+Inna Mons | Pastoral Inauguration
Sermon Transcription:
Church, your God is way maker. It is my prayer that today the eyes of your heart may be open to that, that you may see that He is your way maker, that He is making a way for you, that He has made a way for you, and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever in your life.
This message today is for the man, the woman God has been seeking to save. Your life, you've been around church people, possibly for a long time. Maybe you feel it's not been that long, but you've even learned already how to kind of talk as a church person. But the miracle of the Born Again experience is not yours yet. It hasn't become your life yet. The enemy's been very smart about it in your life. And now, Satan has you at a place where you've leveled out. At one point, your Christian Journey, if you will, it was new, it was fresh, it was exciting. And now, it has kind of leveled out and it is no longer new. You're not receiving personal revelation that comes from being brought into a personal relationship with the Father. Your Christian experience has leveled out and now it's somewhat of a tradition. I guess this is what we do, we show up to service, you may be part of a team, and you just kind of live that life week to week.
Satan finds ways to move us to harbor just minute small pieces, small seeds of skepticism and doubt. He works in very small ways. If you're taking notes, you want to write that down: the enemy works in very small ways because one of his strategies is to go undetected. That's how the enemy works. He works in very small, very subtle, very minute ways because one of his strategies is to work undetected. Because once you or I find out or have it as clear as day, the devil is working in my life, all of a sudden, we don't need much more motivation to say, "Hey, running into the Arms of Jesus is a really good plan right now. Right about now, that seems like a good plan." Satan doesn't want that. So he works in very small, very minute ways so that you don't really have that rough wakeup call. He likes to work in ways that are going to most likely go undetected for a good while but they cause doubt inside of you. That's the fruit of enemy workings: doubt.
We hear a message like we heard last week, and Satan will come on your life. He will begin to whisper in your ears. But he does it in such small ways that the moment it happens, you think you're smart and you think your logic has just quite the power in your life. And that's what now is speaking in your mind, kind of reasoning through, explaining why this does or does not or how it may not apply to your situation today.
Just last week, we heard that you have a champion. He has made your enemies his enemies. He's made your sins his enemies. And the word tells us that he will be victorious over his own enemies. We heard that he prays for you full time, that he prays over you full time, that he prays on your behalf full time. And there come the whispers, "Cannot be that finished for you today. This is all possible one day, absolutely. This is all possible for some. But today, with where you are at, that's not going to be your life because you haven't done enough yet. You haven't even read the Bible from cover to cover. You have only been in church a short while. You forget to pray most of the days. This is not what is going to happen or what is true today for your life. Sure, it's possible, just not today."
Here's the title for today: "What shall we do?" Now I want to tell you a story today. I had teachers in my life early on. In my life, they got a lot wrong but they knew how to tell a story, amen. And there's an art to telling a story. I'm not claiming to be good at it but today will be some practice for me to get a little better. But a person that is able to tell a good story, there are Bible stories that I heard in Sunday school when I was a kid, and I still remember how that teacher shared that story, the way they said it, the way they passed the way they emphasized it made it that still today I can call those stories to mind. They are clear. And so I want to tell you a story. It starts in the Old Testament. It takes us into the New Testament. And if you let the spirit of God today, He will make that story a part of your life today, a continuing story, an ongoing story.
Let's read it together. First, in Numbers 21, we're going to read verse 4 to 9. We're going to read from the New King James 4 to 9 of chapter 21 of the Book of Numbers. You may have heard this story many times in your life, but we'll read it first before we're going to go over this story. Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom: and the soul of the people became very discouraged 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's no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, "We've sinned, and we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He may take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Now this story right here is only six verses long in the word, but just by virtue of looking at a little bit of the craftsmanship which we will in this story, this was not a very short story. This didn't start in the morning and was a done deal by dawn. This was a story that went on for a number of days, to say the least.
