Curry's Chapel Church
20260816 -4 - Keep Looking
  • | Week 4: Numbers | Faith That Keeps Looking
    SLIDE
    Isaiah 45:22 ESV
    22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
    SLIDE

    Opening: When the Journey Feels Longer Than Expected

    Good morning, church. It is good to be with you this morning.
    Welcome Internet Guests
    Let me begin with a simple observation. There is a difference between glancing at something and really looking at it.
    You can glance at a weather app and miss the storm warning. You can glance at a text and miss the tone. You can glance at a road sign and realize a mile later that you just took the exit you were trying not to take. And if you have ever done that while insisting to the rest of the family that you absolutely knew where you were going, you also know how difficult it is to be confidently wrong while driving.
    But the point is this: sometimes life turns on the difference between a quick glance and a fixed look.
    Object lesson option: Use a road sign, printed warning symbol, phone with a weather alert, or simply hold up a sign that says “LOOK.” Mention that “many people see things without actually attending to them.”
    For example; One time before I became your pastor: I was bringing my daughter home from the airport. We were having a really good time of discussion. Then, I noticed the the State Road 9 exit, only to drive right past it. But that was not the worst of: she needed to use the rest room and the rest area east of here was closed.
    I saw the sign and it just did not register.
    Many people see things without actually attending to them.
    Numbers 21 is one of those passages. It is a passage about people who had already been delivered and yet were still struggling. People who had already seen God’s power and yet still found themselves tired, frustrated, and spiritually disoriented. If that sounds familiar, it is because the Christian life often feels more like Numbers than we want to admit.
    We like conversion stories. We like clear moments of rescue. We like the dramatic scene where Egypt is behind us and the song of deliverance is fresh on our lips. But we don’t always know what to do with the long wilderness after the rescue.
    And in that wilderness, people ask a question they rarely say out loud, but they feel it all the time: What do I do when I belong to God and still feel weak? What do I do when I have been delivered and still find myself struggling? What do I do when the journey is longer than I thought it would be?
    Numbers 21 answers that question with one of the strangest and most powerful images in all of Scripture. The answer God gives is not, “Try harder.” It is not, “Hide your weakness better.” It is not even, “Figure everything out first.” The answer is astonishingly simple.
    Look.
    Summary Leading Up to Our Story:
    As Israel traveled the long detour around Edom, their hearts grew weary and resentful. They complained against God and Moses, forgetting the grace that had carried them from Egypt through every hardship. In response, God sent fiery serpents, and the deadly bites awakened the people to the seriousness of their rebellion. When they cried out in repentance, God provided an unexpected remedy: a bronze serpent lifted high on a pole. Anyone who looked at it lived. In judgment and mercy together, God revealed a deeper truth —he alone provides the salvation we cannot earn, and healing comes by looking in faith to the One he provides.
    Read slowly: Read Numbers 21:8–9 slowly. Emphasize the phrase “look … and live.” Pause after it and repeat it once.
    SLIDE
    Now comes Numbers 21::8-9 which says,
    Numbers 21:8–9 NRSV
    8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
    Look and live. That is the idea this whole sermon turns on. Look where God has told you to look, and live.
    SLIDE

