WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.160 Well, good morning. My name is Daryl Brown, if you've noticed in the bulletin, and I am the 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:15.500 director of the Wichita Archer Clay Baptist Association. And some of you may not know what 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:21.559 that is. Those of you who are older will recognize what a Baptist Association is. It's a voluntary 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:26.600 association of the Southern Baptist churches in a particular area. In this case, it's the three 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:33.320 counties of Wichita Archer and Clay. We have about 54 churches, and I have the privilege of serving as 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:40.100 director. Now, what that means when people ask me, what do you do? Well, basically, I am a resource 00:00:40.100 --> 00:00:47.000 person for our churches. I provide resources. I help churches get connected to resources that they need 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:54.079 to remain strong and healthy and move forward. And I'm also a consultant. So if a church has a question, 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:59.839 either a church leader or a pastor has a question and needs help thinking through something, 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:05.879 then typically I get a call in that particular area. So I only come in when I'm invited. 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:10.959 There is no hierarchy in the Southern Baptist Convention. I don't have any authority over any 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:17.500 of these churches. I functionally serve our churches in our association. So for pastors, that's reflected 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:25.219 in training, like the preaching conference that we just had and the seminar on burnout in ministry that's 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:30.939 coming up on this Thursday, and encouragement. And for churches, it's more practical things like 00:01:30.939 --> 00:01:37.000 making sure that there's a pulpit supply list. If churches need somebody to fill the pulpit in the 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:43.200 absence of a pastor or an interim pastor, if the pastor search team needs to be trained, 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:51.420 I'm able to come in and do that. Deacon training, deacon ordination. Occasionally we have churches 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:57.780 that will come to me and say, you know, we've had a great group of deacons for a very, very long time, 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:04.079 and we need to ordain some new deacons, but we haven't done that for 20 years. Would you come in 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:09.520 and help us kind of walk through that process? And so I come in and just give, really just give them 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:13.740 assurance about what they're doing. Everybody wants to do it the right way, do the right thing. 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:19.700 Give them some of those assurances. I help churches with bylaws and also help churches with revitalization. 00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:27.680 And probably the trickiest thing for me to navigate is a church which needs help in revitalization 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:32.480 because then I have to come in and ask them, of all the things that you are doing, 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:40.560 which are the things that you're willing to sacrifice and give up in order to reach more people? 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:46.560 And that's a hard question to ask. What is it you're willing to give up? And sometimes the answer 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.560 is no to that question. And unfortunately for churches who are unwilling to change anything 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:57.759 that they're doing, you can't keep doing what you're doing and expect to get different results, 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:02.620 right? That's just kind of the way the world works. And so that's who I am. That's what I do. 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:09.679 That's a little bit about me. Now, NAM, the North American Mission Board, which you saw on the video 00:03:09.679 --> 00:03:16.299 today for the Annie Easter. So all the money that collected through the Annie Armstrong Easter offering 00:03:16.299 --> 00:03:21.120 goes directly to the North American Mission Board to do the kinds of things to reach the kind of people 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:26.479 that you see on the video. So I heartily encourage you guys to participate in that offering. But they've 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:39.120 been promoting this idea of preaching John 3.16 on March 16th. So 3.16 on 3.16, right? And so I decided 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:44.639 to take that challenge today since it's been a number of years since I preached on John 3.16. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:52.079 I've quoted a lot, as many of you probably do, but it's been a while since I've preached on it. And so 00:03:52.079 --> 00:03:55.859 to start that, we're going to start down in verse 10. So we're going to be in John chapter 3, 00:03:55.860 --> 00:04:00.520 by the way. So if you have your Bibles with you, if you'll open up your Bibles, if you're using a 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:07.000 tablet, let me just recommend that you turn off your screensaver and keep your Bibles open, guys, 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:12.180 because we're going to walk through this passage almost verse by verse when we get down to verse 00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:16.340 10. But before we get there, there's a few things that I need to put in front of you. And one of those 00:04:16.340 --> 00:04:23.740 is that Jesus is having a conversation with a Pharisee. So there was two religious groups in Jesus' 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:30.160 day. You had the Pharisees and the Sadducees. These were the religious leaders in Jesus' day. 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:35.960 And he's having a conversation with Nicodemus, who's a Pharisee. Now he comes to Jesus at night, 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:42.000 probably because he's not sure that he wants to be seen in public with Jesus yet, but he's intrigued. 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:47.740 There's something about Jesus that's going on with him, and he can't quite put his finger on it. 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:55.180 So Jesus tells him that he needs to be born again, and that where and how the Holy Spirit works, 00:04:55.660 --> 00:05:01.340 you know, cannot be explained in human terms. Jesus actually says, you know, the wind blows, 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:07.960 but we don't know where it comes from, and we don't know where it's going, right? That's how it is with 00:05:07.960 --> 00:05:14.639 the work of the Holy Spirit. And Nicodemus, as one of the few theologically trained people, 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.560 they didn't really have seminaries back then, but one of the few theologically trained people in 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:27.719 Israel, okay, he interprets what Jesus says about being born again in a very simplistic and 00:05:27.719 --> 00:05:36.060 materialistic way. You know, how can I, a full-grown man, crawl back into my mother's womb and have a 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:42.740 second birth? Now, so you have a person who grew up reading the Old Testament as their Bible, 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:50.680 who spends their days talking about God and how God works, right? What God's doing, what God is about, 00:05:51.120 --> 00:06:01.579 all right? And he gets lost with a simple metaphor about spiritual birth. So let's just stop there for 00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:06.980 a second, because this is going to be key to what we're talking about. What does Jesus mean when he says, 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:15.160 you must be born again? What does it mean to have a spiritual birth? And I think the primary idea behind 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:21.720 that, that I want you guys to walk away with today, is that it means that faith has to have a starting 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:28.640 point, a conversion, if you will. But we just, we're not naturally in relationship with God. We're not 00:06:28.640 --> 00:06:34.100 naturally in a life of faith. You'll hear people say all of the time, well, you know, I've always 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:38.920 believed in God ever since I can remember. Or if you ask them about what they believe, you say, well, 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:44.080 you know, I was a member of such and such a church, even as a little child. When I was five or six years 00:06:44.080 --> 00:06:48.800 old, I became a member of this church. Or I've always been part of this denomination. I've always 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:53.500 been a Baptist. Or I've always been a Methodist. Or I've always been a part of the Christian church. 