Now imagine being there. Imagine being a man, a woman, being a part of that generation. Just for a moment as we go into this story, imagine with me, you're right there. You're part of the people and this is about to take place. Sin had brought death and suffering upon the people. You're right there, you're seeing it all happen. Maybe you were a part of the complaint. You'd seen God take by miraculous hand you out of a measure of the old life you used to know. And here we are on a journey altogether, everybody's getting it wrong one way or another. But at this point now, we kind of all throw our hands up in the air and say, "Well, what is the point really of following God of doing all of this?" And some of them, maybe they just said it in their heart. And now, everywhere you look, all the way around you now sin, the consequences of their sins, were brought upon the people. Suffering was brought upon the people. The word tells us the snakes were set loose. If you look into the original text, that's what that means. The Lord sent the snakes. If you look at that word, it means they were set loose. It means that the protective hand that kept those things from coming into the camp was lifted. And now, those snakes were able to move about and hunt about however they wanted. The snakes were let loose. And now, God's people have the suffering consequences of their sins upon their life.
The word tells us many died. It wasn't the first, the second, the third. God bitten up when the snake and all the trouble had ended. Many of the people of Israel died. Households are being broken up. Children now growing up without a father. Children now growing up without a mother. There's panic all around. Everywhere you look, no matter whose tent it is, everybody's fearful. There's panic every single place along within your heart, marriages are torn into two futures are destroyed. Everything you hoped you would do with your future, everything you thought you were going to do tomorrow, everything is now burnt up right in front of your eyes because there's panic all around. Because the snakes have been set loose and everybody that gets bit ends up dying. Can you imagine being a young man, a young woman in that time, just walking through the camp, looking around, seeing all of this taking place? Your friends, some of them already died, everyone in great some of your family. The snakes are set loose and they are allowed, they have room in the lives of every single person seemingly to destroy whomever they set their heart on. There's no hope, there's no way forward, no way for your future, everything is broken. No one has an answer, no one has a way out, and if you get bitten, you're done. And many that you knew already have been taken by the consequences of their sins.
Then all of a sudden, you notice something. There's some commotion going on in the camp. Moses is running, he's calling some other people to join him and they all get together, they're doing something, and you're trying to look over their shoulders, you're trying to understand what all the commotion is about. With one eye, you're trying to make sure there's no snake chasing you down, with another eye, you're wondering why, what is all the commotion about? And they seem to be building something, they're bringing out some materials and they're working on some stuff, they're forming something, and all of a sudden, it begins to look like they're making something out of metal. There, it begins to look like one of these serpents. They're shaping it, they're crafting it, the detail is coming in, some more materials added on, and it really begins to start to look like the real thing. One of them runs off and grabs a long piece of wood. It used to be a staff that used to hold a banner that we used to wave. We don't use that thing anymore now that there's panic all around. They come running with it, and they're trying to figure out a way to fasten that serpent to that pole, and they figure it out and there Moses goes, he takes it and he puts it up straight, and he just holds it up, and you notice that man, he's already half dead, and he just glances up at that thing, and all of a sudden, that man begins to get up, and he gets up and realizes I'm not dying anymore. And here's a mother dying with her child in her arms, and she too, she glances up, and all of a sudden, life just fills back into her lungs, and she gets up, and she is no longer dying.
Everyone begins to get up as if they were never bitten in the first place. Every single person around you begins to notice that people are getting up left and right, and they're not doing anything. All they did was they saw that serpent that Moses had prepared. They looked up to it, and all of a sudden, the life begins to fill them again, they get up, and the snakes, everything that sin had brought upon their life, the snakes that were so freely moving about the camp, everything they were causing, everything that was causing the threats and the fear and the pain, it loses its power. People are being healed, and life is being given to them, and miraculously, without the people doing a thing, still guilty, if you will, of their sins, God caused this miracle to arise right there in the camp.
