Turn and Live
08/10/08 AM
Text: Numbers 21:4 - 9
Let’s imagine ourselves in this situation, put ourselves in the sandals of the Israelites. Fiery serpents are slithering throughout our camp. Snakes are biting people all over the place and everyone bitten dies. We have managed to avoid the snakes and while we are not bitten yet, our chances do not look good. Imagine the thoughts we are having and actions everyone around us is taking to deal with the threat. "We must do something. We must save ourselves!", but how? Various ideas surface such as: "If you run around in frantic activity it will work out the poison!" A few people try this, and die trying. Others, once bitten, go totally berserk in a frenzy of panic. There are those who try to convince themselves that they are not bitten, or that the snakes were not poisonous, and form little groups to delude each other while dying. And here’s a person selling a snake-bite remedy with claims that it is a cure to the poison of the serpents but doesn’t really help at all, not that the customers will come back with complaints once they have been bitten.
Enter Moses who says, "If you look at the bronze snake that has been lifted up on this pole, you will live. If you do not, no matter what else you do, you will die." Now let’s really picture how we might react, having been given this revelation. "You must be joking!" we might say. "Do nothing? Just look? How insulting a solution! What part do we play in it?" Moses responds, "Cease your activities. Just look, and live!" Really now, if you had been there, would you have believed it? Do you believe God’s solution today?
I.God’s Solution
A.John 3:14 (NASB) “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
1.We all have been bitten, and the poison of sin is coursing through our veins. It will most certainly lead to death. There is only one solution, but it is an offense to our belief in our own abilities.
1 Corinthians 1:23 (NASB) 23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
2.John 6:40 (NKJV) 40And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;”
B.Turn Or Perish
1.When Jesus sent out the twelve:
Mark 6:12 (NASB) 12They went out and preached that men should repent.
2.When Peter first preached on the day of Pentecost:
Acts 2:38 (NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
3.Luke 13:3b (NIV) "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." [This is often termed the "Turn or Burn" passage.]
C.Religion vs. Repentance
1.Many think the word repent means "to get your act together" or to "get religion" or "Straighten up and fly right"; as if we could.
2.Repentance requires taking in a whole new point of view; looking at it God’s way. God simply asks us to turn. This is the way we accept His gift. When we do, certain outcomes are promised. If we don’t alternate outcomes are promised.
II.The Two Ways
A.The "way" we are looking:
1) Will make sense if we look long enough; 2) will create desire to move in that direction; and 3) will lead to something.
Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) 12There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
1.If our line of sight is along our own way, or the way of the world, then this will begin to make sense to us as we continue to meditate on it, even if the way we are looking is really stupid. With this mind set, desire will spring up, which is the fuel that will lead us to destruction.
2.Any sin would do as an example, but let’s take revenge. If someone has done evil to us, the more we think about it, the more it will make sense to hate them, to nurse the hurt, to burn with anger. As we focus on the way of revenge, desire takes root and where does this all lead?
James 1:14 - 15 (NASB) 14But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
3.So how can we break out of the death-spiral of the way of sin seeming right, creating desire, and leading to destruction?
a.Read Ezekiel 18:21-32
b.We must repent; we must turn or perish. But to what? If we turn to just another of "man’s ways" we have just set our sights down another road to death.
B.Man’s Way And God’s Way Contrasted
1.Read Ephesians 4:17-24
2.It has been said that "a righteous man does whatever he wants, but only wants to do the will of God." The "only wants" part comes from having crucified our old selves:
Galatians 5:24 (NASB) 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
a.We do this by quickly repenting when we are caught meditating on sin, turning to God. If we do not, and give the "way of the world" its chance, our desire to sin will grow.
b.Desire itself is not the problem. The problem is the object of our desire.
3.Knowing how we function, God promises and gives us new desires by His Spirit, which makes righteousness an "easy yoke" to the repentant. We turn; He empowers. We lose "our" lives; He makes us new creations with a new mind, new desires (heart), and new works (fruit).
Romans 8:5-9 (NIV) Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires
C.Looking At It God’s Way
1.Instead, we must discover God’s will, God’s way, and turn to that.
a.Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV) Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
2.Back to our example of revenge, if we turn from fantasizing about actually hurting the one who wronged us in some way to just wallowing in hurt, pain, and pity instead; this is not repentance. Repentance is turning to God’s point of view; looking at it His way.
a.Ephesians 5:8 - 10 (NKJV) 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
3.Note that if God by His grace reveals something to us that we can turn to, it may not make sense right away. In our example of vengeance, God’s will is forgiveness! "Ridiculous" is our first reaction. (Again, any sin will do as an example.) But if we maintain our focus as we take in God’s perspective, if we keep staring at it, we will find that it is good, pleasing, and perfect. Beyond "seeming right", it really is right.
a.If we move from vengeance to forgiveness, we find out that God’s way is the best "revenge", that forgiveness is like "pouring coals over the heads" of our enemies.
b.If we forgive instead of wallowing in bitterness, the wrong doer’s grip over us is broken, and we find that we were only hurting ourselves. If we continue to take in God’s point of view, then after time we will look back at the old way and say "What was I thinking?"
c.So do not grow impatient if God’s way does not immediately appeal to you; keep staring at it.
James 1:25 (NKJV) 25But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
4.Ps 119:104-105 (NIV) I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore, I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV) His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
The Urgency Of Repentance
1.Isaiah 55:6-7 (NIV) Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
2.2 Tim 2:19 (NIV) "The Lord knows those who are his," and "everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
Conclusion:
When at first we hear "repent or perish", it seems harsh. But as we turn, we see that it is an incredible gift to have something to turn to. If not for God’s love, our only option would be to perish. But the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has appeared. To have the option to turn is sweet indeed.
Acts 3:19 (NIV) "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
Hebrews 12:2a (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Invitation
