Revelation 11 (Lesson 4) – Aaron Cozort – May 03, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, Christ's reign, Christian theology, end times, keywords Revelation, prophecy, spiritual victory, symbolism by Aaron Cozort

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Amen.

Isaiah, go plug the screen in.

We’re in chapter 11 and by way of review, well, nothing is going to work this morning.

So we’ll just review it without the screen.

So by way of review, oh as you open the book, you find John, he is worshiping on the

Lord’s day.

There’s a reason, by the way, that we go through this review each time because if, as

we’re going through it,

we should be capturing in our mind the flow of the book.

The book is not like some other books where you just open it up, you read a few verses or

a psalm and that psalm and that chapter is detached from the previous one.

This is kind of like opening a novel.

And if you open a novel that you’ve never read, you know nothing about, and you decide to

open the page 100 out of 300 and you just start.

How’s the novel gonna go?

Poorly, because it’s not being used the way it was designed to be used, okay?

So as we go through the book of Revelation, we’re taking the time to review at beginning

of each class for one, because somebody might have missed a class and somebody might be

catching up, but for another, because as we’re looking at this, it is a progression.

There are events that,

lead from this event to that event to the next event.

eh So John is in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.

He’s in exile on Patmos and he is there worshiping and as he is worshiping he hears a

voice behind him and he turns around to see one who is represented by this glorified

figure of Christ.

Christ is the one who has the stars in his right hand and he has the golden lampstands

around him.

He tells us that the stars are what in chapter one?

Seven churches, do not miss, as we get into chapter 11, that we’ve already been told what

stars represent, okay?

So, he’s there, and he holds seven stars in his right hand, and they are the seven

churches.

And he’s surrounded by seven golden lampstands, and what do those represent?

the angels of the seven churches, the messengers of the seven churches.

Okay.

So then as the book is introduced, the introduction is written to these seven churches of

Asia Minor.

And then in chapter four, John sees an open door.

John goes through the open door and we’re presented with a visionary picture of the throne

room of God.

The one who’s sitting on the throne just got to the throne.

He’d never been on the throne before.

He just started reigning that day, right?

No.

You mean the one who’s on the throne when John goes into the throne room and the one he

sees who’s on the throne has been there the entire time?

That’s gonna be important to remember when we get into chapter 11, that John didn’t show

up and suddenly God’s now reigning.

You remember what Nebuchadnezzar learned in Daniel chapter four, when God put

Nebuchadnezzar quite literally out to pasture for a period of time?

When Nebuchadnezzar came back to his senses and was returned back to his throne, what did

Nebuchadnezzar declare?

That the God of the Hebrews was the only true God, and that He ruled in the kingdoms of

men.

Now that was a true statement.

And He also said that He gives power to whom soever He wills.

In other words, not only does He rule, He rules exclusively

He rules exhaustively.

There is no one who matches His authority anywhere, at any point, at any time.

And that has been true since the day that the world began.

It was true when Nebuchadnezzar was on the throne.

It is true when Caesar is on the throne.

It’s true when John walks into the throne room.

At no point in time did God hand over His authority over this universe.

He was ruling when John went through the door.

Okay?

So all those who are in heaven, the beasts that are before the throne, the elders that are

before the throne, they fall down and they worship the one who is before the throne.

They cast their crowns of victory before the one who’s on the throne.

And then you see in chapter five, there’s a book in the hand of the one who’s sitting on

the throne.

And they go searching heaven and earth to find anyone who’s worthy to open the seven seals

that are closing the revelation from God that is standing or that is sitting there in the

right hand of the one who’s on the throne.

And John wants to know what it says and John begins to weep because there’s no one worthy

in heaven or on earth or who’s in the grave who’s able to open the seals.

As John begins to weep, someone comes to John and says, do not weep for one who has been

found who is worthy.

To open the book and notice it is Jesus Christ.

It is the lamb that was slain.

It was the one who appears to be dead but is standing upright.

It is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

and he is worthy to open the scrolls.

So he is declared worthy to open the scrolls and again worship is offered by those who are

in heaven, by those who are on earth, by those who are the elders who are before the

throne and they praise the one who’s worthy to open the scrolls.

As he opens the first seal, begins to show John what’s in the Revelation, a white horse

goes forth and he’s conquering.

The one who’s on the white horse looks like the primary enemy that Rome could never

defeat.

And he’s going forth and he’s conquering like a Parthian warrior.

