How We Have Misunderstood What It Means To Be Born Again

Cast, my name is Andrew Bolton, we have Pastor Robbie Gowdy and Candy with us today in matching shirts. Yes. This is so cute. I know. Funzies. Funzies. Yes. That's right. Twinsies. Twinsies. Twinsies. Twinsies. That's right. Okay. We didn't even try to match. We just happened to match. No? I got my uniform worn. The Long Hollow uniform. What's that? The Under Armour shirt. The Under Armour. Yeah. The reason I wear these shirts is they're long enough. Oh, really? Yeah. I've got a long torso and so I actually, believe it or not, this is a fun fact, I can actually wear a 32 length jeans. Really?

That's what I'm actually wearing. Oh, yeah, yeah. 32. 32. That's wild. Because I'm shorter than you. I wear a 34, but I normally can wear a 32. And I wear a 34. I'm all legs. Exactly. I have no torso. Rick's kind of like that, too. Yeah. Is that right, Rick? Rick's got long legs. Yeah. He gets that from me. So, I've got to have long shirts and so the Under Armour are the shirts, which is funny because when I started preaching Revelation, Katie and I were in line. I don't know if you remember this story. But the listeners need to hear the story also. Yeah. Well, bless this lady's heart. She waited in line. It was the last sermon. She waited like 40 minutes just to tell me this. And she had her Bible open, I think. She had her whole family with her. I mean, her whole family. And she stood in line and she said, hey, you talked about false gods and worshiping false

gods today in one of the churches. Yeah. And she said, do you know you're wearing one right now? Oh, really? That's what I said. Oh, really? And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. She said, do you see that Under Armour picture right there? That is a picture of us being under the oppression of Satan and the devil. And so that's what the under means of the Under Armour. And every time you wear that, it's the evil eye and you're projecting that. So I didn't know what to do. I'm like, what do you want me to take this shirt off right now? What do you want me to do with this shirt? And I'm like, well, I'm sorry, man. Most of my wardrobe is Under Armour. What am I going to do? I'm pretty sure the Under Armour just refers to something that keeps you warm under your football pads. I think that's where it came from. I definitely think that's what it means. But, you know, people. You got to love our church, folk. So anyway, but it's good to see you today. You got your patented color on today. I love this color. I love this color. I like that color, too. The ladies at Long Hollow love this sweater. I have that one. Sweatshirt.

And they tell me every week. Yeah, they do. Are we still selling those, Vivian? No, but we have some really cool ones coming out in an online store. Yeah. So I'm going to see if I can slip some Forgotten Jesus merch in there. I mean, I've been getting people asking all the time. I want to see them. Forgotten Jesus. Now that we have an online store coming, I'm going to see if I can just slip it on there. Yeah, that'd be great. Yes. We can do, like, I have a question shirt. Oh, yeah. We can do read your Bible, not your phone shirt. I mean, we got all kind of. Have you said that? Oh, you said the candy. I give the candy all the time. Speaking of that, go to John chapter three. Okay, John chapter three. Here we go. The serpent in the desert. Okay, enjoy the couch tonight, Pastor. Yeah, well. One of the things I want to clarify. We've been journey. This is a long passage, but it's a crucial passage in the Bible, particularly the gospel. So we want to take our time and spend a lot of time here. There's a lot here.

But let let me just say a couple words about what it means to be born again and the word salvation, because I think that's where a lot of the misunderstanding comes into play for Nicodemus when he is going to ask Jesus about the things of God. No one does these signs unless they're from God. And then Jesus said, for God so loved the world, gave his only begotten son. We know that you got to understand. Nicodemus is not asking a salvation question. In fact, I would even say there is a difference between the concepts of being born again and salvation. Did you know this? No. Okay. I'll just ask you, what does salvation mean for the Jewish person back that Nicodemus when he's thinking of the word salvation as a Jew? What is he thinking of? What do you think? I only have our context, so I'm not sure. Like salvation from oppression? Could be. Slavery, like from the Old Testament? Could be slavery. What else? It's three main things, basically, but those are right. So healing, a healing of any sort. Okay. Freedom, you know, healing. Redemption from sin, which would be freedom. And then restoration to God. Okay. So that's what they thought salvation was.

They did not think salvation meant going to heaven after you die. That's not what they thought of. In fact, I would say it's the reverse. They were not interested in leaving earth to go to heaven. They were thinking and praying that God would usher in heaven on earth today. Bring the peace of Israel, the prosperity of the nation, the decimation of their enemies. That's what they believe salvation was. So then the question becomes, what does it mean? mean to be born again? Based on what we learned the last week or two, what do we learn about being born again? Candy, you were just talking about this. It's not just a prayer to pray, remember? What did we learn? Someone could be born again how? Do you remember? I remember we talked about there were six different ways and Nicodemus checked off like four of the boxes. Yes. Man, you are good. That's good. Well, I can't tell you what they are, I'm just remembering the numbers. Because I could not tell you anything right now. Right, well, born as a king. Well, you did go through some challenging times with your health, so that could be explained. But being born again, you could be born again as a king, you could be born again as a rabbi, you could be born again as the head of the rabbinical school,

