The Greatest Story Ever Told
Introduction
Numbers 21:4-9
A missionary with two friends drove the Jeep Station Wagon into an extended wooded area called Laguna Lobo (Wolf Lagoon). As they arrived at the Baptist mission building made of poles without walls and a roof of grass and limbs, children and adults starting rushing to the place from every direction. Sunday School time arrived and Alba Montes de Oca, the Argentina home missionary, taught the class for everyone. The time for worship started and Alba asked all who had memorized the Scripture verse for that week to stand. A few adults and several children among the 60 or 70 present stood as five or six recited the verse. Then she asked for those who remembered the verse from the previous Sunday to stand. Several stood and this happened four times of those who had not forgotten the Scripture from one month previous.
A few minutes later when the missionary started to preach, he waited for an elderly Toba Indian to translate the first few sentences. But the Toba said in Spanish, “You preach the entire message, sit down, and then I’ll translate it.” And that happened. Most everyone remembers something about missionaries or mission stories. The book of Numbers has a story that’s briefly referred to in John chapter three. Jesus talked to Nicodemus one night about his personal relationship with God.
Nicodemus did not understand the message of the new birth. Then Jesus in John 3:14-16 told the story of Moses who “lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” and compared that Old Testament event to the time when He (Jesus) would be lifted up on the cross and die for the sins of the world. This story about Moses and the fulfillment in Christ is “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” We can easily see three reasons why the story of the uplifted Savior is the greatest one every told.
I. Everyone Needs Salvation
Everyone needs salvation. Young people, adults, children and everyone needs to be converted, all need God’s salvation. Whether a person lives in America or Africa, Asia, Australia, or Europe the need is the same. Everyone includes you and me - we all need to be saved. The need of redemption crosses every racial and educational line. From professors to plowmen, everyone needs God’s help. The text in Numbers tells why.
A. We Need Salvation Because Everyone Sins
Numbers 21:7 states, “The people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord…” God had given the Hebrews victory over the Canaanites at Hormah (21:1-3). As God’s people moved on, they became discouraged. They asked Moses why he had brought them out in the wilderness to die. They said that they hated or loathed the bread that God was giving them. One thousand four hundred years B.C, the people of God knew they had sinned. Today, 2000 A.D., those who are honest still must admit that they sin. Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We miss the mark. We become “slaves of sin” (Romans 6:17). Jesus is the only person in world history who has not sinned. So we take our place among all who sin.
B. We Need Salvation Because All Die
Numbers 21:6 states, “The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and many people of Israel died.” Romans 6:23 states that “The wages of sin is death.” Both physical and spiritual death comes about because of sin. The Bible states in Hebrews 9:27 that “It is appointed unto man once to die,” that is physically. As sinful people without God’s salvation spiritual death is already a reality. Wars, illness, tragedies, homicides, and many other routes end a person’s physical life. Spiritually, mankind has reaped the harvest of history’s sin and we come into this world with a sinful nature and a propensity to do wrong. Let’s admit that we need God’s intervention in life so that we don’t have to die spiritually. We need salvation.
II. God Provides Salvation
The story in Numbers lets us hear again the cry of the people. Fiery serpents or snakes were biting the people We don’t have any idea how many died, but hundreds and even thousands may have died before they turned to Moses for help. Then Moses called upon God who told him to place a serpent of brass on a pole so that all who looked at that “symbol of sin” could life. The Scriptures states that “Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us” ( 2 Cor. 5:21). And yet, Jesus came to “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).
A. Salvation In Christ Available For Everyone
God told Moses to lift the brass serpent on a pole in the midst of the camp. That is, the serpent could be seen by everyone. No person had an excuse for not looking at that brass serpent for healing and health. Jesus stated in John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all people unto myself.” History testifies to the death of Jesus on the cross. From the beginning of the Bible to the very end of God’s Book, the story of the death of Jesus for our salvation is given. The Bible is the only book that lets everyone know that Jesus is the only way that is available for eternal redemption.
B. Salvation In Christ Immediate And Instant
When the Hebrews who had been bitten by snakes looked to the uplifted serpent, they were healed at that moment. We don’t have to “hang around” and wait for salvation to become real in life. God offers salvation in Christ that takes place the moment a person places his or her faith in Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son. A tax collector walked to God’s temple in Jerusalem one day. He prayed, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.” And he returned home ‘justified” or made right with God. Paul and Silas said to a Roman jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and all your household.” That man and his family rejoiced because redemption came to them that night. As Jesus was being crucified, one thief who was dying on a cross turned to Jesus saying, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus gave him the assurance of life eternal at that moment.
Charles Spurgeon at 16 years of age was rushing down a street in London on a cold, rainy night. He saw a light in a building and stepped inside. A Methodist layman had just started his sermon on Isaiah 45:22. He saw the young man and looked directly at him, saying, “God says, Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Charles Spurgeon looked to Jesus and God saved him. God can give salvation in this moment to everyone who will repent and in faith look to Him.” Do we sometimes wonder why some keep waiting and waiting?
III. God’s Salvation Provides Boundless Benefits
A formal, dead religion might soothe the conscience for a short time, but rituals and ceremonies don’t save. A personal relationship with God through Christ offers hope and help and life that staggers us with the benefits. Look at what God’s salvation brings about in the life of those who believe.
A. God’s Salvation Takes Away All Sin
1 John 1:7 states that “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, cleanses us from all sin.” Notice the words “the blood of Christ.” Jesus said that He is the way. In reality Jesus said, “I Myself am the way.” The emphasis is upon the true way to God and to life. Trust in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, just as the believing look of Hebrews at the uplifted serpent, gives cleansing from all sin. Psalm 103:12 says God will remove our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. The Scriptures state that God will forgive and forget our sin, never to remember our wrong against us again. Never remembering. That’s one thing that God will not do…He won’t remember our forgiven sins because Jesus blots them out and they are no more!.
B. God’s Salvation Gives Refreshing
Numbers 21:16 states that God’s people “went to Beer.” Now that was not a place for wine drinking. God said it was there that He would give them water for refreshing. The Lord gives us spiritual renewal and life as we walk with Him. Jesus said in John 7:37-39 that when we come to Him that we would have “rivers of living water flowing from within.” That is, the Holy Spirit would become a Refreshing and Renewal time in life. That was the picture of Ezekiel’s river flowing from God’s throne and it is the picture of the “water of life” that is emphasized in the last two chapters of Revelation. God wants us to be saved and keep going with His daily presence and refreshing.
C. God’s Salvation Offers Us Courage
Numbers 21:34 God said to His people not to be afraid of the evil king and his people who opposed them. We don’t have to be afraid as we follow the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:7 states that “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline or a sound mind.” Wow and wow and amen…What a benefit as we follow the Lord. We can let God “do wonders” through us as individuals and as churches. Look at verse 34 and imagine God’s people before a giant and then God saying not to be afraid of that “other Goliath.”
D. God’s Salvation Gives Spiritual Victory After Spiritual Victory
The last section of Numbers chapter 21 tells a frightening story of King Og of Bashan. God gave victory over that wicked king and his people Deuteronomy 3:11 states that Og had a bed of iron that was 12 feet long and six feet wide. Okay, what a powerful giant, but God gave victory over him. The devil and his forces are big and strong, but we serve the living God who never goes down in defeat and who will carry His people to victory Revelation 19:11 gives a symbolic picture of Jesus in heaven as He is on a White Horse and his troops are following Him on white horses which indicates final victory. God wants to give us daily victories over the world, the flesh, and the devil. As we follow Jesus we share in all His victories!
What are we going to do with “the Greatest Story ever told?” Let’s accept it and then share it with everyone. A new day will come in every Christian’s life and every church when we let God’s message become “our meat and drink.” Will you commit your life to the Lord and be His channel of salvation and blessing to people wherever you go?