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Worship (Lesson 8) – Aaron Cozort – October 07, 2026
Let’s begin with a word of prayer.
Gracious Father in Heaven, we humbly bow
before you,
grateful for the day that you’ve blessed
us with,
grateful for the opportunity that we have
in this life to serve you,
to worship you, to praise your name,
to glorify you, and we are grateful for
your plan
of redemption that has been brought down
through the ages from
the beginning of creation.
All the way forward so that we might have
the hope of eternal life.
And we are grateful for your son who came
and died on the cross for our sins,
that we might have that redemption,
that paid the purchase price that we could
not pay.
We pray that you are dealing or you be
with those who are dealing with sickness,
those who are facing upcoming procedures,
Lord, we pray that you will give them the
strength to go through
the hardships that they feach and every
day.
And Lord, we pray that you forgive us when
we sin and are willing to repent
of those things. And all this we ask in
Jesus’ name.
Amen.
In Exodus 19, if we as we’ve been studying
worship,
I wanted to jump forward a little bit in
the Old Testament history
to the time when Israel is coming out of
Egypt.
They have come to Mount Sinai.
They’ve been delivered through a series of
plagues that have been brought
on the Egyptian nation. They have been
delivered through the Red Sea on dry
ground.
And they arrived now at Mount Sinai.
Does anybody know why they came to Mount
Sinai?
Say again? All right. Because Mount Sinai
is where Moses
saw the burning bush. And it is God’s
instruction when
Moses is at the burning bush, that he is
to return with
the people back to this place.
Okay? So if you go back and read Exodus
chapter three and Exodus chapter four,
you’re gonna be like,
That’s why they’re at Mount Sinai.
And ~ that’s where the burning bush is.
The burning bush was at Sinai.
The location was the location God told
Moses
you go into Egypt, you get the people,
and you bring them back here. Okay.
Now there’s some rabbit trails that could
be discussed as to where Sinai is.
often we r hear of the the triangle shape
that that’s there between
the two red seas as the ~ sinai peninsula
and
we have often heard it called that because
historically for many years that’s
generally where people assume sinai is
they believe it’s down there in the base
of ~ of that peninsula
There’s not great evidence for that,
but there’s not really great evidence for
exactly where it is.
~ other than to say it’s on the other side
of the Red Sea.
There you go. It’s on the other side of
the Red Sea.
also bear in mind that the Red Sea,
even at that point, was considered to be
both of those fingers.
If you look on the map, ~ you’ve got one,
~ the Gulf of Aqaba and
And I’ve lost the name of the other one.
Suez. ~ yeah, Suez Canal. Yeah.
that some little place that some people
have been talking about recently
on the news. so you’ve got the Gulf of
Era,
you’ve got the Gulf of Suez, and and
depending upon whose opinion you accept,
~ depends on which one of those Moses and
the Israelites crossed on dry ground.
~ because
Some believe that they went down into
Egypt and then crossed
the the westward finger, and others
believe they went into the Sinai
put what we call the Sinai Peninsula and
crossed the eastern finger over into
~ the land that would have been known as
Arabia.
I’m more of the second camp.
~ I I think that the Sinai Peninsula is
actually in Arabia.
~ I believe that because that’s where Paul
says it is.
~ in the book of Galatians, but also
because if you are a shepherd
of sheep over the flock of someone who
lives in Midian,
which is where Moses’ father-in-law lived,
it would be very unreasonable to take
those sheep all the way down into
the horn of the Sinai Peninsula just to
water them and feed them.
That’s a very long trip
To take sheep on for the sake of food and
an unlikely place
to take them because of food. And when
you’re introduced to the Sinai Peninsula
or to Mount Sinai at the burning bush,
why is Moses at the foot of the place
where he sees the burning bush?
Because he’s tending his father-in-law’s
flock.
So there’s a lot of things that don’t make
sense about.
Sinai being down in the middle of the two
fingers,
the two gulfs. ~ just my opinion.
you can spend some time studying it on
your own.
But in the text, we’re at Mount Sinai.
We’re at the place where the children of
Israel having come out of Egypt will
remain
for almost a year, but they’ve just
arrived.
And as they arrive.
We find this in the third month after the
children of Israel had gone
out of the land of Egypt, on the same day
they came to the wilderness of Sinai,
for they had departed from Rephidim,
had come to the wilderness of Sinai,
and camped in the wilderness, so Israel
camped there before the mountain.
And Moses went up to God,
and the Lord called to him from the
mountain,
saying, Thus you shall say to the house of
Jacob,
and tell the children of Israel.
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians
and how I bore you on eagle’s wings
and brought you to myself. Notice there
is a directional declaration here.
God had sent Moses to get them,
and God had told Moses to bring them back
to where he was.
And so he declares I brought you to my
Self. Okay? Now he says,
Now therefore, verse five,
if you will indeed obey my voice and keep
my covenant,
then you shall be a special treasure to me
above all people,
for all the earth is mine. And you shall
be to me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. These are the words
which you shall speak to
the children of Israel.
Now you’ll notice
as God speaks to the nation,
that he’s going to use language that
interestingly,
over in Peter’s epistle, Peter’s going to
use similar language
to describe Christians. Turn over.
To the New Testament.
In first Peter
Sorry, second Peter chapter two.
I always know I’m saying the right one in
the other Bible that I
use because it’s always on the same column
on say page has been on for 20 years.
But when you use a new one,
~ sometimes you’re like, ~ it’s not where
it used to be.
Second Peter chapter 2. Notice what Peter
says as he describes Christians.
He says, Coming to him.
As to a living stone, rejected indeed by
men,
but chosen by God and precious.
Who’s he talking about?
He’s talking about Jesus, all right,
coming to him as to a living stone
rejected by men.
All right. Who’s the him that was rejected
by men?
It’s Christ. Okay? So he’s saying,
coming to Christ as to a living stone,
rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God
and precious.
You also as living stones are being built
up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood. And I just realized I
am in first Peter chapter two.
I apologize. I mean everybody’s got weird
looks because they’re doing what
I say and not what I do.
All right. First Peter chapter two,
beginning in verse four. Get it right.
He says, coming to him as to a living
stone,
rejected indeed by men,
but chosen by God and precious.
You also as living stones. So the first
for verse four is talking about Christ
coming to Christ. Verse five is talking
about Christians.
He says, You also as living stones are
being built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood.
To offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ.
Peter says you Christians
are a priesthood. Okay?
He says you are a holy,
consecrated, set apart is what that word
means.
You are a separated from the world
priesthood.
Therefore it is also contained in the
scripture,
behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he who believes on
him will by no means be put to shame.
Now again, that’s talking about Christ.
He’s making an analogy and making a
comparison between Christ and us,
Christ and us. So he describes this
passage that speaks concerning
in Zion God is going to lay a chief
cornerstone.
And he who believes on him will by no
means be put to shame.
Therefore, to you who believe,
he is precious, but to those who are
disobedient,
the stone which the builder rejected has
become the chief cornerstone,
and a stone of stumbling and a rock of
offense.
Po Peter’s going to make it clear that not
only did God lay a chief cornerstone,
he also laid a d a stone that would
destroy those who refused to believe.
He says they stumble, being disobedient to
the word,
to which they also were appointed.
But you, now notice this terminology,
verse 5 and verse 9. But you are a chosen
generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
his own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light.
Who were once not a people, but now are
the people of God,
who had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy.
Now, when Israel went into Egypt,
were they a nation? No,
they were a family. Seventy five people.
They came out a nation.
God says you weren’t a people when you
went in.
You are now. To the Christians,
Peter says, You weren’t a people before.
As a matter of fact, they were a group
pulled out of every nation under heaven.
Day one, you’ve got seventeen different
nations represented at the day of
Pentecost.
And seventeen different languages
represented at the day of Pentecost.
And moving beyond the day of Pentecost,
you have more and more and more and more
until you have Gentiles included.
He says, You’re not a people. God didn’t
call a nation.
Like he did in the Old Testament.
Rather, he selected out of all the nations
his people who were willing
to be obedient to him.
But I want us to see the comparison
between what Moses is told
by God to declare to Israel about who they
are and what they would be
to God and what Peter says. Peter says,
You’re a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
his own special people. Now,
why did God make Christians
A chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, his own special people.
He says that you may do what?
Proclaim the praises of him. What is that?
We were to just put a one-word answer or
description on it?
Worship. You remember what Jesus said
there
at the well outside Samaria? Where he said
that
God would seek those to worship him
who would worship him in spirit and in
truth.
So God was looking for a people.
He was looking for a people out of every
nation,
separated to become a chosen people.
For the purpose of worship.
Go back to Exodus.
And think about those terms. A royal
priesthood,
a holy nation, his own special people,
a chosen generation. And look once again
at verses five and six.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my
voice and keep my covenant,
then you shall be a special treasure to me
above all people,
for all the earth is mine.
And you shall be to me a kingdom of
priests
and a holy nation. These are the words
which you shall speak to
the children of Israel. God is declaring
to Israel in
the days of Moses a very similar message
that
God through Peter declares to the church.
You are
God’s people for the purpose of worshiping
him.
You’re set apart so you can. It’s
interesting we often think about
the idea of worshiping God, and we don’t
necessarily always connect to that,
that we cannot worship God appropriately,
correctly, and pleasing to Him unless He
has already made us holy.
Now we discussed a few weeks back that God
desires all men to worship him.
God commands Israel to allow the strangers
to worship him,
the foreigners to worship him,
to join in on some of the feasts.
As a matter of fact, David will describe
how that it was part of his goal
and his purpose in the Psalms to declare
God’s name to those
who were not Israelites.
So it is important that we use our worship
to influence those who are lost,
those who are not right with God,
and it is appropriate for those who are
not yet right with God,
but recognize who He is to still honor His
name.
But in order to worship as God desires his
people to do,
they have to first be his people.
So God is going to speak to Moses in what
he is going to declare
to Israel here at Mount Sinai.
And notice, so Moses, verse 7,
came and called for the elders of the
people and laid before them
all these words which the Lord commanded
him.
Then all the people answered together and
said,
All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.
So Moses brought back the words of the
people to the Lord.
You might remember that over in Joshua
chapter 23,
a very similar description is made by
Joshua
to the next generation. And when they
said,
We’re going to do everything the Lord
says,
Joshua says, You should beware.
Because the prior generation had said they
were going to do everything that
the Lord said too.
And how many of them made it into the
promised land?
The answer is the children and two.
So the people say we’re going to do
everything that the Lord says.
So the Moses brought back the words of the
people to the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses, Behold,
I come to you in a thick cloud,
that the people may hear when I speak with
you and believe you forever.
Moses is going to be spoken to by God.
But who’s going to hear the message as
well?
All people.
So he says, Go to the people,
verse ten, and consecrate them today and
tomorrow,
and let them wash their clothes,
and let them be ready for the third day,
for on the third day the Lord will come
down upon Mount Sinai in the sight
of all the people. You shall set bounds
for the people all around,
saying, Take heed to yourselves that you
do not go up to the mountain
or touch its base for
Whoever touches the mountain shall surely
be put to death.
God is going to tell Israel, I’m going to
speak with Moses.
And I’m going to speak to him from the
mountain,
and you’re going to listen to me speak to
him from the mountain,
and you’re never gonna doubt Moses’
relationship to the Lord ever again.
Now will that be true? In the sense of
will they ever doubt it?
~ sure they will. You get all the way to
the edge of the promised land
and they’re gonna say, you know what,
let’s kill Moses and go back to Egypt.
But it wasn’t for a lack of evidence.
It wasn’t because it hadn’t been proven.
Step all the way forward to the time of
Jesus.
And did Israel need any more signs than
the ones they had already received
to confirm that Jesus was the Christ,
the Son of God? No. Did they still refuse
to believe it?
Yes.
So they’re at Mount Sinai, they’re told to
consecrate themselves,
the third day God is going to come down,
God is going to speak from the mountain,
and God says if any of you come up on the
mountain or touch the mountain,
you’re dead.
How you want to show up for worship with
that qualification?
How how would you like the scenario where,
you know what, if you cross that pew,
you’re a goner.
That’s not really the way we in this
country at least act in any scenario.
I mean, we occasionally might be somewhere
where there’s very important people
or leaders or whatever, and you know,
hey, don’t you don’t cross that line
because you’re gonna be considered
a threat if you do. But turn over to
Exodus chapter,
sorry, Hebrews.
Hebrews chapter twelve
Beginning in verse 18. Hebrews 12,
verse 18, we read, For you have not come.
Now, this is the Hebrew writer writing to
Christians.
And as he’s writing these Christians,
he says, Let me tell you what situation
you’re not in.
He says, For you have not come to the
mountain that may be touched,
and that burned with fire, and to
blackness and darkness and tempest.
And the sound of a trumpet and the voice
of words,
so that those who heard it begged that the
word should not be spoken
to them anymore. For they could not endure
what was commanded,
and if so much as a beast touches the
mountain,
it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.
What event is the Hebrew writer writing
about?
He’s writing about Exodus chapter 19.
The Hebrew writer is saying, You are.
Christians have not showed up at a
mountain where you were warned if even
an animal touched the mountain,
they were to be killed. If you touch the
mountain,
you were to be killed. That’s not what
you’ve shown up at.
He says, and so terrifying was the sight
that Moses said,
I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God.
The heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable
company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the
firstborn who were registered in heaven,
to God, the judge of all, to the spirits
of just men made perfect,
to Jesus the mediator mediator of the new
covenant,
and to the blood of the sprinkling that
speaks better things than that of Abel.
As you’re reading Exodus nineteen,
you should be thinking
That must have been amazing to see,
but I’m very glad I don’t have to witness
it.
Because the Hebrew writer says,
You you’ve come to someplace so much
better.
He goes on to say, See that you did not
refuse him who speaks.
For if they did not escape, who refused
him who spoke on earth,
much more shall we not escape if we turn
away from him who speaks from heaven,
whose voice then shook the earth,
but now he has promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not only the earth,
but also heaven.
Now this yet once more indicates the
removal of those things that are being
shaken,
as of things that are made, and not of the
things which cannot be shaken,
~ excuse me, that the things which cannot
be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a
kingdom which cannot be shaken,
let us have grace by which we may serve
God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear, for our God is a consuming
fire.
The Hebrew writer says, You go look back
and you go read Exodus
and you go understand what they showed up
at.
And then you consider the grace that
you’ve been given.
You put in your mind an understanding of
the grace that God has granted to you,
and then you remember this.
Still the same guy.
So if you reject the grace.
All you’re left with is the God who
judges.
Eddie, did you have a thought I saw a
hand?
Absolutely. We’re gonna go into that just
a little bit deeper.
You know, that idea of when we show up at
worship,
we should be we should be realizing who
we’re showing up in front of.
So go back to Exodus nineteen.
I want to read a little bit more into
Exodus nineteen.
And then we’re gonna get into chapter
twenty and see a little bit more there.
And we’re gonna come back to Hebrews.
So you might just keep a finger over in
Hebrews.
God says, beginning in verse fourteen.
So Moses went down from the mountain to
the people and sanctified the people,
and they washed their clothes.
And he said to the people, Be ready for
the third day,
do not come near your wives. Then it came
to pass on the third day
in the morning that there were thunderings
and lightnings,
and a thick cloud on the mountain.
And the sound of the trumpet was very
loud,
so that all the people who were in the
camp trembled.
What did the Hebrew writer write about?
He wrote about this.
He’s telling you what happened.
And Moses brought the people out of the
camp to meet with God,
and they stood at the foot of the
mountain.
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke,
because the Lord descended upon it in
fire.
Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a
furnace,
and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Why don’t you think about something?
The last time that Moses was here,
there was a bush on fire.
And when Moses approached it, and when the
Lord spoke
to Moses from the bush, and when Moses
observed that the bush was on fire,
but the bush was not consumed.
The text tells us that Moses fell down as
dead.
And God tells Moses, Take your sandals off
your feet,
for the place you stand is holy ground.
Now they’re back. And as they are encamped
at the base of Mount Sinai,
and as they have consecrated themselves
and prepared themselves and arrived
now at the base of Mount Sinai,
they are observing
not a bush on fire.
But the whole mountain on fire.
But is the mountain consumed?
There’s some in the,
I don’t know if I’d really call them the
archaeological world,
but at least the ~ profitable
archaeological world,
i.e., they always have something to sell,
that believe they have found Mount Sinai
because
it is a mountain that is just charred,
~ darkened. And so their their belief is
that.
This is Mount Sinai because of its
appearance.
My only disagreement with that is i if you
think about what’s going
to transpire from here, where’s Moses
about to go?
Moses is about to go right up that
mountain and talk to the Lord.
And Moses is going to be on that mountain
for 40 days.
So in the same way that the bush was on
fire and wasn’t consumed,
I suggest to you that the mountain was on
fire and wasn’t consumed.
Not explicitly stated, but certainly worth
considering.
Not saying it was at all n certainly not
saying it was their imagination.
No, the fire was real.
Just like the fire of the burning bush was
real,
but it didn’t consume the bush.
It was God manifesting himself in a
way that the people could comprehend there
is no one else like me.
Because that’s been God’s message from
plague number one all
the way to plague number ten. There is no
one like the Lord.