you could be born again, I found one more, seven. You could actually be born again if you were a slave set free. Okay. So that was the time. But all of those things you have to realize are physical activities or actions that symbolize, in a real sense, a line in the sand where you go from one chapter of your life to the next. Think of it that way, okay? So you're stepping into something new, a new life. That's why Paul says, we see this terminology, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a? New creation. New creation for the old things have what? Passed away. Passed away, all things are new. And so to be born again for them is this idea of a new life today, meaning it's gonna affect how you live today to determine the way you live in the kingdom today. That's what they were all worried about, the kingdom today. How do I live in the kingdom today? And we learn this, you got a question? Yeah. I'm just thinking since context is so important and you're talking about, because this passage is so crucial for Christians today about being born again. So where did the difference come from?

Salvation, going to heaven, all that stuff come from? I'm gonna tell you that, that's a good question and I'm about to get into it. That's exactly what I'm gonna get into. We only think, or we were raised to think, you're born again, you accept Jesus as your savior, and yes, it's gonna make a difference in your life today, but it's the insurance that you're going to heaven, if that's a legitimate heart thing for you. But yet that's not what it meant at all in this passage. You see what I'm saying? It's such a vast, differently a way of looking at it. Well, and it robs the average Christian of a prosperous, abundant, victorious life today. Because a lot of Christians have their spiritual life on hold until Jesus returns and they wanna make sure they have the right, they said the right prayer, as Dallas Willard used to say, they wanna have the right barcode so that the spiritual scanner of heaven scans the code and you get led into eternity one day. That's what we think salvation is. But for them, being born again, watch this, was a decisive act in their life, a line in the sand, that led to a change of action, a change of attitude, a change of manner. And so what they believed being born again was, when you're born again, you can inherit the life tomorrow or the age tomorrow, today. And let me just clarify, just for context,

to be in the kingdom of God as a Christian, okay? So the moment you accept Christ, let me say it this way, you enter the kingdom of heaven, you have access to the kingdom of heaven, but it doesn't mean you're gonna thrive in the kingdom of heaven. There are a lot of Christians who have access to the kingdom but don't participate and experience all the blessings and benefits of the kingdom, why? Because they're living outside of the confines or the promises or the word of God so they don't experience the kingdom. So here's what it means. To live in the kingdom of heaven means that you obey the rule and reign of God over your life. When God, let me say it this way, another way. When God is king over your life, wherever you are, the kingdom is manifested in your life. So if you say, Jesus is king over this home in my life, over my life, then he's king in your home because you're there. But if he's not ruling and reigning in your life, then you can't expect to experience all the benefits and the blessings of the kingdom. So when Nicodemus asked Jesus about, you can't do these things, you're a man of God, and what must I do? Even the rich young ruler, what must I do to inherit eternal life? They're not talking about going to heaven.

This is a sidebar here. Judaism taught, the rabbis taught that all Israel would have a share of heaven or eternity, or the age to come was the way they said it. They believe some kind of way, and I think they're right, but I don't understand what that means or how that looks, but all Israel will have a share of the age to come. Now, here's to answer Candy's question. What's happened? for many of us is we have adopted a Hellenistic Greek perspective of the afterlife. Yeah. And not the Hebraic perspective of the age to come. Yeah, that's the difference. Okay. Let me let me Where did that come from? So how did that begin? Okay, it came from Plato, it's called platonic belief came from Aristotle and Plato, particularly Plato. So if you remember, Plato, who heavily influenced the Greeks, Alexander the Great and others, Plato suggested that remember, the body was a prison cell, it was material, and the world was evil. And that anytime anything material, anything you see anything of the here and now is bad. And so the goal of platonic thought or spirituality, and this is where, by the way, Gnosticism comes in with john with which john is in his epistles. But the idea is, since the body is bad, then it's the job of you to meditate and look quote within in order to find answers in order for you to get out. Because the goal is to get out of this body, the prison cell to get out of this material world in which we live in, in order to get into eternity. So here's the idea, there is a bifurcation or a division of the two the natural world, the material world's bad, the spiritual world, the heavenly world is good. Now, think about that. That's how a lot of crit this dualistic approach to that's how a lot of Christians view life in eternity. I mean, we even use the word worldly as a negative term. Yeah, but the problem is, that's not what the Bible says. Because the Bible says God created the world and it was good, good, good. Now sin corrupts the world. I get that. And by the way, revelation ends not with God destroying the world with a heavenly nuclear bomb and starting over. No, God is going to redeem the world. He's going to take the world we live in as a canvas of clay. He's going to mold it into so he's going to start with something and revise it, edit it, make it better. Now that's the Greek, the Greek concept was this bifurcation, this dualistic

