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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 261. Two, one, Jesus. Sing it out on the first. Oh, soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see. Despite your love, I am your Savior, and my forerunner is your Savior. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. The Lord in His honor proclaims, that the things of the world will change again in the light of His glory and grace. And Miss Kimmy. 406. 406. This will be the last one this evening, 406. sing it out on the first. Who will raise up the Lord outside? Who will serve the King? Who will lead His powers, our lives to reign? Who will feed the world's life? Who will face the flood? Who lives on the North Shore? Who are we to build? I, like the Lord, will see that I raise Thee high. And when we are on the dark side, say, Who will be the Lord? Amen. All right, well, let's go ahead and take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, raise your hand, and one of our ushers can get one for you. Can you turn me up just a hair? I'm not able to hear myself. I appreciate that. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up, and we will get one for you. Let's go to the verse this week, Proverbs 29, 23. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 10 30 a.m. And we had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service at 6 p.m. We do invite you to join us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study. We'll be in Job chapter 20 this week. And I do appreciate your faithfulness to the house of God. I realize it's Super Bowl Sunday, but I'm sure God is glad you're here. And we, of course, are a family integrated church. Children and infants are always welcome in the service. We don't separate children from their parents for any reason. If you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you. We've got the baptistry ready for you. You just let us know on your communication card, and we would follow up with you in regards to that. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, on Sunday mornings, we are going through our series for such a time as this. And on Sunday nights, we are going through this series called When Animals Attack in the Bible. And I'm loving the little thumbnails that we're making in regards to that series. I think they're awesome. But tonight, we're going to be in part four, The Fiery Serpents Among the People. And then, of course, we have the Nine Chapters a Day challenge. If you have finished nine chapters a day, make sure you let us know on your communication card. Allegedly write your name so that we can get it on the plaque. And then, of course, Married Couples Sweetheart Banquet is this Friday, February 12th, 630 p.m. It's going to be a great time. Make sure you don't miss it. We'll have dinner for you. You need to sign up. If you've not signed up couples yet, you need to sign up tonight so that we can get a final number to give them for catering. And we'll play the Not So Newlywed Game. We'll have fun with that. Pastor and Ms. Sherry Thompson will be with us, and he'll be preaching. And then, of course, on Sunday, we're having I Love My Church Sunday, and we're going to have a lot of fun on that day. The choir will be singing. We'll have the popcorn for every family, Pink Vanilla and Caramel Valentine's Day popcorn. And then Pastor Aaron Thompson will be preaching that night. And we'll have a potluck that night after the service as well. So I encourage you to be with us for that. Coronavirus precautions are there. Adult Choir, they have practice at five. Upcoming cleaning crew, if you can look for your name there, we appreciate your faithfulness. Homeschool group, they've got a field trip this Friday, excuse me, this Tuesday, February 9th at 11 a.m., so make sure that you don't forget that, moms. Don't forget to turn your cell phones off and place them on silent. During the service, they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of February, we had John Vakulchik's birthday on February 1st, and Brother Oliver and Ms. Melody have an anniversary on the 1st as well. Brandon Hagen had a birthday yesterday on the 6th. Today is Joanna's birthday on the 7th, and tomorrow is Brother Jeff's birthday on the 8th. Laurel and Anthony Gonzalez have a birthday on the 10th. Ms. Lisa has a birthday on the 11th, and Ms. Lorraine has a birthday on the 13th. Praise report, money matters, all of that's there for you. I think that's it for all of the announcements, so let's go ahead and we're going to sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering tonight. And let's go ahead and sing it out on the 1st. I stand, I stand amazed, I stand amazed, of the love I have sought thee, safe even for me. I stand amazed, I stand amazed, of the love I have sought thee, safe even for me. I stand amazed, I stand amazed, I stand amazed, I stand amazed, of the love I have sought thee, safe even for me. I stand amazed, I stand amazed, Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you tonight asking you to bless the offering. Lord, we pray that you meet with us as we open up your word, as we study the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's open our mouths to Numbers 21. Numbers, chapter 21. If you need a Bible, put your hand up and I'm not sure if I can bring you a Bible. Numbers, chapter 21. If you need a Bible, keep your hand up and I'll show you what will come by. Numbers 21. We'll read the entire chapter as our custom. Numbers 21, beginning in verse number 1. And when king erred the Canaanite which dwelt in the south, they heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, If thou will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities, and he called the name of the place Horma. And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loateth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and how much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived. And the children of Israel set forward and pitched in Obath. And they journeyed from Obath and pitched at Ijebirim in the wilderness which is before Moab for the sun rising. From thence they removed and pitched in the valley of Zareth. From thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coast of the Amorites. For Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord what he did in the Red Sea and in the books of Arnon. And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar and lieth up on the border of Moab. And from thence they went to Bir, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake it of Moses. Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well, singing unto it. The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it by the direction of the lawgiver with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Matna, and from Matna to Nahalel, and from Nahalel to Bamath, and from Bamath in the valley that is in the country of Moab to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshamon. And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards. We will not drink of the waters of the well. We will go along by the king's highway until we be past thy borders. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border. But Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. And he came to Jehaz and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabach, even unto the children of Ammon. For the border of the children of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Hejban and in all the villages thereof. For Hejban was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. Wherefore, they that speak in Proverbs say, Come unto Hejban, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. For there is a fire gone out of Hejban, a flame from the city of Sihon. It hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chemosh, who hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters in captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them, Hejban is perished even unto Dyban, and we have laid them waste even unto Nopham, which reacheth unto Mebedah. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and Moses sent to spy out Jezer. And they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went out by the way of Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan went out against him, he and all his people, to the battle at Edri. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hear him not, for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land, when I shall do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Hejban. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until those none left him alive, and they possessed his land. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for tonight. Dear God, I thank you for your word, Lord, and I thank you for everyone that's here, Lord, and I just ask that you give each one of us a tender heart to the message, God, as you please be the pastor of God's strength, Lord, and for the rest of the spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're there in Numbers, chapter number 21, and, of course, we are continuing through our series on Sunday nights on the subject of, we're looking at these stories when animals attack in the Bible, and there's lots of stories. I don't really know that we will make it through all of the stories. There's lots of stories in the Bible like this, but we're trying to hit the highlights or the most well-known ones, and tonight we're looking at the story of the fiery serpents among the people. If you notice there in verse number 5, the Bible says, and the people spake against God and against Moses, and this is a pretty common theme for the children of Israel and for you and for me to be constantly complaining against God and against our circumstances. It says, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loateth this light bread. And then in verse 6, the Bible says this, And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. And tonight we're going to look at the story, and it really is kind of a symbolic. There's a lot of symbolism in this story, and I did not, I preached kind of a symbolic sermon this morning in regards to Esther and Ahasuerus, and I did not plan to preach two symbolic-type sermons, but that's just how it worked out. But in this story, what we see is three pictures or three symbols of sin, the Savior, and salvation, and I'll point those out to you, and we'll study these out tonight. If you're taking notes, and I'd encourage you to take notes or jot things down, I'd like you to notice first of all tonight that in the story of the fiery serpents, we see the picture of sin. And again, if you look there at verses 5 and 6, the people spake against God and against Moses. If you look at 6, And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. In the story, what we have is people being bitten by these fiery serpents, and they're being poisoned, and they're dying as a result. Keep your place there in Numbers 21, that's our text for tonight. But go with me if you would to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, first book in the Bible, shouldn't be difficult to find, Genesis chapter 3. And we see that in the story of the fiery serpents that this story pictures sin. And the reason that it pictures sin is because sin is a spiritual poison brought by a serpent. Sin is a poison that was brought into mankind by a serpent. Just like in these stories you have these serpents biting people and putting a poison into their bodies, we collectively have received sin in our bodies and the sin nature, and it was brought to us by a serpent, Genesis chapter 3. If you look at verse 1, you know the famous story, but let's look at the verses. Genesis 3 and verse 1 says this, now the serpent, and we know of course this is Satan, the book of Revelation tells us that he's that old serpent, he's a dragon, he's the devil, he's Satan, all of these are names for him. The Bible says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Notice verse 4, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Notice he begins by questioning the word of God, then he completely changes the word of God, attacks the word of God. Verse 5, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw the tree, that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. So we see that in the Garden of Eden, of course, the serpent came, the Bible says that he beguiled the woman, and the Bible tells us in the book of Romans that Adam was disobedient. She was deceived, and he was disobedient. And as a result of this serpent coming, the Bible tells us