And then there’s this red horse.

difficulties start to arise.

And then there’s this black horse and more difficulties start to arise.

Then there’s this pale horse and death starts to come.

And then you have the fifth seal open and the saints who are dying as a result of the

persecution from horse two, three, and four…

are crying out under the altar asking the Lord, how long are you going to let this go on?

And they’re told to rest for a little while, they’re given white robes, and then the sixth

seal is opened.

Sixth seal is opened, and you have an initial picture of the wrath of the Lamb coming

against those who are persecuting the people of God.

This is picture one of the point of the book.

This is like reading the preface on that novel.

It sets up the book because when the seventh seal is opened, then you’re gonna get a

partial judgment that is part of the picture in the sixth seal.

The sixth seal is a representative forecast, if you would.

You know, when we turn on the Weather Channel and we look at what’s

coming when there’s a storm on the way and you look at the forecast, do you watch the

forecast before the storm arrives, during the storm, or after the storm?

If you’re paying attention to the weather, you watch it before it arrives.

It’s a little late when it’s past you.

Like, hey, give me an update on what happened.

That’s the news versus the forecast.

Okay, the forecast is what’s coming.

That’s what the sixth seal is.

It’s a forecast of what’s coming.

The difference is when God gives a forecast, God’s always right.

When the weatherman gives a forecast, God’s always right.

But anyway, so.

As the sixth seal is opened and as this judgment is forecasted, the angels say, wait,

wait, wait, wait, you can’t start the judgment yet.

We’ve got to mark all the people of God so none of them get judged.

They’re exempted from the judgment.

So they need a stamp on their foreheads that has the name of God on it so that we know not

to judge them.

This is a picture.

like the lamb’s blood on the doorposts in Egypt.

Every house that had the blood on the doorposts in Egypt didn’t have what happened.

Firstborn didn’t die because all of the people who belonged to God, who obeyed God, had a

sign on their house that indicated we’re exempt from the judgment.

That’s the picture.

So then the partial judgment begins and you’ve got the seven trumpets.

As the seven trumpets begin to sound, a third of this is judged and a third of that is

judged and a third of this is judged and all of these things begin to happen.

and you start seeing things like the sun turns dark and the moon turns to blood and the

stars fall from the sky and the earth is ripped open and all these fantastic things begin

to occur and you think, no, the world’s coming to an end.

Except all it is is Old Testament language like Isaiah chapter 34, where God uses all the

same figures to describe the fall of a nation like Edom.

At what point in Old Testament history was Edom a world power that affected the entire

planet?

Never.

Not one time in all of history.

Yet when Edom, the descendants of Esau, as a nation fell and their fall was prophesied by

Isaiah, Isaiah spoke of it in language as if the world was coming to an end.

Because in the nation of Edom, the world was coming to an end.

The nation was going to be judged.

So in Isaiah 34, Isaiah uses language like the sun turns to darkness and the moon turns to

blood and thundering and lightning and all these things occur and all these forecasting is

the fall of the nation that is a miniscule nation that exists in one small subset of one

small part of the world.

In this case, God speaking of Rome.

And we’re gonna see that.

Then, as those uh trumpets begin to sound, you get the fifth trumpet and one woe is

pronounced.

And the sixth trumpet and another woe is pronounced.

And before the seventh trumpet sounds, as you’re getting a warning, the seventh trumpet is

about to sound, there’s another pause.

And John sees an angel, a mighty angel, a high representative of the throne of God.

He’s got God’s rainbow over his head.

He’s a mighty angel.

He’s got one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, and he speaks.

And John is told to go to him, and he goes to the angel, and he says, give me the little

book that’s in your hand, another revelation from God.

And John takes the little book and he eats the book because this is Old Testament Ezekiel

imagery.

And it’s sweet as honey in his mouth, but it’s bitter in his belly.

The message is not going to be a positive one except it’s a message from God, so it’s

good, but it’s forecasting a hard time.

And so John begins to deliver to the Christians what he’s seeing and he’s going to see two

witnesses.

These witnesses come forth and they’ve got the representation of the Old Testament

prophets.

They look like Moses and Elijah, not physically, but in the deeds that they do.

They speak great things.

They speak the message of God and while they’re speaking, nobody can touch them.

But when the message ends, the world comes forth and it kills them.

Matter of fact, the great city comes forth and kills them.

the great city that was known as Egypt and Sodom and the city that killed our Lord.