approach. Plato was not a believer, was he? No. So why did people listen to him? Well, because he had influenced syncretism. Remember? So Hellenism had infiltrated Christianity, where people started to adopt some of these beliefs in the Greek world, the Roman world, the Hellenistic world. Okay. The, the, the Jews had a different perspective. They looked at two ages. Okay. So they looked at this age and the age to come and what they believed and this is the different concept, which is simple. It seems, it seems close, but it's, and it seems like we're splitting semantical hairs, but we're not, it's, it's, it's a robust idea, but here's what they believe. They believe there was this age in which we lived in and there was the age to come, right? Which we were going to share in. And what they believed is the kingdom of God or to be born again was the idea. So when Jesus says, for God's, for God's who loves the world, by the way, and it's questionable whether Jesus even said this and we'll get to that in a minute, but I'll get to it in a moment. For God's who loves the world, he gave his only begotten son, whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal, eternal life. Okay. Eternal life's the word, but the word there actually means everlasting life or the life. Here's what NT Wright says, the life tomorrow experienced today. Now that's the change. So what, what, what being born again meant for them was I could reach into the future of the age to come and usher that age into the present to where how I live today, this is the big deal, determines tomorrow. You got to understand the, the, the, the Greek Hellenistic perspective of heaven was you're going to leave all this behind and go there and start over, hit reset. No, that's not the Jewish way. It was all here now. Yes. This is what we believe, right? Yeah. You're onto something there with them. How about that? With the book title? That's an interesting book about, but anyway, but, but the point is, yeah, if, if you, if everything here was bad, then the fastest way to get to heaven is to discard this and leave this behind. So I can go there. But, but in, in the Hebraic concept, it was no, how you live today determines tomorrow, which is the great quote from Dallas Willard. I love training today is for raining tomorrow. Think about that. Training is for reigning. The reason we get involved in discipleship, the reason you read your Bible, the reason you memorize scripture, the reason you pray is not wasted time. It's actually eternal storing of an investment that will receive an or reap a dividend tomorrow in the world to come. But not only tomorrow, watch this. When you train today, you bring that reigning to your life.

life today. You see the difference? So it's subtle, but it's a big difference. So Nicodemus and they were thinking, how do I experience the life everlasting, the life tomorrow today? And I'll show it to you. Go to Luke 18 before we get into John 3. Luke 18 is the question of the rich young ruler. Everlasting life today is a better way than eternal life because eternal life makes me think I'm going to go there, stepping into eternity. In fact, I would say if you want to be technical, everybody, you're an eternal being. So it's not like you just, your soul is eternal. God knew you before he created you. So it's not like, you know, yeah, you come in and you leave your, your, your, your soul is eternal. So when you die, it's not that you go and you know, you come here and then you live and you cease to exist. It's just where you will spend eternity. Okay. Luke 18, 18. Kandi, read that. A ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Okay. Stop there. If that was asked to us today, if somebody, that's me. Sorry. He's referring to the buzzing. The buzzing. Yeah. If somebody asked us in line, Kandi or Sunday, they see you after the intro and they say, Andrew, I got a big question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? What, what are we going to say? The average Christian is going to be surrendering your life to Jesus. Yeah. The ABCs of salvation, admit, believe, confess, and I'm, that's not wrong. I'm not saying that. Well, that's the starting point, right? But that's a different answer than what Jesus gives. Jesus knows the question and he knows the context and he knows what this guy's asking. So what's this? What must I do now? Keep in mind to inherit eternal life's an interesting way to say it. He doesn't say, what can I do to ensure after I die, I go to heaven. It's not what he's saying. Inherit is the idea of when I, when someone dies and I'm asking about my inheritance, am I worried about it when I die or when I, when I can receive it now? Yeah. Now inheritance is now. So I want to know how can I experience the benefits of the inheritance now? That's what he's asking. And notice what Jesus says in a masterful way. Why do you call me good? Jesus asked him, why do you call me good? Okay. Again, one of Jesus's favorite line. Yeah. What is G okay. Before we don't have time to spend on this, but what Jesus is saying there is the only reason you would say the word good, good teacher, not just teacher, but good teacher is because there's only one good. That's God. And that's God. And what he's saying is when Jesus, Jesus, when Jesus asked a question, it's a statement. So what he's saying is you're saying that I'm God. Is that what you're saying? That's what he's saying. And then the man said, and then,

