THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS
II. “Why Being Good Can’t Save Us”
2-24-08
Ken Peterson
John 3:1-17
TEXT: ... as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
– John 3:14-15, RSV
INTRODUCTION
Several days ago, I had a conversation that it seems like I’ve had a hundred times. This man was talking about a good friend who was not a Christian, but was a very good person. He said something like, “My friend does not believe in Jesus as His Lord and Savior and sees no reason to. While he doesn’t question my faith or practice, he feels no need for ‘religion.’ He is a kind, giving person, and lives a virtuous life. Certainly that ought to be good enough for heaven, if there is such a place. What do you say to such a person?”
It certainly is often difficult to introduce such “good” people to our Savior. And sometimes we’re even in a position where we feel intimidated by the excellence of their life, realizing they are perhaps doing a better job of living like Jesus lived than we are. On the other hand, people with messed up lives who are at the end of their ropes are much more open to the hope that Jesus offers. They know they need saving.
But our difficulty lies in the common misconception of how it is we are saved. That thinking is reflected in a book written for children by California’s first lady, Maria Shriver called What’s Heaven? I’ve read that she describes heaven as
“a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk.... If you’re good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]....”
That is the conventional thinking, isn’t it? Good people go to heaven. But it is not what Jesus tells us. Heaven is for redeemed people, those who have looked to Him for salvation. That’s where our text takes us this morning.
As we’re looking at the meaning of the Cross during these Lenten sermons, this morning’s text is set in the clearest teaching Jesus gives on the “why” of the Cross. I believe this is the first time in Jesus’ ministry that he refers to the Cross. Here he clearly tells us why being good can never save us. It comes near the end of Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus, telling him he “must be born again (7).” In our text is the reason Jesus had to come and be crucified:
... as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15, RSV
This is an allusion to an event in Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness after their deliverance from bondage in Egypt on their way to the Promised Land.
THE ANTI-TOXIN NEEDED
Nicodemus is well-versed in the Scriptures. Jesus refers to him as “Israel’s teacher.” In the preceding dialogue, you sense Nicodemus’s confusion over the metaphor about being born again. But now, Jesus lands on familiar ground, an incident from Numbers that Nicodemus knows well. In referring to this, Jesus defines the root of our problem.
This incident took place near the end of Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wandering. They are now headed up toward the Promised Land, Caanan to make an approach from the East. Here is the story, Num 21:4-9:
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" [They are referring to the Manna]
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.
8 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." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
As is often the case, the punishment for the sin is an externalization of the internal spiritual reality. Their complaining against God, their discontent, and their ingratitude for the marvelous Manna (“the bread of heaven,” Ps. 105:40) God had provided for 40 year is spiritual poison. We refer to “the poisoning of relationships.” Grumbling, complaining, bad-mouthing others is poisonous, leading to the death of that relationship, doesn’t it? What God graphically makes known to Israel here is that these words are spreading deadly poison in the community and will kill it. With a snake bite, the real danger is not in two little snake bite holes in your leg left by the snake’s fangs– it is the injection of the poison that spreads through your blood stream. Initially, it may not seem so bad, but as it spreads and begins to effect critical muscles, it is deadly.
The Israelites confess their sin, Moses intercedes on their behalf and the needed antitoxin is provided to counteract the deadly poison. At the Lord’s instructions, a bronze snake was put up on a high pole visible throughout the camp. Now, whenever anyone was bitten by one of these venomous snakes, they only had to lift their eyes, and direct them to this bronze snake on the pole to be saved from the effects of the poison. By the way, I’ve always assumed this event is the origin of the common use of the snakes on a pole in a shape hinting of the Cross as a symbol for the medical profession. [Picture]
In referring to this, Jesus is telling us that this is prophetic of His death on the Cross. He will be lifted up from the earth on a Cross. And all who look to Him in faith are saved. Jesus’ crucifixion provides the antitoxin that will end the deadly work of sin that leads to our eternal death. And that is why Jesus had to die on the Cross for our sins. There is a spiritual reality here we may only partially understand. But the antidote to sin is not good works but the atoning death of Jesus. That is why good people can never be saved by just being good.
Of course, we can think we can provide our own way of being saved. To help us think this through, suppose a man is infected with a deadly cancer. But then there is good news, it is 100% curable through a newly discovered targeted chemotherapy that will destroy the cancer. Yet he is concerned about side-effects, and the narrowness of the medical community in offering only one way. Besides, he feels just fine. Nothing appears to be wrong. Instead he chooses to take some antibiotics that worked really well in getting him over strep throat. He goes on a super-fitness routine to beat this thing, to build his body up. He drinks carrot juice by the gallons, never letting anything remotely associated with junk-food pass his lips again, etc. While all these things are good in themselves, none of them are the needed antidote. He will still die. He must have what will specifically deal with the cancer that is spreading its death in his body.
Everyone of us has sinned. God’s Word tells us all have sinned (Rom 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). You can think sin is not a big deal or that you have your own way of dealing with it. You may think that doing good things cancels the bad things you’ve done. But Jesus is telling you that in the spiritual realm there are laws. Any sin is a spiritual death sentence. There is only one way it is removed and that is by His death on the Cross. That alone takes care of its deadly effect– spiritual death now and eternal death after we die.
Notice our text and the two verses following, “believe” is the operative verb here:
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:14-17)
What does it mean to believe and receive eternal life? What would you say if someone asked you how they could become a Christian? For the rest of my sermon, I’m going to give you a tool to help you present this truth to people who aren’t Christians.