Now we’ve talked about before and we talked about last week that the city that killed our

Lord was what city?

Jerusalem.

But they used whose authority and power to do it?

Rome.

But we also talked about that the picture here is a three-fold picture.

Egypt represented those who persecuted God’s people, those who rejected the authority and

the Word of God.

Sodom represented those whose immorality was so degraded that they had rejected God

entirely and they were judged for it.

Corruption morally, corruption politically.

The third city, Jerusalem,

represented religious corruption because it wasn’t a great government that opposed Jesus

Christ.

It was the religious leaders in Israel who opposed Jesus Christ.

Those who were supposed to be the shepherds of God’s people opposed the shepherd from God

and they killed him.

And so the great city here is pictured three ways, with corrupted political power, with

corrupted morality, and with corrupted religion.

But the city that is the great city in Revelation sits on seven hills.

And what city in New Testament power sat on seven hills?

Rome.

So Rome is pictured as the ones who kill God’s two witnesses.

And then they do what?

Throw a party.

They start rejoicing.

They don’t even bother to bury them.

Leave them dead in the streets.

God’s witnesses are left.

And as they throw a party and rejoice and just have a grand old time, three and a half

days go by.

What happens at the end of the three and a half days?

God breathes life back into them and like the bones, the valley of dry bones in the book

of Ezekiel where this entire valley of dry bones stands up and comes to life, God’s people

are resurrected back to life and they’re not left in the earth, they are taken up into

heaven.

In other words, God’s message is going to be declared, God’s people are going to be

persecuted, some of God’s people are going to be killed, but once they’re killed,

People on earth can’t touch them.

They’re safe as soon as they’re dead.

And so in chapter 11, we find the witnesses resurrected and we’re gonna pick up in verse

11 of chapter 11.

Yeah, verse 11 of chapter 11, we’re going to read through this and then primarily we’re

going focus on chapter 12 as we get into it.

Now, after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they

stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here.

And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

In the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell.

In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed and the rest were afraid and gave

glory to the God of heaven.

Now notice this, the people of the earth witness a group of people get killed.

Now how many people die?

All right, 7,000.

So here’s what we gotta do because we know how we’re supposed to handle the book of

Revelation.

We’re supposed to read the number and assume the number’s literal, and we’re supposed to

go find in history where 7,000 people to the number died and prescribe that that was the

event that John was writing about, right?

No.

What does the number seven represent?

Perfect.

What does the number 1,000 represent?

Cattle on a thousand hills belong to the Lord.

Does that mean that only the thousand hills belong to the Lord?

It means all, okay?

So, perfect and all.

A perfect number of people were judged.

And what did it result in?

Notice that resulted in people who became afraid and glorified God.

What does that sound like?

That sounds like Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson and he glorified

God, but it didn’t necessarily change the nation of Babylon, it?

Because as soon as you get out of chapter four of uh Daniel and you get into chapter five,

you’ve got Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson reigning on the throne.

And as Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson is reigning on the throne, he’s throwing a grand old

party using God’s.

ah utensils out of the temple to drink wine out of and declare that he’s the ruler of

everything.

just because there is a moment where someone observes God’s judgment and they see God’s

judgment and they say, know what, it is the God of heaven who is in charge.

It doesn’t mean it’s going to change their life.

It doesn’t mean they’re going to repent.

It doesn’t mean that from that point forward they’re going to be faithful to the Lord.

It means something happened and they woke up for a period of time.

and realize that there’s a God in heaven that they need to be accountable to.

You ever known anybody who lives their entire life completely ignoring God, His commands,

His ordinances, everything that God has told them to do, living a life of sin, and then

they get sick and they’re near the point of death and they suddenly start repenting of

things?

And if that continued, and if they remained faithful from that point, it’d be great.

But what happens more often than not?

They get better.

And what do they do?

Go right back to the life they’ve been living.

That’s the picture here.

They witness a whole bunch of people who are judged for some action and they see it occur

and they go, the God of heaven is the only God.

but it doesn’t cause them to repent.

They give glory to the God of heaven.

The second woe is passed.

Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

Then the seventh angel sounded.

We talked about before that all of the seven angels that are sounding, the seven trumpets

are occurring inside the seventh seal.

Well, as the seventh angel sounds, you’re about to get introduced to seven bowls.

