages us all to do. 40:24 I did it my way; that self-centered view. 40:28 My friends. 40:29 But God did what? 40:31 What was Jesus' answer to us doing it our way? 40:33 "All we like sheep have gone astray; 40:35 we have turned every one to his own way. 40:40 And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 40:43 God took upon Him, Jesus took upon Himself our iniquity. 40:48 "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 40:51 And so Jesus says, "I pay your penalty." 40:54 Go with me to Philippians 2, would you. 40:56 The book of Philippians chapter 2. 40:58 We're going to see, He came and He offered Himself. 41:01 The One in heaven, whom it would seemed could 41:03 be exalted no higher. 41:05 He didn't try to exalt Himself 41:07 He humbled Himself. He came down. 41:09 He said, "I'm going to go to them. 41:11 I'm going to reach out to them. 41:13 They have went away. 41:14 And they may not even realize their sinful and lost condition. 41:18 They may not realize they have been bitten 41:20 with the serpent of sin. 41:22 But I'm going to go to them. 41:24 And I'm going to take the penalty upon Myself." 41:27 And so we see it here in Philippians chapter 2. 41:32 Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. 41:36 And it says here, Philippians 2 and verse 5, 41:39 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 41:44 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be 41:47 equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, 41:50 and took upon Him the form of a servant, 41:54 and was made in the likeness of men." 41:59 So here is the God of heaven, Jesus, the second Person 42:03 of the Godhead, who does what? 42:08 He says, "I'm going to humble Myself." 42:10 He's made in the likeness of men, the God-man. 42:14 "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, 42:18 and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 42:24 Wherefore God," God the Father, "also hath highly..." What? 42:28 "...exalted Him..." 42:30 He didn't seek to exalt Himself. 42:32 He humbled Himself, even to the death of the cross. 42:34 Wherefore, the one whom it would seem could be exalted no higher, 42:38 God the Father now exalts higher and higher 42:41 because of His sacrifice and the love He has shown for others. 42:46 His selfless and others centered love. 42:51 That's what we see. 42:52 It's powerful, my friends. Oh, it is. 42:55 Satan's purpose is to obscure the character of God. 42:58 Also to obscure the incarnation. 43:01 There are two lies out there about the incarnation. 43:04 I'm sure there are more than two, but two main ones. 43:06 One, that He was not fully God. 43:09 And two, that He was not fully man. 43:12 Now I'm not going to bog down into the details of that one. 43:15 But, my friends, I'm going to tell you. 43:16 He was the God-man. 43:19 Fully God, but fully man. 43:22 And as we look here, there are certain things that 43:26 Jesus would accomplish for the human race. 43:29 One, He would live a sinless life. 43:33 And two, He would assume man's guilt. 43:37 "He hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 43:44 That's right. 43:46 My friends, we have all sinned and come short 43:48 of the glory of God. 43:49 We all need the forgiveness of Jesus. 43:53 We need a Savior. 43:54 Look with me in Ephesians. 43:57 The book of Ephesians. 43:58 We're in Philippians, go through Colossians to Ephesians. 44:02 Ephesians chapter 2. 44:06 And we see here... 44:07 Nope, I went the wrong way. It's the other way. 44:10 Anyway, go to Ephesians. 44:12 I've got it mixed up in my head, tonight, right up here. 44:15 But let's look at it, Ephesians chapter 2. 44:18 Ephesians 2 and verse 8. 44:20 And it says this, Ephesians 2 and verse 8, 44:22 "For by grace are ye saved through faith, 44:26 and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. 44:29 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 44:32 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 44:35 unto good works, which God hath before ordained that 44:39 we should..." What? 44:41 "...walk in them." 44:44 Now this is a powerful passage. 44:46 An important passage as well. 44:48 You see, we're saved by grace through faith, 44:51 and not of ourselves. 44:53 Those who were bitten by the serpents in the wilderness, 44:56 those who had snake bites as their arms or their leg 45:00 or their face where they had been bitten was swelling, 45:03 and as the venom was doing its work and bringing into 45:07 their life, could they do anything to save themselves? 45:11 No they could not. 45:14 All they could do was look and live. 45:18 It's an excellent example of righteousness by faith. 45:21 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 45:26 All they could do was look and live. 45:31 You know, I was raised in the Baptist church. 45:35 A lot of good Baptists that love Jesus as much 45:37 as anybody, by the way. 45:40 But in the Baptist church, I had a belief. 45:43 And not all Baptists are this way. 45:45 But I had a belief with the teaching of once saved 45:48 always saved, that really what I did or did not do 45:51 didn't really matter. 45:52 And so I believed that we're saved by grace through faith 45:55 apart from good works. 45:58 Which makes good works, in some ways, irrelevant 46:01 as far as salvation is concerned. 46:04 Well, then I came into the Adventist church. 