How To Spend God’s Time – Jacob Kennedy – March 15, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Biblical Principles, Christian living, evangelism, Faithfulness, keywords time management, Spiritual Growth, stewardship by Aaron Cozort

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I appreciate Walker leading that song.

I don’t know who holds tomorrow, but I know who holds my hand.

The emphasis there being on the fact that we don’t worry about time.

We don’t worry about looking at the future.

We worry about and we focus on serving our Lord.

But for a moment, or for a few moments, y’all know I don’t talk too short.

For a few moments, we want to notice this idea of time and how we.

You know, it’s said that we are living on borrowed time.

Often when we hear this phrase, we think about maybe a child who is awaiting punishment,

he’s living on borrowed time, before that punishment comes.

Or in a more somber way, we think of those who are nearing the end of their life, they’re

living on borrowed time.

But when you take a step back and you really think about it, all of us as human beings are

living on borrowed time.

because the time that we have is not our own.

God made time.

He made everything that we see around us and as such the time that we possess is not our

own but it’s God’s.

He’s given it to us to spend as we see a depiction of the master giving the servants

talents to spend.

And one day just as

Jesus told that parable, in that parable the master returning to call into account those

servants of how they use that money.

One day God is going to call us into account for how we’ve used our time.

when we think about this idea, when we think about how we are spending this time, we need

to understand and focus on the question, how are you, how am I spending God’s time?

First and foremost today, spend time working.

Look with me at Ecclesiastes chapter nine.

Ecclesiastes nine and verse 10.

Here the wise man Solomon writes, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.

For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou

goest.

I returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the

strong, nor yet bred to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to

men of skill.

But notice this, time and chance happeneth to them all.

For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the

birds that are caught in the snare, saw the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it

falleth suddenly upon them.

Solomon in writing this text of wisdom of wise advice to a future generation.

He emphasizes this idea of working diligently, of doing whatever you’re doing, whatever

work you have set your mind to do, do it with all your mind.

In other words, we shouldn’t be people of half measures.

We shouldn’t be lazy in our work ethic, but rather, no matter what we are doing, we need

to be doing it to the glory of God.

In Romans 12 and verse 11,

We know that Christians are not to be those who are slothful in business, but fervent in

spirit, serving the Lord.

how we act, we live, how we in this case work reflects on our God.

It does not just reflect on us, it does not just reflect on our family, it does not just

reflect on our friends who might doubt for us, it reflects on any and all who understand

that we’re Christians.

Think about how it would look for someone in his workplace to be lazy and to be known for

completely avoiding work altogether and then for someone to say, he’s a Christian.

What does that say to those who don’t know what it’s like to be a Christian?

To everyone else that’s not a Christian in that workplace, they say, oh, so Christians are

lazy people.

Oh, so that God they serve must be condoning and must approve of laziness.

Meanwhile, the scripture tells us the exact opposite.

We as Christians must be hard workers, but note that Solomon emphasizes this fact that

there is no work in the grave.

In other words, Solomon is saying, do what you can now, because there’s coming a day when

you can’t.

We’ll notice this more as we continue.

But for us as Christians, death is not the end.

Death is not.

a mournful thing, but rather a restful thing.

Look together with me at Hebrews chapter four.

That’s Hebrews chapter 4, starting in verse 9.

In emphasizing this idea of rest, the Hebrews writer notes in verse nine starting, there

remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did

from his.

Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of

unbelief.

The Hebrew writer here is not saying that we strive for rest on this earth.

He’s not saying that we work so that we can take a break on this earth.

No, he’s saying we work because we know the rest that’s coming.

We work for the Lord, we labor for the Lord, specifically in the context we work to ensure

that we are who we are supposed to be.

We grow in our faith because we know that there’s going to be a time when we can sit back

and relax.

When we enter those, as have been described, those pearly gates, when we are with the Lord

for all of eternity, we can have true rest.

And that’s the rest that we’re longing for.

That’s the rest we’re looking toward.

And that’s why we as Christians ought to be the hardest workers imaginable.

But know also that we are to be hard workers because our master was a hard worker.

John 9, 4, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night cometh

when no man can work.

Jesus emphasized this idea of I must work.

And Jesus is our master, absolutely.

He is our King, 100%.

Could he have said, it is you apostles’ work, pardon the grammar, it is the responsibility

of you as apostles, the responsibility of you as disciples to work.

Could he have said that and be right?

Absolutely.

But the work that Christ had to do was something that only he could do.

And so when he looks at this situation,

He says he takes personal responsibility.

I must.

How many times do we look at the work of the church and we say, that’s Aaron’s job.

Well, that’s Michael’s work.

Well, that’s Eric’s work.

Maybe it’s time for us to say that’s my work.

Maybe it’s time for us to take personal responsibility in the work of the church.

Now understand there are things that not all of us are good at doing.

There are some jobs that are better left to other people, but the work of the church, the

work that is edifying the saved, that is seeking the lost, that work is a responsibility

of us all.

We all have a part to play.

We all have a work that we must

do.

I know that Jesus mentions the work of Him that sent me.

The focus was not on selfishness.

The focus was not on what He wanted to do.

The focus is what on God sent Him to do.

The focus was on the Father’s will.

The focus was on the work that He had to do, that was laid before Him to do.

But what was his work?

Well, Luke 19 10 tells us that his work was to seek and to save that which was lost.

That’s why he came.

That’s why he came to earth was to seek and to save the lost.

Is that not also what he leaves for us to do?

Mark 16 15 and 16 tells us to teach to every creature to preach to all who will hear.

Jesus worked in ministering and giving his life as a sacrifice.

Matthew 20 verse 28 tells us that Christ did not come to be ministered unto, but to

minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

Our job as Christians is to minister to each other, to help each other.

Jesus emphasized in John 13 that he had given them an example that they should go and do

likewise.

that they too should go and serve the brethren, that they too should be servants in the

house of God.

As Christians, that responsibility is laid upon our shoulders to be ministers one to

another, to serve one another, to help.

And as Romans 12, verses 1 and 2 tell us to be a living sacrifice to God, saying it’s not

about me, it’s not about what I want, but it’s all about what God wants, what He has

commanded.

And Jesus’ work was also to establish

the church.

Matthew 16, 18.

We cannot establish the church as Christ did.

Only he could do that.

But what we do as Christians is build up his church.

We strive and live in such a way that we have to build a bigger building.

That’s our goal as Christians.

eh It’s not just to focus on the numbers.

The focus of a Christian, the focus of the Christians work in building up the kingdom is

so that souls are saved and God is glorified.

Brethren, we can’t fill up heaven.

There’s always room for more.

and that is the work we have to do, the work that is laid upon us to do.

But note also that Jesus said while at his day, he knew his time was limited.

He knew that he did not have forever on this earth.

He only had about three years of ministry, about 33 years in total of his life that he

lived on this earth.

It was a short time.

But oh, what he packed into those three years.

The work that he accomplished.

We as human beings only have about 290,000 days.

We need to make sure that we spend every one of them to the best of our ability, every one

of them glorifying our God and working for Him.

while we spend our time working for the Lord.

We don’t need to forget to remember.

That’s the second way in which we spend our time today and that’s to spend God’s time

remembering.

Look at me at 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1.

Second Peter 1 and verse 12, starting.

Peter writes, Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these

things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Yea, I think it mean as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in

remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus

Christ hath showed me.

Peter in writing the second epistle says I’m writing to remind you.

I’m writing to put you in remembrance.

To put you in a state of remembering those things which you know.

You’ve already heard them.

You’ve already been taught these things but you need a refresher.

You need to be stirred up again.

How often is it that we’ve heard something years ago and we don’t remember it?

We don’t even remember that we forgot it.

It’s just gone.

Well that happens with studying God’s Word too.

There are things that we learn along the way that we forget.

And so it is beneficial to go back and to learn those first principles.

To go back and to re-study those things which we’ve already studied.

Peter, an inspired apostle, took the time to sit down and write an epistle, higher

focusing on remembrance.

Remember what you have learned.

And yet there are some today who think we need to be looking for some new thing.

Well, it’s just not a good sermon if it’s not something new.

There’s nothing, if I’m not learning anything, then there’s no point in even going to

worship.

Sometimes the thing we need to learn is the thing we already know.

But we need to put it into practice.

We need to be, as Peter says, stirred up.

But note again this immediate nature, this time crunch if you will, that Peter says,

knowing I must shortly put off my tabernacle.

This body, this physical dwelling of mine, I am very close to the grave.

That’s what Peter is saying.

And he says, in my last moments, in the last epistle I’m going to write, I want you to

remember.

I want to remind you.

When we approach the end of our lives, often see that, or rather when we see those who

approach the end of their lives, we often see them truly show what’s important to

They might say some final words of great weight to their loved ones.

Peter shows is the importance of not only hearing the gospel once, not only hearing the

truth once, but of truly implanting it in you, of being reminded of it, of being stirred

up to follow it.

When Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 and verses 26 through 27 that he was freed

from the blood of of their souls, that he was he was washed and he was guiltless before

them because he had not shunned to declare unto them the whole counsel of God.

Do you think maybe they had heard some of those things before?

But yet Paul put them in remembrance of it, just as Peter did.

If we are to teach the whole counsel of God, it involves reteaching things that have

already been taught.

But know also Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews chapter 10.

starting at verse 23.

Hebrews 10 and verse 23.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that

promised.

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good work.

Let us.

Brethren, we are all in this together.

We are growing together.

We are in this business together.

Ephesians 4 and verse 16 talks about the emphasis of there’s differences of each

individual’s set of skills.

Everyone has a different role to play, but we are fitly joined together in the body.

In the body of Christ, we are fitly joined together.

We work as a unit.

We work in unity.

Growing in Christ.

Growing in our faith.

And note how he says in verse 23, holding fast the profession of our faith.

If we’ve forgotten our faith, if we have forgotten why we held to our faith in the first

place, how can we hold fast?

How can we hold fast to that which we have forgotten?

But note that he also says, one another, brethren, we each have a responsibility to one

another.

Galatians 6 and verse 1 tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens, rather 6 and

verse 2 tells us that we are to bear one another’s burdens and to so fulfill the law of

Christ.

It’s not a suggestion, it’s a law.

The law of Christ says I’m to look out for Brother Philip, just as he’s supposed to look

out for me.

I’m to look out for brother J just as he’s supposed to look out for me.

We’re supposed to look out for each other.

We are in this together.

And sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

Sometimes we forget and get lost in our own lives and forget that, hey, there’s a brother

who needs help.

Hey, there’s a sister who’s going through some.

I don’t say this pretending that I’m perfect at it.

We all have improvements to make, but when was the last time you reached out to somebody

who was struggling?

Now for some of you, I know that’s every day.

Don’t get me wrong.

But we need to make sure that we are truly showing the love of Christ to one another.

truly caring for one another.

understanding that we are in this together.

And as we are growing, as we are spending time remembering, we also spend God’s time,

number three, in evangelizing.

Acts 20 and verse 24.

24 rather in verse 25.

I’ll get it right eventually.

24 and verse 25.

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trembled and

answered, go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

Now in context of Acts 24, Paul is on trial.

He is standing to be judged.

and yet he took this opportunity to teach the gospel.

How many of us, we were in Paul’s shoes, would be focused on getting the best lawyer we

could?

Would be focused on, I wonder if this trial is going to go in my favor.

I wonder if I’m going to be pardoned or if I’m going to be found guilty.

But Paul said, hey, there’s an opportunity to preach.

Here’s an opportunity to share the gospel.

Some people have said jokingly, and there’s some truth to it, they’d hate to be Paul’s

guard, Roman guard, who was chained to him 24-7.

Because you know that man heard an earful of the gospel.

But shouldn’t that be for all of us?

Shouldn’t we as Christians be those who reason of righteousness, of temperance, of

judgment to come, using logic, not emotion, to show the gospel, using what we have, the

time that we have been given to spread the gospel of Christ?

We might not be standing on trial for our Christianity, but our Christianity is being

tested and it is being judged.

How do we stack up?

Well, it has been asked.

It’s always been a sobering reminder when it is.

If you were to be brought on trial for being a Christian, would you be found guilty or

innocent?

What a court of law finds you guilty of being a Christian or innocent.

Sometimes I fear that we don’t have enough evidence to convict ourselves.

We aren’t working as hard as we could.

We aren’t serving God as we should.

Again, the time that we have is not our own, but God.

We ought to use it to His glory.

Romans 13, 11 tells us that now is the day of salvation.

That the day of salvation is nearer than before.

We don’t know when our lives will end.

We don’t know when we will come to the end of this life.

But do you want to come to the end of your life saying, oh, I’ll get around to that being

saved?

Or for those of us in here who are Christians saying, well, I know that this friend of

mine needs the gospel, but I’ll get around to it.

Eventually when there’s a convenient season, I’ll teach them the gospel.

rather than a convenient season will never

We look for opportunities to reach the lost, yes.

but don’t wait to the point of their losing their soul because you didn’t tell them.

Tomorrow may be too late.

We work for Christ now.

We serve Him now because we don’t know if tomorrow is coming.

How do you spend God’s time?

It’s a sobering question, one that deserves much contemplation.

Will we spend God’s time in working for the Lord?

Will we spend God’s time?

and truly helping, truly remembering what Christ has done for us and teaching it to our

brothers and sisters.

And will we spend God’s time in reaching and saving the lost.

Brethren, we will be called into account for how we spent our time.

We are stewards of God’s time and as 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 2 tells us, stewards must

be found.

Stewards are required to be found faithful.

Will God find us faithful?

and how we’ve used our time.

If not, then what hinders you from making that right?

If you stand today not using your time the way God would have you to, choosing to waste

your time instead of spending it to God’s glory.

then let us help you.

If you are not a member of the church,

be happy to study with you.

Don’t put it off.

But as most in here are members, are true Christians, maybe it’s the case that you realize

that there’s areas that are lacking in your life.

Where you need encouragement, or maybe you need to repent.

If we can help you to ensure that your time is spent for God’s glory, then please don’t

hesitate.

Come now as we stand and as we sing.

Mark 14 (Lesson 3) – Aaron Cozort – March 18, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Biblical Context, disciples, God's sovereignty, human weakness, Isaiah 53, Jesus, keywords Bible study, Mark 14, prophecy, Zechariah 13 by Aaron Cozort

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Chapter 14.

We have been discussing the events of the Upper Room and uh we will continue with those

events and then the proceeding out into the Garden of Gethsemane this evening in our

study.

But let’s begin with a word of prayer as we get started.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for your blessings, for

your care that you provide to us.

for all that you do for us on a daily basis.

We pray that you will be with this country of ours with all of the turmoil and all of the

difficulties that arise in it, that we will still be granted the opportunity to have

peace, to be able to…

worship you in a way that is in accordance with your will without fear of molestation or

threat from governments, but at the same time that we might not hand over our peace and

our mindset to the circumstances of this world.

then we might always remember that no matter what comes in our lives, no matter what

circumstance we find ourselves in, in our nation or around the world, that our allegiance

is to you and that our faithfulness is to keeping your word and your will and being

obedient to it.

Lord, we pray that you be with the leaders that make decisions throughout the world.

May they look to your word for guidance and for wisdom.

May they make decisions.

which will produce in the lives of the people of their nations things that are in

accordance with your will and not in opposition to it.

Lord, we pray that you be with those who are struggling with illness, especially those who

deal with chronic diseases and issues.

We pray that you give them strength to overcome those things and to endure those things

and help us to be an encouragement and a strength to them.

Lord, we also pray that you be with those who are facing recovery from injuries or

difficulties and we pray that you might help them to heal and return.

back to their full and desired help.

Lord, we pray for missionaries around the world and those here at home.

We pray for those who have difficult works, those who are in fear for their life, those

who struggle because of circumstance or because of a lack of provisions.

We pray that you will help us to be a blessing to them.

But we pray especially that your hand will be upon them, that they might have the things

that they need.

Lord, we pray for those who are looking for the truth.

May they find

the truth and may we be a conduit for them to hear the gospel and be obedient to your

word.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus name, amen.

In Mark 14, Jesus has instituted the Lord’s Supper.

We spent some time on some of the language that is found in this text last week.

But as we did that, really what I wanted us to realize

as we’re going through this is in the text where most false concepts are taught, they are

also answered.

And that was one of the things that our director, Brother Wesley Simons, uh who’s recently

passed away, continued to reiterate to us.

I think I may have told some of you, some of you may have never heard this, but every

Thursday,

in chapel at Tri-Cities was called Hot Seat Thursday.

And what we did every single Thursday during chapel is Wesley would get up and he’d call

three of the guys up and we’d have to sit on the little seats up there and he’d get up and

he would take a false position.

from scripture, a real, legitimate false doctrine that people in the religious world

teach.

And we weren’t told in advance what it was gonna be.

We weren’t given any indication of what he was gonna say.

He got up, he said, and presented the false position, and we had to answer it on the fly

with no prep.

And then when inevitably, especially in our first year of school, we couldn’t answer it.

He’d walk everybody through, and invariably you go back two or three verses and you read

the whole context and suddenly right there in the context where it was taught from is the

answer to the false doctrine.

About 85 % in by way of at least anecdotal perception, about 85 to 90 % of all false

doctrines are answered in the text where the false doctrines taught from.

because most false doctrines come as a result of people ignoring the context, teaching

what the context does not allow the text to teach, ripping it out of context to make it

mean something it doesn’t say.

So when we get into texts like the institution of Lord’s Supper, when you pay attention

and you force yourself to stay

in the context, to understand the background of the context, then you are alleviated of

many of the false doctrines and the false ideas that are taught about the Bible simply

because you bothered to read the passage in its context.

Jesus will say to them, verse 25, assuredly I say to you, I will no longer drink of the

fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus is going to take them from the upper room where they have observed the Passover.

where he has instituted the Lord’s Supper.

And he’s going to take them out to the Mount of Olives and he is going to go to a place,

to a garden to pray.

Jesus is taking actions, knowing the outcome, knowing where it’s headed, while the

apostles are generally speaking oblivious to what is coming in spite of everything that he

has told them.

Now, in Mark’s account, as we’ve already mentioned, Mark pushes through the events

rapidly.

He gives the record of Jesus’s life with the urgency that Jesus operated with.

He speaks concerning things happening immediately.

He speaks concerning the things that occurred and then moves on.

ah John is going to give a much more complete record of the events of the Upper Room.

whole chapters dedicated to the events of the Upper Room in the Book of John, which the

others pass over and do not record.

And yet the reason is because of the purpose of the book.

The reason has to do with who John was writing to and what he was writing about.

And so we need to be careful to realize that we should not

uh We should not put on one book the purpose of another book.

When we come to the text of Ephesians or Colossians.

we cannot assume that the environment that Paul’s writing to the brethren at Philippa, or

sorry, at Ephesus or Colossi is the same environment that John’s writing to the church

about in 1 John.

Because the likelihood is that the writing of those books was separated by maybe more than

a decade or two.

Circumstances are different.

The difficulties when John’s writing 1 John are the Gnostics and their doctrines.

The difficulty when Paul’s writing to the Ephesian brethren and the Colossian brethren is

the Judaizing teachers.

They’re in a different circumstance.

You can’t go to one and apply its circumstance to the other, even if you read something

that sounds a lot like something said over here.

That’s one of the things that we have to be careful about.

It is very good, and I enjoy doing it, but it’s very good to do word studies, you know, to

go through the Bible and read, what does the Bible say about the word love?

What does the Bible say about the word hope?

What does the Bible say about the word compassion?

What does the Bible say?

And look at those in all the different contexts that they’re found everywhere in the

Bible.

That’s valuable.

But like a lot of things that are valuable, use with caution.

Because if you assume that every writer meant the same thing when they used the word love,

you’d be wrong.

We have to be careful that we actually understand who’s writing, to whom are they writing,

when are they writing, what are the circumstances behind the writing, what are these

people going through and what are they facing when they’re receiving that book.

Now, we don’t always know, but a lot of times we know.

In the Old Testament, we have the writer,

who quite often will say, in the year of this king.

This prophet was prophesying.

Okay, well that tells you a little bit.

That gives you some historical context if you read the rest of the books and you read

about what was happening in the days of that king.

Same thing true in the New Testament.

When Mark is writing, when Luke is writing, when Matthew is writing, they’re writing at

different points in time, but they’re not writing as the events are happening.

The record isn’t written down consecutive with the, it’s not like every night Peter went

back to the room and said, all right, we gotta get together and get the notes down for

what happened today.

The records concerning the life of Christ were written by the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit years after Jesus had already ascended back into heaven.

During the growth,

period of the church when finally there were people who were hearing the gospel who were

not Jews, who were not from that region, who were not ever individuals who had met Jesus

in person.

They needed to hear concerning His life because they weren’t there when it happened.

And so the Holy Spirit gave these things to the church through these writers for the

purposes of establishing that truth.

Now, how do I know that’s the case?

Because Luke explains it.

If you go back to the beginning of the book of Luke, Luke will spell out that many records

concerning the life of Christ had been made.

And that the reason he was writing his is because he had inspired knowledge

concerning all the details of a complete record.

And so he was writing to give a complete record, which is why the book of Luke and the

book of Acts are actually a pair written by Luke to the same person, to the same

recipient, and it’s a continual story of Jesus’ life all the way through the beginning of

the church.

because Luke had inspired knowledge to take the information from all of these records that

had been written and compile it into a unified account.

And Luke tells you that’s what he’s doing.

So in the same way, John will tell you, in the end of the book of John, these things are

written that you might believe.

And the believing you might have life in his name.

John will tell you that I’m writing the signs that Jesus did that are sufficient to know

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

And that with that knowledge, you might have sufficient evidence to believe in Him, be

obedient to Him, and have the salvation that He offered.

That’s why John was writing.

Because he was writing at a time period where…

people were arguing that Jesus never came in the flesh.

Where the Gnostics and others were claiming that Jesus was a spirit because if he had come

in the flesh, he would have been evil.

But he, so he came, but he was spirit only.

He appeared as though he was in the flesh, but he never actually was.

And John will write in 1 John that anyone who denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh

is not of God.

So as we’re reading and as we’re studying, word studies, great.

Subject topic studies, great.

But never without the context.

If you’re going to use a passage, especially if you’re teaching, you’re going to use a

passage, you better know what the context is.

You better know why it was stated, to whom it was stated, when it was stated, and the

purpose behind it.

Because otherwise somebody’s going to come up to you and say, brother, I don’t think that

means what you think that means.

And then they’re going to explain to you why.

And it’ll generally be uh a kind-hearted, retired preacher.

Because if it was your grandmother, she’d be a lot less gentle.

Right?

She was like, that was nonsense.

Now let me sit down.

You need to understand this.

Right?

All right.

So Mark chapter 14, Jesus will take them out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for

it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

but after I have been raised, will go before you to Galilee.” Jesus is going to tell the

disciples that they are going to do something and He knows they’re going to do it because

He knows Old Testament prophecy.

And Peter is going to argue with it.

But if you’re ever in a discussion where one person says they’re right and God’s wrong,

and you say, God’s right and they’re wrong, I know which one’s right.

And it’s evidenced right here because Jesus said God knew what was going to happen and He

told us in advance what was going to happen and it’s going to happen and Peter said it’s

not going to happen.

Jesus said, yes it is.

If you go back to Zechariah chapter 13…

Zechariah chapter 13.

We find a passage that speaks concerning the cutting off of idolatry in the future days of

Israel.