And the seven bowls are going to be inside the seventh trumpet, and the seven trumpets are

inside the seventh seal, and the seven seals are on the book that John wanted to know what

it said.

All of this is on the book that you’re introduced to in chapter 5.

All of this is the continuing revelation of what you find God introducing in chapter 5.

So the seventh trumpet sounds, and there was a loud voice in heaven saying, the kingdoms

of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign

forever and ever.

Seventh trumpet sounds and a uh pronouncement occurs.

A herald comes forth and he says, Jesus Christ is going to reign forever and ever.

So we are to assume, right, that it’s at this moment after all this persecution, after all

this tribulation, after all this time that Jesus Christ finally comes to the throne.

Right?

You’re wrong.

wrong.

This isn’t a pronouncement about some future time when John says, revelation from me tells

you that Jesus Christ is finally going to arrive on His throne.

No.

Go back to chapter one.

Verse 9.

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience,

endurance, holding up under hardship the patience of Jesus Christ.

was on the island that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus

Christ.

When John wrote this book, when John received this vision, was there a kingdom that

already existed?

Yes!

And John had been a part of it since Acts chapter 2 and the day of Pentecost.

Was Jesus already on the throne?

Yes!

Matthew chapter 28 verse 18,

This pronouncement is not the pronouncement about the beginning of Christ’s thousand-year

reign as the premillennialist.

Sorry, I got rebuked by somebody on Facebook because I said premillennialist.

They said, not all premillennialists are dispensationalists.

Accurate.

They’re all wrong, but they’re not all dispensationalists.

So dispensationalist premillennialists.

are waiting for the thousand year reign of Christ to commence.

They’re two thousand years late!

He’s been raining since AD 33.

He’s been reigning in a kingdom that John was a brother in.

He’s been reigning in a kingdom he set up in the days of the fourth kingdom of Daniel’s

prophecy, Rome.

He’s been reigning for 2,000 years and they’re only looking for a thousand year reign.

This pronouncement has nothing to do with the beginning of His reign.

has everything due to the commencing of judgment because of His reign.

Go back to chapter six.

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.

And they cried with a loud voice saying, long, oh Lord, holy and true until you judge and

avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Question, did the Christians who were dying in the first century in John’s day cry out and

ask, Christ, when are you finally going to get to the throne?

They said, when are you going to finally start judging these people?

And that’s what you have proclaimed in this verse.

God tells them in chapter six, have a robe, rest, wait.

In essence, watch and you’re going to see the answer to your question.

So in chapter.

11, they’ve received six.

They, the people who dwell on the earth, the enemies of God, the people who are

persecuting God’s people, they’ve received six warning judgments, six partial judgments.

and at the very end of the last one they pause for a moment having observed it and they

glorify God.

but they don’t repent.

And so now you have a proclamation as the seventh trumpet commences that Christ is on his

throne.

He’s always been on his throne.

And he begins to give final judgment to those who dwell on the earth.

He begins to give final judgment to the persecutors of his people.

He gives complete judgment to them.

and it is pictured as the authority of the throne going forth.

He says, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his

Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped

God.

What were they doing in chapter four?

Same thing.

What were they doing in chapter five?

Same thing.

Guess what they’re doing now?

The same thing.

because he was on the throne then and he’s on the throne now.

But notice they say, give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and

who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned.

The pronouncement here is not about the beginning of his reign.

It’s not about him coming to the throne.

He’s the one who’s ruled, who is, who was and always will be.

But power has now gone forth from the throne and his authority has put those who dwell on

the earth in their place.

Notice we read the nations were angry and your wrath has come and the time of the dead

that they should be judged and that you should reward your righteous servants, sorry, and

that you should reward

your servants, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name small and great

and should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Notice the judgment that is coming.

It is coming against those who destroy the earth.

They’ve made it completely uninhabitable for the righteous people.

And God’s judgment is going to come forth from them.

Then verse 19, then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was

seen in his temple.

So again, movie scene moment here.

John’s watching and he looks up into heaven and there’s the temple.

It’s the figure of the Old Testament temple.

And you see something that never was seen in the temple.

Not in all the days from Solomon’s temple being laid and the foundation being laid and the

walls being set up to the commencement of it, never did this occur.

You look straight through the front doors of the temple, you look and you see straight

through to the Ark of the Covenant.

Why did that never occur in the temple made by Solomon?

There was a veil.

And the only time someone could go through the veil was what day?

Day Atonement.