    Main Teaching: Look & Live

    SLIDE

    Point 1: Saved People Still Struggle in the Wilderness

    One of the most comforting things about Numbers is that Numbers does not sanitize the people of God. Numbers does not pretend that once Israel is out of Egypt everything becomes simple. Israel is free, yes. but Israel is also tired. Israel is hungry. Israel is impatient. Israel is disappointed by the road, frustrated by the timing, and irritated by the provisions God has given. After all, wouldn’t you get tried of the same meal everyday. I mean, there are only so many ways to prepare manna.
    Now: Listen to the honesty of the text. Numbers 21:4–5 says,
    “And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses.”
    That is not language about pagans discovering rebellion for the first time. That is language about redeemed people revealing how much Egypt still lingers in their hearts.
    Delivery cue: After reading Numbers 21:4–5, say, “Delivered people can still become discouraged people.” Then pause.
    That matters more than we often admit. Many Christians quietly carry the false expectation that after salvation the struggle should go away quickly until mature believers no longer wrestle, wander, or grow weary. But the Bible will not let us believe that fantasy. Delivered people still have to walk. Rescued people still have to trust. Redeemed people still have to learn what it means to depend on God one day at a time.
    The wilderness is not proof that God has abandoned His people. Sometimes the wilderness is where God teaches His people the difference between being rescued from something and being formed through something.
    Illustration: Use the physical therapy image below inside the point rather than as a separate illustration. Think about physical therapy after a major surgery. The surgery may be successful. The damage may be addressed. The surgeon may say, “The operation went well.” But nobody walks out of recovery saying, “Well, that was easy. I guess strength is automatic now.” Healing often includes painful movement, slow progress, and repeated dependence on guidance.
    In the same way, freedom in Christ is real, but formation in Christ is still a journey. Grace rescues us, and grace also trains us. Deliverance is real, and discipleship is still necessary.
    Some of us expected the Christian life to be like buying a treadmill: on Saturday; one inspiring decision, a couple of good intentions, and suddenly we are spiritually fit by Tuesday. Numbers says, gently, no. There is more road than that. And God is not surprised by the road. God knows what He is forming in His people while they walk it.
    That is why this chapter lands so close to home. Many believers can testify to a clear moment when Christ rescued them. They can tell you when they came out of Egypt, so to speak. But they are still surprised by how often they feel weak on the road.
    Numbers 21 says, don’t be surprised. The struggle itself is not evidence that grace failed. The struggle is often where grace teaches you how to keep walking.
    The problem in Numbers 21 is not merely that the road is hard. The problem is that the people stop looking at God’s faithfulness and start looking only at their frustration. Their eyes drift. Their attention narrows. The wilderness becomes bigger in their sight than the God who has carried them through it. And they can’t see the forest because of the trees.
    SLIDE

    Point 2: God’s Remedy Often Feels Simpler Than We Want

    The judgment in Numbers 21 is severe. The serpents come, the bites spread, and people begin to die. The people realize their sin and cry out. Moses intercedes. And then God gives an answer that, at first, seems almost too simple to be enough.
    God says in Numbers 21:8,
    “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
    Notice what God does not say. God does not say, “Give them a list of reforms.” God does not say, “Make them prove they are serious.” God does not say, “Tell them to understand every detail of how the remedy works before they receive it.”
    God says, in effect, lift up the remedy before them and tell them to look.
    That sounds almost scandalously simple.
    But that is because grace often feels too simple for proud people. We expect God’s answer to include more from us. More performance. More contribution. More visible proof that we are worth the effort.
    But the Gospel keeps offending that instinct. God’s answer is not, “Show Me what you can do.”
    God’s answer is, “Look where I have told you to look.”
    Object lesson: Hold up the “LOOK” sign or point back to the road sign/weather alert object. Say, “The issue is not whether the sign exists. The issue is whether you trust it enough to respond.”
    The serpent on the pole was not magic. The power was not in bronze. The power was in trusting the word of God enough to look where He said life would be found. The bitten Israelite did not have to invent a remedy. The bitten Israelite did not have to become impressive. The bitten Israelite did not have to stare harder at the wound.
    The bitten Israelite had to look where God had placed life.
    Illustration: Use the hiking/trail illustration here as a picture of receiving help rather than performing strength. Imagine being on a hiking trail and twisting your ankle miles from the parking lot. A friend says, “Lean on me.” If pride takes over, you may insist, “No, I’m fine,” while proving with every step that you aren’t fine. Healing begins the moment you stop pretending your strength is enough and put your weight where the help actually is.
    There is a very specific kind of stubbornness that says, “I know I’m limping, but I’m going to limp by myself.” Spiritually, many of us have perfected that stride. We are limping, but somehow still offended by the offer of help.
    Numbers 21 confronts that stubbornness. The remedy is lifted up. The command is simple: look and live.
    That is what makes this passage in Numbers so rich when Jesus picks it up in John 3:14-15. Jesus says,
    “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.”
    Jesus is telling Nicodemus, and all of us, that the wilderness story was preparing us to understand the cross.
    Delivery cue: Do not rush the connection to John 3:14–15. Let the Old Testament image form first, then show how Jesus identifies Himself as the lifted-up remedy.
    And then comes the most famous verse John 3:16.
    The point is not that we heal ourselves. The point is that life comes through looking in faith to the One God has lifted up. In Numbers, the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. In the Gospel, Christ is lifted up on the cross. The wounded look and live. The guilty look and live. The weary look and live. The struggling look and live.
    God’s remedy often feels simpler than we want, but it is not shallow. It is simple because God has done the heavy work. The command is look because the remedy has already been lifted up.
    SLIDE

