JESUS MUST BE LIFTED UP
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson; Ephesians 2:4-10
Old Testament Lesson; Numbers 21:4-9
Sermon Text; John 3:14-21
I think that all of us here know John 3:16, by heart.
For
God
so loved the world that
He gave
His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish
but have everlasting life.
However, if I were to ask you what is the context, the setting, or the frame work in which Jesus speaks John 3:16, would you be able to tell us?
Today I am going to refer to two pictures. In one picture you see an illustration of Jesus dying on the cross. In the other picture you see an illustration of the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole. I want you to continue to look at the picture of the bronze serpent while I read this lesson.
They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"
Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
Now I want you to look at the picture of Jesus on the cross, while I read the gospel lesson for today. Listen to how the bronze snake relates to John 3:16:
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
These are your words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your word is truth.
Amen.
Once again, I want you to look at the illustration with the bronze serpent on it. Look closely at the face of the lady who is in the front, or foreground of the picture. She has a look of terror on her face. And, I want you to know that she is getting…
exactly what she deserves.
God had been so good, so kind, and so gracious to that woman. He had freed her from slavery, in Egypt. He had guarded her, guided her, and protected her. He had helped her to defeat all of her enemies. He made sure that she had food/manna to eat. He led her by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. He had seen to it that her clothes never wore out. And, yet that woman was ungrateful and unthankful. She did not love, trust, or fear God. And, finally she began to mumble, groan, and complain against God, detesting the gifts He had given to her.
And so, she deserves exactly what she is getting in that picture. She sinned against the Holy God, who in His kindness was so good to her. Now that snake is biting her. And, that snakebite is fatal. FATAL!
Jesus uses that woman, as a picture, for you and for me.
That woman
IS
a picture of you and me!
And, Jesus uses the snake biting her, as a picture of sin. A snake is such a good picture for sin, isn’t it?
That snake
IS
a picture of
our sin.
Those snakes had gotten into the entire camp of Israel. They were all over the place, just like sin has snuck into our world and into our life. Sin slithers all over the place. Sin slithers into our homes. Sin slithers into the work place. Sin slithers onto the playground. And, sin slithers into school. Sin sometimes takes us by surprise and sneaks up on us. And, other times we see it coming. Sometimes it may be a big huge sin, and other times it may be an apparently little sin that bites us. But Jesus wants us to realize by this picture He gives us, that we have all been bitten. When Jesus says, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up", He wants us to see that we all have been bitten.
WE ALL HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY SIN!
That poisonous venom is running through our veins and there is nothing that can stop it. Not all the medicine in the world, not all the doctors in the world, nothing can stop the poisonous venom that is running through my veins. That is why I am mortal. That is why I will die someday. The Bible says,
"The soul that sins,
shall die."
The Bible says,
"The sting of death
is sin."
Sin is a sting. It is a bite. It is fatal. But not only is sin physically fatal, but we also know that along with sin, goes a far worse death. We all deserve eternal death from God. Look again at that lady in the picture.
Remember, she represents you. When God looks at that lady, when God looks at you, what thoughts does He have? The Bible tells us, in the Old Testament that God is a God of Hesed. (I love the Hebrew word Hesed! It’s hard to come up with an exact translation for Hesed, because it would take a long time to really do justice to the meaning. But basically it means that God is a God whose very nature, His very nature, is to be filled with loving kindness, goodness, graciousness, and love. That is God’s very nature.)
And, so when God looks at that woman who is being bitten by that snake, and sees her in her fatal condition, even though she doesn’t deserve to have Him care about her or do anything good for her, God by His very nature, sees that woman and has compassion on her and pity on her. And, what does God do for her? God sees to it that in His goodness, love and compassion there is a way that she can be saved from the fatal bite that has been delivered to her. He does not tell her that she has to go out and get some ointment to put on that bite. Nor does He tell her to have it treated. Nor does He tell her that because she sinned against God she has to go out and be kind to hundreds of people before He finally heals her from that snakebite.
He doesn’t tell her she has to do anything. Instead, He does EVERYTHING for her! God makes a promise to that lady. The promise is that there is a bronze serpent, which has been placed up on a pole. All you have to do is look at that serpent and you will live. God has given to her an awesome gift. A GIFT!!! He has done everything, and simply by looking at that serpent, she will live. That gift applied to the wealthiest person and the poorest person in Israel. It applied to the little baby and the elderly grandmother. Anyone who looked at that serpent would live.
Now remember, that is a picture of how God looks at you. So, what does Jesus say to you?
"For God so loved the world that
He gave
His one and only Son."
The world hates God. The world is an enemy of God. The world despises God. The world is a mass of people who do not love, fear or trust God. The world is unthankful to God, and blasphemes against God. There is no reason why God should care about this world, and yet what does Jesus say?
God
so loved the world.
God in His very nature, by His loving kindness, has the deep desire in His heart to be good, gracious, kind and loving to us. He saw us in our condition, (like that woman in the picture) and He had pity on us. He had compassion on us.