But then it comes to verse seven and there’s a prophecy given.

In verse seven we read, awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my

companion, says the Lord of hosts, strike the shepherd and the sheep.

will be scattered.

Then I will turn my hand against the little ones.

And as shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, that two thirds in it shall be

cut off and die, but one third shall be left in it.

I will bring the one third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined and

test them as gold is tested.

They will call on my name and I will answer them.

I will say, this is my people.

And each one will say,

This is my God.

Jesus reaches back to this prophecy.

And you notice here in verse seven that the one speaking, the one who is making clear the

message through the prophet is who?

look for the word, says the Lord of hosts.

The pronouncement is not being made by a king, by a ruler, by an earthly governor.

Now, when Jesus is sent to the cross to be crucified, who’s going to send Him?

by way of the physical events in history.

Pilate is.

The Roman governor’s going to do it.

The Jewish people are gonna cry out for it.

The Jewish leadership is going to turn him over to Pilate to be tried and to be crucified

because they say, uh don’t have any authority to kill him ourselves, so you’re gonna have

to do it.

All of these individual people had a hand to play in Jesus being crucified, but Zechariah

says, no, they’re not the ones in charge.

They’re not the ones making sure this happens.

Jesus was not defeated by the Jews.

Jesus was not put to the cross and crucified and killed by the Romans.

yes, I understand they were the ones who physically did it.

But as Jesus will point out when he is before Pilate, he could have called 10,000 legions

of angels.

He could have walked out of that scenario any moment he chose to.

when a young child

and their father get down on the floor while the child’s maybe three or four or five years

old and they wrestle.

and the father’s down there and the child’s beating them back.

Is the child really beaten to bat?

Or is the father letting it happen?

Can the father remove the by comparison helpless child at any moment he desires to?

Yes.

So who’s really winning?

The child thinks they’re winning.

The father says, no, I’m in charge.

I’m tell you who’s gonna win.

It’ll be you, but not because you have the strength.

It’ll be you because I let you.

When you come to verse seven, you have God pronouncing a Waco sword against my shepherd.

The sword is going to be deployed by the government.

It was the authority of the government.

You can even go to Romans chapter 13 and Paul will say that it is the role of a government

to have the sword of judgment.

And God is going to call for a governmental action against His own ship.

And then he says against the man who is my companion.

God is going to use Rome, and God is going to use the Jews, and God is going to use Judas,

Ascariot, and God is going to use the circumstances, and God is going to use the Passover,

and God is going to use all of those things to bring about His intended will.

Which is why when Jesus prays in the garden, not my will, but thine be done.

Jesus is alluding back to the fact that even from prophecy.

this was going to happen.

Isaiah 53 verse 4 because it says that there in that prophecy he was smitten by God.

Absolutely.

It puts those two together as just kind of another reference that it was he was smitten of

God.

was God’s will that this happened.

So Isaiah 53 verse 4.

in the midst of that text speaking concerning.

the shepherd who would be smitten.

Verse four, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him

stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

He was wounded for our transgression.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.

Go down to verse 10.

We read, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.

He, the Lord, has put Him, Christ, to grief.

When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His

days.

and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied by His knowledge.

My righteous servants shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.”

One of the most ludicrous doctrines.

that has ever existed is premillennialism.

Because it argues that God sent Christ to this earth to establish His Kingdom and He

failed because the Jewish nation rejected Him.

That doesn’t line up with prophecy.

That doesn’t line up with Zechariah 13.

That doesn’t line up with Isaiah 53.

That doesn’t line up with what Jesus told the disciples for months before going to

Jerusalem, where He would tell them again and again and again exactly what was going to

happen.

God didn’t make a mistake.

God didn’t fail to anticipate Israel’s rejection of Him.

And premillennialism is false from beginning to end because it demands that Christ came to

the earth and failed.

I’m but my Lord doesn’t fail.

Now, you find here in this passage in Zechariah 13,

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my companion, says the Lord of

hosts, strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” Jesus will point out to the

disciples, as Mark records it, that this was evidence that that very night they were all

going to forsake him.

That they were all going to stumble

as a result of him.

He says back in verse 27 of Mark 14, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this

night, for it is written, and he quotes Zechariah, but after I have been raised, I will go

before you to Galilee.

What is the significance of Him telling them they’re going to stumble?

And then there would be things that would occur after He was raised.

Redemption.

The fact that while they would stumble, they weren’t going, there’s a difference between

stumbling and falling.

In the sense of someone who stumbles.

They may fall, but they’re not staying down.

They didn’t depart.

He doesn’t say, you’re going to depart from me.

He says, you’re going to be caused to stumble.

Now, who is not present amongst the apostles when this statement occurs?

Judas.

Judas has already preceded the other apostles in going out of the upper room.

When Jesus goes to the garden without, in this occasion, and he goes out to the Mount of

Olives,

Judas is no longer present.

This statement does not include Judas.

As matter of fact, when you go to the final prayer,

of Jesus in the upper room in John 17, Jesus will pray concerning the one who would fall,

and that it was prophesied that he would fall.

And yet, he’s praying in recognition that these others would be faithful.

So, Jesus is going to declare this is what’s going to happen.

He knew it was going to happen.

He was assured it was going to happen.

There was no doubt it was going to happen because God had prophesied it hundreds of years

beforehand.

And yet Peter said to him, verse 29, Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.

Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster

crows twice, you will deny me three times.

but he spoke more vehemently, if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

And they all said likewise.

You know, sometimes we kind of harp on Peter and we forget that Mark says, and everybody

else said the same thing too.

to the standard.

Yeah, so 1 Corinthians chapter 10 you said 10 verse 12.

First Corinthians 10.

when Paul is writing about the example of Old Testament Israel, he will say, verse 11, now

all these things happen to them as examples as they were written for our admonition upon

whom the ends of the ages have come.

Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

And then he reminds them.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.

But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.

But with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So question.

Since you brought up that passage.

Is it true or is it false?

Is it true that no temptation will be presented to us by God that we’re not able to

overcome and to bear?

And if so, how is it that God could prophesy that they were going to stumble?

And they all did as if they didn’t have any choice.

Alright, you see, there would be no stumbling involved if God was the only player, if God

was the only one involved in the decision, but they all had agency.

They were all going to make the choices.

They were all insistent that they weren’t gonna make that choice, and Jesus was insistent

they were.

The difference is, He knew what was going to happen, and they did.

God didn’t cause them to stumble.

God just told them in advance they were going to.

just like the mother did not tell the child that they were going to put their hand on the

stove.

She told the child not to put their hand on the stove.

knowing what would happen.

Eventually, the child doesn’t listen.

and the child puts a hand on the stove and guess what?

It hurts.

And invariably the mother says, I told you not to put your hand on the stove.

Now they may not do that immediately during all the pain and the crying, but eventually

they’re going to say, now are we going listen next time?

the disciples were not caused to stumble simply because God prophesied hundreds of years

in advance that they would.

Any more than Judas was caused to betray his Lord or the uh Pharisees and the scribes and

the elders were caused to take Jesus and bring him to Pilate or the Pilate was caused to

do all these things.

God didn’t cause it to happen.

They chose.

for it to happen.

But God determined in advance that it was going.

You say, Aaron, how can God determine in advance it’s going to happen and them still have

a choice?

There you go.

God repeatedly in the Old Testament, in Isaiah, all through the book, will point out to

Israel, I’m the one who tells you the end from the beginning.

I’m going to tell you how it’s gonna turn out before it ever starts.

So you would do well to obey me.

You would do well to listen to me.

Because I’m going to tell you how it’s going to end up.

Whether you do or whether you don’t.

Moses is going to stand before Israel and he’s going to stand there at Mount Ebal and

Mount Gerizim and he’s going to give them the blessings and the cursings and he’s going

tell you, if you obey God, these are the things that are going to happen.

If you keep the covenant, these are the things that are going to happen.

If you do not obey God and if you do not keep the covenant, these are the things that are

going to happen.

Moses didn’t cause the things to happen.

Israel chose for the things to happen when they determined not to obey God.

And yet God knew long before…

that very first sin ever occurred.

that Christ was going to have to come and he was going to have to die.

and he knew it to such a degree that he could give Adam and Eve on that same day a

prophecy about how it was going to turn out.

and every single intervening time.

for the next 4,000 years.

Event occurred, event occurred, event occurred, event occurred exactly the way God said it

would.

because he’s the one who knows the end from beginning.

Eddie.

Also makes that clear in his book and the first chapter because he says God does not tempt

mankind God cannot tempt us now there are trials that get put in our path to strengthen us

to Try our faith, but trials are not the same as a sin temptation God does not put sin in

front of us and cause us to stumble absolutely so

Jesus is going to tell His disciples.

you’re going to stumble.

I think there’s one last lesson that I want us to focus on from this, and it’s this.

Sometimes we imagine that we can be perfect.

Sometimes we play a little game with ourselves and you know what?

If I’m a Christian long enough, I’ll finally reach perfection and I’ll never fail.

And I’ll never stumble and I’ll never have any more weaknesses.

And I’ll be good enough to go to heaven.

John the Elder, who was advanced in age, who was writing to church, said, you’re wrong.

He says if any man says he does not sin, he is a liar and the truth is not in it.

At no point should we use our weakness to justify our choices.

Jesus wasn’t going to give them an easy out simply because they were going to do this in a

moment of weakness.

They were.

As a matter of fact, they’re at a point of physical exhaustion.

They’re at a point of having gone through a series of long extended hours, so much so they

can’t even stay awake.

And then someone of their own number is going to come with a group of people to take

their…

teacher, their Lord, their master away, and they’re going to be ready to defend him.

And Jesus is going to keep them from doing so.

all of these things are going to occur.

Jesus doesn’t give them a pass just because they’re weak.

Jesus is going to admonish them.

Jesus is going to tell them to stay diligent and sober that the flesh is weak and the

spirit needs to be strong.

but he also understands.

And that’s the challenge for us, is to remember that our weaknesses never get to be an

excuse for why we sin.

But at the same time, we have a High Priest who is touched with the feelings of our

infirmities being in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews chapter 4.

that he is able as one who suffered, who had to obey God and had to obey through

suffering, he is able to succor those who are tempted.

He is able to help them as if they are helpless.

We are challenged to understand that our weakness is never an excuse, that we always have

a choice.

and we are accountable for our actions.

and yet we are simultaneously given the opportunity to rejoice in grace and forgiveness.

What we must never do is accept our own sin.

normal.

What we must never do is say, you know what, this is just how I am.

Nonsense.

It’s how we’ve chosen to be and we can choose otherwise.

because there is no temptation overtaking you that you can’t resist.

So as Jesus looks at these disciples and he tells them, you’re going to stumble.

He also tells them, and I’ll meet you on the other side.

I’ll proceed you into Galilee and I’ll see you there.” They don’t understand that.

They don’t understand what’s going to happen.

They don’t understand what they’re about to go through.

They don’t understand their own weakness, but he does.

and he understands us as well.

understands our weakness.

He understands our difficulties, our frailties, our areas where we’re going to stumble.

and He already gave a sacrifice for us.

So we’re reminded back to Zechariah that God sent the sword against His own shepherd,

against His own companion.

and He did so for us.

Thank you for your attention.

Three Wise Monkey’s and What They Missed – Justin Evergarden – March 22, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, avoiding evil, Bible Study, biblical lessons, Christian living, heart change, Justin Evergarden, keywords spiritual growth, speaking truth by Aaron Cozort

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Today’s lesson, as oddly enough as it sounds, comes from three monkeys.

Now what do you mean by that?

When I was growing up…

My mother would tell me a story about a Christmas when she grew up, specifically a

Christmas when money was very tight.

That year there were only a few simple gifts under the tree, an apple, an orange, and

three little monkeys.

This was because my grandmother at the time had lived through the Depression.

She had never fully recovered financially from that.

But she was given these three little monkeys, and you may or may not be familiar with

them.

These were little plastic ones.

They just sat there.

One monkey covered his eyes.

other one covered his ears, and the last one covered his mouth.

So you might know the saying, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

As a child, I thought that this would have been a lesson about staying out of trouble.

Most kids do.

Especially if you get that on Christmas.

The parents are trying to tell you something.

It’s not as fun as getting socks.

Later though, most recently actually during my trip to Japan, I learned that these are

actually denoted from what are known as the three wise monkeys.

uh Mizaru, if I’m remembering how to pronounce it correctly, is see no evil.

Mikazaru, which is hear no evil, and Iwazaru, which is speak no evil.

While their message has values, value, it leaves out something very, very important,

however.

It leaves out the seeking

for God’s wisdom, doesn’t it?

We can be told to push things out of our lives, but what are we taking in?

So God calls us not only to avoid evil, but to pursue what is right all at the same time.

Tonight, let’s think about how the monkey’s lesson compares to what God really wants from

us.

He doesn’t want us to simply shut ourselves off away from the world.

He wants us to…

input what we should.

So let’s start with the first monkey, Mizaru, who teaches to see no evil.

There’s truth in that idea, isn’t there?

See no evil.

The Bible tells us to guard what we look at.

Turn your Bible with me over to Matthew chapter 6 verses 22 through 23.

Matthew chapter 6 verses 22 through 23.

But before that, let me get a little more uh context.

Psalm 101 verse 3 is almost a precursor to this voice.

And it says, will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.

No wicked thing.

Okay, what does God deem wicked?

But Jesus says here in Matthew 6, the light of the body is the eye.

If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Here Jesus is showing us that what we focus on shapes who we are.

How true is that?

Tell me, do our eyes guide our hearts to the men?

And I really wish Aaron was here on this one.

When we walk into the fellowship hall for the meal and we see the dessert table, do our

eyes guide us towards the dessert table, Absolutely.

Yeah, you’re also one of the dessert guys.

What we keep looking at on a day-to-day basis, it will shape our thoughts, it will shape

our desires, and it will shape our actions.

That’s why it’s important to pay attention.

Is it important to pay attention to what our Children see on a day to day basis?

Very much so.

But it’s also what we ourselves as adults take in.

Let’s consider David’s story in Second Samuel, Chapter 11.

Starting in verse one, it says, was the season when kings went to war, but David stayed

behind in Jerusalem.

Now, I don’t know about you, but most good kings that are featured in movies and things

like that typically are on horseback at the front of the line.

This is where David typically would have been, but on this occasion, when it was time to

go to war, David stayed behind.

He was already in the wrong place.

He should have been on the front lines right alongside his men.

And this is well before anything happened with Bathsheba.

But from his rooftop, as we read in verse two, he saw a woman bathing.

This was Bathsheba.

The verse says she was very beautiful.

We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The first glance may have been by chance.

But David doesn’t stop there, does he?

What does David do?

As we read throughout the chapter, he continues.

He asked about her.

He pursued her.

He sent for her, did he not?

And eventually, he took what wasn’t his.

What started as a look led him down the path to adultery.

And then eventually, the arranging of Uriah’s death, didn’t it?

What started as a look led all the way down the road to murder.

David’s downfall didn’t happen all at once, though.

That’s a very important point to think about.

It began when he let his eyes linger, didn’t he?

Specifically where they shouldn’t have been lingering.

Isn’t that how temptation often works?

Is by letting our eyes linger where they shouldn’t for longer than they should.

A wrong look becomes a steady gaze.

A gaze becomes desire.

And desire leads to action, eventually.

If that action is a wrong action, that action leads to sin, doesn’t it?

That’s kind of why I like to use the idea of a camera lens.

Now we have these smartphones that you can pull out.

And typically you can, you’ve got the front and the rear facing cameras.

And when you take out your smartphone, I’m not going to do it here because people in the

nosebleeds can’t see it.

But if I were to point it at that plant up there, you could catch because typically these

come with wide angle lenses, don’t they?

You can see everything in front.

But if you take your fingers and you pinch in like that, what are you doing?

Are you zooming in?

Eventually, you’re going to lose sight of everything around that plant.

You lose sight of everything that you’re not focusing on.

You get tunnel vision.

Whatever you focus on fills the entire picture.

And soon, you stop noticing everything around.

All the good things, all the bad things.

That’s what happened to David.

He lost sight of his duty as He lost sight of God there for a little while, didn’t he?

He knew better than to do what he did with Bathsheba.

All he could see in that moment, he zoomed in his lens and saw what he wanted.

So, the monkey, Mizaru, see no evil.

He’s partly right, but he’s not completely right.

What offers more knowledge, a monkey or the Bible?

The Bible, obviously.

Please don’t tell me you got that one wrong.

I’d be worried.

There is wisdom in the phrase, see no evil.

But the Bible offers more, doesn’t it?

Hebrews 12 and verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

What are we to be looking to?

It’s not good enough simply to push the evil out of our eyes.

We have to fill our eyes with something so it should be our Lord and Savior.

It’s not enough just to avoid what’s wrong.

We need to focus on what’s right.

The real lesson that we should garner from that is not just see no evil, but look unto

Jesus.

The second monkey, kikazaru.

Try reading this stuff, let alone pronouncing it.

teaches us to hear no evil.

That reminds us what we listen to matters.

It’s very similar to what we see.

Turn your Bibles over to 1 Corinthians.

We’ll go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

And verse 33.

As 1 Corinthians 15-33 says, not deceived.

Evil communications, what?

Corrupt good manners.

Evil communications can only give you bad manners.

Romans 10-17 is a great uh analogy to this as well.

Romans 10-17 says, then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Does what we listen to shape our hearts?

Our attitude.

Our actions.

Both faith, and this is important, both faith and deception come from what we allow into

our ears.

Are you listening to a sermon being preached on Sunday?

What aisle of politics are you listening to?

What are we hearing on the television?

Turn all the way back to Genesis chapter three.

We’re gonna take a look at Eve and what she heard.

Eve’s story in Genesis chapter three is a very, very good example of this.

Eve didn’t fall because of what she saw.

Yeah, I’m sure the fruit would have looked good.

It would have been pleasing.

But she fell because she listened.

I don’t have the mic.

I walked away and I forgot my body mic wasn’t on.

I’ll just stay here, fellas.

Got it?

Okay.

She fell because she listened.

Satan came to her with his words, right?

Now, he’s a serpent.

He’s wise as a serpent.

He didn’t directly challenge God.

He starts out by questioning God, as Genesis chapter 3.

It was subtle.

He asks, yea, hath God said?

He didn’t begin with open rebellion.

He probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere with that.

But with doubt.

When you plant seeds of doubt, when you plant seeds of anything, typically if they’re in

good soil, they’ll grow, right?

He knew that whatever he was planting in, that would grow.

Adam and Eve were good soil.

They were innocent soil.

He plants it with doubt.

And then he contradicts God.

Ye shall not surely die.

And after that he tempted her, right?

We keep reading and it says,

I lost my place.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof that your eyes shall be opened.

Is he making God seem strict?

Yeah, he’s making God seem strict.

In fact, he’s making God seem…

he’s trying to paint him as unfair, isn’t he?

He made disobedience sound like a good thing.

Well, if you disobey, your eyes will be opened.

You’ll know the difference between good and evil.

You’ll see as God sees, right?

That’s one of the key lessons that we can learn from Genesis chapter three is that Eve

kept listening.

But who did she listen to?

Did Eve listen to the wrong voice?

She did.

You see how important it is to listen to the right voice.

She let the serpent’s words take root in her mind.

That seed?

It spread forth.

It let roots develop.

It took roots specifically in her mind.

And the longer she listened to that serpent, the more sense he made, the more believable

that lie became.

Because that’s how deception still works today, right?

False teaching, bad advice, gossip, bitterness, slander, all the bad things in the world.

Most people don’t fall typically because of one shocking statement, do they?

No.

They fall because they listen to the wrong voice.

They fall because they listen until the lie starts to sound normal.

There’s a big difference there.

I kind of like to equate it to following a broken GPS.

You have the GPS, voice giving you directions is wrong, you might feel sure of yourself,

things are going right, right, but you’ll still end up lost.

I don’t care what voice you have programmed on it.

It could be Sean Connery, turn left.

It could be Optimus Prime, Transformers, roll out, take a right.

It sounds authoritative.

It’s a good voice to listen to, right?

But if the voice is wrong, it’s wrong, isn’t it?

We can joke about it all day, but it’s a very serious matter.

Eve listened to the wrong guide.

She had the wrong GPS and it led her to sin.

Shame, we see that in the garden, and eventually separation.

They were pushed out of the garden, weren’t they?

That was their punishment.

So, there is wisdom in hear no evil.

But the Bible goes further.

It is not enough to block out the wrong voices.

We need to listen to the right ones.

We need God’s Word in our eyes and in our ears.

I can assure you.

What you listen to most on a day-to-day basis is going to shape what you believe, whether

that is a political podcast about Bitcoin and rising technology, and especially about the

Bible.

We need to make sure that we are following the appropriate guide.

The Bible is a GPS that we can count on.

I’ve heard many a sermon titled GPS.

a gospel positioning system.

It’s good.

But now let’s look at the third monkey.

Iwazaru teaches you to speak no evil, right?

There’s truth in this as well.

James 3 and verse 5.

It says, even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things.

Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.

Ephesians 429 also reflects this by saying, let no corrupt communication, no corrupt

communication, proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good under the edifying.

Right?

James reminds us, the tongue is small.

Do you know what the strongest muscle in your body is?

The tongue.

We use it more than anything else.

Its impact is huge even though it’s so small.

Do think just a few words could break trust?

Karma home.

Can a few words divide a church?

What about twist the truth?

Yeah, it doesn’t take many words.

Let me give you an example.

Asked Rebecca where I could find these in the back.

Men, I’m not gonna light one, I promise.

Imagine holding a book of matches like I am here.

It’s a match, little thing, right?

It’s only a little match.

But if you strike it and you drop it and the flame were to let, be allowed to touch the

carpet, would anyone in here call it harmless?

Let me ask this, if I actually was brazen enough to strike this match and drop it on the

carpet, how long until the men in here rush up and stomp out the fire?

Not long.

I hope I have faith placed in the right place.

Kennedy, I’m sure you would be right up here to stomp it out.

Why?

It’s just a little match.

It’s just a little flame.

Can it have a big impact if left alone?

If not put out?

A fire can destroy a room

but careless, angry, deceitful words.

They can destroy a home.

They can destroy friendships very quickly.

They can destroy a church or even a life.

Yeah, match can burn a carpet, but an unguarded tongue can cause so much more damage.

love thine enemy.

That’s what the Bible tells us.

The Bible shows us how powerful words can be.

Turn over to Genesis chapter 1.

Let’s look at the beginning of all words.

In Genesis chapter 1, we read again and again and again and again and again.

If you take your finger and just go down the left side and you will see, and God said, and

God said, and God said, and God said, and God said, and God said.

God spoke.

Creation happened.

Light appeared.

The heavens took shape.

Life began.

The universe itself shows the power of God’s word.

Does it or does it not?

Yes.

Flip over one or two pages over to Genesis chapter three.

Do we see someone else using words?

Satan used words.

He didn’t force Eve.

He didn’t overpower Adam.

He didn’t get him into a headlock like teenage boys like to do and force him to eat

something gross.

He used speech, twisting truth with a lie.

Ye shall not, three-letter word, surely die.

Lies are dangerous.

Lies are dangerous.

More often than not, because they sound close to the truth.

Those are the most dangerous lies of all.

Satan’s words led to the fall of man, the introduction to sin.

In the first pages of the Bible, words built the world and worlds and words helped break

it.

