SERMON TITLE: PREACHER: The Bronze Serpent Grumbling and Complaining Jared Kwant DATE: 02.09.2018 The Bronze Serpent Grumbling and Complaining I want to build on some principals of a prophetic word that was given by someone recently and then mention a few other things that I was encouraged by God s word to share. What do we most often complain about? Services, food, the state of the country, the government, our jobs, our in-laws, church or leaders, bosses, our kids school teachers and so on 1. Grumbling and murmuring Definitions and synonyms of grumbling and murmuring - murmuring means whispering, complaining, mumbling, rumour, mutter, undertone, babble, rant, go on... Ø Numbers 21:4-9 The Bronze Snake 4 They travelled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food! 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. God hated when the people grumbled and complained about living circumstances; the food, water, their impatience because of the long trip, in other words - just life in general. It made Him so angry and He took such great offense, that he sent poisonous snakes to 1
teach them to stop complaining, he allowed people to die back because He could not stand their attitudes and complaints. The snakes were the sign of their poisonous mouths tongues. So because they grumbled and complained, they were tragically affected by it. Earlier in Numbers 14 they were also guilty of complaining: Numbers 14:27-29 (NIV) 27 How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. NB: Our complaints against people or situations, and in fact everyday life circumstances are often an offense against God Ø Our murmuring is the devils music - Thomas Watson Its music to his hears when we are murmuring and complaining about things in life! Israel received their judgement from the Lord due to their murmuring. That whole generation that complained against Him died in their own words. They moaned saying that they were going to die in the wilderness. And this became a self-fulfilling prophecy over their lives that kept them out of the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb had a different attitude toward the promises of God and they were allowed to enter in their lifetime. 1 Corinthians 10:9-10 (NKJV) 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. The murmuring of the people had given the destroyer access to the nation of Israel. Our murmuring and complaining, negativity, criticisms, will give access to the destroyer into our families, our health, and our nation! Just as their complaining brought sickness and death! There are spiritual and physical implications for our actions/ words/ attitudes! Our words, our hearts, our attitudes open our lives for either the destruction of the enemy or for the blessing of God! Continuous moaning & complaining, without an attitude of gratitude will sooner or later give one a very negative outlook on life and will affect how our life unravels! We reap what we sow, we sow destruction with our words, we will reap it in every area of life in our health, finances, relationships, yet if we sow blessings, thanksgiving, gratitude, we will reap a good harvest in all areas of life! 2
This is good for us to know! By not grumbling and complaining but giving thanks in everything and at all times will save us from a lot of destruction and heart ache in life. Phil 2:14-15 do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world. In every circumstance good or bad, we should live without grumbling, complaining, disputing and we will be a light to the world, people will see we are different, they will see the light of Christ in us! 2. God gives them a remedy the bronze snake If they turned to the snake their rotting flesh or their wounds would be healed right there in front of them! It s an awesome sign of God s goodness, That just shows how amazing God is! But now later King Hezekiah sees a problem within the nation: Ø 2 Kings 18:4 NIV He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) Hezekiah destroyed the serpent because it became a distraction from God. Often the remedies or blessings, provisions from God become our idols, we can allow them to can take our attention off God. The very things that God gives us to show us who he is, to show us His love, His heart for His people can become a distraction or possible idol to us! We often forget God and become focused on the remedy and that s when it becomes an idol. Example: He blesses with money because we needed it, we are thankful to him for it, it reveals us His heart and love for a short time, and then we begin to worship it, burn incense to it, we give more time and effort to making money because we want more and more and more. And so it becomes a distraction to us and draws us away from God! Ø Quotes on idol worship Idolatry is anything that coolest the desire after Christ - Oliver Cromwell Idolatry is everywhere represented in scripture as the greatest insult the creature can offer the creator - Charles Hodge Where idolatry ends, there Christianity begins, and where idolatry begins, there Christianity ends - R B Kuiper The most basic sin found in the world is that of Idolatry - RC Sproul You may not think you have idols but many things together become idols! Satan doesn t care what we worship, as long as we don t worship God - D L moody 3
So the devil loves it when we can t put our finger on the idols in our lives. In the end it s not what looks like an idol, it s what things function as idols as they draw our time or our lives away from God! Distractions are idols - when we are regularly distracted by things we need to take note of them. A friend said to me that Our attention often runs to things that are important to us. So distractions can reveal what we love. King David was a busy man and yet his heart cried out to God in Psalm 27:4 Psalm 27:4 one thing I ask of the lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the lord and to inquire in his temple. -------------------------------------------------------- So when we look to the New Testament: in John 3:14-16 Jesus says to Nichodemus that He himself would become like the image of the serpent raised up in the desert by Moses. Christ is our remedy for the cure of sin but if we not careful even Christ becomes just remedy for sin and he is only worshipped or turned to just for that, I don t want to be misunderstood, Jesus is the only one to turn to for forgiveness of our sins and that is the ultimate reason he came and died for us but the danger is when people only to turn to Him when they need forgiveness of sin without falling in love with Jesus and building a relationship with Him. The bronze serpent saved them, it was crucial and of most importance as is with Christ on the cross, but in both circumstances Gods heart and His love can be lost behind the provision given by God. We can often worship the object of the cross for forgiveness of our sin and not the one who was on it! So the Israelites murmured and complained against God, food, water, accommodation etc. - What should we do then? We should be doing the opposite really, that means to shout and yell of God s goodness. Proclaim, acclaim, applaud, compliment, praise, commend and rejoice over all he has done, who He is and all we have in Him, at all times! Imagine if the Israelites had done that instead of murmuring, they would have been way more blessed and had way less problems and issues, they wouldn t have suffered from so many things, would have been in the blessed land/ the place where God wanted them much quicker ----- we can save ourselves from many problems and suffering when keep from murmuring and we instead praise and commend and speak out in thankfulness and gratitude. God said what they have spoken will be done to them. They spoke death, and they got just that, God allowed the destroyer to do what they proclaimed over their lives. What we speak will happen to us and around us, so speak wisely, and speak the word of God over and into your circumstances: Ø Psalm 106:24-26 (NKJV) 4
24 Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe His word, 25 But complained in their tents, And did not heed the voice of the LORD. 26 Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them, To overthrow them in the wilderness Ø Psalm 106:24-26 (MSG) 23-27 Fed up, God decided to get rid of them and except for Moses, his chosen, he would have. But Moses stood in the gap and deflected God s anger, prevented it from destroying them utterly. They went on to reject the Blessed Land, didn t believe a word of what God promised. They found fault with the life they had and turned a deaf ear to GOD s voice. Exasperated, God swore that he d lay them low in the desert They found fault with the life they had, as do we too. But we should not murmur and complain; If we speak negatively and murmur over our land, our families, leaders, circumstances, our future and so on, we are cursing them and listen to what James says: James 3:10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. There is power in the tongue and our words can bring calamity on us or save us from it... Ø Proverbs 21:23 those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity... Conclusion: Us Christians need to stop complaining and murmuring about this life, and everyday things, and speak with thanksgiving, gratefulness and proclaim victory over all of our situations. Secondly we need to take a look at what have become distractions and idols in our lives whether they are bad, or even good that were given by God to us and either remove them or give God back all the attention and passion He deserves! God hates idols/ distractions that draw us from Him we need to get rid of things to be with Him more often! DISCUSSION POINTS - What in the message challenged you and encouraged you in your personal life? - Discuss how provisions or blessings from God can become our idols when they were originally intended to reveal Gods heart and love for us. - Discuss the truth how if the Israelites had not been filled with complaints and murmuring would have experienced an easier life with less painful experiences and how that will change our lives personally in the future? 5