Explores the themes of healing, confession, and reconciliation through humility, as depicted in the scriptures from Numbers and John.
Good morning, beloved family of God. Here we are, gathered once more in the house of the Lord, drawn together by His love, held together by His grace. We come as we are, with our joys and our sorrows, our triumphs and our trials, our certainties and our questions. We come to worship, to learn, to grow, and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Today, we are going to be looking at two passages of scripture, one from the Old Testament and one from the New, passages that speak to us about healing, confession, and reconciliation. These are not just words or religious jargon, but they are the very essence of our Christian walk, the heartbeat of our relationship with God and with each other.
Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th-century preacher, once said, "The Bible is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by quartz, or any earthly substance. This is a star without a speck; a sun without a blot; a light without darkness; a moon without its paleness; a glory without a dimness." Indeed, as we turn to these passages today, let us remember that we are handling pure gold, we are gazing upon a star without a speck, a sun without a blot.
In the wilderness, the Israelites found themselves in a situation of distress and danger. They were bitten by venomous snakes, a consequence of their impatience and grumbling against God and Moses. It was a dire situation, a crisis of life and death. But it was in this very crisis that they came to a realization of their sin. They confessed to Moses, "We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you."
This confession was the first step towards their healing. It was a humbling experience, an admission of their wrongs, a recognition of their need for God's help. They could not save themselves from the deadly snake bites. They needed divine intervention. And so, they asked Moses to pray for them, to intercede on their behalf.
In response to their confession and plea for help, God provided a way of healing. He instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and live. This was not a magical cure, but a means of expressing faith in God's provision. It required humility to look at the bronze snake, to acknowledge their helplessness and their dependence on God's mercy.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus referred to this incident in the wilderness to explain the way of salvation. Just as the bronze snake was lifted up on a pole, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Believing in Jesus is not just a mental assent to a set of doctrines. It is a humble recognition of our sinfulness and our need for God's grace. It is an admission that we cannot save ourselves, that we need a Savior. It is a turning away from our self-centered ways and a turning towards God. It is a surrender of our will to His will, a submission to His lordship.
As we continue to reflect on the passages from Numbers and John, we find ourselves drawn to the honest confessions of the Israelites ... View this full PRO sermon free with PRO
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