46:09 And I realized that a lot of Adventists, maybe even 46:12 most Adventists, don't believe it this way, but some do. 46:15 I did. 46:16 I came to the idea... 46:18 And I never would have said it this way, but it's 46:20 what I believed in my heart. 46:22 That I was saved by grace through faith and good works. 46:29 Think about that. 46:31 I kind of had it in my mind that maybe I was forgiven, 46:34 and that ultimately the forgiveness and the 46:38 grace of God covered until the present, but now 46:41 present and forward I had to be good enough. 46:48 There are a lot of people in that boat still today. 46:51 By grace through faith. 46:53 Are we saved by grace through faith and good works? 46:56 Is that what it says? 46:57 No, that's not what it says. 47:00 But that's where I was. 47:01 By the way, that is a teaching that really, 47:04 that's a distinctive, really, Catholic teaching of salvation. 47:09 That we're saved by grace through faith and good works. 47:14 If there's anything, if people a lot of times get scared 47:17 about teachings coming into the church, maybe from the Vatican 47:21 or something, that is one that is a bigger one 47:24 than anything else. 47:25 Anything else that I've heard people point to; 47:27 that folks are saved by grace through faith and good works. 47:31 You know why? 47:32 Because if people think that they're being good enough 47:36 for God's acceptance, then they can't see the pure beautiful 47:40 character of God. 47:43 They're too absorbed with themselves and working 47:45 their own way to heaven. 47:47 And they can't be a good witness for others because 47:51 they don't have something worth sharing with others. 47:55 It's not like the world is waiting to be miserable 47:57 like they are. 48:00 No, they don't have anything worth giving away. 48:03 Because they don't have anything that's free. 48:05 They haven't accepted the gift. 48:08 Well, my friends, there's another option. 48:12 We're saved by grace through faith 48:15 unto good works. 48:18 Which makes good works inevitable. 48:22 The purpose of good works is not to save me. 48:26 No, I'm saved by grace through faith 48:28 through Jesus Christ alone. 48:30 I have a freedom. 48:31 And because I've been given a gift, my heart wants to 48:36 respond to the love of God and say, 48:37 "What an awesome and loving God. 48:39 I want to be more like Him. 48:40 I want to serve Him because of what He has done for me, 48:44 not be good enough so I can stay saved." 48:49 There is a night and day difference. 48:51 And I'm hoping out there somewhere around the 48:53 world today there's somebody watching, and your going, 48:55 "Oh, I see it and now I'm free. 48:59 I'm free to love God and to follow Him because I want to, 49:04 and not because I have to be good enough to be saved." 49:09 Because, my friends, you can't work your way to heaven. 49:13 But did you know that it's actually possible 49:15 to work other people's way to heaven? 49:19 You say, "Uh-ho." Now I've lost you. 49:21 No, listen to me. 49:23 Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16. 49:26 It says we're to do good works so that others might 49:31 see them, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. 49:34 Yes or no? 49:36 You can't work your way to heaven, but if you're following 49:39 Jesus and you're saved by grace through faith, 49:42 and you have freedom but you're choosing willfully and 49:45 lovingly to follow Jesus, and I see the change in your life, 49:49 it can affect my life and bring me to Jesus too. 49:53 Yes or no? 49:54 So you can't work your way to heaven, 49:56 but you might end up working someone else's way to heaven 49:58 if they see your good works. 50:01 Free and wonderful works through Jesus. 50:05 And they respond, "I want what that person has." 50:08 And they glorify our Father which is in heaven. 50:11 No, you're not technically working their way to heaven. 50:14 Let me clear that up. 50:15 But your works become a testimony to them. 50:18 Praise God. 50:20 Now as we look here, those in the wilderness. 50:22 They couldn't do anything to save themselves 50:25 from that snake. 50:27 And we are in the same condition. 50:29 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 50:31 I've been bitten and you've been bitten. 50:33 My friends, if those in the wilderness could have said, 50:36 "I don't believe it. I've got to do something. 50:38 Give me penance. 50:39 Let me whip myself. 50:42 Let me eat healthier until I..." 50:48 No. 50:50 Should we eat healthier? Sure we should. 50:51 But it has nothing to do... 50:53 You're not going to eat your way to heaven. 50:56 You're going to respond to a gift from Jesus. 50:59 You know, "Let me take this off or put this on." 51:02 No. 51:03 It was, look and live. 51:06 To not look was to perish. 51:10 That's it, my friends. Free in Jesus. 51:13 They could have reasoned, "It doesn't make sense," 51:15 and not looked, and they would have died. 51:17 They could have said, "I demand a logical 51:20 scientific explanation," and they would have 51:23 died in the wilderness. 51:25 But that serpent on the pole; they looked and they lived. 51:29 My friends, Jesus, the one who could be exalted no higher, 51:32 humbled Himself and He came down. 51:34 And so, why is the serpent a symbol for Jesus? 51:39 My friends, go with me to Romans chapter 8 and verse 3. 