Israel's 40 Years in the Dessert and Christ's 40 Days in the Dessert | Pastor Christian Torres

Good morning Church. It is always an honor and a pleasure To bring you the Word of God. We're gonna be in the book of Numbers today. Numbers chapter 21. Now I want to be sensitive. I Know we have new believers in this congregation.

The Meaning of Numbers and Israel’s Journey in the Wilderness

The book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible and odds are some of you have never read the book. And if you're like me, you know, you're a little intimidated by the night, but the name numbers, you know.

Who wants to read a book called numbers? But that's not the original name of the book in Hebrew the name the title of the book was simply into the desert and what this book captures Church is Israel's journey 40 year journey in the desert going to the promised land.

It is an amazing book. It is an awesome book. We're gonna study Two things today. We're gonna study their journey into the desert for 40 years, but I also want to study Jesus's journey in the desert for 40 days.

I want to show you the Comparisons between their journey and their failures and Christ's journey in his victory. So numbers chapter 21 oh. And by the way, I didn't number this sheet right here. But the front sheet should read at the very top a comparison of Israel's 40 years in the desert and Christ's 40 days in the Desert that is the front page so that you can follow me.

Numbers chapter 21 verse 4 hear the word of the Lord from Mount Hor they sent out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient on the way 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. Then Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died and The people came to Moses and said we have sinned for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you.

Prayed to Yahweh that he take away the serpents from us so Moses prayed for the people and Yahweh said to Moses make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and Everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live.

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Let us pray Father God, this is your word. I want to reaffirm my loyalty to you and to your word.

I will preach only your word and nothing of me as I preach let me first preach to myself. Let me first accept it in my heart. So even though I'm preaching father, please teach me in Jesus name. Amen. So here we have a very interesting passage.

Israel’s Grumbling, Testing, and Idolatry in the Wilderness

Where God finally Enacts justice against his people now. If you read the book of Numbers you see time and time again that they tested God over and over and over again. Those that say that God the God of the Old Testament is mean have never really truly read the scriptures because he shows mercy upon mercy and Then he enacts justice and then we say oh he's mean no.

He is just but he's also forgiven and merciful. So let's take a look at the three Mistakes that these people made in the desert and compare it to the three things that Christ did right in his time in the desert.

First thing the Israel. I'm sorry the Israelites loved the things of the world more than God notice in verse 5 of chapter 21 what they said. For there is no food and no water and we loathe this worthless food.

Did you notice the contradiction? Pretty clear. There is no food. There is no water and the food that you have provided is worthless. Could you imagine calling God's grace worthless? Do you not fear God?

You just saw God defeat the most powerful nation in the world and you dare accuse him how dare you. Incredible what kind of arrogance and pride is that? They desired to go back to Egypt and serve the Egyptian gods.

Where they where they had and this is a quote from Numbers chapter 11 watermelons and cucumbers. It's not that they had no food it's that they didn't have the food they wanted. Let me tell you right now church if you became a Christian to live the high life you are wrong.

You are wrong. When you read the words of Christ, we are made to live a life of poverty. Have you seen what Paul went through in the book of Acts the beatings the poverty that he went through? The people of Israel the people of God didn't realize who they were called to be.

They wanted to go back to slavery. They wanted to go back to the fun they were having as if they weren't crying out to God for hundreds of years for deliverance arrogance pride. We don't want the food that you provide.

We don't want what you provide. We want what we had back in our bondage and our slavery and if we're being honest church, we sometimes do that. We sometimes crave what we used to have. Lust our past lives.

Sometimes say God you're not enough. You don't bring me happiness like this used to give me. Mmm, let's see how Christ handled this temptation in the desert. Christ was also in the desert for not for 40 years, but for 40 days.

Matthew chapter 4 starting in verse 3 and The tempter came and said to him if you are the Son of God Commanded these stones become loaves of bread. But he answered it is written man shall not live by bread alone.

But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God if you want to know Why Christ went through the things he went through or said the things that he said read the Old Testament. Because the gospel does not start in Matthew Mark Luke and John the gospel starts on page one of the Bible.

All throughout the Old Testament it has been painting the picture paving the way for King Jesus to arrive and do it right. Where Israel failed they were focused on the bread they were focused on the things of this world.

Christ said No, I don't need your stinking bread. I don't need what you have to provide. Because my nutrients my sustenance is the Word of God. Had Israel had that same mentality. They would have walked into the promised land.

But they refused they refused to trust in God the same God that said I will bring you to a land flowing with milk and honey. He promised that and because they doubted they died in the desert, but Christ did it, right?

Moreover in John chapter 6 verse 48 Jesus says I am The bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna or the bread in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.

Christ is speaking the comparison. He said yeah your people. God provided them bread and they rejected that bread. Now the real bread of heaven is here and you still reject it. Plenty to see how things in this family never change the same rebellious heart that the people of Israel had or the same.

That they had in the time of Jesus. Nothing has changed. The next mistake that Israel committed the Israelites tested the Lord their God. Going back to Numbers chapter 21 verse 5. The people spoke against God and against Moses.

