He Must Be Lifted Up | Sermon 11/06/2022

John 3:11-15 and the Call to Look to Christ

The gospel according to John chapter 3. We're going to be in verses 11 through 15 today of chapter 3. The title of this sermon today church is, He Must Be Lifted Up. Two weeks ago it was, You Must Be Born Again.

This week is, He Must Be Lifted Up. Starting in verse 11 of the gospel according to John chapter 3, hear now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true God. Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony.

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life.

Thus ending the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's pray quickly. Lord, please would you speak through me today? Would you use me, Lord? God, please edify your people today. Illuminate the scriptures to them, dear Lord.

God, do what only you can do by your Holy Spirit. God, I am merely a man, but Lord, you can make these living words from your Bible, from these holy scriptures, come to life for them and so I pray that now.

God, help us to know much more deeply what these mean and let us, Lord, take these with us. Let us just not just leave them here, but let them be something that, as you said in your word, that are on our foreheads and our hands and they're our way of life.

So Lord, please help me to speak in a way that is clear and helpful and let it always be true. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So there is something significant about our eyes and what we put them on. Jesus said in the gospel according to Matthew, the eye is the lamp of the body and so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

Our eyes, Jesus is trying to communicate here, are like entrances or windows to our hearts, our minds, our souls. The eye being clear is not merely about good eyesight. It's about the ability to look upon what is good and perceive that it is good, while removing your eyes from that which is bad and perceiving the things that are bad as bad.

Because what you look to matters. What you look to in this life matters. Eve kept her eyes fixated on the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What's interesting is if you look at the Hebrew in Genesis chapter 2 and 3, you'll see that the tree of life was in the center, but then for Eve she saw in her own eyes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as the center of the garden.

And so people have argued which tree was actually in the center, the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but at least what we know for Eve, it was her center. It was her focus. It's where she put her eyes.

She kept her eyes fixated on that fruit, and therefore she brought a curse upon all mankind and all the land. We are still witness to those effects even to this day. Cain. Cain stared at the offering that his brother Abel brought to the Lord and coveted his brother's offering over his own produce offering, if you remember.

He was jealous of his brother's favor before God. He too, Cain, brought a curse upon himself. If you remember that, Cain was cursed to wander the earth as a vagabond, and he said that is worse than death.

In fact, the Lord God said, I'm going to put a mark upon you so that no one will kill you. You are to wander the earth in exile. That was Cain. He had his curse. After the flood had subsided and Noah and his family survived during their time on the ark, it says after the water had dissipated that Noah started farming.

That makes sense to me, right? All the water disappears, all the vegetation, everything is dead. You're like, I better start growing things so we can continue to live. And so Noah starts farming the land, and one thing that he plants is a vineyard.

And after the vintage time, after the harvest, he fermented some of those grapes, and he made wine, and he drank it and got, it says, drunk. And so Noah went into his tent after drinking the wine, and he uncovered himself, and he had three sons.

One of them was Ham. Ham, son of Noah, father of Canaan, went into his father Noah's tent and looked upon his father's nakedness. Now, it doesn't exactly say what happened, and I remember even in seminary when we went over the three to four different options of what possibly happened there, and we can't go into that now, but essentially, at the very least, Ham did something sinful.

He looked upon his father's nakedness. He did something that he shouldn't. He looked where he shouldn't, and he sinned. And for this reason, Ham, like the others I just mentioned, Eve and Cain, he also brought a curse upon himself.

It says, cursed be Canaan, Noah said, a servant always to his brothers. He would always be below Shem and Japheth. And that curse continued even especially when the Israelites, who are descendants of Shem, took Canaan over, which would be the promised land.

Do you see that? The curse went all the way to the point that where Canaan was, Shem's son, that was the promised land, and the Israelites were to go in and destroy all the Canaanites. So he had his curse.

When the Lord God had determined to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded with the Lord to spare his nephew Lot. Lord, if there is at least this many people that are righteous in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, would you save them?

Lord said, I would. And it came down to his nephew Lot. Now, I'm sure most of us remember the account of the men of the city who tried to sexually assault the angelic messengers in Lot's home. That's where we get the word sodomy or sodomite.

Homosexual acts were being done there. But when the morning dawned, and God was about to punish the city, the angelic messengers yelled to Lot, escape for your life. Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley.