So they arrive at the mountain,
they gather around the mountain,
they’re told to consecrate themselves,
they consecrate themselves, they arrive at
the mountain on the third day,
and they witness the mountain surrounded
by thunderings,
lightnings, a thick cloud, the sound of a
trumpet was very loud,
so that the people who were in the camp
trembled,
and the Mount Sinai was completely
engulfed in smoke.
Descended upon the Lord descended upon it
in fire,
its smoke ascended like the smoke of a
furnace,
and the whole mountain quaked greatly,
and when the blast of the trumpet sounded
long and became louder and louder,
Moses spoke, and God answered him by
voice.
So imagine you’re standing there and you
begin to hear the sound of a trumpet.
And it just keeps going.
And then it gets louder and louder and
louder.
To the point of being unbearable.
And then God speaks normally.
Moses hears him. I the idea is not God’s
having a shout up no no.
God is heard directly.
Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai
and on the top of the mountain.
And the Lord called Moses to the top of
the mountain,
and Moses went up. So now God is going to
manifest Himself on the
top of Mount Sinai. God is going to call
Moses up onto the mount.
Moses is going to go up on the mount.
And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and
warn the people lest they break through
to gaze at the Lord, and many of them
perish.
And let the priests who come near the Lord
consecrate themselves,
lest the Lord break out against them.
First message Moses,
come up the mountain. Moses gets up the
mountain.
Moses, go back down the mountain.
Why? You go tell the people I’m dead
serious.
Literally. Don’t don’t touch the mountain.
And the priests, by the way,
at the time, how many priests are there in
Israel?
None, actually.
Aaron and his sons aren’t consecrated yet.
God has just called them a nation of
priests.
But he does give you a little nugget
that’s gonna help when you
get over to Leviticus chapter ten.
And when the priests are consecrated and
when the very first occasion
of worship is consecrated and the events
transpire on that day,
and God is going to send fire from heaven
and consume two of the five priests.
The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu,
and God is going to reiterate the message
which he had already spoken,
not very much earlier than that,
but somewhat earlier than that.
God spoke from the mountain and told
Moses,
Your priesthood show up in front of me,
and they better be holy.
Now watch the connection. Do you remember
what Peter called Christian?
A holy nation, a royal priesthood.
If God was serious enough about you and me
showing up,
or let’s go back to the Old Testament.
God was serious enough about the
priesthood of Aaron showing up before
God in holiness, so much so that he sent
fire from heaven down
to consume two of the ones who didn’t.
What should we be considering as we show
up at worship?
You remember that Paul is going to write
to the church and tell them
as they’re observing the Lord’s Supper
that they are to examine themselves
whether
they are in the faith.
As we as we look at this passage,
we’re supposed to be looking at ourselves
and going,
what am I supposed to be when I show up
before God to worship him?
Humble for sure.
Holy Humble
But notice then Moses said to the Lord,
The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai,
for you warned us, saying, Set bounds
around the mountain and consecrate it.
Then the Lord said to him, Away,
get down and then come up, you and Aaron
with you,
but do not let the priest and the people
break through to come up to the Lord,
lest he break out against them.
So Moses went down to the people and spoke
to them.
So here envision.
Moses goes up the mountain. God tells him
to go down the mountain.
Moses basically says, Well, the Lord,
you told us to build a barrier around the
mountain,
so the people aren’t going to come up.
God says, I said go down. And when you go
down,
you bring Aaron back.
So Moses goes down.
And the way I understand it is as Moses
reaches the bottom,
God begins speaking.
And God spoke all these words,
saying, And he gives what we know as the
Ten Commandments.
Now we’re not going to go through all of
them for the sake of time,
because I want to get to this at the end
of the chapter before we get there.
Verse 18. So God gives the Ten
Commandments,
He speaks the word as Moses has been
commanded to go back down,
get Aaron, and remind the people,
don’t touch the mountain.
Now all the people witnessed the
thunderings,
the lightning, the flashes, the sound of
the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking, and when the
people saw it,
they trembled and stood afar off.
Then they said to Moses, You speak with
us,
and we will hear. But let not God speak
with us lest we die.
They have witnessed God’s plagues,
they have witnessed God’s miracles,
they have witnessed God delivering them
through the Red Sea,
and now they are so afraid because of what
they’re witnessing at Mount Sinai that
they tell Moses, listen, you go up the
mountain and you find out what
the Lord has to say, because we cannot
bear hearing the voice of
the Lord any longer. We are afraid for our
lives.
Verse twenty, and Moses said to the
people,
Do not fear, for God has come to test you,
and that his fear may be before you,
so that you may not sin. So the people
stood afar off,
but Moses drew near the thick darkness
where God was.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Thus you
shall say to the children of Israel,
You have seen that I have talked with you
from heaven,
you shall not make anything to be with me,
gods of silver or gods of gold.
You shall not make for yourselves,
an altar of earth you shall make for me,
and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt
offerings and your peace offerings,
your sheep and your oxen in every place
where I record my name,
I will come to you and I will bless you.
And if you will make me an altar of stone,
you shall not build it of hewn stone,
for it for if you use your tool on it,
you have profaned it.
Nor shall you go up by steps to my altar
that your nakedness may not
be exposed on it.
So God says to Moses, here are the
instructions for altars.
Moses, you tell the people,
when they build an altar, they do it my
way.
When they show up before me,
they show up in holiness. When they show
up before me,
they take care to maintain their holiness.
Go back over to Hebrews.
In Hebrews chapter four, verse fourteen.
The Hebrew writer will say, seeing then
that we have a great high priest
who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,
but was in all points tempted as we are
yet without sin.
Let us therefore come.
boldly to the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.
Multiple times in the book of Hebrews,
the Hebrew writer is going to tell the
people of God.
Israel came before God in fear.
Israel came before God with a priesthood
that could never
be truly holy in and of themselves.
Israel came before God with sacrifices
that could never make them truly holy
before
God. And Israel came before God in fear.
But through Christ we come in boldness.
Now, the Hebrew writer is not implying by
that we come nonchalantly with
a lack of care. No, still the same God.
Still the consuming fire the Hebrew writer
writes about.
But rather that we approach God not with
our merit,
not with our holiness, not with our
righteousness,
not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with the blood of Jesus Christ his
son.
So when John writes in 1 John chapter 1,
he says that the blood of Jesus Christ
continually cleanses us from all sin.
And that as a result of that,
we have fellowship with the Father and
with
the Son and with other Christians.
We need, as we worship,
to use worship as an opportunity.
to examine ourselves whether or not we are
holy,
whether or not we are right before God,
whether or not
we
are His special people.
Okay? Thank you.
Our Christian Family – Justin Evergarden – October 04, 2026
As Christians, we often hear or use the
phrase brother and sister in Christ.
When I first attended the Memphis School
of Preaching,
it was a rule that we call each other
brother or sister so and so.
Not literally so and so, but insert their
last name.
So it was always Brother Mosier,
Brother Rutherford, Brother Clark,
Sister Tish.
Sister Evergarden, things like that.
We use the word brother and sister so
often among Christians.
But when we call someone by that name,
when we call them a brother or a sister in
Christ,
we are saying something about what God has
done
to them in their lives. We are also
acknowledging that we belong
to the same family.
That relationship should make a difference
in everyday life.
It should affect what happens when we
notice someone is struggling,
when someone new comes to us, and when two
Christians specifically have
a disagreement. The question is what is
whether our treatment of
one another matches the term by which we
are using.
Turn your Bibles over to Ephesians chapter
three,
specifically verses fourteen through
fifteen.
Listen to the way Paul begins his prayer
in Ephesians chapter three.
He’s explaining something very important.
He says, For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named.
Paul had been explaining how people who
were once separated have been brought
together into the very same family through
Christ.
In the previous chapter in Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 19,
he writes the following words.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers
and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of
the household of God.
Now I want you to think for just a moment
about the change that happens
in that verse. People who have been
strangers up until now now share
the very household of God through Christ.
They have a place in his family,
is what Paul is saying. Their relationship
with God,
therefore, gives them a relationship to
each other.
Now, our experiences with earthly families
are going to differ.
For many of us, when we think of our
earthly families,
we have joy in those memories.
Unfortunately, for some, memories of those
families,
even immediately, could be pain.
Scripture directs us to the character of
God and teaches us that what life
in his household ought to be. We will need
patience with one another as we grow,
because God has made us children,
specifically his children, and we must
learn to treat each other as one family.
And so because of this, we’re going to
look at five different points this
evening,
and I’m going to go through a little
faster than normal,
because typically a sermon consists of
three,
not five. So I’m going to try to go
through them.
Of what all we share as members of
Christ’s family.
First and foremost, turn your Bibles over
to Second Corinthians eighteen.
And we’re going to look at the fact that
we all have the same Father.
The one speaking here is the Lord God
Almighty,
and just as a reminder, he has all
authority and all power throughout
the gospel that’s written. And he says in
chapter six and verse eighteen,
and I will be a father unto you.
And you sh ye shall be my sons and
daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
Now he’s speaking to people in very
personal terms.
He’s using terms like father, sons,
daughters. And we should pause long enough
when reading this scripture
to appreciate the promise that’s been
given to us.
We were received into a relationship in
which we belong to him.
The surrounding verses there, if you have
time.
Also help us understand what a
relationship requires.
Paul is calling the Corinthians to
separate themselves from idolatry
and uncleanness. But God’s promise to
receive them goes with his call
for them to live as his people.
His children under honor him by the way
they live.
That includes the way we treat his other
children,
the other membly members of our family.
If God is my father, and God is your
father,
then we have a reason to care about one
another before we discover.
Whether we have something else in common
or not.
Doesn’t matter if we both like sports.
Doesn’t matter if we’re both gearheads or
tech heads.
Doesn’t matter who won at the Super Bowl.
Whether we have something in common with
one another or not,
we need to treat each other the same way
as our relationship in Christ.
Because that relationship in Christ gives
us a place in each other’s lives.
It’s natural to spend time
With people whose company comes very
easily to us.
People who we have lots in common with one
another.
And we ought to enjoy those friendships.
But consider the member who comes in the
building,
takes a seat, and leaves scarcely with
anyone speaking to him.
He belongs to the same father as the same
person who is surrounded by friends.
His presence matters just as much.
And his burdens matter. We’re told in
another verse.
Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep
with them that weep.
We’re told to be one with all of our
family in Christ in both the good and the
bad.
Our common father also gives us a reason
to be careful
of things during disagreements.
A brother may need correction,
and we may need correction ourselves.
We should approach that work with a desire
to help one another,
first and foremost, please the God in whom
we serve,
and please the God in whose family we
become a part of.
Before we speak carelessly about a fellow
Christian,
we ought to remember whose child we are
discussing.
They are still a child of God.
We have the same father, and we both
answer to him.
But also we have the same mother.
Turn over to Galatians chapter four and
verse twenty-six.
Now before we read the passage,
there’s an expression we need to
understand in the setting of this verse.
Paul has been discussing Abraham’s two
sons and their mothers.
And Sarah. He uses them to illustrate two
covenants,
Hagar’s associated with Mount Sinai and
bondage,
while the free woman belongs to the
picture of promise and freedom.
It says in Galatians 4 and verse 26 But
Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is mother
of us all.
Paul is contrasting the present Jerusalem
with the Jerusalem above.
Not one that’s horizontal to us that we
can walk into,
but one that is vertical of us,
which he calls our mother.
Now he’s speaking figuratively about our
spiritual belonging.
He’s not talking in the physical sense.
But the next part of his explanation makes
the point very easy to understand.
Move forward to verse 28. Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Those that
are a part of the body of Christ,
those that have put on Christ,
share in God’s promise for them.
And it’s important to note that earthly
ancestry gives no Christian
a superior standing among other of God’s
children.
We’re all on the same level, we’re all
brothers and sisters.
That goes vertically.
One person may have been taught the
scriptures from childhood.
Others don’t get into the scriptures and
become a Christian until way later in
life.
We should be very thankful for the
blessing of a faithful upbringing
if we’ve been brought up in the church
since a young age.
But we need to be very welcoming of the
person who’s only recently obeyed
the gospel. So many times, I’ve and I’ve
seen it in other congregations
of the Lord’s church. Someone who was
raised in the church.
Treat someone who’s a newcomer completely
different than they should.
And that’s wrong of us as Christians.
A congregation can have families whose
connections go back many years.
And these relationships, again,
can be a wonderful blessing to the church.
But we should consider how a new Christian
experiences life among us.
Can that person find a place at our table
and in our conversations?
One of the rules that I had to learn very
quickly when I started at BI,
the Business Networking International.
that I go to with Aaron is one of the
rules that we have set is no closed
circles
of conversation. We don’t have our backs
turned outward.
We always leave part of the circle open so
that other people can come
in at any point in time. At no point in
time should the Christian have
a closed circle of conversation in this
church building or out
of the church building for that member.
We should always be welcoming to have
other people into the congregation.
Can that person find a place at our table?
Does he have someone to ask when he
doesn’t understand someone?
Does she know that her presence is wanted
in the room?
And a lot of that goes back to even
something as simple
as our bodies and how they’re standing.
Being new should never mean being treated
as less of part of the family.
Paul caused the calls the Galatians
brethren and children of promise.
This is how we should learn to see each
other,
both new and old. We share a belonging
that reaches beyond family into that which
we were physically born. It goes into the
spiritual family.
But now I want you to think about it as
well,
and we don’t typically have this problem
at this congregation here,
but we all eat at the same table.
Now we typically do that here in the
physical sense every Sunday,
and I’m so glad that we invite visitors
and everyone else to come and
sit down on us. Families depend upon
nourishment.
They depend upon food. My little one
couldn’t go more than three hours without
a snack, or he would lose it. But when we
talk about spiritual needs,
God provides for the spiritual needs of
his people.
Look at Isaiah chapter sixty six and verse
eleven.
Isaiah gives us a picture of that
provision.
He says in Isaiah 66 11, that ye may suck
and be satisfied with the breasts
of her consolations, that ye may milk out
and be delighted in the abundance
of her glory. Now, Isaiah pictures
Jerusalem here as a mother nursing her
children.
In the surrounding passage, God promises
comfort to his people.
The picture is of children receiving the
care and nourishment that they need.
It reminds us that our dependence is upon
the provision of
That our God makes from day to day.
Peter uses the imagery of a hungry child
in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse
2 to teach us Christians about the need
for the Word.
He says in 1 Peter 2 2, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word,
that they may grow thereby. As I told you
before,
my son Laios does not have to be persuaded
to eat his food.
So why is it that when we as adults have
to be persuaded when spiritual fruit food
is concerned? I want you to take into
account just a thought.
The human body, scientifically speaking,
can go one to two months without food.
I was looking into ~ weight loss programs
recently,
and I’m about to start a seventy two hour
fast,
but I wanted to make sure that that was
safe.
And I came across this and said,
Well, some people have gone as far as two
months,
to which my response was no, thank you.
I’m not going two months. It’s hard enough
to go the three days to try
to lose a little weight.
That’s provided you still have access to
water.
The body, without water, can only live for
around three days and then it dies.
We have a very solid dependence on water.
But spiritual matters are so far more
important than the amount of water
and food our body eats. So why?
Why do we make ourselves go so long
without eating at God’s table?
Why do we go without the nourishment that
our souls need?
To spend an eternity with them.
We are starving ourselves if we do not
spend time in God’s Word.
Peter tells us to bring that kind of
desire to the Word of God.
We need to know what God has provided if
we are ever going to grow and survive
in a spiritual manner. And this need
belongs to every single one of us.
Yes, the preacher still needs to receive
the very word he teaches.
And that’s something I have to remind
myself as a preacher on a daily basis.
When I’m studying and I’m getting these
ready for presentation for you to teach
you,
I have to apply these lessons to my very
own life,
first and foremost. The Christian who
studied for many years still needs
to examine his life in the light of God’s
word.
Let me be very clear. There is not a
single person on this planet,
no matter how intelligent, no matter how
wise they may be,
will ever reach a point.
Where they do not need to learn more of
God’s word.
It’s not possible.
Notice too that what Peter tells his
readers to put away immediately before
speaking
in this verse. He names several things:
malice, put away deceit, put away
hypocrisy,
envying, and evil speaking. Those things
are things that
can damage our relationships within our
Christian family.
As the Word of Christ helps us to grow,
it should become evident in the way that
we treat people around us.
A spiritually mature Christian is going to
love.
those that he’s around. A greater
knowledge of Scripture ought to
be accompanied by a greater willingness to
obey it.
And there’s a direct connection between a
shared table and our fellowship
in Christ that we observe every single
week.
Look at first Corinthians chapter ten,
verses sixteen through seventeen.
We remember as the Lord’s sacrifice
together as people who depend
on that sacrifice for our eternal
well-being.
The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ?
That bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ?
For we being many are one bread and one
body.
For we are all partakers of that one.
Bread. As a Christian, if I’ve been
nursing resentment towards a brother,
I should take that seriously. If I have
wronged someone,
I should be willing to seek forgiveness.
The fellowship we acknowledge together
calls for care in the way we live
together.
I was taught somewhere else in the Bible
that if you have aught against your
brother, you go to them. You take care of
that problem before making your alms
and sacrifices to God.
