Lessons from Asa – Aaron Cozort – June 21, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical lessons, faith, Israel, Judah, keywords King Asa, leadership, Old Testament, Spiritual Growth, trust in God by Aaron Cozort

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Good afternoon.

If you will, take your Bibles and open them to Second Chronicles.

Second Chronicles chapters fourteen through sixteen we are introduced and given the record

of the king whose name was Asa.

Asa is the great great grandson of King David, the great grandson of Solomon, the grandson

of Rehoboam, King of Judah.

And Asa is one who stands out in Old Testament history because he was one of the few good

kings of Judah.

Now we recognize that that statement is something of significance because Judah did not

have very many good kings, and yet is a stark contrast to the northern kingdom of Israel

that had exactly zero.

Good kings in the northern kingdom of Israel.

But Asa is one who will reign, and he’s going to reign for about forty-two years.

He is going to have a long reign in Judah, and a number of significant events are recorded

during his time and his reign in Judah.

Now there is a difference between the record found in Chronicles and the record found in

the book of Kings.

Record is shorter, only just a portion of a chapter, and does not include all the details

that you find in the book of Chronicles, but we’re going to examine the record from the

Book of Chronicles for that reason.

Chapter fourteen verse one So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the

city of David.

Then Asa his son reigned in his place, in his days the land was quiet for ten years.

Now, something to remember is that Judah had previously followed the Lord.

Back in the days of David, when David was reigning and on the throne, Judah was following

the Lord.

They were worshiping in accordance with the commandments and the law.

They were keeping the things that they were supposed to do, keeping the feasts that they

were supposed to keep.

All of those things were continuing in David’s day.

And then after Solomon came to the throne, Solomon continued in the beginning of his reign

to follow after the role of his father David, to follow after his example in both leading

the people and he also built the temple and established and consecrated the temple and the

worship continued under Solomon’s reign and Solomon’s oversight for a period of time.

But then Solomon began to accumulate great wealth, he began to accumulate great power, he

also began to accumulate many wives.

Through the course of that time Solomon’s heart would be pulled away from the Lord by the

wives that he married, because these wives were not Israelites, these were not individuals

who he married out of love, these were contractual agreements and treaties with foreign

kings.

And so Solomon began to build houses for their gods and places for them to worship as we

know he did for the daughter of Pharaoh.

From the time that Rehoboam came to the throne, and during the time that his son Abijah

came to the throne and was reigning, we know that Israel had drifted away from the Lord.

They had drifted away from worshiping God in the appropriate way, and they had begun to

build altars and houses of worship and other things for these idols.

So Asa comes to the throne, and we read in verse two, Asa did what was right and good in

the eyes of the Lord his God.

One of the very first things we read about Asa is that he obeyed the Lord.

Now pause just for a moment and consider the lesson.

What if, if you could think back concerning your life, you could say, you know what?

Easiest way to sum up my life is I did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord.

That would be a successful life.

No matter how it turned out, no matter what your bank account looked like at the end of

your life, no matter

How the circumstances of your life worked out, if you could summarize your life in he did

that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord, then you could describe someone as

being successful in their life.

But notice the text, verse three, we read about some of the things that Asa did.

For he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the

sacred pillars, and cut down the wooden images.

He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the

commandment.

He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and

the kingdom was quiet under him.

As Asa comes to the throne, he begins to undo all the things that Solomon and Rehoboam and

his father had done.

He begins to put back into place the things that were right and appropriate.

Appropriate in accordance with the law.

The law had been clear that Israel was not to create a place to worship under every high

place.

They were not to create a place to worship on every mountain.

They were not to create their own places to worship where it was convenient for them.

Rather, they were to acknowledge that the Lord had put his name in Jerusalem, and in

Jerusalem they were supposed to come to worship.

And so Asa begins to tear down all these places of incense offering, all of these altars

that were built in every city in Judah.

But notice verse six he also built fortified cities in Judah, and the land had rest.

He had no wars in those years because the Lord had given him rest.

You can go back to the words of Moses, and you can go back into the promises of the Old

Testament, and you will find that God had told Israel as a whole, if you will walk in my

paths, if you will follow my commandments, if you will do the things that I tell you, if

you will keep my testimony and my covenant covenant, then will I give you peace.

Asa actually believed the Lord.

Asa actually trusted that the Lord would do exactly as he said.

Now you might notice that Asa, while he trusted the Lord, he also built fortified cities.

He considered the time of peace to be a time to prepare for a time when there wasn’t

peace.

But he trusted God, and as a result of his trust in God, God delivered peace during his

reign.

Therefore he said to Judah, verse seven, let us build these cities and make walls around

them, and tower gates and bars while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the

Lord our God, we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side, so they built

and prospered.

And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, who carried shields and spears,

and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields.

And drew bows, all these were mighty men of valor.

If you had numbered Asa’s army, you would have found half a million people who were just

soldiers in his army.

That doesn’t count all of the people who, as we would call it today, did the logistics for

an army of a half a million people.

And yet we’re going to find out that while the army is large and while it is significant

in terms of the size of the nation, it’s not going to compare to the size of their

enemies.

As you continue down in the text, you find Verse 9 Then Zerah, the Ethiopian, came out

against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to

Marisha.

So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the valley of

Zaphath uh at Marisha.

And Asa cried out to the Lord his God and said, Lord, it is nothing for you to help,

whether with many or with those who have no power, help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on

you and in your name we go against this multitude, O Lord, you are our God.

God, do not let man prevail against you.

As this army comes forth out of the land of the Ethiopians, it comes forth a million

strong.

You know, I know we’ve seen battles and we’ve seen imagery, and if you’ve ever spent any

time up in Pennsylvania and you’ve walked the the fields of Gettysburg, to imagine and to

picture there in your mind armies of forty or fifty thousand men arrayed against one

another on those fields.

It’s quite a an awesome image to imagine yet to consider.

That wasn’t even a tenth of what would have been a raid between the Ethiopians and the

people from Judah.

And as they prepared to do battle, you might have come to mind the words of Jesus as to

when a king is considering whether or not to go to war, and is considering whether or not

he can go to war with 10,000 against an army of 20,000.

Or whether he should first sue for peace.

Here comes this army of over a million with three hundred chariots, which few chariots

make up for quite a few men.

And as they prepare to go to battle, Asa knows he doesn’t stand a chance.

With one exception.

That it doesn’t matter how many men he has if the Lord is with him.

Asa very much had the mentality of his great-great-grandfather David.

That as long as the Lord was fighting on his side, he didn’t really care who was on the

other side.

And so Asa will go to battle against the Ethiopians, and he will pray to the Lord.

And essentially, as you consider that prayer, he will say, You are our God, do not let man

prevail not e not against us, but against you.

Sometimes we should be reminded that when we pray, Your will be done.

You know, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, Your will be done in heaven as it is on

earth, or it uh on earth as it is in heaven.

He also prayed there in the garden, not my will, but thine be done.

And when we pray that the Lord’s will be done,

One of the things that we should be doing is looking at our lives and considering whether

or not we’re on the right side of the Lord’s will.

Because Asa was able to essentially pray, Your will be done, and I’m glad I’m on your

side.

So Asa prayed.

And verse 12: So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians

fled.

And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar.

So the Ethio Ethiopians were overthrown.

They could not recover, for they were broken before the Lord and his army, and they

carried away very much spoil.

Then they defeated all the cities around Girar, for the fear of the Lord came upon them,

and they plundered all the cities.

For there was exceeding much spoil in them.

They also attacked the livestock enclosures and carried off sheep and camels in abundance

and returned to Jerusalem.

You’ll notice as you consider the events that transpired, the Ethiopians come up from the

land of Ethiopia.

They come through and they

bring this this fight to Jerusalem and to the land of Judah and when Judah defeats them

they begin to give chase and they not only overcome the Ethiopians, they also overcome the

Philistines who are in the land of Gerar.

And so they didn’t just win one battle that day, they won multiple battles against

multiple enemies that day.

And so great plunder comes back with them from the battle.

Verse fifteen Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Obed.

Excuse me, Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa and all Judah

and Benjamin, the Lord is with you while you are with him.

Just like we mentioned this morning in our lesson, as you consider what Moses said, Moses

told the people of Israel, When you get into the land and you get into the house you

didn’t build, and you have the crops that you didn’t plant, and the walls that you didn’t

build for fortifications, and when you have eaten and when you are full, don’t forget the

Lord.

So God sends a messenger out to Asa, to Benjamin, and to Judah to remind them as they come

back from this great victory that the Lord is with you while you are with him.

One of the lessons we learn from Asa and from the land of Judah at this time is that we

choose whether or not to be unified with the Lord.

We choose whether or not we will stay with the Lord, whether we will be on his side and be

unified and a unity with him.

It’s not a question of him.

He’s not going to move.

He’s not going to change.

He’s not going to differ from day to day, month to month, year to year.

He’s going to be the same.

The question is, where will we be?

So this messenger from the Lord says, The Lord is with you while you are with him.

If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and

without law.

But when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him, he was

found by them.

And in those times there was no peace to

the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the

inhabitants of the lands.

So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every

adversity.

But you be strong, and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.

God sends out his messenger and tells Asa, and tells the nation,

You carry on the way you’ve been going.

There was a time when Israel would not follow the Lord, when Israel had gotten rid of all

of their priests that would teach them the truth.

You remember what Paul said to Timothy?

Paul would write to Timothy in Second Timothy chapter four, verses one through two and or

one through five, and would encourage him to preach the word, be instant in season, out of

season, reprove, rebuke rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, for the time

will come when they will not endure.

Sound doctrine.

But will heap up unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

Paul will tell Timothy, there comes a time where people don’t want to hear the truth

anymore.

Well, Israel had gone through a time like that.

Israel had gone through a time where they no longer wanted to hear what the Lord had to

say, so they’d gotten rid of all the priests that would teach.

And they had no prophet, and they had no one who would hold fast to the law of God.

But now they do.

And they are reminded by God to not lose courage, not lose heart while He’s on their side.

Verse 8: when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded, the prophet, he took courage

and removed the abominable idols.

From all the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the mountains of Ephraim, and he restored

the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord, and he gathered all Judah

and Benjamin from Ephraim, Manasseh Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers

from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

And we often talk about the divided kingdom, and we often talk about the fact that from

the time of Rehoboam to the time of Jer and Jeroboam to the to that time forward, uh,

because Jeroboam had set up the altars in Dan and Bethel, and because he had built those

altars and told all Israel, listen, you don’t need to go to Jerusalem to worship, that

your gods are right here.

That from that point forward the nations were basically divided, except there’s an

exclusion to that.

For in the time of Asa

When it was apparent that the Lord was with Judah and the Lord was with the southern

kingdom, in spite of the fact that the northern kingdom of Israel was being led by an evil

king, the people from the north took observation of the situation in the south and they

said, I want to go there.

They had a little bit of some of the migration we’ve seen in this country.

I’d like to go where the Lord is, because he sure isn’t here.

And so they would go over to the land of Judah and they would worship with the land of

Judah and they would worship God in Jerusalem because Asa had begun to remove all of the

false worship.

Now pause for a moment and consider what would happen in this land.

if we were able to convince people to remove false worship.

What a difference it would make in this land that we live in.

But because he had done so, and because he had taken courage, and because he had followed

the admonishment of the Lord, many from Ephraim, from Manasseh, and from Simeon came in

great numbers to worship the Lord in Jerusalem.

So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month in the fifteenth year the reign

of Asa, and they offered to the Lord at that time seven hundred bulls.

and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought.

And then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their

heart and with all their soul.

And whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put to death.

Whether small or great, whether man or woman, they took an oath before the Lord with a

loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and ramshorns.

And all Judah rejoiced at the oath,

For they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with all their soul, and he was

found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.

They did exactly what Moses had told them to do.

They did exactly what the law had told them to do.

And remember that there was a God in heaven, and that that God was the one who had put

them in this land, and that God could grant them peace.

And so they made a covenant.

Now notice this is not just when the tribe of Judah is present.

This is not just when Judah and Benjamin are present.

This occurs when Judah

Benjamin, Ephraim, Manasseh, and others are present.

And they come together unified and say, we’re going to follow the Lord and him only.

And if anyone chooses to do anything different, we’re going to bring about the punishment

that the law said to bring about.

So they made the covenant.

Verse sixteen, and he removed Maka, the mother of Asah the king, from being queen mother,

because she had made an obscene image of Asherah, and Asa cut down her obscene image, and

then crushed and burned it by the brook Kidron.

But the high places were not removed from Israel.

Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.

He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that

he himself had dedicated, silver and gold and utensils, and there was no war until the

thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Asa comes to the throne and is faithful to God, and is given victory in his tenth year,

and from the tenth year to the thirty-fifth year they have peace in the land.

And if you go back and you read much of the history of Israel, you’ll find out that twenty

five years of peace in Israel’s quite an accomplishment.

But then we read in chapter sixteen, in the thirty sixth year of the reign of Asa, Besha

King of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, and that he might let none go out or

come in to Asa, King of Judah.

Because of the people leaving Israel and going down to Judah, because they were departing

from Israel and going to worship in Jerusalem, the king of Israel eventually has to put a

stop to it.

He can’t allow this to continue.

So he goes to build a fortified city to block off access to Jerusalem and to Judah because

of the migration that is taking place.

And notice what we read.

Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the

king’s house and sent to Ben Hadad, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying.

Let there be a treaty between you and me, and there was uh as there was between my father

and your father, see I have sent you silver and gold.

Come, break your treaty with Basha, King of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.

So Ben Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent captains of his armies against the cities of

Israel.

They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel, Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.

Now it happened when Basha heard it that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work.

Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and the timber of Rama,

which Basha had used for building, and with them he built Giba and Mizpah.

And at that time Hanani, the seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, Because

you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore

the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.

Were the Ethiopians?

And the Lubim, not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen, yet because you

relied on the Lord he delivered them into your hand, for the eyes of the Lord run to and

fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is

loyal to him.

In this you have done foolishly.

Therefore from now on you shall have wars.

The messenger of God comes to Asa.

Asa’s now been on the throne for 36 years.

They’ve had peace for 25 years.

And yet in this occasion, Asa doesn’t inquire of the Lord.

Asa doesn’t seek the Lord’s help in this matter.

Asa decides to follow his own wisdom.

Jeremiah will tell kings that will be descendants of Asa It is not in man’s heart to

direct his own steps.

Solomon, Asa’s great grandfather, wrote that he we ought to be those who allow the Lord to

direct our paths.

Proverbs chapter three, verses five through seven.