uh, Jesus says, have you, you know, the commandments, do you know the commandments? Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. I've kept all these from my youth. He said, when Jesus heard this, he told him, you still lack one thing, sell all you have and distribute it to the poor and you will have heaven. Then come follow me. Okay. Notice, notice how many times Jesus gives him an action step as opposed to a truth to believe. Hmm. Well, that's interesting, right? Cause we would say, no, you have to believe this, this, this, this, do you know this? Do you understand justification, my faith, sanctification, glorification. Do you understand what it means? You know, the regeneration and conversion. No, I'm not saying those things are not important, but Jesus knows that the kingdom is brought to earth, not through debating theological, um, you know, arguments, right. That's not how it's, it's not even understanding the right theological premises or promises. Jesus knows that you're going to usher in the kingdom, that life tomorrow, today, but by how you act, which is why James had no problem putting works and faith side by side. He was a Jew. He was a Hebrew. He knew the two were, we always say it's two sides of the same corn, you know, faith and action, you know, or faith and repentance, you know, the two sides of the same coin, but I would also say faith and action are two sides of the same corn faith and works. But in a sense, you're going to believe in order to work. So that's what he's asking. Okay. So very different question than the question we're asking. Right. Okay. Let's get into the text now, because that's the backstory to what he's asking. And Jesus is going to say things like in verse five, the, the, the spirit is like the wind and the wind blows. You don't know where it blows. So let's read this just for context, John three, five, and then we'll kind of get into the text. Jesus answered truly. I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. And whatever is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. Okay, before you go any further, let me just say one thing.

Water and Spirit, water is not baptism. Some people try to say- I was literally about to ask that. Oh, really? Okay, yeah. No, some people say you gotta be baptized and be born of the Spirit. Actually, you could say, it's interesting in the Greek, the constructions is an interesting construction, because it doesn't say you have to be born of water and you have to be born of Spirit. It almost gives the idea of water and Spirit together. Could be even one thing. I've always said, and I'm not saying this is wrong, but I've always said you have to be born of water physically because when a woman has a baby, the water breaks, the child comes out. That's the water. That's what we've always believed. And then Spirit is the spiritual birth. So we always say you have to be born twice. But I would say there's another way to look at it. When he says water and Spirit, he could be talking about both. Because the Spirit is always connected in the Bible to water. And you see the Spirit in what we did this study, remember, the Spirit hovering over the water, the Spirit at the water, the crossing of the water. So-

The water gate, in their water gate. The water gate. Is that Nixon? No, no, not that water gate. That is true. But the point is, the Spirit and water are connected and it shows that there has to be this spiritual birth. The Spirit, the water's always connected with the word, the cleansing of the word. So it's this idea of being born again or born from above. That's the better way to say it. Born from above, okay? Let's keep reading, because now we're gonna get into the heart of it. And what Jesus is about to do for Moses, I mean, for Nicodemus, is bring into play Moses, which is odd at the time, but let's read. How can these things be, said Nicodemus, or asked Nicodemus, are you a teacher of Israel and don't know these things? Jesus replied, truly, I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don't believe me, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Okay, that's it. Now, here we go again. Everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Now, what he's gonna do is he's gonna connect the Old Testament account of Numbers 21, so turn there, and he's going to connect it to him. And it's a wonderful, biblical, Kesher, Ramez connection that Jesus says, hey, just like you remember this, the real-world account in the life of the nation, it actually was a foreshadowing of the Messiah. So I'm gonna show you what he's doing here. Numbers 21's an interesting passage. The nation of Israel's been wandering in the desert for a long time, and frankly, they're pretty tired of manna, bread, and water from rock. I mean, you probably would, too. I mean, same old water, same old manna. And they go to the place of an area controlled by Edom. Okay, so Edom basically says, you're not gonna come through our land. You're not gonna come right through. You're actually gonna go around us, and it's not gonna happen. So God, Moses appeals to God. God says, do not fight Edom. Don't do it. I know it's gonna be a long journey. It's gonna be difficult. You're gonna have to go to the southwest

around the land of Edom. The Edomites say, no, you're not coming in. And so they are forced to go around. Moses goes to the people. The people are like, we're done. We're gonna fight. So instead of walking around like God suggested, they decide to go head-on and fight the people, and they were ready to destroy the Edomites just like they did the Canaanites, and so they start complaining to Moses, and Moses is like, okay, let me go talk to God, and this is what happens. Numbers 21, four is Moses talking to God about this situation, okay, about the people complaining. Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food. Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died. The people then came to Moses and said, we have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us, and Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses,

make a snake image and mount it on a pole. Here it is. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover. So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten and he looked at it, the bronze snake, he recovered. Keep going. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and at the serpent, But when he looked at the bronze snake and they will live, yeah, live or recover, that's why it threw me off. Okay, the term here is, in the Hebrew, the term here is actually burning snakes, by the way. Burning snakes, you could translate the word nakashot in the modifier, burning snakes. And the idea here is, they believe that the- Burning snakes instead of what, bronze snakes? Yeah, it could be bronze snakes, but it could be burning snakes as well because they believed when the snake bit the person, it caused inflammation and it burned really bad before they died. And the death was happening pretty rapidly. And so the people are complaining. And so what happens is they go to Moses and they say, listen, we're done with this, man. We put up with it for long enough. I know God's taking care of us. I know these sandals haven't worn out. I know we have food.

