In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the TV, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was freefalling without a parachute. Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him, for his faith was in a parachute never buckled on. Faith in the wrong thing is as dangerous as no faith at all.
We are looking this morning at the need for genuine, saving faith in the right thing.
If you have never been to Bulgaria, then the only things that you know about the country are what you hear from others – what if no one is ever allowed out of the country? Impossible to know anything!
We cannot know heavenly things –
We only know heavenly things when God reveals them to us –
That is why when we think about God, about salvation about spiritual things then we do through the Bible. Jesus has come from heaven and has told many things about it. He has been in heaven with God, He is God and we must listen to Him about what we are to believe and do.
Faith in the wrong thing is as dangerous as no faith at all.
1. The Problem
The Israelites in Numbers 21 –
Tell the story of Numbers – Israelites were in the wilderness – been saved from Egypt – they were complaining against Moses – we would have been better off dying in Egypt – it would have been better if God had not saved us – God punishes His people by sending poisonous snakes – people were dying – the Israelites came to Moses and confessed their sin – then Moses prayed to the Lord God – God answer was a strange one – make a bronze serpent and put it onto a pole – whoever had been bitten only had to look at the bronze serpent and they lived – they were saved from death by looking.
That was the problem that the Israelites faced. They were sinning against God and God was punishing them for it.
Nicodemus –
The teacher of Israel, the member of the Sanhedrin – even he was in the same position as the Israelites. He was a sinner who faced God’s punishment. V10 you do not receive our witness. You have not listened to God Jesus told him. Nicodemus needed to be born again because of the problem of his sin. He needed regeneration. A brand new nature. He needed to be born from above.
Us today –
We are in the same position as Nicodemus – we are all sinners – all facing Gods punishment for sin – death came into this world because of sin – we need to be born from above as well as Nicodemus. We are in the same position as the Israelites. This nation is under the judgement of God. Romans 1+2 explain to us how God judges us. He gives us what more of what we desire. He surrounds us with biting serpents. We desire to sin and God takes some of the restraints away. To use an easy illustration, a man gets drunk a lot. He is sinning. God judges him and takes the restraints away- the serpent bites – he cannot stop getting drunk. That is God’s judgement. A woman flirts and makes inappropriate comments at work – she then has a one night affair with a work colleague – she is sinning – God judges her and takes the restraint away – the serpent bites - the one night stand becomes an affair that she can’t and won’t stop – her marriage crumbles and she loses her family. That is Gods judgement.
Wales is under the judgement of God – the problem of sin is all around us just as the serpents were all around the people of Israel. You have been bitten by sin we all have. We need the remedy that God has provided.
Remember faith in the wrong thing is as dangerous as no faith at all.
2. The Remedy
There was a wrong way which led to death –
God did not say:
Make some ointment – God could have commanded them to find some special plant and extract the pollen and make a special ointment. That would have seemed reasonable to them. It would have relied on the Israelites working to be saved. The type would have been ruined.
Fight the serpents – what use is this to those who have been bitten already and are dying? Each one could have killed a thousand serpents each. If you are dying it does you no good at all.
Make an offering to the serpents – God didn’t ask for payment in return for healing. He doesn’t ask them to offer their lives in service for healing either.
Pray to the serpent – God did not tell them to pray to this bronze serpent.
Look at Moses – the Israelites had been looking to Moses. They had asked him to cry out to God on their behalf’s. When Moses had done that the command was to turn away from looking at Moses and to look elsewhere.
Look at their wounds – the Israelites were not told to concentrate their energies on their own wounds. They were not told to examine themselves.
If the Israelites had done any of these things then they would have been like the man whose faith was in a non-existent parachute. It would have led to death.
God does not say:
Make some ointment – find a cure to beat your addiction to sin – there are spiritual doctors all over the world trying to get you to do something that seems perfectly reasonable and acceptable. I guarantee it involves you working your way to God.
Fight the serpents – if you concentrate on fighting sin – will that bring you closer to God? What does that do for all of us who are dying having been bitten by our sins.
Make an offering to the serpents – giving of money and time does not make you right with God and deal with your problem of sin. Offering your service to God, giving Him your life does not heal you from your sins.
Pray to the serpent – it is good to pray. Praying does not make you right with God – praying does not deal with the problem of sin. We must never substitute prayer for faith.
Look at Moses – many today are still looking at Moses – he was the law-giver and if you are thinking that by somehow keeping the law then you can be right with sin then you are deceiving yourselves. How can laws save you when you have been bitten so many times by sin already! Do not look at a leader either – I cannot deal with your problem of sin – I can point you in the right direction. You can ask me what must I do to be saved – I will point away from myself and towards another.
Look at their wounds – examining our hearts is a good thing for a Christian to do. This does not save you though!
God provided a cure for the Israelites –
It was God who provided the cure – He said do this – It seemed bizarre – all you have to do is look at the serpent and you will live – “I think that I should be healed in a different way” – tough – God has said do this and you will live. We see the grace of God in action here. The Israelites deserved the punishment of God. God graciously hears the cry of Moses and deals with the situation. He provides the cure and all who look live. All who look are saved.
There was a right way – by faith –
There was nothing magical in the Bronze serpent – it required faith. God has said do this – I believe it – I will do it. Trust and obey.
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name--the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal faith.
Remember faith in the wrong thing is as dangerous as no faith at all. Both lead to death.
3. The Saviour
The Serpent was the means of salvation –
God provides the saviour – a bronze statue that is lifted up for everyone to see –
There was no other way – There were those who did not look. Not everyone in Israel was Israel. In other words not everyone who was supposed to be following God actually were. There is a difference between faith and saving faith. Those who looked live. They had saving faith. Those who did not live died. They had faith, but it was either in the wrong thing or perhaps there was no real faith at all – either way they were now dead.
Why a Serpent? –
It wasn’t a serpent – it was in the likeness of a serpent – this was a picture of Christ – He was a real man but – Romans 8:3 tells us that “He came in the likeness of sins flesh” – He was not a sinner – but 2Cor. 5:21 “He was made sin” for us. The bronze serpent was not a serpent – it was a piece of bronze made into a serpent.
Madame Tussauds is full of statues that are the likeness of the people – they are not yet they have been made …
The serpent also reminds us of the Garden of Eden – the serpent came to Eve – another picture of sin.
Jesus was lifted up on the cross –
Nicodemus didn’t understand at the time – but Jesus was the Saviour because He was lifted up publicly onto the cross at Calvary.
How do you become a Christian? How does Jesus save you from your sins? How will Jesus save you from the punishment of death that God gives every sinner?
By looking.
Look and live.
Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Conclusion
Do you have faith? – Do you have faith in the right thing?
Jesus has come from heaven, not only to show us the way – but to be the way.
We are saved by having faith, by looking to someone else. Have faith in the right thing. God has clearly told us in His word who we are to have faith in. The Israelites were saved by repenting of their sins and by listening to what God said, then by following His instructions in faith. We are saved in exactly the same way. By repenting of our sins, by listening to what He has said, by following His instructions in faith and by looking to Jesus and Jesus alone.
There was a man who had an illness that though potentially fatal had a cure. The man went to the doctor who explained the desperate situation to the man. He prescribed the antidote. The man had to takes some pills every day for 30 days. He took the prescription to the pharmacist and got the pills. He took them home and put them safely in the medicine cabinet. Every Sunday morning he opened the cabinet took the bottle out and read the instructions. Every Sunday morning he put the bottle back without opening the bottle, taken the tablets out and taking them. The cure was there in his hands. He did nothing about it.
Remember faith in the wrong thing is as dangerous as no faith at all.
Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins, and having done so, are you looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith?
