John 3:14-16 (Kevin Weisman)

Scripture: John 3:14-16; Numbers 21:4-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Preacher: Kevin Weisman

Transcript

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Welcome to the sermon podcast of Exodus Church, located in Belmont, North Carolina. For more information about our church and the many ways you can be involved, you can go to our website at exoduschurch.com. I am up here this morning in God's providence. I think between sickness and vacations and mission trip, I found out yesterday that I was going to be up here in the pulpit. So I am possibly the fourth string, but I'm still pretty confident we could handle the panther's first string this year. So just take that for what you will. It's painful for all of us. And as I thought about what we're going to jump into from God's word this morning, we're going to step out of the By Design series, primarily because I found out yesterday we're going to be up here. But I think we have a passage that's going to show that God's plan, that God's design, that's the way we have to do life. So we're just going to look at a verse, at some verses that are really familiar to most Americans who have been exposed to Christianity at all. We opened up by reading Psalm 23, and we're going to, in our sermon, include John 3.16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. But what we're going to do for our big picture, what we want to aim at as we look at the verses before that well-known verse, is that Jesus must be lifted up so that we can look to Him and live. Our big idea is that Jesus must be lifted up so that we can look to Him and live. Now most people in this room have heard the words of John 3.16, but a lot of times we'll look at it by itself. We're not going to look at the whole chapter of John 3, but if we back up a couple of verses, I am always fascinated when there's verses in the Bible that when we slow down and take our Sunday school glasses off and we read them, we have to go, that's weird. And I think this is one of them. So we're going to look through these verses together and then apply it to our lives. So this is what we're going to begin reading in John 3.14. 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. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful that nothing derails your plans, your purposes. You've never been called off guard or surprised by anything. So we give you this time that you have planned for your people this morning. Pray that as we open up your word, as we focus our eyes on Jesus this morning, that it would be more than Bible connections and Bible facts. But Father, soften our hearts and let us love Jesus more because of the time we're spending with Him today. Let us look more like Jesus so that others can see Jesus more clearly in us. So we ask that you would use this time together. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So as we look here with John 3.14 in particular, we see the phrase, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now the Son of Man is the way that Jesus refers to Himself in the Gospel of John. So what we're seeing here is that Jesus is like a snake. Not exactly. Jesus must be lifted up as Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness. I can't really think of any songs that really captures the way that Jesus is lifted up in the church. But I know, Jesus, you must be lifted up like a snake in the desert. If you know that one, please send it to me. I'd love to listen to it. But right before we get to these words of hope of John 3.16, for God so loved the world, we see that Jesus must be lifted up in this strange way. And this had to be incredibly infusing to His audience who heard it for the first time to the disciples and the crowd because they knew a reference that He was making. It's also for us really weird because snakes in the Bible are usually evil. That's the bad guy. From Genesis, the snake in the garden, to Revelation, the dragon at the end, whenever we see the snakes, it's evil. So why is Jesus lifted up like a snake? What's up with that? And we're going to look this morning, before we come back to John chapter 3, we're going to shift to Numbers chapter 21. If you want to turn there or scroll there on your phone, whatever it is, however you read along in God's Word, go to Numbers chapter 21 verse 4 because this is what Jesus is referring to when He says that He must be lifted up like Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness. So we're going to look through why did Moses lift up a serpent in the wilderness and what did that look like? And I just think this is really interesting that Jesus would take this passage to describe Himself. So let me read Numbers 21 verse 4. We're just going to walk through this group of verses, verse by verse together. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, He's talking about the Israelites, to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient on the way. So what's happening? We've jumped into a story, an account midstream. Israel has been freed from slavery in Egypt. Had the 10 plagues, the crossing the Red Sea. God led them up to the promised land to lead them into it. They sent in spies. The spies said, no, we can't do this. So then the people said, okay, we can't do this. And God said, well, I promised you this land. You chose not to go into it. So you're going to wander around in the desert for 40 years. I freed you from slavery. I gave you a promise, but you said, no, we're not going to do it your way. So God's allowing this generation of adults to slowly die out over 40 years so that their descendants can receive the promise. So they're in the middle of nowhere and Aaron has just died. Aaron is Moses' brother. He's the first high priest of Israel. When all of the Exodus stuff happened, he's Moses' mouthpiece. He's the one that's speaking. He's very much in the middle of everything. So this major figure alongside Moses has died. Israel's also just won a huge victory in battle over a Canaanite king. And then we come to these verses as the people are in the reality of wandering in the wilderness for life. They're moving from nowhere to nowhere. And as they're on that journey, they decide to avoid the land of Edom. They do that. These are the descendants of Esau and then Israel, the descendants of Jacob. So that's from earlier