THE BRIDGE ILLUSTRATION
Every Christian should know how to lead someone to Christ. We all need to have in mind a clear, logical presentation of the Gospel– just how it is we are saved. There are many models like Campus Crusade’s Four Spiritual Laws. The one I’ll use this morning is often used by The Navigators, referred to as “The Bridge Illustration.” I choose it because of how it uses the Cross as the bridge that it is. To those of you familiar with this, review is always good. If you don’t have a clear plan in mind in how to tell someone how one becomes a Christian, here’s one you can use. Take a copy of this sermon and memorize this presentation during the remainder of Lent. You never know how or when God might be able to use you if you’re prepared.
This is set up with four basic concepts for our salvation:
1. God’s Love
2. Our Problem
3. God’s Remedy
4. Our Response
For clarity, you draw an illustration – adding to it for each step.
1. God’s Love. The Bible teaches us that God is love and that He loves each of us. He wants us all to experience life to its fullest– abundant life. This includes things like love, peace, purpose, and fulfillment. In fact, Jesus summed up His purpose in coming to the earth as, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (Jn. 10:10).
Now life was perfect when God created the earth and Adam and Eve. In relationship with God, there was that fulfillment and joy of abundant life. That has always been God’s plan for everyone.
2. Our Problem. True love can only exist with freedom of choice. If there is no choice, it is not really love, but a mandated response. So God created humanity with this awesome freedom to choose. Tragically, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God and go their own way. But the story of Adam and Eve is everyone’s story, for Isaiah 53:6 tells us, all we like sheep have gone astray, each has turned to his own way.
With their sin, Adam and Eve were cut off from the Tree of Life and intimate fellowship with God. Ever since, that has been the problem with the human race. The diagram illustrates this gap. Romans 6:23 states it succinctly, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The first half of this verse lets us know the consequences, the payment for sin is spiritual death. We’ll get to the “eternal life” part in a moment.
Hebrews 9:27 tells us man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. If we die with our sins we face the prospect of eternal separation from God– eternal death.
3. God’s Remedy. God in His mercy and love has provided the only bridge possible to cross that gulf that exists between us and Him. Romans 5:8 tells us, But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The Bible teaches us that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, that he took the death our sins brought into His own body on the Cross so our sins can be forgiven. You may want to add John 3:16 here that we’ve already covered in the sermon.
4. Our Response. While Christ has made the way for us to cross over to God’s side and experience the fulness of life He wants us to have, we are not automatically on God’s side. We have a choice to make. Just as everything got off track with the bad choice of Adam and Eve, now we can choose to avail ourselves of God’s forgiveness made possible in Jesus and be restored to fellowship and life with Him.
The Bible says, speaking of Jesus, to all who receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (Jn. 1:12). Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). That door is to our hearts, the innermost core of our beings. At our invitation He comes in and we experience the joy of fellowship with Him and its abundant life.
Jesus summarizes it all in John 5:25 when He says, I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes in Me, has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. The word “believe” means more than intellectual belief– believing facts. It means a life-commitment, trusting our lives to that truth. And here, I like the chair illustration made famous by the late Dr. James Kennedy. I know I’ve used it before, but it is classic and I encourage you to use it. [Demonstrate]
With the transfer of our trust to Christ alone for our salvation, we are born again. The Spirit of Jesus (the Holy Spirit) enters into our hearts creating new life– a heart that now is in fellowship with and responsive to Jesus.
CONCLUSION
In closing, I share a testimony from Peter Jenkins. In 1973, as a young man, he began a five-year walk across America. “National Geographic” published two photo-journalism articles on this which led to Peter’s two best-selling books, the first being A Walk Across America. I remember enjoying the book. I don’t believe this story of his conversion is in it. But a few years ago in an interview he related how this happened. He says it was two years into his journey that he stumbled into an Alabama revival meeting and ended up accepting Christ. Here’s how Peter Jenkins describes it:
“I grew up in Connecticut in a very quiet, official, East Coast Presbyterian church. My parents believed, and they made their six children go to church and Sunday School. I wanted a religion that had emotion in it. I wanted a religion that had life, action, and the kinds of things I found in the kind of music I loved.
“When the revival began, the guy from Texas named James Robison came out screaming and preaching and throwing his arms around. There was sweat dripping and everything. He was dressed in a three-piece suit and cowboy boots.
“The two of us could not have been more unalike. I was this young man with sun-bleached reddish hair down to his shoulders and an unshaven beard. But I honestly felt like when he was preaching the gospel, a huge sword was slicing me into a whole bunch of pieces.
If I may interject, what he is referring to is of course “the sword of the Spirit” which is the Word of God described in Heb. 4:12-13–
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Now, resuming Peter’s testimony:
“He was saying, ‘Joining a church won’t make you a Christian any more than joining a Lion’s Club will make you a lion. From the day you were born, you wanted to do your own thing and you were rebellious against God. If you really want to really know God, you’ve go to repent of this rebellion which the Bible calls sin.’
“I could relate to that. I thought I was a pretty good person. I thought I was in search of the truth. The more I heard this stuff, [the more I realized that] religion is not the answer; salvation is. You just have something inside of you that knows when you hear the truth. All the things we think about ourselves, how we define ourselves– all that is insignificant when it comes to the soul.
“James gave me one of the greatest gifts anybody could have ever given to me. He led me to the Lord.”