I know we have support. I know the enemies haven't destroyed us, but we're done. And it shows us the human nature of human beings. All right, we get the same way. So what God says is, God has enough of the complaining. And so he sends serpents. And the word there is gonna be important in a moment, but he sends serpents into the camp and they start dying. And finally, the people cry out, okay, we're done with the snakes now. We don't like you, but we don't like the snakes more. Can you come back? And so Moses, as the man of God, the mediator, is going to go appeal to God on behalf of the people and say, okay, we've messed up. Would you give us an antidote, a remedy? And the remedy God gives here is against everything they have been taught up to this point. Why is this a problem? Because they just made a graven image. Yes. And why is that bad? Because you're not supposed to do that. Because God specifically said not long ago, don't make any graven image to worship. And yet now God's gonna say to Moses, take the very thing that is killing you and I'm going to, and put it on a pole and anyone who looks at the pole is going to be saved in a sense,

is gonna be healed or redeemed or spared. It kind of sounds like he's making them acknowledge the sin, like it's a repentance thing. Oh, you're onto it. It's, you're onto it. I have a question. Okay. Why the snake? Oh, that's another good question. I don't understand that because we think of the snake as the serpent. Y'all are on it. You just said we think of the snake as the serpent. Vivian, Robert, just get ready. Y'all both have teed up both. From the garden. Both of y'all, that's how good you two are. Both of y'all have been around me enough to know the very two questions that my brain thought of anticipating to answer. Because those are the two big questions. Okay. One thing that stands out to me is that they immediately took on this attitude of repentance instead of complaining. Like hard things happen in our life. Why is God doing this? A hard thing happened to them. Like, God, please forgive us. Which is what God wants.

God wants to lead them. Now watch this. There's so many connections here. We spent all day on this. The key word here is look. He says, if anyone looks to the pole, they will be saved. They will be healed. Okay. The word look there doesn't mean just glance or take a casual eye toward. The word look there can also be translated as to believe or trust in. Don't just look at it. No, you need to, you need to put some action. You need to put some faith by it. You need to put some obedience to do what I said to do. Now in Judaism, the rabbis would say, this is an actual double miracle from God. Double miracle. The healing of the people and the sending of the beach. Because not only was the nation healed by looking at the serpent, which is true, but they were healed from God using an image of the very thing that he sent to destroy them. Think about that. God sends this thing to destroy them. And then he says, okay, I'm going to use that very thing to heal you. Now I want you to notice, and you said this.

Do you think he was actually trying to destroy them? Like he knew that they weren't going to be destroyed and that they would repent. Correct? Well, now you're getting a little deep in. Yes. Sovereignty. I would say he did. Yeah. He knew. Yeah. He knew the outcome. He planned it, but he used it as a means to an end. Yes. I think you're right. Now here's what is important to note. And this is where people to answer Candy's questions Candy's question has gotten off track. People have viewed this verse, pagan religions have. I don't know if they got it from here. I'm sure they knew about it, but their whole religions form their whole or their whole theologies formed and the whole practice is formed around the serpent. So much so that they, some pagan religions, even the Jewish people, by the way, believed that the serpent had healing power, that it was the image of the serpent that could heal. And you know how people are. Once they get a lucky rabbit's foot, man, it's the, it's the key to being lucky, you know?

So they viewed the serpent that way. And what I want to make a note here, and you have to understand the serpent had no healing power at all. The serpent was useless. Who healed the people was. What? God. Was God. And the means by which God is going to bring the healing is through one word, and this is the key word. God could have, listen, God could have brought anything. He could have said, look, just put the pole up and I'll heal you. You know, just throw a snake in the air and I'll heal you. He could have used anything. You know, he could have said. Is that why there's a snake on the pole? Yeah. Like the ambulance? Okay. Yes. That's Blue Cross Blue Shield, the ambulance. Blue Cross Blue Shield. Or medical, just medical in general. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's Blue Cross Blue Shield. God could have used anything to heal. You're going to love this. Don't miss this. But God decides to use the serpent.

Why? Now watch this. Here's my, here's my suggestion. The serpent, remember, God uses images in the culture to have a knee jerk reflex response to the way they act. And so for us, let me think of some way for us that we, we would, um, we would think of Like when you see Uncle Sam pointing at you, you know, for go to war, pay taxes, you know, whatever that, that old Uncle Sam, immediately we know, okay, that has to do with America. That has to do with the government that has to do with war. Immediate reflex response. Right. Okay. When we see, um, I'm trying to think of examples, but you get the idea. If we see pyramids, three pyramids together, we know, okay, that's Egypt. That's Cairo. That's the ancient world or whatever you see. So these pictures in our world, but back then it was more pronounced. The serpent had a knee jerk reflex response that always brought them back to one passage. It's gotta be the garden. It has to be the garden, I think. And here's the question. Who deceived Adam and Eve in the garden through slander? Who slandered God? The serpent. Did God really, he was really slandered. The serpent, okay. What did God do to the serpent because he slandered him and, and confounded the people and led them astray? What did God do to the serpent? Well, he cast him to the ground.

