- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
THE DAWN OF A NEW LIFE
By J.C.Metcalfe.
“He who has the Son has life . . .” 1 John 5 v12.
The Christian gospel is more than a set of ideas and teachings which must be accepted and believed. It is also much more than a call to try and live a better life. It reveals to us our great need; that we are so full of the sickness of sin that we can do nothing for ourselves. It tells of the boundless love of God, Who having pity on our helplessness gave His only Son to be our Saviour. It calls us to come direct to Him and seek from Him healing and life. This life is given through a new birth, a birth from above, and we must remember that, “No-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3 v3).
This new birth must be the aim of every preacher or teacher because nothing else is pleasing to God, and we can only bring it about by lifting up the Lord Jesus before the eyes of the world. Has He not said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12 v32)? so that the Christian preacher should be able to take his place beside the apostle Paul and say, “We preach Christ crucified ... the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1 v23-24).
The only way in which a person can receive the gift of a new life from God is by means of being born again. At once the question will come to our minds, as it did to Nicodemus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3 v4). The answer of course is, by trust in a crucified Saviour and it is this answer which I wish to try to explain.
In His teaching about the new birth, the Lord Jesus Christ uses an Old Testament story as an illustration. You can find this story in Numbers 21 v5-9. The children of Israel had been guilty of murmuring against God and as a result “the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died”. Moses prayed to God that the people might be spared and in answer to his prayers was told to make a snake of bronze, and to “put it up on a pole”. “Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived”. Healing power was given to the snake of bronze by God and new life flowed through the veins of all who obeyed the one condition and looked believingly at it.
When asked to explain the new birth the only answer given by the Lord Jesus was, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3 v14&15).
Many years ago a man drew a picture. In the centre there is a pole with the snake of bronze nailed to it. The Cross is the centre of all God’s dealings with us and nothing can take its place. Moses is standing to one side holding a stick with which he is pointing at the snake. He is doing the only thing that any preacher can do, he is pointing to Jesus. He is doing what John the Baptist did, who when he saw “Jesus coming to him”, said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1 v29). You can almost hear him calling out to those within reach of his voice, ‘Look and live!’
At the foot of the pole is a man in an attitude of prayer. He is kneeling at the right place and surely he must be one who has listened to the call of Moses and found healing and safety. If, however, you look carefully at him you will find that he is not looking at the serpent at all, his eyes are fixed on Moses’ face and he is, therefore, still in grave danger. Many make this mistake. Some think that if they belong to a Church, or have been brought up in a Christian home, they are therefore Christians. They may have been near the Cross, they may have listened to the gospel but if they are relying on this for their salvation they are still dead in sins. Some place their faith in a man. They say he is a good man and they believe his teaching, but loving and following men can never lead you into the Kingdom of God. You must look only to Jesus or perish. There is no Church that has ever been formed, and no man or woman who has ever been born, who can bring another into touch with God. All that a Church, a preacher or a friend can do for us is to say with Moses, ‘Look and live’.
At the right side of the picture is a man fast asleep and at his side is a snake ready to strike. One who is asleep is unconscious of what is going on about them. There are many drugs which make us sleep so that we are unconscious of the reality of spiritual things. Some Church members are self-satisfied and asleep to the facts of heaven and hell. Many are sent to sleep by material comforts and prosperity and do not see that the day of judgment must come and that sin will lead them into outer darkness. To sleep is dangerous! Paul writes strongly to those who think that they can be Christians and yet live in sin. “Come back to your senses as you ought,” he cries “and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God” (1 Cor. 15 v34), and again, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph. 5 v14). Yet again writing to the Romans he tells them, “The hour has come for you to wake up . . . The night is nearly over; the day is almost here” (Rom. 13 v11-12). The work of salvation is urgent. None of us can afford to let self-satisfaction lull us to sleep, and we Christians should be ready at any time to go to the help of those who are asleep and in danger of missing the way. The man in the picture is within such easy reach of the means of life and healing and yet is unconscious either of his danger or of God’s mercy. People need to be awakened to spiritual realities.
A little further off are two men, one obviously very ill and the other holding him up. Both of them look utterly miserable and neither are looking in the direction of the bronze snake. Many people wish to help others and will do anything for them, except point them to Christ. Some say, ‘Let us educate them’, others say, ‘Let us give them more money, and better living conditions’, and yet others ‘Let us amuse them. Life is hard and we will try to take their mind off the difficulties’. They are all like the two men in the picture. They have the one solution for man’s need within their reach but are rejecting it. Once a man receives the gift of new life through his crucified Saviour the material things of life fall into their proper place. Do you not remember the teaching of the Lord Jesus Himself? “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6 v33).
The last figure of those on the right of the pole and the snake of bronze is that of a man grasping a club in his hands. Snakes are all around him. As fast as he kills one another takes its place. In spite of all his efforts, earnestness, and strength, he is doomed. But if he were to throw his club away and look believingly at the bronze snake he would be safe. There are many who realise that their lives are not what they should be, who are always trying to alter them without being able to overcome their sins. We must always remember that it is “not because of righteous things which we have done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3 v5). No man is saved by his own efforts, but once he has looked to the crucified Saviour and received from Him the gift of eternal life, then the fruits of that life will be seen in good works. Righteousness and good living spring from the new life in Christ.
On the left side of the pole, standing next to Moses, is a man whose face is alight with peace and joy. It is easy to discover the secret of his peace if you look at his eyes. They are fixed steadily on the bronze snake. He need have no fear of the venomous snakes because he has believed in God’s gift to him.
Let us be clear, you must be born again and you can only be born again by faith in a Crucified Saviour.
Read what the Lord Jesus Christ says about this, “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3 v16-19).
Let me finally try to illustrate what believing means. It does not mean to accept a fact as true in your mind, it means to trust. Once during the First World War I had to leave one small ship at sea and join another. The sea was rough and the captain of the boat I was on said, ‘I dare not try to bring the boat alongside the other. I will signal to them to remove the rail where the gangway should go and we will do the same. Then I will go as near to the other ship as I can and you must jump from one to the other’. ‘But’, I asked, ‘how shall I know when to jump?’ ‘If you will trust me’, he said, ‘I will tell you. You go and stand in the open space where the rail has been removed and I will stand beside you. At the right moment I will shout, ‘Jump’, do not hesitate but jump at once and you will be safe’. I did as I had been told but as the two ships drew nearer I was afraid. Fortunately I had not long to wait and think. The ships drew closer and closer and suddenly I heard the call ‘Jump’, and I leapt straight out towards the other boat. The next instant I found myself on my hands and knees on its deck. I had put my trust in another and was safe.
Do you remember the story recorded in Matthew 14 v22-33. The disciples were crossing the sea in a boat and Jesus came to them walking on the water. When Peter realised who it was he cried out, “Lord, if it’s You tell me come to you on the water”. I often wonder if Peter really expected the Lord to answer, “Come!” While Peter had his gaze fixed on the Lord Jesus he was able to walk with Him on the water, and it was the Lord who was glorified through it.
The Lord Jesus died for you and lives for evermore. His message to you is, ‘You cannot live and you dare not die without Me. I will not only forgive your past sins but will give you here and now eternal life and you will live a new Christian life by My power. Will you come to Me? Will you trust Me?’ “I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from Me there is no Saviour” (Is. 43 v11). “There is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and a Saviour, there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other” (Is. 45 v21-22).
From ‘Out of Adam - into Christ’