God
so loved the world!
So, what did God do?
He gave
His one and only Son.
It says, "God gave". That is a gift. It is a gift from the God who has a treasury that is inexhaustible. God could give any gift in the world that He wanted to give. But God gave the greatest gift. God didn’t promise to give us kingdoms, wealth or fame. They are little, compared to what God gave to us. God gave His one and only Son. God gave Himself. God had His one and only Son suspended in the air on the cross, just like that serpent was suspended in the air on that pole.
Think about that serpent for a second. What was killing the people? Snakes were killing them. And, what was the one thing that they were to look at, to be saved? A snake. Isn’t it interesting that the very thing that was killing the people, was the thing they were to look at, to be saved? They looked at the snake and they were saved.
What is killing you? Sin. What hangs suspended on the cross? Sin. The Bible says,
"God made
Him
who knew no sin,
to be sin for us."
The Bible says,
"Our sins were nailed with Him to the tree."
Sin hangs on the tree. Sin hangs on the cross. Sin rests on the shoulders of Jesus, our Savior. That is what we look to, when we look to the cross. Sin is the very thing that has killed us. Sin is the very thing that could condemn us. There it hangs on the tree, with Jesus. And, there on that tree, Jesus paid for our sin.
"God so loved the world that
He gave
His one and only Son, that
whoever believes
in Him
shall not perish"
The Bible says, "whoever believes". Those words are some of the most comforting words in scripture.
"whoever believes
shall not perish"
Think about that woman. She may have been one of the most rebellious women in all of Israel. But what did God promise? Anyone who looks at that snake will live. He didn’t set any conditions on it. He did not say, "only some people will live". He said, "anyone". Anyone, who looks at the serpent, will live.
Jesus says,
"God so loved the world that
He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes
(whoever!)
shall not perish"
As you look at that woman, remember she is a picture of you. And as you look at the snake that is biting her, remember that is a picture of your sin. You know the sin that is biting you, in your life. Is there some sin that troubles you greatly? Is there some sin you have committed that is looming in your mind, that you can’t get out of your mind. Is there some sin that has bitten you, time, after time, after time? Do you struggle and wonder, "Does God love me? Does He forgive me?"
What does Jesus say? He says, "Whoever believes…" "Whoever believes"! There is a promise, an absolute promise from God that this gift is for the youngest, the oldest, the richest, the poorest, and the greatest sinner in the world!
And, what does the sinner need to do? Believe! Jesus doesn’t say, "Whoever goes out and does good things for his neighbors." Nor does Jesus say, "Whoever goes out and makes up for his sins." He doesn’t tell us we have to do anything. Jesus says, "whoever believes", whoever trusts Jesus, whoever grabs hold of Jesus by faith and trusts that God’s promise is true, will be saved. His promise is true. When I look to Jesus, when I cling to Him, I will be saved. There I have the free and full forgiveness of all my sins!
Whoever believes in Him
shall not perish.
Whoever looked at the snake on the pole didn’t die, but lived. Whoever looks at Jesus in faith, (whoever) shall not perish, but have everlasting life! Eternal life is ours, by faith in Jesus.
Now I want you to look at that woman, one more time.
You notice that there is a difference between the four people in the front of this picture and the rest of the people. Do you see the difference? The rest of the people are all looking at the bronze serpent that is lifted up on the pole. But those four people, up in the front, are not. That lady is very distressed.
Doesn’t it make you want to run up to that lady, grab her by the shoulders, look her in the eyes and tell her, "Turn around! TURN AROUND!!! Look at the bronze serpent on the pole. God made a promise to us. Look at that bronze serpent on the pole, and live!"
You know Jesus, in today’s scripture reading says, "Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already." I am going to ask you to do something very hard. I want you to look at the picture of that woman, again.
And in your mind, I want you to erase her face. In place of her face, I want you to put someone you know, who doesn’t know Jesus or believe in Jesus. Maybe it is your next-door neighbor. Maybe it is someone at work. Maybe it is someone at school. Maybe it is a good friend. Maybe it is someone in your family. Put their face in place of that woman’s face.
Now, think about what Jesus says.
"Whoever does not believe
stands condemned".
We have all been bitten by sin. Sin is fatal. Physically and eternally fatal. Can you look at that picture, seeing the face of the person in your life, and not have the burning desire to run up to that person, grab them by the shoulders, look them in the eyes and tell them about John 3:16? Can you continue to invite them to your home, have food with them, play cards with them, play games with them out on the playground, or go shopping with them, but then leave them in that condition, without ever sharing with them how they can be saved?
As God’s People, as people who believe in John 3:16, it is a privilege and a responsibility to go out in the world and lift up Jesus. It is a privilege and a responsibility to lift up that cross before people’s eyes, to hold it up and to tell people who are lost in sin, "Look to Jesus in faith. Look to Jesus and you will be saved!"
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. And anyone who believes in Him will be saved.
For God
so loved the world that
He gave
His one and only Son, that
whoever believes in
Him
shall not perish but
have everlasting life!
Amen.
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