In fact, escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away. However, Lot's wife loved the prosperity and luxury of Sodom. That's where her heart was. And so she disobeyed the command, and most of you probably know it.

Lot's wife, as they were running away from Sodom, she looked back upon the city, and thereby bringing a curse upon herself. It says that she instantly turned into a pillar of salt, dead. Dead. Samson, this is the last one I'll mention.

Samson was a judge during the time of the first years of Israelites' occupation of the promised land. And Samson couldn't keep his eyes off of women. And if you remember, he took the Nazarite vow, and he was to not cut his hair.

And he had strength because of his long hair, but ultimately we know his strength was from God. Nevertheless, his vice was his lust and his desire to look at women. And it says he looked upon a woman among the Philistines.

The text says, literally, she looked good to him. And so he was supposed to marry among his own people. They weren't to intermarry with the Philistines or the Jebusites or any of the Canaanites or people surrounding them.

But he wanted to marry this Philistine woman. But during a time of a feast, great trouble erupted after his new wife shared the secret of his riddle with the men at the party, and Samson killed every single one of them.

And his wife was then given, at that moment, to one of his companions. So essentially, the next day, Samson goes to his wife's father's house to get his bride and to consummate the marriage with her. And her father says, I'm sorry, Samson, I gave your wife to your friend.

And so at this moment, Samson is completely upset. He's totally angry. You can tell already he's a hothead. He had just killed a bunch of men previously before. And so what he does to get back at her father, his now ex-bride, he gets a hundred foxes, and he ties torches to their tails and scurries the foxes through their fields.

And the fire runs back behind their tails, and they light all the crops on fire, destroying everything, bringing a famine upon their land. But Samson could not even then, after his ex-wife's father offered the younger sister, he could not stop looking at women even then.

And it says that he put his gaze upon a woman named Delilah, and this woman seduced him, discovering the power of his strength. She deceived him to the point of him taking on a curse, being without his strength.

And it resulted in his own demise. You see, all of these examples, all of these men and women were looking to things that they thought would be good for them, but were in fact sinful and brought curses upon their lives.

Things that only bring a curse. But today our text, and this will make sense shortly as we go through the sermon, our text today will show us who and what we should be looking to. Who and what we should be looking to.

And an account of Israel, of the Israelites, is brought up in this text. We read it, and it's not unlike the ones that we just read, except this time we are shown who we should look upon. All the other times were things that we shouldn't look upon.

This time is something that we should, someone who we should look upon. And let's go through our text now. Go to verse 11. Verse 11 says, once again, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

Now you will remember this section of John's gospel, starting in verse 1, has been Jesus teaching about regeneration and entering the kingdom of God. We saw that to enter two weeks ago. I preached on this, one must be born again, which is as Jesus expounded as being born of water and spirit.

Those are the same thing. Being born of water and spirit, or being born again. And all of that dialogue from verse 1 in chapter 3 until now has been Jesus with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was sent by the council, and as I spoke, is either challenging Jesus or is seeking truth from the one whom he has seen do signs for the past week at the feast of unleavened bread.

It could be a little bit of both, but that's the context that we have. This man was wealthy. He was a prominent Judean leader. He was a Sanhedrin council member, a Pharisee, a teacher of Israel. That's what we saw.

Essentially, Nicodemus is the archetype, the archetype of who we would consider to be the most righteous of the land. Someone like Nicodemus has got to be the best of the best that Israel has to offer.

He's the archetype in that way. And so what we see is he was an expert too. That's in the context. But we found Jesus in the position of an evangelist, and Nicodemus as an object of that evangelism. Roles were reversed, and the mighty teacher of Israel, Nicodemus, was humbled, and the humble Jesus became the exalted and mighty teacher from God, the true teacher from God.

And so Nicodemus is a hypocrite, just like all of us before we were in Christ. He's a hypocrite. He is supposed to be the most righteous one in Israel, one of the most righteous, but he has no true righteousness.

He is a sinner, and he must be born again. He must be reconciled to God. But how? We saw two weeks ago that we must be born again to enter the kingdom of God, but now Jesus will show us in this passage how.

Okay? He says, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen. And people are often thrown off by that pluralization. You say that? This is Jesus saying, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen.