But in this occasion Asa decides to solve this Asa’s way.

And God will tell him because he’s chosen to do this on his own, he’s going to have more

challenges.

You know, the Hebrew writer will point out to the Christians in the book of Hebrews that

chastisement comes from the Lord when we don’t do what we ought to do.

When we don’t act the way we ought to act, because it is there to correct us, it is there

to build us up, it is there to correct our paths, and while we go through it, we don’t

enjoy it.

But it is for our benefit.

And so Asa is going to face a time of war.

And note verse eleven that the acts of Asa, first and last, are indeed written in the book

of the kings of Judah and Israel.

And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady

was severe, yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord but the physicians.

So Asa rested with his fathers.

He died in the forty-first year of his reign.

They buried him in his own tomb which he had made for himself in the city of David, and

they laid him in the bed which was filled with spices and various ingredients prepared in

a mixture of ointments, they made a very great burning for him.

Asa’s great time as king, his reign, which is generally speaking lauded and applauded

throughout Scripture, ends on a bit of a sour note, because as Asa aged, Asa’s dependence

upon God dwindled.

We need to be reminded some of the lessons from Asa, one of which is that in our older

years we ought to rely on God just as much as in our youth.

Yet sometimes we know that we lack wisdom and understanding in our youth, and sometimes we

forget that when we get older.

But also consider that this statement that’s made concerning his feet, that he was

diseased in his feet, yet he did not seek the Lord in this regard, but the physicians.

You know, sometimes when you read a positive statement like that, he didn’t do this but

sought the physicians, you’re s perhaps supposed to understand that had he just sought the

Lord, the Lord had a solution.

We’re reminded in the life of Asa the importance of trusting God, the importance of

trusting Him in insurmountable odds, but also the importance in trusting Him about the

small minutiae of life.

The small things and the large things are the things in which we should trust.

If you’re here this afternoon and you’re outside the body of Christ, you have the

opportunity to put Christ on, to trust in God’s salvation.

To trust in God’s deliverance, not from a horde of a million, but rather from sin.

If you’re outside the body of Christ, you can enter into that salvation by hearing the

word of God and believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

By repenting of your sins and confessing the name of Christ and being immersed in water

for the remission of your sins.

But as children of God, for those who are his people, we are to be reminded by Asa and

others.

Number one, to trust God when we don’t feel like we have a way through.

Number two, to trust God when He says

You set things right, and I’ll deliver peace to you.

Number three, to trust God.

When those who have forsaken God in the past come back and repent and desire again to be

restored back to a right relationship with God.

Number four, to trust God when the small difficulties arise, and yet we’ve perhaps lost

touch.

With needing to trust God the way we did in our youth.

And number six, number five, I’ve lost track.

To trust God even with the small things.

Now, when we have hardships in this life, we shouldn’t be imagining that God’s going to

just miraculously take the sore feet away, or to take the disease away, or to take the

vanquishing, vanquish the army, but rather we are to trust that God can handle everything

that we deal with.

And we ought to humbly place it in His hands.

If you’re one who has departed from your trust in God, why not repent and come back?

Why not be like those from Ephraim and from Manasseh that returned back to the Lord?

If you have need of the invitation, why not come now?

Fathers in a World That Wants the Children – Aaron Cozort – June 21, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Biblical Parenting, Contentment, Deuteronomy, faith, Family, God's Word, Joshua, keywords Fathers, Psalm 78, Spiritual Leadership by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron Cozort (00:02)

Good morning.

Happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers who are present with us in the room and those who are not.

Given that it is Father’s Day, I would spend a little bit of time this morning considering fathers in a world that wants the children.

been giving some thought to the unique challenges that are faced by fathers in the current generation.

When you pause for a moment, you might consider that, you know what, with AI and with technology and with the state of the world, perhaps fathers in this generation will have a far more difficult time than fathers in the past. Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Psalm seventy-eight.

As the psalmist writer here in this psalm will rehearse much of Israel’s history, specifically rehearsing the rise and the fall of the nation in the form of the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.

He will point out that much of what has come can be attributed to the sins of fathers, to the failure of fathers to prepare the next generation.

Consider the passage as we open and we read in Psalm seventy eight and verse one, give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old.

As the psalmist writer opens, he indicates that the words that he’s going to speak, the message that he is going to convey, the things that he is going to say to his generation are not going to be new revelation. They’re going to be ancient wisdom. They’re going to be the message that had been declared in the past and that was understood in the past and had been forgotten.

He says, verse three, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done. There is a commitment from the psalmist writer that we’re not going to let the next generation grow up and not know the Lord.

We are not going to allow that generation to come forth and not be aware of the things that God has said to us. We are not going to allow his actions, his promises, his fulfillments, the things that he has done on our behalf to go unnoticed, to go unaware, to go untestified concerning. We are going to inform the next generation of who God is and what he’s done.

He goes on to say, for he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children. The psalmist writer says it is our responsibility to raise a generation.

to inform that generation, to teach that generation, so that they can raise a generation that will know God.

Verse seven, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

For we close, we’re gonna come back to verse eight.

But as we examine the responsibility of fathers to lead the household in the way of the Lord, consider God’s charge to fathers. God commands fathers that they should make his deeds known to their children. If you turn to Deuteronomy chapter six, Moses

would give such a commandment to Israel. In Deuteronomy chapter six and in verse one, now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart, you shall teach them diligently.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Moses declares to Israel.

God has given you his commandments, his statutes, his testimonies, he has given you his laws, and it is your responsibility to not allow a generation to rise up in your household that does not know his law.

How are we going to do that, Moses? He says, You’re going to talk about it in the morning. And you’re going to talk about it when you leave the house. And you’re going to talk about it when you sit down. And you’re going to talk about it when you lay down. And you’re going to put it up as something that reminds you of it there in your house. And you’re going to put something on that reminds you of it as you go through the day. And you’re going to put it in front of your eyes.

Now we know the Pharisees in the first century had taken that to a whole different level. As they would memorize Scripture, they’d carry around a little box on their forehead, and they’d take the scriptures that they memorized and they’d put them in the box to testify to everyone how much scripture they knew, because how big the box was was how big, how much they had memorized.

Not Moses’ point.

For self-righteousness was not his commandment. But acknowledgement of who God was and what God had done was his commandment.

But here in this passage, Moses gives a charge to fathers. Over in Psalm seventy-eight, God, through the psalmist writer, gives a charge to fathers.

Two voices are teaching the children of today.

One is the voice of the world. Humanist Manifesto written in 1973. Follow ⁓ up of the Humanist Manifesto one, followed up by the Humanist Manifesto three. But a quote from that s document says, No deity will save us. We must save ourselves.

Much of the world today, much of society today is anxiously anticipating a super intelligence that might finally exist on the earth.

And yet they’ve ignored the one that has been present their entire life.

The word of God should be that which we declare to our children. As Jesus in the prayer to the Father in John chapter 17, as he was preparing to depart from this world, he praised to God concerning his disciples. He praised to God concerning those who God had given to him. He prays as

If he was the father of the apostles.

He says, You’ve given them into my hand, and I haven’t lost any of them save the son of perdition.

I have given them your word, Jesus praise.

And now he prays, Sanctify them by your word. The word sanctify means to set apart, to consecrate, to set apart for a purpose.

To make holy.

And Jesus prays to God that on behalf of the apostles, God will set them apart through his word, because his word is truth.

Jesus is going to pray on behalf of the apostles that they do not look like the world.

That they do not live like the world. That they do not conform to the world.

But rather, as Paul will write in Romans chapter twelve, that they be transformed from the world.

And Jesus says that happens through the Word of God.

As fathers, if our children grow up

Knowledgeable about every movie or every sports team or every challenge or every geographical location or every aspect of science, every aspect of computers, every aspect of technology, every aspect of entertainment, every aspect of history. If they know all of that and they do not know the word of God, we fail.

Because the only thing that will sanctify them in the eyes of the Lord is his word.

Фатер і знак мир то проводи ау.

Yet he is called as a provider to lead a household in the way of the Lord.

It is a challenge. It will be a challenge to fathers in the future.

To provide. It is a challenge for fathers in the present to provide.

But it is not enough to provide simply for the physical aspects of this life.

It is insufficient in the view of Scripture and from the challenge of God to simply give your children a home.

In Dan ⁓ in Deuteronomy chapter six, as Moses is writing these things, God is about to use Israel to provide Israel a home.

As Moses’ life is going to end and they are going to begin under the authority of Joshua to go forth into the promised land, to cross the Jordan River, and to go into that land that will become their inheritance, they are going to receive a home. God is going to tell them, You’re going to have houses you didn’t build.

You’re going to have vineyards and crops you didn’t plant?

As a matter of fact, if you go back with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, he says, So it shall be. When the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of goods which you did not fill, or

Hewn out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, when you have eaten and are full.

God says when you look around you and you are provided for

From a physical perspective. He says then beware.

Beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him and shall take oaths in his name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are all around you, for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Mesa.

You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his statutes, his testimonies, which he commanded you, and you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord.

As God through Moses confronts Israel, he’s going to tell them, I’ve got the provision side taken care of. I’m going to provide you a house. I’m going to provide you a city. I’m going to provide you a land. I’m going to provide all of it. And when you eat of it and when you are full.

When you realize that you have enough and you are satisfied and you have abundance and you have everything that you need, he says, then beware.

It is not when we are lacking. It is not when we are destitute. It is not when we are in poverty that we ought to beware lest we forget who God is. It’s when we have enough. It’s when we have sufficient.

God says, you better watch out. Lest you forget.

So then consider the first charge.

Fathers are given a charge to place in the lives of their families and their homes God’s word above the wisdom of men.

When we are asked in our daily lives, what do we want?

You could have asked those Israelites there on the other side of the Jordan River, what do you want?

If you had asked the previous generation, they might have said, Well, we we want to leave Egypt. We we want to get out from under Pharaoh. We want to stop being persecuted. We want to stop being enslaved. We want freedom.

Yet when they arrived at Mount Sinai and as they were there in the wilderness, they found out that freedom wasn’t all that they had really thought it would be.

For them they wanted something else. They loathed the bread that God gave them. They loathed the lack of provisions that they had. They loathed not having all of the things that Egypt had provided them.

They wanted to be free, they just didn’t want what freedom meant.

But after thirty eight and a half years of wandering around in the wilderness

They’re finally at the other side of the Jordan River and they’re about to go into the land.

And you could have asked them, what do you want?

Some of them might have said, I’m looking forward to a house to live in.

I’m looking forward to having to need to make new clothes because these have never worn out.

I’m looking forward to a place where I don’t have to set up a tent and move from this place to that place to the next place.

I’m looking forward to finally having a home.

is I want what God has promised.

In all of its meaning.

No matter what comes.

I want what God has said.

We need to teach our children. We need to instill in our families as fathers the value of the Word of God.

That it is more valuable than precious gold or silver, that it is more important in our lives than riches, than possessions, than prominence.

But then consider as well that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

We need to realize that the world is not going to prioritize the word of God. The world is not going to teach our children to prioritize the word of God. The world does not respect the word of God. there are many in the world who give honor to the word of God. They have it in a high and lofty place, just not the actual authority in their lives.

They have a token honor to the Word of God, but not a submission to it.

We are to be those who begin with the fear of the Lord and allow that fear of the Lord to instill in us the correct relationship to the Word of God.

It is easy as a parent to say, You do this. Why? Because I said so.

It’s more of a challenge to say, we do this. Why? Because God sets it.

But then consider number two as fathers we need to teach before the world teaches.

Because the world hopes that fathers will be silent.

You can ask my wife. I grow up and come from a family on the Kozort side. Not the William side. William side is my mother’s side. My father’s side.

Where if someone from a different lineage didn’t come in, i.e. a spouse, didn’t come into the room and initiate a conversation, the Kozort males could sit in the room together for days and never say a word.

You want to talk about silent.

The Kozort family gave the silent generation their reputation.

And the older they get, the more silent they are.

I cannot forget when my wife first sat down with my grandparents and we were at their house and she heard my grandfather laugh during a meal and it surprised her.

Because he actually said something and he laughed out loud.

But it is important to state that no matter the personality of a father, whether they are the quiet one or more like me, the loud one.

That they must not be silent when it comes to the Word of God. That they must not be silent when it comes to raising their children to be obedient to God.

Дема спик, орто вил.

Too many young people are raised by a screen.

They’re raised by the entertainment industry. They’re raised by schools. Sadly, even they’re raised by Bible classes and churches because they’ve never been raised by their parents.

These words, Deuteronomy says, shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children.

You notice the word there doesn’t say conveniently. God does not instruct or charge fathers to find a convenient time to teach their children. Rather, he says you are to do so diligently when it is inconvenient. Day in and day out. If you were to look back at that description of

when they were to teach their children. Essentially what God is saying is you need to mold your day around instructing your children in faithful obedience to the word of God and not mold the instruction around your day.

Number three. God charges fathers.

to instruct their children in God’s design for the body, for marriage, for purity.

Very few in this world today grow up in a home with two parents who have only ever been married to one another.

Who have parents who have only ever been married to one another? Who had parents who have only ever been married to one another?

I consider myself blessed.

To have grown up in a household

Where I can go back to my parents and their parents.

And not find divorce.

Excluding on my mother’s side.

Where after a period of time my mother’s family stopped going to worship.

became unfaithful to the Lord when she was about ten, twelve years old.

And when you look at that side of my family.

You can’t find anyone except my mother, who is a faithful Christian until recently.

Through years of opportunities, spoken words, time and effort. Just a few years ago, my great uncle, my mom’s uncle.

Finally began to study with my parents.

And was converted.

At eighty plus years old.

We should never give up.

Too many times we allow the world to teach our children how they should relate to themselves.

To one another, to spouses, to children, and to the home.

And the world will tear them apart.

First Corinthians chapter six, Paul says it clearly as he illustrates the relationship between Christ and the church. He says, Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

You are not your own. Therefore glorify God in your body. He will make it clear to the Corinthians that you cannot become one with a harlot and be one with God.

You cannot become one in fornication and be one with the Holy Spirit.

You have to choose God or sin. Because you can’t have both. Number four, fathers are to charge their children, and fathers are charged with the responsibility to teach their children to resist the world and its, as the King James would put it, mammon, money, physical possession.

To resist them with contentment.

And we live in a time where there’s a new thing coming out about every day. There’s a new gadget, there’s a new toy, there’s a new TV, there’s a new this, there’s a new that.