But I want you to also think that we wear
the same garments.
Not only do we have the same mother,
the same father, eat at the same table,
but we wear the same thing, Galatians
three,
twenty six through twenty eight.
Paul is going to bring several thoughts
together in this passage.
He speaks of being children of God by
faith,
of being baptized into Christ and the
unity shared by those who belong to him.
Let’s look and see what he wrote.
For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ,
the faith. Only one Lord,
one faith, one baptism. This is not
teaching faith only.
Let’s be very clear about that.
For as many of you have been, there it is,
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
It’s something you wear. There is neither
Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
His expression to put on Christ gives us
the picture of clothing ourselves with
Christ.
As much as we want to admit it or not,
in the world that we live in right now,
clothing can very much influence how we
are treated by the outside communities.
A person in expensive clothes may receive
attention,
while someone dressed very simply,
very poorly, does not. Typically those
that are dressed in rags are looked down
upon
by the world standards. People can make
judgments about importance before
a conversation has ever begun.
I don’t know about you, but it happened in
my high school all the time.
If you weren’t wearing the football
jersey,
you clearly weren’t part of the jock crew.
They would put you in these labels,
these little boxes.
In this passage, Paul directs our
attention to the identity we share in
Christ.
And the differences he names were
significant in the lives of his readers,
the people he was directly writing to
there at the Corinthian church.
Yet none of them established a superior
claim to the blessings
of belonging to Christ. Every person in
him stood in need of his grace,
and they still do today. Every person in
Christ belongs to Christ.
And thus that should treat that should
shape the way a congregation treats
its members. There’s also a sense of
personal responsibility,
however, in this image. If we have to put
on Christ,
then our behavior should reflect to whom I
belong,
to what I am wearing. This is called
dressing for the job.
Everyone here would have something to say
if I walked up here in board shorts
and a Hawaiian shirt to teach the evening
lesson.
You dress the job. When we were at MSLP,
we had to have the tie, the jacket,
thankfully, after a while, was optional.
But you dress for the job. If you’re gonna
change the oil in the car,
you’re not gonna wear a three piece suit.
You’re not gonna wear your best shirt,
which I made the mistake of lying under my
truck the other day in one
of my favorite shirts and realized what I
was doing.
So now I have to rebuy said shirt because
I ruined it with a little bit of oil.
You gotta dress for what you’re doing.
His patience, his grace, his love towards
us should influence the way
we respond to other people. His humility
should influence how we’re willing
to admit how sometimes we’re wrong.
We always need to base all of our
knowledge upon his infinite knowledge.
We wear the same garments because we have
put on the same Lord in Christ,
and that shared identity gives us every
reason to treat one another with dignity
and love.
I also want you to consider that we work
in the same field.
We’re not all preachers, but we work in
the same field.
Matthew 13 and verse 38, Jesus is
explaining the parable of the wheat and
the tares.
He says in Matthew 13 and verse 38 The
field is the world.
The good seed are the children of the
kingdom,
but the tares are the children of the
wicked one.
Now he’s told us what everything is.
His people live in a world where evil is
so present,
awaiting the judgment he describes at the
close of the parable.
As his people live in that world,
they also have work to do.
What do you do with seed? If you’re
responsible,
you plant it. You water it. Paul gives us
a dire a direct relating farming
illustration doing this. In First
Corinthians three,
six through nine. He says, I’ve planted,
Apollos watered, and God gave the
increase.
So neither is he that planteth anything,
neither is he that watereth, but God that
giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth, and he that watereth
are one.
Hm. They’re doing different jobs,
but they’re working in the same field.
And every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor.
For we are fellow laborers together with
God.
Ye are God’s husbandry, planters,
farmers. Ye are God’s building,
the church.
This principle should guide the way we
work together.
Consider how someone may come to a Bible
study.
A Christian takes time to build the
friendship,
build the relationship. Eventually that
friendship creates an opportunity
for the study. Another Christian may help
teach,
and after the person obeys the gospel,
other people should help encourage that
person to grow further in
the knowledge of God. We all have a part
to play.
We can also learn something from the
ordinary responsibilities of a household,
not just farmers.
Lots of families organize their family
chores on something called a chore board.
Everybody has something to do.
Family life requires which we’re not quite
to that point with him yet,
he can’t read. But family life requires
one to notice what needs to be done
and how to contribute. Typically it’s my
job as the husband to take out the
garbage.
Typically me and Megan both share doing
the dishes.
If I cook, she does the dishes.
If she cooks, I do the dishes.
We don’t have a board yet, but that’s
coming.
The same willingness is needed among
Christians.
A congregation’s works depends on the
members who are prepared to serve.
We all have different ability.
Our circumstances differ from person to
person,
and sometimes it can change over time.
Some can do things today that others
cannot today.
Look, I’m good at some things,
as a friend of mine once said,
and you’re good at some things.
We all have different areas of expertise.
The question each of us should ask is what
we can faithfully contribute with
the opportunities God has given us.
There’s encouragement in knowing that we
do not labor alone,
that we serve the same Lord and God,
that we have a family backing us up
because we can strengthen one another
for the work that’s ahead of us.
Something that would be insurmountable by
ourselves is very,
very achievable and sometimes easy when
put together as a group.
Think of how the pyramids were made.
It wasn’t by one man.
And then I want you to think as well,
we dwell in the same house together
forever,
if we are part of God’s family.
David says it a real good way in Psalm
chapter twenty three and verse six.
David has described the Lord’s care
through the circumstances of his life.
The shepherd provides and guides,
and his present gives comfort even in the
valley of the shadow of death.
He says, Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Here David closes with confidence in God’s
enduring goodness and
the blessing of dwelling in his presence
at the end of his life.
But Jesus speaks directly to his disciples
about a home with the Father.
Let’s look at what he says in John chapter
14,
verses two through three.
And the comfort of this promise should be
very personal to all of us.
And I’ll explain why. In my father’s
house,
he says in John 14, 2 through 3,
are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you, I go to prepare a
place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto
myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also.
First off,
We have the Son of God going and preparing
our room for us,
and he knows us more intimately than
anyone else on this planet,
probably ourselves. Definitely ourselves.
And in the first section of chat of verse
two,
he says, In my father’s house are many
mansions.
The Greek there does not mean multiple
mansions,
multiple houses. What it is accurately
describing is multiple rooms.
That’s one house,
one family under one roof.
God is not saying that we’re going to be
some extended family out there that
we can call up on the telephone line
because we’re in a mansion six doors down.
When we think on terms of earthly life
here,
one unit living under one household is
considered a family.
Now, if I had a brother over here that
also had a family,
yes, we’re all the same family,
but you would say they’re two distinct
families.
This is not the case in God’s case.
He’s saying we will be all one family
under one roof,
altogether brothers and sisters in Christ.
That’s why I say the comfort of that
promise is deeply personal.
A faithful Christian dies, and sometimes
congregations can feel the absence,
we miss people to whom we are connected
too deeply.
The person who sat beside us or encouraged
us at one point during a difficult time,
and those losses hurt because those
relationships matter.
Our hope in Christ should be something
that reaches beyond
the separations we experience now.
As we remain faithful to him, we can look
forward to the promise that those
separations will not be permanent.
We are a family with a future in Christ.
So we need to help one another remain
faithful toward the goal of reaching that
home
together. That’s the whole purpose of
Christ.
For the Son of Man came to seek and save
the lost.
Part of that is also to keep the family of
Christ in Christ.
Because if they leave the family,
they’re lost again, aren’t they?
Just like the fold of sheep, one that s
lids astray,
the shepherd has to go back and get.
When Paul prayed to the Father,
he spoke of the family that bears his
name.
We have considered what relationship means
in our lives.
We depend on the same Father, we share in
his promises,
we receive the nourishment he provides,
we put on Christ, and we have to do the
work together as we look forward
to the promise of living in the Father’s
house.
Now, where does this all culminate with?
Each of us needs to consider how we are
treating the family.
Perhaps there’s someone among us we
scarcely have taken time to know.
When’s the last time we invited each other
over to each other’s homes for dinner?
To really truly get to know them just
outside of this building.
We can begin changing that. Perhaps we’ve
allowed an offense to harden into some
sort of resentment. Could be something
small,
but now we avoid them. Whatever needs
attention,
we need to be taking a real step forward
to getting it right and changing it.
If we have aught against our brother,
we need to go to them. If you’re a
Christian who’s grown distant from the
Lord,
your brothers and sisters should want you
to help or help you.
Your brothers and sisters should want to
help you return back to Christ.
Turn from the sin that’s drawn you away,
seek God’s forgiveness, and encourage you
towards a new commitment towards Him.
There’s no better room to be in.
Our spiritual family here is going to
outlist
any physical ties on this earth that we
have.
Wearing Christ runs deeper than blood and
bone.
If you’ve never become a Christian,
the gospel tells you how to respond to the
Lord who died for you and rose again.
Paul writes in Romans 10, 9 through 10:
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus,
and shalt 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,
is made unto salvation. And when those who
have heard the gospel
on Pentecost asked in response to this
what they should do,
Peter answered them in Acts chapter two
and verse thirty eight.
Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be
baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ,
for the remission of your sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.
We’ve already read in Galatians that those
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
In faith they turn from sin. Confess your
belief in the Lord Jesus
and be baptized into him. God offers
offers forgiveness through his Son
and a place among his people. If we can
help you do that tonight in any way,
please let us know as we stand and as we
sing.
Our Message : The Gospel – Aaron Cozort – October 04, 2026
Good morning.
It’s good to see all of you here.
It’s good especially to see our visitors
with us.
We want you to know that you are honored
guests.
We appreciate your presence and we hope
that you’ll be back with
us at every opportunity that you have.
We also hope that you’ll stick around for
a few minutes afterwards and allow
us to get to know you and greet you.
First Corinthians chapter fifteen is where
our study will come from this morning.
Over the course of recent months,
we’ve discussed much of the book of First
Corinthians in view
of First Corinthians thirteen and its
focus on love
and the things which love is and is not.
I want to spend a few moments this morning
with the beginning
of First Corinthians fifteen. If you’re
familiar with this chapter,
you know that the chapter at large is
dealing with the subject
of the resurrection. And it is a pivotal
message that Paul
is writing to the church at Corinth
because there are some there within
the church of Corinth that are teaching
that there is no resurrection.
That this life is all that there is.
Doctrines haven’t changed much in two
thousand years.
There are still many in the world today
insisting that this life
is all that there is.
But Paul will insist that they know
better.
Where I want us to focus this morning,
though, is actually on the first eleven
verses.
Not in this lesson taking on that signal
message
of the resurrection, but rather the
preceding message which
Paul builds his argument about the
resurrection upon.
And that is our message.
The gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is going
to begin to deal with
the argument that they make concerning the
resurrection by first emphasizing
the message that was preached.
If you go back in your minds to 1
Corinthians chapter 1,
Paul is going to write to them in 1
Corinthians chapter 1 and insist that
he preached to them when he was present
with them,
when he was at Corinth, Jesus Christ and
him crucified.
He preached to them a message that
confounded the Jew and the Gentile.
Because the Jew wanted a sign,
the Gentile wanted to seek the wisdom of
this world.
And Paul insists that the wisdom of God
defeated the wisdom
of this world. In sending his son to die
on the cross for our sins,
to be put to death, something that
A Gentile mind would think is foolishness.
To to worship a God who gets killed?
To worship a God who seems to be defeated?
What kind of God is that?
And yet, Paul will make clear that he
didn’t come with
fancy words, he didn’t come with the
wisdom of the age,
he didn’t come with
the worldly presentation that would have
convinced
the Gentiles.
Nor did he come with all the things the
Jews were looking for.
Rather, he came with a very simple
message.
Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And as Paul opens up 1 Corinthians chapter
15,
he’s going to go back to that discussion
about the message which he preached
and the message that they heard.
And that’s where our focus is going to be
this morning.
In chapter 15 and verse 1, he writes:
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the
gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, and in which you
Stand. Consider first
the gospel was received.
The gospel was a message that the person,
the individual, the hearer
in Corinth could receive and understand.
There are those within the religious world
today that will insist,
they will tell you until they cannot tell
you anymore that you,
if you are outside the body of Christ,
if you are a sinner, if you haven’t had a
miraculous operation on your spirit
and on your soul, you cannot receive the
gospel.
You cannot understand the message of God.
Paul was completely unaware of that.
Because Paul said, I declared to you the
message
of the gospel, and you received it.
Paul doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit laid
it on their hearts.
Paul doesn’t say that they received it by
the direct operation of the Holy Ghost.
Paul says, I taught it to you,
and you received it.
Consider that the gospel was something
that reached this city.
The gospel was something that had been
brought to them by the work of Paul,
by the work of Timothy, by the work of
Sylvanas,
by the work of others, by the work of the
church in Antioch,
by the work of the church in Jerusalem,
they had ~ been able to have the gospel
reach.
Them
The gospel message went no further
and no faster and to no greater distance
than those who were willing
to take it and preach it.
But the gospel had reached Corinth.
But also consider that the gospel is going
to be reiterated to them.
Paul is going to remind them of what
he already taught them. He says,
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the
gospel which I preach to you.
I taught it to you when I was there,
and I’m going to remind you of it right
now.
And it was received.
They didn’t insist on getting something
different.
They didn’t come to Paul and say,
Well, I like that part, but not interested
in this.
When someone gives you a gift
Is it your habit to look at the gift and
say,
Well, thank you.
But I only want half of it.
When somebody ~ is so kind as to bring one
of my favorite desserts to
the meal we often have after I I don’t I
don’t like someone else have
the other half.
No, thank you. I’ll take the whole thing.
No, I do share.
But when someone brings you a gift
Grandparent shows up, grandchild’s
sixteen,
grandparent arrives, says,
Grandson, here’s a car.
You think the grandson says, Well,
Graham, can I just have the front half?
I appreciate getting the whole thing,
but I think really just the left half will
be fine for me.
No. When you’re given a gift,
you receive the gift.
The concept of they received the message
is not that they picked
and chose the portions that they wanted.
It is not that they got to decide they got
~ the Messiah and not the rest of it.
No, Paul says, I brought the message and
you received
it as it was given. Matter of fact,
the problem.
that Paul has with the church at Corinth
right now is after they have received it,
now they wanna parse it and they wanna get
rid of some of it.
Paul’s not going to let them do it.
Paul says, you received it, and you stand
in it.
But then consider as well the gospel is
that which saves
and sustains. Paul is going to insist it
is the message that
was preached to them that saved them from
their sins.
Paul is going to make it clear that they
do not have salvation apart from
the gospel. Notice what he says in chapter
15.
He says, by which also you are present
tense,
saved. The gospel that I declared to you,
the gospel that you received, the gospel
in which you stand,
is the reason you are. ~
Saved.
When you go back to Acts chapter eighteen.
We read concerning Paul’s time in Corinth.
In Acts chapter eighteen, after these
things,
Paul departed from Athens and went to
Corinth,
and he found a certain Jew named Aquila,
born in Pontus, who had recently come from
Italy with his wife Priscilla,
because Claudius had commanded all the
Jews to part from Rome,
and he came to them. So because he was of
the same trade,
he stayed with them and worked,
for by occupation they were tent makers.
And he reasoned in the Sabbath synagogue
every Sabbath.
And persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
When you read the words that Paul was in
the synagogue every Sabbath,
persuading the Jews and the Greeks,
you are reading about what Paul’s telling
them about in 1 Corinthians 15.
You are reading about him preaching the
gospel,
the gospel that they received,
the gospel that had reached them,
the gospel that he’s reiterating to them.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every
Sabbath and persuaded both Jews
and Greeks when Pi when Silas and Timothy
had come from Macedonia.
Paul was compelled by the Spirit and
testified to the Jews that Jesus is the
Christ.
But when they opposed him and blasphemed,
he shook his garments and said to them,
Your blood be upon your own heads.
I am clean. From now on, I will go to the
Gentiles.
And he departed from there and entered the
house of a certain man named Justice,
one who worshipped God.
Whose house was next to the door of the
synagogue,
then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house.
Now be careful.
Because some will want to come to First
Corinthians chapter fifteen
and they’re going to want to say,
You notice this, you hear the gospel,
you believe it, and you’re saved.
And that’s all you gotta do. And then you
can stand in that salvation because that’s
the last action.
Except that Paul’s writing to a group of
people who knew better.
Because they knew what they did when they
received the gospel.
Paul doesn’t have to spell out every act
of the obedience of a sinner
to receive salvation, because they’ve
already done it.
Paul simply says they believed,
and now they stand in it. But when you
read Acts chapter 18 and
you read about Crispus, the ruler of the
synagogue,
and what he and his household did,
notice what the text says he did.
Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house,
and many of the Corinthians hearing,
believed and were baptized.
He’s not saying in that text that many of
the Corinthian Christians were baptized.
He’s saying many of the Corinthian
Gentiles were baptized.
All those who believed were baptized.
When you come over to First Corinthians
chapter fiftin.
Paul, as he writes to them, says,
You know what I preached. You know what
you received.
You know that when you believed,
you obeyed the commands of God,
and you received salvation.
The gospel message saves the sinner.