Now, contextually, this is a bit difficult because I preached on the previous verses two weeks ago, but I want you to think back to the the first verses with Nicodemus. Nicodemus came saying, we, we have seen you.

We have seen that you are a teacher from God. He spoke in the plural as well. And so this is to say, Jesus is saying, we, the other side of things, speak of what we know too. We have knowledge of heavenly things, and the plural here is just a device, an argumentative device.

It is used to intensify his comments. Okay? This is not that the disciples were at his understanding. Some people said, well, the we is him and his disciples. And I just don't see that, because as we move on in the verses, we'll see that there's things that his disciples couldn't have known.

But really, the we is to, it's a combative, contrastive thing. Nicodemus said, we, this is who we are. We've seen you do this. Now Jesus is saying, well, we know this. We know and testify of what we have seen.

He's speaking in an authoritative way. That's the purpose. He's saying, he's qualified to make his statements that he's made about being born again. I'm qualified, Jesus is saying. I can speak on this.

And he'll really drive that home in verse 13. And as the prologue said in John 1 18, Jesus is the, you remember, the exegesis of God. Jesus is the full explanation of God. He testifies of what he knows and what he has seen.

What has, what does Jesus know and what has Jesus seen? Think about it. The prologue spoke about this. The first verse says, in the beginning was the word. And that word was what? With no point of reference all the way back.

In the beginning, as far back, time immemorial, time innumerable, Jesus was there. In the beginning was the word, the logos. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Jesus has the authority to speak on heavenly things because that's where he comes from.

And he speaks in such a way, he testifies of what he knows. He speaks of what he knows, testifies of what he has seen. And what has he seen? He's been always, from all eternity, in the triune relationship.

He stands in this moment as a representative of God, of the triune God, the persons of the Trinity. So he has the authority to speak on who can enter his kingdom. He can speak on the kingdom of God because that's his kingdom.

And he just came from there. He just descended from there. And he has the right to speak on it. And he's seen incredible things. He's seen the creation of the world. He participated in it. He's seen the creation of all creatures.

He was a part of that. All things that were made were made through him. And so Jesus has seen material come out of immaterial. Jesus has seen the throne room of the Father. Jesus, it's said in the prologue, has seen the Father.

Other texts say that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. So Jesus knows all men, if you remember. He knows Nicodemus. He knows the Pharisees. And they don't accept his testimony of God. You right here, see that second to last line?

And you do not accept our testimony. That you is also in the plural. You do not accept. And so the plural is showing him speaking, of course, to Nicodemus. But it's also trying to show us who he was sent from, and probably all of the antagonistic Jews who were questioning him.

Nicodemus has recognized that Jesus is a teacher from God, but he has yet to recognize and know and accept who Jesus truly is. Yeah, he says, we see that you're a teacher from God. But Jesus says here, you do not accept our testimony.

In the Greek, that means you do not receive me. That word accept is literally receive. You do not receive. I have told you things, and you do not receive my witness, Jesus says. In essence, you do not believe who I really am.

You do not believe who I really am. And we knew that was coming. We knew that was coming. This harkens again back to the prologue, and I'm going to say that so many times in this series in John, because the prologue is really the bones, the intro that covers the whole rest of the gospel according to John.

And so if you remember, it says, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and those who were his own, what? Did not receive him. Did not receive him.

We knew that was coming. Look, for us, you're going to speak about what you know of the Bible. You're going to do that. You're going to testify of what you've seen God do. You should. You should speak on what you know of the Bible, and you should testify of what you've seen God do.

You should. But sometimes, oftentimes, the people you're speaking to will not accept it. That's just the reality. They can hear the gospel, and it doesn't appeal to them. Maybe they're even your family members, and they can even possibly see the change in your life.

Oh, daughter. Oh, cousin. Oh, brother. Whoever it may be. Nephew. I've seen the change in your life. I can't deny that. I've seen something has changed in you. You are not like the person we knew years ago, and yet that's not enough for them.

That's not enough. It doesn't change them. How should this be a comfort to you? How should this be a comfort to you? Because Jesus is God, and He's testifying of what He's seen, and He's sharing what He knows, and they don't accept Him.