Otherwise the economy would stop and we’d stop growing the GDP and everything would crash and the world would fall apart and it would all end. Or that’s what they tell us. So we’ve got to have something new all the time. Something new to buy. Something new to spend money on. the latest thing is don’t buy possessions, get experiences.

What they mean is come to our leisure palace and we will entertain you for a moment and we will take your money.

Thank you, Walt Disney.

The reality is this.

Paul will write that godliness with contentment is great gain.

Jesus will make it clear that this world and its treasures are not the end goal. Matthew chapter 6, verse 24 no one can serve two masters. For either he will hold to the one and despise the other, or he will love the one and hate the other. You cannot serve God and money.

You have to choose.

But in too many homes, if work calls, then dad’s not going to be at worship.

In too many homes, if the job requires it, then dad’s not going to take part in the social or sorry, in the spiritual thing.

But then it goes from when work calls to when entertainment calls. When sports calls. When the school calls. When the local city reschedules the ball games. When any situation arises, you know what? We just can’t be at services tonight.

We have other things we have to do.

When I was young, we lived in Alabama and there was a family there in the congregation and my brothers and myself worked for this individual for a time and we got to experience the full pleasure of taking ⁓ shingles off of a roof in Alabama in July.

And digging field lines in Alabama in July. And the experiences of septic tanks in Alabama in July. We we had a lot of fun. That job.

But when situations had changed for that individual and he had to go back to trucking.

Remember him being outside of our family’s house talking with my mother at one point, and my mother said, We missed you at services.

He said, Well, I know, but you know, finances are what they are, and I had to be on the road.

And I remember her making a point to him.

You know what? If you put God first, He’ll figure the rest of it out.

Because that’s Jesus’ promise there in Matthew chapter sixteen, six or chapter six, verse thirty-three. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.

And all these things shall be added unto you.

When you realize that what God calls upon us to do first is trust him.

Then you realize God has the ability to take care of what we need. Sometimes what we need is to stop wanting as much as we want.

and be content with what we have. Number five, fathers are charged to lead their families with courage, repentance, and hope.

When you face this world as a father, some fathers will look back at the good old days. Say, Well, you know, that’s just not how it was when I grew up.

Yep, that’s probably true.

But you can’t raise your kids back when you grew up. You gotta raise them when they are growing up.

You can look back and say, Well that that’s not how it should be, but it’s how it is.

So what are we going to do?

Joshua would say in Joshua chapter twenty four, as he faced Israel, nearing the end of his life, choose you this day whom you will serve.

He tells them, go ahead. Do you want to serve the gods of Egypt? Do you want to serve the gods that you served back in your ancestors’ day in Ur of the Chaldees? You pick. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua made it clear there was no choice.

But he also cautioned Israel because when Israel applied, No, but we’re going to serve the Lord, he says, You better be careful what you say. Because God will hold you to account.

For your work.

Fathers need to lead with courage. They need to lead with repentance. Why is it that there are more people who don’t repent of their sins? Perhaps some of it is because they’ve never seen their father repent for anything.

They’ve never seen him say he’s sorry. They’ve never seen him admit that he was wrong. They’ve never seen him bow in honor and submission to God and say, I am a sinner in need of forgiveness.

It’s pretty hard to follow an example you’ve never seen.

But we also need fathers who lead their family in hope. Not despair. What’s coming in the world? Don’t know. How’s it going to turn out? Don’t know. Is it going to be good for Christians or bad for Christians? Don’t know. Well, how are we going to get through? Don’t know. What are we going to do? Be faithful to God.

That’s how we’re going to make it through this world. Because as the song says, this world is not our home. We’re just passing through. Our treasures are laid up beyond the blue.

We realize that this world is not all there is. But to that end, we need to remember this.

Some face the reality that their children are already gone. They’re already grown. Some the grandchildren are already grown.

And some just like my great uncle.

It’s too late to redo how they’re raised their children.

But God redeems failed fathers as well.

In second Corinthians chapter five, Paul writes to the church at Corinth.

A church that had many struggles.

That was made up of many people who had spent their entire adult lives as pagans, serving false gods and idols. And he writes to them in Second Corinthians chapter five and verse twelve and says, For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf.

That you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God, or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again.

Therefore, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God who have reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and have given us

The ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin.

To be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Paul makes it clear for everyone of every age, no matter where they are in life, that we come to God not because we have been successful, but because we are sinners. Because we have failed. Because we cannot glory in ourselves but in Christ, we can be reconciled with God.

You don’t need to be a perfect father to be a faithful father.

And there is no better time to begin being a faithful father than today.

You’re outside the body of Christ. What must you do? The New Testament answers the question by saying you must hear that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you must believe that He is the Son of God, or you will die in your sins. You must repent of your sins and confess the name of Christ and be immersed in water for the remission of your sins to rise and walk in newness of life that Christ might live in you.

And you say, Aaron, you don’t know all the things I’ve torn down in my life. How am I ever, ever going to rebuild?

Well the answer comes by starting today.

How are we going to lead the next generation if we will not submit to God? If you have need of the invitation this morning, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing?

Revelation 14 (Lesson 3) – Aaron Cozort – June 21, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christ's victory, Christian living, evangelism, faith, God's judgment, judgment, keywords Revelation 14, perseverance, Salvation, treasures in heaven by Aaron Cozort

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It’s good to see everyone out this morning.

Isaiah, go plug the screen in.

We are continuing our study in the book of Revelation.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to chapter fourteen.

We’re not going to spend a lot of time in review as we typically do, since most of you

have been here week to week.

We don’t have a lot of visitors in our class this morning, so we’re going to kind of just

pick up where we have left off in our previous studies.

We are in chapter fourteen and we’re going to start reading around verse six.

but let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you grateful for the day that you’ve granted

to us.

Lord, we are thoughtful and in honor today of fathers throughout this world who have

sacrificed so much for their families, for their homes, for their congregations, and for

your kingdom.

We pray that your blessings be upon fathers throughout the world this day who are faithful

to you and shining examples of what you would have them to be.

Lord, we are grateful for your word and the revelation that has been given to us through

the scriptures that we might know both how to live and how to move and how to have our

being, that we might be able to live in a way that is right in your sight.

Lord, we know that we sin and we fall short of your glory.

I pray that you will forgive us of those things that we might always strive to walk with

you in white.

Lord, we pray and acknowledge that this world is a difficult place to live.

And that the hardships that come in this world are difficult to overcome.

But we’re grateful for this book, the book of Revelation, that shows us the reward for the

those who overcome, for those who are willing to stand fast and not bow the knee to the

world, to Satan, to those who would have.

Christians depart from the truth and from the faith that you have commanded us to hold.

Lord, we pray for this nation and we pray for this world that they might hear the gospel

and be obedient to it, that they might hold fast to your will and to the truth, that they

might never forsake it.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

As chapter 14 opens, John looks up and he sees the Lamb standing on Mount Zion.

And with him the hundred and forty-four thousand that he saw in chapter seven.

And he sees this picture again of Christ is victorious.

It’s not debatable.

It’s not questioned.

It’s not partial.

Christ is victorious.

And the saints and those who dwell in heaven, the Christians who are alive on the earth,

whose dwelling place is not on the earth, who are like Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and

Rebecca and Jacob, and they’re pilgrims on the earth, their sojourners on the earth.

They might physically still be here, but their dwelling place is in heaven.

And John sees them with the lamb on Mount Zion, and they don’t look beaten, and they don’t

look killed, and they don’t look destroyed, and they don’t look persecuted.

As a matter of fact, they’re singing.

They’re singing the song of Old Testament redemption.

We’re gonna find out, we’re gonna be told they’re singing a song in chapter 14, we’re

gonna be told in chapter 15 that it’s the song of Moses and the Lamb.

And they’re singing because they’ve won.

Now it’s not gonna always look like they’re winning.

It’s not going to always look like for the righteous that they’re conquering.

And yet in Psalm seventy three

The psalmist writer in Psalm 73 opens the Psalm dj decrying the state of everything around

him because he’s watching and he’s looking and he’s observing his own life and the life of

the righteous.

And he said, The light the righteous are being killed.

There’s no justice in the land, and those who are wicked are profiting and they’re happy

and they’re they’re they’re in satisfaction and they go through life in peace and they die

in a ripe old age.

And here are the righteous and they’re getting killed and they’re getting destroyed and

they’re going to to a state of being constantly persecuted.

And how in the world can God let the righteous suffer and the wicked be unmolested?

And yet, about verse 13 of Psalm 73, the psalmist writer says, And then I went into the

house of the Lord.

He said, When I went back to the Lord’s house, I understood the end of the wicked.

He says, I came to my senses when I realized that I had just about forsaken God.

I had just about testified with my mouth to the next generation that God wasn’t going to

deliver them, that God wasn’t going to provide for them, only to realize when I went back

to the house of the Lord that God already determined the end of the wicked.

That their end is guaranteed, that their destruction is assured, that their judgment has

is just being prolonged for a moment, but the reality is the wicked are going to get their

kumuppins to use a word from back in my growing up years.

You don’t see it yet.

It looks like they’re living large and luxurious.

But much like Jesus pointed out concerning the Pharisees and those who would be self

righteous before God who would come into the temple in his day and they would raise their

hands and they would look up to heaven and they would declare how wonderful they were and

how much God owed them and and how much God should be happy to have all them because of

all the great things that they’ve done.

Jesus would point out that they have their reward because

Their prayer never left the room.

And yet here comes the sinner, here comes the publican, who bows his head before God, who

smites his chest, and declares himself to be in desperate need of God.

And Jesus asked the question, which one goes away justify?

Chapter fourteen the Christians represented in Old Testament pictures of Israel, faithful

Israel, which by the way was a rare commodity in the Old Testament.

Faithful Israel.

The righteous Israel that went forth and did battle and conquered and gained the promised

land.

Righteous Israel standing with the lion uh standing with the lamb on Mount Zion.

And they’re singing.

And then we find in chapter 14, verses 6 through 12, the pronunciation.

Babylon is fallen.

Is fallen.

Now that’s not the first declaration that comes forth.

There’s a series of declarations that come forth from the throne of God.

The first one comes forth.

And he declares the gospel to the entire world through the mouth of the angel.

Now you’re not supposed to go back into history and find a time where an angel goes and

declares the gospel to the entire world.

But the vision tells us God gives people an opportunity to repent.

Peter would tell us that the reason why this world is still standing today is because God

is long suffering.

Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So the angel goes forth and does what God always does.

He gives people an opportunity to repent.

But in the Old Testament and the prophets, you would find that God would call his people

and the nations to repentance.

And the other side of the message was: if you reject my command, if you reject my offer,

if you reject my forgiveness,

Then you have my judgment.

The Old Testament prophets tell us that the word of God never comes back to him void.

It never if we can use the term inappropriately in English, it never does nothing.

It always accomplishes his will.

His will is either that the word goes forth and someone hears it and obeys it and is saved

by it and garners a relationship with God or they’re judged by it.

So the message goes forth.

Fear God verse seven and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come, and

worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

By the way, from Genesis one to the end of the book of Revelation, the scriptures affirm

God is the creator.

And his power, his authority, and his actions in judgment are predicated on he made this

world.

And because he made it, it is his to do with as he pleases.

And the individual who argues that this is just something that came about by some natural

form of nature that occurred through billions and billions of years?

Denies the authority and existence of God.

You say, well, no, that you you you could believe that and still believe in God.

No, you can’t, because you have to deny everything Scripture says.

From beginning to end.

There’s not a section of Scripture as far as a a a group or a category of Old Testament or

New Testament books that doesn’t declare God as the creator and reaffirm the creation

account in Genesis 1 and 2.

Not a single section.

If you deny the creation account of Genesis one and two, you deny Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus said, Do you not know he that made them at the beginning made them male and

female?

Matthew chapter 19.

If you deny Christ, you deny the Creator.

If you deny the Creator, you deny the Scriptures.

If you deny the Creator in the Scriptures, you deny his authority.

And those who deny his authority, uh, let’s see, God says they’re going to be judged.

But notice, he says, verse 8, another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is

fallen.

That great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her

fornication.

Now we’re going get into the picture of Babylon in chapter 17.

We’re going to see chapter 12 in the beast, chap uh sorry, in the dragon, and chapter 13

in the beast, and we’re going to see the picture brought forward into chapter 17.

Where this picture from Daniel’s prophecy is both brought together and judged.

So we’re seeing that forecasted.

We find another angel came forth and says, Babylon has fallen, has fallen that great city,

because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast

and his image,

And receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the

wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his

indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in

the presence of the Lamb.

And we talked about last week.

This isn’t the final judgment.

This isn’t these individuals being placed in the day of judgment on the very last day in h

into hell, because the scripture is very clear where hell is.

Scripture is very clear where the final uh place of torment for those who are unrighteous

is.

And it is out of the presence of God and Christ.

Second Thessalonians doesn’t give us any room to interpret it any other way.

But wherever this judgment is, it is in the presence of Christ and his holy angels.

So, by definition, this is not the final judgment.

By direct statement, this is not that location.

This is a different judgment wrapped up in the Old Testament picture of God judging a

nation.

But now notice what he says.

He says, He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels

and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or

night who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name, here

is the patience of the saints.

John says, when you see this, you can be assured that God’s going to judge the wicked.

Here’s the opportunity for the endurance, the standing up under a load.

That’s what the word patience means in the Greek.

To stand up under a burden.

This is how you can know, as Christians, that you can get through this.

That you can be faithful to God, that you will be delivered by God from this judgment.

You might be delivered through death, but you will be delivered.

He says, Here is the patience of the saints.

Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Who are the 144,000 who are singing?

Who are those who are standing with the Lamb?

They are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

So who are they?

Christians.

They’re Christians.

He says, Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me.

John in vision is going to hear a declaration.

He saw the declaration to the world.

He saw the first angel, the second angel, the third angel.

Then the message comes to John, one of the beatitudes of the book of Revelation.

You know, we’ve got the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five that Jesus gives in the Sermon

on the Mount Blessed are, blessed are, blessed are.

Well, there’s a number of blessings described in the book of Revelation.

In chapter 14, verse 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

Now that’s an odd blessing.

That doesn’t sound at all like blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

And yet God declares to John that this is a blessing.

Here’s the endurance of the saints, John is told.

Here’s the way you know you can be patient and get through the persecution and the

troubles and the difficulties that come in this life, because there’s a blessing, not for

those who are alive in Christ, but for those who die in Christ.

But this isn’t strange to us.

This isn’t some new doctrine that that comes forth in the book of Revelation.

Paul in Philippians chapter 1 says, I’m in a strait betwixt two.

For me, for to me, for me to live is Christ.

