The Lord's Day Bible Message Outlines
January 10,
2010
Pastor Dana Johnson
"...even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up."
-John
3:14
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up."
1. Review some details
of the judgment of the fiery serpents:
Numbers
21:4-9 - Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of
the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of
the people became very discouraged on the way.
5And 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 our
soul loathes this worthless bread." 6So the LORD
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people; and many of the people of Israel died.
7Therefore 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. 8Then
the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on
a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he
looks at it, shall live." 9So Moses made a bronze
serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent
had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he
lived.
a. The sin:
disbelief; and critical of God and Moses.
b. The judgment:
fiery serpents.
c. The confession:
"we have sinned."
d. The
deliverance:
1) God is
the source of both judgment and deliverance.
2) The brass
serpent was made so that the people would not
attribute their deliverance to natural
causes.
3) The brass
serpent was made and managed by Moses to confirm his
position was appointed by God.
2. Consider the
"heavenly things" Christ teaches about His redemptive death
based on the Old Testament type (shadow) of the fiery
serpents.
John
3:12 - "If I have told you earthly things and you do not
believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly
things?"
a. The sin:
disbelief; and critical of God and Christ.
John
2:13-18 - Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14And He found in
the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and
the moneychangers doing business. 15When He
had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the
temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the
changers' money and overturned the tables.
16And He said to those who sold doves, "Take
these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house
of merchandise!" 17Then His disciples
remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has
eaten Me up." 18So the Jews answered and said
to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these
things?"
b. The judgment:
condemnation.
John
3:18 - "He who believes in Him 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."
c. As the brass
serpent was lifted us so Christ was lifted up.
John
8:28 - Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the
Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I
do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak
these things."
John 12:32-34 - "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all peoples to Myself." 33This He
said, signifying by what death He would die.
34The people answered Him, "We have heard from
the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You
say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son
of Man?"
d. The brass
serpent was a replica of the real venomous serpent.
Similarly, our sin and its judgment were borne by Christ
on the cross.
e. The deliverance
is experienced simply by looking in faith indicating the
free grace of God.
John
3:15 - "that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have eternal life."
f. The deliverance
comes only through Christ thus confirming His position as
God's appointed Mediator and Redeemer.
(All
Scripture quoted is from the New King James
Version)
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