The Jews knew this story very, very well. They would pass it down from generation to generation. There were times where they'd get around the fireplace or a campground outside, and the older ones would come out, and they knew how to tell a story, and they'd sit down, and they'd begin to tell that story of the time where we all just complained, and all of a sudden, the consequences of sin rushed upon us from every bush around the camp before we knew it, and everyone seemed to be affected, everyone was panicking, and they begin to share that story of how it all went down, and how God miraculously, everyone that saw that serpent, everyone was set free from those consequences. The Jews preserved those stories so well, and if you were a little Jew growing up, and you were well behaved, and your parents were supportive, and they encouraged you, and they helped you move forward, that could just contribute in your life to you one day becoming a Pharisee. Now, that'd be amazing, that would, you would have an honorable position for life. You'd be able to help a lot of people. It was looked up to as an honorable career, you try to help people that didn't understand God very well, you'd try to help people that didn't understand a story like this one very well, and you would help them see it, and you tell them about the bronze serpent, and try to preserve that history. That was part of what you did. And here comes one of them, 1500 years later. The story still preserved, they would teach it, they would rehearse it, they would memorize it. And he walks unto the scene into the New Testament, his name is Nicodemus.
Let's read John 3 starting in the first verse. John 3:1-15; "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus answered and said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do you not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Jesus tells Nicodemus, every man, every woman, every child stuck in their sins and stuck in the consequences of their sins, with the enemy of their soul seemingly having the power to come and go as he pleases, the power to move about in their life. He says, 'Nicodemus, anyone who glances up at the Son of Man who will be crucified, anyone who even accidentally glances at him, intensely glances at him, anyone who glances at the Son of Man, will be born again.
"Don't marvel that I told you, you must be born again." And then he brings up this story that Nicodemus knew so well. It was his job to tell the story. And Jesus brings up the story and says, "This is what needs to happen. Remember that time in history where everyone was bound to die, and God gave some instructions, and someone else did the work, and all of a sudden every single person that glanced at that snake, that glanced at that serpent, was instantly, without them doing a thing, set free from all that they had brought upon themselves?"
"He says, Nicodemus, in that exact same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up, that people may be born again, that there may be a miraculous story just like took place in the desert in the lives of all of those that God is seeking to save. The Son of Man must also be lifted up, that man will go from death to life, that by one glance at the crucified Son of God with the eyes of our heart, that they would no longer perish after one glance."
"Nicodemus, it will be such an offense to the religious ones that God is going to do the same thing as he did in the desert, that God is going to do something where no help of man is needed, no requirements will be put on men. Anyone that hears that rumor goes through the camp and looks back to where that whole thing is taking place, and that piece of wood is holding up the snake, just like a piece of wood was holding our Lord and our Savior. Anyone glancing at it, Nicodemus, they will be born again."
"Don't come and ask me what you should do. Look what God has done and put your trust into what God has done. But, Church, Satan seeks to so very inconspicuously doubt into you. He seeks to poison you. He hates you and he brings those questions: 'How can these things be? What shall we do?'"
Satan tries to awaken that question softly, so you don't notice it too much, softly in your heart. And then he seeks to slither into your life and into your mind to answer it for you. Well, don't you have to lay down your life first as well? Do you really think that you have counted the cost properly if you compare yourself to some of those real Christians around you? Do you really think you've counted the cost properly? That has to happen first. Have you even truly forgiven every single person that has wronged you and hurt you? It still hurts you; probably haven't forgiven them. That needs to happen first. Have you even wholeheartedly repented of every secret sin and turned your back to it? Who do you think you are? You run back to that thing all the time. You're not even willing to come into the light.
How many of you know that the enemy always loves to use what almost sounds like truth, even scripture, to try and twist who God is and what God's intentions are? That's what he sounds like: soft, subtle, minute, so that it may possibly, if at all possible, go unnoticed in the lives of those that God has set out to save, redeem, and set free by his work, by his power, by his intention.
But, Church, until the incredible miracle of being born again has taken place, you don't need to think about laying down your life. You don't need to worry about getting sins out of your life or doing good works with your life. There is nothing you need to worry about until you have been born again. I'll give you this example: we see it in the natural world. You don't have to think about important decisions or make up your mind as to what you're going to do with your life until you're born into this world and you mature a little bit. In the spiritual journey, it is exactly the same. You don't have to worry about decisions, qualify, understand which ones are important. You don't need to worry about any of that until you are born again and until you mature a little.
You can be a poor follower of Jesus. You can have no eternal rewards at all. All of these things are secondary, but you cannot afford to fail the test of faith. You must be born again. Test yourselves. The word of God says that's not a threatening thing; that is for your safety, that is to make sure that the most important thing to God's heart, that you would not perish, has been taken care of. Test yourselves. Let's read together 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified."