    Point 3: The Christian Life Is Not Just Looking Once, But Keeping Looking

    This is where we press into daily discipleship. Numbers 21 is not only a conversion picture. It is also a sanctification picture.
    Yes, there is a first look. There is a decisive moment of faith when the sinner looks to Christ and lives. But the Christian life is not built on one glance backward at that moment and then years of self-reliance. The Christian life is a repeated, ongoing act of keeping our eyes where life is found.
    That is why Hebrews 12:2 says,
    “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”
    Present tense. Ongoing. Deliberate. Not “having once looked to Jesus and now moved on to something more advanced.” Looking to Jesus. The One who began faith and the One who completes faith.
    Psalm 121 says,
    “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD.”
    That is not just a nice line for a wall hanging or a song. That is training for weary saints. It teaches us where to lift our eyes when the road feels too long And our strength feels thin.
    Most of our trouble is not that we have no doctrine of Christ. Most of our trouble is that our eyes drift. We look at the wound too long. We look at the road too long. We look at the fear too long. We look at ourselves too long. Then we wonder why our hearts feel smaller than they should.
    Numbers 21 teaches us that life is not found in endless self-examination. Life is found in faithful attention to the provision God has made. The bite was real. The wilderness was real. But the healing did not come by staring at the wound. Healing came by looking where God said life would be found.
    Illustration: Use the bicycle image here to reinforce the attention/direction theme. Think about a child learning to ride a bicycle. If the child stares only at the pothole, the mailbox, the curb, or the ditch, the bicycle drifts exactly where the eyes are fixed. But when the child learns to look ahead, really look ahead, the whole body begins to follow the direction of the gaze.
    Spiritually, the same thing happens. We tend to drift toward what holds our attention.
    This is why some of us have the spiritual equivalent of walking into doorframes. We have spent so much time staring at what is wrong that we forgot to look where we were going. Again, that sounds funny because it is painfully recognizable. Our eyes shape our direction.
    There are believers right now who are looking constantly at their failures, their fear, the state of the world, and the instability around them, and only occasionally at Christ. Then they wonder why peace feels thin or far away. Numbers says, in effect, the answer is not made better by staring at your problem. The answer is looking where God has lifted up His remedy.
    Delivery cue: Emphasize the phrase “keep looking.” Repeat it two or three times in this final movement.
    Keep looking. Repeat When weakness surprises you, keep looking. When the wilderness feels longer than you expected, keep looking. When your attention drifts toward fear, keep looking. When your heart wants to stare at the wound, keep looking. When the road feels dry, keep looking. The same Christ who is enough to save you is enough to sustain you.
    SLIDE

    Closing: Keep Looking

    So what do we do with this?
    We keep looking.
    Not in a sentimental way. Not in a vague religious way. Rather, in a deliberate, practiced, everyday way.
    When fear rises, keep looking. When shame whispers, keep looking. When the road feels longer than you want, keep looking. When your own heart disappoints you, keep looking.
    Because the same Christ who is enough to save you is enough to sustain you.
    The Christian life is not graduating from dependence. It is growing deeper into dependence. The answer to weariness is not to try harder at self-sufficiency. The answer is to look again at the One God has lifted up.
    Final object lesson option: Hold the “LOOK” sign or road sign one final time. Say, “God has not hidden the remedy. He has lifted Christ high enough for weary people to see.”
    And here is the grace in all of this: God has not made the remedy hard to find. He has lifted Christ high enough for sinners and strugglers and weary saints to see. So don’t look away.
    Look and live. Keep looking and keep living by grace. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of your faith.
    SLIDE

    Closing Prayer

    Lord Jesus, Thank You that You are not only the One who saves us, but the One who sustains us. Thank You that the answer to our weakness is not greater self-reliance, but deeper dependence on You. Teach us to keep looking when we are afraid, when we are tired, when we are disappointed, and when we are tempted to stare at the wound instead of the Savior. Fix our eyes on You, and keep us there. In Your name,
    Amen.

      • Isaiah 45:22NLT

      • Numbers 21:8–9NLT

Curry's Chapel Church
curryschapel46140@gmail.com
+1 (317) 496-4901
https://curryschapel.faithlifesites.com
3 members • 1 follower