Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekday podcast of Sugar Hill Church, where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Chuck Allen, and thanks so much for joining me on another weekday podcast. Today I want to talk about the Son of Man being lifted up. In John chapter 3 and verses 14 and 16, we read this story about how the Son of Man must be lifted up. Now it sounds more promising. After all, lifted up is the language of ascension, right? I mean, monarchs and royalty ascend to a throne. They're exalted, quite literally. For thrones, they're set on platforms so that even when the king is seated, he's above everyone else. Members of the royal family are addressed as your royal highness, or these people are high. I mean, and God's king will be lifted up as well. But when Jesus speaks of being lifted up, he has something really different in mind from the normal pomp and circumstance of earthly kings or royalty. The parallel is not a king on a throne, but a snake on a stick. Jesus is alluding to a story from the time of Moses. Back in Numbers 21, God had rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, but. But in the wilderness, they grew impatient with God. They spoke against God, is what the scripture says. And so God sent venomous snakes among them. And it didn't take long before the people confessed their sin and asked Moses, whoa, step in and fix this. And in Numbers 21, verses 8, 9, the Bible says the Lord said to Moses, make a snake and put it up on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. And when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. Now, the rebellion of the Israelites was a picture of the rebellion of, well, us, all of humanity. We also speak against God and we also face his judgment. But God is gracious. I think we see that day after day, just as the snake was lifted up, so Jesus says he will be lifted up on a cross. And John elaborates, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him wouldn't perish but have eternal life. Here's the meaning of the cross. The cross is God's love for the world. The cross is God's giving his one and only son. The cross is God rescuing us from judgment so that we don't have to perish the cross. Is God making it possible for us to receive eternal life. Sin is like the venom of the snake infecting all of us, flowing through our blood, coursing through our veins. And the prognosis, of course, is death. But at the cross, Jesus absorbed the venom of sin in totality. He drew it out upon himself so that he perished and we could have eternal life. Now, of course, this story is not the first time we meet a snake in the Bible, right back in the Garden of Eden, it was Satan in the form of a serpent who tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God. But God promised that a son of Adam would crush the serpent and reverse his work. It was this promise that was paraded on Moses Pole. And it's that promise that was fulfilled completely at the cross because Jesus absorbed Satan's venom, disarmed Satan's power, and set me and you free in spite of our sin. Maybe as we read you long to know God, but you're wondering whether you've really been born again. Doubts can creep into our mind at times. Or perhaps you feel like maybe I'm losing my battle with sin and you want to change, but you question whether all of this story of Jesus is real and can it really make that different? If that's how you feel, take great heart, my friends. Those longings may well be a sign of the transforming work of the Spirit of God in your life. And your focus should be on the work of the Spirit of God which you cannot see. Instead, look to the work of Jesus which you can see Christ lifted up on the cross for you.
Go read those verses in verses 14 and 15 in John's story. Because when you do, you will see that Christ is at work for you. And in John chapter three, you can find what a beautiful story that Jesus has set aside his life that you might have life. My friend, thank you so much for joining me today on this weekday podcast. Bye now.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday, Sunday at 9, 15 and 11, and we're always streaming live at Live Sugarhill Church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if today's message encouraged you, share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome.