He cursed him. He cursed him. He punished him. I think what God's doing here is the nation, some kind of way has quickly forgotten about what God did to some people or someone who slanders him. So what is God going to do? God's going to do to them what he did to the serpent, and he's going to use the very serpent of slander as a lesson to remind them. This is what happens when you slander or you, you come at God this way. Now, like you said earlier, the serpent is an interesting image or picture because it was used as a sign of healing through the years. We even have an account in the passage of second Kings 18, four, where the nation of Israel brings a serpent of quote, healing into the nation for the people to worship. And they worship this serpent and Hezekiah, King Hezekiah comes in and destroys the serpent and says, what are you guys doing? He breaks it into pieces. When we went to Turkey, not long ago, we went to, um, what was this? Was it, was it one late to see him? One of the cities with the healing temple, not was a Smyrna medical. Yeah. The Asclepius, Asclepius was the medical goddess and the medical in the symbol for Asclepius, where people went to this temple for healing, we remember was the, what was the serpent or the snake. Here's a fascinating thing you may not know in the Israeli army, the medical unit has a patch on their arm that they wear even now of a picture of a snake on a pole. Did you know that? And it's the picture of, it's a picture of healing. Okay. So that's what's happening there. But what Jesus is doing is he's making a connection to himself.

And do you think all that imagery came from this passage? I think it's connected. I don't know for sure, but I do know the pagan world obviously knew about this text and then others as well, but it's like, where else would a snake on a pole come from? Go figure. Yeah, exactly. They may not give. See, this is what I've always said. People use things from the Bible for their own thing, but then don't want to give credit. Yeah. I'm like, almost, you could just look out, whether it's words, phrases, symbols. It's almost like reverse Hellenism. Yeah. False religions even use like, and I'm like, oh, hello. I mean, don't you think that came from Jesus? You know? Well, there you go. Exactly. They steal and don't give credit. Okay. Jesus is making a connection to himself three ways because the raising of the serpent obviously is one thing, but three connections to Jesus, if you take a note, you can notice this. The people viewed the bronze serpent as a symbol of physical healing from their physical ailment. Jesus himself, you know, when Jesus offers salvation to us, there is an element of physical healing from sin and disease and sickness and things like that. So Jesus is going to say, just like the serpent healed, I'm going to heal. Number two is just like the serpent. was hanging on a pole extended in the air. Remember this? Jesus is saying, hey, this is going to be a picture of something that's going to look very similar not long from now, guys,

when I'm on the same kind of wooden pole hanging on a cross for your sin. And then finally, just like the serpent in this passage was an instrument of the hand of God to bring the people to repentance and turn back to him, Jesus on the cross is going to offer salvation that begins, like you said earlier, with a repentance turning back to him. A couple more things to note that I think are fascinating. The remedy for their sin was given after the damage was done. Okay. What does this mean? This was the prescription for their sin, not a prevention from their sin. Okay. What I mean is God didn't remove the snakes or the poison. He just provided the remedy. And how does that connect to the world? God doesn't remove sin, but he gives the antidote to sin, which is the gospel. Okay. Number two, God takes the same word that's used for the word serpent in the garden, but it's actually the word nakash, which is, or nakaosh, which is serpent, but it can also mean bronze. Did you know this? There's a bronze hue to it. Turn with me to, um, turn with me to the passage, uh, first Samuel 17, go to first Samuel 17. And I want to show you this little insight here. First Samuel 17. Um, this is the passage candy of what? David and Gwath. Um, yeah. Um, I want you to read, uh, let's see where we are. I want to show you something interesting. Okay. Okay. Um, can I start in four? Um, yeah. Then a champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor. Okay. That's in, that's really insightful right there. Really insightful, but keep going. Watch this. That weighed 125 pounds. It weighed almost me. Yeah. Um, there was bronze armor on his shins and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a weaver's beam and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. Okay. That's enough right out the gate. You have David who is a representative of, of the people of God, of the nation of God, in a sense, a Messiah of sorts, a mediator between God and the people between the people and the enemy. Okay. So you got David, this Messiah, like figure and across the battlefields, you have this enormous giant. And of all things, uh, the, the, the Samuel, the Scrip in first Samuel, it describes it as this is what you're it again in the beginning, read it again. He has a bronze helmet and a bronze scale armor. That's the key word there. Bronze scale armor. Basically what he's saying is this is a man-made life-size serpent. It's the age old battle that keeps raging. It's God against sin, God against his enemies. And the enemy is the serpent, the deceptive slanderer, the devil, um, the person out to destroy the people and it's the age old battle. And so once again,