And who was the only person who could go through the veil?

The high priest.

And he had to have a certain robe on and bells on to make sure that he didn’t die when he

walked through.

And the day that he would go through the whole uh holy place would have been filled with

the smoke and the incense.

You wouldn’t have been able to peer through and see the Ark of the Covenant.

by the way, also add to the fact

that the Israelites hadn’t had the Ark of the Covenant for 600 years before Jesus came.

So something occurs in John’s vision that never could have happened in real life.

He sees straight through.

to the very mercy seat of God.

and notice what we read.

and there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

Now where have we seen that language before?

When a nation falls.

This is the Old Testament language we were talking about earlier from Isaiah 34 and from

other passages.

When a nation falls, God’s temple opens up, God begins to rain, and a nation falls.

because God’s power went forth and judged those who dwell on the earth.

but we’re not done comforting the people of God yet.

One more message to the people of God before the seventh trumpet actually sounds.

Chapter 12 opens, now a great sign appeared in heaven.

So, John sees the temple open up in heaven.

He sees the ark of the covenant and he sees the power begin to come forth out of the

temple.

and a nation falls.

But wait a minute, there’s a sign up there.

Let me read the sign.

Here’s a sign that appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with a moon under her

feet, and on her head a garland of 12 stars.

Now, what is the number 12 representing the book?

We’ve said there are 12 tribes of Israel and there are 12 apostles and there are 12 of the

elders multiplied by two, there’s 24 elders.

There’s 12 of this and 12 of that and those who belong to the Lord who were marked with

God’s name, there’s 12 multiplied by 1,000 multiplied by 12.

12 represents the people of God.

Here’s a woman on her head.

She represents the people of God.

She’s got a crown that represents God’s people.

She’s a woman who’s about to give birth.

God’s people give birth to the Messiah.

Okay?

So watch this.

The moon was under her feet and on her head a garland of 12 stars.

Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

And another sign appeared in heaven.

Behold a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven diadems on his

head.

and his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the

dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as

it was born.

bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught

up to God and His throne.

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God that they

should feed her there 1,260 days.

and war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angel fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but

they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out.

That serpent of old called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast

to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud

voice saying, heaven now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of

his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day

and night, has been cast down.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and

they did not love their lives to the death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.”

woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having

great wrath because he knows that he has a short time.

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who

gave birth to the male child, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she

might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and

half a time from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might

cause her to be carried away by the flood.

But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood

which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her

offspring who kept, who keep the commandment of God and have the testimony of Jesus

Christ.

and you say, oh my, what is this?

Well, we’ve only got five minutes.

So let’s talk about it for a moment.

Here’s what we know.

Here’s what we know.

We know there’s a woman who gives birth to a child and the child is going to be what?

She bears a male child, verse five, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and

her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Read Psalm two.

In the second Psalm.

We read, and it opens with the words, why do the heathens rage?

And the people plot a vain thing.

The question from the psalmist writer is, why are the nations raging against God and

plotting to do something they’ll never succeed at?

It is a vain thing.

If you go to the book of Ecclesiastes and you remember that phrase that keeps getting

repeated over and over, vanity of vanities, all is.

Vanity.

The nations are plotting a vain thing.

They’re plotting something that’s never going to work.

They’re going to fail.

Now notice, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together

against the Lord and His anointed saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away

their cords from us.

They say, know what?

God has entrapped us and ensnared us long enough.

He’s bound us up to do His will long enough.

We’re going to break His hold over us.

We’re going to kill His anointed one.

and then we’ll get to do what we want.

Sound like the vineyard keepers in Jesus’ parable?

You know what?

Here comes the son.

Let’s kill him and then the vineyard is ours.

Okay?

Now notice, he who sits in the heavens does what?

She’ll laugh.

The idea here in the Hebrew is, shall laugh with derision at the audacity of the nations

to think that they could defeat the authority of the Lord.

Notice, the Lord shall hold them in derision, then He shall speak to them in His wrath and

distress them in His deep displeasure.

Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree.

The Lord has said to me, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth

for your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron.

and shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

Now therefore be wise, O kings.

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the Son, lest ye be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a

little.

Blessed are those who put their trust in him.

question.

Where does the child that becomes the Messiah, that becomes the one who God says, are my

son?

Where does he come forth from?

He comes forth from heaven, but he’s born of a woman who is a part of what nation?

Israel, the people of God.

