Sermon Tone Analysis

I don’t know about you, but I hate snakes!

I find them to be very creepy!

This past September, as I was hiking in the forests of Northern California with my son, Tim, one of my frequent thoughts was “I hope they don’t have any poisonous snakes in Northern California.”

A story was told about one of my grandparents aunts, who lived in the hills of Tennessee and always kept a garden.

In her later years, even though she could barely walk, she kept a small garden.

And she would crawl around working in her precious garden.

One day while she was crawling around she came face to face with a copperhead snake.

Yuck!

Apparently the hand spade she was using was faster than the copperhead on this occasion!

One of the reasons why I dislike snakes is because of the biblical connotations regarding snakes.

The Bible often uses them as a picture of evil or of judgment.

It was a snake that tempted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

It was to this particular snake that the first promise of the coming Messiah was made:

This morning as we continue in our series, THE PROVISIONS OF THE INCARNATION, we will look at the Path to Salvation.

As we do so we will see how a snake was involved in this path.

Since we will be looking at a couple of different passages this morning, I will put the verses on the screen for your convenience.

But if you wish to turn in your Bible to the passages we will begin with .

I will be using a different translation than normal this morning, the Christian Standard Bible.

One thought I would like you to keep in mind this morning is this:

Because of God’s great generosity He provided the path to salvation through the giving of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

As we look at these passages this morning we will focus on the requirements, origin, and benefits of the path to salvation.

Before we consider the first passage for this morning I need to provide you some background details.

After Moses led the children of Israel out slavery in the land of Egypt they wandered around the wilderness for about forty years.

The reason for this lengthy wandering in the wilderness was their lack of faith in the promise of God.

The LORD had brought them to the point of entry into the Promised Land, but they refused to enter because they didn’t trust in the providence and protection of God.

Towards the end of their forty years of wandering there was an incidence in which Moses and Aaron also did not trust in the provision of God and they were disqualified as being the ones god would use to lead the children of Israel into the land of Canaan.

Shortly after this event Aaron died.

After a time of national mourning for Aaron, God provided for a military victory for Israel against the Canaanite king who had attacked them.

But the people of Israel soon forgot about God’s great deliverance, not to mention His constant provision and protection for them over the past years.

And they soon began to grumble about the food God had provided for them to eat — the Manna.

That is the context of our passage.

Let’s begin by reading

Now for the context of our passage in John.

Early on in the days of Jesus’ public ministry one of the leaders of the nation, a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus, came to interview the Lord.

The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is one of the most intriguing conversations in all of the Bible.

Jesus’ opening line must have taken Nicodemus by surprise: “Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

And this man who is described as being “the teacher of Israel” did not understand what Jesus was saying.

But he should have for this was referred to by God to Ezekiel.

According to D.A. Carson, “When water is used figuratively in the Old Testament, it habitually refers to renewal or cleansing, especially when it is found in conjunction with ‘spirit.’”

(Carson, Pillar, pg.

195).

Now, with that in mind, let’s look at .

THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PATH TO SALVATION

As we go back and forth between these two passages we will look at four requirements for salvation.

A Recognition of Sin

In the account in Numbers we see that God sent poisonous snakes in order to judge or condemn those who sinned against Him by complaining about the food they had to eat.

Eventually the people recognized their sin and came to Moses for help.

Look at

Obviously there are huge distinctions between the salvation that Moses mediated and the salvation which Christ mediates.

The most obvious of which is that Moses mediated a physical salvation — one which was not eternal in scope.

Whereas Christ mediates an spiritual salvation which is eternal in scope.

But in both cases there was a recognition of sin against God.

Unless we recognize that we are sinners we cannot journey on the path to salvation.

The next requirement is that of an intercessor.

An Intercessor

Notice the request of the people in

Once again, Moses interceded for a temporary solution.

The people who were healed from the venomous snake bites would eventually die.

Whereas the those who are spiritually healed by Christ are healed spiritually for all eternity.

Let’s consider now the next requirement seen in these passages:

A Standard

When I speak of a standard, I am not referring to a principle, although there is certainly that as well.

But I am referring to something that is physically raised as a standard, such as a flag on the field of battle.

Notice for a moment:

Note the picture below which certainly equates the pole on which the bronze snake was attached to a cross of crucifixion.

In our nation symbols such as the flag, the national anthem, and even the Statue of Liberty are standards which are intended to unite our nation.

The cross of Jesus Christ is the standard which unites the people of God.

Look again at the powerful words of .

When Jesus told Nicodemus that He must be lifted up, it would have been understood that He was referring to being crucified.

Nicodemus must have considered this to be a scandalous thought.

But eventually he came to understand the truth of this prediction.

Let’s consider one more requirement as presented in our texts:

Faith in the Promise of God

For the people of Israel faith in the promise of God required them to look at the bronze snake which was hanging on a pole.

Those who had faith in this promise experienced a complete, yet be it temporary, healing.

The sad truth however, is that there were many who did not believe that they could be healed merely by looking up at the standard which was held high for all to see.

Those who did not believe perished as the result of the judgment of God.

From the spiritual perspective there is also a requirement of faith in the promise of God for salvation.

As a matter of fact that has always been the requirement.

Our text uses the term believe, which is the verb form of the same Greek word, at least five times.

Some of the references are stated positively regarding those who believe, while others are stated negatively regarding those who do not believe.

Let’s read together noting the references to believing.

Now let’s turn our attention from the requirements of the path to salvation to the origin of this salvation.

THE ORIGIN OF SALVATION

There are at least three things in our text in John which I see as being benefits of salvation.

Before we look at the benefits let’s consider the origin of our salvation.

Look again at .

The reason I have chosen to use the Christian Standard Bible this morning is because I think this translation gives the best understanding of this very familiar verse.

Most translations, following in the tradition of the KJV say “For God so loved the world.”

Which in itself is a fine translation, but it has become misleading.

Often it is interpreted that God love the world so much.

But what the Greek term is actually stating is that “God love the world in this way;” or “This is how God loved the world.”

The origin of the believer’s salvation is the love of God.

The giving of the Son is the demonstration of that saving love.

For those who are here on a regular basis you probably know that I really like Charles Spurgeon.

Recently I purchased a copy of the Spurgeon Study Bible, which is what I am using this morning.

And in his comments on this passage he wrote:

What was there in the world that God should love it?

There was nothing lovable in it … Where did this love come from?

Not anything outside of God himself.

God’s love springs from himself.