But to die is what?

Gain!

He says, I would be better off dead.

He doesn’t mean that in the way that some in the world do.

He doesn’t mean that in a state of despair.

He is rather looking at the reward that awaits the faithful.

In 2 Timothy chapter 4, as that time is approaching for Paul, Paul writes, I have fought a

good fight.

I’ve finished the course.

I’ve kept the faith.

Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Which is not for me only, but is for all those who love his appearing.

What’s he say?

He says there’s a blessing for those who die in the Lord.

But for the Christians who are getting this declaration from John, they’re being told

God’s going to judge, God’s going to deliver the wicked to judgment, and many of you are

going to die in the process.

That’s not God failing.

That’s God keeping his promise.

He says

Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them.

Now there’s a there’s a lesson here for us in this passage.

The lesson is that we have a limited time on this earth.

We have a limited period in which we have the opportunity to serve in the kingdom.

We have a limited time in which we are able to function and carry out the commandments of

God.

Jesus, as he goes into Samaria, as he teaches the woman there in the well at the well in

John chapter 4, as he declares to her what she needed to know to understand that he was

not only a prophet, but the Messiah, the one they had been waiting on.

And as she goes back into the city to tell everyone, you’ve got to come hear this man.

The Messiah is here.

The disciples have a conversation with Jesus, and Jesus says,

Lift up your eyes.

And look, for behold, the fields are whitened to harvest.

But he doesn’t just say the fields are white on the harvest.

He tells the disciples, You need to pray that the Lord send workers into the field.

Because there’s work to be done.

Because there are souls that can be saved.

There are people ready and waiting and willing and anxious to hear the gospel and are

willing to hear it and obey it.

John is going to pass on the message to these Christians.

When you die in the Lord,

You don’t lose anything.

You remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6?

Jesus would tell those Jews, those Israelites, those disciples, those who were present

during that sermon on the mount, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

Where moth and do not lay up for yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust

destroys, where thieves break through and steal.

Now

If you manage to lay up treasures on this earth and you never had moth destroy it and you

never had rust destroy it and you never had thieves break through and steal, when would

you lose it?

When you die.

In spite of all the pharaohs through all the centuries that piled up all their riches in

the pyramids, guess what?

A thousand years later when the people came to plunder the pyramids, what was still there?

All the ridges.

And now they’re sitting in a museum somewhere.

Or they’re sitting on somebody else’s wall.

But guess what?

They didn’t do the pharaohs any good now, did they?

Jesus makes the point you can lay up treasures on this earth and it might leave while

you’re still here.

But I can guarantee you, you’re not taking it with you.

He says, rather lay up treasures in heaven.

Now a question might be asked, how can a person lay up treasures in heaven?

Say again.

All right, if we use the example from verse four verse thirteen, by the deeds that they

do.

That’s one way.

How else can they do it?

By the works that they do.

Alright?

So so in the actions that a Christian participates in, you can lay up treasures in heaven.

How else can you do it?

Okay?

Through spreading the gospel.

Paul will point out in First Corinthians chapter three, I believe it is, that when a

person labors to teach people and convert people, even when that individual does not

remain faithful, there’s still a reward that is had for the person who did the teaching.

But there’s a greater reward for the person who does the teaching when the person who is

taught

And is saved, remains faithful unto death.

So by teaching the gospel and converting souls.

How else?

How about second Corinthians chapter eight and nine?

Turn to second Corinthians chapter eight and nine.

That part of the reason why I’m pausing a moment to to take all of this in is because

there’s times in which people get in the book of Revelation and they see all the visionary

language and they see all the visions and they see all the stuff and they they they

struggle to to ground themselves.

But it’s passages like this in chapter 14 where John says, Let me ground you to what we’re

talking about.

Let me put you back down on solid ground so that you understand that we’re talking about

the everyday life of a Christian.

And no matter how they meet their end, what they do in this life matters.

In Second Corinthians chapter 8, Paul writes, Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the

grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, that in a great trial of affliction

the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their

liberality.

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they

were free.

They were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency, that we should receive the gift

and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, and not only as we had hoped, but

they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so also so he would also complete this grace in you

as well.

But as you abound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge in all diligence and in

your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also.

I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence

of others.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your

sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

And in this I give advice it is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and

were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it.

That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what

you have.

For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not

according to what one does not have.

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but by an equality, that

now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may

supply your lack, that there may be equality, as it is written, He who gathered much had

nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.

But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent he went to you of his

own accord.

And we have sent with him the brother who s whose praise is in the gospel throughout all

the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us

with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself, and to show

your ready mind.

Avoiding this that any one should blame us in this lavish gift, which is administered by

us.

Providing honorable things not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men,

and we have sent with them our brother, whom we have often proved diligent in many things,

but now much more diligent because of the great confidence we have in you.

If any one inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if

our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches the glory of Christ.

Therefore show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting

on your behalf.

Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you,

for I know your willingness about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaea was

ready a year ago, and your zeal was stirred up stirred up the majority.

Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect,

that as I said you may be ready, lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you

unprepared, we, not to mention you, should be ashamed of this confident boasting.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and

prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised.

That it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

But this I say, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows

bountifully will also reap bountifully.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God

loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

That you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good

work.

As it is written, He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor, His righteousness

endures forever.

Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the

seed you have sown and increase the fruit of your righteousness, while you are enriched in

everything for all liberality which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also

is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

While through the proof of this ministry they glorify God for the obedience of your

confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,

and by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you,

thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

You look in that passage.

The context of that passage is the Jews who were going through the hardship and the famine

back in Judea, specifically the Jewish Christians and the churches that had sent out

missionaries to the Gentile world were now suffering and they were destitute and they

needed help.

And Paul was going about gathering that gift to bring back to Jerusalem, back to Judea, to

help those Christians.

Paul makes it clear that the giver of the gift receives the greater gift.

That God would not only allow the giver to give beyond their means, but he would in turn

make it possible for them to continue to give.

But that grace was going to them because of the gift, and it was going from them to the

other Christians because of their faithfulness.

Revelation chapter 14, we consider that one of the ways that a Christian’s works follow

him into eternity.

One of the ways that you store up treasures in heaven is when you give to those who are in

need.

As Paul will write, especially those of the household of faith.

When those who have abundance and those who are destitute, by the way, that’s not a

command exclusively to those who have abundance, because he describes the Macedonians as

those who were destitute.

They’re already in deep poverty, yet they’re giving.

Because they gave of themselves to the Lord first.

So he says, While those who are destitute are giving, and those who have abundance are

giving, all of them are giving.

Poor and rich, as their giving, are being bestowed back grace from God.

We need to remember in this life that we lay up treasures in heaven when we are obedient

to God.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we preach the gospel and teach others.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we are willing to give of our physical possessions for

spiritual reasons.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we support those who are taking the gospel to the

world.

We lay up treasures in heaven when we help those who are in need and have no way to

resolve that.

We should be careful to note

That laying up treasures in heaven is something you do while you are alive.

I mention that because sometimes in our modern world of financial engineering

People have a mindset I’m going to keep what I have until I die, and then after I’m dead,

it can go to a good cause.

Are you dead, it’s too late.

That’s not to say that money that has been stored up and is given through some sort of

legacy opportunity can’t have good that comes from it.

But it is to say that if you’re hoarding it until you die so that you’re secure, you’re

not trusting God.

So many times there are individuals who are in need, and there are those who have so much

abundance they’ll never use it before they die.

But they’re not willing to give.

Well, if we pay attention to the passage, their works do follow them.

Verse 14 of chapter 14.

Then I looked and behold a white cloud.

We’ve said before in the text when you see white, it’s holiness.

Everywhere you see white in the book of Revelation, it’s holiness.

He says, Behold, I saw a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man.

Having on his head a golden crown.

Again, the crown here, not the crown of the king, it’s the crown of the victor.

It’s Stephanos.

It is the crown of the victorious person.

So here comes the white cloud, and the one sitting on the cloud looks like the Son of Man,

and he has on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharpsickle.

I didn’t grow up in an agricultural community, I grew up on the side of an Appalachian

hill.

What in the world is a sickle use for?

Cutting grass or wheat.

Grain.

We didn’t we I’ll put it this way, they grew weeds in eastern Kentucky, but they didn’t

grow grain.

Out on the plain, you’re gonna cut down the the harvest.

And so the picture is here comes the one on the cloud.

And he’s got in his hand a sharp sickle, and notice what we read.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the

cloud: Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the

harvest of the earth is ripe.

So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

The picture here

is an agricultural vision, but the reaping isn’t grain.

The harvest is ready.

The one who sits on the cloud is told.

It’s time.

The message from the book is: judgment has been waiting, has been waiting.

God has been long-suffering.

God has given people an opportunity to repent, and the time is.

Turn to Isaiah sixty three, this is where we’ll close for today.

In Iza sixty three.

We read, who is this who comes from Edom?

With dyed garments from Basrah, this one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in

greatness of his strength.

I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Why is your apparel red?

And your garments like one who treads in the wine press.

Now you’re about to read is the

Remainder of the passage as we introduce where we’re headed next week.

You’re about to read of the harvest of the nations of God’s judgment coming upon the

wicked, and they’re going to be gathered up, and they’re going to be thrown into the

winepress of the wrath of God.

That’s not a new picture.

That’s not a prophecy about an event where blood’s gonna run like a river.

That’s an Old Testament picture.

God in Isaiah 63 inquires of the individual who’s coming, why are you covered in red?

Why does it look like you’ve been treading out the wine press?

W when the grapes were pulled out of the fields, the vineyards, they’d be put into the

wine press.

And then you’d have a great big gathering and people would go through and they’d walk on

the grapes.

They’d just keep walking on it.

They would be treading out the blood of the grape.

There’s the metaphor.

By the way, if you need any passage anywhere in Scripture to tell you that the word wine

in the Old and New Testament does not always indicate an intoxicating drink, you don’t

have to go any further than this passage.

And Revelation chapter 14, where the grapes that get put into the wine press are tread out

and described as.

Wine.

Can you get fermented grapes off the vine?

No, you can’t.

Fermentation is a process that occurs by something that is dead, not something that’s

still connected to the vine.

You can get wine out of the wine press, but you can’t get fermented wine out of the wine

press.

Wine in Scripture does not always indicate intoxicating fermented wine.

It never has.

The context describes whether or not it is fermented and intoxicating or not.

Now notice in Isaiah 63 as we continue down to verse 7: the answer that comes back from

the one who’s inquired of by God.

Where have you been?

Why does it look like you’ve been in the winepress?

He says, I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me.

For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury.

Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes.

For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.

I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.

Therefore, my own arm brought salvation for me, and my own fury it sustained me.

I have trodden down the peoples in my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down

their strength to the earth.

I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to

all that the Lord has bestowed on us.

And the great goodness toward the house of Israel which He has bestowed on them according

to His mercies, according to the multitude of His loving kindness.

For He said, Surely they are my people.

Who is this about?

Where’s the person coming from?

Verse 1, he’s coming from Edom.

This is a prophecy of Isaiah about the judgment of Edom.

How does he describe Edom being judged by God?

First of all, he describes it as a lone man walking, covered in the wine press and the

blood of the grape.

And the lone person walking says, I did it all on my own.

Because I looked for someone who was faithful and I couldn’t find anybody, so I d I took

care of it myself.

And the picture there is of God saying, My wrath has been poured out on Edom.

There’s your picture for the remainder of Romans, or sorry, Revelation chapter 14.

We’ll get into that next week.

Thank you for your attention.

How To Say Goodbye (Acts 20:16-38) – Jacob Kennedy – June 17, 2026

In Acts 20, Admonition Podcast, Christian leadership, Church, dedication, evangelism, faith, Humility, keywords Paul, Spiritual Growth, stewardship by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening.

About that time to get started with the Wednesday evening Bible class here at

Collierville.

Aaron is still in Texas, uh trying to finish up working on a job.

So he will be back, Lord willing, by Friday.

But for tonight you’ll have to deal with me as a poor substitute.

We’re going to be discussing A Acts chapter twenty.

So if you would go ahead and be turning to Acts chapter twenty.

Uh we’ll pick up there after our after we say a a quick word of prayer.

If you would bow with me.

Almighty God, most holy, most righteous heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are.

We thank you for your love, for your mercy that you show to us every day.

Thankful for the sunshine, for the beauty of your creation that surrounds us.

Thankful, Lord, for the family that we have here at Collierville, that as members of your

church, members of your kingdom, we are family.

Brothers and sisters in Christ united in our common goal of serving you and of reaching

the lost.

Lord, we pray that our minds will be ever focused on the task that’s set before us, and

we’ll always be striving to be those people who will honor you, who will praise your high

and most excellent name.

We pray that as we enter this portion of Bible class and Bible study, that we will be

attentive to the lessons that we can learn from the book of Acts, and we can learn all

that we we can from the inspired word that you have left for us.

We pray, Lord, that we will be those who are students of your word.

Always learning and always stri striving to apply what we learn so that we can be better

servants in your kingdom.

This we pray in your Son’s most holy name.

Amen.

In deciding on what to uh study tonight, I thought about just continuing on with the study

of prayer, but then I realized this will be my last opportunity to speak to you guys uh

before I leave school and before I stop working here at Collierville.

And so I wanted to end on a on a high note, though it is a little little sad to think

about the idea of saying goodbye.

There’s

As we’ll notice when looking at this at the text, there’s some encouragement to be gained,

some uh some strength to be had.

And looking at this idea of how to say goodbye and how Paul said goodbye to the brethren

there in Ephesus.

And so as we’re setting the stage for this study, we know in verse sixteen, starting, for

Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus

Because he would not spend the time in Asia, for he hasted, if it were possible for him to

be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

What we see here is with Paul he is wanting to speak to the brethren there in Ephesus, but

he knows he doesn’t have the time.

He knows that he doesn’t have time to stop and to make a long visit there, and so he’s

trying to go past Ephesus and goes to Miletus, as we know when we as we continue.

But what we are dealing with here is an apostle Paul who is on a mission.

He has a goal in mind.

He has a focus in mind.

He’s trying to reach Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost.

And some have theorized this is because he wanted to show to the brethren of the great

works that the Gentiles were doing, and he knew that the most number of of Jews, the most

number of people who would be most impressed by these acts, these

the faithfulness of these Gentile brethren would be those Jews and the Jewish brethren

that were there for the day of Pentecost.

Whether or not this is the case, we don’t know for sure, but what we do know is this is

the fact that Paul has a mission.

He has a goal in mind and he’s striving for that goal.

He’s going towards Jerusalem.