So if sometimes you share the gospel, and they don't accept what you say, just know that that happened to Jesus too. Let's see. Just be faithful. You just keep going. You keep sharing people in your life, your family, your relatives, your co-workers, your friends.

They're not always going to accept your testimony, but we're not supposed to stop. Did Jesus stop after this? No, Jesus didn't stop after this. So we keep going. We keep going. The Lord of glory did miracles, signs, and wonders many didn't believe.

In fact, He says that in His woes. Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. If I had done the signs and wonders, if I had done the things that I'd done to you in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago.

And so there's this aspect where many have seen His signs, but they don't believe. So we don't get discouraged. That's why correct theology shows only by the sovereign and gracious election of our God, by the Spirit of God, can a man or woman accept these things.

What a relief. What a relief. It's when you go up to that person and you share that with them, that's got to be on God. That can't be on you, because it's an act of God. And when they do, if they turn to God, they turn to Christ, it's not a notch on our belt, right?

No way. It's a recognition that God did a work that we can't do. We boast in Him. We don't boast in ourselves. It's honestly shocked me, the times that I've seen anyone turn to Christ. I'm telling you, I've seen a few people turn to Christ that I, you know, I've spoken to.

This is by no means a boast in myself. Again, I'm, I was shocked, but that's what God does. He does it. And it was a shocking moment, because I was like, I can't manufacture this. I can't make this up.

It truly was a recognition. Wow, God, you did it. You did it, because I can't do it. So it's amazing. But that last line, that's kind of scary. That's more than just an indictment, I think. The testimony and witness Christ is speaking of is Jesus Himself.

Again, in the very presence of all the triune Godhead, as one of them, God has told them how to come to Him and His kingdom, and they didn't receive it. Do you get that? They're going, how? People are wondering, people want to be taught, how can I enter the kingdom of God?

And literally, God comes down and says, this is how you come into the kingdom of God. It's through me, and people don't receive it. That's what's happening. That's what's happening. Many don't do it today, of course.

Go to verses 12 and 13. Jesus says, if I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Now, this verse 12 has caused some confusion before for people, okay? Some have thought the earthly things are from the previous verses. If you remember, some people have said the water is natural birth.

Some look at the wind analogies, and they think, if I told you earthly things, and they think that that's what Jesus is talking about, that the earthly things are the wind and a natural birth with water.

But if you remember, I preached on the fact that verse 5, water and spirit doesn't mean a first and second birth. They're one of the same. Water and spirit is a spiritual birth. Water has always been seen throughout the Old Testament and even into the New as a cleansing thing.

There's no biblical reference that would show water indicates a natural birth. So anyways, that's just a reminder. So the question would be, if that's true, if the earthly things are wind or maybe a natural birth, why in the world would Nicodemus believe Jesus based on those things?

If I told you about wind and natural birth, and you do not believe, why would he believe because of natural birth and wind anyways? That's not what it's trying to say. That's not what it's trying to say.

What are the earthly things that Jesus has already said? In fact, the question would be, what are the things that Jesus has already said in verses 1 through 10? That's how we have to answer this. Here's what I think Jesus is saying in verse 12, okay?

All that I just told you were things that happen on the earth, because the word for earthly is epigeos. Epi is on. Geos is the earth. So if all that I just told you were things that happen on the earth, all his statements about being born again and being born of water and spirit, those are things that happen on the earth.

We are regenerated. We are given new life on earth. You're not waiting. You here now, if you have believed on Christ, you have been regenerated. You have been born again. That is something that happens on the earth, and that's what Jesus is saying here.

And he goes, how, Nicodemus, will you believe if I tell you epipouranias? Epi is on again. Ouranias is heaven, things that happen on or in heaven, because the born-again transformation that Christ spoke about happens to people here on earth.

Regeneration is received here, and Jesus told him those things, okay? If this is a little confusing, again, look back at the previous sermon. Look back at verses 1 through 10, and this will make a little more sense.

If I told you earthly things, if I told you things that happen on the earth is the word, and you do not believe the things that I just told you about being born again, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

That is to say, he has yet to say heavenly things. That's how that would read. Jesus has yet to say, if I tell you heavenly things. He hasn't said heavenly things yet. That's not to say, again, being born again isn't heavenly or anything like that.

