God Didn't Take the Serpents Away

Numbers 21 will mess you up if you let it.

The people of Israel got bit by fiery serpents. Not because they were murderers. Not because they were thieves. They were complainers. And God said enough, and the serpents came.

Their first instinct would have been to go find the cure. Same as yours. Same as mine. Run for the antivenom. Do something. When a problem shows up, we run for a solution.

But God said, I'm not taking the serpents away. And He didn't tell them to go find antivenom either. He told Moses to put a brass serpent on a pole. And His word to the dying was simple: look and live.

That's it. Not do and live. Not earn and live. Not join and live. Look and live.

Jesus picks up that same picture in John 3 — "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

The antivenom of good works won't save you. The antivenom of church membership won't save you. The antivenom of religion won't save you.

You've been bitten. We all have. The venom of sin is already in our blood.

God provided one remedy. He put it on a pole. He said look. He said live.

The gospel doesn't ask you to do anything. That's exactly why it's so hard to accept. There's nothing left to grab.

Just look and live.

We spent a whole Sunday in John 3 on this. If it stirred something, the full message is below.

Pastor Fortunato
Founding Pastor & Preacher of the Word.
Pilgrim Baptist Church — Cookeville, Tennessee

https://pilgrimbaptist.church/
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/pilgrimbaptist/