All at the same time.

Words can be used for edifying and they can be used for tearing someone down.

Because of this,

we need to be very, very careful about how we use our words, not just between each other

in the church, but between our enemies as well, between us and everyone we come in contact

with outside of those back doors.

It’s not enough just to avoid cursing.

It’s not enough just to avoid being cruel to one another.

We should use our speech the way God wants us to.

We even sing the song.

Can’t help but think about it.

Angry words, let them never from the tongue, unbridled slip.

May the heart’s best impulse ever check them or they’ll soil your lip.

The hymn is right.

Our words matter.

Our words can build up.

Our words can tear down.

They can spread truth.

or they can lead to confusion.

Our words can point people to Christ.

or they can point people away from him.

What do our words say about us as Christians on a day-to-day basis?

So while speak no evil is a wise saying, God asks a whole lot more.

Matthew 1032, whosoever thou therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess

also before my Father which is in heaven.

We are called to do so much more than simply avoid wrong speech.

We are to use our words for truth, encouragement, and most importantly of all, our words

should always be confessing Christ.

That’s why it’s called the gospel, right?

The good news, the good word.

Going back to the central theme, when we look at all three monkeys together, the

difference between their lesson and the gospel starts to stand out, doesn’t it?

Over in Japan, a lot of them, they only stop with just the three monkeys.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

The monkeys teach it.

Don’t see it, don’t hear it, don’t speak it.

But they’re lacking so much more on the other side of the coin, aren’t they?

God and the Bible teaches us to be changed from the inside out.

It’s not just about guarding against evil, shutting the door and not allowing anything

else to come in.

Here’s what it amounts to.

Guard your eyes, but look unto Jesus.

Guard your ears, but fill them with truth.

Guard your mouth, but use it for good.

Think of David.

He fell because of what he saw.

And Eve, who fell because of what she listened to, what she heard.

In the end, humanity fell by believing a lie and acting on it.

The main point is this.

The real issue isn’t just what we do on the outside.

trying to keep things out of our lives, but what’s in our hearts?

That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 15 and verse 18, those things which proceed out of the

mouth come forth from the heart.

Real change only happens if your heart changes.

So how do we get a changed heart?

You’re not going to get it without the Bible.

You’re not going to get it without Christ in your life.

Someone can try to control what they see, what they hear, and say.

You can control it all and still be lost, can’t you?

Christianity is not just about managing behavior.

It’s about a changed heart.

You can cover your eyes, ears, and mouth, but only God’s Word can change your heart.

This is where the invitation comes in.

Real change starts with how we respond to Christ.

Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Hebrews 11, 6 says, we must believe.

Acts 17 and verse 30, everyone everywhere must repent.

Romans 10, 9 says, we must confess Christ.

Galatians 3, 27 says, we put on Christ in baptism.

As our brother said earlier today, ace unto the remission of sins.

That’s where the transformation begins.

That’s where the old life and the new life starts.

You’ve heard me say it many times.

That’s where the old man of sin dies and you’re raised in newness of life as a Christian.

So tonight, while the three monkeys offer a simple lesson, God’s Word teaches us something

far deeper than that.

It’s not just about avoiding evil, it’s about becoming new.

It’s not just about staying silent, it’s about speaking truth.

It’s not just about holding back, it’s about exhibiting the real change Christ has made

inside of you.

If you need to come to God for a new start or prayers to help you through what you’re

going through now, please come forward as we…

Moses: A Study of Israel’s Meekest Leader – Jacob Kennedy – March 22, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical lessons, Exodus, faith, God's presence, Humility, keywords Moses, leadership, trusting God by Aaron Cozort

image

As you can tell, I am not Aaron.

ah He is under the weather at the moment.

And so we’ll be praying that he gets over whatever is ailing him at this moment very

quickly.

So you can actually have a competent teacher teaching you again.

uh As per normal, we will begin with a word of prayer.

So if you would please bow with me.

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

We thank you for all that you have done.

We thank you for the blessing that we have today in coming to worship you.

Lord, we’re thankful for this time that we have this morning to study your word.

We pray that as we look through the life of Moses that we will try to glean all that we

can from his example, learn from his mistakes and try to follow after what he did right.

Lord, we pray that in all things we will be students of your word.

We will always be striving to grow in our faith in you and to be better servants of you

each day.

We pray this prayer in your son’s most holy name.

Amen.

We will be discussing the life of Moses today.

And as such, will be looking, of course, starting in the book of Exodus with his birth.

What we’ll do is we’ll go through a very, I say brief, as brief as we can, a look over his

life and then proceed in looking at some applications we can draw from his leadership,

from his personality, from the things that he did in his life and how he followed God.

But picking up in Exodus chapter one,

In Exodus chapter one, we know the circumstances surrounding Moses’s birth.

In Exodus one, starting in verse eight.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and

mightier than we.

Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply.

And it come to pass that when there falleth any war,

They join also into our enemies and fight against us and so get them up out of the land.

Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens and they

built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithim and Ramses.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew and they were grieved

because of the children of Israel.

Now what is happening here?

If you notice what how verse eight begins, there was a new king who did not know Joseph.

Why is this so important?

Why is it so important to the rest of the study in the book of Exodus, the study in the

life of Moses, why is it so important to note that this king did not remember or did not

heed the example of Moses or of Joseph rather.

doing it and things multiplied and flourished.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

You look in in the book of Genesis and you see the time in which Joseph lived that there

was a great famine coming in the land and that Joseph was responsible as far as Egyptian

history is concerned.

He was responsible for helping save Egypt from this famine.

Of course, all glory being going or all glory going to God in God allowing him to be able

to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh.

But the point being that while Joseph lived and for subsequent years, Israel was viewed as

a great ally of Egypt.

They were viewed as friends of Egypt.

In fact, the Pharaoh had even granted them uh plots of land to live and grow in.

But this king rises up and he looks around and he sees the Israelites and he says, they’re

a threat to my power.

If some other country would come in and would make an alliance with them, we won’t stand a

chance.

And so naturally, instead of making, you know, confirming his alliance and making sure his

friendship with Israel, he naturally thinks that the best idea is to enslave them.

That’ll work.

That’s a great idea.

He acts in worldly wisdom is what we see.

And as we keep reading, we note that he makes a command that is really, it’s quite

disgusting.

picking up in verse 13.

And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, and they made their

lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in

the field, all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor.

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives of which the name of the one was Sifra,

and the name of the other was Pua.

And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women,

and see them upon the stools.

If it be a son, then ye shall kill him.

But if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

Faro just ordered mass abortion.

He just ordered that the Hebrew midwives and assisting the wives and giving birth that

they would kill any male child that was born of the Hebrew.

all because of fear.

all because he was acting out of fear of losing his power.

We see a sobering thought there of not letting fear drive us to do something that is quite

despicable.

We need to be careful and guard ourselves from letting fear control us.

And of course we see the godly example of the midwives in that they feared God and they

refused to obey Pharaoh’s command.

But then skipping down to verse

number 22, and Pharaoh charged all his people saying, every son that is born ye shall cast

into the river, that being the Nile River, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Now all this sets the stage for what happens with Moses when he’s born, for the

circumstances surrounding what happens right after he’s born as well.

So now we look at

Chapter two note the act or the birth of Moses and there went a man of the house of Levi

and took to wife a daughter of Levi and the woman conceived embarrassed son and when she

saw him that he was a goodly child she hid him three months and when she could know she

could not longer hide him she took him took for him in Ark of bulrushes and daubed it with

slime and with pitch and put the child there in and she laid it in the flat and the flags

by the riverbank

and his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him.

We see here that Amram and Jacobed are Moses’ parents and they see their baby boy Moses

being born, they say, we’re not going to fulfill Pharaoh’s law.

We are not going to murder our son and direct violation also of God’s law.

And so they hide Moses for three months as the text says.

But when it became impossible for them to hide the child, they knew something had to be

done.

But what’s very interesting is that we see great faith being expressed with Jacobin and

with Amram too, as he no doubt was complicit in what happened.

She lays her son in an ark of bulrushes, basically a little basket, a little, if you will,

something to float on the Nile.

And she lays him in that and puts him on the riverbank.

Does she know what’s going to happen to Moses?

No, she would.

She would have no idea.

In fact, that’s why Moses’s sister, she’s curious.

She wants to know what’s going to happen to her brother.

And so she hides in the bushes to see what’s going to happen.

But with Jacob, you have this faith in her that says, you know what?

If he stays with me, he’s going to die.

But I believe that God can work something out.

But I am not going to kill my son.

And she trusted in God that he would.

take care of her son, whether that be in receiving him up into paradise or in allowing him

to live.

And as we see with God in his purpose for Moses that he doesn’t leave him in the bushes.

And as we keep reading, we note that Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the side of the river

and she notices this arc, she notices this basket, if you will, and

She saves the life of this Hebrew boy.

What’s interesting is the fact that she knew he was a Hebrew and she knew her father’s

command.

But when it came down to the time when she should have carried out her father’s command,

she says no.

I’m gonna save this boy, I’m gonna raise him as my own.

and you see uh very uh wise actions on the part of Miriam as she goes up to Pharaoh’s

daughter and she says, do you want me to fetch you a midwife or rather uh a nurse for the

child?

We find that later on in the chapter, specifically looking at verse number, sorry, I lost

the verse there.

Verse seven, then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, shall I go and call to thee a

nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee?

And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, go and the maid went and called the child’s mother.

And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her,

Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.” And the woman

took the child and nursed it.

And the child grew and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son.

And she called his name Moses and said, because I drew him out of the water.

It was so, you want to say humorous, but maybe that’s not the right word, but it’s

interesting at least.

to note that Jacob bed leaves that river thinking her son she’s never gonna see again.

She’s never gonna see her son again.

He might live, he might die.

She doesn’t know.

And then not too long later, her daughter’s coming up to her and saying, hey, so I just

got you a job taking care of your own son that you thought was going to die.

But Pharaoh’s daughter just saved him and wants you to nurse him and to take care of him.

It’s amazing to see God’s providence working throughout history and throughout this time.

But skipping ahead, have Moses, you he’s growing, he’s learning.

No doubt, Jacobet is telling him the things of Hebrew history and how God exists and how

there is one true God, not the many gods of Egypt.

But Acts 7-22 also tells us that Moses knew or was learned in all the learning of Egypt.

He was given the best education, if you will.

And there comes a point…

where he decides that he knows what’s best.

He thinks that he knows how he’s going to save his people.

No doubt Moses would have been hurt by the fact that he as he was watching Israel, his

fellow Hebrews suffering under the hands of Egypt, suffering under the hands of Egyptian

bondage.

And so he sees in verse 11, it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he

went out unto his brethren and looked on their burdens and he spied an Egyptian smiting in

Hebrew, one of his brethren.

And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the

Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

to a solely worldly view, Moses acted right.

It makes sense.

I here is this guy is wrongly attacking this Hebrew, wrongly smiting this Hebrew.

Well, surely it’s right for Moses to go and murder him.

But when you really look at the situation, even Moses knew he shouldn’t have done it.

Why did he hide the body?

Why did he look both ways to see there was no one around?

He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he thought it was for the right reasons.

He thought he was doing something that would be good, something that would endear him more

to his brethren the Hebrews and something that would honor God.

But as we know many times in the Bible, sometimes the worst things we can do, the worst

thing we can do is say, behold, I thought.

Because often what we think is not what God truly wants.

That’s why it’s so important to look at scripture and let our decisions be based on

scripture.

So in verse 13, and when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove

together and he said to them,

that did the wrong, wherefore smidest thou thy fellow?

And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?

And tendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian?

And Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known.

We have a saying that actually comes from the book of Exodus, I believe.

Be sure your sins will find you out.

Moses witnessed that firsthand.

He thought no one saw it.

He thought that he had gotten away.

but his sin was not hidden.

Even if none of the Hebrews knew, God knew what he did.

But it’s interesting to note that you see Moses in his early years, these first 40 years,

give or take, you have him as one who’s very impulsive.

He’s thinking, okay, this is what I should do, so I’m going to do it instead of let’s plan

what we’re doing.

Let’s think about what we’re doing.

Let’s ask God about what we’re doing.

He just says, well, I know best, so I’m going to go murder this Egyptian

and then he tries to put himself in a place of authority over the Hebrews.

All that Moses is doing right here is giving glory to himself.

He’s grasping for glory for himself, thinking he’s doing it to God’s glory.

But really, he’s just grasping glory for himself

and so God doesn’t use him in this.

But as we’ll see later when Moses humbles himself, God will use him to great glory, to

great effect.

And so we have Moses running from Egypt.

He flees in the land of Midian as we note in verse 15.

And overall, it works out fairly well for him as he’s able to meet Jethro and his daughter

Zipporah.

And he marries Zipporah, as we know in verse number 21.

And Moses was content to dwell with a man and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

And she bear him a son and he called his name Gershom.

And he said, for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Moses, he feels the consequences of his actions.

He feels the fear of the wrong that he did, but even in exile, God still blesses Moses.

And he still blesses him with a family, with people who care about him and for whom he

cares.

He blesses him with work to do as a shepherd of Jethro’s flocks.

And all the while,

As Moses is in this time of exile, God is preparing him for the time when he would use him

as a leader, when God would use him to lead his people out.

Verse 24

shows us the care that God has and the reason why God goes to Moses.

In other words, as Israel is crying out, as they are finding themselves in immense

hardship, as they’re facing the turmoil, the persecutions,

laid upon them by the Egyptians, they turn to God.

And as they turn to God, God says, okay, it’s time.

It’s time to deliver you.

And so that Moses that he had been preparing all this time that has been wandering in the

wilderness, or rather in exile and median, this Moses that had at one point been a little

bit too impulsive, this Moses that didn’t have all the facts together,

who didn’t know how to be a leader that honored God.

God has been training him.

He’s preparing him and now he’s saying, okay, the cake’s ready to come out of the oven, so

to speak.

It’s time.

But what’s very interesting is that when Moses is offered or is told rather, I should say,

to go into the land of Egypt and to deliver the people.

instead of jumping at the opportunity that he’d sought, not even a chapter later, he’s

like, I don’t know about that, God.

I’m not so sure about this.

Look at this uh in Exodus chapter three.

Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 through 9 give us this indication of or rather this

the scene, if you will, of this bush that is on fire but not being consumed.

It’s not being burned up.

And so, of course, this naturally catches Moses’s eye and he looks and he says, I’m going

to turn so I’m going to look into this.

I’m going to see what’s going on here.

And as he approaches, he hears the voice of the Lord telling him that the place he’s

standing is holy ground.

And so he needs to take off his shoes.

He needs to just show reverence for the fact that he is in the presence of God.

He’s the in presence of the Almighty.

And having this understanding, we come down to verse 10 of chapter three.

Come now, therefore, and I will send thee into Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my

people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.

And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go into Pharaoh and that I should bring

forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee that I

have sent thee.

When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this

mountain.

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say

unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What

is his name?

What shall I say unto them?

And God said unto Moses, I am that I am.

And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent you.

And God said, Moreover unto Moses thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God

of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me

unto you.

This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Moses at…

let me get my words together.

Moses tries to make two excuses here.

He looks at God and he says, who am I?

God, I’m nothing.

uh They’re not going to listen to me.

Well, but God, you know, if I go to the people of Israel, if I go to the Hebrews, they’re

going to ask me who you are and what am going to say?

Moses had gone from being impulsive to dare I say, whiny.

When he looks at God and he says,

you don’t know best.

God I know myself better than you.

God I know that I’m not the one you really want.

Sometimes the things that we think are being humble is actually slapping God in face.

Should it ever be the case that we boast of ourselves?

No.

Should it ever be the case that we have lift ourselves and we say, well, I’m the perfect

person for this.

I’m the perfect person and everyone should bow before me.

No, of course not.

Should Moses had looked at God and said, well, it’s about time you realized that I was the

one you needed.

No, of course not.

but when we are given a task by God.

and we can fulfill it, ought we not to do it?

Rather than to make the excuse of, I’m not best suited for this.

Well, there’s someone better out there.

Who am I?

Sometimes in our desire to be humble, we end up forsaking that which God has told us to

do.

Let that not be the case, brothers and sisters.

Moses would learn this very clearly, that you don’t get to tell God that you’re not

capable.

You don’t get the right to look at God and say, I know myself better than you.

Looking down to verse, or chapter four, continuing on with the excuses of Moses.

Verse 1, and Moses answered and said, behold, they will not believe me nor hearken unto my

voice, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

He tries to make the statement of, well, God, the testimony that you told me to give, the

things you told me to say, it’s not good enough.

God, it’s not good enough, God.

They’re not going to believe.

Interesting that the one who doesn’t know the thoughts of men is telling the one who does

know the thoughts of men what they will and won’t do.

Again, Moses really had no right to argue with God as he did.

But we notice God’s patience in this too, as he then looks at Moses and he says, well,

what’s in your hand?

And then he gives him signs to prove that he is from God.

It gives him the ability to work miracles, to show that what his testimony was was true.

to show that his message was from God.

Again, pointing back as we note from the book of Mark, the purpose of miracles, that being

confirming the word of God.

But as he goes through this, Moses tries to make another excuse.

Verse 10.

And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since

thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.

And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth?

Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?

Have not I the Lord?

Now therefore go, I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” And

notice Moses’ response.

And he said, Oh, my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of whom thou wilt send.

Moses tried to make every excuse that he could think of.

And when God shut down or gave a means of overcoming every excuse he provides, he simply

says, God, it’s not for me.

This whole leadership thing, it’s not for me, God

find somebody else.

It’s at this point that God, in essence, you could say, has had enough.

In verse 14, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.

And he said, Is not Aaron the Levi thy brother?

I know that thou that he can speak well and also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee.

And when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

And thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth.

And I will be with my mouth and with his mouth.

and will teach you what ye shall do.

And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be even he shall be to thee

instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

And thou shalt take his rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do sign.

God looks at Moses and he says, you know what, you’re not getting out of this.

And our modern vernacular, he says, you’re not getting out of this.

You’re not getting away from this.

This is the job you need to do.

This is the job you can do.

This is the job you’re going to do.

But even in this, one second brother, even in this though, he doesn’t leave Moses alone.

He doesn’t say, you’re just going to have to figure it out.

He says, I’m going to be with you and I’m going to send Aaron with you.

You won’t even have to speak to Pharaoh.

I will give you the message and you will give Aaron the message and he will speak it for

you.

God literally said all of your excuses don’t amount to a hill of beans.

They have no bearing because I am with you.

And that same truth can be said of us.

Our excuses that we can make for why we don’t

evangelize, why we don’t do better as being faithful to God and growing in our faith, all

those excuses, they fall on their face when we realize God’s got this.

He’s with us and we can do it.

Brother Philip?

You know, I’ve often thought about Moses here.

It really shows his human side.

We know he was well educated.

So I often thought, well, you know, he should be able to speak pretty well, would think.

But it just shows

His human side, he didn’t want to go.

He just didn’t want to do it.

So he sent Aaron along with him.

So absolutely.

And like you said, he was he was educated.

Acts 722 again, it tells us very clearly he had all this knowledge, all these all the

training that Egypt had to offer.

And yet he still is like, I don’t know enough.

I’m not good enough.

I’m not eloquent enough.

But you know, there’s another point to be brought out here too.

Even when we don’t think we’re eloquent enough to speak the gospel, to speak the truth, to

speak God’s word, the power is not in us.

It’s not in any one of us.

Justin, Walker, myself, OC, Aaron, we all can attest there are days our words don’t come

out right.

We don’t speak the way we’re intending to speak because things happen.

Your mouth gets dry.

Your tongue gets tied.

You forget part of your sermon.

That’s happened many times.

But the power is never in the speaker.

The power is always in the gospel he’s speaking.

And that’s what Moses was forgetting here.

It wasn’t about how good he was, but it’s about how great God is.

And that’s what Moses was not realizing.

And that’s what God shows to him is it’s not about how bad or how good you think you are,

Moses.

because I’m going to be with you.

I’m going to take care of you.

And so we see Moses going down into the land of Egypt and talking to Pharaoh, these

plagues befall the land of Egypt.

I know we’re skipping through a lot, but trying to get a little further in its history.

What happens with Moses, he grows into becoming the leader that God wanted him to be.

To the point where, and we will look at this, in Exodus 15,

rather Exodus 14.

In verse.

Lost the verse there.

In Exodus 14, we have the setting being set.

that Israel has just come out of the land of Egypt.

The tenth plague has happened and Pharaoh has told them, go, you have brought enough harm

onto my kingdom, get out.

But after he says that, verse five, and it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled

and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people.

And they said, why have we done this?

That we have let Israel go from serving us.

It’s interesting that that Pharaoh asked this question, having just gone through all 10 of

these plagues that completely crippled Egypt.

And he says, why did we let them go?

Maybe it was because God humbled you and showed that he has power far greater than

anything you think you might have.

But how quickly we forget.

And how quickly this Pharaoh forgot.

But as we go down to verse 10.

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold, the

Egyptians marched after them.

and they were sore afraid.

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and they said unto Moses, Because there

were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?

Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may

serve the Egyptians?

For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians.

then that we should die in the wilderness.

Well, now it’s the Israelites turn to complain into wine.

Again, how soon we forget how soon they forgot that they did not say, well, leave us

alone.

Let us serve Egypt because they wanted deliverance.

They wanted to go out of Egypt.

They didn’t want to be a subject to Egypt anymore.

They didn’t want those that the oppressors that were over them.

They wanted freedom, they wanted the ability to be delivered.

And yet when push comes to shove and when it seems as though the walls are closing in,

they immediately turn on Moses.

And they say, it’s all your fault, Moses.

I guess he must have prayed all those million so prayers to God for deliverance, right?

That was just Moses praying.

That was just Moses crying to God for deliverance.

again how quickly we forget.

But in facing this.

In a time when the old Moses probably would have done something impulsive, maybe spout off

back to the Israelites or maybe just run.

Instead, we see a very different side of Moses.

We see him as one who has grown in his faith and in his trust for God.

Look at verse 13.

And Moses said into the people, fear ye not.

Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today.

For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.

The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.

Why was Moses in the land of Midian?

What do we read?

What was his reasoning for fleeing to the land of Midian?

killed an Egyptian, but what was his reaction to being discovered?

Fear.

The same Moses that ran away the Midian out of fear is the same Moses that’s standing on

the banks of Red Sea saying, fear not.

What changed?

Faith, but not just faith.

Here Moses is acting according to the Word of God.

Here Moses has God’s backing because he’s obedient to God.

In the land of Egypt he wasn’t acting in God’s will.

God had not told him, go kill this Egyptian.

He had acted against God’s will.

He had acted assuming that he knew what God’s will was, but here he knows what God’s will

was.

Confidence does not come from a self-trust, brethren.

Confidence comes from a trust in the one who is almighty.

The reason why we can have confidence as we go in and spread the gospel, the reason why

Justin and Megan can have confidence that they’re going to be able to get over in Japan

and to preach the gospel over there is because it’s not about them.

They’re not trusting in themselves, they’re trusting in God who’s given them the task to

do.

When we trust in God, when our faith is in the Lord and not in ourselves, suddenly the

world seems a little less scary.

Those things that to the world are detrimental, are so fearful and cause such agonizing

stress.

they suddenly become a little easier to bear.

Now don’t get me wrong, people who are faithful to God still face hardships.

We notice this as we continue reading the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers, the

people would wander in the wilderness.

