God's Great Love
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4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.
5 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.”
6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
7 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, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
9 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.
What a bizarre story. But we kind of have to understand this to understand what is going on with Jesus… this is the backdrop to the conversation.. and today we will hit the most known verse in all of the Bible…
God is sending snakes to people…and they bite them and they die… so what we have to realize in our theology is that God is the author of life and death.... he gives and takes away… from Job… .why are people dying around me.. and here it is… and and we like to take that verse out of our theology… no sparrow dies without going through the fathers hand… and that is difficult but we cant have satan being sovereign over death and sickness… the other option of God not being in control is far worse…
We ended at teh beginning of verse 14 last week and here is the end and the next two verses
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
God says I am going to use that thing that is hurting you and its the thing that you are going to have to look to to save you and that doesnt make any sense to our finite minds
Spider the size of my fist… imagine that we looked at the spider and said you have to stare at it so you can bring you life… it is going to create life for you… and this is nuts… but why would he do that… so we cant depend on ourselves and we have to look at the god behind the serpent or the thing… he is going to use it for our good… and he brings in this story of the serpent and what about it in particular...
Nicodemus would have know this story very well....
SO MUST the son of man be lifted up....
and this becomes the center of Christianity… and if you are new to church and you just read this passage you may not know what that means be lifted up… and Jesus gets lifted up on the cross… and he is saying thats the thing you have to look to to be saved and healed… and one of the things if you are new to this whole thing, you may get confused about what this is all about… some political ideology or gender issues or sexuality stuff, but what the center of the ccenter of all of that is this, the cross… the fact that the son of man got lifted up on a cross… that is the center of what is going on… that is what saves you in the end.. we can do all of the things he taught in the sermon on the mount, but we have to believe in all of this, and if we don’tt we can do all the things he talks about and not be saved.... and this is why we are always pointing toward teh cross all the time, because we think it is the most important thing… this is what you should center your lfie around… this is the thing that changes everything.... the center of the christian gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus… Christianity is not just following the teachings of Jesus but it is following the teachings of Jesus as someone that has been moved and changed by the life he gave and the thigns he did on the cross… see there is a huge difference
WHen they decided what to make the symbol of chrstianity it could have been a pulpit, but they made it a cross…because it is most important
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I decided to know nothing among you… not alliterated sermons.,,, but what the preaching should be about is the crucified Jesus… not just vague spirituality… Jesus christ and him crucified… Jesus uses this seemingly crazy thing to be redemptive
They fal lbecause they are trying to lift themselves up… do you want to lift yourself up and try to save yourself by your own works or will you trust in God to lift you up and save you....
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Eternal life Ionois Sone everlasting life… and it is a quality as well… and that is why he says he came to give life and life to the full… we try to find life to the full in everything we do… in how we dress and raise our kids… and all of these things are driving the question of eternal life and its not just quantity but quality… and the only way you are ever going to get joy that you are searching after is not you lifting yoruself up but by Jesus lifting himself up
Some people think eternal life is just heaven..but it is so much more than that… we got off track in the garden and he is saying this can bring us back in the here and now we dont have to wait… it will be then as well but we dont have to wait…
Ever wonder why you sin, because we are trying to answer the question of eternal life through something other than GOd...
What is behind that habitual lust you cant break free of… the addiction… the constant move toward stimulation through this pleasure or that… its the search for eternal life through anything but him...
In John 17 he explains eternal life this way… this is eternal life… that you would KNOW God.
And in his book, knowing God, JI Packer says
“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight, and contentment than anything else? Knowing God.”
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Let him boast that he knows me… do you know God or do you know about it.... zoey life itself… CS Lewis… two kinds of life.... bios… zoe.... Natural life.... spiritual life...
“That is precisely what Christianity is about. This world is a great sculptor’s shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going around that some of us are some day going to come to life.” CS Lewis
Thats the point… how do we get this eternal life… whoever believes in him… trust in it… trust in the lifting up
Its not just saying a prayer mantra one time… the emphasis of this verse is on the believe.... 98x it is used as a verb in John… it means whoever is believing.. its an action word… walking talking…singing… Its a continuous action of believing… its not a noun… just like love… its an action… you believe you have an ongoing relationship with him
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.
A whole book written about this one verse in my office… and I thought about breaking this down in the same way, but even then I would have gotten bored… so we are going to try to get it in 15 minutes
For God.... its a pivot…don’t dump your own definition of God in here, its not the god of the distance… not hteo ld man with the beard… its the father son hs.... the totally sovereign one… all powerful all knowing ever present....
HE so loved the world.... not that he is this angry all the time God waiting for you to mess up like zeus.... we feel unforgiveable.... while we were sinners Christ died for us.. he so loved the world he gave his only son… it was the love that motivated him… and some of you dont feel loved you are just guilt ridden and sad.... but GOd so loved you in the state where you were hating him that he chose to die for you
He loves us this sinful world, and he is the one hunting us down…
Some of youa re blind to the love that he is setting up circumstances to meet you… open yourself to himdont close yourself off to what he is trying to do in your life… ghe gave his only son in love… now this phrase his only son is debateed… mono genes only.... the start of something… older version begotten… his one and only or the beginning son… begetting… its an old word and it means something great… mormon Jesus was created by God.... but we believe he always existed and becomes a human being...
CS Lewis “To beget is to become the father of; to create is to make. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself. A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers and a bird begets eggs which turn into little birds. But when you make, you make something of a different kind from yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver builds a dam, a man makes a wireless set- or he may make something more like himself than a wireless set: say, a statue. If he is a very clever carver he may make a statue which is very like a man indeed. But. of course it is not a real man; it only looks like one. It cannot breathe or think. It is not alive. What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man. This is why men are not Sons of God in the sense that Christ is. They may be like God in certain ways, but they are not things of the same kind. They are more like statues or pictures of God.”
An important distinction… we are not hte same as Jesus was, and this is important becasue he was unique…at the end of the day the Gospel is about how we are not Jesus… he was Jesus for you.... he was born to save you from yourself… and so when you become a son of God we are not Gods we dont get to trust in ourselves....
That whoever…you know how hopeful that is… it doesnt matter who you are… it doesnt matter what you ahve done… what you look like…it doesnt matter what family you were born into...
Not perish...
app a loumi ---- in nt what it means eternal life is being related to this word which is eternal perrishing and it means not what it was intended to be....
Lost stories in luke 15.... app a loumi… it still existing but it is not being used for what it was intended.... and that is a huge thing.. heaven and hell that is the only two options… fire and darkness and suffering and pain.... an eternal judgment that you wouldnt wish on your worst enemy… and even in the eyes of God it is a tragedy
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