It does not save them apart from their
willingness to believe it.
It does not save them apart from their
willingness to obey it.
But rather they’re saved when they hear it
and obey it.
That’s not new. Jesus would say that he
compared the person who hears these
sayings
of mine and does not do them to a fool.
And he compares the one who hears these
sayings of mine and does them to a wise
man.
Paul says the gospel message which he
preached to them saved sinners.
When they heard it, like Crispus did,
when they believed it, like Crispus and
his household did,
and when they obeyed it, like the
Corinthians did,
because they are the Corinthians.
But he also says it sustains the saved.
When you go through this life and you
struggle with this life.
May I encourage you to not allow yourself
to be separated from
the gospel message which saves your soul.
That would be like waking up one morning
and deciding that oxygen just
was unnecessary for you that day.
That would be like suggesting that perhaps
water is just not something that really
needs to be a part of your every weekly
life.
Paul says, Moreover, I declare to you the
gospel which I preach to you,
which also you received, and in which you
stand,
by which also you are saved, if you hold
fast the word which I preach
to you unless you believed in vain.
Paul says, you have an active
responsibility every day of your life as a
Christian.
And that is to hold fast to the Word of
God.
That is to hold on to the message which
you were delivered.
The message that was preached,
the simple gospel that God has delivered
to you.
You are not to hold on to an inner
feeling.
You are not to hold fast.
to an inner faith that comes up out of
yourself.
You are to hold fast to a message which
saves your soul.
Unless you believed in vain.
Paul will point out there are some who
will believe,
who will be obedient,
who will begin a walk with God only to
turn back.
But then notice he says the gospel
has one foundation and only one.
In verses three through eight,
he says, For I delivered to you first of
all that which I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures.
Consider as Paul is presenting to them.
Reiterating to them what he already taught
them.
He’s going to remind them that I ~ what I
taught you was what I received.
What I taught you is what I was given.
I didn’t create something new.
I didn’t invent some new doctrine.
This didn’t originate with Paul.
He says, rather, for I delivered to you
first of all that which I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures.
And that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day,
according to the scriptures.
Now notice some some assumption that’s
right in there that is necessitated
by the passage.
In order for someone to die, they had to
first what?
Live.
Paul insists that the gospel message means
nothing if Jesus Christ didn’t actually
walk this earth.
The foundation of the message of the
gospel is Jesus Christ was a real person
who walked this earth in reality,
that was born of a virgin, that was born
in Bethlehem,
that was raised in Nazareth, that taught
in the synagogues,
that taught in the temple, and that went
to the cross.
And if you’re not certain of that.
We’d love to study with you.
Because without a certainty of that you
can’t hold fast to the gospel.
Because the fact that Christ lived is the
first foundational truth of the gospel.
If that’s not true, none of the rest of it
matters.
But there’s more than that. It’s not just
that Christ lived,
it’s that he died.
Remember, Paul said, I preach to you Jesus
Christ,
that’s the fact that he lived,
and him crucified, that’s the fact that he
died.
Some even today.
struggle with the very idea and skeptics
promote the struggle.
What kind of a god do you worship that has
to kill his own son?
And what’s the point of having a cr a God
who comes,
who lives, and who dies only to know he’s
gonna live again?
What sacrifice is that?
If you were to think back.
To Abraham.
And you were to think back to the time and
the occasion where Abraham
in Genesis 22 is told to take his only
son,
Isaac. The son of promise.
The son that God said he would receive,
the son through which God said the promise
and the fulfillment would happen,
in which his descendants would receive a
land and an inheritance and would become
as the stars of the sky and as the sand of
the seashore.
And God tells
Abraham take your son.
Go to the mountains and offer him as a
sacrifice to me.
The Hebrew writer tells us Abraham was
convinced that God would cause
his son to live again.
I would suggest to you that did not in any
way diminish the command.
It it did not in any way diminish the
willingness of Abraham
to sacrifice everything.
For God.
And as we read Psalm twenty two,
as we think concerning the words of Christ
on the cross,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
to leave any implication or diminish in
any way the sacrifice of Christ
for our sins?
is to completely disregard all of
scripture.
Paul points out that Christ lived,
that he died.
And he wasn’t kind of dead.
He wasn’t, as the movie quote goes,
mostly dead all day today.
You know what movie that is.
He died.
And he was buried.
They laid him in that tomb. One of the
things that
you can rest assured of is governments
aren’t good at a lot of things,
but governments are good at killing
people.
And making sure they’re dead.
And the Romans were especially good at it.
You weren’t getting off the cross alive.
But it’s more than just conjecture.
More than just a suggestion that perhaps
maybe he had fainted,
maybe he had passed out, may maybe he
appeared to be dead,
but he wasn’t.
For when that centurion took that spear
and ran it into his side,
out came blood and water.
A process that occurs when a person is
dead because the water that’s
in the blood begins to separate from the
blood.
He was dead. And he was buried.
And for three days he was in the grave.
And Jesus had told the Jews,
I’m going to give you no other sign except
the sign of Jonah.
For Jonah was in the belly of the whale
for three days and then came forth.
And Jesus was speaking concerning his
death,
his burial, and his resurrection.
Paul says
I delivered to you first of all that which
I received,
that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures,
that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day.
According to the Scriptures.
Paul insists over and over and over again
as
he declares and reiterates the gospel that
the gospel didn’t ever stand alone.
It wasn’t a message that just popped up
out of the minds of twelve individuals.
It wasn’t something that the Jews just
began to preach in Jerusalem by chance.
It was founded in the scriptures that
for 2,600 years,
God had been telling his people about what
was coming.
And God fulfilled everything he said.
Verse 5, and that he was seen by Cephas,
that’s Peter. And by the twelve,
after that he was seen by over 500
brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain to the
present,
but some have fallen asleep. Paul,
as he declares this message to the
Corinthians,
is challenging them.
He says, I preached this to you.
I taught this to you. I told you about his
life.
I told you about his death. I told you
about his burial,
and I told you about his resurrection.
And some of those who laid eyes on him
after he walked this earth,
after he was risen from the dead,
you can go get yourself and travel to
Jerusalem and talk to them in person.
If you don’t believe me.
He was seen.
It wasn’t secret. He was witness.
By first one, then more,
then more, until there were hundreds
of eyewitnesses to his resurrection.
The gospel has one foundation,
and that’s it.
You remove any one piece of that,
and Christianity is worthless.
But if those things are true
Then Christianity is undeniably true.
Paul will also point out that the gospel
produced one entity,
the church which belongs to God.
Paul will point out. After that,
he was also seen, verse 7, by James,
then by all the apostles. Then last of
all,
he was seen by me also as one born out of
due season.
For I am the least of the apostles who am
not worthy to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
Imagine Paul would have liked it.
If he could have looked back on his life
and have identified parents that were
waiting for the Messiah.
That heard the message of John.
that pointed him directly at the Messiah
and said,
Go follow him.
And that from the beginning of Paul’s time
he could have walked with Christ,
could have been raised up to follow
Christ,
and that he could have been faithful from
his very earliest days.
I imagine Paul would have liked to have
had that opportunity.
But that wasn’t Paul’s life.
Rather, his parents put him at the feet of
Gamaliel.
And Paul spent years of his life after
Jesus Christ went
to the cross, imprisoning
and killing and persecuting Jesus Christ
and his church.
And as he was on the road.
And as he saw that light and as the voice
from heaven came to him and said,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Saul had enough honesty in his heart to
admit.
That whoever’s talking to him exists,
but he doesn’t know who he is.
If the voice from heaven had said,
Saul, Saul, I am the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, Saul would have thought
he knew who he was.
But when the voice from heaven said,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Saul is quite certain he doesn’t know who
he is.
Who art thou, Lord?
And the answer from heaven is,
I am Jesus of Nazareth.
Whom thou persecutest.
Paul never once in all of his life raised
up a stone against Jesus
of Nazareth in the flesh. Paul never once
in his life raised
up the threat of imprisonment to Jesus
Christ of Nazareth in the flesh.
So how is it that Jesus Christ of Nazareth
is saying to Paul,
you are persecuting me?
Because when you persecute someone’s
bride,
you persecute them.
The gospel brought forth, it produced one
entity,
the Church of God, the entity that Paul
had persecuted.
And Paul says, I am last of all,
and I am least of all.
Because I persecuted the church.
But he says by the grace of God.
I am what I am. And his grace toward me
was not in vain, but I labored more
abundantly than they all.
Yet not I, but the grace of God which was
with me.
You consider two things are true.
The gospel produced the church that
belongs to God,
and the grace of God produces the church
that belongs
to God.
Paul says it was grace working through him
that made it possible for
him to preach the message, for them to
receive the message,
for them to stand in the message.
This morning.
I want you to consider the gospel.
Our message. It hasn’t changed.
It’s not ours to change.
It’s still the one that Paul preached.
It’s still unchanged.
We can’t have part of it. We can’t have
half of it.
We can have it or we can reject it.
Over in the end of First Corinthians
chapter fifteen,
Paul will write
Verse 57, but thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding
in the work of the Lord.
For you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord.
Our message is the gospel of Christ.
Our message is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.
Our message is one that does not originate
with us,
is not changed by us, is not altered by
us.
It is simply declared by us.
It is believed by us.
It must be obeyed by us. It saves
a sinner from their sins.
And it sustains a Christian in faith.
And if you’re here this morning and you’re
outside the body of Christ,
we encourage you to be obedient to that
message.
We won’t ask you to do anything that Paul
didn’t ask Crispus to do.
Paul taught Crispus the gospel.
Crispus, a Jew. Crispus,
the ruler of the synagogue. Paul taught
Crispus the gospel.
What did Crispus do? He heard,
he believed, and he was baptized for the
remission of his sins.
That’s all we ask of you. Because that’s
all we’re authorized to ask of you.
Because that’s the gospel.
If you have need of the invitation of our
Lord,
why not consider being obedient to that
message this very morning as we stand
and as we stand.
Falling to Enter into Rest – Walker Cain – September 27, 2026
And all your conflicts past. This life’s
full of conflict,
isn’t it? It’s full of things that we have
to face,
things that we don’t want to face,
that bring us trial, bring us pain,
bring us hurt. We face these things and we
have an anticipation for a time where
we don’t face those afflictions,
where all things are past. Isn’t it a
beautiful thing to know that this world
isn’t
all there is?
That on the other side there is no
conflict.
On the other side, there is rest.
If we follow God’s way, if we do His will.
Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 show us how we can
ensure that we enter into
the rest God has for us. At the end of
this life,
when it’s all said and done, when all of
those hardships are all but memories,
we can know what is on the other side.
But how do we do that?
Hebrews 3 and 4 show the dangers that can
cause us not to enter into rest.
Show us the dangers that are between us
and our Lord if we allow them to be.
But it also shows us how to overcome
those.
The Israelites were about to enter into
rest.
They had wandered in the wilderness,
or not they had not wandered at this
point.
They were at Sinai. They received the law
from God,
and then they go and they head toward the
land of Canaan.
Well they are about to enter into the
land,
and then they show a lack of belief in the
Lord,
and then they don’t enter. They’re told
you’re going to go and you’re going
to wander for forty years in the
wilderness because you did not listen,
because you did not trust. And then they
went out,
that generation passed, and it was a new
generation that came.
That generation that received the old law,
except for the Levites, except for Caleb
and Joshua,
none of them entered into the land.
They never got to see that physical rest.
What was the danger that was before them?
Starting in verse seven, Hebrews three,
seven, Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith,
Today if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as in the day as in
the provocation,
in the day of temptation in the
wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years, wherefore I
was grieved with that generation.
And said, They do always err in their
heart,
and they have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath, they shall not
enter into my rest.
They allowed their hearts to do what?
They allowed their hearts to be hardened.
Now what does this hardening have to do?
There’s multiple things shown with their
hearts being hardened,
but ultimately it shows that they had a
lack of belief where the things that God
did
Their hearts were hard, so hard it didn’t
touch them.
It did not sink in enough for them to
change what they were going to
do to believe what the Lord said.
Now what is it that we can do to ensure
that we do not become hardened,
or we have this unbelief? Verse twelve
Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God.
For the Israelites there was this danger.
But for us today there can be this danger
as well.
Therefore let us fear. Now verse Hebrews 3
12 says,
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief.
Skip down to the first verse of the next
chapter.
Let us therefore fear, lest a promise
being left of us of entering into
his rest any of you should seem to come
short of it.
There is a promise that is left to us of
being able to enter into rest.
But we must fear the ab possibility of
falling.
Now, do you fear something that can’t
happen?
Now, there are times that we don’t fear.
What would we think of a parent that says,
You better fear that monster in the
closet?
You know there’s skeletons in there that
are going to come get you.
No, the parent says, listen, there’s
nothing in that closet.
There’s nothing that’s going to come get
you.
You’re fine. You are safe. Our God is not
a God who says,
listen, you better be scared about this
when something isn’t there.
Now we have a world, what do they say
about the ability to fall away from God?
Well, you’re fine, you’re safe.
God’s not going to care. It’s going to be
fine.
No, our Lord, because He actually cares
for us,
because He actually loves us, tells us
tells us,
you ought to fear.
Because there is a chance you can fall
away.
There is a chance you cannot enter into
rest.
There is a religion that says,
you might fall from grace. As Peter shows
it,
Peter shows the idea of falling from
grace.
They say, you can fall from grace,
but only just a little bit. You’re not
going to fully fall.
You can get really close, but you’re not
going to quite fall.
The Lord says you fall from grace,
you fall from grace. There’s not an in
between.
There is the opportunity to fail to enter
into rest,
and therefore we should fear that,
because it is real, it is a possibility.
We must fear lest we be hardened against
the evidence.
Remember that this is an evil heart of
unbelief.
Think about those Israelites for a little
while longer.
Think about the things that they saw.
They had this heart of unbelief,
but what is it that they experienced?
They saw Moses come to them, and he did
the miracles that proved that
he was from God. He had his hand become as
though it was leprous,
a few others in that moment, and then
after that there were the ten plagues.
They saw the frogs, they saw the locusts,
they saw the firstborn of it of Egypt die.
They saw a darkness that was unlike
anything they had ever felt.
They saw the power of God for themselves,
and yet
What did they have later on? The after the
ten plagues,
what else did they see? Well, they saw the
Red Sea.
They saw they were between a rock and a
hard place,
or more specifically, an army and a sea.
And God was going to say, You are going to
be safe.
They then that night the waters were
parted,
and that morning they walked between the
walls of water on each side.
And came to the other, and then when the
Egyptians decided,
you know what, we’re going to risk it and
go into that water,
what happened to them? Well, that water
came crashing back down.
And then the Israelites were singing songs
of joy and of the fact that
God won and that they were safe because
they were gods.
They n because they belonged to God.
They were not gods. They were safe because
they belonged to God.
They saw and they had belief in the Lord
in that moment.
They saw the ten plagues, they saw the Red
Sea,
but what else? Turn to Exodus chapter 13.
Exodus 13.
Every single day that they were wandering
in the wilderness,
they had something among them that was
showing them God was there.
There was no question, there was no doubt.
And the Lord went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud to lead them the way,
and by night in a pillar of fire,
to give them light, to go by day and
night.
He took not away the pillar of the cloud
by day,
nor the pillar of fire by night,
from before the people. Imagine they have
had they’ve seen the ten plagues,
they have seen the Red Sea parted,
and now every single day they are
wandering in the wilderness.
They have a pillar of cloud leading them
by day.
They have a pillar of fire leading them
back by night.
They have everything they need to know God
is there.
And yet what did they end up having?
An evil heart of unbelief.
Brethren, not believing in our Lord,
even when we feel like it’s obvious that
we should know what He is doing,
it’s possible to fall. It is possible to
have this heart of unbelief.
If it was possible for them, it’s possible
for us.
But now let’s look not only at the
Israelites.
But the specific people to whom the
Hebrews writer was writing this letter.
He was writing to Christians. Turning back
to Hebrews chapter three
and looking at verse one. He is going to
address them
and show who they are to God.
Hebrews chapter three, verse one wherefore
holy brethren and partakers
of the heavenly calling.
Consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession,
Jesus Christ. He is writing to those who
are partakers of the heavenly calling.
He is writing to those who are holy
brethren.
These are not the lost, these are the
saved,
these are Christians. And these are not
only Christians,
these are first century Christians.
Now, what is it that they had?
They they shouldn’t have fallen away
either,
but what is it that they had to keep them
from doing it?
Turn to Hebrews five verse twelve.
For when the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again,
which be the first principles of the
oracles of God,
which are become such as have need of milk
and not strong meat.
In this context, the Hebrews writer is
about to show them
how incredible the priesthood of Christ is
by comparing him to
the order of Melchizedek. But before he
can go any further,
he has to said, You’re hard of hearing,
because you have not been learning.
Now something that is
Vital for us to know is when God commands
us to do something,
we are always capable of doing it.
Now it might be that we’ve put ourselves
in a situation where it’s harder,
but when God commands us something,
it is possible to do it. They had been
commanded to learn,
to grow in the word, and since they were
rebuked for not growing in the word,
we therefore conclude they were able to
grow in the word.
First Peter two one and two.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk
of the word that ye may grow thereby.