The people would encounter hardships throughout their time.

Even Moses, he had those times of struggle.

But through it all, the burden is able to be borne, is able to, it is not too heavy to

bear because God is there.

That was not an intentional rhyme.

But looking again at Moses and continuing on, he leads the people out of Egypt.

They cross the Red Sea and in chapter 15, we have what is called the Song of Moses.

As they cross over the banks of the Red Sea, as this massive gap opens, the flood or the

waters are pulled back and they’re able to walk across on dry ground.

And the Egyptians try to go through the same path, but

God closes the sea on top of them.

Israel stands on the side of the Red Sea and they begin to sing praise to God.

Let’s look at what they sang.

Then saying Moses and the children of Israel this song unto unto the Lord and spake

saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously and the horse and his

rider hath he thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will prepare him and habitation.

My father’s God and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a man of war.

The Lord is his name.

The Pharaoh’s chariots and his host have he cast into the sea.

His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

The depths have covered them.

They sank into the bottom as a stone.

Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power.

Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

and in the greatness of thine excellence thou hast overthrown them that rose up against

thee.

Thou sentest forth thy wrath which consumed them as stubble.

And with a blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together and the flood stood

upright as in heap and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be

satisfied upon them.

I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered thee, they sank as lead in the mighty

waters.

Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praise, doing wonders?

Thou stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

Thou in thy mercy has led forth the people which thou hast redeemed, thou hast guided them

in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

The people shall hear and be afraid.

Sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestine.

That was a little bit of reading there, I know, but the point that I wanted you guys to

understand, the point that we all need to understand with this, who is praise?

Who is given glory?

God.

God is giving glory throughout this entire song of praise.

Moses isn’t even mentioned.

Throughout this entire song of praise, the people aren’t even mentioned except saying,

this is what I will do because you are so great.

all glory goes to God.

And when Israel understood this, when they truly understood that it wasn’t about them, it

wasn’t about what they wanted, but about what God wanted, wasn’t about their power, their

might, but about God’s power and might, when they realized that God was better than any of

these false gods that were around them, Israel thrived.

but when they forgot God.

When Moses was on top of Mount Sinai and they say, well, Moses surely is dead.

and they look at Aaron and they say, make us an idol.

we can be influenced by the world around us,

And sometimes the influence is hard to overcome.

For Israel, they were in captivity for many years.

And so that Egyptian idolatry was around them all the time.

And it was hard for them to overcome.

But they had just witnessed God being greater than any false God that the Egyptians

conjured up.

They had just witnessed, even at the foot of Mount Sinai, the great power of God being

shown

to the point where they say, Moses, you go up on the mountain.

We’re cool right here.

We’re not going to approach the mountain.

And they go from that to looking around and saying,

this idol, this calf, this golden calf which Aaron has made, that’s our God.

That’s the one who delivered us out of Egypt.

Moses shows us that

When we want to be faithful to God, sometimes it means going against our family.

When we want to be faithful to God, sometimes it means doing the hard thing.

But ultimately what Moses shows us is that when we humble ourselves before God, when we

choose to be who He wants us to be.

It’ll all work out in the end.

Now, does that mean that we’re going to have an easy life?

No.

Well, let me show you what I mean by this.

Look at Deuteronomy as we close.

Look at Deuteronomy 34.

Bear with me just a moment.

Deuteronomy 34.

Verse 5

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of

the Lord.

And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Bethpior, but no man

knoweth his sepulcher unto this day.

And Moses was 120 years old when he died, and his eye was not dim, nor his natural force

abated.

And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Midian 30 days, so that the

days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

Notice what is said to Joshua.

and sorry, moving over to Joshua chapter one.

The Lord speaks to Joshua and he says,

It all works out when God says, are my servant.

It all works out in the end when God gives us his stamp of approval.

Thank you for your patience and for your attention.

A True Shepherd – Walker Cain – March 22, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, Christian faith, Church, Good Shepherd, John 10, keywords Jesus, Obedience, Psalm 23, Salvation, spiritual blessings by Aaron Cozort

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The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for

thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the

house of the Lord forever.

David knew that the Lord was his shepherd.

If we look at his life and all that he faced, he started as a shepherd with his sheep.

He would play his harp, he would have his sheep, and he would go out and protect them

whenever he needed to.

He knew what it meant to be a shepherd.

And he knew that with all that he did, even though that he was a king, even though he

faced giants, even though he had a king that was running after him, he knew that all he

was was a sheep.

And the Lord was the one protecting him.

The Lord was the one guarding him.

Today we have a shepherd.

And that shepherd is Christ.

turn from Psalm 23 and look at John chapter 10.

And that’s where we will spend our time today.

John chapter 10 shows the good shepherd.

And it shows, it identifies aspects of that good shepherd.

He is the one who is the door for the sheep.

He is the one who is the owner of the sheep.

And also he is the one who sacrifices for the sheep.

We looked at Psalm 23 and all those things that the Lord does.

And he was willing.

to give his life, give all of who he was so we could have those blessings.

Looking at John chapter three, starting in verse one, before that look at the context of

this.

John chapter nine, we read of a man who was blind.

This man, the apostles asked, Lord, why is this man blind?

Was he blind from birth?

And he was blind from birth.

And they asked, Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents?

And the Lord says,

That is not how this works.

But this has left the case so that you will be able to see the power of God.

And then the Pharisees are going to kick this man out of the synagogue, tell him you have

no part in us because he believes that this man was someone from God.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, they didn’t want to believe it because this man healed him on

the Sabbath day.

So you have these people who disbelieve.

They have been given evidence.

This man had his sight given back to him.

and they disbelieved.

And then you have this man who says, look, Jesus did this thing that no one else could do.

I believe that He is from God.

And with that context, look at verse 40 of chapter 9.

And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words and said unto Him, are we

blind also?

Jesus said unto them, if he were blind, ye should have no sin.

Now ye say, we see, therefore,

your sin remaineth.” Now we set the context of chapter 10.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but

climbeth up some other way, the same as the thief and robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his sheep by name,

and leadeth them out.

First, this shepherd is the door.

and he is the door, he is recognized at the door.

To him the porter openeth.

The history of this, they had these sheep folds.

They had basically, it’s like a pen, and it was made of stone often, and you would have

multiple sheep kept, multiple flocks kept in one fold, in one of these pens.

And you’d of course have multiple shepherds because of that.

The shepherds would come to the porter, the one who guarded the gate,

of this pen, and then the porter would recognize him and say, you can go in and get your

sheep.

The porter recognizes Christ.

Now, it doesn’t matter who this porter is, we can debate, okay, is this John the Baptist,

is this God the Father allowing Christ to go get his flock?

The point is, Christ is recognized at the door.

Now, why is this important?

There are those who are not recognized at the door.

There are those who should not have this open to them.

Looking at verse 5, a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know

not the voice of strangers.

There’s going to be strangers that try to come to this door, strangers that try to say,

that’s my flock.

And both the sheep and the porter are going to know that that is not the shepherd of this

sheep.

Christ comes to His fold in the proper way, not in the way of a thief.

He comes to the porter.

Now, these, looking at this context, we saw the Pharisees.

The one who is not the true owner of this sheep, the porter is not going to open to them.

These Pharisees who are trying to reject Christ, who told this man, we’re going to kick

you out because you decided that you are going to follow this man.

We’re Moses’ disciples.

They are the ones who have come to the Porter and they are acting like these are their

sheep and they are rejected.

Any doctrine, any Christian leader, or not any Christian leader, any religious leader who

says, I’m going to come to Jesus’ flock and do what I want and say that these are my

sheep, no religion like that is from God.

No man who comes and has a congregation named after him has a religion named of God.

No one who says, this is how you enter into the sheepfold.

How the Bible says it, that’s not right.

This way that I say to you, this is how you should do it.

That man is not the true shepherd.

Christ has the true way.

He came in the proper way.

He is the permitted shepherd of the sheep.

Now, He is known at the door, but also He is the door.

There’s another picture here in John 10, 7-10.

Then Jesus said,

unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

All that came before me are thieves and robbers.

But the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door.

By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.

He shall go in and out and find pasture.

The thief cometh not in but forth to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I am come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly.

Christ is recognized at the door in the previous idea, but now He is the door.

You would have the more urban areas where you had multiple sheep kept in this one fold, or

multiple flocks kept in this fold.

And then you had the more rural areas where you only had one flock kept in a fold at a

time, and there was no quarter at the door.

In that case, the shepherd would literally lay at the entrance of where the sheep were,

and He would be the door for them.

He would be the way in and out.

Christ is the way for us today.

And He has always been and will always be.

He is the way to the Father.

John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

If we want to see the God in whose image we were made, we have to go through Christ.

We have to go through the way that He has shown to us.

He is also the way into the church.

In Acts 2 when the church was finally established, when the disciples spoke with tongues,

they showed the people what they had to do to be saved and they said, repent and be

baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins.

And then after all of that, and it shows what they are doing, verse 47, praising God and

having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The Lord is the one.

that adds to His church.

If there is a group that says, we’re going to vote on if you are going to be a part of us

or not.

If there is a group that says, okay, do you meet these qualifications outside of God’s

Word?

That is not the Lord’s church.

The only thing that decides if you are in the church or not, if you are going to be added

to it, if the Lord will add you to it, is if we follow His words.

He is the way to the Father, He is the way into the Church, and finally He is the way into

everlasting life.

1 John 5 11.

This is the record that God has given us, given to us.

And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life.

And this life is in His Son.

Jesus is the one that gives us life and allows us to go into eternity, no longer having to

be lost, no longer having to face the consequences for the sins that we chose, but instead

being able to enjoy what is beyond.

Jesus is recognized at the door.

Jesus is the door.

And finally, as we’ve already seen, false teachers who don’t go through the door, they are

not the shepherd.

They will not be recognized.

They are not the way in.

We must walk by God’s authority and not the authority of anyone else.

Verse 8, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear

them.

The Lord’s sheep are not going to recognize the voice of these false shepherds

and they are not going to follow them.

Now, people can be led astray and they can be sincerely believed, but ultimately those who

are going to follow God’s way, they are going to seek the truth, they will find the truth

and they will believe it because they are objective, because they want to do what is right

in God’s sight.

As we saw in chapter 9, it’s not that this man was already a Christian, it’s not that this

man already knew Christ, what was it that was different about him from the Pharisees?

He had a mindset that was willing to believe.

This is not some predestination.

This is not Jesus saying, okay, you will be saved and you won’t be saved because, I just

feel like that today.

There is a difference in mindset.

There’s a difference in the choice of what they are going to do.

Previously we looked at John chapter 3 and the idea that the one who believes, that’s the

one who has decided to be objective, the one that is going to understand.

We looked at Nicodemus, the one who said, how can these things be when Jesus said,

except ye be born of water and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

And he was rebuked for not understanding because he had everything he needed to

understand.

But there was simply something he was deciding not to do, even if it wasn’t something that

was as direct, that he could see.

Jesus is the way, and those who desire to truly follow him, he’s going to make it

available.

Jesus is recognized at the door.

Jesus is the door and no one else is.

Now, moving forward, the shepherd is not only the door, he is the owner.

In John 10 verses 4 and 5, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,

and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice

of strangers.

Jesus is let in because he has the authority.

And now the sheep are going to listen to them because they know His voice, as we already

looked at in verse 9.

With Him being known by His sheep, the reason that shepherds were all able to keep their

sheep in one pen, in one fold, is because the sheep knew their masters by voice.

If another person came and just tried to make the exact same sound, exact same voice as

another, the sheep would still know the difference.

They know who their master is.

Christ’s people will know His voice, they will know His words when they hear it.

They know that voice and they are going to follow Him with confidence.

In life today we can follow our Lord with confidence.

Looking at His words, looking at how He has told us to live, whether that be in the

selfish attitude we are to have toward life, whether it be how we are to treat our

enemies, whether it be how to enter into the Lord’s Church, what are we to do as the

Lord’s Church?

Christ makes it all.

clear to us.

We know His voice, and we know those, we know not only His direct voice in the words that

are written and read, we know those to whom He delegated authority, and who spoke the

words that He wanted us to know, and who made sure that we had the Word of God written

here so that we could follow Him.

If there is anyone who says that, I am from God, and I give a word that is not in this

book, that is not one sent from Christ, that is not one giving God’s voice.

He is just claiming to be a part of showing God’s word, and that is not true, it is false.

This is all that we have.

Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for

doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

That the man of God may be perfect, complete unto every good work.

God’s word can make us complete that word.

perfect is complete.

It means that it is all that we need.

If we take it and we follow it, we trust in what it says and do it.

Jesus is the door for His sheep.

He is recognized, He is, and no one else is.

Jesus is also the owner.

It’s seen in not only how they know His voice, as we have seen.

Before moving forward, looking at Matthew 16, 24.

Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross

and follow me.” If anyone is going to follow Christ, if anyone is going to live God’s way,

he’s not going to follow anyone else.

He is going to follow Christ, willing to take up the willingness to sacrifice life daily

and live his way.

Now, moving forward, he is known by his sheep.

They know his voice.

But also, he cares for his sheep.

If you own something, if a vehicle is yours, you take care of it.

You make sure that the inside is at least relatively clean.

You wash it out, I had to not be a hypocrite right there, But you go and wash it.

You make sure that you take care of it.

Now we should do that with anything that we get to use because that’s how Christians

should be.

But there is a special attachment we have to those things which are ours.

Now move that from possessions.

from the things of this world to the ones you love.

If you’re married, don’t you love your wife?

If you have children, don’t you love your children?

Now, look at the idea of a farmer.

If he has livestock that belong to him, there’s a special connection there.

And Christ has something beyond that.

It’s beyond just livestock because he has invested all of his being into his sheep.

Now, those relationships that we have, we’ve invested in them.

If you’re married, then you went on dates.

You went and you took her out or you went out with him.

Bless your heart.

You built that relationship.

Christ has done so much to build a relationship with us.

He came and He sacrificed His life as we will look at more in a few moments.

He lived His life on earth.

He spent 33 years worth of days and nights on this world for us.

Looking at the idea of what a shepherd does for his sheep, turn to Genesis 31 verses 38

through 40.

Genesis 31, 38-40.

Jacob was a shepherd, the son of Abraham who had went out to the land where his father

Laban was.

And now we’re going to see what a shepherd had to do if he was going to do a good job as

one.

Jacob is airing his grievances toward Laban because Laban has been a rather pitiful

father-in-law.

Verse 38, this 20 years have I been with thee, thy use?

And thy she-goats have not cast their young, And the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.

That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee, I bear the loss of it, Of my

hand-stits that were quiet, Whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

Thus I was in the day the drought consumed me, In the frost by night, in the sleep

Departed from mine eyes.

Thus I had been twenty years in thy house.

To be a shepherd

to be one that is taking care of this kind of livestock, you are there day and night.

There is not a moment where you are able to say, I’m done working.

You might go sleep for a little bit, but you don’t get to just go off the clock.

You go back and work with the sheep.

Christ came to this world and as we mentioned, He spent 33 years worth of days and nights

living so that He would one day preach the message.

and also make the sacrifice that was necessary for us to have salvation.

Jesus is known by His sheep.

Jesus cares for His sheep coming down to this world and not only doing the things that

Jacob did, being willing to go out day and night whether it be sun or shine, but giving

His life for us.

Finally, Jesus loves all of His sheep.

Turn to verse 16 of John 10.

Verse 16 of John 10,

shows who all are in this flock that Jesus is going to call.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall

hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” Jesus is going to bring

others.

Now, who are these others?

During his time, Jesus spoke with the Jews.

Now, he did go north up to the land of Phoenicia at least once.

But throughout most of his time on earth he was speaking directly to the Jews.

The Jewish Pharisees, well there’s not Gentile Pharisees, the Pharisees were the context

of what is happening here.

And there is this man who was cast out of the synagogue, these were all Jews.

They were the ones who were apart out of these would Christ call his fold, but also out of

another.

What’s going to happen later is we’re going to have Peter the apostle to the Jews.

And we’re also going to have Paul the apostle to the Gentiles who are going to receive the

Word of God and be able to be saved, Acts chapter 10.

Christ cares for all of His flock even though His people, the Jews, the ones in which He

was raised, they did not care about all.

If we turn to John chapter 4, there’s more context with this.

John chapter 4 we have the woman of Samaria.

Now,

It was at first a marvelous thing for Christ to go to the land of Samaria because any time

someone went over there they would go around Samaria, any Jew would go around Samaria to

go up toward Jerusalem, if they were in the land, to go up toward Galilee if they were in

the land where Jerusalem was.

Verse 9, then said the woman of Samaria, how is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of

me?

which am a woman of Samaria.

For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

There’s prejudice here.

There is racism here.

There is a hate between the Jew and the Samaritan.

The Samaritans were a a mixed population.

When the Assyrians took away the Israelite nation, that northern nation that had gone away

into wickedness, the Assyrian king said, okay, I do not want anyone to be coming up

against me.

So I’m going to take everybody and take them out of the land that they’re proud of being

from, and I’m going to switch them all around so that they have nothing that is a part of

their background except what I’ve done, so that I am this powerful ruler that has control.

Doing that, he brought Gentiles to the region.

Some of the Jews were left.

The poorest of the land, the ones that were taking the Jews into captivity, they just left

them.

So you have a mixed population.

the Jews hated the mixed population more than they hated the Gentiles themselves.

Jesus shows that this was wrong because He is going to call all, He is going to call His

sheep from a different fold.

He is going to include the Samaritan, He is going to include the Gentile, He is going to

include the Jew.

Everyone who is going to be willing to believe, be willing to do what the man did in

chapter 9 where He looked at the evidence and He said, this man he is from God.

and then he obeyed him.

Anyone who does that, anyone willing to obey the evidence can be part of Christ’s fold,

called into what he is going to establish.

Jesus is known by his sheep.

Jesus cares for his sheep and he cares for all of his sheep.

Now with this, he cares for you no matter where we’ve come from and he cares for us no

matter what has been done in the past.

The Lord wants…

you to be saved.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in

him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That word whosoever does not leave anyone out.

No matter how much guilt you have in your past, you are part of whosoever.

I am part of whosoever.

No matter the indifference that we might have been guilty of as Christians, no matter the

rebellion that might have been there when we were young,

or when we were older Christ wants whosoever, He wants you.

Christ cares for all of His sheep.

Jesus is the door and Jesus is the owner.

And finally, Jesus is the sacrifice.

We mentioned the idea of if something is yours, especially a relationship, you are willing

to invest in it, it is important to you.

And because it is important to you, what are you going to do about it?

look at what Jesus did.

John 10 verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.

We looked at Genesis 38, Jesus was willing to live the life proverbially of a shepherd,

being willing to go out with His apostles and do what needed to be done to preach the

message.

He lived a life that was going to be harder than what Jacob ever did.

But Jesus finally is not just going to live for His sheep,

He’s going to give his life for his sheep.

That is what the good shepherd does.

Now, what does a bad shepherd do?

He that is in hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep, whose own the sheep are not,

leaveeth the sheep and fleeeth, and the wolf chasteth them and scattereth the sheep.

The one who does not have this attachment with the sheep, he is one who is not going to

give his life for the sheep.

He is not one that is going to be there

for these little defenseless ones.

Christ is, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, my sheep are known of mine as the

Father knoweth me even so I know the Father and lay down my life for the sheep.

A literal shepherd, he would have to know that throughout his life he might have to risk

his life as a shepherd.

David went and he fought lions and bears to take care of his sheep.

at any given day he could have died.

Jesus, not only did he know that any, he knew not that he would die any given day, but

that he was destined to go and face a death that was unlike anything David ever faced.

Unlike anything any man has faced that was innocent.

Anyone who has faced this kind of thing, he was not a perfect and sinless one, as Hebrew

shows.

He was one that ultimately did deserve death.

even if he might not have necessarily deserved that exact punishment, anyone who lives

that is not Christ, that is accountable, has sinned, and is therefore, there is not the

same sacrifice there, even if they face the exact same things Christ did.

He is the one who gave his life, a sinless and perfect life, so that we could be saved.

Now, he that is in hireling, the one who doesn’t have this connection, he is not going to

die for his sheep.

Jesus is going to

die for us, but He also does it not only out of care for us, but out of obedience to His

Father.

Verse 15, “‘As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and lay down my life for

the sheep.

Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall

hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it

again.'”

We looked at John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He made this sacrifice.

And also, we now have here the Father loves the Son because of the sacrifice that will be

made, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.

There is a relationship that we have with Christ, and there’s also the relationship that

Christ has with the Father.

And the Father loves the Son.

making this sacrifice because the Father wants that relationship with you as well.

He sent His Son and said, bring them home, redeem them.

Make sure that they ensure that they have an opportunity to be with us here in heaven one

day.

Have Hebrews 12, 2-4.

We have Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him

endured the cross, despising the shame.

The joy that was set before Him, He would receive the glory that He did not have before,

because He fates this world even though it was a shame.

But the reason He even came in the first place was for us to be saved.

The joy that Christ had set before Him was joy where He had the glory of the Father, and

He also had us with Him in eternity, forever.

The cross was worth us being with Him.

It was worth that to the Father.

It was worth that to the Son.

Jesus is the door.

Jesus is the owner.

He is the one who loves his sheep.

And finally, He is the sacrifice.

We have a Lord who in 1st Timothy is described as being beyond abundant with grace, having

grace that is beyond being abundant with grace and love.

You have a Lord.

You have one who wants to be your shepherd, who is beyond the grace and love that we could

ever imagine, beyond this faith and love that we could ever imagine.

He wants you.

Mankind’s greatest blessings are only offered in this true shepherd.

Ephesians 1-3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us

with all spiritual blessings.

Who?

In Christ.

These blessings are only from

the Messiah.

Now you can only say the Lord is your shepherd.

You can only receive these spiritual blessings if you are willing to follow Him and do as

He says.

What must we do?

John shows throughout all of it that there is this belief, this need to follow Christ and

do as he says, and also to understand the message that He has given us.

If we turn to John chapter 3, we would see the one that believeth, He is the one that will

be saved.

And the one that believes is going to do what is true.

Now, what is it that is true?

What is true is first, hearing the Word.

Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And after you hear the word of God, what are you willing to do?

You’re willing to do that truth.

John 8, 32, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, but it only

makes you free if you follow it.

And to follow it, you confess Christ as Lord.

You confess Christ as being your shepherd.

Romans 10, 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth

confession is made unto salvation.

And then we repent of sins.

Acts 2, 38, when they realized that they were the ones that killed Christ, when they were

the way that Christ gave his life for the sheep, they said, men and brethren, what shall

we do?

Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the

remission of sins.

There must be this repentance, meta nuo, a change, meta nuo of mind.

This is a change of the way we live, of the way we think about the things that we once

enjoyed.

And then finally, baptism, being immersed in water, not to show that I have been saved,

but for salvation.

It is ace unto a step toward the remission of sins.

For Christ to be your shepherd, he has shown you what you must do.

If you were not a part of his flock yet, and you want to be a part of his fold, he’s

called you to it.

will you accept it.

If you are already of His fold but have wonder to stray, if you are that one that is away

from the 19 and 9, the Lord wants you back with Him.

And He will forgive any sin that we are willing to confess, that we are willing to make

sure is not a part of our lives anymore.

If there is any need for you to take part in the forgiveness of Christ today, will you

please come forward as we stand and as we sing.