Remember what the woman had on her head, right?

12 stars.

She represents the people of God.

The Messiah comes forth out of the people of God.

He’s born into the world by the people of God.

And when he enters this world and the world rejoices and the angels come forth and

rejoice, not long after that, there’s a king who wants to do what?

Kill him!

Except he sends his soldiers to go kill all the children age two and down.

And guess what?

Before the soldiers ever get there, God takes the child off into Egypt.

brings a child back to Nazareth, child’s raised, child comes to his power, the child ends

up Jesus Christ who, yes, goes to the cross, yes, looks like he’s going to die, yes, looks

like he’s going to be defeated entirely by the devil.

except He’s put to death and He doesn’t stay dead.

Just like God’s witnesses, He might go to the grave, but He comes forth.

And then He ascends out of the reach of all of the nations of the earth to go reign on His

throne.

And the nations are reminded in Psalm 2, hundreds of years before Jesus is ever born.

You better be careful when you start messing.

with the people of God.

because they have someone who sits on the throne that when you make him just a little

angry.

He’s going to rule with a rod of iron and He is going to bring His wrath upon you.

You see, when you get to chapter 12, this is an Old Testament picture from Psalm 2, where

it looks like the devil’s got power and the devil can do what he wants and the devil’s

going to defeat the people because who wins, a dragon or a woman?

The answer is the woman.

Because every time the devil tries to use his power to defeat the woman,

God just snatches her out of his grasp.

Absolutely.

And it’s also pointing out that Satan is always co-opting the forces of this world to do

his work.

But guess what?

The other part of the message is he always loses.

All right?

So our significant point out of chapter 12, as you’re going to see it, is the devil is a

three-time loser.

And he is always going to lose to the child who’s on the throne.

Okay?

AI and Biblical Wisdom – Aaron Cozort – May 03, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, AI, change, character, Ecclesiastes, faith, keywords Biblical perspective, Society, spiritual insights, technology, wisdom by Aaron Cozort

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I don’t know, I’ll tell the boys to advance the slides.

I put it down somewhere.

There it is.

Thank you,

This afternoon, we’re going to discuss something that is more oh off uh the front page of

the news, as it were, than many of the sermons that I often preach.

But as times change and as circumstances change and as society changes, it is important

for us to realize that there are things that we need to discuss, we need to evaluate, we

need to study.

And we need to do so in a biblical context so that we can navigate the changes that exist

in the world around us, but also do so in a biblical way.

We’re going to open this morning or this afternoon with Ecclesiastes, Chapter one and in

verse nine, Solomon would write in Ecclesiastes, Chapter one and in verse nine, that which

has been is what will be.

That which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

This afternoon, I want us to spend some time talking about what the world around us refers

to as AI, artificial intelligence.

It is better understood in a political, or sorry, a practical perspective, and in a

technical perspective as machine learning.

It is a machine learning algorithm.

But I don’t want to have a lesson on AI.

I don’t want to teach everybody how to use AI.

I don’t want to teach you how to use a grok or chat GPT or anything like that.

I want us to consider what the changes going on in the technological world should teach us

and help us to understand from a spiritual perspective.

And it’s interesting that as we begin with Ecclesiastes chapter 1, we’re beginning with

Solomon.

We’re beginning with a man who was granted by God essentially unlimited wisdom, unlimited

knowledge and insight.

When you look at what the world in society and news is presenting to us today, they’re

They’re telling us that AI is essentially that.

It’s unlimited knowledge.

It’s unlimited wisdom.

It’s unlimited analysis.

It’s unlimited this and unlimited that.

And while I can tell you in my day-to-day life and my work and the work I do both in

preaching as well as the work that I do in technology, I use the AI tools all the time.

I use them because they’re valuable just like any other tool that I use.

I also use a car.

You wanna know why I use it?

Because I can get further with a car than I can on my own two feet.

And faster.

And.

Maybe not cheaper, but more cheaper by the mile than the shoe tread.

At the end of the day, we use tools, we use technology, we use things that exist in this

world because where they originated when it comes to all things that exist in this world

is the one who created the world.

When in the 1940s, scientists delved into harnessing the power inside of the atom and they

created the atomic bomb,

They weren’t creating anything that didn’t already exist.

They simply were tapping into what God had placed in nature and had placed within the very

core of what builds nature.

They were discovering what God had already put there.