And in verse seventeen he says, And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders

of the church.

Now, we’ll note this later, but Paul spent about three years in Ephesus, ministering to

the church there, growing the church there, helping to build up this church in Ephesus.

And so no doubt he built strong relations and dear friendships with those brethren there.

But why is it that he calls the elders?

Why doesn’t he just send a general anyone who can come to my leaders and let’s talk?

Why does he single out the elders or the the leaders of the church in Ephesus?

Giving them a reinforce and a reinforcing message, absolutely.

It’s the idea of you take what I’m about to give you and spread it to everyone else.

But there’s also a specific emphasis that Paul places as we look at this final goodbye he

gives of the duty that is laid on these brethren’s shoulders.

As the leaders of the church there in Ephesus, as the elders, they had a responsibility

that Paul was saying, This is now your responsibility.

I was.

Holding up this mantle.

I was bearing this burden, but now it’s your turn.

I can’t do it any more.

This is up to it’s up to you.

And we’ll notice this more as we continue, but noting the fact that he calls the elders

specifically.

And then in verse 18, and when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the

first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons.

Verse nineteen, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and

temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing

that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly, and from

house to house, and testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward

God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

As Paul begins his conversation with the elders, he opens by noting the fact that they can

bear witness of him.

He’s calling them to give account of saying, You know what I showed you, you know how I

lived, you know what I taught you, you know these things that I have given to you by

inspiration for you to internalize, for you to exemplify.

We note in 1 Corinthians uh

Chapter 11 and verse 1, where Paul says, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of

Christ.

Wherever Paul went, as he is living this Christian life, as he is living a life that is

faithful and service to God, as he is doing the duty set before him as an apostle of Jesus

Christ, and as a preacher of the gospel, he’s saying, I have lived a life that’s an

example to you all.

I’ve lived a life and you can bear bear record of this.

You you can test me on this that I’ve showed you what you need to do.

And what’s interesting is noting how he served them, serving the Lord with all humility.

When you look at Paul, you really don’t see a prideful man.

You can’t help but see someone who has great station, who has great knowledge, who has

even could have had great prominence.

And yet, as Philippians tells us, he counted all but loss for the cause of Christ.

He was a man who was humble in his actions.

Corinthians would tell us that he did not come with an excellency of speech, but rather he

just simply came proclaiming the gospel.

In other words, it wasn’t about Paul, it was all about Christ.

That was the example he showed as he was serving the Lord was that, brothers, it’s not

about me.

And the example that he’s giving to these elders is it’s not about you.

It’s not about you as individuals, but it’s about God.

It’s about serving Him.

It’s not about making a name for yourselves, but it’s about doing what God needs you to

do.

Serving Him with humility.

And note also that he says, and with many tears.

We’ll see this phrase or denotion of tears several times throughout this goodbye, but what

is Paul meaning when he’s saying, with many tears he served the Lord among them?

What’s the implication of this terminology?

What does it show about Paul’s care?

Do I know?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

He loved the brotherhood and whatever he was whatever they were going through, he was

going through.

He had that sympathy, that empathy for them.

What we see when the example of Paul is one who truly cared for not only the church as a

whole, but also as individual Christians.

He cared deeply for the Brotherhood.

for those brethren there in Ephesus, but not just for the brethren.

Because keep in mind one of Paul’s duties, one of his obligations and one of his works as

he was serving the Lord was in proclaiming the gospel to the lost.

So not only was Paul caring deeply for those who were saved, for those who were his

brothers and sisters in Christ, but he also cared very deeply for those to whom he

preached, for those to whom he ministered.

And that’s the example that is set before these Ephesian elders.

The example that they ought to show to the brethren there in Ephesus and brothers and

sisters, the example that we ought to set for each other.

That we truly love not only one another, absolutely, and having that emotional connection

to one another, that deep care and concern for one another, absolutely, but also for your

neighbor who’s lost.

For your family member who’s lost, for your friend who’s lost.

Do you care about them as deeply as Paul is talking about caring for those to whom he

taught?

Picking up in verse nineteen, he still is he continues on by noting the fact that there

were temptations which befell befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews, despite the

physical hardships that he faced, despite the struggles and the trials that he underwent,

despite the lies that the Jews were telling, and the false accusations they were bringing

against him.

Paul remained faithful to his mission.

He did not stray from the path.

He did not abandon the course, but rather he stood true to the cause of Christ.

He did not let hardship interrupt or stop him from serving God.

And that’s the same thing he’s telling the brethren to do.

As he’s giving them this final goodbye, he’s saying, Look, you’ve seen this in me,

exemplify it in exemplify it in yourselves.

Internalize this teaching.

And picking up in verse twenty of ch of Acts twenty, he says, And how I kept back nothing

that was profitable unto you.

Paul taught them, and we’ll see this again later in verse 27.

He taught them everything they needed to know.

He showed them what they needed to learn.

He taught them the things that they needed to understand from God’s word.

And note that it’s not just in a public setting alone.

As you read the end of the verse, he says, And I’ve taught you publicly and from house to

house.

Paul was not only one who stood before the brethren and taught.

He was not only one who would stand before crowds and teach the gospel of Christ.

He was not only one who would stand before a synagogue of Jews and set and proclaim to

them that the old law had been nailed to the cross, and that we’re now under the new

covenant.

But he also was connected to individuals, teaching from house to house.

There’s a difference when we are teaching the gospel from a place like a pulpit and we’re

talking about the Bible across the kitchen table.

Why do you think it is that when Rob talked when Rob was giving us the evangelism

training, he talked about the importance of setting them down around the kitchen table?

Getting them in your home to teach them.

Because there is a connection there, there is a uh calming nature there.

It’s not of you’re the student, I’m the teacher.

It’s not a you’re lesser than I am, I’m greater than you are.

It’s a we’re in this together striving to learn.

We’re equals in the

This goes back again to the idea of the humility that Paul showed.

But this is the example he’s leaving for these brethren.

And note in verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, during this time

of great separation between the Greeks and the Jews, between the Gentiles and those of the

circumcision, during this great division, this time of great.

even hatred towards one another, Paul says, I preach to both.

I didn’t care who you were.

If you had ears, I’m going to teach you the gospel.

That’s the mindset that Paul had.

And that’s the mindset that he’s a encouraging and really commanding these Ephesian

brethren to also have.

And that’s also the same mindset we should have as Christians today.

It doesn’t matter who you are.

If you can hear the gospel, then we’re going to do our dead level best to teach it to you,

to show you the gospel.

But what is it that he taught?

He says he taught repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when we think about the idea of repentance, what is what is this?

What is repentance?

Change of mind, which brings a change of life.

Absolutely.

It’s the idea of you’re walking this way, but instead of continuing to walk this way, you

do an about face and you start walking the other way.

It’s the idea of one who is living a life of sin, who is living away from God, he turns

around and starts following Christ.

Starts following God.

And the idea of faith here is is this idea of the faith that was once delivered.

Jude three would talk about.

It’s the system of faith that Christ has laid out for us of how one is to be saved, of how

one is to come to a knowledge of Him, and of how one is to be added to the church.

What’s really interesting, we don’t have time to go through all of this, but go through

the book of Ephesians.

And note the connections to faith that are found therein.

It appears uh I wanna say it’s a I didn’t write down the exact number.

It’s about seven times that faith appears in the book of Ephesians.

Now, some of y’all can double check me on that if you have a Bible software open real

quick.

But what the point is that in the book of Ephesians, when he’s writing to these Ephesian

brethren, he emphasizes faith, just as he’s emphasizing it to the elders and at Ephesus,

when he’s talking to them at Miletus.

But this faith, we must understand.

is the one faith that Ephesians four talks about.

It’s the faith that brings someone to Christ to understand who Christ is.

That He is exactly who He claimed to be the Son of God.

And understanding that one believes in that, that fact.

And doesn’t just stop there.

See, a lot of people will want to take the Bible and they’ll say, well, we’ll pick this

passage and we’ll say that this is all one has to do to be saved.

Well, Paul just taught repentance and faith, so that’s all we need to teach, right?

Just repentance and faith.

But what is faith?

We just talked about the fact that it’s not just this idea of saying, well, I believe that

Christ is the Son of God.

Faith is much more than that.

And you would even find in in reference to Paul, he wasn’t just saved by saying, I believe

that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Acts 22, 16 tells us that Anis came to him and said, Why are you waiting?

Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

The Bible is very plain that there are things we must do to be saved.

There is a a qualification, if you will, that we must meet.

But nevertheless, Paul taught them what they needed to know.

And that’s the point he’s driving at here is that just as he taught them what they needed

to know, these Ephesian elders needed to go and teach the brethren what they needed to

know.

The same thing.

The gospel doesn’t really change.

What we have recorded for us, while it’s not in Greek, it’s in English, is the same gospel

that Paul was teaching.

It’s the same message that the inspired writers wrote all those years ago.

Continuing on in verse twenty two.

Paul begins to note this fact that there’s danger on the horizon.

For him he says, And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the

things that shall befall me there.

Save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide

me.

But none of these things move me.

Neither count I my life.

dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have

received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

And now behold, I know that ye all I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the

kingdom of God shall see my face no more.

This is the part where we get this idea of a final goodbye.

Paul looks at these brethren, these men with whom he labored for three years, and he says,

You’re not going to see my face anymore.

I’m going to Jerusalem and and the Holy Spirit has told me, and as we note in the next

chapter, actually, uh, prophets were sent to tell Paul that, hey, you’re going to be bound

in Jerusalem.

Bad things will happen to you in Jerusalem.

He understands this and he says, I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, but I know

something’s coming.

I know persecution of some kind is coming my way.

And he knows he’s not going to see these brethren again.

Was so amazing.

is how he speaks in verse twenty four that despite the fact that he knows bad things are

coming, despite the fact that he knows this is going to be the last time he’s going to see

these brethren, these brothers and sisters whom he loved.

Despite the fact that these elders this was the last time that he would see these men who

were elders in the church, he says, But none of these things move me.

Neither count I my life dear unto myself.

If there is one word that you could use to to describe the apostle Paul, I would argue

that it would be dedicated.

He was dedicated to the Lord, to the service of his God.

Are we the same?

Are we the same that when we look danger in the eye, when we look persecution in the face,

when we look the devil in his eye?

Do we say I’m not moving from serving God?

I am not going to abandon my post.

I’m going to keep serving.

I’m going to keep trying to spread the gospel.

I’m going to keep striving to be the best Christian that I can be.

Growing as much as I can.

Are we as dedicated as as Paul was?

We can be.

But it takes a strength of will.

It takes a commitment to God

And what motivated Paul so much was the fact of how he knew what he had done.

He knew the persecution that he had brought upon the church, the harm that he had brought

to the body of Christ, and he you can almost see this idea of him having this feeling of I

owe God for all these crimes that I’ve committed against him.

And yet, despite my sin.

Despite the fact that I was in the wrong and persecuting and harming his church, he still

gave me an opportunity to be saved.

He still washed me and cleansed me of my sin.

That resonated with Paul.

He understood what he truly had as being a Christian.

He was thankful for it.

So thankful that he wanted others to experience the same joy in ministry.

Verse twenty six.

Paul says, Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all

men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

When Paul references this idea of him being free from the blood of these men, from the

blood of the brethren there in Ephesus, what is he talking about?

What does he mean that his hands are clean?

He w he did what he thought was right.

He was doing it living with a clear conscience.

That’s true, but that’s not exactly what he’s getting at here.

Walker, did you

He’s done his part.

When we look at Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 3 and verses 18 through 20, God talks to the

prophet Ezekiel and he says, I’ve set you to be a watchman on the wall.

Now, if the watchman doesn’t warn the city, the blood of the innocent are on your hands.

The blood of those in that city are on your hands.

You’re guilty because you didn’t do your job.

But if you wa if if as the watchman you warn of the coming enemy,

And they still ignore you, well then you’re free from the guilt of their sin.

You’re free from the guilt of their deaths.

Specifically the application that God places uh on Ezekiel is saying, Ezekiel, you have a

message to deliver.

And if you don’t deliver it, then I’m going to hold you accountable.

I’m going to hold you accountable for the blood of these Jews, for the blood of your

brothers and sisters, that you didn’t teach.

And what Paul is saying here is that he’s innocent of that blood.

Because he taught.

He did what he could to explain to them, to show to them what they needed to know.

This goes back again.

You cannot depart or separate, if you will, twenty six with twenty seven.

Because he’s he connects them with that that preposition for, or rather that conjunction

for.

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Why was he free?

Why was he justified?

Why was he innocent of their of the blood?

Because he taught them.

In essence what Paul is saying is that I did my part.

Now it’s up to you.

Kind of reminds me of the song we sing, What Will You Do With Jesus?

He’s knocking at the door.

There’s an emphasis in that song of Jesus has done his part.

He’s asking you to come.

He’s done all that he can do save for taking away your free will.

But what will you do?

And Paul is saying the same thing.

I’ve done my part.

But what will you do with the message that’s been given?

And verse twenty eight he says, Take heed therefore, because you know these things,

because the responsibility is now on your shoulders to take up this mantle.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost

hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own

blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you.

Not sparing the flock.

Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples

after themsel after them.

Therefore, because this danger is here, therefore watch and remember that by the space of

three years I cease not to warn every one night and day with tears.

And now, brethren, I command I commend you to God.

And to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance

among all them which are sanctified.

Paul saying a final charge of warning.

A final call to the fact that there is danger on the horizon.

That after his departing there were going to be grievous wolves coming in.

When Paul is saying this, he’s he’s pointing them to the fact that he was helping them of

being a bastion of truth, if you will, of giving them the tr the the knowledge that they

needed, but with him being gone, with him no longer being there to help them, to excuse

me, to support them, to be their strength.

He says, Now that job is on your shoulders.

Now that duty is yours to take up the want.

Take up the call of defence against those who would seek to harm the church.

Well, brethren, that call is still to us today.

We have to watch.

We have to watch ourselves as he begins in verse twenty eight.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves.

Now Paul is specifically speaking to elders here.

Absolutely.

There is a difference.

in the role of an elder as opposed to that of a of a s of a regular member.

But is it not the case that we as Christians are to be watching out for each other?

Is it not the case that we as Christians are to be looking out for the well being of each

other, trying to help each other and striving for the same goal of reaching heaven?

But how can we do that if our own souls are not right with God?

How can we help others to avoid the wolves if we ourselves among the pack?

We have to guard our hearts, brethren.

Brothers and sisters, we have to watch ourselves and also each other.