We are to desire the milk of the word.
Now, yes, there is when we look at the
word of God and it is like milk.
We we take it and we absorb the simple
principles.
And then there’s the time that it is
strong meat,
where we can look at a passage that maybe
a few years back we looked at
it and we got the milk out of it.
But we look at it a few years later and we
see the beauty of it,
we realize it in its full context.
And we realize the meat in it.
The fact that God has shown us something
beautiful.
But even when we have come to the point of
being able to chew on the meat,
we constantly desire it like a baby does
milk.
Now, is a baby going to let you just let
let you just skip a meal with it?
No, it’s gonna be crying. There’s not
going to be any hope of that baby going
on a fast. He is going to let you know
what he needs and when he needs it.
We need to have let the word of God be
like that to us.
These brethren, they had the opportunity
to learn God’s word,
but they weren’t doing it. And we’ll hit
on that more later.
But remember, they were not growing in the
word and they should have been.
If they we must be learning in the word,
or otherwise we are going to be in the
same position as them.
The Israelites had all they need.
These brethren had all they need,
both in the word that they had,
but also in the miracles that they saw.
or the miracles that they had full proof
of.
Hebrews ver ch sta Hebrews 1 1.
God who at sundry times and in diverse
manners spake in time pasts unto
the fathers by the prophets. Remember we
talked about the Israelites.
They God spoke to them through the
prophets,
but through whom did cr God speak now?
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by
his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
and by whom
He made the world. God now speaks to us
through his son.
We received the teaching we need.
They received the teaching they need,
and they received it not just through the
prophets,
they received it through Christ Himself,
God incarnate. And yet they still had to
recognize the fact that they could fall
away, that they could disbelieve.
They are also going to show the Hebrews
writer will also show that they.
Had the proof of miracles of God of Christ
doing these miracles,
but yet they were still capable of falling
away,
of not believing. The Israelites were
capable of falling,
the Hebrew Christians were, and we are
today.
Let us therefore fear the potential of
falling away.
Not allow it to just go on the back
burner,
not just allowing it to be where we come
and we sit in the pews and
We know that we’re listening to the
sermons and we’re coming back on
Wednesday,
but we recognize that there is a potential
of falling away.
Now later we want to look at the fact that
we also have assurance in God.
But before we can appreciate assurance,
we need to appreciate the fear of eternal
damnation and how real it
is if our hearts are not focused on God.
We can live our lives denying that we
aren’t really focusing on God,
thinking that just because we go to
church,
we’re fine.
But if we are not focusing on our Lord and
desiring to show the love to
Him that He has shown to us, brethren,
we’re not following His way. We’re not
walking in the light.
We can fall with a heart of unbelief if we
do not look toward the evidence given
to us and apply it in our lives.
It happened to the Israelites,
it could happen to the Hebrew Christians,
it can happen to us. Let our hearts not be
hardened against the evidence
God has given us. The evidence that is not
only evidence in itself,
but allows us to follow his way after we
hear it.
Let’s not be hardened against the
evidence,
but also let’s not be hardened in sin.
Verse 13: Exhort one another daily while
it is called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin.
The Israelites were hardened against all
the things that they saw.
They had all the evidence they needed.
The Hebrew Christians had all the evidence
they needed.
But what is the thing that they went after
instead?
Lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin.
See, God gives everything that we need to
trust in Him,
to believe what He has to say and apply it
in our lives,
and yet sin comes over and it creeps up
close in your ear and says,
You know, this would be okay. This is
going to be perfectly fine.
Sin is deceitful because it seems like a
little thing.
So often it can be easy to just let a word
slip,
or let or just go get
One little sip of that drink. It can just
be so easy to go do this little
bit because it’s deceitful. Because it
doesn’t show you what’s in store when
we allow this to take over in our lives.
Now, sin can be little, but why is it so
important?
It’s deceitful because it doesn’t show you
what it costs when we do it.
We need to remember our God who made this
world,
that He is God.
Now, being God, He is the most amazing,
the most righteous being you could ever
imagine.
Sin is when we decide that we want to go
against the perfectly good,
infinite, and ultimate nature of our God.
When we decide that going in a way that is
not according to His nature
is worth more than following Him.
Sin is when we decide that the one who
made this world isn’t worth it.
Now it costs something. We talk
Our brother Philip in his prayer talked
about the idea that this is
a word written in blood. Well,
this word cost blood for us to have it.
We need to remember the person who had a
debt to pay.
That un that servant who had a debt to
pay.
He came to his master and said,
Lord, if you just give me time,
I’ll repay the debt. With the amount of
money he owed,
he was never going to pay it back.
But that’s master forgave him.
Now when he forgave him
We usually think about, that’s great for
that servant.
He doesn’t have to take anything.
But what does it mean for that master?
There is still a price that is needs to be
paid.
Or in his case, there is a price that he
now has to absorb himself.
There is money that he has given,
and there is now a consequence for it.
In the same way, sin costs something.
When we go against the nature of our Lord,
it costs ~ him, or it’s going to cost us.
It’s going to cost somebody because it is
that important.
Now, God decided that we don’t have to
bear the price.
Romans 5.8, God commendeth his love toward
us,
and that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Instead of us having
to suffer for eternity because of our sin,
God allowed his son to go on the cross.
He allowed deity to be put on that cross
so that we could be saved,
so that we could follow his way and be
saved in the end.
Sin is deceitful because it doesn’t want
you to know that.
It doesn’t want you to know what it costs.
But when we realize what it costs,
we are all the more ready to repent of the
wickedness that can creep
up in our lives. We are all the more ready
to say,
Lord, I want to follow your way.
I want to do your will. Let us not be
hardened against the evidence.
Let us not be hardened in the
deceitfulness of sin that doesn’t show
you how wicked it really is. And finally,
let us not be hardened in complacence.
Now we already looked at
The idea of studying God’s Word of being
invested in it.
First Peter two. These Hebrew Christians,
they should have been invested.
Later on, they are going to be described
as those that they were willing
to suffer for Christ’s sake. They were
willing to suffer and do his will,
even when it hurt. Chapter ten verse
thirty two.
But call to remembrance the former days in
which after ye were illuminated.
you heard the gospel, ye endured a great
fight of afflictions,
partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock
both to reproaches and afflictions,
and partly whilst ye became companions of
them that were so used.
These were Christians who, in their zeal
as young Christians,
they had done God’s will. They had
followed his way.
But now, when they should have been
growing,
what had happened to them? They had let
their gr their spiritual growth fallen
by the wayside. At first they were willing
to suffer for the Lord.
But now they are going to have to be told
you need to pick up your Bibles and read.
They are also going to have to be told you
have not yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin. They still had a
path to follow,
and they weren’t quite following it.
They had become complacent. Complacency
can creep up on us.
It’s amazing how a heart can be hardened
by me decid deciding not to decide.
A heart can be solidified in that which is
wrong.
By not making a decision, and instead
letting the things of this world creep
up and become more important than the
things of the Lord.
We cannot be hardened in complacence,
that which says, you know what,
I’ll do it later. It’s going to be fine.
I’ll study later. It needs to be willing
to say the Lord is what is important.
The Lord is who I will follow.
When we make sure that we do not become
hardened against the evidence,
we ensure that we are not hardened in
sin’s deceitfulness and we are
not hardened in complacence that wants to
creep up.
We can maintain our belief in the Lord.
Let us fear so that we maintain the fact
that we can have rest one day.
But not only let us fear, let us exhort.
Going back to Hebrews chapter three,
verse thirteen.
But exhort one another daily while it is
called today,
lest any of you be hardened through
through the deceitfulness of sin.
Now we looked at the idea of how wicked
sin is and how powerful it really is,
and it it doesn’t want to show you how
what it is.
But we have something that helps us
through it,
helps us not fall to its wiles.
We have a God who has given us one
another.
Exhort one another daily while it is
called today.
Exhortation is encouragement. It is a
defense.
It is the fact that when one of us
suffers,
when one of us faces trial, we are able to
pick up one another and
go through it together. The Lord did not
just baptize us and then hang
us out to dry. The Lord has us be baptized
for the remission of sins
and then added to his church so that we
can follow his will together.
Exhortation is a defense against sin.
But also it is a common defense.
It’s not just exhort, exhort one another.
You support me, and I support you.
We do this together. Exhortation is a
defense.
It is a common defense, but also it is a
daily defense.
Exhort one another daily. It’s not just
Sunday and Wednesday we exhort one
another.
It’s not just whenever we have a game
night.
It is we exhort one another daily.
Remember Acts chapter two.
They went from each other’s house daily,
breaking bread. They went and they were
fellowshipping with one another.
Now exhorting one another daily is not
just about being willing to grill grill
hot dogs and hamburgers or go have a
fellowship meal.
But we certainly want to ensure that we
have this time together,
and this congregation is wonderful at
ensuring that its members are close
together,
and thank you for that. Let us exhort one
another daily,
but also let us exhort one another
urgently.
Hebrews writer says,
Exhort one another daily while it is
called today.
Earlier we read, Today if ye will hear his
voice,
harden not your hearts as in the day of
provocation.
This idea of while it is called today is
while it is still available.
Today if ye Today if ye will hear his
voice while it is called today.
You see, there is a day coming where they
weren’t going to be able
to hear the voice. They had to do it when
they had the opportunity.
And the same is true here. We exhort one
another while it is called
Today, while we have the opportunity to
help one another in this way,
we can’t just start any day. We start now
because we don’t know when we won’t have
a chance, when we won’t have the
opportunity to help one another.
Exhort one another in this common defense,
in this daily defense, in this urgent
defense,
in this needed defense. This opportunity
that we have with one another
is what saves us from that which mocks the
face of God.
It is what helps us stay in his way and
not fall to this deceitfulness of sin.
Let us fear the possibility of falling.
Let us exhort one another because we need
not fall.
And finally, or not finally, we have two
more points,
but this last one is very short.
But let us labor.
Going to chapter four, verse one,
let us therefore fear.
Lest a promise being left of us of
entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of
it.
For unto us was the gospel preached as
well as unto them,
but the word preached did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it.
For we which have believed do enter into
rest,
as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest,
or otherwise translated, they shall not
enter into my rest.
Although the works were finished from the
foundation of the world,
For he spake in a certain place of the
seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest on the seventh day from
all his works,
and in this place again, if they shall
enter into my rest.
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached,
enter not in because of unbelief,
again he limiteth a certain day,
saying in David, Today, after so long a
time as it is said,
Today if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had
given them rest,
Then would he not have afterwards spoken
of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the
people of God.
For he that is entered into rest,
he also hath ceased from his own works,
as God did from his. At the beginning it
showed the fact that God worked
in those six days and creation,
and he rested the seventh. And now what
does it say?
Well, there remaineth therefore a rest for
the people of God.
But when do we have that rest?
Verse ten, for he that is entered into
rest,
he hath also ceased from his own works.
We enter into rest when this life is over.
We enter into rest at the end.
We do not enter into rest before then.
Hebrews five verses nine and ten Therefore
there remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God, for he that is
entered into his rest is.
He also also has ceased from his own
works.
We have not entered into this rest.
We do not have rest until we enter into
rest.
And the time that we enter into rest is
when we go to be in the same place that
God is in eternity. And until that time
comes,
we are not in that place of rest.
Now, brethren, that doesn’t mean that
there’s not times we need to seek
r rest before we go out and work more.
Christ would tell his apostles to rest
awhile.
And come aside and then get back to work.
Now funnily enough, when he told his
disciples to do that,
the people came, the Lord had compassion,
and then their rest became a time of
feeding thousands of people.
But they had an opportunity where the Lord
said,
You need to come rest. The Lord realizes
that he has designed us as humans.
There are times that we need rest.
But when we do rest, we don’t rest just
because it’s enjoyable.
We rest because we want to get up the next
day and get back to work.
The Lord wants us to labor for Him,
and the time that we have to rest comes
later on.
Notice also that we labor until the end,
but also we labor in conviction.
All of this has been about a wicked heart
of unbelief and not letting
it letting it keep us out of heaven,
not letting us it keep us from following
the Lord.
Verse 2 For unto us was the gospel
preached as well as unto them.
But the word preached did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it.
For we which have believed do enter into
rest.
Those who believe are the ones who enter
into rest.
But what else do they do? Verse eleven Let
us labor therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief.
Notice when one does not believe,
Is he going to labor or will he not labor?
When one believes, will he not labor or
will he labor?
When we believe in our Lord enough to
allow him to affect our lives,
we are going to labor for him.
This labor is one
This belief is not one that just says,
Lord, I believe you’re there, and then
doesn’t do anything about it.
It serves the Lord who created us,
it served the Lord who commands us to
labor until the very end.
We serve until the end. We serve in this
belief.
And finally, we serve for a God who knows
all.
Verse 12: After saying,
Let us labor therefore to enter into that
rest.
Verse twelve for the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than
any two edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his
sight,
but all things are naked and open unto the
eyes of him with whom we have to do.
See our God knows all, and he sees all,
and because of that we labor. We have a
word that when we read it,
It reflects upon us like a mirror.
James will talk about the fact that the
one who goes to the Word of God
and who does not listen to it,
he is the one that he is like a man
beholding his face in a glass,
and then goeth forth st straight away,
forgetting whatever manner of man he was.
But if we look into God’s word,
it is certainly a mirror, and it shows us
who we are.
It doesn’t leave any doubt, but if we
continue looking and we ensure that
we are following that word, we can grow
In following what it desires for us to
become.
The Word shows us who we need to be to us,
and the Lord knows who we are Himself.
The Word is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart,
and we can know our thoughts and intents
if we look into it.
And the Lord Himself knows as well.
Neither is there any creature that is not
manifest in his sight.
Our Lord knows what we’re thinking,
he knows what we are doing, therefore let
us labor.
The idea of not entering into rest is one
that should frighten us,
one that is scary, one that we should
fear,
one that we should exhort e and one that
causes us to we should want
to have a desire to exhort one another so
we do not fall into this.
And finally, it causes us to labor for our
Lord because we do not want
to fail from this rest. But there is
something the Lord gives to
us as encouragement in all of this.
Verse fourteen.
Seeing then that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession.
For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points
tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.
This life has trials.
This life has a sin that wants to deceive.
This life has those who want to persecute
and say,
you know, you shouldn’t be following God
in the first place.
But we have a great high priest who has
passed into the heavens,
a great high priest who knows what it’s
like to live on this earth,
and a great high priest who makes it
possible for us to come boldly to
the throne of grace, so that we can follow
God’s will.
So that we, not just so we can follow
God’s will,
but so that we can come to God.
And that He can offer us the forgiveness
that we so dearly need,
so that we can find grace to help in time
of need.
If you are in need of God’s grace and
mercy,
He desires to offer it to you.
We have a world that wants to instill
disbelief in whatever way it can,
whether it be twisting who God is or
saying God isn’t there in the first place,
but He wants you to come to Him.
He wants you.
If you are not a Christian, He shows how
to become His.
And if you desire to know that way,
we would love to study with you.
Love to dig into God’s Word and present
it.
Or if you have questions, please do not
hesitate to ask,
Am I a Christian? Am I following His will?
But if you are a Christian and you have
fallen into sin,
if you have fallen into that which is so
deceiving,
the Lord wants you to come to Him.
He wants you to come to that throne of
grace so you can have your that help
in time of need.
If you are in need of the forgiveness God
offers,
so that you can live your life with a soft
heart,
with full conviction in Him, will you come
forward as we stand and as we sing?
A Message from the Book of James – Justin Evergarden – September 30, 2026
Good evening and welcome to the Collierville
Church of Christ.
Wonderful to see everybody here this
evening.
Before we get started for class,
we’ll go ahead and open with a word of
prayer.
So if you please bow with me. Dear Lord,
our mighty God and Father in heaven,
how wonderful is your name. How wonderful
it is that we can come before your throne
boldly at this time, speaking you to you
directly through the authority of your
son.
That we can come to you and lay our hearts
down for you to see.
That we can ask so much of you,
even though you’ve already given us so
much.
Lord, we pray that at this time we take
the lessons that we learned this evening
in a way that we can apply to our daily
walks of life,
that we can become strengthened and
fortified as Christian soldiers in your
army,
so that we can go out and reach the public
of this world,
the lost, and bring them into your fold,
Lord God. May we always seek to and strive
to put you first and foremost
in every daily walk of life that we have.
Not just when we walk in the building,
but even when we leave. Lord, please
continue to protect us,
guide us, and direct us with the holy
inspired word that was your gift to us.
Thank you so very much for your son that
died on the cross,
and so we pray to thee in Jesus’ name.
Amen. If you would please turn your Bibles
over to Matthew chapter six.
It’s where we’re going to start our class.
I know it’s been a hot minute,
I think at least a month and a half to two
months since we touched Matthew.
~ last time, I believe we got through
chapter five.
~ if we did not, you’ll have to forgive
me.
My notes say that we did, but it could
have been short,
one or two verses. Chapter five took quite
a bit of time.
make sure to hang on to your pencils.
We’re gonna go through this a little
faster than normal.