Christ’s Victory Over Temptation and the Testing of God

Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Now my next point I summarized just briefly what the Lord God had done for these people. The Israelites saw the plagues of Egypt. They saw fire come down from heaven.

They saw the Red Sea part they saw water come out of a rock. They saw bread raining from heaven. No amount of proof would change their hearts. They might have left Egypt, but Egypt was still in their hearts at their very core.

There were still adulterous doubters. They might have been God's biological people. But in spirit they were not there were the same as the Egyptians. They tested God over and over and over again. Let's look at Christ.

What did he do when he was presented with the same temptation? Matthew chapter 4 verse 5 then the devil took him took Jesus to the holy city and sent him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him If you are the Son of God.

Throw yourself down. Hey for it is written. He will command his angels concerning you. And on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Ooh, he used scripture. Oh my Jesus said to him again, it is written.

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. You shall not test the Lord your God. Let's look at the nature of testing when we test God. We try to motivate him to prove his legitimacy and let me tell you something.

Let me be as clear as possible. God does not need to prove anything to you. God has no reason to speak to you. God has no reason to answer your questions. But he does. He doesn't have to but scripture says that he hears our prayers that he answers our prayers.

But when those prayers become tests. If you don't answer this prayer, I will stop believing. Guess what you're not gonna get. You ain't gonna get an answer when Jesus encountered this. Look at my next point.

Jesus knows God's grace and sovereignty. He doesn't need a green light at the next traffic light or a sign in the sky or a verbal confirmation to believe. Testing God stems from a place of unbelief not of faith.

Faith instead would declare though. The fig tree should not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines. The produce on the olive fell and the fields yield no food and the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no Hurt in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. That is faith in the midst of no answer. I Still have faith. I will not test him when God answers your prayers in a way that you quite didn't want.

When he says no. Or even worse when he says wait. What do you do? Exactly that's what you do. You wait. God was gonna provide for the people of Israel. Like he had before. So why would he do it again?

But they tested him to anger and that is not how you treat God. We need to remember like pastor Josiah says and I love The fact that he started saying this a couple years back. He is God and we are not know your place church.

Know your place. The third thing that the Israelites did wrong. They were idolaters. They did not revere God. Yahweh as God. Numbers 21 5. Again, I'm sticking with the same verse that people spoke against God and against Moses.

Idolatry, Sexual Sin, and the Bronze Serpent as a Picture of Christ

Just a book prior. Let me just paint you the picture here. The the gods of Egypt were defeated according to Exodus. They were humiliated completely destroyed. God brought them past the Red Sea. Moses is receiving the commandments of God on two stones.

Says God's finger was writing The commandments. I mean how more intimate can you get with a God that you can't see or be in the presence of? He was writing them, but in the midst of that happening check this out.

Exodus 32 7 through 8 God speaks to Moses as this is happening and the Lord said to Moses Go down. Go down. For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly quickly.

Out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and I've worshipped it and Sacrificed to it instead. These are your gods of Israel who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

The amount of grace in God's eyes and God's words here. He doesn't smite him dead. He tells Moses go down and fix your people before I do. Go down and tell them how wrong they are and if you continue reading when Moses got down there he destroyed the idol.

Made ashes of the idol and made the people of Israel drink the ashes and that was mercy. Because God would have been justified in destroying them completely. I I'm sure I really am. I'm trying to relate to these people but after experiencing everything that the book of Exodus shows this type of arrogance I Mean, what are we supposed to do?

Are we supposed to let think that God is gonna continue to show mercy and mercy and mercy to God's chosen people who are supposed? to be completely holy. They're worse than the Egyptians because they know the truth and yet they don't follow.

At least the Egyptians did know the truth. But they knew the truth. Oh Man that's terrifying. So the Israelites were adulterers. Let's look at our God Jesus in the desert. Matthew 4 8 through 10. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world in their glory.

And he said to them all These I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Here's Rome. Here's the United States and it's prime. Not really now, but in its prime. Here's China. Here's Japan. All of it can be yours.

Just worship me like that. Then Jesus said to him be gone Satan for it is written. You shall worship the Lord your God in him only. Shall you serve if there's one thing I've realized reading scripture is that the people of God always have idols.

If there's one thing the people of God has always struggled with is Sexual morality and idolatry. I mean seriously. That's the majority of what the people of God has have always struggled with. When is the last time you brought your idol to the altar?

When's the last time you gave it up? Listen anything that comes before God is an idol. We should be given up our idols daily. In our hearts, we are idolatrous people in our core. We worshiped ourselves before we worshiped Christ.

We worship money. We worship our spouses. We worship our jobs. Who worship our cars. Name it anything that comes before Christ is an idol. I Ask when's the last time you gave it up? When is the last time you gave it up?

Have the same mentality of Christ. You shall worship the Lord your God in him only. Shall you serve. Christ said you cannot serve both God and money. You can't have two masters. You will love one and hate the other.