00:06:54.640 --> 00:06:58.720 But the thing about faith, and the thing that Jesus points out very clearly, is that faith 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:06.040 in God, a relationship with God, has to have a beginning point. It has to have a starting point. 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:11.000 It's not something that you're born with. It's not something that, that is naturally part of who you 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:16.860 are as a human being. You have to come to a place where you put your faith and your trust in God. 00:07:17.520 --> 00:07:24.800 And that is being born again spiritually. Now, Jesus threw him off because Nicodemus expected Jesus 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:32.280 to talk about the law. So the Jewish teachers in Jesus' day, they had reduced all of the work of God, 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:36.620 all of the work of God, they had reduced down to the law. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:48.600 And they understood the concept of using a metaphor, right? I mean, Isaiah 41, you rise up 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:52.540 with wings like an eagle, right? They understood metaphor. And if you were to ask them and say, 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:57.980 well, you know, did God create the world in six days? Absolutely. Did God bring those 10 plagues 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:05.000 upon the land of Egypt? They would say, absolutely. God did that. Did God spare his people in the 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.700 Passover and protect them from the death angel that came through? They would say, absolutely. Did God 00:08:09.700 --> 00:08:16.300 part the water so that the people of Israel could go through and get to the other side safely and be 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:21.640 protected from Pharaoh's army? They would say, absolutely. But if you ask them, what is it that God is doing 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:28.699 today? They would simply say the law. Okay? And so Jesus threw them off a little bit. Now we can be 00:08:28.699 --> 00:08:32.879 just as guilty, guys. Let me just step back for a second and say this. We can be just as guilty 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:39.500 as the Pharisees and the religious leaders in Jesus' day by trying to draw a box of some kind, 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:44.879 of any kind, whatever it is that we picture in our head and say, this is how God works. God only works 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:51.059 this way. All right? So we talk about God being, and it might be a biblical box. It might be something 00:08:51.059 --> 00:08:55.559 that we find in scripture, but it's still going to be a box of some kind. And here's the deal about God. 00:08:55.939 --> 00:09:03.799 We talk about God as being all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present. And those three 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:09.299 ideas, what they really do is sum up the idea is that God is bigger than what we can picture in our 00:09:09.299 --> 00:09:13.980 mind. He's bigger. He's more powerful than we can picture. He is more knowing. His knowledge is 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:18.879 greater than what we could understand His knowledge to be. And even the fact that He is present, 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.279 present here this morning, not just because we're a group of believers who are assembled, 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:31.120 and He is with us here today. I thought, I'll just keep getting louder, and I thought, that's a bad idea. 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:41.360 But He's present in the world in ways that we don't understand as well. And so because God is this way, 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:48.100 because this is the God that we serve, I think in the same way that no temple, it says in the Old 00:09:48.100 --> 00:09:54.259 Testament, could contain God, I think we would all agree today that there's no box, there's no framework 00:09:54.259 --> 00:10:00.060 that we could conceptualize that would contain everything who God is and everything that God does. 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:11.139 All right? The wind blows, and we don't know where it is coming from, and we don't know where it is going. 00:10:12.579 --> 00:10:20.500 We can't read God's mind, and God doesn't explain everything to us that we don't understand. 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:26.559 Now, nevertheless, there are some things. The Bible does give us a clear picture of many things 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:34.119 that God is doing, and they are clearly spelled out, and one of these is the gospel. Okay? And so that 00:10:34.119 --> 00:10:39.079 brings us to our text in John chapter 3. And I'm going to, like I say, keep referring back to this 00:10:39.079 --> 00:10:44.779 again, so please keep your Bibles open. I'm going to start reading in verse 10, and I'm going to read 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:50.819 through verse 21. If you'll follow along with me in your translation, I'm reading from the CSB 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:57.360 this morning, but you follow along in your translation. So Jesus starts, and he says to 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:04.520 Nicodemus, he says, are you a teacher of Israel and don't know these things? Jesus replied, truly I tell 00:11:04.520 --> 00:11:11.379 you that we speak what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 00:11:11.760 --> 00:11:17.800 If I have told you about earthly things, and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you 00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:24.620 about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, 00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:32.219 the Son of Man. So just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be 00:11:32.219 --> 00:11:41.120 lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way. 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:47.079 He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:52.980 but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:00.460 but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:07.460 does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:14.400 Son of God. Now this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:20.659 rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:28.299 avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:39.620 so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God. Now, Jesus prods Nicodemus in verse 10 by asking 00:12:39.620 --> 00:12:47.560 him, he says, how can you be a teacher? How can you be a teacher in Israel, someone who's responsible for 00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:54.679 knowing these things, and not know these things? And if Jesus were to appear here today and ask this 00:12:54.679 --> 00:13:02.299 question of us, it would probably be something like, have you grown up in the church all of your life, 00:13:02.299 --> 00:13:09.579 and you don't know these things? You know, the title of my message this morning is, how do you know, how much 00:13:09.579 --> 00:13:17.639 do you know, or what do you know about the gospel? How many of you guys are familiar with the show, Are You 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:23.399 Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Have you all heard of that show? Yeah. I have no desire to be on that show, by the way. 00:13:24.179 --> 00:13:30.079 I have this fear that my ignorance would be revealed, because the honest truth is, is that my fifth grade 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:35.440 teacher was trying to teach me some things that I didn't, I don't think I valued them at the time. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:40.840 And because I didn't value them, I didn't, I didn't remember them, I didn't latch on to them, and 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:45.660 then these fifth graders, they bring in all fresh and smart, would probably just know all these things 00:13:45.660 --> 00:13:51.080 I'm supposed to know. But I had knowledge that I was supposed to know that I went to the, that just 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:56.920 went to the wayside, and I think sometimes we have that attitude in church. So think about it 00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:03.879 yourself. How many sermons have you sat and listened to, right, but you can't remember anything 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:11.339 about? It's kind of scary. So how many of you guys were here when Randy was pastor? Raise your hand. 00:14:12.319 --> 00:14:18.719 Okay, how many of y'all were here the entire time, 15 or 16 years, Randy was here? Several of you. 00:14:18.939 --> 00:14:22.439 All right, so for those of you who raised your hand on that last one, let me ask you a question. 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:27.360 How many of you remember everything that Randy taught from this pulpit? 00:14:30.040 --> 00:14:36.360 A few, yeah? But not quite a bit fewer hands. Because that's how it is. That's just how our 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:42.280 brains work. If somehow during the process of a sermon or a Bible study or Sunday school or whatever 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:47.060 it is, if we determine that whatever this is we're talking about doesn't actually apply to me, 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:54.299 what do we do with that information? We just flush it. It moves on and our brain creates space. 00:14:54.579 --> 00:14:59.259 But if we think we're supposed to know it, if we think it's valuable, if it happens to be one of 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:03.879 those times when we're sitting there and we feel like, man, God is really speaking to me, what do 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:10.979 we do with that information? We store it. And that's the thing that God uses to shape and grow our 00:15:10.979 --> 00:15:14.579 character. Now, does that mean all the other things that Randy said through those years that you don't 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:21.000 remember weren't important? No, not at all. But our brain just works in funny ways that if we don't 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:25.680 think the information is really for us, if that information that the pastor or the preacher is 00:15:25.680 --> 00:15:31.540 talking about, if that's for somebody else sitting on the pew and not for me, then we stop paying 00:15:31.540 --> 00:15:37.600 attention. Now, look what Jesus says in verses 12 and 13. He said, if I have told you about earthly 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.379 things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? If I, 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:48.399 if I tell you, talk about earthly things, about the wind blowing, how are you going to believe when I 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:53.960 start talking about the supernatural things? All right, the stuff that God does. Everything God does 00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:59.639 is supernatural, by the way. Don't, don't get freaked out by that word. We live in the real world. We live 00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:05.059 in the physical world. God operates in the supernatural world. What God does is the supernatural. All right, 00:16:05.220 --> 00:16:10.960 so how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things, about supernatural things? Verse 13, 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:18.420 no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the son of man. Now, 00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:25.220 this is the first supernatural thing that Jesus tells Nicodemus in our text today. All right, 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:30.620 Jesus is calmly refers to himself as the son of man. He didn't walk around calling himself the son of 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:35.500 God. He called himself the son of man. And what it sounds like in the casual reading, if you look at 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:39.980 that, that Jesus is saying, well, you know, there's God and there's man. I'm the son of man. This is the 00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:45.120 side of the equation that I'm on. I put my pants on just like you do. But look at verse 13 again. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:52.200 Who is the only one who can ascend into heaven? He says, it's the one who came from heaven, the one 00:16:52.200 --> 00:17:02.180 who descended from heaven, the son of man. So where did Jesus come from? Okay, not earth. Now, that's 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:07.019 actually an Old Testament reference in the book of Daniel, but we don't have time for that this morning. 00:17:07.019 --> 00:17:11.519 But just mark it. You just write Daniel on the side over there in your Bible or on your notes. 00:17:12.639 --> 00:17:18.059 So Jesus is not just a man, guys. He's not just a good man. You'll hear people say all the time, 00:17:18.139 --> 00:17:23.859 well, Jesus was a good man or he was a moral teacher or he was a great prophet of God who came in and 00:17:23.859 --> 00:17:31.079 tried to get people stirred up. But look at verse 16, right? It says that God loved the world so much 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:36.980 that he sent his moral teacher. No, that's not what it said. God loved the world so much that he sent his 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:46.839 mighty prophet. No, that's not what 16 says either. God sent his son, his one and only son, right? 00:17:47.159 --> 00:17:53.759 So Jesus is not just a good man, not just a moral teacher, not a prophet. He is God's son. And 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:00.799 even defining that a little bit better, folks, Jesus is not an angel. He's not an angel who descended 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:06.079 from heaven, right? He is the son of man. Angelic beings are completely different than humanity. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:14.059 Jesus is fully God, but he's fully human as well. Jesus is a man in the same way that I'm a man and 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:20.059 human in the same way that you're human. He's not an angel or a divine messenger. And let me tell you 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:27.220 something else that Jesus is not. He's not a demigod. He's not somebody who's semi-divine, okay? 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:34.839 So how many of you guys have seen Moana, right? A bunch of young people perked up there. 00:18:36.419 --> 00:18:47.099 Okay, in Moana, Maui is a demigod. So there's the powerful gods, there's man, and then there's Maui 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:53.459 in the middle, okay? That is not who the Bible says that Jesus is. And if you remember anything 00:18:53.459 --> 00:19:03.579 about that first cartoon movie, Maui bows in reverence to the superior God when he meets face to 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:10.000 face, right? Jesus is not a demigod. He's not a semi-divine person. What difference does this make? 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:18.920 Where am I going with this? Because I'm coming back to the question, why would God need to send 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:28.539 his son? Not just a good guy, not just a great teacher, not just a really moral person. 