And the same thing is true when it comes to AI.

in view of the idea that there is nothing new under the sun, we’re going to examine the

lesson this afternoon.

I’m channeling Jacob and saying this morning instead of this afternoon.

In view of ancient wisdom for the age of abundant intelligence, we’re going to examine

four ancient truths, four things that I think if we put our spiritually educated

biblically educated mindset view of these four truths, we will be able to both operate

inside the coming world.

We will also be able to understand why the world around us fails to comprehend what

they’re dealing with.

One unchanging requirement.

Three ages in recent history have existed.

The Information Age.

Usually most people calculate the Information Age to be something around the 1980s going

forward until the early 2010s.

They look at history and one of the things that exploded in that period of 30 years was

the ability to have abundant information.

When you step back into the early 1980s, most people would have gotten their information

from a daily newspaper.

It would have arrived on their door and they would have found out what had happened the

day before, the week before, the month before, however quickly the news arrived and got

printed on the paper.

But in the 30 years spanning from 1980 to 2010,

The speed at which we had access to information got faster and faster and faster and

faster to the culmination of now we use in our normal parlance, Googling something because

the tool created by a company called Google became the easiest way to look up information.

In the information age, information got more abundant, more abundant, more abundant, more

abundant.

It also got cheaper and cheaper and cheaper and cheaper.

The newspaper you used to buy had a limited number of pages, it had a limited number

amount of information and a whole lot of ads.

And now you’re able to just get on your device and look up something.

I remember for years,

stopping in at the auto parts store.

And at the auto parts store, you would have a whole shelves of what?

Auto manuals.

It would go, it would cover the Honda Accord from this year to this year.

And they weren’t cheap books either.

But you could get that and you could pretty well diagnose or fix if you were technically

competent, almost anything wrong with that car during that span of time.

Pretty hard to sell those for the same price that you used to be able to sell those books.

Why?

Because the information is now abundantly available online.

the information aid.

We’re now in what society would call the intelligence age.

Because we have taken information for the last 30 years, leading up to 2010, and we found

cheaper and cheaper and easier and easier ways to store that information, we have now been

able to apply technological systems, which are really just mathematical probabilistic

systems.

It’s highly specialized guessing.

is what AI is.

But it’s guessing based upon a million or a billion or a trillion parameters of

information.

So it’s highly specialized guessing.

But what the system does is it processes and analyzes that information in volumes and

massive amounts way faster than we have ever been able to do before.

Providing in the last 10 years

and in the coming years, more abundant, easier to access intelligence.

We call it artificial intelligence simply to distinguish it from human intelligence.

But let’s be clear about one thing.

There’s a difference between knowledge, intelligence in the form of analyzing knowledge

and a soul.

If we’re clear from scripture, turn back to Genesis chapter one, we should know, we should

understand, we should realize that the soul originates with God.

In Genesis chapter one, we read beginning in verse 25, and God made the beast of the earth

according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the

earth according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, us make man in our image according to our likeness.

Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the

cattle, over all the things that are and over every creeping thing that creeps on the

earth.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.

He did not create them male, female and binary robot.

He created them male and female.

And notice, God also gave them a uniqueness in the world.

not because they were alive.

Everything God created had life within it.

Not because they could breathe, not because they could make a decision, but rather because

He made them in His image.

One of the things that we need to realize in the coming period of time in the world that

we currently now live in that information is abundant.

It becomes cheaper, it becomes more available, and intelligence is about to become

abundant and cheaper and more available, which leaves one of the most scarce things…

character.

because you can’t generate character.

You can’t generate faithfulness and judgment.

You can hardly efficiently train it because most people don’t want to learn.

You turn to Proverbs chapter one, you will find the Proverbs chapter one tells us in in

verse seven that the fool despises wisdom and instruction.

and we have no shortage of that type of person on the planet today.

character will be in scarce supply in the coming age because intelligence will be

abundant.

Intelligence will become virtually free.

You can now with a few short requests and about $20 generate a rather good commentary on

any book of the Bible in about three and a half minutes.

about as good as anybody in the Brotherhood could write.

Well researched, well thought out, well examined, three minutes and less than 20 bucks.

and you don’t need a single preacher to do it.

Intelligence is going to be abundant.

Character is not.

Proverbs chapter 4.

the Proverbs writer, and we’re gonna keep coming back to Solomon.

I’m gonna show you in a minute why.