I’m gonna try to give you as many notes
that I can out of my notes
for Matthew chapter six. If you are taking
notes,
don’t drop your pencil, otherwise,
you may lose two weeks’ worth of notes as
Brother Webster likes to say. So we’re
going to be going over the Sermon
on the Mount. ~ Now, the if we have to put
an idea
to this chapter, I put the idea down of
know your why.
Because Matthew chapter 6 repeatedly asks
several different questions.
It asks, Who’s my audience? What’s my
motive?
Who is my master? And what am I trusting?
So it asks four different questions.
So we’re gonna go Matthew chapter six
verses one.
And if we can have somebody read
~ chap verses one through four.
Matthew chapter six verses one through
four.
Yep, six, one through four. If you do.
Giving may be in secret.
All right, now before we move on and go
actually into these verses
and pick them apart, I’m gonna give you
the key thought and I’m gonna give
you my section breakdown like I typically
do.
So the key thought for this chapter is
that Jesus is not only concerned with what
you’re doing, but why we are doing it.
The why matters exactly the same amount as
what the means are.
So our simple outline of Matthew chapter
six,
verses one through four, is giving or
charity is the word that I would put
there.
Then the second section, we’re gonna have
five sections total.
We have verses five through fifteen,
and we’re gonna label this one prayer
because he’s talking about our prayer
life.
Then we have section three, and that’s
gonna be verses sixteen through eighteen,
which is fasting. Then verses nineteen
through twenty-four will
be treasure or devotion. And then the
fifth and final section is
Of the chapter is verses 25 through 34,
which is worry or trusts.
~ or if you want to put it down in two
larger movements that are a little easier
to remember, the first half, verses 18 and
beginning,
~ would be sincere religion. And then
verses 19 through the end of
the chapter would be singular devotion,
would be the title that I would put there.
So beginning in verse one, Jesus begins:
take heed.
In other words, he’s saying, pay
attention,
be careful. What I’m about to tell you is
very,
very important. Jesus is not condemning
giving here.
He’s talking about caring for people in
need,
and that’s repeatedly taught all
throughout history history and scripture.
We are stewards of what God has placed
into our hands.
Now let’s get a few cross references for
this.
Someone get Galatians six and verse ten.
And we’ll have someone else get James one
and verse twenty seven,
and that will also be a tie in for the
devotional later on this evening.
We’ll start with Galatians chapter six and
verse ten.
Alright, so as we have opportunity,
if it presents itself, we need to be doing
good unto all men,
especially those that are of the household
of faith.
And now let’s get James chapter one and
verse twenty seven,
someone.
Okay, so in verse one we see the phrase to
be seen of them if you’re using
the King James Version. I think believe
the new King James could
be a little different than that.
What is Jesus condemning in this verse,
in verse one? Is he condemning anything?
Is he condemning giving to in order to be
noticed?
Right. Yes, absolutely. This is where we
have that margin reminder,
the one that I told you guys to write down
in the section,
know your why. Two people could perform
the exact same outward motion
of doing things, but the why could make
the doing it either righteous or wrong.
Because your heart has to be in what
you’re doing.
So let’s have a contrast here.
~
Matthew five and verse sixteen.
Alright, and now skip over and do Matthew
chapter six verses one through two.
Alright, so the issue is not simply
visibility,
right? It’s visibility’s okay if done for
the right reason.
The issue here that Jesus is talking about
in Matthew chapter six is motive.
What is your motive behind the visibility?
Is it to glorify God or is it to glorify
self?
Glorifying self is condemned here.
Now a question, can a good action become
sinful because of the reason that
I’m doing it?
Even though it’s a good action,
if I have the wrong reason for doing it,
can it become sinful? Yeah, absolutely.
We could be teaching in the synagogue.
I could be up here teaching, trying to
glorify myself and making myself
out to be the latest and greatest teacher
and all knowing and everything else,
but that’s not going to help anybody.
But if my purpose for getting up here,
which it is, is to glorify God and to
impart his wisdom of what I’ve learned
unto
you, then that’s the right way to go about
it.
So now that brings us to verse two.
Sound a trumpet before thee. Jesus
pictures the hypocrite during sorry.
Jesus pictures the hypocrite turning
charity into a performance at this point.
Whether the trumpet language is literal or
deliberately vivid,
the point is the point. Everybody look at
me.
Look at what I’m doing. He’s turning his
charity into something to be seen of men.
He’s glorifying himself. It’s that’s why I
say the the word trumpeting.
It’s like tooting your own horn.
Have you ever heard that phrase back in
the day?
It’s an old man phrase, I know,
but I like old man phrases. The hypocrite
is somebody who wants the glory of men,
not the glory for God. So Jesus says what
later in that same verse.
They have their what? They have their
reward.
They’re getting exactly what they want.
They’re laying up treasures where moth and
dust doth corrupt,
while we as Christians, if we’re seeking
to glorify God,
are
Instead, laying up our treasures where
moth and dust does not corrupt,
something that’s going to outlast the
world that we live in now.
They wanted human recognition.
And because of that, that’s all the
recognition that they should expect as
well.
A hypocrite is not a person who sometimes
fails to live up to what he believes.
In this context, the hypocrite is
performing spirituality for an audience.
Shakespeare said it this way.
We are all actors and the world is a
stage.
In the hypocrite’s view at this point,
that’s exactly what’s happening.
He’s just acting the part of someone who’s
altruistic,
someone who cares deeply about others.
He’s doing it simply for the applause at
the end of the show.
So I will agree with Shakespeare on this
rare occasion.
Typically I don’t I don’t agree with
Shakespeare’s thought process at all.
The verses three through four.
Let not thy left hand know. So Jesus is
describing giving without ostentation.
Without making the show of it.
He’s not teaching literal ignorance
between our two hands.
He’s not saying close your eyes and do
something.
He’s teaching the secrecy of motive and
the humility of service to our fellow man.
All right, so let me ask this:
if nobody knew I did this except for God,
should I still do it? Yeah,
absolutely. If it’s a good thing,
we should absolutely still do it.
So the question exposes motive quickly
when we ask ourselves this.
And I think this is a good question to ask
on a daily basis.
If I’m giving to charity, why am I giving
to charity?
Am I doing it so that the people around me
can see me writing out
the check visibly and announcing that I’m
giving X amount of dollars
to this charity, visibly and audibly
tearing it out of my checkbook
and handing it over? Or are we doing it
secretly to glorify God?
There’s a big difference. Verse four
reminds us what is hidden from people
is not hidden from God.
Thy father which seeth in secret.
God sees the action. Not only that,
but God knows the motive. God tells us in
another passage that He knows
the intents and the thoughts of all
mankind.
We can’t hide what our heart has in store.
But God also sees the reason for the
action.
Ultimately, is anything permanently hidden
from God?
No. No. It could be permanently hidden
from the world.
But not when judgment day comes,
because everything’s going to be laid bare
at that point.
So, Bible contrast that we have here that
I have in my notes is the poor widow gave
sincerely. Barnabas was someone who gave
generously.
However, do we remember two people that
gave outwardly but not inwardly?
Do we have an example? Ananias.
Ananias and Sapphira. What happened to
them?
Was the issue the fact that they didn’t
give,
or was it an issue from the heart?
It was an issue from the heart.
Now I’m not saying that you ornately have
to simply just by nature be that way.
Humans, by nature, are pretty selfish
creatures.
But we have to teach our hearts.
It takes time to get to that point,
and God understands that. When you’re a
little kid,
we have to be taught to care for others.
We have to be taught to share as little
children.
It’s the same thing sometimes as adults.
It takes time to mold our hearts into what
God wants them to be.
But as long as we’re walking the light as
he is in the light,
as long as we’re seeking to train our
hearts in that way,
we can get them to the point where we do
genuinely care and genuinely want
to do these things from the heart.
Another good illustration that came to
mind when I was putting this together was,
again, a reference to the child.
When you first obey your parents,
at least in my case, it was out of fear of
getting spanked with the belt.
The Southerners in here would get that
one.
My dad was one that spanked, but as I grew
older,
the obedience to the parents morphed from
fear into love.
It came out of obedience, wanting to be
obedient,
instead of just out of fear. That’s what
God wants for us.
He says to fear God and keep his
commandments.
But what more is later on in the Bible,
he tells us if you what? Love me,
keep my commandments.
We are still always to fear God.
He’s one who could tear apart our souls
and throw us into everlasting damnation.
However, he’s also the one who can save
us.
He wants us to have the right heart
towards him.
So, getting back to the lesson,
Jesus now takes the same principle and
applies it to something even more
obviously
spiritual, and that’s to prayer.
So let’s go ahead and read Matthew chapter
6,
and we’ll do the next section 5 through
verse 8,
if someone will get that.
All right. Prayer is one of the greatest
privileges that we can ever have
as a people of God. It is one of the
greatest gifts that we have been ever
given.
And that’s one of the rewards that we got
that shouldn’t have been ours,
that we were given to us by Christ dying
on the cross.
First Thessalonians five seventeen tells
us to pray without ceasing.
And James five sixteen tells us the power
of prayer.
It says the effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man what?
Availeth much. Now many times when when
I’m going around and going from
congregation
to congregation and I’m speaking about
Japan gospel,
I’ve had a couple of congregations come up
to me and say,
Well, Justin, we’d love to have you come
and speak ~ about what you’re planning
on doing in Japan and the work you have
out there,
but we just ~ we just can’t financially
support you.
And I’m like, Great, brother, that sounds
fun fantastic.
When can I come?
And they kind of look at me sideways and
go,
What do you mean, when can you come?
I just told you we can’t support you
financially.
Brothers and sisters, the power of prayer
coming from
a faithful servant of God is more powerful
than any number that they could
put on a check. And we need to remember
that.
The effectual, fervent prayer of a
righteous man doesn’t avail little,
it avails much.
We need to stop discounting the power of
prayer.
That’s why, whenever we go through,
and I keep harping on this ~ over and over
again whenever we
do the evangelism training or those little
prayer cards that we have in our Bible,
when we go through those, we need to be
writing down people’s name because
it avails much when we pray for them on a
daily basis.
Sometimes that could be the difference
between a soul saved and a soul lost.
Could be simply the power of prayer.
Now, to what extent the prayer will work,
I’m not sure. That’s up to God.
But we know that it avails much.
Yet Jesus tells us that even prayer
sometimes can become hypocritical.
Verse five, he denotes that they may be
seen of men.
Now Jesus here is not condemning public
prayer,
but scripture contains public prayers,
congregational prayers, prayers offered in
the presence of others.
The problem is praying for the express
purpose of impressing others.
And that’s what these people at this time
were doing in the culture.
Again, Jesus asks us to know our why.
So let’s ask another question.
When I pray publicly, am I more conscious
of God or
of how I sound to everybody listening?
Sometimes we get attached to the prayers
when we come up to the pulpit here
and we pray. And I have the same problem.
When I come up here, sometimes I’m trying
to get my words out just perfect,
trying to sound as eloquent as I can.
Brothers and sisters,
It doesn’t matter if it sounds eloquent or
not.
God hears your prayer. God cares about it.
God wants it to come for our heart.
So if it’s in a southern twang,
it’s in a southern twang. It doesn’t have
to be eloquent.
Even Paul himself said that he was not
eloquent of speech,
and yet he still professed the Lord’s name
unto all that would hear him.
So verse six, he continues, he says,
Enter into thy closet. The point is not
that every acceptable prayer must
literally
happen inside of a closet.
Now there are some people that do take
this to the extreme,
believe it or not. But the principle is
pray as though you and God are
the only ones in the room. Whether 200
people hear the prayer or nobody hears it,
prayer is addressed to who? God.
Is he going to hear it? Yes. Okay,
so when we know that it’s addressed to God
properly,
that should remove pride, it should remove
pretense,
it should remove performance, and it
should absolutely
Remove showmanship as well. We don’t come
up here to the pulpit and try
to show off with our prayers and make them
as long or as eloquent as possible.
They need to come from the heart.
I have a margin note in my Bible over here
that I wrote,
and it says, Spend much time with God in
secret.
And to compare that, someone get James
chapter four and verse eight.
James chapter four and verse eight.
Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh
unto you.
If you want to have a relationship with
somebody,
do you need proper communication with said
person?
Can you have a relationship without
communication with that person?
Now, if they’re long distance,
I know by today’s standard we send emails,
but back in the day you would send
letters.
Now to God, we can’t send a letter.
We can’t send an email. We can’t call him
up on the phone.
We can’t WhatsApp him. We can’t give him
our line.
But what can we do?
Pray. Now that’s not a communication like
ours going vertical,
but when we pray, our communication goes
vertical,
not horizontal. I got the two mixed up.
It goes vertical, it goes up. And it
doesn’t fall on deaf ears.
God hears us. A healthy private prayer
life consists
of public prayer and private prayer.
We need to be willing to do both.
And it doesn’t mean by public that you
have to do it in front of people.
For the express purpose of doing it in
front of people.
But don’t be afraid to pray over your meal
just because you’re in
a restaurant full of people either.
Because we’re demonstrating our love of
God to God.
Don’t worry about what they think.
On judgment day, is it gonna matter what
they think or what God thinks?
It matters what God thinks. So we
absolutely should not be embarrassed
at any point in time saying, you know
what,
let me I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna pray over
this food.
Or the next time that you sit there,
and this was one of the best lessons that
I was ever taught by any
of my instructors at MSOP was when someone
says,
Hey, I have this ailment, something’s
happened to me,
I’d really appreciate it if you’d pray for
me.
~ I’d be happy to do so. And typically we
have the bad habit of walking off.
From now on, let’s look at them and say,
you know what, let’s do it right now.
Don’t let them leave before you pray for
them.
Right now is the time of salvation,
right?
Right now is the time for prayer.
We’ve already established the reason why
we should pray.
We’ve already established that God hears
it.
He’s present, he’s omnipresent,
he’s always here. Where two or more of you
gather,
there I am also. That’s not just in the
worship service,
that’s outside of it as well. If I stand
there with a complete stranger
and pray before God, he is right there
with us listening to that prayer.
You can’t get any more effectual than
that.
You have a direct plea to God.
Why would you let this person walk away?
So let’s make sure to to to pray,
but pray from the heart. And then verses
seven through eight,
it we do get a warning here though.
We get the warning against vain
repetition.
Now he’s not teaching that the same
request made over and over again is a bad
thing.
Jesus himself repeated a request in
Gethsemane.
The problem is what’s what’s the ~ I
believe it’s a helping verb,
right? The the d the definite the defining
word for repetition,
the word right before repetition.
What kind of repetition? Vain repetition.
This would be empty wording, thoughtless
repetition,
the idea that sheer quantity of words
forces our God to listen.
The heathens supposed they shall be heard
for their much speaking.
If I say it enough times, maybe we can bug
him to death about it,
and he’ll, I’ll just give them what they
want.
At least they’ll be quiet about it.
The squeaky wheel gets greased.
That’s a good one. I’m gonna have to
remember that.
That’s not how God works. He could listen
to it for a thousand years
and it’s not gonna get tiring on his ear.
But Jesus said in verse 8, Your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of when?
Not only that, he knows before he asked,
he knew before he even made you.
He knew before he created the world.
We don’t need to limit God’s knowledge.
God knows everything from the beginning of
time to the end of time,
all the way through eternity. He knows
all.
He knew way before we ever asked him what
it is we were going to ask him.
So verse 8 gives us the reason why we
should not pray like the heathen.
God is not ignorant.
We’re not trying to wear him down,
inform him of something he missed,
unlock his attention like a little kid
pulling at the pant leg of mommy and
daddy.
So, three questions that we can ask
ourselves that are trust questions.
Do we trust truly that God hears us?
Do we trust that God knows?
And finally, do we trust God enough to
speak sincerely rather than mechanically?
Sometimes your prayer doesn’t even have to
specify.
There have been many times when I’ve sat
there on my knees and prayed
to God and said, God,
I don’t know what I’m supposed to pray for
at this moment.
But you do. So please fulfill those
requests.
Please give me what you know I need,
not necessarily what I want. Even Christ
Himself sat there face down and said,
If this cup may pass from me, please let
it let it be done another way.
Nevertheless, not my will, but whose?
But yours. He said.
I give it up to you, Father. You know best
for all things.
He already knows. So Jesus has told us now
how not to pray.
Now he gives us a model for how we should
pray.
And now we get into the section known as
the model prayer.
So now we’re going to read verses 9
through 15,
and I will get these since it’s a longer
section.
Matthew chapter 9, Matthew chapter 6,
verses 9 through 15. After this manner,
therefore pray ye.
Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, in earth as it is in
heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen.
For if ye forgive men their trespass,
your heavenly Father will also forgive
you.
But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses,
neither will your father forgive your
trespasses.
All right, so Jesus says, after this
manner,
pray ye. If you have your pen,
please underline in your Bible,
if you’re one who marks, underline the
word manner.
There’s a key word here. Jesus gives his
disciples a pattern,
a model, a framework,
if you will, for prayer.
The passage is commonly known to be called
today the Lord’s Prayer.
Through John 17, more proper records,
an extended prayer actually prayed by
Jesus.
Here, Jesus is teaching his disciples how
to pray.
Now, question for you Is Jesus giving us
words that simply must
be recited or principles by which we
should shape our prayers?