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:35.460 Why would God need to send his son? Now, Jesus is going to answer this question. He moves right into 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:42.720 the Old Testament for Nicodemus, and he pulls up a story from Numbers chapter 21, all right? It's just 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:49.319 six verses long. It's not a very long story, but it's pivotal to what Jesus is talking about 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:53.059 in this illustration here. It's a story that Nicodemus would know well, and I'm not going to 00:19:53.059 --> 00:19:56.900 go back and read those verses today. I like to do that, but we don't have time for that this morning. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.700 I'm going to talk about it enough. You're going to find out everything you need to know about those 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:06.200 six verses. But let me just encourage you that every time in your New Testament when you're reading, 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:10.900 you see a quotation from the Old Testament or a reference to a story in the Old Testament, 00:20:11.080 --> 00:20:16.279 stop and go back. Look at the note in your Bible or look back to the reference there and find that 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:21.420 and read it in the Old Testament in its context so that you can understand what the New Testament is 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:28.319 talking about, because the New Testament assumes that like Nicodemus, you already know this story. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:33.659 And so if you don't know the story, then go back and read it or you're going to miss the meaning of 00:20:33.659 --> 00:20:39.500 the text. Now, look in verse 14. It says, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:46.619 so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. Now, 00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:54.980 and I didn't realize this for a long time, folks, but verses 14 and 15 are actually the key 00:20:54.980 --> 00:21:04.240 to understanding verse 16. Now, we quote 16 a lot. We memorize 16. We have our kids memorize 16, 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:11.240 and we refer to it even as the gospel in a nutshell, which it kind of is. But what it doesn't say, 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:18.380 what John 3, 16 doesn't tell us is why God needed to send His Son. And the answer to that is in verse 14. 00:21:18.380 --> 00:21:23.860 And the short story of Numbers 21 is that the people of Israel, they have rebelled against God, 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:31.120 and they've rebelled against God's prophet Moses. And that sets up this scenario in there. And when 00:21:31.120 --> 00:21:38.060 you think about the Exodus, the time from when the people left Egypt until the time they entered into 00:21:38.060 --> 00:21:43.100 the promised land, right? We refer to that as the wilderness wonders. When you think about that entire 00:21:43.099 --> 00:21:49.959 period of history, which was a long period because it was a period that was long enough for an entire 00:21:49.959 --> 00:21:56.539 generation to die off. And the reason the entire generation had to die off was not because God was 00:21:56.539 --> 00:22:02.599 not powerful enough to bring them into the promised land. An entire generation had to die off because 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:09.359 when they got to the very edge of the promised land to cross the Jordan and to go in and to conquer it, 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:15.099 the people looked at God and said, you know what? No, we're not going to do that. 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:23.019 And that rebellion, that original rebellion of God's people against Him in the Exodus, 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:30.459 created a set the stage for a series of rebellions. You have another rebellion in Numbers chapter 14 00:22:30.459 --> 00:22:35.379 where you have Korah. And Korah says, you know, we're out here. We're going to die. God is actually 00:22:35.379 --> 00:22:38.919 going to fulfill this promise that He said He's going to leave us out here until we die in the 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:45.560 wilderness. And so our problem must be our leader. If we really had a better prophet representing us 00:22:45.560 --> 00:22:49.980 before God, we could negotiate a better deal. So let's get rid of Moses. And I'll tell you what, 00:22:50.019 --> 00:22:55.779 I'll be the guy for you. I'll be your leader if you guys will just follow me. And Moses is like, 00:22:55.820 --> 00:23:02.820 okay, fine. Let's say everybody go stand in front of your tent. And they all went and they stood in 00:23:02.820 --> 00:23:08.560 front of their tents and then the ground opened up and it swallowed Korah. And all of the people that 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:13.720 were going to follow Him, it swallowed them and the ground shut again. And they didn't learn their 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:19.619 lesson. And we get to Numbers 21, which is the reference that Jesus quotes in verse 14. 00:23:20.099 --> 00:23:24.480 There is, they're once again, they're murmuring against God. It says that they're murmuring against 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:30.460 Moses, their leader. And they're spreading poison with their tongues. And so what does God do? 00:23:30.460 --> 00:23:37.680 He sends poisonous snakes into their midst. And people begin to die. 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.680 Now the people repent when they realize that God is punishing them. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:49.840 And they ask Moses to intercede for them. And notice the irony here. You know, we're going to 00:23:49.840 --> 00:23:56.660 complain about you, Moses, but we need you to be here for us. And that's, again, a repeating story 00:23:56.660 --> 00:24:02.900 there. But God hears Moses' intercession. And this is what God tells Moses to do. I want you to go 00:24:02.900 --> 00:24:11.080 and I want you to make a replica of this poisonous snake or viper or whatever it was and make it out 00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:18.100 of bronze. And I want you to put it on a pole and set it up in the midst of the congregation of all of 00:24:18.100 --> 00:24:24.400 the people. And then whoever is bitten by one of these poisonous vipers can look at that bronze snake 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:33.720 on that pole. And they won't die if they do that. Now God could have saved them by simply telling the 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:39.800 snakes to go away. I mean, he told them to come and they came. He could have just told them to go away. 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:46.080 He could have made the snakes not have any poison anymore in them. He could have made the snakes 00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:51.380 not have fangs anymore so that they couldn't bite people so that there was no effect of the poison in 00:24:51.380 --> 00:24:57.580 there. But that's not what God decided to do. I mean, we don't know where the wind comes from and we 00:24:57.580 --> 00:25:06.440 don't know where it's going, right? We don't always know what God is doing. And God has Moses make an 00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:13.100 image out of bronze of this poisonous snake and put it up on a pole and just set it there in the middle. 00:25:13.340 --> 00:25:18.440 I mean, they have all of their tents around and the tabernacle sat in the middle and Moses' tent was 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:23.740 kind of in the middle and he just sat this snake on a pole there in the middle of the congregation. 00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:32.700 And Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son of Man also had to be lifted up. 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:39.900 And we understand from the New Testament that the pole that Jesus was going to be lifted up on 00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.380 was the cross that they crucified him on. 00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:53.320 John 3.16 tells us that God so loved the world so much that he sent his one and only Son. 00:25:55.160 --> 00:26:01.460 It doesn't tell us why, but that's in the story in Numbers 21. 00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:02.460 It doesn't tell us why, but that's in the story in the middle of the world. 