Caring for each other and helping each other to withstand the onslaught that Satan sends

against us.

He wants us to fail.

Have you ever thought about that?

Satan does not want these doors to be open.

He doesn’t want the Collierville Church of Christ to exist.

And he will do what he can to stop us.

But if our roots go deep into the Word of God, if as Ephesians 6 talks about, we put on

the armor of God and we stand together as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ,

as fellow soldiers in the army of the Lord, we can resist the devil.

And not only push back his advances, but also grow the church.

But it only comes if we’re working together.

It only comes if our focus is on each other and in making sure that our lives are right

with God.

Now notice that Paul says, I commend you in verse 32 to God and to the word of his grace.

As Paul’s departing, he points them to the one who never will depart.

He points them to the one who is always with them, the one who is ever present, the one

who can strengthen them in trial.

The one who, as Peter talks about, calls us to cast our cares on him.

The one who gives us every single piece of the armor of God that we are to be putting on

in defense against Satan.

And to the word of his grace.

Which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them which are

sanctified.

What Paul leaves these brethren with.

He leaves them with a God who’s well able to take care of them, who will never leave them.

And he leaves them with the word of truth, the word of God’s grace, which is power.

Hebrews would describe it as sharper than any two edged sword.

It’s living.

dangerous in the wrong hands.

But in the hands of one seeking the truth, it’s a powerful weapon.

In the hands of one who is seeking to know God?

Brothers, this is all the strength, all the encouragement we need.

Trust in God and in his word.

As we look at Paul, we see a man who loves these brethren.

We see a man who has verse 33 tells us he coveted no man’s silver or gold or peril.

In verse 34, he calls them again and show and reminds them again that they know.

Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that

were with me.

Paul took care of himself.

He didn’t show himself to be a burden on them or just say, Hey, give me some money.

His point is that he wasn’t in it for the money.

He was in it to save souls.

I have showed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to

remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to

receive.

And when he had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept

sore and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he

spoke, that they should see his face no more.

And they accompanied him into the ship.

In this last goodbye, Paul ends by saying, Give.

Give of yourselves, yes.

Give of your means, yes.

The focus of a Christian is not on storing up wealth.

The focus of a Christian is not on self, but on how can I help you?

How can I help you?

How can I serve you?

Those who are weak, I’m going to try my best to make them strong.

That’s the mindset that Paul exhibits.

That’s the mindset that we as Christians are to exhibit.

And brethren, if I may be allowed to brag on you all a bit, that’s the attitude I see

here.

A church that loves one another.

A church that cares for one another.

A church that says, Oh, you do you need you need something?

I’ll I’ll help you any way I can.

And for that I’m eternally grateful.

But looking at a few lessons learned as we close tonight.

Lesson number one, balance emotion and spiritual responsibility.

As Paul is giving his final goodbye, he has emotion.

He has tears.

He cares for the brethren, but he also balances that emotion, that love for the brethren,

by saying, There’s a job to do.

We have a responsibility to uphold.

In the second place, he we have this idea of strengthening those who are left behind.

Paul doesn’t leave the brethren by s with with words that are tearing them down, but

rather words that are building them up, that are showing them how they can be faithful,

that are showing them that just as Paul did these things, so too can they.

A faithful goodbye strengthens those left behind.

Number three, share stewardship, not just sentiment.

Well, Paul showed as he talks to these brethren, he doesn’t just sit and reminisce with

them.

He doesn’t say, you remember old brother so and so?

You remember when he did this?

Those times are good.

It’s fun to laugh.

It’s good, it is good and healthy to have those times where we reminisce.

But Paul doesn’t take these few minutes he has just to sit and reminisce.

But rather he has a purpose in mind.

He reminds them, yes, of the things that happened, but it’s with the mindset of we share

stewardship.

We share stewardship of the gospel and of our responsibility to share the gospel with

others.

Everyone in this room has been entrusted with the gospel.

Every single person here who is a Christian knows what needs to be done to be saved.

And as such, we are stewards of God’s truth.

Stewards of God’s good news.

And our job is to share it.

Number four, he calls the leaders to watch themselves before they watch others.

This is true with leaders, absolutely, but it’s also true for all of us as Christians.

We have to examine ourselves.

We have to watch ourselves before we can watch others.

We have to make sure that we are people who are diving into the Word of God, striving to

learn from it all we can before we can start trying to correct others.

If our heart is not right with God, then how can we help others’ hearts to be right with

God?

Now does this mean that you have to know everything about the Bible, every single question

that can arise before you can teach others the gospel?

No.

Nor is it saying that you have to have perfect knowledge of everything that happened in

the scriptures and every single nuance to any kind of question that might happen before

you can strengthen the brethren, or before you can call a false doctrine what it is.

But the point of emphasis here is don’t be a hypocrite.

But just as you encourage others to study, just as you encourage others to be people of

the Bible, people whose focus is on what God wants, be that yourself.

Show them, don’t just tell them what it means to be a Christian.

Number five, pass on the pattern of love, work, and tears.

Love, this idea of caring for one another, of wanting what’s best for you, of saying I’m

willing to serve you.

Work being this idea that we don’t shirk labor.

Say, well, this is just too much work, so I’m not going to do it.

Brethren, if it’s for the Lord, there is no such thing as too much work.

If it’s for the Lord, we need to do our best, everything that we can give to serve the one

who gave all for us.

And tears this idea of sympathy and empathy that we cry when others cry.

And we laugh when others laugh.

We share in each other’s heartaches and joys.

That’s what it means to be a Christian.

And finally, number six, entrust people to God.

The biggest mistake anyone can make is trusting in a man over the Lord.

Whenever we start putting our faith and trust solely in individuals and not on the Lord

God, then we will fall away.

We will stumble.

Because our faith is rooted in the wrong source.

Paul doesn’t call them to entrust in him as the as the source of all what it means to be a

Christian.

He exemplified, yes, a Christian life.

And he calls them to follow that example, but so far as it follows Christ.

He calls them rather to trust in God, to serve Him, to focus on what He says to do, to

study His Word, to learn from it what we need to know.

Second Timothy three tells us that Scripture has given us all, all that we need to know to

be perfect, truly furnished unto every good word.

We have what we need, but only if we’re trusting in the right source.

Brethren.

We have a job to do.

We have a duty that’s been laid before us.

A responsibility that is placed on our shoulders, and it’s up to every single one here in

this room to uphold the call of Christ.

To uphold the commands that we read in Scripture, of growing in our own faith, of learning

all that we can learn about God’s word and what we need to do in our lives, but also in

sharing the gospel to Holy.

Paul leaves these brethren with a charge.

And while I don’t claim to be anywhere near the apostle Paul.

So too I leave you with a charge.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Keep serving the Lord.

Keep growing.

Keep loving each other.

Keep being what makes the Collierville Church of Christ so great.

Just As I Am – Aaron Cozort – June 14, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, baptism, Bible Examples, Christian living, God's Grace, Grace, keywords Salvation, Rahab, repentance, Saul of Tarsus by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron Cozort (00:00)

Good morning. It is good to have each and every one of you here. It’s good to have our visitors with us. We appreciate your presence and we’re great we’re greatly value we greatly value your presence with us. We hope that you will come back at every opportunity that you have.

Take your Bibles, if you will.

I’ll get to the right page here in a moment.

That’s what happens when you put the marker in the wrong spot.

There it is. All right. On the right page now. Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Romans chapter six.

Romans chapter 6, Paul is writing to a congregation that he’s never met in person. There are those within the church at Rome, like Aquila and Priscilla and others, who he does know personally, but he has never been to Rome as he writes this letter. Now he will go, he will eventually make it to Rome, though he will go at the expense of the Roman government. But as he goes

To Rome in chains, he will go there and be in a different scenario than he imagined, as he would write to this congregation, telling them that he desired and had long desired to come and to be with them. But as he s writes to the church at Rome, he’s going to write to them dealing with a few of the issues that they have there, as he would in many of the other letters which Paul will write, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

And one of the issues that he deals with in this text is those who argued there in Rome, coming out of paganism, coming out of the doctrines that the Gentiles taught, that the more you sin, the more grace you receive from God. So if you desire to have this

Beautiful gift of grace. If you desire to have this beautiful thing that God offers you in the form of salvation made available through Jesus Christ, then you should sin more so you receive more grace. Now in Romans chapter 6 and verse 1, Paul says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.

May it never be so is the idea of that phrase. The King James translates it God forbid, though the word Theos or God is not actually in the text. But may it never be so.

But let us consider, as we understand that to be true, that we should not, as Christians, continue in sin, that we should not continue in the ways of the world, that we should not be those who live a life that is ungodly and unrighteous. That we should also understand.

That when an individual is first being converted, when they are coming out of the world, we do not anticipate, we do not wait, we do not teach them to correct their lives and fix their lives before they become a Christian.

Rather, as we will sing in a few moments, if you were to turn and look at the invitation song that was announced, the song begins with the words, just as I am.

As we open scripture, we realize that God calls sinners to repentance. God calls sinners to salvation not to correct their lives before salvation, but to correct their lives through salvation. That he calls them in the state that they are in to be obedient to God.

To change their lives, to conform their lives, to correct their lives, but not apart from God, so they’re worthy of salvation, rather through salvation. I want to spend a moment in an Old Testament passage as we get into our lesson this morning. Take your Bible, if you will, and go to the book of Joshua. In Joshua chapter 2, we have.

This principle established for us in the Old Testament. We’re going to see a New Testament example as well. But a the principle is established for us here in the Old Testament in the book of Joshua. That God calls sinners where they are to be obedient to Him. In Joshua chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, we read: Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia.

from the Acacia grove, to spy secretly saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men have come here tonight from the country of Israel to seek to search out the country. So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house

For they have come to search out all the country. Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly, you may overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stacks of flax.

Which she had laid in the order on the roof. Then the men pursued by the road of the Jordan to the fords, and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint hearted because of you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the king of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more courage in any one because of you, for the Lord your God he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore I beg you.

Swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house and give me a true token. And spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. Now notice something about Rahab. The text does not whitewash her life.

The text does not paint a picture inaccurately of who she was. She was a harlot. The text makes it clear she was a harlot. She was a harlot, and she was, by demonstrating in the text, one who lied. She was one who was a sinner. But she was a sinner who recognized there is a God.

She was a sinner who recognized there was judgment coming upon her city. She was a sinner who recognized the need for salvation, the need for salvation for herself, for her family, for her loved ones, for all that she knew. Because she knew of the judgment that was coming.

She was a sinner. And she behaved as we would expect a sinner to behave. But she makes it clear as she speaks to the two spies that she knows who Jehovah is. That she desires to follow Jehovah. That she desires to be saved from the judgment that was coming on Jericho. Notice as the text continues, verse 14.

So the men answered her, Our lives for yours. If none of you tell this business of ours, and it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, and she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days until the pursuers have returned, afterward you may go your way.

So the men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath of yours, which you have made us swear, unless we come into the land, ⁓ unless when we come into the land you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. And unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household into your own house. They tell her, There are conditions on your salvation.

You have caused us to agree to this, but understand you have not earned it. We do not owe you this. You must meet the conditions. The condition is you must be in this house. All those who you desire to be saved must be in this house. The cord that you let us down from this window must be in this window and no other.

And anyone who’s outside of this house will die. As the text continues, we read, verse nineteen, so it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless, and whoever is with you in the house his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you have made us swear.

Then she said, According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and went into the mountain and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them along all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over, and they came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua

Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us.

Here is a woman who is a harlot. Here is a woman who is a liar. Here is a woman who is a pagan. Here is a woman whose family probably matches much the exact same description.

And the two spies don’t tell her, you know what? If you had just been born an Israelite, we could help you. If you had just been able to correct your lives and left the city of Jericho and found us in the wilderness, we would have accepted you. If you had just been able to depart from all the wickedness that you had been involved in in all the past and just corrected your life beforehand, we could have offered you salvation.

But you’re a sinner. We can’t help you. They didn’t say that. They didn’t speak that way. Turn to Joshua chapter 6. In Joshua chapter 6, beginning in verse 12. Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up the ark of the Lord. Then the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew the trumpets.

And the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days. But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it happened, when the priest blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people,

Shout for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city had been doomed by the Lord to destruction. It and all who are in it, only Rahab the harlot, shall live. She and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you by all means abstain from the accursed thing, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.

But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord, they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted with the priest when the p priest blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, ol young and old.

Ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword, but Joshua had said to the two men who spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house. From there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives, and they left them outside the camp of Israel. Now consider something.

We’re told in the text that when the trumpets blew on that seventh day, and when the shout came up from the men of Israel as God had commanded them to shout, that the walls fell down flat.

Pause a moment and remember, where was Rahab’s house?

For Rahab’s house was built into the wall of Jericho.

If you were to imagine in your mind for a moment and place yourself there with those men, those soldiers of Israel, surrounding the city, preparing to shout, and you have before you a wall, and archaeologists and those historians tell us that the wall of Jericho was large enough, was thick enough to have run three chariots side by side across the top of it. And as they stood there,

facing a wall that they had no armaments to bring down, that they had no weapons of war that could pierce, and they shout the wall falls down flat everywhere in the city except one house.

And Rahab and her house and all that she had and her relatives were saved. And you say, Aaron, that’s great, but that’s a physical salvation. it is. But turn over to the book of Matthew.

For in Matthew chapter one.

We learned something about Rehab.

Joshua in the book of Joshua will tell us that Rahab and her family joined themselves to Israel.

They left the life of paganism. They left the association of the Canaanites. They left their history and their home and their lineage and their family and their associations from Jericho and from their former lives.

They’ve joined themselves to Israel. And we read in Matthew chapter one as Matthew recounts the lineage of Christ. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers, Judah begot Perez and Zirah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

Ram begot Aminadab, Aminadab begot Nashan, Nashon begat Salmon, Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begat Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.

Rahab once a harlot, once a Canaanite, once condemned with all her people in all her land.

Learn who the Lord was.

and departed from the iniquity of her people and joined herself to the Lord.

And she was not told, wait, wait, once you fixed your life, then we can offer you salvation. No, she was saved in the sinful state that she started in.

But now consider another example. Turn to John chapter four.

John chapter four.

We read of Jesus. And in verse four we read, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to the city of Samaria, which is called Sikar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealing with Samaritans, Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God. And who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water?

Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst again. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Jesus offers her salvation.

Jesus offers her the fountain of the water of life that never causes anyone to thirst again. Jesus offers her eternal life, but who is this woman that he is offering this to? Notice the text says, the woman said to him, Sir, give me this water that ⁓ I may not thirst, nor come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said, You have well said, I have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. In that you spoke truly. Consider the wife of this woman. She’s a Samaritan following a doctrine that is not from God. She is a Samaritan who has.