Revelation 9 – Aaron Cozort – March 29, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible prophecy, Christian endurance, divine judgment, end times, judgment, keywords Revelation, Old Testament imagery, seals, spiritual lessons, trumpets by Aaron Cozort

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begin with a word of prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you’ve

granted to us the life that we have as we strive diligently to follow your word, to open

the scriptures, to know what you would have us to do and how you would have us to live,

how you would have us to worship, how you would have us to serve you and serve one

another.

Lord, we pray that as we look through this book of the book of Revelation that we might

understand the things that are written in it, that we might be able to apply the things

that we read to our lives, that we might understand both how the Christians in the first

century endured suffering and persecution and hardship and how we also might be able to do

so in a way that’s in accordance with your will and right in your sight.

Lord, we pray that you be with those who are recovering from illness, from injury, from

surgeries and

from procedures, we pray that you be with them and help them to regain their full and

complete health.

Lord, we pray that you be with those who are struggling with ongoing or chronic uh issues.

We pray that you give them strength to endure in the difficult days and in the hard times

that they have on a continual basis.

Lord, we pray that you be with this congregation.

May its works be those which are right in accordance with your will.

and may we strive diligently to remain sound in the faith.

We also pray that you give us open doors of opportunity to reach the lost, to preach the

gospel, and to help those who are learning, uh yearning to learn the truth to be able to

do so.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

We’re in Revelation chapter 9, ah just by way of, especially since we have visitors, we’re

going to do a brief review.

ah Don’t expect you to write all of this down, but anyone who would like it, you’re

welcome to the PowerPoints or the things that we have by way of handout material um and to

review on your own.

As you get into the book of Revelation, John is going to see one who is standing.

in his presence.

And for some reason I’m not getting any text.

Okay, so I messed something up.

me just a minute.

Yeah, let me go fix one thing.

That’s what happens when you fix something right before you walk up and then you don’t

look at it.

Okay, there we go.

I just realized I put a black background behind everything only to…

realized that there were some slides with some black text on them and that’s kind of going

to be important.

Okay, so uh as Revelation chapter 1 opens, John finds himself on the Isle of Patmos and he

is there for his testimony of Christ.

He is by all indications of history and tradition in exile on that island.

As he is in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, that is he is worshiping on the Lord’s Day, uh

he sees and hears a voice or he

a voice, turns around and sees one who is Christ and describes him.

And as he sees Christ, Christ is holding seven stars in his right hand.

He’s surrounded by seven golden lampstands.

And this represents the seven churches of Asia Minor.

We know it represents the seven churches of Asia Minor because we keep beating this drum.

We know it because the book tells us it does.

When the book tells us what

something is and what that means, what should we know?

What it is and what it means.

When it doesn’t tell us what something is and what it means, then the first thing we

should do is keep it in its context.

And after we keep it in its context, we should understand that part of the context of

Revelation is the Old Testament prophets.

the prophets of Daniel, the prophet Ezekiel, the prophet Isaiah, because the visionary

language of Revelation is Old Testament visionary language.

Not all of the items are identical, but they carry forward Old Testament concepts.

to apply to the current generation.

Now, we read in Revelation chapter one that the things which Jesus is telling John, that

John is going to tell to the church are things which must shortly come to pass.

These are things that must take place in a near future point of time.

from the point that John is writing the book in the late 70s, early 80s AD, first century.

So, we get into chapter four.

In chapter four, after the letters have been written to the seven churches of Asia Minor,

John sees an open door and essentially is told, come through the door.

So, he goes through the door and he finds himself into the throne room of God.

As he describes the throne room of God, he’s going to describe the glory of the one who

sits on the throne, but he’s not going to describe the one who sits on the throne.

He’s going to describe his glory

Now, you remember that he describes in chapter four a rainbow as an emerald, okay?

So a greenish colored rainbow he sees in chapter four.

I mentioned that, you’re gonna need to hold on to that.

We’re gonna need that in chapter 10, okay?

uh And so he sees the throne, he sees the spirit of God before the throne, he sees the

beasts that are before the throne, he sees the 24 elders that are before the throne, and

he sees the multitudes

as it fills in throughout the progression of the next chapters.

In chapter four as well, he will see the 24 elders.

Every time the four beasts praise and offer worship to God, the 24 elders take their

crowns, their crowns of victory, they’re not crowns of kings, they’re crowns of victors,

and they’re going to cast them before the throne and praise God.

And then an angel shows up because John looks

into the beginning of chapter five, he looks at to the throne and there the one who’s

sitting on the throne has in his right hand a scroll and the scroll sealed with seven

seals and the angel is going to search heaven and earth to find someone worthy to open the

seals but nobody is found.

No one in heaven, no one on earth, no one under the earth, nobody’s worthy to open the

revelation that comes from God.

And so John begins to weep.

The angel comes and tells John, weep.

We found the one who’s worthy.

It’s the lion of the tribe of Judah.

It is the lamb who appears as though he has been slain, yet he’s standing upright and he’s

alive.

And so the lion, Christ, goes before the throne, takes the book, and is declared worthy to

open the book.

So he begins to open the book.

And in the first seal, we showed the picture earlier and I think it may be in the slide

deck a little bit later, the idea of a scroll where there’s a progression.

You open one seal and a few rolls undo and you can read what’s there, but then you gotta

open the next seal and that’s what’s happening.

You’re getting a progression of revelation.

The very first scroll that’s opened, you see a white horse and the one who goes forth is

conquering and we describe the fact that the one who goes forth is conquering.

the one who rides the white horse in the book of Revelation, the one who’s described by

perfect purity is Christ, okay?

If you’re going to interpret the first seal and the riding of the white horse and the one

who’s going forth and conquering to be anything other than Christ, you’re going to have to

argue with yourself through the whole book of Revelation.

Because every time you see a singular white horse,

and a person riding on it and conquering it’s Christ.

Okay?

And we’re gonna get into that a little bit later.

We’re gonna see that clearly defined.

But the next seal opens and we’ve got wars.

And the next seal opens and we’ve got economic destruction.

And the last seal opens or the fourth seal opens and we’ve got persecution.

We’ve got all of these things happening because the church went forth conquering and now

Satan is on the attack.

Chapter, sorry, not chapter five, we’re still in chapter six.

Chapter six, the fifth seal is opened and John sees in the vision the altar before the

throne of God and under the altar are saints crying out because they’ve been killed as a

result of persecution.

They’re crying out, how long, Lord, are you going to allow this to continue on?

They’re told to rest for a little while.

They’re given white robes.

They’re told, listen, it’s under control.

So then the sixth seal opens and God begins to bring forth the wrath of the lamb and the

wrath of the one who sits on the throne upon those who are on the earth.

And it’s a preview of what’s coming, but it describes in Old Testament language,

the fall of a nation.

That’s all it is, it’s fall of a nation.

God is saying there is someone persecuting my people and I’m going to judge them the same

way I judged Babylon, the same way I judged Edom, the same way I judged Israel, the same

way I judged Jerusalem.

I’m going to deal with them like I always have.

But the question’s asked at the end of chapter six, in the day of the wrath of the land,

Lamb, who’s able to stand?

So chapter seven opens and we begin to see the people of God sealed with the seal or the

name of God.

The point of chapter seven is none of the judgment’s going to start until God has clearly

identified everyone who belongs to Him.

Because if you belong to God, you might endure the hardship of the judgment, but you’re

not the recipient of the judgment.

God’s not judging you.

Now, let’s step back in time and just ask ourselves the question, in the days of Daniel,

Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, in the days of Ezekiel, did the faithful people of Judah

who were faithful to God, did they endure hardship as a result of Babylon coming and

overthrowing Judah?

Absolutely.

They went through suffering.

Some of them died in the middle of it.

Some of them were imprisoned like Jeremiah.

Some of them were carted off in their old age down to Egypt after being left behind in

Jerusalem.

All of these things happened to good people who were faithful to God who endured hardship

during the judgment, but were they the ones being judged?

Matter of fact, God will tell Habakkuk before it ever begins, Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4,

that the just shall live by faith.

God’s going to make it clear to Habakkuk, I know who belongs to me.

That’s Revelation chapter 7.

Revelation 7 is a pause, a break, a wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, don’t start the judgment

yet because I’m going to answer the question, who can stand in the day of the wrath of the

Lamb?

The answer is

those who wear the name of Christ.

Okay?

So then chapter eight, chapter eight, the seventh seal is opened because there was a pause

between the opening of the sixth seal, which forecasted what was coming and the opening of

the seventh seal.

Now, everything that happens for the rest of the book happens inside the seventh seal.

Okay, the book is in outline form.

when we’re here in a moment, we’re about to get to the seventh trumpet and everything that

happens after that happens inside the seventh trumpet.

And the seventh trumpet and all seven trumpets happen inside the seventh seal.

It’s a progression, okay?

So the seventh seal is open, the first four trumpets begin to sound and in these soundings

of these trumpets, you have

partial judgment and it’s pictured in uh judgments from the book of Exodus.

These are all Egyptian pictures from God judging Egypt.

He’s going to use the Old Testament picture to say, I dealt with Egypt and I’m gonna deal

with these people now.

Okay?

So we open the first.

where we find the first trumpet and verses 1 through 6, you’ve got the trumpets being

handed out to the angels, they’re going to prepare to sound, you see the multitude in

heaven, first trumpet sounds and it’s hail and mixed with fire and a third of something is

destroyed, right?

The point that you’re going to see through all of the trumpets is a third of something, a

third of something, a third of something, it’s partial judgment.

but it’s partial judgment looking back at that Egyptian judgment in the days of Exodus.

So, hail mixed with fire.

We remember there was a plague of hail, right?

And by the way, you read the text in Exodus, it was hail and it was mixed with fire.

eh All indications, was lightning and hail and the lightning was such that when the hail

hit the ground, the lightning ran across the ground.

just based upon the way the text reads.

And then the trumpet number two, a burning mountain.

Where do you see a burning mountain in the book of Exodus?

Sinai.

When they get to Sinai and God begins to speak, what does Israel experience?

This mountain that’s on fire, that’s burning and the voice of the Lord coming forth.

But the burning mountain where God speaks is cast into the sea and a third of everything

in the sea dies.

Okay?

Then you have the third trumpet.

A star falls from heaven, it’s called wormwood and it falls upon the earth.

It falls upon the sea and a third of the sea is turned to bitterness.

Well, where do you see bitterness in the Old Testament?

In the form of water, you see it in Exodus 18.

You see it in the days of Israel as they’re going from Mount Sinai and they’re not

trusting God, okay?

Just Old Testament pictures.

Then you see trumpet number four and you have darkness.

and all the land is turned dark.

Where do you see that?

In the 10 plagues, the plague of darkness, in the book of Exodus.

These are Exodus images, all right?

Chapter eight, verse 13, and I looked and I heard an angel flying through the midst of

heaven.

saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the

remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound.

Now, if you were to go through and do a study of the book of Revelation and you were to go

read and look for the concept or the terms throughout the book, inhabitants of the earth.

You should notate that under discussion in every single one of those contexts, it’s not

the Christians alive on the earth.

It is a reference all throughout the book to the ungodly people on the earth.

It is those who are alive who are in direct disobedience to God.

They are inhabitants of the earth.

The Christians, the faithful people, where is their home?

Their home’s in heaven.

Their inhabitants of an eternal location.

They are sojourners on the earth.

The ungodly are the inhabitants of the earth.

So the woe goes out to the ungodly saying, you’ve just gotten four and the next three are

coming.

So chapter nine opens.

In chapter nine, you’re going to have trumpets five and six, woes one and two, because

again, he said, woe, woe, woe, woe one goes with number five, woe two goes with number

six, woe three goes with number seven, okay?

So we open chapter nine, verse one, then I saw the fifth angels, or sorry, then the fifth

angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.

To him was given the key to the bottomless pit, and he opened the bottomless pit and smoke

arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, so the sun and the air were

darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth, and to them was given power as the

scorpions of the earth have power.

They were commanded not to harm the green grass of any of the earth.

or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on

their foreheads.

Okay, so as we open this seal, or sorry, as we hear this trumpet, let me get my words out.

You’ve got the one who comes forth, this star fallen from heaven who comes forth and he’s

got an army.

His army is what?

Locus, all right, where do we see locusts in the Old Testament?

In Egypt, what did the locusts do in Egypt during the plague of locusts?

They came in and they ate everything.

You go back and you read the text and if it had green, it was consumed.

Every plant, every crop, everything.

you do any research to locust plagues, when they start to migrate and the devastation that

is left behind, is utter.

Devastation because they eat everything except these locusts are different aren’t they?

The locust army comes and guess what?

God tells them don’t eat any of the green stuff.

Wait a minute, what do locusts eat?

The green stuff.

They eat all the plants.

Not these locusts, because guess what they’re not Physical locusts.

These are a judgment from God and they’re not going to do any damage to the plants.

By the way, if you go back and look in the prior partial judgment plan, a third of all the

plant life’s already been destroyed.

But these locusts are gonna ignore the plants, who are they going to attack?

All right.

He says, notice as they come upon the earth, they were given the command to go forth in

verse four and not harm any green thing or any tree or only the men who do not have the

seal of God in their foreheads.

God sends forth this judgment with the one who has the key of the bottomless pit.

And it up comes out of the bottomless pit, the smoke and all these things, and out of the

smoke comes the locust, but the locusts aren’t locusts because they don’t eat anything

green.

Also, the locusts aren’t locusts because what do they also have by way of their nature?

They have the power of the scorpion.

Where is the power of the scorpion?

In his tail.

So you’ve got a locust with a tail of a scorpion.

And he comes forth and the army comes forth and it doesn’t touch any of the green stuff.

It only affects the people who weren’t sealed in chapter seven.

These are the people who don’t have the name of God on their forehead.

These are the people who aren’t faithful to God and this partial judgment comes.

But notice verse 5, they were not given authority to kill them.

but to torment them for five months.

Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

In those days, men will seek death and will not find it.

They will desire to die and death will flee from them.

The shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle.

Now we’ve got a third imagery here of a third animal, the locust.

are locusts that don’t eat anything green, they only attack humans, they’ve got tails like

a scorpion, and now when you look at them, they’re the size of a horse.

Can you imagine a locust plague where all of the locusts were the size of a horse?

He says…

the shape of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle.

On their head were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of

men.

They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth, and they had

breast plates like breast plates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound

of chariots with many horses running into battle.

They had tails like scorpions, and they were, and their…

and there were stings in their tails.

Their power was to hurt men for five months and they had as king over them the angel of

the bottomless pit whose name is in Hebrew is Abedon, but in the Greek he has the name of

Polyon.

One woe is past, behold still two more woes are coming after these things.

So we’ve got this plague, we’ve got this trumpet sound.

It doesn’t kill anybody, but it attacks the ungodly.

What is it?

It’s represented like a locust plague.

It’s got a sting of pain that afflicts people but doesn’t kill them.

The ones who approach with this plague have the appearance like horses that have armor all

over them.

They’ve got breastplates that appear to be like iron.

They’ve got heads that appear like men, hair that appears like a woman.

What are they?

Let me ask it this way, who’s in charge of them?

So the star that had the key to the bottomless pit, the one whose name in Hebrew is

Avedon, the one whose name in the Greek is a Pollyon, which by the way means destruction

and destroyer.

Who is it?

Satan.

You know, wait a minute, hold on a minute.

uh The angel is the one who sounded, he blew the trumpet, you can’t have Satan working on

behalf of God.

Really?

Because we see that all the time in the Old Testament.

Except that when Satan works on behalf of God, who does Satan think he’s working for?

Himself.

So what is Satan’s number one tool for destroying a nation?

Think about all the things represented in the image.

The locust, the scorpion, the armor, the indestructibleness.

the face of men, the hair of women?

What is it that Satan uses to destroy nations?

moral decay.

You can read from history.

What is it that took the nation of Rome down?

Outside forces or inside forces?

Inside.

What is it that is Satan’s primary use of destroying men and making them miserable to the

point that they would desire death and not find it?

sin, wickedness, and immorality.

You see, this plague, this trumpet comes forth and this is the nation tearing itself apart

through sin.

Notice this plague doesn’t affect any of the Christians.

It doesn’t affect anybody whose names, who carries the name of God because they don’t give

their lives over.

to the sin and the moral decay of Satan.

But the world does.

And the nation is persecuted perpetually without dying.

by the actions of Satan.

Have we ever known God to use the moral decay of a nation to bring about the destruction

of a nation?

absolutely, go back to Judah.

Go back to Israel.

Go back to what God would tell them if you don’t follow me.

go back to the book of Exodus and remember that when Moses stood between the two

mountains, Mount Evil, Mount Gerizim, and he gave the blessings and the cursing, he said,

if you follow my word, if you keep my covenant, then these are the things that are going

to happen and you’re going to be blessed and I’m going to cause you to prosper and you’re

going to dwell in a land that is assured and you’re going to have your inheritance and

you’re going to be at peace.

And if you don’t…

You’re going to get this and this and this and this and this and this and this.

Why?

Because you rejected my covenant and you would not follow my law and you decided to side

with sin and abomination instead of God.

Essentially what the picture is is God says, Satan, they’re yours.

They’re gonna do what you tell them to do.

And I’m going to use it as their judgment.

So then you have the next trumpet.

Yes.

It’s partial.

Yeah, so bear in mind, everything about these trumpets are partial.

It’s not perpetual, it’s partial.

Just like the destruction only comes on a third of the men, it’s not everybody, it’s

partial.

This is, by the way, this is the partial one when you get to trumpet number seven.

You’re gonna get the seven bowls being poured out and they’re not gonna be partial

anymore.

These are the warning shots.

By the way, if anybody were to uh decide to go visit a city that gives itself over to sin

and you see and observe that and you see the way the people live and you see the suffering

that is just inundated around that location.

and then you leave it, you go, I sure am glad I left.

Now imagine if you couldn’t leave because everywhere you went it was the same way.

Imagine life in the days of Noah.

You go from village to town to city to this group of people to that group of people and

every God says every thought of every man’s heart was only evil continually.

What must that have been?

So this is partial.

This is a portion of them.

And they’re supposed to be the warning sign that wakes everybody else up and says, hey,

repent.

It’s not gonna work.

So then notice the six trumpet sounds, verse 13.

Then the six angels sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar,

which is before God.

And wait a minute, where was the last place we saw the altar before this?

Go back to chapter 6.

Verse 9, when he opened the fifth seal, saw under the altar the souls of those who had

been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

The last time you saw the altar, the altar of burnt offering, the last time you saw the

altar of burnt offering, represented from Exodus,

forward into heaven, into the vision, into the picture.

The last time you saw it, you saw a whole bunch of dead Christians under it crying out to

God asking, long are you gonna let this go on?

Yes.

The altar in 8.3 most likely is the Altar of Incense.

Either way, in eight, you find the prayers of the saints offered on the altar.

And so you have the crying out of the altar of the saints under the altar in chapter six,

you have the prayers of the saints in chapter eight as the judgments begin.

So everywhere you see the altar, you’re seeing God’s people being persecuted and God’s

answer.

Okay.

So.

Then the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar,

which is before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels

who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

God sits on the throne, the altar before the throne, the sounding comes forth, you go

release the four angels.

Where was the last time we saw four angels?

Chapter seven, chapter seven open.

After these things, I saw the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,

holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth or on the

sea or on any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.

And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth

and the sea.

saying, not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our

God on their foreheads.” You’ve got four angels standing there and they’re pictured in

chapter 7 holding back the wind.

They’re holding back the judgment on the earth and the sea and the trees and everything

because God’s people have to be marked.

Now you have in the sixth trumpet that one who comes from before the altar comes to the

one who’s on the throne and he’s told, let him go.

Let them have at it.

All my people are sealed.

Now notice these individuals, these four angels are bound at the what?

Great River Euphrates.

It is of interest that excluding all of the southern attackers of the nation of Israel,

almost every enemy and invasion of the nation of Israel in Old Testament history came from

a nation that crossed the river Euphrates.

Babylon crossed the river Euphrates.

Assyria crossed the river Euphrates.

The Medo-Persian Empire crossed the river Euphrates.

All of them crossed the river Euphrates to come and invade Israel.

Obviously that wasn’t their only destination, but the point was all the enemies of God’s

people historically in the Old Testament came across the river Euphrates except Egypt.

They came across the Nile.

But the picture is,

God’s judging nations and armies come across the River Euphrates to bring about their

judgment.

So here you have the four angels, they’re standing, they’re bound up at the river

Euphrates.

And notice he says, release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

So the four angels who had been prepared for the day, the hour, month and year were

released to kill a third of mankind.

So what you need to do, because this is what the book of Revelation says, and therefore,

since that’s what it says, that’s what it means, you need to go find a moment in history

where one third of all humanity dies, and there’s the fulfillment of this passage, right?

Shake your head this way.

Because if you were going to do that right before that, you would have needed to find

where one third of mankind was persecuted.

You would have needed to find where one third of the sun and the stars and moon fell from

the sky.

You would have needed to find one third of this that died and one third of that that died.

The point consistently is not that one third of all humans on the earth suddenly fell over

and died.

The point is,

It’s not all, it’s judgment and not everybody’s dead.

It’s judgment and it’s partial, okay?

So now the number of the army of the horsemen.

Okay, so what do we know about this thing, this uh judgment that comes across the river

Euphrates?

It’s an army, it’s horsemen.

But notice, he says,

uh So the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million.

In the Old King James, you’re gonna get, uh somebody read it.

All right, 200,000,000.

So in other words, if you have 200,000, you multiply it by a thousand, what do you get?

200 million, okay.

They just did the math for you.

Okay, so the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million.

I heard the number of them and I saw the horses in the vision.

Oh, by the way, John tells you,

I’m seeing a vision, right?

Did he say he was seeing the events in history as they actually unfolded with an army of

200 million horsemen?

No, he said I saw in the vision.

I just was impressed that he could count all of them.

All right.

So I saw in the horses in the vision, those who sat on them had breastplates like fiery

red, hasent blue and sulfur yellow.

And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions.

Out of their mouth came fire, smoke and brimstone.

Guess what?

In the vision, even the horses aren’t horses.

In the vision, he sees 200 million horsemen and every single one of their horses has a

head like a lion.

And when they open their mouths, out come fire and brimstone and smoke.

And a premillennialist says, see, it’s nuclear weapons.

As brother Jim McGuigan said, you can’t even spell nuclear weapons that way.

to which the premillenials would say, well it’s figurative.

really?

If it’s figurative then why is it nuclear weapons?

But notice what happens.

Verse 18, by these three, what?

Fire, smoke, brimstone.

By these three, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone

which came out of their mouths.

their power is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents

having heads with them, they do harm.

But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works

of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass,

stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

They did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or

their thefts.

Army of 200 million comes across the River Euphrates.

They’re on horseback, except the horses have heads of lions.

And when they open their mouths, fire, smoke, and brimstone come out.

And guess what the destruction comes from?

their words.

their words.

You see…

God saying, I’m going to unleash.

those who are going to bring about people’s destruction through their words.

If

If you were to listen to a false prophet, if you were to listen to a false teacher, if you

were to obey their commands and do what they said, where would you end up eternally?

Hell!

Why?

Because instead of worshipping God, you’re going to worship demons and idols of gold and

silver, brass, stone, wood.