in Genesis. But we see that they're going through this area and they go around it to avoid a fight. They're impatient though, even though they're avoiding a battle, they're impatient to get to nowhere from nowhere. It's wearing thin. The people have become impatient with this inconvenience of going around. It's like when my wife and I first got married, we got married here in Gastonia and moved up to Louisville. And then we would, as newlyweds, have times where we would spend all night driving to get back down here to spend a holiday or a visit with my in-laws. So it's the last three hours of these all night drives around three in the morning, they're torture. They're like, you know, short temper, you get the munchies, nothing sounds good. Why are we doing this? I'm just going to spend time with my in-laws. No, I really do love my in-laws. They're like parents to me. They treat me like a son. I'm just trying to get a point that we're going from this hard trip for what? That's what the Israelites are doing. They're taking the long way around. Even though it saves lives, even though they're not in a hurry, they've become impatient with this inconvenience. And from that, we flow into verse five. 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. So from their impatience, they're now speaking against God's gifts. They're repeating old complaints. God, why did you do this to us? We were in Egypt, we had houses. Yes, we were slaves. Yes, they were taking advantage of us, but at least we had comfort. And now you've delivered us and we're out in the desert. We're going to die. They're mad at God. They're mad at Moses and they're right that they're going to die. But it's because they did it their way instead of God's way. They chose not to look to God's path and they know that they're going to face the consequences. Their kids won't, their descendants won't, but here the groaning is happening. It's exactly like the it's not fair conversation that my kids never have and I'm sure your kids never have, but I've heard in theory that a lot of kids do have these moments where they just go, it's not fair. Why did they get dessert and I don't? Well, because you didn't eat your dinner, but that's just still not fair. I don't like this. And they're in this, this spiral of complaining even to, even to the sense that their complaints are actually contradicting themselves and their nonsense because you see that first they say for there is no food and no water, which I can't hear without hearing the lion king hyenas voices. That's whenever I read this verse, I hear them. No food, no water. So on one side we have nothing. And then on the other side we have, we loathe this worthless food. I have no food. I hate this food. Never heard that in your kids either. Right? We just, we don't, we don't like this and they're just thrown off. God is what's happening as they're wandering around. There is, there is, they're in the middle of desert for 40 years and they're wandering. So they can't plant and harvest wheat. They can't make their own bread. So there's no publics. There's no, there's no even food lion to drop by and, and get their food. So God every morning is providing food for them out of thin air, out of the dew of the ground. He turns it into bread and he's having, he's having birds fall out of the sky so that they can eat it. And the people are going, we're sick of it. They don't just lack all over God, like all in, in being impressed by what God's doing. They've actually gotten to the point where they despise God's provision. God, I'm mad at you for providing for me because it's not done my way. How dare you give me broccoli, God, or how dare you give me a Chick-fil-A sandwich, but you didn't order it with no pickles. I'm just very frustrated. It's not, it's not done the right way. So I don't want to receive it. So impatience over inconvenience leading to this grumbling against God and this, and this heart that doesn't trust in him and this, this spiral of bitterness. And then the weird really starts. Verse six, then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So there's a conflict happening in Israel right now where, where people are dying and suffering and we want to pray for that, but let's not read that on, onto, under this situation. It's different. These are people that are very different reasons, very different situation happening. God sends fiery serpents. And my first middle image with that is five fire breathing snakes, which I don't like that at all. My hatred for snakes is total and complete. I don't even like to see dead snakes, much less fire breathing snakes. So flaming snakes way too much for me to handle. I would just run towards them, go ahead and kill me. I don't want it to be over with, but we're not talking about fire breathing snakes, like a bad Hollywood movie with, with the weird CGI. What we're talking about here, most scholars think that fiery actually would have referred to the burning sensation when they're, when they're bitten. It's somewhat debated, but that's, that's what seems like a reasonable answer when their venom goes in, it hurts. So these people are suffering and they're dying. God sends them, God sends these snakes, whether they're, whether their path goes across a snake pit in the wilderness, whether God created them like manna, who knows? We just know that they're there. People start dying. They were complaining and grumbling and discontent and rebellious and not trusting towards God. And then this happens. And that's hard for our minds to wrap around like, okay, they were acting this way, but then death in the book of Romans does remind us that the wages of sin is death. We don't see that naturally. So I think when we look at a passage like this that talks about the sufferings of this group of people, we see my sin played out on the large scale. So it's easier for me to see that the wages of sin is death. Snakes in the camp, biting people, people dying. What's going to happen? Verse seven, they asked for Moses to step between them and God. They asked for Moses to be a mediator. The people came to Moses and said, we've sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. We're sorry. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. They immediately know what's happened. They know their grumbling has, they know that their hearts of rebellion towards God have caused, have brought down destruction on them. We spoke against God. We're being destroyed by our own actions, by our own words. So Moses, please put yourself between God and us. We've messed up big time. So we want you to stand between us and God. You go talk to him. You were his messenger. You have led us through all this. You go talk to him. It's like the teacher's pet in class that the class gets together and says, please go ask the teacher to make it an open notes quiz. Or that sibling that you know is a little bit bolder and knows how to angle a little bit better. And they say, can we just go here for dessert? And they send them in on your behalf because the other ones are looking at it going, if I go in there, it's not going to go well for me. You do it. So they send Moses and say, you go talk to God. We've messed up big. So Moses prayed for the people. Moses active response as a leader, get this. He's not passively waiting by and praying and waiting for something else to happen. His active response as a leader, tragedy is happening and he stops to pray. There is something to thoughts and prayers. It's not just this, this, this ethereal thing that floats around and is meaningless. Moses prays as the leader in the moment in the crisis, not because that's a lack of action, but because if he doesn't pray, he wouldn't have, he would have meant well and then still done the wrong thing. He needs God to act. So he prays, he stands between the people of Israel and their destruction and God who they've offended. And he stands between and says, God have mercy on them. And then we see what God does. Verses eight and nine, God shows up as the deliverer. The Lord said to Moses and whenever in the old Testament, when you see Lord in all caps, it's God's name. So it's personal. Yahweh, Yahweh said to Moses, make a fiery serpent, 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. And of course the implication there is if he didn't, he would still die. So the Lord provides a path of delivery. It's not a quick thing. Go make a bronze snake, which means there's people dying, there's snakes throughout the camp. I've already run off into the desert or hoped I'm gone. And as this is happening, gather the materials, heat it, melt it down, shape it, let it cool, mount it on a pole. This is not like a 15 minute solution. And then once you have the snake made of bronze on a pole that everyone's been watching you make as they're fleeing from the snakes, as they're suffering and death happening all around. And the last thing they want to see is another snake. You're going to hold up the snake on a pole and you have to look at this image of death and pain and fear as your only hope of delivery. If you're not a snake person, you don't recoil from that. Have a friend who's deathly afraid of clowns. And I'm not making fun of them, but some people are. So imagine her in a house that's burning down and the only way to get out is to follow the clown out of the house. So it's this revulsion that's like, oh, I don't want to do this. That's your only hope. That's your only path of delivery. You can choose not to look, you can choose to try another way, but you only get God's provision. You only get his deliverance. If you do it God's way, you look on this symbol of death and you and you are delivered. So it's not the answer that I would have come up with. It's not the answer that probably a lot of the people that are in Israel would have wanted, but there's something deeper being shown. And this is what Jesus is referring to about the way that he has to be lifted up. So let's go back to John chapter three and let's look at these verses one more time. 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 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So just like in this moment of crisis, Moses raised up a picture of their death and destruction and said, look on this and live. It's your only path forward, there is no other way. People in the Roman empire would have known that the cross was a similar kind of picture, an image of death, humiliation, intimidation, oppression, the occupier making sure that other people know their place and are scared to get out of line. When Jesus says this in John three, his disciples don't know what's coming. But as John writes this and as his readers read it, they do see the cross, a path there. They see this image that Jesus must be lifted up on a cross, an instrument of death. And our only hope is to look on him and live. And if we don't choose to do so, it won't work for us. We are not doing it God's way. In a world of people who were dying, look to Jesus lifted up on the cross, facing God's wrath and judgment, his body broken, his blood pouring out on our behalf. When John 3, 16 says that God gave his only son, his unique set apart one of a kind son, this is how he gave him on the cross. And it says that we should not perish but have eternal life. It's because Jesus perished in our place. This is the way that he's lifted up so that then when this is how God loved the world by providing Christ on the cross in our place. So how do we then apply this? It's very simple. How do we, what's our takeaway? Why are we being reminded of this in a mill in Belmont this morning? Because my heart is prone to wander. I must look to Jesus and lift him up. Because my heart is prone to do things my own way and not trust in God, but in my own ways. I have to look to Jesus and lift him up. I want to do it my way. Just like Frank Sinatra saying, just like Anakin Skywalker tried to do and went down a path to being Darth Vader and corruption and twistedness. I want to do it that way. And that is a path to destruction. So what do I look at specifically as we've walked through numbers? What are the things that we can see in this passage? I can see that I need to ask God for patience. Spent a lot of years as a youth pastor and watched it play out over and over. Seen it as a parent. Seen it just as a human living with other humans. I've seen the truth here. Impatience leads to complaints and dissatisfaction and angst like no other thing. And I can so easily turn back into a seven-year-old on December 22nd waiting for Christmas Day and everything is just, I need it now. I want it now. I can't wait. The phrase patience is a virtue isn't a biblical phrase. It appeared in Latin and appeared in English