Church, do you believe that your sins have been fully washed away for eternity because of the cross of Jesus Christ? When his blood was shed on Calvary Hill, or do you still have doubt in your thoughts and your heart? Wonder as if there may be something still one day that has to happen that was required as well. The feeling, the feeling that something may still be missing, the feeling that something still needs to happen, the feeling that one day the Lord is going to give Pastor a word that's going to be my word, that's my day, that's when it's going to happen.
But something still needs to happen. The feeling that one day the worship is going to be so anointed that I'll be able to finally surrender my heart, give it to the Lord. One day I'm going to get into the Word, one day I'll learn how to pray. The feeling that something, one day, still needs to happen. That's the feeling of unbelief. What you're feeling is unbelief. That's what unbelief feels like.
Let me take you to Acts 2:36. Peter speaking to people that with all of their heart they believed in God, they were awaiting the Messiah, they believed one day they could be free because of the Messiah. Verse 36-39: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.'"
They say, 'What shall we do?' And Peter responds and tells them, 'Repent.' Repent of what? These were God-fearing, trying to do good kind of people, and they were not right with God, just like the prostitutes weren't right with God that Jesus dined with, just like the tax collectors weren't right with God that Jesus dined with. And he tells them, 'Repent.' Why? If you read the whole sermon in advance, he's telling them to repent of their unbelief. They got everything right in life, but they did not believe that because the Son of Man was lifted up just like that serpent, they did not believe that anyone who glanced at him would be set free, would be kept, would not perish, and would be delivered from the power and the dominion of Satan.
Repent of your unbelief, he says, and every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus. What does that mean? He's telling them, and now follow this: follow Jesus. Follow his teaching. Follow what he said about the Father. Follow his teaching about forgiveness. Follow his teaching about what God has for your future. A great place to start is right back in John 3:14 and 15. That's a great place to start our repentance. "Jesus speaking: 'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Jesus says, 'In the exact same way that that story that has been handed down from generation to generation took place, Jesus says, in the exact same way, people are going to miraculously be born again.'"
That serpent was put on that piece of wood, and a couple of people were healed and set free and delivered from death, and word began to travel through the camp. 'Did you hear that, down there in the front? Did you hear? Anyone that seems to be looking at that snake, they're just healed. The life flows back into their veins. The power of these serpents is broken, and the rumor begins to travel through the camp. The word begins to travel through the camp, and everyone that believed it just turned around and began to look towards that snake.
That is all that it took for that miracle to begin to enter into their life and transform them and set them free. Those that did not believe it didn't even go and bother to go and look, but those that believed it simply turned to it and looked at that snake and turned and saw the deliverance come. And today, word is going through the camp. Today, word is going through the camp: have you heard that there is nothing required of you anymore? Have you heard that God has sent his message of deliverance, that somebody had a plan, somebody did the work, somebody was lifted up, and whoever looks unto him will not perish, whoever looks unto him will be set free, whoever looks unto him will receive their healing and their forgiveness?
All those that have believed it and went to look to see if these things are so, they were set free, they were changed, they were delivered, they became full of joy. The word is saying it time and time again: looking unto Jesus, looking unto Christ, looking unto the author and the finisher of our faith. I don't know whatever the enemy may have whispered to your heart, you may have believed that you've been a Christian for a long time, but the Holy Spirit doesn't speak to your heart, and when you pray, it doesn't feel like the Lord answers, and when you open your word, it feels like you've got to figure that thing out all by yourself. It doesn't really feel like you've gone from death to life yet; you feel more alive to this world than to the kingdom; it's hard for you to see the kingdom.
Jesus said, 'Do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again,' because he had told him in verse three: unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Let me read to you verse 14 one more time: 'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.'
Church, I want to ask you: with the eyes of your heart, look up today. Look up, look at what God has done. Look away from everything you thought you had to do, everything you thought you had to work out of your life, everything you thought needed change. Just look up, look at what God has done, and see what he will do over your life, in your life, and through your life.
-Pastor Stan Mons