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:05.400 Guys, because we are all snake bit. 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:09.420 And we're responsible. 00:26:11.319 --> 00:26:13.140 It didn't happen by accident. 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:16.079 We just didn't happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:19.440 We didn't accidentally cross paths with that snake. 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:26.120 We are snake bit because of our choice to rebel against God and do things our own way. 00:26:26.660 --> 00:26:27.960 And that's what sin is. 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:31.380 That's the bottom line basis of sin. 00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:33.039 Sin is not really just a list somewhere. 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:35.319 Sin is an attitude that says, you know what? 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:37.160 Talk to the hand, God. 00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:41.100 You go take care of your God business. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.420 You do your God things, but I've got me under control. 00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:46.860 I will make all of the choices for my own life. 00:26:46.860 --> 00:26:49.559 I know better than you how to run my life. 00:26:49.620 --> 00:26:53.059 So you mind your own business, God, and I'll mind my own business. 00:26:53.620 --> 00:26:55.920 That's rebellion, and that's sin. 00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:57.680 And we've all been bit. 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:03.259 And verse 15 is the second supernatural thing that Jesus tells Nicodemus. 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.279 He says that everyone who believes in the Son of Man will have eternal life. 00:27:07.840 --> 00:27:12.100 Now, the Israelites in Numbers 21, they got their old lives back, right? 00:27:12.100 --> 00:27:16.860 So if they looked at the bronze snake, they didn't die from the poison of the snake, 00:27:16.940 --> 00:27:19.259 and they got to get healed back up again, 00:27:19.340 --> 00:27:23.079 and then they lived their normal lives until they died in the wilderness. 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:28.299 But Jesus is offering eternal life. 00:27:28.299 --> 00:27:34.700 Now, I don't know if Nicodemus had any idea what Jesus meant when he said eternal life or not. 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:39.099 But the Pharisees did believe in the resurrection of the dead. 00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:42.079 They believed that everybody was going to be resurrected at the end of time, 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:46.240 whenever that was, and that we would all stand before God and we would be judged. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:53.920 Now, and they believed the basis of this judgment was going to be how well you kept the law. 00:27:54.019 --> 00:27:55.620 Now, the Gentiles didn't have the law. 00:27:55.720 --> 00:27:59.019 They were all certainly condemned to eternal punishment. 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:06.119 But the Pharisees were only about 10% of the Jews, of God's people. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:12.440 And the Pharisees believed, when you go back and you read their writings out of the Talmud and the Mishnah 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.019 and those kind of writings which had survived from the first century, 00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:18.220 they believed, well, they had doubts. 00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:19.220 Let me just say it that way. 00:28:19.299 --> 00:28:23.119 They had doubts that the average Jew kept enough of the law 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:27.519 in order to successfully pass this judgment which was going to happen at the end of time. 00:28:29.019 --> 00:28:34.700 Jesus says again, look at verses 16 and 17. 00:28:35.279 --> 00:28:35.440 It says, 00:28:35.579 --> 00:28:37.599 For God loved the world in this way. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:44.740 He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:50.940 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:54.680 So whoever believes in Jesus, whoever believes in God's Son, 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:58.779 will not perish but have eternal life. 00:28:59.019 --> 00:29:01.079 Why? 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:07.220 Because God loved the world enough to send his one and only Son 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:12.639 so that every person who's bitten by sin might look upon him 00:29:12.639 --> 00:29:16.500 and believe in him and be saved. 00:29:16.500 --> 00:29:21.900 Now John wrote a gospel and that's kind of at the beginning of the New Testament 00:29:21.900 --> 00:29:24.740 and he wrote three letters. 00:29:26.019 --> 00:29:28.500 First John, second John, and third John. 00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:31.259 And those are at the end of the New Testament. 00:29:31.380 --> 00:29:33.460 In one of those letters, in first John chapter 4, 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.700 John wrote that God is love. 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:41.160 Now I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about God's love today. 00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:46.019 There's people who say, well, you know, if God really loved people, 00:29:46.100 --> 00:29:47.640 why in the world would he send them to hell? 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:50.039 Let me just talk about God's love for a second. 00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:51.059 Okay? 00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:58.019 God is love, but God doesn't generically love us. 00:29:58.919 --> 00:30:01.480 And what I mean by that is that God just doesn't, 00:30:01.539 --> 00:30:04.299 because he loves everybody, well, we're part of everybody, 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:06.139 so God must love us too. 00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:08.599 It's not really personal, but, you know, God loves everybody. 00:30:08.859 --> 00:30:10.480 So God loves me and he loves you too. 00:30:10.539 --> 00:30:12.139 If you're sitting out there, yeah, God loves you. 00:30:12.399 --> 00:30:12.579 Right? 00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:15.139 That's kind of generically God loving us. 00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:16.679 God doesn't love us generically. 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.140 And let me say also that God doesn't love us genetically. 00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:21.140 Okay? 00:30:21.340 --> 00:30:26.299 It's not like it's hardwired inside of him so that he has no choice. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:28.160 He just has to love us. 00:30:28.460 --> 00:30:30.240 You guys know what a kleptomaniac is? 00:30:30.500 --> 00:30:30.660 Right? 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.080 A kleptomaniac is a person who steals. 00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:36.940 But they don't steal because they need something. 00:30:37.080 --> 00:30:38.380 They don't steal because they're hungry. 00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:42.320 They don't steal because they want something or they want to resell it for money. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:43.920 They don't steal it for their own benefit. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:49.060 In fact, they would rather not steal, but they can't help stealing because it's a compulsion 00:30:49.060 --> 00:30:50.660 that they have inside of them. 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.259 It's something broken psychologically inside of them. 00:30:53.620 --> 00:30:59.200 And so a kleptomaniac steals because they just can't help it. 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:04.900 And I'm here to tell you this morning, folks, God doesn't love us out of compulsion. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.380 He doesn't love us because he can't help not loving us. 00:31:08.420 --> 00:31:10.400 It's not like it's something he can't control. 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:16.280 God loves us because he chooses to love us. 00:31:17.380 --> 00:31:18.480 It's personal. 