51:43 Romans chapter 8 and verse 3. 51:47 Romans 8 and verse 3, here today. 51:49 And it says this, Romans 8 and verse 3, 51:53 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 51:57 through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of 52:01 sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." 52:05 My friends, there's your answer to the righteous serpent. 52:09 Conundrum. 52:11 How could a serpent, a snake, represent Jesus? 52:15 Because He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, 52:20 and for sin, and He condemns sin in the flesh. 52:24 He lived a sinless life, never tainted with sin. 52:28 Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 52:30 to get another explanation of it, okay? 52:33 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20. 52:37 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 20. 52:41 And it says here, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, 52:47 as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you 52:50 in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 52:56 Verse 21, "For He," God the Father, "hath made Him," 53:02 that's my Jesus, "to be sin for us." 53:05 Notice in the King James, the words "to be" are supplied. 53:09 "Made Him sin for us." 53:12 Not the active sin, but placed the weight of my sin 53:15 and your sin upon Him. 53:17 Notice it points that out, "who knew no sin." 53:20 He was sinless, He was not tainted with sin in any way. 53:25 The spotless Lamb of God. 53:28 "...that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 53:32 Jesus, who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us. 53:37 He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. 53:40 Hence, the symbol of a serpent. 53:42 Throughout the Bible, the symbol of a serpent 53:45 would be used to represent Satan and or sin. 53:51 So how could a snake lifted up on a pole represent Jesus? 54:00 Because He who knew no sin was made to be... What? 54:05 ...sin for us. 54:09 The weight of my sin and your sin and the sin of the 54:12 whole world came upon our Savior on the cross. 54:16 He lived a perfect and sinless life. 54:18 Have I made that clear? Yes or no? 54:21 I hope so. 54:22 But the weight of the sin of the world came upon Jesus. 54:25 And remember Isaiah 53, we read that. 54:28 "He hath laid on Him the iniquity of..." Who? 54:34 "...us all." 54:35 Thus the serpent, a symbol of sin, representing 54:37 Jesus on the cross. 54:39 Because as He died on the cross, my sin was there. 54:42 And He died for my sin and your sin 54:45 and the sin of the whole world. 54:46 Praise God. 54:48 Go with me now, would you, to John 3. 54:50 Let's see it come together. 54:51 And looking at this, a pure gospel message, it's so 54:55 important if you're going to think about how 54:56 His character counts. 54:58 Because until you are free to understand that we're saved 55:01 by grace through faith unto good works, 55:03 that we're saved by grace through faith in 55:06 Jesus Christ alone, that all we can do is look and live 55:09 because we've been bitten by the serpent. 55:11 We have to look to Jesus. 55:14 We've been bitten by sin. 55:15 All we can do is look and live, we can't save ourselves. 55:19 But Jesus saves us. He forgives us. 55:23 My friends, until we come to that point, 55:24 we can't be free to love. 55:29 If you're fearfully trying to work your way to heaven, 55:32 you can't be free to love and follow God. 55:35 Oh my, our time is counting down. 55:37 So John chapter 3, and it says here in verse 14. 55:40 John chapter 3 and verse 14, let me find it here. 55:43 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 55:46 even so must the Son of man," that's Jesus, "be lifted up." 55:50 So as Moses lifted up that snake, 55:52 so Jesus must be lifted up. 55:54 You remember in John 12:32, He said, "If I be lifted up, 55:57 I will draw all men to Me." 55:59 And it's in the context of His death on the cross. 56:02 Oh yes, verse 15, "That whosoever believeth in him 56:05 should not perish, but have eternal life." 56:07 Just as those would have perished on earth had they 56:10 not looked at the bronze brazen serpent, 56:12 the bronze or brass serpent, so my friends, unless we 56:15 look at Jesus, we focus on Him and let Him 56:19 change us, we can't be saved. 56:21 It's all about Jesus. 56:22 Now notice the next verse. 56:24 This is what the context is, is it not? 56:26 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 56:29 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 56:32 but should have everlasting life." 56:36 My friends, the righteous serpent; it's very simple. 56:39 He who knew no sin, that's my Jesus, 56:44 was made to be sin for us. 56:45 He took upon Himself our sin on the cross. 56:49 And He died for you and me, that we might receive 56:53 the free gift of salvation by His grace. 56:58 We don't deserve it. 56:59 And we can't be good enough for it. 57:02 But as we accept that gift, we, in gratitude, can follow Him 57:07 and uplift Him and share that love with others, 57:11 with a lost and dying world. 57:13 My friends, I encourage you to do that. 57:16 To make Him your Savior, 57:18 to accept Him into your heart and life, 57:22 and determine by His grace to be with Him 57:25 in the kingdom of heaven. 57:27 Is that your desire today? |
Revised 2014-12-17