we see this connection here in the Bible. Let me make a, another reference to that I think is helpful, uh, for us to think about Moses constructed of card carved image to look at. And what's interesting about this carved image is that it reminds us of what just happened when God said, don't make a carved image out of gold as a calf. So why in the world, why is Moses doing this as he lost his mind? They don't make any sense, right? Jesus is saying in this situation, God is using this as an example for something deeper. Okay. Go to John chapter 12, verse 32, John 12, 32, Andrew, you can look it up. Okay. Uh, John chapter 12, verse 32 shows us why this serpent was made back then in a sense so that Jesus references it in his day. And here's why. Okay. So as for me, if I'm lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. Okay. The verb there when I am lifted up. Okay. Now it actually has a dual meaning. It can mean to lift up or raise up physically like you're raising up, but it can also mean to exalt or to lift up in glory or majesty. So when you lift Jesus when you elevate Jesus, when you revere Jesus. Jesus also makes a reference to another passage about the Messiah. Candy, turn with me in Isaiah 53, okay? Okay. In fact, before we get to 53, there's a phrase at the end of 52 I want you to read. 52, 13. Okay, 52, 13. Because 53 is, you know, the suffering servant, the Messiah, he was crushed for our iniquities. He was bruised for our iniquities, crushed for our transgression. Upon him the chastisement that brought us peace. Okay, so that's, by his stripes we're healed. You know, he didn't speak a word. That passage, which is about the Messiah, actually was about Israel, then the Messiah,

but watch this. Israel 52, watch how it ends before we get into the passage about the Messiah. Watch this. See, my servant will be successful. He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. Okay, it's a play on words. So what he's saying is, Isaiah's given this promise. My servant, another word for the Messiah, he's gonna come and he's gonna be lifted up. It's a dual meaning. Yes, he's gonna be lifted up on a cross, but on that cross is a foreshadowing of something else that's gonna happen after he's raised from the dead and ascended to heaven. He's gonna be exalted above every name. Name above every name. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess on earth, under the earth, in the heavens, on the earth, under earth, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. That's exaltation to the glory of God. And so what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, just like the serpent was lifted up in the garden, I'm gonna be lifted up as well. Not just physically, yes, but spiritually, supernaturally. Here's what he's saying. On the cross, I'm not going to be eliminated. Here's the juxtaposition of the cross. I'm actually, on the cross, going to be exalted.

You think I'm gonna be done away with. Actually, that's the means by which I'm going to save you. Galatians 3.13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by being a curse for us. Written, everyone is cursed who hangs on a tree. Here's what he's saying. I'm gonna hang on the tree to take the curse upon me so that it would be the cure for your sin. My curse, your cure. I'm gonna basically, like the serpent, take on the pain and the suffering, and I'm gonna be the remedy, if you will, for your sin, and here's the thing. I didn't cause the pain, you did, but I'm gonna pay the punishment for your freedom. That's good. Well, you said he's on the cross not to be eliminated. Yes. He's on the cross to be liberated. Oh, that's good, yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Because he's going to be, he's been on earth, right? Then he dies, and it's freedom to go back where he came from, right? And where everything is fully realized, and then when we look to him, we're liberated from the death. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, that's a deep, that's deep, yeah. We have to die to ourself and sin and all the things,

and by looking to him, his death, we're free. We live in freedom today. Well, yeah, it's real deep, because what you're saying, in a sense, is when Jesus came to earth, he was bound in a body. Yeah. So the limitless God has limitations. Right. Think about that. On earth, yeah. Yeah, for eternity past, eternity future, he has no limitation, he's boundless. And yet for 33 years, he willingly accepts the constraints of humanity. The creator becomes the creature, so that the creature can experience the benefits and the blessings of eternity. Freedom, yeah. Freedom, yeah. Yeah, wow. One more thing, or two more things. Sorry, two more things, I'm getting excited about this one. Two more things before we go. Go back to Numbers 21, and I wanna show you a key insight here that's overlooked in English that we have to go back to the Hebrew to get. And it's, it's, it's, it's, no, verse six, 21, verse six, Numbers 21, verse six. Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them, so many Israelites died.

Okay, sent poisonous snakes is one way to interpret it. Another way to interpret it is this, God let go of the poisonous snakes. As if he was holding them back? Yes. Yeah. Now watch this. It means God is saying, these snakes in the wilderness, obviously you're in the desert, there's snakes everywhere, poisonous snake, they could kill you at any moment. You're out in the middle of nowhere, you could die at any moment. And I want you to know, up to this point, I've restrained these snakes. I have held them back from hurting you the way they could. Meaning, I am, I am demonstrating my provision and protection that you are completely unaware of. And so what God does here in this case is, when the snakes come and bite you, fight the people, it's not that God sends them, so much as God allows them to go by removing his protective power and provision. And what God is saying, and I think the point that we need to learn, and this is a great application point for all of us, the danger for them was there the whole time, but God prevented it. But the people rebelled against God, and God's like, you don't appreciate my provision, I'm gonna allow you to experience hell on earth