00:31:19.380 --> 00:31:21.920 You go to John 10 and what is it says? 00:31:22.280 --> 00:31:27.220 He knows his sheep and he calls them by name. 00:31:28.680 --> 00:31:29.440 It's personal. 00:31:30.700 --> 00:31:32.540 God loves us because he chooses to. 00:31:32.539 --> 00:31:36.259 And God loves us today, even though the tense of the verb is past tense. 00:31:36.379 --> 00:31:37.399 God so loved. 00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:39.139 God loves us. 00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:42.879 He chooses to love us the same way today that he did 2000 years ago. 00:31:43.579 --> 00:31:49.940 And honestly, the same way that he did 3000 years ago in the time of Moses. 00:31:49.940 --> 00:31:50.059 God loves us. 00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:59.460 So why do people end up going to hell if God really loves us that way? 00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:01.440 Here's the deal, guys. 00:32:02.320 --> 00:32:05.019 We are already snake bit. 00:32:05.860 --> 00:32:06.779 Look at verse 18. 00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:10.700 Anybody who believes in him is not condemned. 00:32:11.640 --> 00:32:18.600 But anyone who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the one and only son of God. 00:32:18.599 --> 00:32:21.539 Guys, we are already condemned to eternal punishment. 00:32:22.819 --> 00:32:27.079 Anybody who has not believed in Jesus is already condemned. 00:32:27.379 --> 00:32:32.319 It's not like God's going to, at the judgment, make a decision about whether or not to send a person to heaven or hell. 00:32:32.500 --> 00:32:39.179 If a person has not believed in Jesus, if they have not leaned into God's plan of salvation, then they're already condemned. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:41.259 God's not sending them anywhere. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:43.519 That's already their destination. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:48.799 I mean, we're dying just like the Israelites in Numbers 21. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:51.099 Now, I don't have any experience in casting bronze. 00:32:51.940 --> 00:32:56.259 Like 0.0 experience in casting bronze. 00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:05.779 But in my mind, I can't imagine God sending Moses into his tent to make a mold and to make it look like this snake 00:33:05.779 --> 00:33:12.720 and make a mold that you could pour bronze into and then get the bronze and melt the bronze and pour it in there and let it cool and get it up on that pole. 00:33:12.859 --> 00:33:15.720 I can't imagine that happening in less than a day. 00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:19.759 If they're lucky. 00:33:20.759 --> 00:33:21.980 Maybe it took two days. 00:33:22.339 --> 00:33:24.059 The Bible doesn't tell us how long it took. 00:33:24.059 --> 00:33:34.519 But while Moses is making this mold and making this snake before he could get it up, people are dying outside of his tent and all around him in the camp. 00:33:34.579 --> 00:33:41.480 And he would be able to hear the screams of the people who were dying and the screams of the people who had lost somebody that they had loved to one of these snakes. 00:33:41.480 --> 00:33:45.919 And this is going on while he's in there working and trying to make this mold in there. 00:33:46.179 --> 00:33:51.960 The people who died while Moses was making the mold and making the snake, guys, were already condemned. 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:54.920 But he was trying to save them. 00:33:56.519 --> 00:34:03.500 And guys, when you think about the camp of Israelites, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people. 00:34:06.579 --> 00:34:13.300 And when you have a snake, maybe a two and a half or three foot bronze snake stuck on a pole which was eight or ten foot high, 00:34:14.519 --> 00:34:21.659 it was a while before the people on the edges of the camp found out that salvation was there. 00:34:22.900 --> 00:34:27.840 I mean, literally, word of mouth had to spread that Moses had put this up in the camp. 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:33.800 And if you got bit by the snake, you had to go out there and look at that snake in faith, believing that it was going to heal you. 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:39.000 And people died before the word got back to them. 00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:42.280 And guys, we have to believe in the same way. 00:34:43.860 --> 00:34:47.619 We have to believe in Jesus in the same way that they had faith in that snake. 00:34:47.619 --> 00:34:51.480 It's not enough to believe that Jesus was really born. 00:34:51.900 --> 00:34:58.380 It's not enough to believe that he existed or that he was actually crucified by the Romans 2,000 years ago. 00:34:58.679 --> 00:35:00.059 That's the historical facts. 00:35:00.139 --> 00:35:02.359 It's not enough to believe in the historical facts. 00:35:02.799 --> 00:35:11.659 When they were looking at that snake, it wasn't enough to believe that the snake was really bronze or that Moses had really actually made that snake and put it up. 00:35:11.819 --> 00:35:12.679 That wasn't enough. 00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:21.039 They had to look at that snake and believe what God had told them, God's promise, that if they looked at the snake, they wouldn't die from the snake bite. 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.039 And we have to trust Jesus in the same way. 00:35:24.099 --> 00:35:28.299 Not just that he was a real person or not just that he died on a cross 2,000 years ago. 00:35:28.300 --> 00:35:34.039 We have to believe that he did it for our salvation and we have to look at the cross in faith. 00:35:34.460 --> 00:35:40.539 We have to put our lives, our trust in Jesus that he's going to save us from our sin and that we're not going to die. 00:35:40.840 --> 00:35:44.780 And we can be saved from the condemnation in which we already stand. 00:35:45.900 --> 00:35:49.480 And Moses didn't raise up this snake, guys, to remind them of their rebellion. 00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:59.019 He didn't put a snake on there to say, look, guys, this is a reminder to you of your failure, of your poisonous tongues murmuring against God. 00:36:00.300 --> 00:36:02.340 He put it there to save them. 00:36:02.780 --> 00:36:07.199 And so that it was the source of the problem, which was fixed to the pole, which is an interesting thing. 00:36:07.460 --> 00:36:12.740 Because the Bible says, the New Testament says very clearly that Jesus took not his sins to the cross. 00:36:12.840 --> 00:36:15.579 Jesus took our sins to the cross. 00:36:15.579 --> 00:36:18.239 Look what Paul says in Colossians 2.14. 00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:19.900 Listen to this. 00:36:20.219 --> 00:36:31.340 He erased the certificate of debt with its obligations that was against us and opposed to us and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:34.079 What did the Israelites see when they looked at the pole, guys? 00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:36.119 The thing that bit them. 00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:40.980 And so what should we see when we look at the cross of Christ? 00:36:40.980 --> 00:36:46.639 We should see our sin nailed to the cross, done that by Jesus and his work. 00:36:50.639 --> 00:36:58.260 Guys, unlike the Israelites who lived on the edge of the camp, waiting to get the news, 00:36:59.300 --> 00:37:03.800 we live in a world of people who are snake bit. 00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:07.800 They are dying. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:14.920 They're going to eternal punishment because they haven't yet heard that salvation is available. 00:37:15.260 --> 00:37:19.280 There are people out there, guys, who don't even know the name Jesus. 00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:25.980 And there are people out there who have heard the name Jesus, but they've heard all the wrong things about him. 00:37:25.980 --> 00:37:32.760 They haven't yet heard that salvation has been lifted up. 00:37:32.820 --> 00:37:33.900 They're on the edge of the camp. 00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:42.240 But the world stands condemned already for their rebellion, even though many have not yet heard the good news. 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:48.139 So why do Southern Baptists have the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board? 00:37:48.139 --> 00:37:51.239 Why do we send money to these places? 00:37:52.359 --> 00:37:58.099 It's because they take the gospel to places that our feet are never going to touch. 