that sin entered into the world. We're told in the book of Romans that wherefore has by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. So we see that sin is this poison. It is this sin sickness. And I want to be careful when I use the word sickness, because that's something that our culture and psychology does today. They refer to sin as a sickness, because if you're sick, then you're not accountable for it. You know, they call alcoholism a sickness, or addictions are a sickness. And we need to be careful with that. Look, alcoholism is drunkenness, and by calling it a sickness, we take away the responsibility of the sin that it is. But we understand that sin is a poison, that as a result of Adam's sin, the sin nature was passed down to mankind. I've preached sermons about that before. I don't want to belabor that. We've got other things to cover tonight. But the first thing we see in the story is that the story of these fiery serpents, they picture sin because they are serpents coming into the congregation, biting the people and poisoning them, and that's what happened to all of mankind. A serpent came into the garden and, you know, brought the poison of sin and injected it into mankind. Not only, go back to Numbers 21, if you would, not only is sin a spiritual poison brought by a serpent, but sin is a spiritual poison that results in death. And that's what we see here in this chapter, in this story. Numbers 21, verse 6, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. Notice these words, and much people of Israel died. And again, I don't want to belabor the point, you're familiar with the verses, but the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. The Bible tells us that death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The Bible tells us that death, that as a result of sin, death came into the world. God told Adam and Eve, the day that you eat thereof, ye shall surely die. So we see these analogies, we see these parallels between the story. We've got these serpents who are poisoning the people, and it is a result in death. And in the same way, sin was a poison brought by a serpent, and it resulted in death, both physical and spiritual death. We die physically as a result of our sin, and then we're cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, or unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire as a result of sin. Go back to Numbers 21, look at verse 7. I said, number one, the story of the fiery serpents pictures sin. I'd like you to notice, secondly, and I didn't want to spend too much time on that, because that's pretty basic, I think we probably all understand that. Point number two is this, the story of the fiery serpents picture the Savior. Now this is where the story gets a little interesting, because it's not hard to understand how a serpent poisoning people could be a picture of Satan as the serpent in the garden, poisoning mankind with the poison of sin. But if you notice verse 7 in Numbers 21, the Bible says this, Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpent from us, and Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. So in the story we're told that Moses goes and he intercedes for the people. And he's told to make a brazen serpent. He's told to make a fiery serpent out of brass and to put it on a pole. And anybody who would look at that serpent would be healed of this disease, of this poison. Keep your place there in Numbers 21. Go up there if you would to the book of John, John chapter 12. In the New Testament you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John chapter 12. While you turn there let me just say this, even to this day a serpent upon a pole is a picture that symbolizes healing. You will often see, you know, ambulances or hospitals or things of that nature will have an emblem on them that has a pole with a snake or a serpent wrapped around it. And that's taken from this story how these people were dying of being poisoned by these fiery serpents. And Moses, he made a serpent of brass, put it upon a pole and he lifted it up in the air. And anyone that would look, anyone that would look at the serpent would be healed. The interesting thing about the story is that years later, hundreds, thousands of years later, Jesus would reference back to the story and he would show us or he would tell us that this was all a picture of himself. John chapter 12, look at verse 32. John 12, 32, notice what the Bible says. And I, this is Jesus speaking. He says, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Jesus said that if he was lifted up off the earth, he would draw all men unto himself. Notice verse 33, this he said signifying what death he should die. He was referring to the type of death that he was going to suffer. And of course we know that he was crucified upon a cross. He was hung upon a cross. He was lifted up upon a cross. But here he says, if I be lifted up from the earth, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Now let me just take a side note for a second and make one quick theological application for you if you'd allow me to. Go back to John chapter 6 and verse 44. Yesterday I was out soul winning. I was talking to this Calvinist guy. And it kind of made me think of this because I was going to be preaching about this tonight. In John 6 44, this is a verse that Calvinists often take and try to use because Calvinists teach that there is no free will. That we don't get to choose whether we want to be saved. Even though there's like a thousand verses that say whosoever, whosoever, whosoever. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth. Whosoever will may come. Even though the Bible says there's all these whosoever, they'll say no, no, you can only be saved if God draws you. And they'll use John 6 44 as an example. When Jesus said no man can come to me except the father which has sent me, draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. And they'll say see, you can only come to Jesus if the father draws you. So you know the only people that are going to come to him are those that are being drawn by Jesus. But if you notice if we go back to John chapter 12, Jesus said if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So notice that you know, yes he said if the father draw you, but then he says hey when I get crucified and lifted up, I'm drawing all men. The invitation is for everyone. God has invited everyone unto salvation. You say well no, only the ones that he chose. God said hey, anyone can have it. Anyone who wants it, you're chosen. Anyone who wants it, you can have it. I was recently talking to somebody who kind of uses illustration. Illustration I use often in regards to you know election and predestination. And the Bible uses these terms and we understand that you know that God obviously he's omniscient. He knows everything. He knows who is going to get saved. That doesn't mean he chose for them to be saved. We believe in free will. Everyone chooses. They make their own decision. But the illustration I like to give is it's like if I was some sort of a multi-billionaire and I was opening a business here in Sacramento. And I put an ad in the newspaper that says I'm hiring. Anyone who wants a job can have a job. And I mean I pay people to take this to the highways and hedges. To take it door to door. To make sure everybody knows. If you want a job, if you want a job, you know you can have a job. Just show up and ask for a job and you can have it. You know if a thousand people show up and they get hired, you know what I say to them? You're chosen. But were they the only ones chosen? It was an opportunity for everybody. Anybody. We lifted up that newspaper and we drew all men. We called all men. See anybody can have it if they want it. Say well how do you know who's chosen? The ones who took it. The ones who want it. You know a thousand people show up. We say you're hired. Oh you chose us because we're great. No we chose you because you wanted it. Anybody could have had it. And this is why, this is the context of many are called but for you are chosen. See many are called. The call goes to everybody. Jesus said if I be lifted up from the earth we'll draw all men unto me. He's calling everybody but he said that signifying what death he should die. And he was alluding to the story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. Go to John chapter 3 if you would. John chapter 3 look at verse 14. In John 3 he makes it very clear. John chapter 3 and verse 14. John 3 14 says this. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Here in John 3 14 Jesus is specifically referring back to our story in Numbers 21 when Moses created that serpent of brass and put it upon a pole and he lifted it up. Jesus said as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. So in the same way that the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, Jesus was lifted up upon a cross. We see that like the pole with the serpent Jesus is pictured here as the savior, as the salvation of being lifted up upon a cross. Now here's the intriguing part or the interesting part is that like we already said earlier in the sermon, the serpent often pictures the devil. He showed up in the form of a serpent in the garden. The book of Revelation calls him the old serpent, the dragon. And it's interesting because you look at this illustration that is Jesus. I mean, you know, the greatest commentary that you could have, the Bible commenting upon itself, Jesus tells us, Hey, you remember that serpent in the wilderness? Yeah, that was a picture of me. If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself. I will draw all men unto me. Go to 2 Corinthians if you would, chapter 5. John asks Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now you might stop and say, well, wait a minute, Jesus. That was a serpent on the pole. I know you're saying the serpent on the pole was a picture of you on the cross, but the serpent's not good. The serpent's bad. I mean, if the fiery serpents would have showed up among the children of people, began to bite them and poison them and they were dying, and then you were to, and God would have told Moses, Hey, sacrifice the lamb, put it upon a pole and hold it up in the air. You know, we would get that illustration. If God were to tell, you know, put something different, something righteous, something better, but the serpent, the serpent is a picture of sin. The serpent is the picture of the devil. How can that represent you upon the cross? And the answer is simple. In the same way that Jesus lifted up from the cross, like the pole with the serpent, Jesus became sin for us on the cross, like the serpent on the pole. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, look at verse 21. And we have lots of verses we could look at on this. I'm not going to take the time to do it. I'll just show you this one. 2 Corinthians 5.21, the Bible says this, For he, referring to God, God the Father, hath made him, referring to Jesus Christ, or God the Son, to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Bible tells us that Jesus lived a sinless life. The Bible says he never sinned. He was without sin. He never lied. He never did anything wrong. But the Bible tells us that upon that cross, and we don't understand how this happened. We don't understand how this goes. God will have to explain to us in heaven. But upon that cross, the Bible says that he who knew no sin became sin for us. That's why the serpent is on the pole. On that cross, Jesus took upon our sins. And look, I understand that sometimes you get deep into theology, and it's not the most exciting thing. But we need to understand that salvation, salvation is propitiation. Salvation is the fact that our sins were taken off of us. They were taken off of us, and they were placed on Jesus Christ. It's not symbolic. When he died on that cross, and when he spent three days and three nights in hell, he literally paid for your sin. Every sin you've ever committed, every wrong thing you've ever done, every thing, every time you've ever crossed and transgressed against the laws of God. The Bible says that the righteous son of God took those sins upon him. And it's more than that. It's not just that Jesus took our sin. It's that we took his righteousness. I mean, we're literally saved. Not by our own works and not by our own righteousness, but his righteousness. Have you ever thought of the fact, why did Jesus have to be born and live? Why did he just come down as a 30-year-old man and die on the cross, 33-year-old man and die on the cross? He had to be born and he had