He's, what he's saying, those words are on the earth or on or in heaven. So he has told us things that are going to happen on the earth, and the question would be then, what are the things that are on heaven or in heaven that he hasn't said yet?

And this, I would assume, are these. The things that Jesus has not mentioned are the things of the glorious, consummate kingdom, the eternal state, okay? The things to come for the believer who was born again on earth by the Holy Spirit.

Earthly things are then the spiritual born-again things because Jesus came to earth. Think about that. Spirit came to flesh. The gospel isn't gnostic, okay? It impacts the physical world and physical people.

That's the reality of what he's saying. The gospel isn't just some spiritual thing that happens. It actually affects real people, and it affects the earth, and so that's what I would say is being said here right now.

So what would be the application for us? The application for us is that describing the splendors of heaven to people won't convince them either, okay? We could tell them all that we know. We could tell them there's going to be no tears.

There's going to be no death. There's going to be no disease. There's going to be no sin. You could tell someone that. You've got to hear this. Let me tell you the heavenly things. The heavenly things are one day God is coming again, and he's going to dwell with us, and there's going to be no death, and it's going to be defeated, and we're going to live with God, and we're going to be with him forever, and it's going to be amazing.

God will dwell with us. We will get to sit at the feet of Jesus. We'll get to do all these things and experience all the goodness of God, and it's going to be more than we can imagine or fathom, and you could tell someone all that, and it wouldn't be enough.

That's what's being said here. The point is you can tell people about heaven, and you can. I'm not saying you can't. You could tell them about the glories there, but what Jesus is saying is if you tell them about Jesus, a wonderful Savior, and his desire for people to be born again, for them to be born again, and they don't want him, or they don't want that, then telling them about heaven isn't going to convince them.

Why? Because if they don't want heaven, then they don't really want Christ, because Christ is heaven. Christ is heaven, so that's what it's saying. Verse 13 is connected to the previous verse, obviously, but it's connected by way of a conjunction, chi, which is typically translated and, and I'll tell you most translations, including the NASB, the ESV, and many others, they absorb chi into the English text.

It's not here, but it should literally say this, and no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven. It's a connection. How is Jesus able to speak about heavenly things or the earthly things that are touched by heaven?

Because he has the authority to do so, because he is from heaven. He's from heaven. Deuteronomy 30 speaks to this. Moses proclaims to the people of God. Again, we're not in heaven that you should say this, who will go up to heaven for us to get us the word of God?

That's what Moses is telling the Israelites. He says, who will go up to heaven, who will ascend, who will ascend into heaven for us to get us the word of God and make us hear it that we may observe it?

Moses is saying to the people, you're not going to have to ask that. They said, Moses paraphrases again, nor is it beyond the sea that you should have to say, who will cross the sea for us to get it, to get the word of God for us and make us hear it that we may observe it?

Why? Why are you not going to have to ascend into heaven to get the word of God? Because the word of God has come down to his people in the Old Testament. In the Logos, we saw in John 1, the word of God, the Logos, Jesus Christ comes down to his people in the New Testament.

Now in the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. No one has gone up into heaven to ask these things of God and come down to share them. No one. No one has ascended into heaven, received knowledge from God, and then come back down to share them.

No one. No one has. That's what Jesus says. He has the authority of heaven behind him. When God answered back to Job, he said, can you discover the depths of God? O Job, can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

They are as high as the heavens. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Nicodemus, you and me, anything that we know of heaven is given by God.

Anything that you know at all about God or about heaven is given to you by God. Through his word, through his revelation, through his appearance to mankind, we ought to humble ourselves. We have not ascended there.

We have not ascended into heaven. Nicodemus has not ascended into heaven and brought back down the instructions on how to enter the kingdom of God. That's why he's even sought out Jesus. Nicodemus hasn't gone up and come down, and that makes him a subpar teacher of Israel.

We need someone who really has come from heaven and can tell us how to get there. That's what we need. We ought to humble ourselves and speak like Agur, the son of Jekah, in Proverbs 30. This is one of my favorite passages.

It starts out like this, surely I am more stupid than any man. That's a humble statement. And I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

And he says this, Agur says this in Proverbs 30, who has ascended into heaven and descended, who has gathered the wind in his fist, who has wrapped the waters in his garment, who has established all the ends of the earth, what is his name or his son's name?