00:38:00.779 --> 00:38:04.920 And we give, as churches, we all send money to the cooperative program. 00:38:05.059 --> 00:38:07.480 And you may ask yourself sometime, what is the cooperative program? 00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:09.000 Why do we send money to the cooperative program? 00:38:09.099 --> 00:38:12.019 Why are we sending money out of our church when we could be spending it here? 00:38:12.219 --> 00:38:16.779 Look at all the things we could do in our church if we kept that money here instead of sending it on to missions. 00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:29.079 We do that so that missionaries and church planners all across the country and all across the globe can tell people the good news. 00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:32.400 And that's great. 00:38:35.699 --> 00:38:41.599 But these missionaries that we fund, we gladly fund, by the way, 00:38:42.339 --> 00:38:46.339 these missionaries that we fund are never going to talk to your friends. 00:38:46.340 --> 00:39:01.840 They're never going to talk to your neighbors or your co-workers or your family unless your family happens to live in one of these places across the world where these missionaries are at work. 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:10.660 The people that we can touch with our hands, guys, those people are our responsibility. 00:39:10.659 --> 00:39:15.619 We don't pay anybody to tell them the good news about Jesus. 00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:17.399 That's our job. 00:39:19.339 --> 00:39:20.399 They're snake bit. 00:39:21.460 --> 00:39:22.440 They're without hope. 00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:24.460 They're dying and they are condemned already. 00:39:26.399 --> 00:39:29.899 And they need to be able to see the Son of Man lifted up for their sin. 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:32.159 But here's the tricky part. 00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:38.259 And this is going to be the part that makes you uncomfortable in this message. 00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:43.980 Look in verse 19. 00:39:44.980 --> 00:39:48.539 Guys, they may not want to repent when you tell them. 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:51.940 Jesus says, this is the judgment. 00:39:52.119 --> 00:39:57.980 Light has come into the world and the people love darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 00:39:57.980 --> 00:40:14.699 Guys, when we share the gospel with people that we care about, and it doesn't matter if it's our neighbor that we've lived across the street from for years or our friends that we hang out with or our co-workers at work or even family members. 00:40:16.260 --> 00:40:18.440 Guys, my father is 91. 00:40:18.940 --> 00:40:21.159 He's never made a decision for Christ. 00:40:21.159 --> 00:40:26.779 All he'll tell me is he thinks he's got that squared away and I shouldn't worry about it. 00:40:28.460 --> 00:40:29.899 But I do worry about it. 00:40:31.099 --> 00:40:35.699 Not just because he's 91, but because he doesn't know Jesus. 00:40:40.319 --> 00:40:42.719 We don't know which people are going to say yes. 00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:53.659 But the reality of the world that we live in and the reality of the country, thank God for the country we live in, the reality of the country we live in is people have the freedom to say no. 00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:56.119 They have the freedom to say no to me. 00:40:56.219 --> 00:40:57.899 They have the freedom to say no to God. 00:40:58.399 --> 00:41:02.480 They can continue to tell God to mind his own business because they want to run their own lives. 00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:07.219 And we don't know when we share the gospel who is going to say yes. 00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:10.859 We don't know where the wind comes from and we don't know where it's going. 00:41:10.860 --> 00:41:14.120 We don't know who the Holy Spirit has been working on to. 00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:18.059 So all we can do with the best of our efforts is to share the gospel. 00:41:19.140 --> 00:41:22.380 Guys, and not everybody is going to want light shed on what they're doing. 00:41:22.460 --> 00:41:25.559 But we're not depending on our ability to be eloquent. 00:41:25.680 --> 00:41:28.599 We're not depending upon our vast biblical knowledge. 00:41:28.720 --> 00:41:30.860 We're not depending on our powers of persuasion. 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:36.099 None of that, sharing the good news about Jesus Christ isn't based on any of those things. 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.539 You don't have to worry about those things. 00:41:38.620 --> 00:41:40.220 We have fears in all of those areas. 00:41:40.219 --> 00:41:44.000 We're afraid that we're not adequate, that we won't do it right, that we'll mess it up. 00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:47.199 We're afraid that we'll lose this relationship with this person. 00:41:47.399 --> 00:41:49.059 And we don't want to lose that relationship. 00:41:49.219 --> 00:41:53.739 But how could you value your relationship with them more than their eternity? 00:41:53.739 --> 00:42:09.219 The one thing that we do have to worry about, guys, is whether or not our lives are reflecting the gospel or not. 00:42:10.219 --> 00:42:18.779 Because you can't come in here on Sunday morning and act like a Christian and go out in the rest of your lives in the world around you and act like the devil. 00:42:18.780 --> 00:42:29.760 If they see that kind of inconsistency in your walk, if you're talking the talk, but you're not walking the walk, they're not going to listen to you when you share the gospel with them. 00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:32.580 Look at verse 21. 00:42:32.579 --> 00:42:40.579 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God. 00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:41.279 Shown to who? 00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:43.639 Shown to the world. 00:42:44.840 --> 00:42:54.420 Guys, most of the world is going to need to see God at work in our lives before they're willing to consider a change in theirs. 00:42:54.420 --> 00:42:59.659 Now, there's two main challenges as we close up this morning that's coming out of this passage for us. 00:42:59.740 --> 00:43:03.500 And the first is our own personal response to the gospel. 00:43:05.159 --> 00:43:13.599 You know, one of the differences between the story in Numbers 21 and us today is that there was no doubts in their mind that they were snake bit. 00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:24.339 I mean, they got the fang marks and maybe some blood coming out of the wound and some swelling there and they're starting to feel not so good as the poison comes into their body. 00:43:24.500 --> 00:43:29.960 There was no doubts in their mind whatsoever that they were snake bit and that they were going to die. 00:43:30.860 --> 00:43:35.139 But, you know, there's a lot of people in our world today who don't don't have any idea. 00:43:35.219 --> 00:43:39.099 They don't have any conception that they have a spiritual problem in their lives. 00:43:39.099 --> 00:43:48.960 That not only do they not think that they don't have a relationship with God because the generic kind of God that they believe in doesn't have or require personal relationships. 00:43:50.199 --> 00:43:52.299 But they're not sure that they would ever need one. 00:43:57.139 --> 00:44:01.639 And they're certainly not sure that they're already facing condemnation and death. 00:44:02.739 --> 00:44:05.880 Let me just say this morning, if you're here this morning. 00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:14.880 And the Holy Spirit has been working on your heart as we've talked about Jesus and the need to trust in him. 00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:23.980 Let me just say that God didn't send Jesus to die on this cross so that he could condemn you. 00:44:25.840 --> 00:44:30.680 He did it so that he could save you because it was the only way. 00:44:30.679 --> 00:44:34.379 And how do I know it was the only way? 00:44:35.819 --> 00:44:41.099 Because in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before Jesus was crucified, he prayed. 00:44:42.259 --> 00:44:47.219 And he asked God, he said, Father, if there's any other way that this can be done. 00:44:48.779 --> 00:44:49.659 Let's do that. 00:44:49.659 --> 00:44:59.759 And the next day they crucified him on that cross for your sins and for my sins, for the sins of the whole world. 