to live. He had to do good works and do good things. Why? Because that righteousness was literally placed upon us. See, it's not our righteousness. It's not our works, but it's his works placed upon us. Our sin was taken off of us, placed on him. He died and paid for them. His righteousness was placed upon us. You say, why are you going to go to heaven? The only reason anybody goes to heaven is because when God looks down at you, he doesn't see you. He sees Christ. And when he was on that cross, he was you. And he was me. And he was that serpent. And he was sin, he who knew no sin, for he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He became sin that we might be made righteousness. He took our place that we might not have to die. And by the way, that's why we believe around here that Jesus went to hell. Well, we believe that Jesus went to hell because that's what the Bible says, and you'd think that'd be enough. But even in a logical sense, people can teach, no, no, he just died physically. He didn't go to hell. Well, here's the problem with that. I'm probably going to die physically too. At the resurrection, my body will resurrect, but what salvation is, is me not going to hell. And for him to pay for that, that means he had to go to hell. He had to suffer. He said it was only three days and three nights. You know, we'll have to take that up with God. I know this. He suffered in eternity. The Bible tells us that Jonah in the whale's belly pictures Jesus in hell, and he says that the bars were around him forever. How an eternal God could suffer an eternal punishment, three days and three nights, probably one for every member of the Godhead. How he could do that and how that works, I don't understand, but I'm thankful it's done. I'm thankful he did it. So we see the story of the fiery serpent pictures sin. A spiritual poison was brought by a serpent, and that spiritual poison resulted in death physically and spiritually. And we see that the story of the fiery serpents picture the Savior. Jesus was lifted upon a cross like the pole with the serpent, and Jesus became sin for us on that cross like the serpent on the pole. Like you notice thirdly tonight. Go back to Numbers 21 if you would. Keep replacing John. We're going to come back to that area of the Bible here in a minute. Number one, the story of the fiery serpents picture sin. Number two, the story of the fiery serpents picture the Savior. Number three, the story of the fiery serpents picture salvation. This is an interesting one too. Numbers 21 and verse 8 says this, and the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, notice these words, when he looketh, when he looketh upon it shall live. Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if the serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. By the way, there's a song we sing called Look and Live. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. That comes from this story. That they were to look and live, that they were to look and behold upon the serpent and anyone when he looketh upon it shall live. When he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. And it's interesting because this is a picture, we saw the picture of sin, we saw the picture of the Savior, now we see this picture of salvation. Salvation, go to the book of Acts if you would. If you kept your place in John, right after John you have the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16, these are well-known verses, you know these verses, I know you know these verses, but let's look at them together and let me just be clear about something. Salvation is obviously not of works. Salvation is not something we earn. Salvation is not something we pay for. Salvation is simply believe. Acts 16 and verse 30 says this, and brought them out and said, sirs, this is the Philippian jailer, he's speaking to Paul, he says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Salvation is not of works. Go to Romans chapter 11, if you were there, if you would, you're there in Acts, just flip over to Romans chapter 11. While you turn there, I'll just read to you these verses, you know them, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. See, the Bible teaches that salvation is by faith, for by grace are ye saved through faith. Faith means to believe. Ephesians also tells us a synonym for the word believe is trust. Our salvation is brought about by believing and putting our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ. And it's not of works. I want you to listen to what I'm going to tell you tonight, because this isn't, what I'm talking about tonight is an issue, and we don't have this issue in our church, but this is an issue that we often deal with, I've noticed, especially in the new IFB, it seems like every few years or so we're just kind of fighting these same, there's no new thing under the sun. Always fighting these same old battles. And some people take this idea of believing and works to an extreme, which is not new to them, it's the same extreme that the Pharisees took it in the Old Testament. They take it to this extreme and they don't understand what the Bible is actually just simply teaching here. The Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. It's not of works because it is a gift. It is of grace because it is a gift. See the word grace means unmerited favor. It means that you get something you don't deserve. It means you get something you did not earn. It means you get something you did not pay for. If you want to just boil it down to the simplest meaning, it means free. You probably have a grace period on your rent or your mortgage. Rent's due on the first, they give you to the fifth to pay that, they call that a grace period. What is that? Free time. It's free. Romans chapter 11 and verse 6, notice what the Bible says, and if by grace then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Now what does the word work mean? It means to earn something. That's literally what it means. We go to work and we earn something as a result of what we're doing. Here's what the Bible is saying. Look, if you're having trouble understanding Romans 11 and 6, just put in some synonyms that you do understand and it'll make sense. It says, and if by grace then it is no more of works. Here's what he's