A deadly snakebite… I’d like to tell you a TRUE story. There once was a nation of people who for several decades were nomads. They had a very wise, very mighty king who loved them, fed them, led them, and taught them everything they needed to know. They had no reason to doubt their king who had proven himself capable again and again through impossible situations. They doubted him anyway when they perceived a lack of food and water, and they began to complain about him. The king put a bunch of snakes in the camp to bite the people, and many people died. When they realized their error in complaining against their king, they wanted his forgiveness and asked that the snakes would be taken away. He did not remove the snakes, but he did provide a surprising solution for the snake bite. He gave instructions to make a bronze statue of a snake and attach it to the top of a pole so that it would be easily seen. When anyone was bitten all they had to do was look at the statue and they would live. Sounds crazy, huh? True story. Now imagine you’ve been bitten by one of these deadly snakes. You are marked for death. There is an antidote for the deadly poison, but you won’t find it at the emergency room. You can’t suck out the poison with a snake bite kit. YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. The solution might seem like the most ridiculous idea you could imagine – look at a snake statue on top of a pole. You have three options: 1. Pretend that you were not bitten and that you will not die…and die anyway 2. Ignore the solution offered and spend the short time you have left trying save yourself by doing all kinds of stuff that makes more sense than looking at a snake…and die anyway 3. Look at the snake statue and live You can read the historical account of this true story in the Bible. It’s in the 21st chapter of the book of Numbers. The nation was Israel. The king was God. Moses made the bronze snake, and people actually survived the snakebite when they looked at the snake on a pole. This historical event was a physical illustration of the spiritual disease that every human suffers from, and the one surprising cure that God has provided. The disease is the sin which each of us is guilty of; if you are not convinced of your own guilt then review the 10 Commandments (found in Exodus chapter 20 and also in Deuteronomy chapter 5). The consequence of our guilt for sin is known as the 2nd death - God’s incredible anger carried out in eternal suffering as a just punishment. But the solution…what’s the solution??? Almost every one of you is familiar with the Bible verse John 3:16, but in the two verses before John 3:16 Jesus refers to the story I wrote about. John 3:14-15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man [Jesus] be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus was lifted up on a cross as THE solution (like the bronze snake was lifted up on the pole). He was condemned to death for no crime of His own. Although men carried this out, it was God’s plan to provide the necessary punishment to satisfy His anger against sin. He suffered God’s wrath for sin; He did this in our place. He died and remained dead until the 3rd day when He came back to life. He defeated death! This proves that He was God’s Son. Jesus alone is able to save you from the fierce wrath of God. But only those who look to Jesus (believe in Him, trust in what He has done) will be saved from this terrible situation - you must look to the solution He provided. You can’t do enough good things to save yourself. You may already know about Jesus, but if you think God will forgive you because you’ve done more good than bad then you prove that your hope is not in Jesus Christ but in yourself. If you think that God won’t punish you because He is a loving God then you worship a god of your own imagination; He IS loving, but He also clearly pointed out that He is a JUST Judge when he told Moses all about Himself – “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty…” (Exodus 34:6-7). Psalm 99:8 says this about God: “You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds.” He is loving and merciful and forgiving, but He DOES NOT clear the guilty without taking vengeance on their sins. He requires a payment, and He provided the payment! That payment is Jesus Christ. John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” If you do not look to God’s solution then you are already condemned to suffer God’s vengeance against your sin. The suffering WILL happen one day. God IS coming to judge the earth. I’m telling you these things because of the joy I have that my own heap of sins have been forgiven in Jesus Christ. I’m telling you because I don’t want you to suffer when the solution has already been provided. You have 3 options: 1. Pretend that you have not sinned or that there is no God who will judge you…and suffer eternal torment 2. Ignore the solution offered and spend the short time you have left trying save yourself by doing all kinds of stuff that make more sense to you than the solution offered… and suffer eternal torment 3. Look to Jesus and live! There is no other way. John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 19:30:20 +0000
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