Tell me if you know. Surely you know. That's a glorious thing. Christ has come down from heaven, and he has the authority to speak on these things. Authority to the point that all his words ought to be observed.

Not one single thing that Jesus said is something that we shouldn't observe. All things that Jesus said, we ought to observe. God has come down and spoken. And all analogies pale in comparison. And that's always the case.

It's hard for a preacher. Give us grace. Any sort of earthly analogies I give you are just never going to measure up. And in fact, I think some of them are probably blasphemous to say in some situations.

But let me give you an example, okay? Think about a student learning from a high school teacher, and the high school teacher is giving a lesson on outer space, okay? You even have a textbook in front of you.

It's going over astronomy and all these things. And you're learning from, as a student, a teenager, learning from a high school teacher on things of outer space, okay? You're even looking at photos of space.

You see some depictions of space. But how would it be if your teacher said, today, students, I have a treat for you. I know we've been studying astronomy. We've been studying outer space. And today we have an A real astronaut has come to our school, and he's from the space station or a moon expedition.

I know some of you, I won't get into that. Moon people, okay? Nevertheless, from what we can tell, barring all conspiracies, this man's been in outer space, okay? This man has been in outer space, and he comes, and he teaches the students, and he teaches you, okay?

And he describes what he's seen, what he felt, what it was like. He saw the earth, and it wasn't flat. It was a sphere, and you know, it was just incredible. And he's speaking of these things, and it would be like, okay, this guy's an authority on this.

I thought, you know, Mr. Smith or Mr. That's a, you don't use that word here. Mr. Anderson. Let's go with something from Matrix. Mr. Anderson was teaching on this. I thought that was cool. I thought he was an authority on this, but no, he's not, okay?

This astronaut knows so much more because he's actually been there. And again, I told you the analogy would fall flat, but that's really what it is. How much more is Jesus an authority on heaven? Nicodemus is like, hi everyone, I'm a teacher of God, and Jesus is like, hi everyone, I'm God.

What a difference. You would go, okay, I know who I'm going to listen to. There have been stories of people who have gone into heaven and received divine instruction. That's been said. There have been stories of people who have gone into heaven and received divine instruction, come back down.

Even the Jews during this time had rumors of these things in their day. But Jesus makes it clear. No one has ascended into heaven, received authority and knowledge from God, and come back down, descended down, and gave it to humans.

Jesus is the only one from heaven who has given revelatory wisdom as God, with the authority that he has. Of course, I'm not trying to discount the prophets or anything like that, but they have a derivative authority, right?

The prophets are given the word of God. They speak, but Jesus is God. This really flies in the face of all false religions. Why? Everyone thinks, you see it all over, everyone thinks your co-workers, people you know, people you see online, everyone thinks that they can attain guru status, right?

People think in this world, I'm going to this year, my resolution is to obtain enlightenment. You know what I mean? They make a goal for it. They do these things. They want spiritual elevation. But a believer with a Bible is more spiritually enlightened than those type of people.

A believer with a Bible is more spiritually enlightened than them, than even a meditating monk on the top of a mountain in Nepal. A believer who studies their Bible will know more of the words of heaven, the words of God, than that man up there on that peak.

That's the application for us here. How do we gain knowledge and wisdom from God? If we currently can't ascend into heaven and descend back down, how do we get the words of God? Moses already said in Deuteronomy 30, God has to bring it down.

God has to bring down his word, and that's what happened. He who descended from heaven, that's the solution. That's how we're going to get the word of God. The son of man came down. Jesus came down. We go to his word to read what came from heaven.

And it's amazing that even as believers, we want to experience heavenly things, right? Even believers will get super, kind of like these enlightenment spiritual people, and we'll be like, I just want a spiritual experience.

They've never read their Bible in their lives. I just want a spiritual experience. Your spiritual experience is one page away, my friends. The word has come down. God has come down. We need to stop searching for it in other places.

The Bronze Serpent and Christ Lifted Up

Let's go to our final verses for this evening, verses 14 through 15, and these are really at the heart of this sermon. This is the heart of the sermon primarily. This is what I was working towards from my introduction about what we put our eyes on.

I talked about curses, and I talked about what we put our eyes on, so keep that in mind as we finish out this sermon. It says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life.