for a season, here's what God's saying, you took for granted my protection over your life, I'm gonna show you guys what it means to walk without me, for just a snippet. Now why is that important? When I was saying that, I was thinking, wow, this is the message of God for my own life, because we don't think about this, we don't think about the protection of God and the provision of God in our life, but you gotta realize, God is constantly watching over us, even in protecting us and giving provision for us, even if you and I are unaware of it, God's working, he's still working, even now, even if you can't see it, God's still working, my line, the line I use a lot is, the absence of God, or the silence of God does not equate to absence, it doesn't mean absence, just because God's silent doesn't mean he's absent from your life, he's still there, you may not experience him. And then we get into John 3.16, and I'll just put a period on this, because we wanna get through this today, but John 3.16, the most beloved and insightful passage in all of scripture, Candy, I just want you to read this, read John 3.16. Okay, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have everlasting life. Okay, did you read that or did you just read it? No, I quoted it. Look at her, look at her. But I don't know what version that was, you know, I taught that to the boys by song, by the way. For God so loved the world. Anyway, and they still know it today. That's what's crazy. If you teach kids by song. We're gonna need that whole song real quick. Just go ahead. For God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, right, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Shall not be done. Yeah, John 3.16. Yeah, that's a good song. But if you had them come in here, they would be able to say it. No, they could do it still, yeah. Because it's by song. Yeah, there's a lot of. So if you have little ones, teach them by song, and they'll remember that. Somebody's about to have. Another little one. Another little one. I know.

Any day now, how many days? Teach your little boys the John 3.16 song. We have totally, like we've just been ignoring the fact that we're having a kid. Oh my God. We don't have a name. There's no ignoring a child. No, we don't have a name. Yeah. We already gave you the name. I know, but Jenny didn't like the name. David Jesse. I know, Jenny didn't like the name. DJ, you could've called him DJ. No, let me just finish this. Okay, sorry. Okay, what's provocative about this statement from Jesus is, or provocative about this statement is, and some believe that this is, well, I'll leave it at that, because I gotta go back and check this, but let me just say this about the statement. When Jesus says this statement, okay, what he's saying is something provocative, because the ears would've heard, the hearers of the ears, the ears of the hearers would've heard one word that they would've totally pushed back on, okay? See if you can find the one word they would've totally pushed back on.

In that verse? In that verse. There's one word they would've said, ah, I'm following up to this point, not any longer. World. Because the world, they believe there was a distinction between the Jews and the world. The Jews and the nations. Jesus right out the gate, we just think this is the way it's always been. No, you gotta understand, this was. He's making a statement. Oh man, this was breathtaking for them. Whoa. Whoa, the world? Wait a minute, I thought you were gonna, I followed you until you said world, but I thought you were gonna say for God so loved the Jews that he gave his only begotten son, okay? It was shocking for them to hear. We know Jesus is not talking about universalism, meaning anybody can go to heaven, but what he's talking about is this. Whoever believes in him, meaning his death is sufficient, his resurrection, his ascension, when you believe in him, the gospel, then that is enough for you to experience not only life tomorrow as we've learned, but life what? Today.

And you have to believe in the what? Believe in the son, Jesus. Now, Martin Luther loved this verse so much that he created what he called the gospel in miniature. You're gonna love this. I used to have this memorized. I tried to quote it this morning. I don't have it like I used to. You should just make it into a song. Well, it could be. When I used to quote it, I'd do it so fast it would sound like a song. But he took the gospel, John 3, 16, and he said the entire gospel is in miniature right now. God, the greatest lover, so loved the greatest degree, the world, the greatest number of people, that he gave the greatest act, his only begotten son, the greatest gift, that whosoever the greatest invitation. believes the greatest simplicity. In him, the greatest person. Should not perish, the greatest deliverance. But, the greatest difference, have the greatest certainty. Everlasting life, the greatest possession. And my friends, that's the greatest message you and I could ever hear today, amen. Okay, so if there was one kind of takeaway, just real quick, we should discuss or just kind of meditate on, what would you say that would be from this episode?

Yeah, I would say, are you experiencing the life everlasting today? Is Jesus ruling over your life today? Are you manifesting the kingdom that Jesus promised tomorrow, today? Because that's what it is. How we live tomorrow can be experienced today. And again, you gotta change your perspective of heaven. If you think heaven is flying angels and babies singing, then this don't work. But if you think of heaven as just stepping into the age to come on earth, in a different earth for eternity, then that makes a lot of sense. Because how I live today determines tomorrow. And I would say, in order to realize all of that, like you need to, it's intimacy with Jesus, right? Becoming more and more aware of him in the world, in your life, in your family, through the word, through the spirit, you know what I'm saying? Like through worship, I mean, all those things. It's that intimacy that we cultivate on a daily basis that helps us to experience him and live in that today. And I would add too, yeah, I love that. And I would add, think of a time in your life where God had to allow or release or restraint to get your attention, to turn you back to him. I know in my life, I'll think about, man, why does that happen?

And then I'm highly dependent upon the Lord. I'm always dependent when things are going not well than when they are. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, thank you, Pastor. Thank you, Candy. Appreciate that song again. We're gonna, be sure to clip that for social media. That is gonna be a meme, Chris. I want a meme song. For God's love, the world. You need somebody who can really sing to do it though. That was joyful noise. Well, hey, we hope you enjoyed this conversation today. If you did, share it with a friend, leave us a review. And as always, we would love to connect with you on social media at TheForgottenJesus. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.