saying. And if it be free, then you can't earn it. Otherwise free is no more free. But if it be something you earn, then it is no more free, otherwise earning is no more earning. When the Bible talks about works, all it's talking about is the fact that we don't earn salvation. Here's how people take it to a fair, zealous extreme. No, it's talking about any sort of bodily action. There's nothing you can physically do. I mean, you've got to be like in a physical coma and make sure you just got saved and didn't touch a thing. You know who else believed that? The Pharisees. You know what Jesus, you know what the Bible says? You're supposed to rest on the Sabbath day from your works, from earning. You know what they took it to? You can't carry anything on the Sabbath day. You can't walk down the street carrying a bag. You're working. Are you? I'm not at work. See, God said, hey, I just want you to rest from work. I just want you to take a day off of work. I don't want you to work or earn anything. And they took it to these extremes where they said you can't heal on the Sabbath day. You can't carry your bed on the Sabbath day. And these are the same extremes that people take salvation today. Look, when the Bible says it's not of works, it just means you're not earning it. It doesn't mean you can't physically do something. And in the story, in the story, we have the story of salvation and it's interesting. Keep your place right there in Romans. We're going to come right back to it. Numbers 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, here's what you and I would say. When he believeth, when he understandeth, when he just lays there, doesn't twitch, doesn't do anything and just in his heart, you know, comprehends it. But that's not what he said. He said when he looketh. See, you and I wouldn't have said that because we're like, well, isn't that like an action? When he looketh upon it, shall live? You know, the Bible says that salvation is not of works. I hope you understand that. I hope you understand that that's what I believe. But you know that in the Bible, go back to Romans chapter 10 if you would, you know that in the Bible there's a physical action associated with believing? I mean, he said, look, Romans 10, look at verse 9. Romans chapter 10 and verse 9, the Bible says this, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth. People get nervous when you start talking about these things. Look, I'm never nervous when I read the Bible. You know what I believe? The Bible. I don't have any problems with what the Bible says. Well, that kind of makes it sound like it works. Well, then you're not understanding it, but there's nothing wrong with the Bible. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, isn't that an action? The Lord Jesus. And shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession. Well, that sounds like, let me tell you something. When you're so spiritual, you got a problem with what God said? You're too spiritual. When you're so smart, you've got issues with what God said? You're too smart. Or you're just stupid and you think you're smart. Pastor, are you saying you got to pray a prayer in order to get, here's what I'm saying is, it says with the mouth confession is made into salvation. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made into salvation, for the scripture says, whosoever, notice these words, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Notice verse 13, for whosoever shall call. It's interesting to me that in verse 11 he says, whosoever believeth, in verse 13 he says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know what that teaches? That there's a physical aspect to believing in your heart. It's kind of like being asked to look. Well, why do I have to look? I shouldn't have to do anything. You're not doing anything. You're not earning it. There is a connection. There is a connection in scripture between the physical act of calling, asking, confessing. These are all terms that are used interchangeably in the scripture that it's connected to doing that physical action and the belief in your heart. And here's what I believe, and here's what I've always believed, here's what we've always taught at Verity Baptist Church since the day this church began, that if you believe you'll call. Prove that from the Bible. Okay, Romans chapter 10, look at verse 8. Look at the context of the verses we just saw. But what saith it? Notice, the word is nigh near thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we pray. God just puts these together. He says, whosoever believeth, whosoever shall call. He says, with your mouth, with your heart, with your heart, with your mouth. He uses these things interchangeably. Why? Because if you believe, you'll call. If you believe, you'll look. See, I remember having an argument one time with somebody. I have never called upon Jesus ever. Teaching that you must call is adding words to salvation. I mean, just think about this logically. I'm stranded out in the middle of the ocean on a little raft, and some big ship comes across the way, and I say, hey! Hey! Help! Help! Hey! Save me! You think I'm going to go to the interview afterwards and say, oh yeah, I saved myself? Well, didn't they go in the ship? Didn't they send out a, you know, they put this thing out and they saved you? No, no, no, it was all me. Did I earn that? We got a welfare office just over here. Come here on a Monday morning and see the lines out that door. Look, just as somebody shows up to the welfare office and says, I'd like a check, did they earn that check? Oh, well, they asked for it. They physically got out of bed and asked for the check. Okay, but did they earn it? See, let's not be Pharisees about it. It's not that we can't, you know, you're supposed to not work on the Sabbath day. That means you better lay the hole. As soon as the Sabbath begins, just lay there. Don't even blink. You can carry your bed on the Sabbath day. You know that? If your ox falls in a ditch, you can pull him out. You know that? See, it's a misunderstanding of the word work because work means earn and looking is not earning and calling is not earning. Getting baptized, repenting of my sins, trying to live a good life, trying to quit this or quit that, that's earning. Going and getting a job, working 40 hours, getting a paycheck, that's earning. So, you know, sleeping all day, rolling out of bed at 10.30 a.m., going down to the welfare office, asking for a check, that's not earning. That may be calling. That may be asking. That's not earning. Let me just give you some thoughts on confessing and calling and asking. Go to John, John chapter 4. Calling and asking, confessing is not works. We've already talked about that. Let me just give you a biblical example. John 4-7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy me. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest, now don't miss this. This is Jesus speaking. If thou knewest the gift of God, not of works by grace through faith. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. You know what Jesus said? If you knew the gift that you don't have to earn, you would have asked for it. Did Jesus think asking was working? Look, I'm just trying to help you. When your soul winning is so good you're correcting Jesus, it's too good. When your soul winning is so thorough that you're picking apart Jesus' presentation, we've got a problem here. See, we preach against earning salvation. If we were living in Old Testament Israel, we would preach against working on the Sabbath day. We wouldn't care if you were carrying your bed on the Sabbath day. We'd understand the definitions. See, you'll get to say, you can't do absolutely anything or else it was works. Well, you didn't get that from the Bible. You got that from trying to be hyper spiritual and find something wrong with everything that everybody else is doing. You'd be better off just submitting to what has been handed down to us from generation to generation. And realize that maybe your half a time you've read the Bible cover to cover needs you to just take a little break and realize that some people know what they're talking about. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me the drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water. Look, we fight this battle every couple years this thing comes up. We recently fought it with Manly Perry. He started preaching all this stupid stuff about calling upon Jesus' works. Luke chapter 16, if you would. Luke chapter 16. So here's the knockout punch, right? Because we have these conversations, we preach these things, we fight these battles. Here's always the knockout punch. Oh yeah? What about a mute? Someone who can't talk. And every time it's like, oh man, God didn't think of that one. You got us. You're officially smarter than Jesus Christ. Come on, ask me real questions. Say, well, what's the answer? You know that you can call and speak and talk in your mind? It shouldn't be that complicated to understand that concept, but let's look at it. Luke 16, look at verse 3. And the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my Lord taketh away my stewardship. I cannot dig to beg, I am ashamed. Look at verse 4. Excuse me, Luke 18, verse 4. You're there in Luke 16, just flip over to Luke 18. Luke 18, verse 4. And he, this is the unjust judge. What not for a while, but afterward he said within himself. He said where? Within himself. You know you can speak within yourself. Though I fear not God nor a guard man, he goes on to talk. Look at Luke 12, verse 17. Luke chapter 12, flip back to Luke chapter 12, verse 17. Here we have the rich fool. And by the way, I'm just giving you some examples here from Luke. We could look at lots of other examples. Remember when the Pharisees, when they brought the man down from the ceiling and Jesus healed them and the Pharisees within themselves, they said, you know, who does this man think he is? Who can forgive sins but God? And Jesus speaks, they're speaking in their mind and Jesus speaks to them audibly and says, well, you know, let me ask you this, what's easier? To heal a man or to tell a man that he seems to be forgiven? He says, just so you know that I have the power of God, he heals the man. That conversation happened in their minds and with him audibly. Luke 12, look at verse 17. I really like this one. The rich fool, he might have a personality disorder, maybe, and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? What's he thinking? What's he saying? He's talking within himself. What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, again, within himself, this what I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will, I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Now look, everybody talks within themselves, don't you? You talk within yourself. Now the problem is when you start answering yourself, that's where you might not have the issue. And this guy's kind of borderline there because look at verse 19, he says, and I will say to my soul, I just love how this is written, and I will say to my soul, soul, thou has much good laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be back. It's like, and I said to myself, self? You know, you might be a little crazy. You know, you can talk to yourself, within yourself. You know, you can talk to God within yourself. You know that God can hear your thoughts? You know, you can call, ask, confess, all in your head. So don't give me this mute argument. You say, well, what are you saying? Look, I'm not saying that somebody has to pray out loud. I'm not saying somebody has to pray with us. I'm not saying any of that. What I'm saying is this, if you believe, don't call. I had an argument with somebody. I have never called in my, ever, in my life. I said, come on, in your heart, I mean, you believe the gospel. You've never in your heart said, Jesus saved me, Jesus forgive me, Jesus, I believe this. You made some sort of, you know, remember me when thou enters into thy kingdom. I mean, something? I've never done it. You know, when I looked at the person, I said, then you're not saved. And your pride's going to take you to hell. I mean, what kind of a prideful person? Moses puts a serpent on the pole, says, God said, anyone who looks will live. And I refuse to look. I will not look. He better just heal me and not expect me to turn my neck. Good night. It's not of works. You serious? Look and live. Look and live, my brother. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It's appointed unto you. Hallelujah. Look to Jesus and live. I hope you confess with your mouth. That'll help you cement it in your mind and your heart. But you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that there is a physical, by the way, when you speak in your mind, you're still using your body. Do you know that? You still got neurons flaring and doing things. There's a physical aspect to salvation. That's not works. Because works is earning. Works is earning, getting paid. Asking, Jesus said, is not works. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is to say it to thee, give to me drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living waters. So we see that the story of the fiery serpent pictures sin. Sin is a spiritual poison brought by a serpent. Sin is a spiritual poison that result in death. We see that the story of the fiery serpent pictures the Savior. Jesus was lifted upon a cross like the pole with the serpent. And Jesus became sin for us on the cross like the serpent on the pole. And we see that the story of the fiery serpent pictures salvation. Salvation is not of works. It's simply belief. You don't have to earn it. However, there is a physical action aspect to believing. And if your pride will keep you from looking, then go to hell. I don't like you saying that. Well, the Bible says confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. You want to confess in your heart and believe in your heart? I'm fine with that. I'll believe it. I'll never confess. Then go to hell. Because whosoever calleth upon him shall be saved. That's what the Bible says. Calling, asking, confessing is not works. You're not earning it. When Biden gave you that free money, you didn't earn it. You may have got on a website and asked for it, but you didn't earn it. Calling and asking or confessing can be done in your head. I don't have a problem with that. But you better do it. The Bible says to do it. The story of the fiery serpents is look and live. Think of the Bible, think of these stories, these symbols. We obviously don't take our doctrine from symbolism, but when the symbolism matches our doctrine, it's easy to see that this Bible is written by God. Help us to be humble people, not to come up with silly ideas to try to be smarter or more spiritual than others, Lord. Everything I preached tonight, I did not come up with. This has been handing down to us. My dad preached this to me and missionaries preached it to him and old men of God like Jack House and Lee Roberson all believe these things, Lord. Help us to stick with the doctrines that have been handing down to us as Baptists, not to try to come up with some funny, silly things. Lord, help us to learn that salvation is to point at the Lord Jesus Christ and say, look and live, my brother, look and live. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen. All right, brother Matt, come up and lead us in the final song. Just a reminder, we've got Job 20 on Wednesday night. We'd love for you to join us. And then, of course, this Sunday night. So lots of things this week. Tuesday, homeschool field trip. Moms, don't forget about that. Wednesday, Job 20. Friday, 6-3 p.m., married couple sweetheart banquet. And we'll have Pastor and Mrs. Cherry Thompson here. They'll be preaching. We'll do the game. We'll have the catering. Please sign up tonight. If you haven't, please sign up so we can get the number for the caterers. And then on Sunday, I Love My Church Sunday, and we are going to have the choir singing the pink vanilla caramel Valentine's Day popcorn for everyone, every family. The choir will be singing. Pastor Thompson will be preaching that night. Then we'll have a potluck. So don't forget, next Sunday night, bring a dish to share. Look, let me explain something to you about potlucks. It doesn't work if you and your whole family show up and don't bring anything. That's how we run out of food. Bring something, please. Bring a dish to share, and we'll have a good time. We'll have Pastor Thompson with us. It'll be a great time. Next Sunday night, and look, if you're part of our church, bring extra. Don't expect the guests to bring something. Don't expect Pastor Thompson and Mrs. Cherry to go run out and bring something. Why don't you just bring a little extra so they can eat? Can we do that? I hope that's not too much to ask. I Love My Church Sunday. We'll have Brother Matt come up and lead us in a final song. Turn to song 102. Song number 102. Let's sing it out on the first. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He died in my soul in the land of the dry, with rivers of pleasure I see. He died in my soul in the land of the dark, and shadows of my worries be bled. He died in my life in the dance of His love, and covered me there with His hand, and covered me there in His love. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, we take the one burden away. He brought me a prayer, shall not be bled, we give to His strength as our help. He died in my soul, in a prayer of love, and shadows of my worries be bled. He died in my life, in the dance of His love, and covered me there with His hand, and covered me there with His hand. Then on where there's blessing, with holy decals, may I fill you of this fullness divine. I see in my rapture the glory to you mine, for such a Redeemer as mine. He died in my soul, in a pleasure of love, that shadows the dry, thirsty air. He died in my life, in the dance of His love, and covered me there with His hand, and covered me there with His hand. Let's sing it out, not the last. When cold air's brightness transformeth our eyes, to leave them in clouds of the sky. His breath is salvation, His wonderful love, the shelter of His divine. He died in my soul, in a prayer of love, that shadows the dry, thirsty air. He died in my life, in the dance of His love, and covered me there with His hand, and covered me there with His hand. Amen. Good seeing. Let's go ahead and close with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank You for the servant that was preached tonight, Lord. I pray that we would just apply these things to our lives, Lord. I pray that we would learn them well and be able to teach them to others also. I pray, Lord, that You would be with us the rest of this week, that You would bring us back to church safely on Wednesday night. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.