poetry in the 1300s with the Canterbury Tales and some other areas. So patience is a virtue, but patience is the fruit of the Spirit. We have patience as a gift from God working in our lives. But for God, I live out of the state of constant impatience. And in my impatience and me trying to force things through in my way and my timing, I twist God's good gifts just as much as the Israelites did. My family, my kids, security, sex, health, money. Everything that God can give to us as a good gift, we twisted around in our own impatience. And I can't just try harder to be more patient because patience is a gift of the Spirit. I have to walk in Christ. My patience, even wanting to be patient and change is a gift from God. My heart is prone to wander. I must look to Jesus and lift him up. I also can see and am reminded as we walk through this account this morning that I need a mediator between myself and God. The people of Israel saw their need for a mediator because death by burning snakes. But I default to seeing myself as a pretty decent guy. I'm pretty good terms with God, even apart from Christ. My sins like complaining or grumbling or discontent or rebellion or not trusting seem sanitary and not so awful. Not like murder or pillaging. We don't use that word in the post-piracy English language enough. Promiscuity, stealing, whatever it is, I don't do those things. So therefore my sins don't look like God's punishment and his wrath are coming down on me. I underestimate the size of my sin problem. So therefore I underestimate what a big deal it was for Christ to be lifted up on the cross in my place. First Timothy 2, 5 reminds us, for there's one God and there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So I don't have Moses standing between my mistakes, my rebellion, my heart that wants it my own way and God's judgment through fiery snakes. I have God himself, Jesus, who lived the life I couldn't live, who died the death that I deserve, who God raised him to sit at the right hand of the heavenly throne and he is advocating on my behalf between my rebellion and separation from God for all eternity in hell. That's what Jesus does for us. We're not looking to Moses in between, but we're looking to someone so much greater than Moses. And my attempt to approach God will be just as much a fiery disaster as the Israelites who tried to not look at the serpent lifted up on the pole. You see, my heart is prone to wander, so I must look to Jesus and lift him up. And if I do that, I'll also need to realize that God's plans rarely involve doing things my way. When people are dying all around me, it seems absurd to build a bronze serpent and look at it. When I want to get right with God or I want to tell a friend or coworker or a loved one about having a relationship with God, it seems absurd that step one is admitting that we can't do it and we're not good enough. As we go through this by design series, which we'll go back into next week, when people around us question God's design, his plan and his standards, it seems easier just to soften, to take a softer path to accommodate and to take that less resistance. Maybe it makes sense to me, maybe it's reasonable, but it's death. We try to put ourselves up and make our plans drive us ahead. I'm just going to read a passage from first Corinthians that I think brings a lot of these thoughts together. You're welcome to turn there, first Corinthians chapter one, you're welcome to just listen, whatever's easier for you. First Corinthians chapter one brings this together that I try to make my way the way that makes sense. This is how I want God to act. But first Corinthians one, starting in verse 18, for the word of the cross is folly foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where's the one who's wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. That's us, the Gentiles, those who aren't Jews. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Therefore consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what's weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what's low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Y'all, it's quicksand. I've never experienced quicksand in real life, thankfully. I've only seen it in movies. So I don't know how it really works. But from what I can tell, whether it's in real life or in the movies, the more you fight it, the faster you go down. If you get caught in quicksand, you're going to keep getting pulled down. It cuts against your instincts. So when we try to make things happen our way, when we try to impose my path on God and say this feels good to me or I just think this makes sense to me, when he said look and live and do it this way, then we get stuck in this sinking mess. It's not just that every knee will bow, but my knee must bow. So I asked two questions as we leave, as we realize that my heart is prone to wander. So I must look to Jesus and lift him up. How am I lifting up Jesus who's both mediator and deliverer so that others will look on him and live? If you're in here and you know Jesus, I'm asking that question. If you're in here and you don't, like we saw in John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. If you feel pulled towards him, he's reaching out to you. If you are seeking him, that means he's already seeking you. That means he's at work in your life. So don't leave this place. Don't just skip over going to the beginning of the lunch line. Don't just skip over whatever your plans are this afternoon. Before you leave this place, find someone and talk to them about who this Jesus is. We would love to help you start that relationship so that you can see God's perfect plan work out in ways that are beyond what you can possibly imagine now. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we are just grateful for your goodness. We are grateful that for the gift of your son Jesus, that while we were sinners, you sent them to die in our place. That while we were lost and wandering, Father, you gave us your son. So pray that as we see our own desire to do it our way, our own how easy it is to get twisted with impatience, how easy it is to get twisted with our own wisdom, with discontent. That we would look to you and rest in you and your plans that you have for us. We would see your goodness above all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen..