[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE FOURTH MIDWEEK IN LENT 25 March 2009 "The Curse Becomes the Cure" Numbers 21:4-9 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

The Scriptural account of the Exodus and its aftermath remains absolutely amazing thousands of years later, not so much because of what God did for Israel but for Israel's unbelievable lack of faith. Even while God was rescuing them from slavery in Egypt Israel fell into great sin, the sin of grumbling and complaining, which is evidence of a far greater sin, the sin of unbelief. When they got to the Red Sea and they could see Pharaoh's army getting closer, they became afraid and cried out to God. But to Moses they complained:

"Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:11-12, ESV)

For nearly forty years Israel complained about everything imaginable, but matters reached a critical point as they set out to go around the land of Edom. They became impatient, literally, "short on breath." It's an accurate picture. Picture the person who has been engaged in a difficult walk and gets very tired. Parents might know what I mean. If you've ever taken your children to a place where walking great distances is the rule, you've probably had complaining, whining children. "How far is it? Do we have to keep walking? I'm tired of walking." The only way to see some of the important sites in Washington, D.C., is by walking. All the sites along the mall are accessed only by walking. Nobody gets a parking place next to the Washington Monument.

"And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food."" (Numbers 21:5, ESV)

"And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 8:3, ESV)

The people of Israel, by their own words, loathed the gifts of God, not merely the manna he provided, but the rescue he had provided from slavery in Egypt. They would have preferred being slaves to the Egyptians than having freedom under God's gracious rule.

Israel's sin of impatient grumbling and loathing of the gifts of God finally caused God to react because these sins were evidence of a far greater sin, unbelief. Fiery serpents, probably asps, bit the people and many of them died. The death of so many got their attention. Coming to Moses they admitted that they had sinned, asking Moses to intercede for them and take away the serpents.

The curse became the cure. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so that everyone who had been bitten could look at it. If one had been bitten and he looked at the bronze serpent on the pole, he lived. It doesn't say that such a person was immediately cured of his suffering; it simply says that his sin didn't kill him. Looking at the serpent on the pole had at least a twofold effect. One, it reminded them of their sin of despising the gifts of God, and two, it caused them to look to God for healing.

In a few minutes we'll pray the Collect for the Day, that is, the Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Are we any different than the Israelites? Have you been guilty of grumbling and complaining about the way through this worldly wilderness? Have you loathed the gifts that God has given you as not being good enough? Have you complained about the testing that God sends your way?

Of course, you confess everything that the First Article of the Creed implies. You've said it many times.

I believe that God has created me and all that exists; that he has given me and still sustains my body and soul, all my limbs and senses, my reason and all the faculties of my mind, together with food and clothing, house and home, family and property; that he provides me daily and abundantly with all the necessities of life, protects me from all danger, and preserves me from all evil. All this he does out of his pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part. For all of this I am bound to thank, praise, serve, and obey him. This is most certainly true.(tr-54)¹

You also confess everything that the Second and Third Articles say about what Christ has done for you.

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, delivered me and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold but with his holy and precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death, in order that I may be his, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness²
the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church he daily and abundantly forgives all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and on the last day he will raise me and all the dead and will grant eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.³

"Most certainly true" is your confession at the end of each of those articles, yet have you always kept God's Name holy or regarded God's Word and the Divine Service as holy? Have you misused God's Name to show your disgust with some aspect of your life [Second Commandment]? Have you heard and learned his Word gladly [Third Commandment]? You see, there's plenty of discontent and whining to go around, isn't there?

As with Israel God provides a cure. "The Curse Becomes the Cure." It isn't a serpent on a pole, but Christ on the cross, as Paul writes:

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-" (Galatians 3:13, ESV)

There is an important difference between the serpent on the pole and Christ on the cross. With the serpent one needed only to look at it. With Christ on the cross faith is required, as Jesus says:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, ESV)

The people of Israel confessed their sinful state. So, too, Christians confess their sins in order to receive God's cure. God forgives you for the sake of Christ, not for the sake of your confession, but confess you must. You must confess your sin and throw yourself on the mercy of God in Christ. There, in Christ and his cross, is your life. And that life God continues to provide you in Word and Sacrament. Christ on the cross is the cure, the only cure for the curse of sin. How lavishly God distributes that cure to us, and for that, as we pray in the Collect,

we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience . .

God grant it for Jesus' sake!

¹Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 345 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959).
²Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 345 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959).
³Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 345 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959).