There's no such thing as loving God and loving money at the same time. Repent. Repent of your idol the same way I will. I'm with you. All right. This is for me. I Will also take my own instruction. I will also take the Word of God and apply it to my life.

I will also repent with you. How is God supposed to deal with this level of evil? Numbers 21 6 through 9. Let us reread this passage. Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people. You know, I don't like snakes to begin with but calling them fiery serpents just terrifies me and They bit the people so that many of the people of Israel have died.

Not to continue stopping but like pastor Josiah says one of the scariest words in the Bible is many. Many people died. There was no number. Many people died and the people came to Moses and said We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.

Pray to the Lord. Did he take away the serpents from us? So Moses prayed for the people and the Lord said to Moses make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole and Everyone who has bitten when he sees it shall live.

So Moses made a bronze serpent and Set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone he would look at the bronze serpent and live in. The midst of his judgment in the midst of his wrath God still provided salvation in his fury in his anger.

God still allowed a way to be healed. You can't question the love of God. You really can't the fact that we are breathing here is nothing short of grace and mercy. Because with the very word with the very breath that I have in my lips.

I Curse God every day. You know how I curse him. I doubt his promises. I reject his word. I gossip I lie. He gave me that breath and I used it against him and yet he forgives me the same way he forgave These Egyptians pretending to be Israelites.

I want you to take a look at this example. Something had to be lifted up and if you simply looked at it you were healed. John chapter 3 when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus at night. He says this and As Moses Lifted up the serpent in the wilderness So must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life if a bronze snake Brought the people healing in the book of Numbers.

What will the Son of God bring you? Simply looking to the Sun will save you if the bronze snake Cured the venom going through their veins then the Son of God can cure the sin going through your veins.

Imagine this was painting the picture for Christ. This was pointing to Christ and in the time of Jesus in Israel They knew these promises. Of course, they were required to memorize the first five books of the Bible.

They knew this very well and Yet even then they rejected Christ. Now that we saw what Israel did wrong in the desert and we saw what Christ did right in the desert God he rectified the wrong things done by Israel.

Thank God. I Want to relinquish the last ten minutes of my time to the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul. Could you come up here real quick? I want you to read 1st Corinthians chapter 10. The Apostle Paul summarizes this entire sermon better than I could have.

Paul’s Warning to the Church from Israel’s Example

Read 1st Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 with me. Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written the people sat down to eat and Drink and rose up to play.

They rose up to play. Let me tell you church Israel played stupid games and you know what they got. Stupid prizes. Amen. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 ,000 fell in a single day.

Check this next part out. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents now. Hold on. What did the Apostle Paul just say here? You shall not test Christ the way They've tested Christ in numbers, but I thought Christ was born in Matthew all the way over here in the Bible man.

The deity of Christ Jesus is not only in the New Testament. It's in the old. The same Christ that offers you forgiveness killed the people of Israel and First Corinthians wasn't written to non-believers.

Let me tell you it was written to the church. Don't you think that what happened to the Israelites cannot happen to us? That is what the Apostle Paul is warning us for. Do not test God the way they did.

Because they were destroyed and when I read the letters of The churches in Revelation, I see that God isn't Opposed to punishing his church. Yes, you're saved. Yes, you're going to heaven. But God can make your life miserable if you don't live holy.

And you know what the scary part is, you know what the punishment of God is it rarely ever is. You know fire raining from heaven or anything dramatic like that. You know what God's punishment is when you live a sinful life.

Allowing you to experience the consequences of your own actions. That is the punishment you want to live that life. Okay, have that life. You want to have sex without getting married? Okay. Okay, you you want to you want to gamble that?

All right. I'll give you a baby. You want to try drugs just for a little bit? Okay. Now you're hooked. Did God do anything? No, he simply stepped back and said if you want your idol. Take the blessings of your idol going back to the text in 1st Corinthians.

We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. Do not grumble do not complain as some of them did and were destroyed by a destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our Instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

I'd like to call the music ministers up where are you today and Don't consider this a normal altar call get rid of religion legitimately. Where are you? Why are you here? What are you seeking? We are in the wilderness.

We haven't reached our promised land yet. Will you remain faithful to your God in this life? When the world goes to hell when this country crumbles down. When they persecute you and your family for believing in Christ.

Count the cost. Let me tell you. Being a Christian is no easy task. You will be persecuted. That's a promise. God said you will be persecuted. Christ went through hunger. Are you prepared to go through hunger?

Because I've seen Christians act after they leave church and they're waiting for their food. I've seen how they act. Oh. They didn't bring the breadsticks on time. I'm gonna give no tip. All right, jerk.

Are you prepared for this journey? Because Christ if you're a believer Christ has brought you out of your Egypt. Know three things. Do not complain about God's sovereignty and grace and what he has given you.

Do not test the Lord your God and remove your idols daily. Remove your idols daily and as soon as I'm done with this lesson, you're gonna find me right here repenting. You are more than welcome to join me, but as far as for me in my house we will serve the Lord.

Let us stand up and if God has moved your heart.