You’re going to involve yourself in murders and sorceries and adulteries and fornication

and all things that God oppose

and God’s telling His people, I’m gonna send them lesson one, lesson two, lesson three,

lesson four, lesson five, lesson six, and by the time we get to the end of lesson six,

after we’ve seen all of this partial judgment, guess what?

They’re not gonna.

and because they don’t repent, chapter 10 through chapter 12.

God’s going to begin to comfort His people.

because had the wicked of the earth repented, just like in the days of Jerusalem and

Judah, had they repented, then the judgment would have stopped.

But God’s gonna tell Jeremiah, they’re not gonna repent.

And so the words that you speak are going to tell them of the judgment that’s going to

come.

And chapter 10, you’re going to see God saying to His people, you’re about to go through

it.

You’re about to suffer.

You’re going to be killed.

You’re going to be hurt.

You’re going to be persecuted.

And don’t you think for a moment that I don’t know.

As a matter of fact, I’m going to tell you it before it ever begins.

Okay?

That’s where we’ll pick up.

Who Will Our God Reward – Aaron Cozort – March 29, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian living, Faithfulness, God's rewards, Humility, keywords Bible, Matthew, Obedience, Revelation, Spiritual Growth, Zephaniah by Aaron Cozort

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Again, want to welcome you to our worship this day.

We’re grateful for your presence and encourage you, if you will, to open your Bible.

We’re going to begin in Zephaniah.

Zephaniah, one of the Old Testament prophets.

It’s going to prophesy to Israel.

And in Zephaniah chapter 2, he’s going to call upon Israel to gather yourselves together.

He is going to tell the people to pay attention, to observe and to listen to the things

that he is about to say.

He says, gather yourselves together.

Yes, gather together, O undesirable nation.

If you’ve ever had somebody encourage a bunch of people to gather around and then insult

them, that’s what Zephaniah just did.

In my mind, I kind of picture the drill sergeants with the young recruits or the Navy

SEALs going through as is pictured Hell Week.

they get torn down every way they can get torn down verbally by their instructors during

the process of that time.

Zephaniah is going to say to Israel, gather yourselves together.

Yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, before the decree is issued or the day passes

like chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s

anger comes upon you.

Zephaniah draws Israel’s attention and he focuses their attention and he gathers them

together and says, hey, you need to listen up.

because God’s anger is about to be poured out on you.

and you need to hear something before it happens.

Verse three, we read, seek the Lord.

As Zev and I addresses the people that claim to belong to God, that claim to be the

descendants of Abraham, that claim to be the people in a covenant relationship with God,

though they do not live like it, he calls upon those people to wake up, listen up, gather

up and seek

the LORD.

He says, seek the LORD all you meek of the earth who have upheld his justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger.

As Zephaniah calls the people together and he broaches this conversation with them, he

lets them know that by and large

They’re going to be judged!

But just like as you gather a large group of people who appear to be of the same

background, appear to be of the same persuasion, appear to be of the same nature, appear

to be of the same walk of life, there are a few scattered around that aren’t.

And so he gathers the people not because of the people at large, but because he needs to

talk to the ones who are scattered among them.

who are living differently than they are.

who are going to seek the Lord, who are living in humility, who are going to stand before

God in meekness and obedience.

And Zephaniah says, if you do this, it may be.

It could be the outcome of that you will be hidden in the days of the Lord’s wrath.

From this discussion, I want us to consider…

who our God will reward.

To the nation of Israel as addressed by Zephaniah, God is going to give to that nation

judgment.

He is going to bring upon them His fierce anger.

But to those scattered amongst them who live a life of meekness, who live a life of

humility, who live and seek the Lord, God says, you will have my

refuge

and my reward.

So let us consider who our God will reward.

As we already see here, number one, God rewards the meek and not the proud.

As you consider Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 11, Isaiah will write as another prophet to Israel

as he looks forward to the things that are going to occur later on in Israel’s history.

as he continues to look forward to the days of the Messiah as well.

We read in Isaiah chapter 11 and beginning in verse three, his delight is in the fear of

the Lord, and he shall not judge by sight, by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the

hearing of his ears.

But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the

earth.

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he

shall slay the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

As Isaiah looks forward to the rod of Jesse pointing to the Messiah, as he looks forward

to the Messiah, the King of the kingdom of God,

the King of kings and Lord of lords.

He says concerning that one who will reign that he will judge with the poor and he will

decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

As Isaiah looks forward to Christ, as he looks forward to the Messiah, he says in the very

nature of how he judges and how he acts that he will decide on behalf of those who stand

in meekness before God.

It is therefore no strange wonder that as Jesus opens the Beatitudes, as He speaks in that

Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew chapter 5 through Matthew chapter 7, that He says,

blessed are the me.

Now, some might ask, great Aaron, but you keep using this word and I don’t know what meek

means.

Does it mean weak?

No.

It means strength under control.

Moses in the Old Testament was described as the meekest man in all the earth.

And yet Moses was no weak individual.

Moses dealt with leading a nation of a million plus people through a wilderness for 40

years, starting at age 80.

He was no weak person.

when he arrived at death’s door, when he arrived at the point at which God says, you’re

not going to cross over, you’re not going to go into the land, the text tells us in the

book of Deuteronomy that Moses’ strength was not diminished at all.

And yet…

Moses is described as meek.

Moses was one who had strength under control, deferred to the control of God.

You see, there are individuals who have strength under control.

They have their own strength and they have it under their own control.

God says that’s not going to work.

It has to be turned over to my control.

God wants those who will seek the Lord.

They desire His purposes be brought forth.

They desire that His work be done.

When you turn back to Matthew chapter 5…

Jesus.

will admonish the people over and over and over again to be like their God.

If we start in verse 3 of chapter 5, we read, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs

is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of

God.

You go down to verse 43 and Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, you shall love

your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate

you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the sons

of your father in heaven.

Jesus is not calling upon people to exert self-control in their lives.

Jesus is calling upon people to exert God’s control over their lives.

Paul O’Riite and Philippians.

As he writes to this church that interacted with him so often, that supported him, that

gave aid to him, he will write to them in chapter 1 and in verse 19, he says, for I know

that this will turn out for my deliverance, though your prayer or through your prayer and

supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed.

but with all boldness as always so now also Christ will be magnified in my body whether by

life or by death.” Paul would insist that his life had been handed over to Christ to do

the will of Christ.

That wasn’t something that Paul just thought might be a good idea.

He was simply following the example of Christ.

As Jesus knelt in that garden and prayed to the Father, as the uh betrayal was about to

happen, as the trials were about to commence, as the crucifixion was nigh, Jesus prayed,

not my will, but thine.

Be done.

God will reward the meat.

but not the one who usurps God’s authority.

God also will reward, as we saw back in Zephaniah chapter 2, those who live with humility.

God rewards the humble and not the proud.

In James chapter 4,

James will write to the Christians beginning in verse 6, God resists the proud.

James doesn’t leave any arguments.

He doesn’t leave any negotiations.

doesn’t leave any hedging.

He doesn’t leave any margin.

He says, God resists the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.

He goes on to say, therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee you.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

Who does the Lord reward?

The humble, not the proud.

Many times in our daily lives as we observe the world going on around us, as we observe

the actions of people around us, we see the proud being successful.

We see the proud boasting.

We see the proud doing well.

We see the proud being those who are recognized, those who are elevated, those who are

exalted, those who are praised.

and yet we often fail to consider.

What does the LORD see?

The Lord sees someone He opposes.

The Lord sees someone that He is in distinct opposition against.

The Lord sees someone that He is actively resisting because of their choices.

And throughout all of these passages, Zephaniah has told us, Jesus has told us, Paul has

told us, James now tells us.

Get close to God.

Zephaniah said, Seek the LORD.

Jesus said, be like the Lord.

James now says, draw near to the Lord.

when you read those words.

Imagine if you would a small child.

And they know that in the vicinity, in the closeness to their parent, as the small child

latches on to the leg of the parent…

They know they have safety.

They do not imagine themselves to be equal with the parent, not in those moments.

They do not imagine themselves to be authoritative over the parent.

They do not imagine themselves to be those who can direct their own path.

As a matter of fact, wherever that leg goes, they are going to go.

They have exhibited the perspective of seek the Lord, draw near to the Lord, hold on to

God.

in first samuel chapter seventeen

David will be sent by his father.

to go to where the army is of Israel because his brothers are in the army.

And he will go with supplies to where the army is located as they are encamped across the

valley from the Philistines.

So David, as the young man that he is, will bring the supplies that his father has sent

him with.

And as he arrives at the place where the army is encamped, he will hear the declaration

made by Goliath by the Philistines across the valley.

Send out one of your men.

We will do battle.

And the winner takes all.

Send out your best.

Send out the warrior that holds allegiance to your God.

I will.

David is astonished.

because no one from Israel is going out to meet Goliath.

You notice there in 1 Samuel chapter 17 as David is observing this, he is going to be

admonished by his older brother concerning the things that he is doing and verse 29 David

said, what have I done now?

Is there not cause?

as David is wondering who is going to go out on behalf of God and defend against this

blasphemer.

David wants to know from his own brother, is there not a cause?

If you go down in the text to verse 40.

David will have said, I’ll go.

And so Saul’s going to offer David his armor.

And David says, I’ve not proved these things.

I’ve not tested them.

They’re not mine.

Verse 40, then he took his staff in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones

from the brook and put them in the shepherd’s bag in a pouch, which he had, and his sling

was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine.

So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David.

And the man who bore the shield went before him.

And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a

youth, ruddy and good looking.

So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?

And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of

the air and the beasts of the field.

Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a

javelin.

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom

you have defied.

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head

from you.

And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the

air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in

Israel.

Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save.”

with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

So it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David that David

hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and he slung it and struck the

Philistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his

face to the earth.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine

and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.

As David went down into the valley to confront the Philistine, David did not say, I can

accomplish this.

as the Philistine, as Goliath boasted and claimed he would take David’s carcass and feed

it to the birds, he said, oh no.

but the Lord is going to deliver you into my hands.

David was humble.

David did not lift himself up.

David said,

I don’t know who you got on your side, but I know who I’ve got on mine.

And you’re not winning.

in Micah chapter 6 and verse 8.

Micah asked the question of Israel, what does the Lord require of you?

but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

God will reward the meek and not the usurper.

God will reward the humble and not the proud.

But then consider as well that Paul tells us that God will reward the obedient and not the

great.

Paul as he is nearing the end of his life.

We’ll write to Timothy, this young preacher who had spent so much time traveling with

Paul, who had observed Paul’s age.

I imagine for Timothy, the impressiveness of Paul in physical presence had diminished

somewhat from what he had met during that second missionary journey.

You say, Aaron, why would you think that Paul had diminished?

Well, go read 2 Corinthians and read the list of things Paul’s physical body had gone

through.

And you’ll see why I say he’s probably diminished somewhat physically.

When you’ve been shipwrecked,

When you’ve been beaten, when you’ve been stoned, you’re going to carry around in your

body, as Paul said he did, evidence of the things you had endured for the cause of Christ.

And for everyone who’s ever spent a whole bunch of years pursuing athletics, and then they

get older, and you realize you’re paying for all of those years where you thought you were

just getting stronger and stronger, and now you’re paying for it over and over again.

Paul, most likely in his physical presence, had diminished as he sat in a Roman prison.

But as he writes to Timothy, he says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus

Christ, will judge the living and the dead and is appearing in his kingdom, preach the

word.

Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and

teaching.

Paul tells Timothy, you keep speaking God’s word.

You do it day in and day out.

season in and season out whenever they want to hear it and whenever they don’t.

As a matter of fact, he says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound

doctrine.

But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap to

themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside

to fables.

But you be watchful in all things.

Endure afflictions.

Do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry?

He says, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure

is at hand.

I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

Finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous

judge will give to me on that day and not to me only.

but to all those who love his appearing.

Paul will admonish Timothy, you keep preaching the truth.

You preach the truth when they are not living right and need to be rebuked.

You preach the truth when they’re not acting right and they need to be exhorted.

You preach the truth.

when they’re slowing down in their obedience to God and they need to be admonished.

You preach the truth when they turn their back on God and don’t want to hear it anymore.

But then you obey the truth and you fight the good fight and you finish the course no

matter who else does.

because my Lord rewards the obedient.

My Lord rewards those who love His appearing.

Matthew chapter 7.

Jesus will point out, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of

heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Our God will reward the obedient, not the great.

Your stature, your grandeur, your glory, your riches, your prominence, your dwelling place

do not matter when it comes to the reward of God.

Your obedience does.

But fourthly and finally, turn to Revelation chapter 13.

I know for those who are in my Sunday morning Bible class on the book of Revelation, I’m

getting ahead.

That’s OK.

We’ll get there.

Revelation, Chapter 13.

John will make clear to us in chapter 13 and chapter 14 that God will reward the faithful.

not the success.

God will reward the faithful.

In Revelation chapter 13, then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up

out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his

head a blasphemous name.

You don’t have to understand all the pictures, just know this.

The very name of the creature was in stark opposition to God.

The very presence of the creature was in stark opposition to God.

And notice, now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a

bear, his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, the dragon gave him his power, his throne,

his great authority, and I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded, and his

deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast.

So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, they worshiped the beast

saying, who is like the beast?

Who is able to make war with him?

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority

to continue for 42 months.

Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle,

and those who dwell in heaven.

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was

given him over every tribe and tongue and nation.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book

of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

The picture John writes is of Satan handing off his power to this great world power and

this world power blasphemes against God.

And he causes people to worship Satan instead of God.

And he causes people to do that which is in opposition to God.

And then he begins to torment and to persecute and to kill the people of God and he

overcomes them.

and the people of God could not be considered in terms of the beast successful.

For they’re defeated, they’re killed, they’re persecuted, they’re destroyed, and the whole

world praises the one who’s killing the people of God until you go to chapter 14.

In chapter 14, beginning in verse 9, then the third angel followed them, saying with a

loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on their

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

who worship the beast in his image and who receive the mark of his name.

Here is the patience of the saints.

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

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me,

And the thing that comes forth from the throne of God that is spoken by the angel, that he

tells John, you need to write this down.

He tells John.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

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

The whole world.

in the days of the first century church.

Had gone after the world power that looked to be so great,

so powerful.

The solution to all their problems, prosperity, joy, all the things that they wanted they

could get from the beast.

And God says…

and when you die.

Let me tell you where you’ll end,

but to the Christians who that world power was killing, throwing into the midst of the

lions and having them torn apart for sport.

God says, and when you die, let me tell you where you’ll

because God rewards the faithful, not the successful.

as you consider your Lord, as you consider the God of heaven who exists.

Who will our God reward?

The meat.

humble, the obedient and the faithful.

So the question for us is, are we?

Are we meek?

Are we humble?

Are we obedient?

Are we faithful?

Because if we’re not,

Scripture is quite clear that there is a reward for the enemy of God.

And it’s not a crown.

It is judgment.

If you have need of the invitation, maybe you say, Aaron, I’m not sure whose side I’m on.

I’m not sure how I would know.

I know whose side I want to be on, but I don’t know.

How can I know?

Well, the scripture can tell you how you

So if you’d like to study more about it, we’d love you to ask your questions.

But if you have a need of the invitation of Christ right now, why not come as we stand and

as we sing.

How We Got The Bible – Ben Shanks – Jun 7, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical canon, biblical infallibility, biblical translation, Christian faith, divine protection, keywords Bible history, New Testament, Old Testament, scripture preservation by Aaron Cozort

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Tonight, or this afternoon, we’re gonna have a little different topic um than my normal

Psalms.

ah But today I wanted to talk about…

um

How we got the Bible.

So if you think back throughout history, the Bible is a strange book.

It is a book that is written by 40 plus authors.

um It was written over a very long period of time, um but it is a book that has a unified

message to it.

So how did we get

the Bible that we use today.

If you look at Christianity as a whole, there are several versions of the Bible.

um There is the 66 book collection ah that we probably all have sitting in front of us

right now.

um If you look at the Orthodox and Catholic Church, they have a few extra books in there,

seven additional books and a few extra chapters in Daniel and Esther.

And those books that are in the Catholic Bible are

referred to by the Catholics as the deuterocanon, um referred to by uh most non-Catholic

Christians as the apocrypha.

um

But they’re a collection of books that are mostly historical in nature or prayers or

sermons.

So Tobit is a story about uh God testing the faithful.

Judith is a war adventure story, almost like the Xena warrior princess of the Bible.

ah

And Esther has some additionals, but it’s mainly like collections of sayings from

Mordecai’s perspective.

ah First and second Maccabees document the war that happened with the Maccabean revolt.

About our main point of reference is saying happy Hanukkah to somebody once a year.

ah

Wisdom of Solomon were other collections of proverbs that were attributed to Solomon.

Serach is a collection of sermons.

Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe and his writings were collected here.

There are two additional chapters in Daniel, one where Daniel ah proves that the

idolatrous priests were making magic happen through Mary Manuel activity um and one that

was him defying

offending a young uh Israelite girl um from elders who were taking advantage of her.

um Then you also have in some versions of it first and second address, are expansions on

Ezra.

um One of them is ah basically history from other perspectives.

It contains the book of Ezra, but then it also has some additional stuff to it.

Second, Ezra is more of an apocalyptic approach about the return from the perspective of

Jews who were in the diaspora, specifically Jews who lived in Egypt.

And then there’s also the prayer of Manasseh, which is…

um

Manasseh’s prayer when he is finally captured and taken back and rejects idolatry finally

from being like one of the most idolatrous kings there were.

ah Then there’s the Ethiopian ah Orthodox Bible which adds some additional books of

estrus, more modern or more versions of the story of the Maccabean revolt, the book of

Enoch, and one additional psalm.

But when we look at these books,

The reason they’re not included in the Bible we use is because they were only included as

some additional writings in ah the Septuagint.

So if you look at what happened, there was a concerted effort to translate the Bible to

Greek.

ah The Greek world was…

interested in what the Jews were doing and they brought 70 scholars over, they brought

them down to the city of Alexandria and they started translating the Bible from some

original Hebrew, mostly Aramaic texts, but they started translating the Bible and when

these scholars got together, these scholars said, okay, of these 70, 80 writings that we

have, these are the 39 that should be considered scripture.

These other writings are writings that should be considered more of spiritual works, but

not necessarily scripture.

And so as they collected these 39 books together,

There was a, of the other books were included as part of the collection.

But one thing that is a little different in the way we think about something is we use a

technology that was invented in the first century AD.

Prior to the first century AD, all of these writings were on scrolls.

And it’s difficult for us to kind of frame our mind around the mindset they had then, that

you had a common knowledge of what was scripture, but that there wasn’t something that had

a sequence to it.

So you had what they referred to as the Tanakh.

So the Tanakh is, the translation is that they are the law, the prophets, and the

writings.

And the Tanakh is often what is referred to by New Testament apostles as scripture.

So those were the 39 books that we call.

So the law was the books that we call the law, the Torah, but it was also all the

histories all the way up through Second Chronicles.

And then the…

Writings were Psalms, Job, uh Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and then the

prophets were all of the books of the prophets, whether it was the major or minor

prophets.

So divided up a little differently than what we think about now.

But they also, when they translated them, they also translated um the Apocrypha.

and they included that in the writing.

And they also had a bunch of writings from different religious groups, different, so all

of these were like collections of, considered part of the collection of knowledge, but not

necessarily considered part of scripture.

When we get to the New Testament, some of these scriptures, mostly when it’s referred to

in the New Testament, they refer to a specific author, it’s from the 39 books.

There is one reference to the book of Enoch

Jude, but the reference in the book of Enoch was because Enoch collected ideas from three

or four other writings into that one passage that he quoted.

So these were all books that were considered to be worthy of study.

And when we look at

ah The idea of canonicity how we collected the 39 books of the Old Testament It’s

something that was sort of a new concept Because when you had this collection of scrolls

you wanted to get as many scrolls as you could Because you wanted to study about God you

weren’t concerned with are these specific scrolls?

Scripture or not, but it was commonly acknowledged that the Tanakh was what was considered

to be scripture So the 39 books that are the law the prophets and the right

meetings.

What drove that is you had to think about how you organize things differently when you

built a codex, when you built a book, than you had to when you built a collection of

scrolls.

So.

The move from a codex or from the scrolls to a codex system had them start thinking and

putting thought into how do we put this together in a sequence that makes sense.

So if you look even back to how the Torah itself was written, the Torah itself, we

commonly say Moses wrote the Torah.

But there’s a lot of things in the Torah that had to have been added later.

So all the references pretty much every time you see and is the same until this day, that

was a comment that was added later.

So we have a little different way of perceiving the Bible because we have 2,000 years of

history of having it collected, whereas the Jews didn’t necessarily add that.

They had a collection of religious writings that they were looking at.

And there’s three views of how the Torah was put into its final form.

One is that there were four separate groups that were authoring it.

That’s kind of the scholar review.

There’s been a lot of questions about that, a lot of arguments about that.

And that’s one thing scholars love to do is argue about stuff.

ah So ah people have made their doctorates based on this.

But realistically, when we look at it, we have references back to the Torah existing at

least since Ezra.

So if you look at the collections of the writings of Moses, of Joshua, of Ezra, probably

had editorial things entered in it.

That’s probably where a lot of these references to it remains this way until this day is

because Ezra was a scholar and when he was putting the Torah together in its final form,

he was adding notes in there to put it into the historical reference for a collection of

people who had been sent in an accident

and were um needed to be reminded that this was real and needed it to be framed up into

something that was real.

So when we look at these writings, even down to, we like to refer to book, chapter, and

verse, right?

That’s a very recent addition to the Bible.

And there are lots of mistakes that were made when we did that.

So if you look at the chapters, the chapters are divided out around 1200 AD.

The verses weren’t added until around 1500 AD.

The first English Bible that had book chapter and verse was the Geneva Bible.

And if you look, you don’t have to look further than the first page to see where they made

a mistake.

when they had the book chapter and verse.

We have to remember that

While the word of God is infallible, the work of man is very fallible.

So if you look at Genesis chapter 1, chapter 1 really doesn’t end until Genesis chapter 2

verse 3.

So when man started working on organizing things, not changing the words, but trying to

help people get things organized, there are mistakes made all throughout out the books and

chapters and verses where they’ll end a verse in the middle of a sentence or they’ll end a

chapter before they finish the thought from the previous chapter.

So we have to remember as we study the word, it wasn’t written from a perspective of being

divided up into books and to chapters.

into specific verses that were called out.

It was meant to be read as a whole, as something that was complete.

So when we look at how we got the Bible, it was a lot of people working towards a common

goal, trying to establish what God wanted us to say.

Inspired by God, but

it was something that had modified over time.

When we get over to the New Testament, it’s a more recent history, less authorship in it.

And it’s a lot easier to nail down exactly how we got the New Testament.

So the New Testament is made up of 27 books.

They’re divided into the four gospels, the book of history of the Acts of the Apostles,

the writings of Paul, the writings of other disciples, and then the book of prophecy.

So when they were trying to decide what was going to be included in the New Testament,

they said, is there something that directly connects this to an apostle, to one of the 12

plus Paul?

Does it align with the rest of the words?

And was there common acceptance?

So by 140 AD, we have records that there was common acceptance that the books of the New

Testament were the 27 that we look at.

If you look at how they were circulated during the time, first, second, and third John

were circulated together across the churches all the time.

A lot of these epistles were connected together.

So 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians would have been connected together into one codex.

They would have been sent to different churches and put into the collection of together.