Allowed herself together with her society to reinterpret God’s commandments into their own personal preference. She is a Samaritan who lives an ungodly life as it involved in an adulterous relationship. And yet Jesus offers her the water of life.

He offers her the fountain of the water of life springing up into eternal life, and he doesn’t begin by saying, Now woman, what you need to do is you need to go back to your home. You need to get out of that relationship that you’re in. You need to

Show fruits, meat for repentance. You need to demonstrate over a period of years that you’re no longer the sinful, wicked person that you are right now. You need to show that you have changed. And when you have changed, I will offer you salvation.

That’s not what Jesus said.

Jesus said, Go call your husband and come here. She said, I have no husband. He says, You have said well said, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband, in that you spoke truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither in the on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.

You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him. God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Did you catch that Jesus said to this woman who was an adulteress, to this woman who was worshiping in an ungodly way, to this woman who sought to defend her actions against what Jesus was saying and to demonstrate that she didn’t need to be a Jew in order to love God?

Jesus made it clear that God was seeking her.

Pharisees would ask Jesus as Jesus sat at a meal with publicans and sinners.

Why? Why do you sit with publicans and sinners? Why do you commune with publicans and sinners?

Jesus would make it clear that those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.

And that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

One more example if you turn to the book of Acts

In Acts chapter seven.

As Stephen has preached.

To the Sanhedrin, to the council, to the seventy who would ultimately drag him into the street to kill him. We read in Acts chapter 7 and in verse 54 when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, Look, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

We are introduced to Saul of Tarsus. We aren’t introduced to a young man who had all of the things figured out. We are not introduced to a man who is behaving in a righteous way. ⁓ I imagine if you had stood up Saul of Tarsus’s life against the commands of the law, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt die.

⁓ not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal. In many of those ways he would have been a shining example.

except for that first one. Thou shalt do no murder.

As we are introduced to Saul of Tarsus, we find in chapter 8 and verse 1, now Saul was consenting to his death.

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the apostles, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him, as for Saul he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

As you look at the text, as we are introduced to Saul of Tarsus, we find a man who thought he was righteous, who thought he was obedient to God. P Paul will later write of himself or state of himself in his own defense that he had not violated his conscience before God to that day.

And yet he was murdering the people of God. In Acts chapter nine, we read as the text opens in chapter nine, verse one, then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus.

So that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. By the way, did you notice the very clear statement of Scripture? Saul still breathing out threats and murder.

he was in violation of the law. he was guilty. Guilty of the very Ten Commandments he thought he was upholding. He was guilty of murder. But then notice what the text says as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And he said, Who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, Arise, go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no one.

Then Saul arose from the ground, when his eyes were opened, he saw no one, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus, and he was there three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord. So the Lord said, Arise and go to the street called straight, and inquire of the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.

And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, said, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentile kings.

And the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake. You turn over to Acts chapter twenty-two, as Paul is recounting the events as he stands on trial. In Acts chapter twenty-two, we read in verse fourteen Then he said, The God of your fathers has chosen you that you should know his will.

And see the just one and hear the voice of his mouth, for you will be as witness to all men of all of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Ananias asked. Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Now it happened when I was returned to Jerusalem that at and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly.

For they will not receive your testimony concerning me. Paul, as he recounts how he ended up in Roman custody, he recounts that it started when he was seeking to kill the Christians. When he was seeking to persecute this way he now preached.

As he was seeking to murder those who were obedient to God.

And God confronted him just as he was.

And commanded him to repent.

To be immersed in water for the remission of his sins, to rise to walk in newness of life. Now go back to Romans chapter 6 with me. Because as Paul, the one who was once a murderer, the one who was once the persecutor of God’s church, the one who was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus and said,

You’re never gonna win this battle.

But you can join me.

And to whom Saul of Tarsus said, What will you have me to do? This same Paul writes to the church at Rome and says, verse 3, Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk.

In newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man

that our former person, that the person who we once were when we were a sinner, when we were in defiance against God, when we were unrighteous, when we once heard the gospel.

That our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

As we consider the invitation.

The text of the song that we’re about to sing says just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee. O Lamb of God, I come, just as I am, and waiting.

Not to rid my soul of one dark blot to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot. O Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse.

Relieve, because thy promise I believe. Jesus, O Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am, thy love unknown has broken every barrier down. Now to be thine, yes.

Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come. If you have need of the redemption of Christ by being obedient to his qualifications,

When you hear the word of God and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God as He commanded, repent of your sins as He commanded, confess the name of Christ as He commanded, and are immersed in water as He commanded, you deserve salvation no more than Rahab.

but you will have met the terms of the agreement.

Rahab was saved, not because she earned it, not because she deserved it, but because she met the terms of the agreement. And the salvation was a gift.

You can be saved the same way Saul of Tarsus was. When Ananias came to him and said, Saul, Saul, what are you waiting for? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. If you have need of the invitation, why not answer the invitation with, O Lamb of God, I come? Let us stand

Revelation 14 (Lesson 2) – Aaron Cozort – June 14, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Babylon, biblical symbolism, divine judgment, eschatology, judgment, keywords Revelation 14, Old Testament, prophecy, Revelation study, Sodom and Gomorrah by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

Take your Bibles if you will and open them to the book of Revelation.

We are in Revelation chapter 14.

And we’ll be getting into the remainder of this chapter.

I don’t know if we’re gonna get finished with it today, but we’re going to uh make some

good progress.

But let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for this day that you’ve

blessed us with, grateful for the opportunity that we have to come before you, to praise

your name, to glorify you, to be able to open the words of Scripture and to understand the

insights and the wisdom that you have placed there for us.

But more than insights and wisdom and just knowledge, to be able to learn to fear you, to

be able to learn to worship.

You in holiness, to draw closer to you in holiness and heart and mind, that we might walk

in right paths, that we might be able to withstand the difficulties that this world throws

at us and the fiery darts of Satan.

Lord, we pray that you will be with us as we strive to armor ourselves in righteousness

and holiness, in the attributes that you would have us to walk in each day.

Pray that you will forgive us.

Forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

As we have done before, we’ll continue to do and and have a brief review of where we’re at

in the book of Revelation.

Chapter 1 opens, and John hears a voice as he is in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.

That meaning he is worshiping on the Lord’s Day, and he hears a voice behind him, and he

turns and sees one who is described as a glorified representation of Christ.

Christ is there, but he’s not, he’s not, he doesn’t look like

He looked when he was walking the earth.

He looks as a or he appears in a glorified state.

In his right hand, he holds five seven stars, and before him are seven golden lampstands,

and the seven stars represent the seven churches, and the lampstands represent the

messengers of the seven churches.

And he tells John to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor.

And so John is going to write to these seven churches, and he is going to declare to them

what.

what Christ is declaring to him.

But the passage in chapter one opens and tells us that the things which John is about to

receive are shortly to come to pass.

And the things which he is being told about and the message that is being sent and

signified or shown in signs is at hand.

Every interpretation that we come away with, everything that we understand must be defined

in view of the way the text tells us to interpret the book.

And the text tells us to interpret the book as if the things which John was writing were

at hand.

That means something important to us.

It means that they weren’t currently going through it.

That as John is writing this, and this is going to be reinforced in chapter 13, chapter

14, as John is writing this, they’re not currently in the persecution.

Now, there’s points at which some of them are being persecuted, and some of them are

having localized persecution.

But the persecution that John’s writing to them about is hasn’t started yet.

They’ve gone through some persecution.

They’re not going through persecution right now, but it’s about to take off with a fury.

It’s at hand.

But then consider.

Chapter 4 opens and John is.

Going to see in the vision and open door.

He goes through the open door and he goes into the throne room of God.

He sees the glory of the one who sits on the throne, the power of the one who sits on the

throne, the surroundings of the one who sits on the throne.

He sees the four beasts represented or carried forward and represented from Ezekiel’s uh

prophecies.

You see the Sea of Glass.

We’re going to loop back to that in just a little while.

You see the 24 elders.

That are before the throne, and they’re taking their crowns, which are crowns of victory,

and every time the four beasts offer praise to God, the twenty-four elders throw their

crowns before the throne, and they offer praise to God.

Then chapter chapter five opens, and there is a scroll in the right hand of the one who

sits on the throne.

And John desires to read to know what’s on the scroll, because it’s written on the front

side, and on the back it’s completely filled with a revelation from God, but it’s got

seven seals on it.

Yeah.

And no one is found in heaven or on earth or under the earth.

No one alive or dead in heaven or on earth is found who can open the scroll.

No one’s worthy.

And John begins to weep, but he’s told not to weep.

For they found the one who’s worthy, and it’s the lion or the tribe of Judah.

It is the Lamb who was slain, who is alive forevermore.

And the beasts begin to worship the Lamb, and the twenty-four elders begin to worship the

Lamb, and they declare him to be worthy.

And chapter six opens and he begins opening the scroll.

So he takes the scroll from the one who’s sitting on the right hand of the throne or

sitting on the throne, and he begins to open the scroll.

And John finds out what’s in the scroll.

And you have in chapter six a forecast of what’s coming.

First picture is the first seal is open, a white go white horse goes forth and he’s

conquering.

And it’s a picture of Christ.

Every time you see a white horse singled out.

In the book of Revelation, it’s Christ.

Okay?

The one who’s riding on the white horse, the one who’s going to be victorious, the one

who’s winning, it’s Christ.

So it looks like the church is doing great.

If you were to think about the church as a as a body, as a colony of, let’s just use

example of colony of ants.

When when Acts chapter 2 happens, you got a few ants, you got a small anthill.

But then Acts chapter 3, that anthill’s growing.

Four, five, six, seven, that anthill’s growing.

Then persecution starts.

And have you ever seen what happens to an anthill when you kick it?

It just disappears, goes away forever, right?

No, it just gets bigger.

And that’s what happened: the Jews kicked the anthill.

And Saul of Tarsus kicked the anthill, and Christians went everywhere preaching the word.

And the church grew and grew and grew and grew.

The church went forth and was conquering.

And so Satan said, I gotta do something about this.

So it came in the form of persecution and persecution and persecution.

Trying to defeat the church.

And so you have in the fifth seal the souls under the altar crying out, How long, O Lord,

are you going to allow?

this to continue.

They’re killing us.

The sixth seal is open there in chapter six, and the Lord tells those Christians who are

dying for the testimony of Christ here’s a white robe, rest for a little while.

Trust me, I’ve got this.

And the forecast of what’s coming, the fall of a nation, is given.

It’s given in Old Testament language.

It’s given in the language of the fall of Edom, the language of the fall of Babylon, the

language of the fall of Jerusalem back in the Old Testament.

So then chapter 7 opens, and as the persecution that’s been forecast is about to begin,

one of the angels comes up and says, hold on, hold on, don’t start yet.

We’ve got to mark all the people of God.

We’ve got to make sure none of God’s people get touched in this.

And so the angel goes forth and marks all the people of God with God’s name, so that

they’re not touched by the judgment that’s about to come.

Then you find the seven trumpets.

The seven trumpets begin to sound.

All of this, by the way, we’re over here in chapter 14.

We are still in the seventh seal.

Remember, the scroll that was in the right hand of the one who’s sitting on the throne in

chapter six was filled inside and out.

Well, you didn’t cover all of the inside and out in chapter six.

You got the first six seal.

uh seals.

But everything that has happened since chapter six has been in the seventh seal.

So the seventh seal is open.

And you begin to find seven trumpets.

And so seven trumpets of partial judgment begin to sound and you have all this description

that looks like the Old Testament plagues on Egypt.

And it looks like Old Testament judgment coming on a nation.

And it continues

Throughout chapter 7, chapter 8.

Chapter 9 opens, and there’s an angel, a mighty angel, we’re told, a high representative

of God, and he’s got one foot on the land and one foot on the sea.

He is one who has authority and rule.

And he comes forth with a little book.

And God tells, or uh John is told, rather, to take the little book and to consume it.

So he takes a little book and it’s sweet as honey in his mouth and it’s bitter in his

belly.

And again a picture from Ezekiel about Ezekiel’s prophecy that indicated God’s people were

going to be brought through the fall of Jerusalem, but Jerusalem was going to fall.

They were gonna suffer through their salvation.

And that’s what John is told to tell the Christians.

They’re going to suffer through their salvation, but they’re going to be saved from their

persecutors.

So then we have a picture of the witnesses, chapter uh chapter twelve, I think, chapter

eleven.

Got my numbers all mixed up this morning.

Uh so the the witnesses, we see the witnesses.

There’s two witnesses first represented by two olive trees with two golden lampstands, and

the lamps never go out because the olive trees dump their oil into the lamps and the lamps

never go out.

And it’s a picture from Zechariah of God’s representatives, God’s priest and God’s

governor in the form of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and they’re God’s representatives.

And as long as God’s representatives are speaking God’s word.

God wins.

And it doesn’t matter what they look like before.

You go back into that Zechariah prophecy, and you find that as that prophecy is being

given, you have Jeshua, who’s the high priest, and he’s covered in the vision.

He’s covered in the sins and the iniquity of the people, and God cleans him up.

He makes him holy.

He makes him.

One who’s worthy to be in the role of the high priest.

And we’re told back in Zechariah, in the form of Jeshua and the high priest: listen, your

holiness doesn’t come from your perfection, it comes from God and his forgiveness.

And so we see the two witnesses.

begin to go forth and they begin to speak and they as long as they’re speaking the word of

God, they can’t be touched.

But once the prophecy is finished, once God’s word is done being spoken, the world comes

over them and kills them.

And they leave them dead in the street for three and a half days.

And they rejoice.

They throw a party because God’s people aren’t annoying them with God’s word anymore.

Have you ever known somebody that you would tell them what the Bible says, and every

single time you mention what the Bible says, they’d get angry and upset and frustrated and

just want to be done with the conversation?

That’s the world.

That’s the way the world treats the word of God.

Oh, Most of the time they just ignore that it exists, but whenever they’re confronted with

it, they hate its very existence.

They don’t want it to be spoken.

they want to give,

they want to act like they love it, they just don’t want to hear it.

So the world kills the witnesses of God.

Three and a half days they lie in the street, don’t even bother to bury them, and then God

resurrects them back to life, and the point is you might die in this life, but Matthew

chapter ten, what did Jesus say?

Do not fear the one who can kill this body.

Rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

So the witnesses are resurrected, break taken up into heaven, and judgment commences.