Principles. The immediate warning against
vain repetition strongly favors
understanding this as a model to follow
thoughtfully,
not an incantation to go through
mechanically.
And so many times, there are many
denominations that will still pray today,
our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, and they go through
it word by word.
Now we’re gonna go through it word by word
here,
but we want to break down what the
structure,
what the framework is, and why we have the
framework.
First off, our father which art in heaven.
When you write a letter, do we have to
address it to somebody?
Yeah, of course. Typically you don’t write
a letter to a a loving family member
to say to whom it may concern.
You’re definitely not going to do that to
God.
And we want to show him the honor that he
deserves.
Now, I was taught in school, I don’t even
know if they teach in school anymore
how to properly write a letter,
but you capitalize their name.
You say dear, so-and-so with a capital
letter.
You show them respect. But here,
this expression shows both relationship
and reverence.
Our Father, he is our Father. He created
everything.
And not only that, he’s above everything
here on earth,
our Father which is in heaven.
We must approach him intimately.
However, we must be careful never to
approach him in prayer flippantly.
We to be very careful to give him his due.
Christian prayer begins with the reality
that the Almighty God allows people
to address him rationally as Father.
Hallowed be thy name. The next section
tells us that God is holy.
Prayer should always begin with a
recognition of who God is and
not merely a shopping list of what we
want.
He already knows all about our wants long
before we ask him.
Then we come to thy kingdom come.
Now, this is a very big one. And this is a
contention with me because I want
to make sure that everybody understands
this.
The words, thy kingdom come. At that point
in history,
the kingdom, the kingdom’s establishment
was still a future-tense thing.
It is not that anymore. We do not need to
mechanically pray.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus preached, the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.
It’s coming soon. And we see that in Acts
chapter two,
also known as the hub of the Bible.
Therefore, today we do not pray that the
kingdom be established as though
it has never come. When was the kingdom
established?
Yep, on Pentecost, right? Yeah.
It’s already been established.
The kingdom is his church. He was praying
on earth as it is in heaven.
Guess what? That’s exactly what we’re in
right now.
We have that. And yet, so many today,
specifically, I believe, Catholic
Catholicism,
will still pray that prayer. Thy kingdom
come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.
We know they’re praying.
praying mechanically because they don’t
even know what they’re saying.
They’re not taking the thoughts into
practice and figuring it out.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.
I’ve got notes. Not God will make you
agree with mine,
but Father, I want my will to agree with
yours.
That’s surrender.
Verse 11, he moves on to the next section
of prayer.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Is Jesus describing luxury here?
No, he’s saying, give us this daily bread.
He’s not asking for yesterday’s old stale
bread and complaining about it.
He’s not asking for tomorrow’s bread.
He says, give us today our daily bread.
We read elsewhere in the Bible,
he says, take no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow will take thought for
Itself. Now the word their thought is
actually an expression of anxiety.
He’s saying don’t have anxiety for
tomorrow.
He’s not saying don’t plan, don’t lay by
up in store for what we need.
We don’t need to be ignorant of things
that are coming in the future,
bills that need to be paid. That’s being
responsible.
But he’s saying don’t be anxious about it,
don’t worry about it. God clothed the
flowers of the field and waters them with
dew.
He feeds the sparrows.
How much more will he array us that are
made likewise in his image?
And I’m paraphrasing the verses back
there.
From time to time, and I think I’ve
preached it twice here already,
I preached a sermon on worry. And I always
love this comparison from a book
I had years ago called How to Stop
Worrying and Start Living by someone named
Dale
Carnegie. And he put it in a great way.
He said, Live in daytight compartments.
Now what does that mean? Who here knows
about the Titanic?
Do you know why the Titanic sunk?
Partially because of the iceberg.
We know the iceberg hit it. If the iceberg
didn’t hit it,
right? But we’re gonna we’re gonna say the
iceberg was worry.
It tore through the bow of the ship.
But the way that the ship was laid out was
you have all these sections of rooms,
separate rooms, with bulkheads on either
side.
We’ll say you had ten of them.
And five of them were cut into where water
could flow into regularly from
the side of the ship. Now
What happened was they did not have
watertight compartments on the Titanic.
What they had instead were bulkheads that
went all the way up towards
the tippy top and then left a section
about this big near the top.
So what would happen is once they struck
the very first room,
that ship was sunk. But it didn’t sink
immediately,
it took time. The water filled the
compartment.
And once you reach the edge of the tub,
whenever you’re filling it up at home,
if you didn’t have that little spout and
that was clogged up,
you know, the overflow drain, which is
there for your backup,
it saved me a couple of times now.
But if you don’t have that, what’s gonna
happen when it reaches the edge of the
tub?
Is it gonna overflow if water keeps coming
in?
So if you are in a compartment and you
have worries on this side
and worries from the future, both the past
and the future,
and you let the water start receding in,
are you going to drown?
In your own worry, in your own anxiety,
we need to live in daytight compartments.
Christ is telling us, give us this day our
daily bread.
Take care of me just today. No matter how
hard of thing that we have going
on in our lives, we can live from sunup to
sundown and be a good,
strong Christian. We only have to take it
one day at a time.
And if we continually do that,
our days stack up.
Then he continues, forgive our debts as we
forgive our debtors.
Here the debts represents our sins.
Jesus immediately returns to the issue in
verses 14 through 15 because it’s
far too important to miss. We cannot
sincerely beg God for mercy while
cultivating
very ungiving spirits towards others.
If we are unwilling to forgive,
our God will not forgive us. The person
who understands how desperately
he needs God’s forgiveness ought to become
as
Much as he can, as merciful and as eager
to forgive others as Christ
was willing to do. And God says when he
forgives us,
he throws it over his shoulder into the
deep,
where it’s never to be seen again.
He doesn’t dredge up old things.
So when you get into the argument with
your family member down the road,
don’t dig up old bones and start throwing
the pieces at your loved one.
That’s not fair. It’s not fair to them,
and it’s definitely not fair to you.
‘Cause you what happens to the person
that’s digging up all those bones?
They tend to get dirt on it.
Someone get Colossians three, verse
thirteen.
We’re gonna get a cross reference here
from my notes.
Colossians chapter three and verse
thirteen.
Alright, because Christ forgave us first,
we need to be willing to forgive those
other.
And I think it’s kind of neat when we
think about the Old Testament because
we’re
taught that the sacrifices of the Old
Testament,
all those thousands upon millions of goats
and bulls and pigs
and doves and everything else,
could never cover sin. But the one
sacrifice from Christ could.
But not only that, we’re taught that it’s
a a rolling forward to the point
of the cross.
Our God gave us a whole lot of grace when
he died on that cross for
our sins and made it to where we could be
washed in his blood through
the act of baptism and have our sins
washed away.
But if you think of it as a drop of water
hitting a bucket of water,
when you pour it in, does it make a ripple
going both ways?
How much grace must have Christ had to
forgive those in the Old Testament before
he ever even sacrificed himself on the
cross?
Because the blood and bulls of goats sure
didn’t wash it away.
It just pushed them forward until the
perfect sacrifice was made,
and then it was washed. It’s an
interesting thing and a rabbit hole to
jump down,
but I’m not going to chase that lead
today.
So, verse 13, lead us not into temptation.
James 1.13 makes this clear. So Jesus is
not asking us to pray that
God stop doing something sinful.
He’s not saying, Don’t lead me into
temptation anymore.
Rather, our petition recognizes our
weakness,
the reality of temptation on this earth,
our need for God’s providential help,
and the fact that of our dependence upon
Him for deliverance.
Lord God, lead me not into temptation.
He’s not saying, don’t lead me into
temptation,
but keep me from it, Lord. I know that it
exists,
and I know that you’re the one to keep me
from it.
I need to hold you in my heart,
hold your words in my heart, so that when
I see the temptation,
I can leave it behind.
Because only your strength is going to let
me go past that.
Somebody get first Corinthians ten and
verse thirteen.
Let’s see what God gives every single
person in in in reference to temptation.
So he’s not going to allow us to be
tempted above what we are able to
circumvent.
He loves us enough to say, even to the
great tempter,
you’re not going to tempt them above what
they’re able to bear.
He limits that because he loves us enough.
Then the closing words in this section:
Thy kingdom come, power and glory belong
to God.
Prayer puts the creature in his proper
place before the Creator.
So we see the model prayer at a glance.
Going back over the prayer. The prayer
recognizes God’s relationship,
God’s holiness, God’s rule.
I’m gonna run out of fingers. God’s will,
God’s provision, his forgiveness,
and finally the lead me not into
temptation provides his protection against
us.
Now we’re only gonna get that protection
if we’re dwelling in his word.
Prayers is fundament the prayer that we’re
seeing,
the framework that we see all together,
if we raft it up into a single
Sentence would be this. Father,
I need you. I can’t live my life without
you.
I can’t navigate this world without you.
I need you in every way, shape,
and form. Our own breath is a gift from
God.
We need him. We’ll go ahead and stop there
since we’re at the last.
Is there any questions, concerns,
philosophical meanderings, astute
observations?
Alright, if not, we’ll go ahead and
conclude there.
That way we don’t
Saint the other day. Yeah, he does a he
does a whole lot of things.
Not only that, they keep changing changing
their doctrine with every new Pope,
it seems. I believe it was back in the
nineteen forties,
they came up with the Pope can never be
wrong.
But if that’s the case, then why does the
new Pope contradict the old Pope?
Common sense will tell you that,
but
Yeah, do they? I was born in the South,
so I figured I wouldn’t speak where I
wasn’t allowed to,
right? Like I’m okay to say it ’cause I’m
from Tennessee,
but and boy, let me tell you I deserved it
from time to time.
Revelation 21 (Lesson 1) – Aaron Cozort – October 04, 2026
Good morning.
Good to see everyone out this morning.
When I left it was summer.
I came back and it it was almost like the
weather started to make sense.
But ~ it’s still Tennessee,
so don’t know that that’ll stick around
for mu much longer.
All right. Take your Bibles
if you will and open them to Revelation
chapter twenty.
As we close out chapter 20 and we get into
chapter 21,
we’re seeing some things in this text that
for f many years I know ~ I’ve heard
lesson after lesson after lesson
about the text of the end of chapter
twenty and its picturing
of the final day of judgment and the final
~
The return of Christ and the resurrection
and the saints at that final day.
And you know, sometimes what
is popular is not exactly what the text
says.
And now are there lessons to be learned?
Yes, but we got to pay attention to the
text.
So we’re gonna open with a word of prayer
and then we’ll get into
our study this morning. Gracious Father in
heaven,
we bow before your throne, grateful for
For the day that you blessed us with,
grateful for the life that we have been
granted,
the energy and the health that we have,
and at the same time mindful of all of
those who,
for one reason or another, do not have
that health and that opportunity.
Lord, we pray that you will be with them
in their struggles that they have
in their daily walk. We pray that you give
them health and strength.
We pray that you help them to.
Have the endurance and the capacity to do
the things that they need to
do and desire to do, especially in
spiritual matters.
Lord, we pray that you forgive us when we
sin and fall short of your glory.
We pray for this nation and we pray for
the leaders of the world throughout
the world. We pray that we might boldly
speak the gospel and always stand firm
in the truth. All this we pray and ask in
Jesus’ name,
amen.
Now Peter would write concerning Paul’s
writings that Paul wrote
things that were hard to understand,
and that as a result of that, those who
were not faithful
in their diligence with the scriptures
often would rest the scriptures
to their own destruction.
I don’t know what Peter’s opinion was of
what John wrote,
but not everything that John wrote is easy
to understand.
But one of the things that we should
always remember
as we’re in Revelation, as we’re in a book
like Revelation that uses apocalyptic
language, which just simply means it uses
picture language to convey a truth,
is that When
The text tells us what something means.
That is what it means. And when we get
into chapter 20,
or chapter 21, rather, we’re going to see
the text tell us exactly what something
means. And while we can learn lessons from
the picture about other things,
we must admit that whatever John says,
this is what it is.
It is what it is. If the text tells us
what it means,
that’s what it means. If the text gives us
a picture and doesn’t tell
us what it means, then we’re supposed to
ask the question,
what does it mean? Chapter twenty,
we’ve noticed that the text opens,
you have the one who had the key of the
bottomless pit,
and he is going to lay hold of the dragon
and place him in that bottomless
pit for a thousand years.
Now what does the w what does the term a
thousand mean in the book of Revelation?
A complete or total period of time.
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
God is faithful to a thousand generations.
It doesn’t mean that in the thousand and
first all that’s gonna be over,
that the thousand and first hill doesn’t
belong to the Lord and the cattle
on it don’t belong to him. It means all of
them.
God is going to end Satan’s use of Rome
permanently,
finally.
Doesn’t mean Satan will never attack the
Christians again,
never persecute them with a r a government
again.
It means this saga is over.
You know, sometimes when you watch movies,
especially in the last probably 30 or 40
years,
~ certain certain movies, if if it did
well enough on the first one,
they’re going to make three. Right?
So everybody signed a contract for three
if the first one sells well enough.
And s there are times you get to the end
of the third,
like, okay, but there’s more stories.
Surely there’s something else to happen.
And you know, depending on how much money
they make,
they may make three more. And they may
make three more.
Star Wars. ~ but the fact of the matter is
you’re like,
well, there’s got to be more story because
there’s there’s things that just
got introduced in the last movie.
Well, here in Revelation 20,
21, 22, there is more story.
There is more to be known about the church
and what would follow from these events.
But there’s a context to the story.
And the context is limited
to the events of the first century church
with Rome.
What we learn from that is altogether
different.
That is something that is timeless.
There’s a passage over in 1 Corinthians
chapter 10 where Paul is going
to write about the events of the very
first generation that came out of Egypt.
So here’s Paul in the first century
writing to the Christians,
and he is going to tell the Christians in
Corinth,
most of which were not even Jews.
He’s going to tell the Christians in
Corinth.
That the events that happened to the first
generation of people that came
out of Egypt happened so that we could
learn lessons.
So that we might learn not to lust after
the things that they lusted after.
So that we might learn not to be
unfaithful to the Lord once the Lord
has redeemed us. Now, true or false.
The things that happened to the first
generation of Israelites that came
out of Egypt actually happened to teach
them lessons too.
First and foremost, it happened to teach
them lessons.
But that doesn’t negate the fact that by
inspiration,
Paul says these things happened for us.
So that we might know not to do the same
things they did.
Completely appropriate for us to learn the
lessons.
The timeless lessons from the events of
the first generation
of Israelites that came out of Egypt.
Completely appropriate, biblically
appropriate for us to learn those lessons
and apply those lessons to our lives.
And it’s equally appropriate for us to
learn the lessons from
the first generation of Christians that
lived through a persecution in Rome as
well.
What we shouldn’t do is the same thing
that Paul didn’t indicate
the Christians should do. Paul didn’t tell
the Christians,
now, there’s going to be a bondage,
and you’re going to go through it,
generation after generation after
generation,
and then God’s going to bring you out
through a series of plagues and
a series of miracles, and you’re going to
walk through the Red Sea just like they
did. Paul didn’t say that.
Rather, Paul said, You’re going to go
through this spiritually.
You’re going to have to apply this
spiritually.
You’re going to have to learn the lessons
from their circumstances.
And we have to do the same thing with
Revelation.
So, verse 1 the one who has the keys is
Christ,
all the way back to chapter 1,
verse 18, chapter 9, verse 1. ~ And so
Christ gives authority,
the keys.
~ bottomless pit is ~ guarded up with a
great chain.
The one who is the dragon, the devil’s
bound for a thousand years,
he’s thrown in the bottomless pit.
Verses two and three, the devil’s done in
his use at Rome.
~ verses five through ten, there’s a
thousand years that the Christians
are going to reign with Christ.
The same thousand years, complete amount
of time that Satan’s going to be bound,
the Christians are going to reign.
Even those that
were killed. Even those that Satan seemed
to have defeated are going
to live again and they’re going to reign
with Christ.
Now we may mention again, just for the
sake of reminder,
this passage says nothing about how long
Christ is going to reign.
Even if you were to turn the thousand
years into a literal amount of time,
it still says nothing about how long
Christ is going to reign.
It only says how long the Christians are
going to reign with Christ
Christ.
I also th thought about something else
when it came to a thousand years.
I was thinking about this this morning on
the way here.
Think back in the scripture.
What’s the longest amount of time that we
have record of anyone living on the earth?
Nine hundred and sixty-nine years.
Who was it? Methuselah. Adam lived to be
nine hundred and fifty years.
Methuselah nine hundred and sixty-nine
years.
The Christians are said to reign for how
long?
Thousand years.
Just a thought there for a moment.
God says, I can make you live,
and I can make you reign faithful with me
longer than anybody’s ever walked this
earth. Just a just a thought lesson there.
So then we see the devil isn’t thrown in
the fire,
but God tells his people their future is
secure.
Now, in Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39,
God is going to tell the Israelites of old
about
A great nation that’s going to come
against them,
Gog and Magog. And there’s no historical
event that it corresponds to.
There’s no moment in time in Israel’s
history from that point
of Ezekiel’s day all the way forward till
today,
or ever will there be, where there is a
Gog and Magog that are going
to come physically against Israel in the
multitudes that are presented.