Not something that after the initial writing, because there were four letters to the

church at Corinth, we only have two of them.

There were…

Likely, first, second, and third John were written at the same time.

They read very similar.

And they were probably written to one church specifically, but intended for different

members of the church.

First John intended to be read publicly amongst all the members.

And then second John and third John written to specific people.

But these works were all circulated together.

They’re all commonly accepted.

During this time frame, there were a lot of people writing additional works.

There were works that we call the Gnostic Works.

where people were trying to take Eastern religion, take things that were passed along the

Silk Road, and integrate those into this new religion that seemed to be taking over the

world.

And you went with books like the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Mary Magdalene or the

Gospel of Judas, which the Gospel of Judas being a glaring example of somebody writing

something from a very biased perspective that had very little to do with the rest of the

scripture.

ah You have the infancy gospels, which frame, some of them frame Jesus in a negative

light.

ah You have the apocalypse of Peter, but you also have a bunch of sermons that were passed

around.

So the Shepherd of Hermes, the Didache, the writings of Barnabas, these were sermons that

were collected and were passed around.

But it was pretty easy for them to decide.

And realistically, the first reference we have that says these are something to be

considered canon comes all the way from 350.

But that 350 traces its way all the way back nearly to the first century.

have original writings where they are saying that these are the only books that are

important.

So why am I talking about this?

Because I’ve had conversations with people over the years.

Like, they frame up the Bible as something that is foulable because it was written over

such a long period of time.

They frame the Bible as something where you can’t trust it because how can you be sure we

have the original words?

If you look back to Hebrew, Hebrew didn’t have vowels.

The vowels are added, I think, around 700 AD.

So it is not something, it is, they didn’t even have spaces when Moses was writing.

So how can you be sure that the Bible is infallible if they don’t even have any of modern

things?

So about 500 years after Moses lived, they invented the space between words.

So there are lots of arguments.

And part of what we need to be able to do is we need to be able to counter those

arguments.

So I’m gonna turn over to the book of Matthew real quick.

And in Matthew chapter five, we have what is famously referred to as the Sermon on the

Mount.

And Jesus is delivering a sermon, and during the sermon he goes through the blessings.

And then he goes to, in verse 13, he starts to talk about the people.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made

salty again?

It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled under feet by men.

You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but the lamp stand and give light

to those in your house.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and

glorify your father who is in heaven.

So after that framework.

of you need to go share truth with the world.

You need to go be that light set on a hill.

Jesus takes just a minute to explain what he means by that.

Do not think that I came in to abolish the law or the prophets.

I did not come to to abolish but to fulfill.

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or

stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished.

Jesus didn’t struggle with what was law and what wasn’t law.

He didn’t struggle because he knew the Father provided.

He knew that God would not let the law be confusing.

He would not let people struggle with it.

So when that argument is framed up, that we can’t trust the Bible, it’s because they’re

missing the whole point.

They’re missing the fact that God is actively involved into protecting his word.

Even today.

If you think back.

Over the last 100 years or so.

There’s been a lot of attempts to discredit the Bible by doing a new translation.

And this has been going on for a long time.

Thomas Jefferson famously threw James out of his version of the Bible.

because he struggled with the idea of faith and works.

So he just removed the whole book from his Bible.

There’s been translations like the Jive Bible, where not only do they translate it into

slang, but they translate it into very vulgar slang.

There’s been translations that have been done as a spoof or as a joke.

but everyone on the planet still has access to the word of God.

God’s not going to allow that to be taken away.

Jesus promised us there that it wouldn’t be taken away, that there was nothing man could

do to destroy the word of God.

In 2 Timothy 3,

All scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and

instruction in righteousness, that the man may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all

good works.

That is both a promise and a challenge.

God is going to protect the scripture.

He’s going to make sure that it’s there for our instruction, for our correction, for our

perfection.

But it’s also a challenge to us that we have to become that word.

We have to become living embodiments, just as Jesus referred in Matthew chapter five.

We have to be that light to the world.

We have to know God’s word.

We have to live God’s word.

in Revelation 22 as John is closing out the prophecy.

We see him make a reference that reminds us of this promise that Jesus gave.

Verse 18, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.

If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away

his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book.

those people who have made those changes, who have made a mockery of the scripture.

That’s who this promise is to.

So how can we be sure?

Well, if you flip over to Hebrews chapter 11, we have something that is much more

powerful.

much more powerful.

than a documented systematic history, a record of exactly who wrote what chapter, what

verse, what letter.

We have a promise.

Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For it, the men of old gained approval.

By faith, we understand the worlds that were prepared by the word of God.

so that what is seen is not made out of the things which are visible.

Faith is our proof.

It is the evidence.

It is our conviction.

Because we know God has promised that he’s going to provide his scripture to us, that he’s

going to give us what we need.

And we know he’s active.

You can see his influence all throughout history.

The level of excruciating detail that the scribes went to when they were translating or

when they were transcribing the Bible literally dictated letter by the letter in Latin to

make sure that the Bible, every time it was printed, was 100 % correct.

through all the translations that we have, whether it’s to English, whether it is to

Latin, whether it is back to Greek, whether it is to modern Greek, all of these

translations, God is actively protecting.

And if he’s not protecting it, it’s obvious.

Things like the Jive Bible.

But he’s actively guiding us even today to make sure that no letter disappears from the

Bible.

So it wasn’t a struggle for the apostles.

They knew what they were doing when they referenced scriptures.

All throughout the New Testament are hyperlinks back to the Old Testament, back to

prophecy, back to Psalms, back to Proverbs, back to Job.

This Bible is a living document.

It is a living word.

Jesus didn’t struggle with it.

The scholars of the day didn’t struggle with it.

They were pretty firm when they picked the 39 books that we included in the Old Testament.

They’re extremely firm and there are thousands of documented discussions about the New

Testament and what books we picked.

But at the end of the day, it’s not something we have to worry about because it’s

something that God promises he’s going to take care of.

So in Hebrews chapter four, back a few pages.

Verse 12 and 13.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing

as far as division of the soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, able to judge the

thoughts and intentions of the heart.

There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the

eyes of him.

to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

There’s nothing hidden from God.

and he’s providing protection for his word.

It’s not something that’s going to change because God’s not going to allow it.

It’s not something that we have to worry about because we have faith in God, in His

instruction, and in His desire to be with us, to be reunited with us.

With that, knowing that we are assured that God is providing for us, knowing that we have

a God who we can see evidence all throughout history, has protected his word, has

protected his message to us.

who not only was willing to save the Word, but was willing to send the Word to us, was

willing to offer his Son up to come here and show us what it meant to be the living Word

of God.

To be an example,

to be.

what we all hope to be.

someone who was so zealous and so strong in his knowledge of the word.

that he didn’t have to make decisions, he just was.

He was the greatest of teachers.

He was someone who loved not just those around him, but loved so deeply that the whole

world is now blessed through him.

Loved his creation so much that he was willing to offer himself as a sacrifice.

This is the same God that’s actively protecting His Word.

So if anybody needs to be reunited with God, needs to follow the word religion to its

original route, to be re-tied to God, if anybody needs a prayer, please come forward as we

stand and sing.

What Future You Needs To Read – Jacob Kennedy – Jun 7, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian life, faith, heaven, Jeremiah, Jesus, keywords endurance, Paul, perseverance, purpose, trials by Aaron Cozort

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If you think back over the last 100, well, I guess you could, seeing that it’s the 250th

anniversary of the United States, 250 years ago, a lot’s changed in the world today.

A lot has changed since the era of horse and buggy travel.

A lot’s changed since the invention of the light bulb and electricity.

A lot’s changed over the years, and yet one thing stays the same.

man still has trouble.

Man still has things that we need to know.

Things that we maybe even look forward into the future as it were and say, future me needs

to know this.

when we think about our lives as individuals.

Maybe there are certain problems that uh you say that’s a future me problem.

That’s a problem for another day, right?

But when we think about our lives as Christians, some things don’t need to be put off.

Some things need to be taken care of right now.

But as taking the high road, most of us in here are faithful children of God, faithfully

trying to serve the Lord.

What do you want your future self to know?

What do you want your future self to read?

When we think about this idea, we are going at it from this idea of there will be

struggles in our lives years from now, maybe just weeks from now.

But when we face these struggles in our lives, when we think about what our future holds,

we need to think about it from the standpoint of what the Word of God tells us, of how we

can endure troubles, of how we can make it through trials.

of how we can be strong in the Lord no matter what happens on this earth.

The first thing that we need to know is that we are not alone.

If you would, open your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 20.

You see, Jeremiah, he was no stranger to difficulty.

He was one that faced much persecution in his life.

In fact, his time as a prophet was spent without anyone ever listening and truly heeding

his words.

He was ignored.

And so he had a strenuous tenure.

He had a difficult time as a prophet.

Picking up in verses one through six of Jeremiah 20,

Now, Pasher the son of Emre, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the

Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

He prophesied of coming destruction.

He prophesied of where their sin would lead them, of what the end result of falling in

their current wicked state would be.

Now, Pasher didn’t like to hear this.

And so in verse 2, then Pasher struck Jeremiah the prophet.

and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house

of the Lord.

And it happened on the next day that Pasher brought Jeremiah out of the stocks.

Then Jeremiah said to him, the Lord has not called your name Pasher, but Maggermizbub.

Try saying that three times fast.

thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a terror to yourselves and to all your

friends.

and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it.

It will give all Judah into the hand, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king

of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with a sword.

Moreover, I will deliver all the wealth of the city and all its produce and all its

precious things, and all the things of the treasures of the king of…

of the kings of Judah, I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them,

seize them and carry them to Babylon.

And you, pasture, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity.

You shall go down, you shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there.

You and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lie.

When we think about this idea of Jeremiah as being facing trouble, of facing trial.

there were those who were claiming to be servants of God.

Pasher was one who was claiming to be a prophet of God, but he was prophesying lies.

He was lying about the very things that Jeremiah was speaking the truth of God concerning.

And when Jeremiah presents the truth, Pasher tries to silence him.

Now as we kept reading, we noted that he didn’t succeed in silencing Jeremiah.

Jeremiah kept on prophesying the word of the Lord, but…

The point we’re trying to make here that we need to understand is Jeremiah faced

struggles.

He faced trials.

He faced hardship.

and he even wanted to quit.

Look at verses seven and verse nine.

Verse seven, oh Lord you induced me.

and I was persuaded.

You are stronger than I and have prevailed.

I am in derision daily.

Everyone mocks me.

For when I spoke, I cried out, I shouted, violence and plunder, because the word of the

Lord was made a reproach and a derision daily.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.

Jeremiah wanted to quit.

He wanted to stop.

He thought, I’ve had enough.

The persecution is too much.

Are there times when we feel the same?

Are there not times when we feel like this Christian life is just not worth it?

Or we become discouraged?

When we look at these things that surround us, the wickedness, I just think about what

month this is and what our country has sadly chosen to do with this month.

And it’s easy for us to look at all these things and to say, there’s no hope.

There’s no reason to keep going.

Lord, they’re not listening.

They don’t want to hear the gospel.

I’m done.

But if you notice, we didn’t finish reading first nine.

but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary of

holding back and I could not.

Jeremiah says, Lord, I’m done.

I quit.

I don’t want to speak anymore in your name because they’re not listening.

They’re mocking me.

They put me in stocks.

They have slapped me.

They have

persecuted me beyond what I thought I was going to face.

And Lord, you just lied to me because you said I wasn’t going to face any of these things.

The Lord didn’t promise him that.

He promised to deliver him through these trials.

But nevertheless, Jeremiah feels like quitting, but yet when he tries to actually quit, he

says, word was like a fire in my bones.

I couldn’t but speak the truth.

I couldn’t bud speak these things that God has told me about.

He got back to work.

Brethren, there are times when we feel like quitting.

When we say, it’s enough, I’m done, I can’t go on, I can’t keep going like this.

But we, like Jeremiah, need to get back to work.

And we’ll come back to this idea of the word being a fire in our bones later, but

We need to make sure.

We need to truly consider the words that we hold in our hands of how important these words

are, what they truly mean.

Because when we do, when we truly appreciate that these are the words by which man can be

saved, that teach us how to live, that teach us how to have a home and glory with our

Father, well then we like Jeremiah.

We’ll get back to work.

We’ll have those moments of struggle, yes, but we will remember Jeremiah and we too will

continue serving our God.

What else do we need to know?

We need to know, yes, that we’re not alone, that there are others who have faced similar

trials, there are others who have even faced worse trials than us, but we also need to

know that we can endure.

Carrying on with this idea of those who have faced worse trials than us, look with me at 2

Corinthians.

2 Corinthians chapter 11, there are few in the church

recorded for us in scripture that faced as much difficulty as Paul did.

He struggled much.

He faced much hardship, much persecution for the cause of Christ.

And yet, we read a record of his struggles, of his trials here in chapter 11.

Starting verse 16, I say again, let no one think me a fool.

have otherwise at least received me as a fool, that I also may boast a little.” In the

context of these individuals who were trying to say, well, I’m better than Paul, you

should be listening to me.

Paul doesn’t know what he’s talking.

Paul’s not even an apostle.

There’s no reason to listen to Paul.

Paul is saying, okay, if you want to play the game of I don’t have the right to speak when

God’s given me the inspiration, let me tell you what I’ve endured.

Now he mentions I speak as a fool.

This is not how Paul

normally would approach these things, but he needed to in this moment and the spirit gave

him inspiration to do so.

And in verse 17 he continues, what I speak I speak not according to the word or to the

Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting, seeing that many boast

according to the flesh, I will also boast.

For you put up with fools gladly since you yourselves are wise.

For you put up with it.

if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes you from, takes one from

you.

going down to verse 22.

Paul says, are they Hebrews?

So am I.

Are they Israelites?

So am I.

Are they the seed of Abraham?

So am I.

Are they ministers of Christ?

I speak as a fool.

I am more.

And laborers more abundant.

And stripes more, and stripes above measure.

And prisons more frequently.

And deaths often.

From the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a

night and a day I have been in the deep, and journeys often, and perils of water, and

perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles, and perils

in cities, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false

brethren, and weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often.

and hunger and thirst and fastings often and cold and nakedness, beside the other things,

what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak?

Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation?

He goes on and continues this thought, but suffice it to say, Paul suffered greatly.

He faced more than I would dare say any of us will ever face in our lives.

Than any of us have faced in our lives as Christians.

And yet, what do we see about Paul?

endured to the very end.

In 2 Timothy 4 and verses 6 through 8, Paul in concluding his time on earth and writing

his final epistle to his son in the faith, Timothy, he tells him, I have fought a good

fight.

Back in verse 6, he says, my time is at hand.

I’m ready to be offered as a drink offering.

I’m ready to go and be with the Lord.

Why?

because I have fought a good fight.

I have finished my course.

I have kept the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous

judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only but into all them also that love is

appearing.

Paul shows us the weekend in dirt.

And the apostle Paul faced far worse than we will ever face or have ever faced, and he

endured to the end, then so too can we, brethren.

Brothers and sisters, there is not a trial, there is not a temptation, there is not a

struggle on this earth, a persecution that we can face that can force us to abandon our

God.

Only we can choose that.

but stay true to him.

You can endure.

We can endure just as did Paul.

But you know there’s another example in scripture of one who endured and quite frankly

he’s the ultimate example.

That being our Savior Jesus the Christ.

Now Jesus suffered.

He suffered far worse

than what we can even possibly imagine.

And the reason was not that no one had ever suffered on the cross before.

The reason was not that no one had ever been scourged and beaten like Jesus was.

That was not why he suffered so much worse than everyone else.

The reason he suffered so much worse than any other human being, than any other being on

this earth is because he could have said no at any moment.

with any of the lashes that ripped his back apart.

He could have said, I’m done.

in any of the six hours that he remained on the cross, he could have said, Lord, I’m done.

No.

They want to see me come down from the cross.

I’ll show them how I can come down from the cross.

He could have said that.

but he didn’t.

and we look at passages such as Isaiah 53, wherein his suffering is prophesied.

And we read in verse one, verse two picking up, he shall grow up before him as a tender

plant and as a root out of a dry ground.

He has no form nor comeliness.

And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He has noticed this despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow.

and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised, and we did not esteem him.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him, stricken,

smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are…

Jesus suffered greatly.

1st Peter 2 and verses 22 through 25 tell us this again that how he suffered and yet he

did not revile.

He did not respond in kind to those who had treated him like dirt.

to those who had slapped him across the mouth for saying, as they would say, for speaking

to the high priest like he did, to those who would blindfold him and beat him and say,

tell us, teacher, if you are the son of God, tell us who struck you.

to those who wagged their heads at him as he hung on the cross in agony and said, if he’s

the son of God, let him come down.

He said to others, surely he can save himself.

but Jesus not respond in kind.

suffered but in his suffering he shows us an example of how to endure.

He shows us the fact that we too can endure.

We’re not going to be facing the same thing Jesus faced.

We won’t be hung on a cross for our faith.

We won’t endure the same mocking and beating that Jesus received.

But he has, as 1 Peter tells us, left us an example that we should follow in his steps.

Brethren, we can endure.

And in Hebrews 5, starting in verse 7, we see this very fact that Jesus did endure.

Hebrews 5, 7, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and

supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and

was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the

things which he suffered.

And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

Why did Jesus endure?

How did Jesus endure?

How did Paul endure?

Because their focus was not on this earth.

Paul looked for the place beyond the veil.

as Philippians 1 talks about, uh he was longing to be with his Lord, to be united with the

Father.

And when we think about Christ in his mind was the fact that he is the Savior of man.

with every stripe, with every hour he spent on the cross, there was the thought of…

Eric, you need this.

Jay, you need this.

Terry, you need this.

Jacob, you need this.

And further still was the thought of this is what the Father’s will is and I will do the

will of my Father.

in the life of Jesus and in the, what we have recorded for us in the Bible is this idea of

endurance through commitment, endurance through an understanding that this world is not

our home.

we can endure.

And when we face trials in our lives, when we face persecutions, when we face these

difficulties, we need to understand, we need to read the scriptures and realize we can

endure.

Number three, we need to understand, we need to realize that we have a purpose.

You have a purpose in this life.

I told you we were going back to Jeremiah.

We look at this idea of Jeremiah and how his purpose in life was to proclaim the word of

God as a prophet of the Lord.

And when he abandoned his purpose, when he abandoned the very reason he was walking on

this earth, the word of God was like a fire in his

It’s this idea of you just gotta tell somebody.

You can’t keep it quiet.

Have you ever had some news that you just could not help but sharing?

Now I know a lot of you in here are grandparents and I know that with my mom and dad just

about anytime you asked them about, you know, well how’s Brittany and Sam doing?

well let me show you the pictures.

We got two beautiful grandbabies.

You know, they would show pictures and everything.

They could not help but spread that news.

Is the Word of God like that to us?

is the Word of God such that we cannot help but spread it, but proclaim it.

Brethren, the gospel by its very definition is good news.

And yet many times we treat it as if it’s the worst thing that’s ever been brought to man.

try to hide it away.

when we look at this idea of the word being a fire in our bones.

Look with me at Acts chapter four.

Acts chapter 4.

In the context you have these individuals, Peter and John, who have faced or are facing

persecution because they faithfully proclaim the Word of God.

They were teaching about Jesus in the temple.

They had healed a man who had been lame since his birth.

He was lame 40 years.

and they were proclaiming the good news of Christ.

the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they didn’t want hear that.

They didn’t want Peter and John to be saying that they had crucified the Son of God.

And so when they tell these faithful apostles to stop speaking in the name of God, notice

what happens here.

Verse 15 starting, when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they

conferred among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men?

For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell

in Jerusalem.

And we cannot deny it.

But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that

from now on they speak to no man in this name, the name of Jesus.

So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of

Jesus.

And notice their response.

But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to

listen to you more than to God, you judge.

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

In other words, Peter and John said, you’re not going to keep us quiet.

You’re not going to stop us from spreading the gospel.

We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Well, brethren, what have we seen and heard?

We have heard God’s word.

We hear it every time we come together.

We hear it and read it as we do our personal Bible studies.

But we also hear God’s word.

The things that we have seen and heard as it were is the fact that salvation

is available that you don’t have to die in sin.

that you can be saved.

You can be in a right relationship with the Father.

Is that not good news?

Tell me, have I misunderstood something?

Is this not good news?

It is.

So why don’t we share it?

Why don’t we lead others to the one who can save them?

Brethren, our goal is heaven.

The purpose of this earth, of being on this earth, yes, part of that is the idea of the

word being a fire in our bones that we are here to spread the word of God.

Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

but another purpose of ours.

Another reason, the reason why we fight, the reason why we struggle, the reason why we

endure is because heaven is the victory.

Yes, we fight Satan on this earth.

2 Corinthians 10 verses 3 through 6 tell us this plainly that we are in a spiritual

warfare.

We are in a battle against the devil.

We are fighting against his cause.

doing our best to serve the Lord.

And we are as soldiers of the cross.

As Christians, we are soldiers fighting for our Lord, fighting for our King.

It’s not yet time to lay down our weapons.

until the trumpet of God sounds or until we are lying on our deathbed.

It’s not time to drop your weapons.

Rather, it’s time to take up arms against the devil and to fight with a purpose in our

hearts.

The purpose of heaven as our reward, as our home.

We fight to attain heaven.

We fight to go home.

My great uncle served in World War II.

My dad one time asked him, what were you thinking when you were over there?

What were some of the things that were just going through your mind?

And he said, it was a job.

We did our job and we wanted to go home.

What was the goal for my great uncle?

His goal was to get back home.

Brethren, for us as soldiers of the cross, soldiers of Christ, soldiers of the King of

Kings, our goal is to go home and to take as many people with us as we can.

That’s our purpose.

That’s the reason why we fight.

That’s the reason why we struggle.

Look with me at 1 Corinthians 9.

Read with me there, 1 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 24.

Paul writes, you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the

prize?

Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who completes or competes, rather, for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty.

Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.

but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to

others, I myself should be disqualified.” Paul’s purpose on this earth, his goal in

preaching to the Corinthians, his goal and doing the work that he did in those missionary

journeys and just his life in general, his goal was that imperishable crown.

His goal was reaching heaven.

His goal was bringing all of us with Him, as many as He good, as many as He could reach.

But His purpose was also seen in glorifying the Master.

Back up a few chapters to chapter six.

1st Corinthians 6 and verse 20, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in

your body and in your spirit, which are God.

Brethren, don’t belong to ourselves as Christians.

We don’t belong to ourselves.

We belong to the Master.

We belong to the Lord.

We belong to the one who bought us, who saved us from our sin.

We belong to the Savior.

And as such, our purpose on earth is to glorify our master, it’s to glorify our Lord.

We have been bought with a price.

What was this price?

First Peter 1: 18 through 19 tells us we were not redeemed with corruptible things as

silver and gold.

We weren’t bought with currency, but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as

of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

We have been bought.

Therefore we glorify our Father.

We shine the light of God.

We do what we can to be an example to those around us, to point people to God.

Matthew 5:16 tells us that we are shining our light, not so that men can glorify us, but

that so they can see our good works and glorify the Father, which is in heaven.

Our purpose is to live for the Lord.

Our purpose is to serve Him.

Brethren, we have one purpose on this earth and it’s not to get the most riches.

It’s not to have the most comfortable lifestyle.

Our purpose on earth is revealed to us in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13.

Fear God and keep His commandments.