All these pictures are to remind the Christians what mu what John tells them in the very

beginning: persecution is at hand.

But Christ is reigning.

So then chapter 12 opens in another picture.

This time we have the dragon who we’re going to see throughout the book clearly identified

because in chapter 12 we’re told that the dragon is Satan, the devil.

But it’s Satan, the devil, in representative form of Rome.

Rome is his tool.

He’s got the heads and the crowns of a nation on his seven heads.

It’s not a literal dragon.

It’s not a physic, it’s not a physical dragon.

It’s a representative dragon.

And the dragon comes forth and he tries to consume the child of the woman.

The woman who has twelve stars on her head and what did we say the twelve stars were that

were in Jesus’ hand in chapter one?

Sorry, the seven stars in chapter one.

The stars that are in the right hand of Jesus in chapter one are the seven churches.

So the woman has twelve stars on her head.

Stars all through the book are representative of the churches.

We’re told that.

We don’t have to guess that.

We’re told that.

This woman is representative of God’s people.

And God’s people bring forth the Messiah.

And that Satan wants to kill the Messiah as soon as he shows up.

But he fails.

And he fails.

And eventually the Messiah is taken up into heaven and he goes after him in heaven and he

fails.

And he comes back down to earth to persecute his people and he fails.

Devil is a three time loser.

So when he can’t be victorious against the woman, and he can’t be victorious against her

children, and he can’t be victorious against the Messiah, then he’s going to just begin

persecuting.

And so up comes Messiah.

The sea beast out of the location where the angel once had his foot.

The sea beast comes up, and the land beast comes up, and they begin persecuting, and

they’re again representative of Old Testament pictures from Daniel.

They represent the four kingdoms that Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel chapter 2, that Daniel

saw in Daniel chapter 7.

They’re Old Testament pictures of

God’s uh enemies in the form of nations.

And the dragon starts giving them power.

Starts giving them authority.

Not perfect authority, not perfect power, because Satan doesn’t have perfect authority.

He doesn’t have perfect power.

He has his own authority and his own power, and he loses every single time.

But he gives that to Rome.

Rome begins persecuting.

So we cut to chapter fourteen.

Chapter 14, then I looked and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000,

having his father’s name written on their foreheads.

These are the ones who had been sealed with the name of God in chapter 7.

These are the ones who represent God’s people.

Now, they’re standing on Mount Zion.

They’re standing with the lamb.

And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, like the voice of a loud

thunder, and I heard the sounds of harpist playing their harps, and they sang, as it were,

a new song before the throne.

Now wait a minute.

Are they on the are they on Mount Zion or are they before the throne?

Which one is it?

In the vision, you can be in two places at once.

John sees them on Mount Zion.

Where is Mount Zion in the vision?

Before the throne.

It’s not in Jerusalem, it’s not an earthly city.

The place of God’s name, the kingdom of God, the reign of Christ is not on a physical.

location in an earthly city.

How do I know?

Because Jesus told us so.

Jesus said, My kingdom is what?

Not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight?

The Lamb is standing on his throne.

He’s standing on Mount Zion.

He’s standing on the place of power.

And where is it?

It’s before the throne.

They sang, as it were, a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and

the elders, and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty four thousand who

were redeemed from the earth.

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes, these were redeemed from among

men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

And in their mouth was found no deceit, and they are without fault before the throne of

God.

You’ve got the hundred and forty-four thousand representative of God’s faithful disciples.

They look like the Messiah.

They act like the Messiah.

They behave like the Messiah.

They are holy like the Messiah.

They represent God’s people.

And they’re singing a song of redemption.

They’re singing a song like Moses and Israel saying.

Matter of fact, we’re gonna be told in chapter 15, they’re singing the song of Moses and

the Lamb.

You get down to verse six.

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of the heaven, having the everlasting gospel

to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.

Крайст і станд.

Ready for battle.

And Christ’s people are standing, not slaughtered, not killed, not bloodied and bruised,

but singing.

REJOICING!

So an angel goes forth from heaven and starts preaching the gospel.

And he preaches to every tongue, tribe, people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and

give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him who made heaven

and earth, the sea, and springs of water.

Now if the book is to be taken in a physical, literal interpretation.

Then preceding the final day of judgment, preceding the final war with Satan.

We’re gonna all look up and see an angel preaching the gospel.

Does that conflict with any particular passage of scripture and plainly stated statement

by Jesus Christ about his return?

What passage does that conflict with?

Turn to Matthew chapter twenty four.

Matthew chapter twenty four.

Beginning in verse 32, now learn this parable from the fig tree.

When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer

is near.

So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors.

He has been telling those of his disciples about his statement.

That not one stone of the temple would be left upon another, that the city of Jerusalem

was going to fall.

By the way, he uses a whole bunch of that old testament language of the fall of a nation.

And he says it’s going to happen.

And he says, When you see the signs, you know it is near.

He says, Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these

things take place.

by the way, he says it’s at hand.

He says, This generation is not going to see death before this happens.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.

But he also in Matthew chapter twenty-four speaks concerning something else.

That is his final return.

And he says, But of that day an hour, no one knows.

Not even the angels of heaven, but my father only.

But as the days of Noah were, so will it so will the coming of the Son of Man be, for as

in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in

marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and

took.

give them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Jesus said of the day of my return and my second coming, there are no signs.

There won’t be any warnings.

There’s not going to be an angel flying through heaven preaching the gospel.

This is a visionary device to tell us that the nation of Rome will have been warned.

They will have had the gospel preached to them.

They will have been told of the coming judgment.

They will have been warned of what was going to happen because they were persecuting God’s

people.

And they’re going to do it anyway.

He says, and another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great

city, because she has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her

fornication.

Then a third angel followed them, saying, with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast

and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also

drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of

his indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in

the presence of the Lamb.

And you say, see, this is these individuals being sent straight to hell.

These people are being put into everlasting punishment.

This is the final judgment.

No, it’s not.

Терно Ізая Твоє ОН.

In Isaiah twenty one and Isaiah thirty four.

We learn something about the fall of Babylon and the fall of Edom.

Chapter twenty-one, we find Isaiah opening, the burden against the wilderness of the sea

as the whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it comes from the desert from a terrible

land.

A distressing vision is declared to me, the treacherous dealer deals treacherously, and

the plunder

Plunderer, plunders, go up, O Elam, besiege, O media, all its sighs I have made to cease.

Therefore my loins are filled with pain.

Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor.

I was distressed when I heard it.

I was dismayed when I saw it.

My heart wavered.

Fearfulness frightened me.

The night for which I longed, he turned into fear for me.

Prepare the table, set a watchman in the tower, eat and drink, arise you princes, anoint

the shield, for thus has the Lord said to me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he

sees.

What does a watchman do?

If we think about it in the physical battlement terms of the ancient world.

All right.

He stands on the wall.

And his job is if he sees the enemy coming in the distance.

He speaks.

If he sees destruction headed towards the city, he announces it so they can be ready.

And God tells Isaiah, goes out a watchman.

Notice what he’s going to say.

Let him declare what he sees.

And he saw a chariot and a pair of horsemen, a chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of

camels.

And he listened earnestly with great care.

Then he cried, A lion, my lord.

I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime.

I have sat at my post every night, and look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of

horsemen.

Then he answered and said, Wait a minute, what’s the message?

What is what does the watchman hear as he sits and watches?

Babylon is fallen.

Is fallen.

Wait a minute.

What year is it that Isaiah writes?

Not the exact year, but what century?

In the 800 BCs.

You want to know what Babylon was in the 800 BCs?

Nothing.

Nothing.

It was little village.

It was a little city.

It had no great power.

It was no world power.

The Assyrians were coming.

And the Assyrians were going to grow large.

And the Assyrians were going to come to power.

And the Assyrians were going to be in power for almost a hundred years before Babylon

achieves power.

And Isaiah.

Before Babylon ever rises up as any significant power at all.

declares Babylon’s fallen.

You see, because Isaiah’s prophecy is couched in this.

Isaiah is going to speak to a nation that has given itself over to idols.

And Isaiah’s challenge all the way through the book.

If you remember when we studied the book of Isaiah, was this God is going to challenge

Israel through Isaiah to say, get one of your gods to speak.

Find one of your idols to open its mouth and say anything.

But beyond just saying anything, find one of your idols that will tell you what’s going to

happen in the future.

Because here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to tell you the end from the beginning.

He who has an ear, let him hear.

Now Jesus is going to use that phrase over and over and over again in his teaching, and it

comes from Isaiah.

And Isaiah’s point with that phrase is God speaks.

And God tells you what’s gonna happen before it ever happens.

And when he does, you know who the real God is.

So let’s pause for a moment and think about what we just read in chapter 13.

We chapter twelve, here’s the dragon.

Chapter 13, here comes the sea beast, and he’s given the authority and the power of the

dragon, and he begins to persecute.

And then we see the land beast and he comes forth and he begins to to sorry, I think I’ve

got him in the wrong order, but the point is he comes forth and he begins to say,

Everybody’s got to worship the other beast.

Everybody’s got to bow down and worship his name.

Everybody’s got to receive his mark, or we’ll kill you.

And God’s challenge from Isaiah is, why don’t you get him to tell you what’s coming?

Why don’t you get him to tell you how it’s going to turn out?

Go ahead.

Get Caesar to tell you how it’s going to turn out.

Get Satan to tell you how it’s going to turn out.

Get your idols to tell you how it’s going to turn out.

Bow down and worship them and ask them, how is it going to turn out?

And by the way, I’ve done this before.

I did it in Isaiah’s day, and I’m going do it again.

I’m going to tell you Babylon has fallen.

It’s fallen.

I’m going to tell you before it ever happens.

I’m going to tell you the nation that you think is going to defeat you is going to be

defeated.

Chapter 21 of Isaiah, he says.

Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the carved images of her gods he has broken to the

ground.

Why does Rome get described as Babylon?

Because the Old Testament picture is crystal clear.

When Egypt fell, was there a prophecy long before Egypt fell about the fall of Egypt?

No.

There was a prophecy when Moses was told to go and tell it Pharaoh to let my people go.

But it didn’t happen a hundred years before Egypt fell.

With Babylon and the captivity of Babylon, God says, Not only am I going to protect my

people, not only am I going to deliver them through this, not only are those who live by

faith going to be justified by that faith and going to be brought through this.

But I’m going to tell you 150 years before Babylon ever starts persecuting my people that

I’m going to destroy them.

And then he names the king with which he’s going to do it.

There’s no better Old Testament picture of God destroying a nation that persecutes its

people than Babylon.

And so he’s not only going to use Babylon as a picture, he’s going to quote the Old

Testament prophet that declared the fall of Babylon.

And declared it in correlation with his statement that says, those gods that they tell you

to worship?

Those gods that they think are going to save them?

Those gods that they think

delivered Israel and Judah and nation after nation after nation into their hands.

Those gods are nothing.

I did that.

I gave it to them, and I’m gonna take it away.

So chapter thirty four of Isaiah

In Isaiah chapter 34, we find, beginning in verse 8, for it is the day of the Lord’s

vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Its streams shall be turned into pitch, its dust into brimstone, its land shall become

burning pitch.

Now, when you pause for a moment and wonder, who is this about?

Whose land is going to get turned into burning pitch?

Whose land is going to get turned into its dust into brimstone?

Whose land is going to become a lake of fire?

Go back to chapter fi chapter thirty four, verse five.

My sword shall be bathed in heaven, indeed it shall come down on who?

Edom.

When Isaiah prophesies about a lake of fire, the dust turning into pitch and the ground

lighting on fire, he’s using a Sodom and Gomorrah picture.

He’s saying, I’m going to destroy this nation so thoroughly that their land is going to

become like Sodom and Gomorrah.

It’s going to become a lake of fire.

It’s going to become a place of brimstone.

It’s going to receive utter desolation.

Notice what he says.

He says, For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause

of Zion.

Its stream shall be turned into pitch, its dust into brimstone, its land shall become a

burning pitch.

It shall not be quenched, night or day, its smoke shall ascend forever.

From generation to generation it shall lie waste, no one shall pass through it forever and

ever.

Question.

Can you go visit the once formerly land of Edom today?

Yes, you can.

Can you go stand on the mountain, Mount Seir, where Edom used to have its capital?

Yes, you can.

Are you going to be standing in a lake of fire when you do it?

No.

It’s prophetic imagery from Sodom.

And by the way, Isaiah doesn’t leave that to our guests.

He tells us so in the next verse.

Watch it.

A verse ago, Isaiah said, The land is going to be a burning lake of fire with smoke that

rises up from generation to generation forever.

Verse 11.

But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it.

Have you noticed that pelicans and porcupines don’t live in lakes of fire?

I didn’t know if you knew that or not.

There’s a few people in the Bib uh in the realm of Bible interpretation that apparently

don’t know that.

By the way, pelicans and porcupines also don’t exist in hell.

They didn’t do anything wrong.

They’re not getting sent there.

The picture from Isaiah’s prophecy is visionary language of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God says, I’m going to take Edom and I’m going to so utterly destroy them and wipe them

out and take them out of their land and remove them that the wild animals are going to get

their land.

You come over to Revelation.

In Revelation chapter 14, verse 8, and another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen,

is fallen that great city, because she was she made all nations drink of the wine of the

wrath of her fornication.

She has enticed and indoctrinated and surreptitiously caused all of them to drink of her

sin, and now they’re going to share in her wrath and her judgment.

And he says, another angel comes forth and says, If anyone worships the beast and his

image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink

of the wine of the wrath of God.

Which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation, he shall be tormented

with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the

Lamb.

How do we know this isn’t hell?

Because Jesus made a plainly stated declaration that hell is a place separated from the

presence of God, didn’t he?

Matthew chapter twenty five?

Matthew chapter ten, didn’t Jesus declare that hell would be a place of separation from

God?

Not in the very presence of the Lamb and his angels.

This place, whatever it is.

This picture, whatever it is, is a picture of something that happens in the very presence

of the Lamb and his angels.

And that’s diametrically opposed to the picture of hell that Jesus plainly teaches in the

book of Matthew.

So this isn’t hell.

This is a picture of fire and brimstone that isn’t.

A picture of hell.

It’s a picture of complete judgment by God from Sodom and Gomorrah.

Go read Genesis.

Go read what the text says occurred in Sodom and Gomorrah and the seven cities of the

plain.

And go understand what the text says.

This is a Sodom and Gomorrah picture.

This is an Isaiah picture.

This is God saying, I’m going to make this nation desolate.

That’s all we’ve got time for.

We’ll pick up here uh next week.