In Ezekiel.
So you have to ask yourself a question.
Was Ezekiel wrong? Was was God by
inspiration incorrect when
he told Ezekiel to prophesy what Ezekiel
prophesied in Ezekiel thirty eight
and thirty nine? And the answer’s no.
And if Ezekiel wasn’t wrong, is John
wrong?
Cause John is going to tell us again about
Gog and Magog.
Verse seven Now when the thousand years
have expired,
Satan will be released from his prison and
will go out to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth,
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to
battle,
whose number is as the sand of the sea.
They went up on the breadth of the earth
and surrounded the camp of the saints,
and the beloved city, and fire came down
from God out of heaven and devoured them.
There’s a great battle scene that arrives.
And it’s this nation that Ezekiel
prophesied about.
This nation that is the culmination of
nations,
this nation that is the multitudes that
are innumerable on the earth,
and they’re all coming against God’s
people,
and they all surround one single city.
And they lose.
And they don’t lose because they’re
overwhelmed by God’s people.
They don’t lose because God’s people
outnumber them.
They lose because God says,
you lose.
The message here is not about a historical
event.
The message in Ezekiel wasn’t about a
historical event.
The message in Ezekiel and the message in
Revelation 20 are about the fact that
God will defeat every enemy of his people
every time.
So the Christians don’t have anything to
worry about.
The Christians are secure if they’re
faithful to the Lord.
So verse ten says the devil who deceived
them was cast in the lake
of fire and brimstone where the beast and
the false prophet are,
and they will be tormented day and night
forever and ever.
Now, this is Isaiah’s language.
This is Isaiah’s language of the time of
the return of Israel.
God’s enemies are going to be cast into
the lake of fire.
Edom was cast into the lake of fire.
This is Jerusalem language.
Because the lake of fire was a picture
that
the Jews could visualize.
Because it was the valley of Hinnam
outside where they burned the trash.
Where the refuse went. God says,
I’m not only going to defeat them,
I’m going to take the one who deceived
them,
and I’m going to put him in the trash
pile.
Then I saw a great white throne,
him who sat on it, verse eleven,
from whose face the earth and heaven fled
away.
Notice you have this picture
Of heaven and earth fleeing the face of
God.
Who created heaven and earth?
When we are opening Psalm nineteen and we
read,
the heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament shows his handiwork,
day unto day under his speech,
night unto night showeth knowledge,
who whose glory does the earth and the
heavens
and the universe declare? God.
So so why would the heaven and earth flee
away?
The picture here is kind of like this.
The world, so inundated with evil,
gets every nation under heaven to come
against God’s people.
And God wipes them all out. Well,
if every nation under heaven came against
God’s people and God destroyed them with
fire, what’s left of the earth?
Not much.
God says, That’s okay. I’ve dealt with
this before.
I’ll make a new one.
When in history, in actual events of
history,
did God take an earth that was covered
with evil and make a new one?
During Noah’s time. Did he implode the
suns and take take the planet back
to molecules in order to do it?
No. And was the world perfectly sinless
afterwards? No, you don’t even get Noah
out of that event perfectly sinless,
do you?
The picture is like what Isaiah was told
when God says,
I’m going to bring back my people to their
city,
I’m going to bring them back to their
nation,
and I’m going to remake the world.
I’m going to start all over again.
I’m going to give you a new heavens and a
new earth.
That’s Isaiah sixty five and sixty six.
And I’m going to do it by the word of my
power.
I made it the first time. I made it again
in Noah’s day.
I made it again in Israel’s day.
No, make it again. I’m going to
restructure the planet.
Because I’m in charge. Now here’s where
the contrast is.
Could Caesar sitting in Rome fold up the
mountains?
Could he make the oceans go away?
Could could could he just declare to the
stars,
you know what? I’m done with you.
Don’t shine anymore.
Could he stop the sun from rising?
Could he make a day last more than a day?
Who did all of those things? God did.
The point is not that God’s going to wipe
the planet away,
take everything back to the elements,
remake it, and drop his people back on it.
The point is God has complete
and entire authority over all of it.
In contrast to the devil,
to Satan, to the beast, to the ~ the sea
beast,
to Caesar, none of them have authority
over any of it.
Saw a great white throne, him who sat on
it,
whose face ~ from whose faith heaven and
earth fled away,
and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
standing before God, and books were
opened,
and another book was opened, which is the
book of life,
and the dead were judged according to
their works by the things which were
written
in the books. The sea gave up the dead who
were in it.
Now, the sea
Here is much like heaven and earth.
This isn’t a resurrection of all the
sailors that got dropped off in
the ocean along the way and got buried in
Davy Jones locker.
The sea is the place where the sea beast
came out of.
The sea is the place where the nations
came out of that opposed God’s people.
The sea in the prophets is almost always a
representation of the nations
of the Gentiles.
They’re the ones who show up across the
sea on boats.
God says, I’m not missing anybody.
Heaven, earth, the sea, got them all.
All of Satan’s tools are going to be
judged.
The sea gave up the dead who were in it.
Death and Hades delivered up the dead who
were in them.
And they were judged, each according to
his works.
Then death and Hades were cast in the lake
of fire.
This is the second death.
When you kill death, you’ve done
something.
When you cast death into judgment,
you’ve done something. But bear in mind
that Hades
and the grave, or death and Hades,
rather, were characters in the vision.
We saw them in chapter six. They were
riding on a horse.
They were part of the persecution.
God says, I’m going to judge you for what
you did.
I’m going to judge you for those who you
destroyed. I’m gonna judge you for those
who you persecuted.
And anyone not found in the book of life
was cast in the lake of fire.
The picture teaches us something about the
day of judgment,
doesn’t it?
When Jesus sent his disciples out on that
missionary journey,
and or sorry, when when he sent his
disciples out into the cities of Israel,
and they came back and they were all
excited because they
had performed great miracles. They had
healed the sick.
The demons were even subject to their
word.
And they come back to Jesus and they’re
telling Jesus about all the things that
they
were able to accomplish while they were
out on their own and he wasn’t with them.
And Jesus will praise them for those
things,
but he will remind them.
Take joy that your name is written in the
book of life.
Jesus says, all that’s great. But here’s
something that’s more important.
You make sure that your name is
in God’s records as one of the faithful.
Because if the demons are subject to you,
hmm, seems like I remember Paul saying
something about this.
If the demons are subject to you,
if you can by faith tell a mountain to go
cast itself into the sea,
and you have not.
Love, you’re nothing.
They were impressed with the things that
they had never been able to do before,
that God had given them the ability to do,
and Jesus is just reminding them,
all of those things are great.
Don’t get them out of proportion with the
thing that matters,
and that is being in a right relationship
with God.
So, do we learn lessons about the day of
judgment from this?
Yes. Absolutely. Is this picture the
picture of the final day?
No. Does it inform us about the final day?
Sure. Does it tell us how it’s going to
turn out?
Absolutely. It’s going to turn out where
God’s people are going to be blessed,
Satan’s people are going to be destroyed,
and God is going to judge those who
who walk this earth based upon what
they’ve done while they were on the earth.
Chapter twenty one. We’re not going to
dwell significantly
on twenty one or twenty two. We’re going
to just spend the rest
of today and probably next week in the
But if you wanted to take chapter the end
of chapter 20 and make it literal,
final day of judgment, an event that
occurs right after
God has figuratively described many
things,
then you’re gonna get in chapter 21,
you’re gonna have to deal with,
well, if that’s literal, then so isn’t
this?
And so many will try and say, Well,
this is a picture of heaven.
Except John tells us it’s not.
Now, for the same reason that we’ve just
discussed about all of the things that
we can learn from chapter 20 about that
final day.
The lessons we can learn because they went
through it first.
We can learn the same things about
eternity and heaven
and fellowship with God from chapter 21
and 22.
But we must let the text speak for itself.
We must let the context demand what the
context demands.
So we open up chapter 21, and I saw a new
heaven and a new earth.
For the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away,
and there was no more sea. First thing you
gotta deal with
if this is an eternal,
glorified heaven and earth.
The home of the saints for eternity,
we’re going to be living on a planet with
no water.
Ask Mars how that works out.
We just spent ~ over in North Carolina we
homeschooling camp that we went to,
we spent an entire week talking about the
universe and astronomy and planets
and you know, one of the unique things
about this particular ball we live on.
Or the C’s.
Yeah, the vast majority of the planet is
covered in water,
and that’s the difference between a living
planet and a dead one.
So if this is a picture of the new heavens
and the new earth where
all of us who are Christians live forever,
according to some.
Then John was certainly right,
we don’t know what we’ll be like because
we’re going to be able
to live without water.
That’s not the point, is it? The seas in
Revelation don’t picture the water
on the planet, do they? They picture the
nations of the enemies of God.
And God says, they’re not there.
Your enemies aren’t there anymore.
I took care of them.
He says, chapter 21, verse 1, I saw a new
heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away,
and there were no more sea. Then I,
John, saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.
The second thing that we notice
is that John explicitly says, This is not
heaven.
John says, I didn’t see heaven.
I saw this descending.
Heaven.
So John sees a new heaven and a new earth.
And there’s no water. And then John sees a
new city,
a new Jerusalem, and it’s descending
out of heaven.
But it is arrayed like something John
recognizes.
What’s it arrayed like?
Like a bride.
Who’s the bride of Christ? The church.
Now you say, Well, well, yes, but here it
he it’s just an analogy.
It’s l it it arrived with the fanfare.
It arrived with the rejoicing,
the way the bride arrives at the ceremony.
It it’s it’s an analogy. Okay.
All right. You might be able to get the
analogy out of verse two.
You’re not gonna get it out of verse nine.
Because verse nine, then one of the seven
angels who had the seven bowls filled with
seven plagues came to me and talked with
me,
saying, Come, I will show you the bride,
the lamb’s wife. And then he’s going to
proceed to show him the city.
So the analogy is more than just an
analogy of entrance.
It’s the bride.
When the book tells us what something is,
what is it?
Exactly what it says it is. When John sees
the New Jerusalem coming out of heaven,
what is it? It’s the bride of Christ.
Now notice I heard a loud voice from
heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
If we were to go searching in the plain
spoken portions of the
New Testament about the tabernacle and the
typology between the tabernacle,
what was the tabernacle a type of?
It was a tent, it was a temporary dwelling
place for the people of God,
it was a type of the church.
It was a picture in the Old Testament
of the real thing.
And that picture on earth is a picture of
eternity.
So he says, Let me introduce you.
To the dwelling place, the communion place
of God with men.
That’s what the tabernacle was.
The tabernacle was the place where all
Israel came together to be in
the presence of God.
And the bride is the place where all the
people come together to be
in the presence of God.
And it’s the jerk.
He says, Behold, the tabernacle of God is
with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they
shall be his people.
God himself will be with them and be their
God.
This is Old Testament Israel language.
Of God giving the tabernacle to Israel and
saying,
I will be your God and you will be my
people.
And I will put my name with you,
and I will give you my name, and you will
dwell with me,
and you will commune with me.
God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes.
We sing a song, it’s in our songbooks.
No tears in my life.
This is one of those moments where we say,
you know what? The lessons learned are
appropriate.
But don’t be confused.
There’s no tears here either.
Actually, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute.
~ I read the book. ~ read around
Revelation chapter six.
There were some souls under the altars
crying out,
How long, O Lord, faithful and true.
Don’t you think there were probably some
tears?
When those who were faithful to God were
beheaded for the cause of Christ,
were killed for the cause of Christ,
were persecuted for the cause of Christ,
do you think there were probably some
tears?
Yeah. Yep.
So how is it that there’s not going to be
any more tears?
How can we have a physical earthly
existence where there are no tears?
All right. Turn to first John chapter one.
As Eddie pointed out, this isn’t about
physical tears.
This is about something that Paul would
write about in First Corinthians chapter
fifteen.
Do people die? Yeah. Do we grieve?
Yes. But Paul says, we don’t grieve as
those who have no hope.
~
We mourn over separation, knowing it’s
temporary.
You Think about David when his child was
sick
and nigh into death as a result of David’s
own sin.
And David fasted and prayed and mourned
and grieved
all the way up until the point where the
child did what?
Died. Died.
Then David got up, washed his face,
washed himself, sat down and ate.
And all of his servants were confused.
Why did you stop grieving when the child
died?
But you were grieving when the child was
alive.
David said, He’s gone. Paraphrasing.
But I can go to him.
While he was alive, I could plead for him
to be able to remain.
Now that he’s gone, I don’t have to grieve
now.
I know where he is, and I can go to him.
John will write in first John chapter one
that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our hands
have handled concerning the word of life.
The life was manifested, and we have seen,
and bear witness, and declare to you that
eternal life was with the Father,
and was manifested in us, that which we
have seen and heard,
we declare to you, that you also may have
fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son,
Jesus Christ. And these things we write to
you.
That your joy may be full.
John introduced his letter of first John
saying,
I’m going to write you these things so
that you don’t have to mourn ever again.
So that your joy may be absolutely
complete.
And then he’s going write to them about
the fact that they’re going to sin.
And they’re going to need forgiveness.
And they’re going to need, but he’s
writing to them to tell them that their
fellowship with God, their oneness with
God,
is perfect in Christ.
Because Christ did come. He did live.
He did walk this earth. He did die.
He is the propitiation. His blood does
cleanse us from all sins.
And therefore we do not grieve.
The way we would if we had no hope,
Eddie.
Yeah. Absolutely.
We’re gonna read in verse four of chapter
twenty-one.
God’s going to wipe away every tear from
their eyes.
There should be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no
more pain,
for the former things have passed away.
The message here about the tears and the
mourning and the grief and
the sorrow is the grief and sorrow and
tears
of the tribulation they’ve gone through.
God says, I’ve dealt with it. You cried
out and said,
How long, O Lord, till you deal with it?
And the answer is, I dealt with it so
completely you have no memory of it.
There’s nothing to cry about. Everybody
you thought was dead’s alive now.
Everybody you thought was defeated,
was beheaded, was sacrificed for the cause
of Christ,
they’re alive. Not physically walking the
earth,
they’re victorious with Christ.
So what do you have to cry about?
There’s no everybody you thought was
dead’s not.
Everybody you thought had been killed for
the cause of Christ and
for the testimony of Christ.
Is alive. Who you could cry about?
See, the context is just like the context
in Isaiah when Isaiah says these exact
same words.
Isaiah is going to tell Israel,
there’s going to be a time when you’re
going to return from Babylonian captivity
and you’re not going to weep anymore.
God’s gonna wipe away all tears.
There’s not gonna be any more death.
There’s not gonna be any more crying.
There’s not gonna any war. Because God’s
going to have put aside
the old world and all of its troubles.
And he’s gonna make a new thing in Israel.
And John’s going to use Isaiah’s
terminology.
Verse 5: then he who sat on the throne
said.
Behold, I make all things new.
And he said to me, Write, for these words
are true and faithful.
And he said to me, It is done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end.
I will give of the fountain of the water
of life freely to him who thirsts.
Have you noticed we’ve got a problem?
Cause this new world, if it’s a physical
literal one,
has no Cs, but it has a fountain.
N’a gonna work out.
When we try to insist that the text means
something that the text doesn’t ever
say it means, we’re gonna have problems
because the text is gonna stand
up and whop us.
For not letting the text talk for itself.
In this new world,
God says, I made a fountain of the water
of life.
Now I seem to remember there was someone
who spoke about that fountain while
sitting
at a well.
And he told a lady who was needing water
that
if she would just partake of the water
that he could give her,
she’d never thirst again.
And she did the same thing we’re often
tempted to do with Revelation twenty one.
She says, Great. Hand me the water.
I don’t ever want to have to come to this
well and draw water ever again.
She took what God was talking about
spiritually and she wanted to make it
physical.
We do the same thing with Revelation
twenty one.
We take the lessons that God is teaching
the first century church about their
existence after God defeats all of their
enemies.
And we say, that’s what heaven’s gonna be
like.
Here’s what heaven’s gonna be like.
John wrote very explicitly about it.
It’s in 1 John chapter 3.
First John chapter three verse one Behold
what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on us that we
should be called children of God.
Therefore the world does not know us
because it did not know him.
Beloved, now we are the children of God,
and it has not yet been revealed what we
shall be,
but we know that when he is revealed we
shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
And everyone who has this hope in him
purifies himself just as he is pure.
That is the single most explicit statement
of John about what eternity will be like.
His answer is, I have no idea.
I can give you only one piece of
information about
our eternal existence.
Will be like Christ.
For we’ll see him as is.
Now remember this one message.
No man has seen God at any time.
What’s that tell us? That tells us that
we’ve seen manifestation of God,
we’ve seen Christ, we’ve seen,
as Paul, as John points out, we handled
him,
we we we saw him, we touched him.
We saw a manifestation of God as Paul ~
as ~ Christ appeared to Saul of Tarsus on
the road.
We see a manifestation of God as John
describes him,
as he sees him here in the vision.
But the text of scripture is incredibly
clear.
No man has seen God at any time.
And John tells us why.
‘Cause we’re not like him. Yet.
But we will be. That’s John’s explanation
of heaven.
The rest of this is John’s explanation of
victory in the church.
Thank you for your attention.