Solomon tried everything.

He lived in luxury.

He lived for the thrill as the saying goes.

He did everything that the world says, surely this will give you a good life.

Surely this is what life is all about.

And he says, it’s all vanity.

It’s all pointless and empty.

but to live for God, to keep His commandments, now that is a life worth living.

That is our purpose on earth.

What future you needs to read?

We looked at this idea of.

enduring.

The idea of suffering, that we’re not alone in our suffering, but that just as others

endured, just as others went through trials, we too can endure and come out the better.

and that we have a purpose on this earth.

It’s not all for nothing.

But what does present you need to read?

What do you need to know right now?

If you’re not a Christian, then you need to know that there’s a way to be saved.

That although you’re lost in your sins and you are on the road to hell, you can be saved.

It’s not too late.

having heard God’s Word, do you believe it?

Will you repent of your sins?

Will you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?

Will you be baptized for the remission of your sins?

But maybe present you is a Christian, but wayward.

Having lived a life that was at one point dedicated to the cause, dedicated to the truth,

dedicated to the Lord, but Satan’s good at his job.

and you fell and you want to come home.

You want to be reunited with your family.

Be reunited with the Father on the path to heaven.

And we stand ready to help you.

Friends, if we can be of any assistance to help you make your life right with God so that

you’re ready to see Him, so that future you, the you that’s in eternity can say, this is

exactly what you need to do.

Don’t give up because heaven’s worth it.

If we can help make heaven your home, then come now as we stand.

A Study on Prayer (Lesson 1) – Jacob Kennedy – Jun 7, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, Christian life, faith, forgiveness, God's throne, intercession, Jesus Christ, keywords prayer, sin, thanksgiving by Aaron Cozort

image

As you can see, I am not Aaron.

uh He is traveling at this time and he’s out of town, asked me to fill in for him for the

Bible class portion of service this morning.

And so please accept the poor substitute of an Aaron.

But we’ll begin as per normal with a 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 this day that you have blessed us with.

We thank you for all that you have done.

Lord, we are thankful that we have this time to gather together to praise your name, to

study from your word.

Lord, we pray that as we consider the topic of prayer, as we look at your word, at what it

describes as being prayer, that we will grow in our faith and grow in our appreciation for

the beautiful gift that we have.

be able to come before you and to talk to you, Lord.

Lord, we pray that in all things we will strive to be the Christians that you would have

us to be, strive to live for you, and we pray all these things in your Son’s name, amen.

We will be discussing in Bible class today the topic of prayer and we’ll also carry this

over into Wednesday night class for Lord willing.

We’ll continue this topic of describing prayer and doing a study on prayer.

First and foremost, when we consider this idea of prayer, the first thing we need to

understand is, well, what is prayer?

What is this thing that we call prayer?

And it’s interesting that the word itself of pray does not appear in the Old Testament

until Genesis 20 in verse 7.

Now, if you look at me, look with me in Genesis 20 in verse 7, we know something very

interesting about how prayer is used here.

The context being of course that Abraham and Sarah are in Abimelek’s country and Abraham

fears Abimelek that he’s going to kill him to take Sarah to be his wife.

And so he lies to Abimelek and Abimelek takes Sarah to be his wife or to do and in that in

so doing he sins against God.

Now Abimelek doesn’t know this at this point but God reveals it to him and we pick up in

verse seven.

where God says, now therefore restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet and he will pray

for you and you shall live.

But if you do not restore her, you know that you shall surely die, you and all who are

yours.

So the first mention of prayer we have in scripture of the actual term pray, not to say

that there weren’t prayers before this, as we’ll note later, but the first use of the word

pray,

has to do with intercession.

It has to do with someone who is praying, who is going to God on another’s behalf.

Abimelech is told that Abraham will go to God on his behalf to get forgiveness for him.

And when we think about this idea.

It’s not just in the Old Testament.

The idea of intercession through prayer is not just in the Old Testament, but if you look

at Matthew chapter five and verse 44, which is the first mention of pray in the New

Testament, we read, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do

good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

So the first mention of pray in the Old Testament, the first mention of pray in the New

Testament, both have to do with praying for others.

So with going to God for others.

intercession.

And this hits at what prayer, a large part of prayer is, and that’s going to God for

someone else.

It’s this idea of looking at your fellow man and saying, you need God’s help.

Or maybe even as we say, as Christians, brother, I need, I need prayers.

Sister, I need prayers.

This is going on in my life and I need you to go for God for me.

We have this idea of prayer being something we do between us and God, but that reflects on

other people.

There’s a connection here between others and us and our God.

Now, the key element of prayer, course, is the fact that we are praying to God.

We’re not praying to ourselves.

We’re not praying to some pagan deity.

We’re not praying to science.

No, we’re praying to the Almighty.

We’re praying to the Lord God.

He is our Father.

And there’s an interesting point that’s brought up in Proverbs 15.

If you would turn with me there, Proverbs 15 and verse 8.

An interesting point about prayer that I actually had not seen until studying for the new

converts class and in the book that Bobby Bates wrote, Growing in Christ, he mentions this

verse in relation to the topic of prayer.

It’s very interesting to see how God views our prayers.

15 in verse 8, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.

But notice this.

But the prayer of the upright is what?

His the lie.

Now just think about that for a moment.

Have you ever thought about the fact that prayer is a delight to God?

He delights, he is happy to hear from his faithful children.

He is happy to hear from the righteous.

We of course think about prayer as being this idea of intercession for others or even

praying to God about things that are struggles in our lives, maybe asking for forgiveness

as we’ll note later.

But just stop and consider the fact that when we pray to God, He smiles.

He’s happy to hear from us.

When we think about this idea of God being our Father, I can’t help but think about how

with my dad, whenever he wants to hear from me, he and mom both, they want to hear from

me.

And I don’t, I see you, Miss Eddie.

I know I don’t always do a good job of talking to them, but they enjoy to hear from me.

The same is true with God.

He enjoys to hear from His children.

He enjoys those conversations that we have with Him.

Now, they might be painful at times.

The times when we go to God saying, I’ve failed you, Lord.

I need your help.

There are times when we are deeply concerned and troubled for others and there’s a pain in

our prayer, yes, but in the end, God loves to hear from you, from every one of you.

Everyone who is righteous, God loves to hear from you.

But we also consider prayer as it is a casting of our burdens upon God.

In 1 Peter 5 and verse 7 tells us to cast all your cares upon Him.

Why?

where he cares for you.

When we cast our burdens on God, it takes the form of a prayer often, where we look to God

and we say, Lord, I can’t handle this.

This is above my pay grade.

I need you to take care of this.

One of the instructors at school talks about how there are times when he’ll be restlessly

sleep, or trying to sleep, I should say, heavy burden on his mind, and he’ll just stop and

say a prayer to God and say, Lord, you take over.

I can’t do any more with this.

I’ve done what I can do.

It’s all up to you now.

I said, you know, those are the sweetest nights of rest for him.

And truthfully, that is the case when we cast our burdens on God in prayer, when we say to

the Lord, you’ve got this, I don’t.

There’s a peace there.

There’s a comfort.

Along these lines of comfort, along these lines of thanksgiving even, look at me at

Philippians chapter four.

Philippians chapter 4, where Paul writing to the church in Philippi gives them some

information about how to, as verse 4 says, rejoice in the Lord always.

In verse 6 he says, and notice this, peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

How is it that the peace of God guards our hearts and minds?

How is it that the peace of God that passes understanding keeps us and gives us comfort?

Well, it’s because we pray to God.

We cast our cares on Him.

When the struggles of our lives become over burdensome, too much for us to bear, we throw

them on God.

We cast them to God because guess what?

He’s got shoulders that can bear the load.

He can bear the weight of our struggles.

He can bear the weight of our burdens, but it’s up to us to cast them on him.

We often have a mindset in this nation and it’s not a bad mindset, but it’s one that says,

I can do it myself.

I don’t need anybody else.

I can handle this problem on my own.

There are some problems we can handle by ourselves.

Yes, absolutely.

And God does expect us to do what we can do.

Absolutely.

But what about the times when we can’t do anymore?

What about those burdens that we cannot, we just simply cannot bear alone?

Well, those are the ones that we cast on God.

Those are the ones that we lay at His feet for Him to pick up and carry, because we can’t

carry it alone.

And through this, through this casting our cares on Him, through this avenue of prayer, we

can have peace.

We don’t have to be over worried or as the new King James says, anxious about the things

in this life because we know who can bear our burdens.

We know in whom we trust.

And so prayer is how we cast our burdens on God, but it’s also part of how we thank our

Lord.

Now, we notice this a little bit in Philippians 4 and verse 6, but look at me at Psalm 91.

Psalm 92, if I could read my notes that would be great.

Psalm 92.

Here we’re going to notice how that David describes, the psalmist describes this idea of

thanksgiving through Psalm and prayer and worship.

Read with me.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High.

to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night on an

instrument of ten strings on the lute on the harp with harmonious sound.

For you, Lord, have made me glad through your work.

I will triumph in the work of your hands.

O Lord, how great are your works!

Your thoughts are very deep.

A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this.

When the wicked spring up like grass,

and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they may be destroyed forever.

But you, Lord, are on high forevermore.

For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish.

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But my horn you have exalted, you have exalted like a wild ox.

I have been anointed with fresh oil.

My eyes have also have seen my desires on my enemies.

My ears hear my desire on the wicked who rise up against me.

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall they shall still bear fruit in old age.

They shall be fresh.

and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright.

He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him.” When we think about this idea of

prayer, part of our prayer should be exactly what’s expressed in this song.

The idea of giving thanks to God for who He is, for what He has done.

Have you ever thought about the fact that without God, we wouldn’t exist?

Without God, we would be nothing but a pile of dirt.

Without God, we are nothing but with God.

We have value.

We have purpose.

We have a family that goes beyond biological family.

We have a relationship with the Almighty Himself.

Does he not deserve our praise?

Does he not deserve our thanks?

There are times when we get caught up in this world, and we get caught up in the struggles

and the trials of this world, and every prayer, it seems like, is either a prayer for

forgiveness or a prayer asking for help.

But is it not beneficial to take a step back?

and to just thank God.

When was the last time you spent an entire prayer doing nothing but thanking God for what

He’s done, for who He is?

It’s a sobering thought.

We as Christians have a a beautiful blessing of being able to talk to God at any time and

yet so many times we squander that.

Isn’t it wonderful to be able to thank our Lord?

Isn’t it wonderful to stop and as the song says, count your blessings, name them one by

one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Prayer is not only this idea of thanksgiving, but it is also, as we’ve noted, supplication

on the behalf of others.

Well, let me backtrack on that.

We’ve noticed this idea of intercession on behalf of others, but now we’re looking at

supplication on behalf of others.

And there is a slight difference in these two.

But what we’re considering with this idea of supplication is found in 1 Timothy chapter

two.

1st Timothy chapter 2.

Well, Reed versus one and two.

Paul writes to the preacher Timothy, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications,

prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for, notice this, all men, for kings

and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness

and reverence.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be

saved and to come to the knowledge.

of the truth.

part of this idea of prayer is going before God on behalf of others.

We’ve already noticed this to an extent, yes, but I want you to notice specifically this

idea of all men.

Now, Paul, are you saying that I need to pray for those who I don’t really like?

Now, Paul, surely you’re not saying I need to pray for those who voted against the guy I

wanted to run for president.

Now, surely, Paul, you’re not saying I need to pray for those who are in denominations and

those who are attacking the church.

Surely I don’t need to pray for those, right?

Now Paul, you’re not saying I need to pray for those politicians that are making a mess of

Washington.

He says, all men.

It doesn’t matter if you like who it is or not.

We as Christians ought to have a mindset that says, I’m going to pray.

There are times when we find people who grind our gears, so to speak.

They’re hard to get along with.

But have you ever tried praying for…

Have you ever taken the time to maybe in your morning prayers or before you go to bed at

night, you just stop and say, Lord, you know this guy gets on my nerves, but be with him.

Lord, help him with whatever he’s going through and help me to have a good mindset when I

encounter him.

Help me to show your light in the way that I live and the way I conduct myself.

Admittedly, I’ve had to pray that prayer a couple times myself, but it makes a difference.

It’s kind of hard to be rude and ugly towards an individual that you’re constantly praying

for.

And that’s what Paul is saying.

We are to lead a quiet and peaceable life.

And he’ll later say, or he also says, and I believe it’s in Romans, he mentions the fact

that as much as lies within us, we ought to live peaceably with all men.

And part of that is involved in praying for them and going to God on their behalf.

A lot of these people that get on our nerves that are hard to get along with, they have a

lot of struggles in them.

they’re irritable because they’re constantly facing things that they don’t know how to

deal with.

And if you know that that’s the case, maybe try to help.

Maybe try praying for that situation.

That’s what Paul tells us to do.

The goal is to not get one over on them, is not to win the argument.

The goal is to have peace.

And if the person is a lost individual, the goal is to bring them to Christ.

The goal is to show them what they’re missing.

But we also know that prayer is our access to the throne of grace.

In Hebrews 4 and verse 15.

We are shown something that’s very important for us to note when we look at this idea of

prayer.

In Hebrews, really the whole book of Hebrews addresses to us the fact that we have

something better.

The old law served its purpose.

The law of Moses was effective for what its need was to be a schoolmaster to bring us to

Christ.

But now that we are in Christ, now that we have the new covenant, now that we have the New

Testament, we have something better.

That’s the whole point of the book of Hebrews is don’t turn back because you have that for

which these people fought and died to even get a glimpse of.

So in chapter four, we specifically note the comparison between the old high priest and

that of Christ.

In verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the

heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.

but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Now this sets the stage for

verse 16.

He says, us therefore, because of who our high priest is, because he has faced all these

trials, because he knows what it means to be human, and because he has delivered us from

sin, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,

and find grace to help in time of need.

Brethren, there are times when we need mercy.

Well, maybe y’all don’t, but I know I do.

There are often times when the majority of my prayers in a week are just praying to God,

forgive me.

I’ve messed up.

I’ve done wrong.

But what we have as Christians is a direct line to the Father.

We don’t have to go before a priest and say, I need you to offer a sin offering for me.

We don’t have to go to the high priest and say, could you inquire at God’s hand?

Could you go before God for me?

Because I can’t go to him myself.

at any moment that we realize what we have done is wrong, we can stop and pray to God and

ask him for forgiveness, for mercy and no granted.

But not only that, we also can be given grace to help in times of need.

There are times when we face the great struggles in our lives.

There are times when Satan’s temptations are hard to resist.

But in those times of need, when we reach out to God, when we pray to Him, we can have

strength.

We can have what we need to resist the devil.

And truthfully, he’s given us what we need in his word.

When Jesus faced off against Satan in Matthew 4, what did he use?

The words of God.

He used the Bible, the Scriptures to defeat Satan.

to drive him away and that’s what we have today.

We have the completed Word of God in the palms of our hands.

but we also have the power of prayer on our side.

And truly it is a powerful, powerful tool.

But one final note on this idea of what is prayer.

Welcome me at John 16 and verse 23.

John 16 23, Jesus tells us that prayer is not through anyone else but him.

That our prayers are to be through him.

John 16 23, and in that day you will ask me nothing.

But assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

Why is it that we end almost all of our prayers with, Jesus’ name, amen?

By his authority, he’s our mediator.

What we are doing when we’re saying those words, if we truly mean them, is we’re saying

that this prayer is by Christ’s authority.

It is through Jesus that we pray.

It is through His blood and His saving as we have become Christians and have been washed

in the blood of Christ, it is through that means that we can go before God in prayer.

Enter his throne and talk to him.

But it also means that the prayers that we pray need to be in accordance with Jesus’s

authority, with the Father’s will.

Meaning we’re not going to pray for a sin to take place.

That prayer’s not going to be heard.

But a prayer asking God for help in times of struggle, a prayer asking for forgiveness

when we’ve done wrong, a prayer asking for blessings on those who are

down on their luck, a prayer for help to those who are sick, those prayers are heard.

What we understand when it comes to prayer is that it is something that’s far more

powerful than we often give it credit for.

but only if it’s truly through Christ.

But next we ask the question, well then who can pray?

So we understand now a better picture of what is prayer, but now we need to ask the

question, well, who is it that can go before God in prayer?

Prayer is a conversation between God and His children.

Now, let me preface this term conversation by saying God is not directly talking to us

today.

When you sit down or get on your knees or stand in prayer, whatever posture you take when

praying,

God is not going to part the clouds and directly speak to you.

That’s not how this works nowadays.

But what we mean by conversation is that we are conversing with God.

are talking to the Father.

We are speaking to Him and by His Word and by His providence we hear Him.

But when we think about this idea of father-son relationship, father-daughter

relationship, Matthew 6 and verse 9 gives us a record of how Christ was teaching his

apostles, his disciples, how to pray.

And how did he begin?

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

but don’t run over the fact that he says, our father.

God is not some distant figure.

disembodied voice that we just blindly follow because we’re afraid of Him.

Yes, there are times to be afraid of God, absolutely.

But as Christians, we have a closeness to Him, where He’s near at hand.

He is our Father wanting to hear from us, desiring to hear our voices and wanting to aid

us when He can and when it fits His will.

But what’s important is the fact that we have to make sure our relationship with Him is

right.

If we are not a child of God, how can we go before the Lord and say, Father?

you can make the argument, well, he created the universe.

So in that sense, he’s our father.

You can say that.

But Paul had something a little bit more different to say.

Second Corinthians, chapter six.

2 Corinthians 6 in verse 18.

Paul in quoting the prophecies of old said, I will, he’s referring to God, I will be a

father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters says the Lord Almighty.

Now how does this happen?

How do we become the sons and daughters of God?

How do we become his children?

Well in verse 17 he says, therefore come out from among them and be separate says the

Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you.

How is it that we can become sons and daughters of God?

How is it that we can be called children of God?

How is it that we can call God our Father?

He says it in the text.

We have to separate ourselves from the world.

We have to be different than the world.

And how do we do that?

By becoming a Christian.

By following in the plan that God has laid forth for us to be saved.

Romans 12, verses 1 2 tells us that we are giving ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.

As Christians, we’re offering ourselves up to God to say we’re not following the world.

We’re not remaining in the world as those who seek after the worldly pleasures whose only

drive is for the things of this world.

But no, we live for the Lord.

We live as living sacrifices saying not my will,

But yours be done.

And when we are Christians, when we are faithfully living for God, we can pray to Him and

He hears our prayers.

Truly prayer is a beautiful thing.

to think about the Almighty as powerful as He is, to think about the One who knows all

things.

stopping to listen to us.

to hear our prayer.

beautiful thought.

It truly is a wonderful thing that we have.

And when we think about this idea of prayer, of course, this idea of the prayer of

children, of his children, of those who belong to him.

Look with me at James, or rather at 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 12.

First Peter 3, 12.

Peter writes, for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.

His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

There’s an important contrast here.

An important contrast between those who are doing what’s right, those who are living for

the Lord, and those who are serving Satan.

Living in wickedness, living in unrighteousness.

those who are doing evil.

And what we see is a God who looks at those who are doing righteous, who are living for

Him, who are serving as Christians, and He says, my ears are open to your prayers.

My eyes are looking on you, keeping you safe, caring for you, watching over you as the

Father does His children.

But when we think about those who are against God, those who are living in wickedness,

those who are serving the devil, you almost see as it were his back is turned to them.

he’s listening.

He hears what they’re saying.

but what they’re saying is not being truly heard.

because there’s a separation.

And that brings us to something we must understand is that sin separates us from God.

When think about those who are lost in sin praying to God, it’s often been described that

their prayer doesn’t go above the ceiling.

And that’s true.

God does not forgive those in sin just simply because they pray.

We look at Acts chapter 9 and what was Paul doing?

After being confronted with the weight of the fact that he had been persecuting the very

Lord he thought he was serving.

When he’s confronted with the fact that he was kicking against and biting against and

fighting against the church that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, deity himself died for.

When he’s confronted with this truth, he’s in mourning.

He’s in agony.

He’s fasting.

And notice what the text says he was doing.

He was praying.

Now when God sends Ananias to Paul, does he say, so Ananias, I need you to go and give

some comfort to your brother Paul?

As a fellow Christian, he needs a little comfort because he’s still in mourning.

Is that what God tells Ananias to do?

No.

He says that there is one who needs to know how to be saved and you’re going to preach the

gospel to him.

and by the way, you’ll know him because he’s the one that’s praying.

If prayer alone saves an individual, then why did it not save the Apostle Paul?

If all one has to do is say a quote, sinner’s prayer to be saved and in a right

relationship with God, then why did God not save Paul?

But rather when Ananias comes to Paul he says, why are you waiting?

Arise and be baptized and what?

Wash away your sins.

because I hadn’t been forgiven yet.

So while prayer is powerful, sin separates us from God in prayer.

He’s not hearing the prayer of those who are lost, but he’s listening.

His ears are turned towards the one, the ones who are righteous, who are Christians, those

who are living for him.

Now does that mean that God will never hear the prayer of an individual who’s saying,

Lord, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know I’m doing something wrong.

I need your help to find the truth.

Well, Jesus says that the one who’s seeking, the one who’s knocking is going to be

answered.

He’s going to find what he’s looking for.

And we look at a man like Cornelius in Acts chapter 10.

He was one who

was righteous in the sense of living a worldly, considered good life.

He was trying to do what was right, but he still had some things wrong.

Specifically, the fact that he was not a Christian.

That didn’t know how to become one.

So what does God do?

Does he just ignore Cornelius?

No, he sends him Peter to preach to him the gospel, to teach him the truth.

And so there is a case to be made that God does hear the prayer of a soul who’s seeking

the truth in the sense of allowing them opportunity, opening doors before them to hear the

word of God proclaim.

but it is not to the extent that he hears the prayers of the righteous, that he hears the

prayers of help and strength that the child of God offers to him.

And so sin separates us from God.

But when we think about this idea of sin separating and we think about this idea of being

a Christian, what does 1 John 1 tell us about what happens when we sin as Christian?

1 John 1.

There’s great comfort given in the text of 1 John as he writes to Christians, helping them

to know how they can know that they are saved, that they don’t have to fear the judgment

day but can look on it with a hope and a comfort knowing that they’re right with God.

And picking up in verse 9,

John writes, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now keep in mind, to whom is John writing?

He’s writing to Christians.

And as he’s writing to Christians, he tells them, if you stumble and fall, if you have sin

in your life, go to God and He’ll forgive you.

Repent of your sin and confess it to the Lord and He’ll forgive you.

What a beautiful picture that is for those of us who are Christians.

That when we fall short, when we stumble and fall, when sin is in our lives, we can look

at the Lord and pray to him and say, Father, I’ve sinned.

I’ve wronged you.

And just like that prodigal son, the Lord welcomes us with open arms.

Happy that a lost soul, a son of his who was lost is found again.

A son of his who was dead is alive again.

Sin separates the child of God from his father, but prayer is the means by which we can be

restored.

and what a beautiful thing that is.

What a beautiful blessing we have in this idea of prayer.

And we’ll study this again more on Wednesday night.

But as we face the week, take some time to pray.

I’m sure many of you already are, but maybe throw in an extra prayer here and there.

Watch if it doesn’t change your life.

How you think about things.

How you trust in the Father.

Brothers and sisters, we as Christians are to be people of prayer because God wants to

hear from His children.

Thank you for your kind attention.

You’re dismissed.