00:44:59.760 --> 00:45:13.940 If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about your spiritual condition this morning, let me just say to you, this is not the time to dwell on that. 00:45:15.240 --> 00:45:18.960 In just a minute, I'm going to have a word of prayer and we're going to have an invitation. 00:45:19.080 --> 00:45:20.340 I'm going to stand here at the front. 00:45:20.340 --> 00:45:30.519 And when I walk down to the front, I think you should get out of your pew and you walk down and meet me and we'll talk about this Jesus thing. 00:45:31.860 --> 00:45:37.900 It's crazy to put off something that you know that the Spirit of God is talking to you about. 00:45:38.860 --> 00:45:42.160 Now, there's a second challenge coming out of this text. 00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:50.539 Because some of you here this morning are in the same rebellion, okay, as God's people in Numbers 21. 00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:59.739 In the same way that they got up to the very edge of the water and God said, now go in and conquer it and just trust me. 00:46:01.119 --> 00:46:07.259 You've looked at your responsibility to share your faith and you simply said, no, I'm not going to do it. 00:46:08.279 --> 00:46:09.199 I don't care. 00:46:09.199 --> 00:46:12.980 God, I'll do anything else for you. 00:46:13.039 --> 00:46:13.939 I'll show up at church. 00:46:14.039 --> 00:46:15.119 I'll come to Sunday school. 00:46:15.379 --> 00:46:16.799 I'll even read my Bible. 00:46:18.699 --> 00:46:22.139 But I'm not going to be the one to tell the sale of somebody about Jesus. 00:46:24.319 --> 00:46:34.579 Guys, how can you expect God to bless you in your spiritual life as a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and be in direct disobedience to the point of your existence? 00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:37.039 God only created the church for one reason, folks. 00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:42.019 That's so that we could fulfill the great commission and take the gospel to the ends of the earth. 00:46:42.139 --> 00:46:43.500 That's the only reason we exist. 00:46:43.759 --> 00:46:47.159 That's the only reason God just doesn't call us up to heaven as soon as we get saved. 00:46:47.300 --> 00:46:48.500 We have a task. 00:46:48.759 --> 00:46:49.719 We have a responsibility. 00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:51.599 It's not a lot of different things, guys. 00:46:51.739 --> 00:46:54.860 It is to go and to share the gospel and to make disciples. 00:46:55.019 --> 00:46:57.360 And that's what we read in Matthew chapter 28. 00:46:57.460 --> 00:46:58.699 It's called the great commission. 00:46:58.699 --> 00:47:04.539 But guys, let me just speak a hard truth to you that the great commission in Matthew 28 means nothing to you. 00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:08.939 It means nothing to you if you're not willing to share your faith. 00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:11.000 And it doesn't matter what your fear is. 00:47:11.699 --> 00:47:12.059 Okay? 00:47:12.980 --> 00:47:17.419 Most of us don't share in that moment when God prompts us because we're afraid. 00:47:17.519 --> 00:47:18.579 We're afraid we're not good enough. 00:47:18.679 --> 00:47:19.539 We're afraid we're inadequate. 00:47:19.699 --> 00:47:21.159 We're afraid we'll lose the relationship. 00:47:21.159 --> 00:47:24.500 Moses' excuse was he couldn't speak well. 00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:27.960 He just taught straight up when God called him at the burning bush. 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:29.159 He says, God, I can't do that. 00:47:29.259 --> 00:47:31.179 I don't speak well. 00:47:31.399 --> 00:47:32.940 I don't even know how to say those kinds of things. 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:34.679 You know what God's response to him was? 00:47:35.899 --> 00:47:38.219 Who do you think made your mouth? 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.159 Go and be obedient. 00:47:44.980 --> 00:47:45.940 Because here's the deal. 00:47:45.940 --> 00:47:52.679 If you've grown up in church and in your mind God is only going to ask you to do things that you feel comfortable doing, 00:47:53.059 --> 00:47:55.539 let me just give you a reality check. 00:47:56.179 --> 00:47:58.679 Because there is nothing in Christianity. 00:47:59.119 --> 00:48:00.360 You're in the wrong religion. 00:48:01.480 --> 00:48:07.659 There is nothing in Christianity that doesn't require us to be dependent upon God and upon the Holy Spirit. 00:48:09.099 --> 00:48:11.240 Not being faithful to him. 00:48:11.320 --> 00:48:12.119 Not being obedient. 00:48:12.420 --> 00:48:15.240 Not exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. 00:48:15.239 --> 00:48:17.799 And certainly not going out and sharing the gospel. 00:48:19.019 --> 00:48:21.839 It's not dependent upon what you can do. 00:48:22.039 --> 00:48:24.479 It's never going to be dependent upon what you can do. 00:48:24.639 --> 00:48:29.659 You're not going to practice it and get to the point where you don't need God or to trust God in sharing your faith anymore. 00:48:29.839 --> 00:48:31.279 It's always going to be scary. 00:48:31.519 --> 00:48:32.839 It's always going to be risky. 00:48:32.979 --> 00:48:33.639 But you know what? 00:48:33.699 --> 00:48:35.939 That is what God has called you to do. 00:48:36.779 --> 00:48:40.619 And you can stand at the edge of the river and you can look God in the face and you can say, 00:48:40.699 --> 00:48:41.199 You know what, God? 00:48:41.219 --> 00:48:42.399 I'm not going to do that. 00:48:43.599 --> 00:48:44.899 And be disobedient. 00:48:45.899 --> 00:48:51.419 But don't expect on the back side of that for God to turn around and to bless you in your Christian life. 00:48:52.299 --> 00:48:54.479 Or to bless your church through you. 00:48:54.480 --> 00:49:03.099 The challenge for every genuine follower of Jesus is to go and share the good news with your neighbor, 00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:07.280 with your friends, with your co-workers, with your family. 00:49:07.780 --> 00:49:10.320 And guys, if you think anything at all about these people, 00:49:11.039 --> 00:49:14.099 if they mean anything at all to you, 00:49:14.539 --> 00:49:20.320 you should bend over backwards to make sure they at least get an opportunity to go to heaven. 00:49:20.320 --> 00:49:24.420 I saw the slide on the screen as I was sitting here this morning. 00:49:24.519 --> 00:49:25.460 Who is your one? 00:49:26.780 --> 00:49:29.519 Man, I hope you take that seriously. 00:49:31.220 --> 00:49:32.160 Let's pray together. 00:49:32.700 --> 00:49:33.660 Father, I thank you. 00:49:33.659 --> 00:49:41.699 God, you are always so faithful to us, even when we struggle in faithfulness on our end. 00:49:41.819 --> 00:49:45.039 Father, I pray for anyone here this morning. 00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:50.619 Lord, even as they were sitting here, they knew that you are speaking to them. 00:49:50.699 --> 00:49:54.440 They can feel the work of the Holy Spirit, the conviction in their heart. 00:49:54.860 --> 00:49:57.300 And Father, I pray that you give them the boldest right now 00:49:57.300 --> 00:50:02.760 to come forward and step forward and to make a decision to put their faith and their trust in you, God, 00:50:02.840 --> 00:50:06.640 because you have sent him not to condemn the world but to save the world. 00:50:08.580 --> 00:50:13.820 Father, we know that Jesus said that if he is lifted up, he will draw all men to him. 00:50:14.660 --> 00:50:15.620 Father, make it so. 00:50:15.660 --> 00:50:17.600 We pray that this morning. 00:50:18.120 --> 00:50:20.660 And Father, for every one of us, 00:50:21.039 --> 00:50:24.300 Father, who consider ourselves to be genuine followers of you, Lord, 00:50:24.300 --> 00:50:28.460 we've all been in that moment when we felt a prompting where we should say something. 00:50:28.519 --> 00:50:31.019 We should say something about the gospel to that person. 00:50:31.220 --> 00:50:33.500 And we backed away because we were afraid. 00:50:33.620 --> 00:50:37.680 God, don't let that be a habit in our lives. 00:50:37.780 --> 00:50:41.640 God, give us the boldness to also step forward and to go out 00:50:41.640 --> 00:50:44.240 and be faithful in telling people about you. 00:50:44.320 --> 00:50:46.620 And we pray this in Jesus' name. 00:50:46.620 --> 00:50:48.320 If you guys would stand with me now, 00:50:48.440 --> 00:50:51.460 we're going to just extend this invitation for a short time 00:50:51.460 --> 00:50:55.260 and give you an opportunity to respond to the Lord.