Proverbs chapter four, verse seven, Solomon writes to us, wisdom is the principle thing.

Therefore, get wisdom.

If you go back to Proverbs chapter one, where we just mentioned just a moment ago, this

same writer,

This same individual inspired with wisdom from God will write in Proverbs chapter 1 and in

verse 2 to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive words of understanding.

He’s writing about the Proverbs that he’s about to write.

He’s introducing that which he’s put into this book to receive the instruction of wisdom,

justice, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple.

To the young man, knowledge and discretion, a wise man will hear and increase learning.

A man of understanding will attain wise counsel to understand a proverb and an enigma, the

words of the wise and their riddles.

But then notice what he says in verse seven.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

But fools despise wisdom.

and instruction.

As Solomon introduces this book of wisdom and knowledge and insight and intelligence and

discernment…

He admonishes his son, do not miss that the fear of the Lord is the beginning.

It is the necessary starting point if you’re going to gain wisdom.

And here’s what we know about the world.

The world does not fear the Lord.

The world will not use highly abundant and almost free intelligence to garner a greater

fear of the Lord.

But we should.

We should, we should use every encyclopedia and all of its knowledge to fear the Lord more

than we’ve ever feared Him before.

We should use the knowledge and the wisdom that has been garnered and gathered and

assembled and categorized and indexed on the internet to fear the Lord more than we ever

have before.

We should use abundant intelligence to fear the Lord more than we ever have before as we

delve in society further and further into the secrets that nature and nature’s God, if we

could coin the term from the founding fathers, had placed in nature.

We’re going to suddenly realize just exactly how ignorant we have always been about that

which God created.

But then consider as well, there’s three levels of AI in its usage.

AI is used, number one, as an assistant.

In other words, help me with this.

That’s what you do with an assistant.

You say, I need to know X.

Find out the information.

So you will find in common, uh to be commonplace in businesses and in education that

people, instead of

sitting down and researching X, we’ll get the AI tool to do the research for them.

Well, sometimes people will look at that and say, wow, we’re really lazy.

I remind you that it was Einstein that said when he was asked what the formula for a

particular math problem was, he said, why would I spend time remembering what I can easily

get out of any book?

Even Einstein knew there was a limit to the things you could remember, memorize, and hold

in your head.

And he didn’t need to hold that which was abundantly available in his head.

That didn’t mean he didn’t think study was important, or knowledge was important, or

intelligence was important.

Rather, holding things that were of rare or scarce value were important.

But then consider analysis.

One of the things that AI provides in the tools,

is the ability to analyze information very quickly.

If you wanted to analyze how every single use of the word love is used all across

scripture, it used to be you could get access to some of that analysis through some highly

valuable and specialized and costly tools that were available from software providers.

You can now simply sit down and ask Chad GPT or Claude or uh Grok, any of them.

because the Bible is by the way one of the most well-known books in all of human history,

you can ask it and it will do very good analysis for you.

Be careful to let it know that you only want an answer from the Bible because it knows a

whole lot of denominational nonsense too and it thinks it’s true.

So tell it I only want an answer from the Bible and it will do analysis for you as you’re

studying.

It’s very good, very useful.

The third level and more pervasive in the next few years will be agents.

uh If you think about insurance or if you think about travel, what is a travel agent?

A travel agent is someone who you get to go book your trip for you so you don’t have to do

it.

AI will do that in a lot of ways.

Now, unfortunately for society, we’re talking about this, some of the disruption that’s

coming for society.

some of the disruption that’s coming in the economy is going to be because of agents.

Because instead of a travel agent, you’ll be able to simply tap a button on a phone, get

an AI to go book your trip for you.

You tell it where you wanna go, what kind of place you wanna stay, what your budget is,

and it’ll go do the whole thing.

A lot of travel agents are gonna lose their job.

A lot of lawyers are gonna lose their job.

Because intelligence is what lawyers make their living off of.

not necessarily intelligence in the right sense, but knowledge, wisdom, and insight in the

law, and that’s going to be abundantly available.

A lot of change is going to come in the next 10 or 15 years to the culture and to the

world around us, to the jobs that exist in this world.

But in all of these things, what do you see is continually scarce?

character.

When a person can fake knowing anything just by having an AI that knows everything, you

might want to be careful with that person because if they’re not of good character, you’re

going to have an abundance of hard times as a result of the choices of that person.

But then consider Luke chapter 14.

Jesus would say, which of you intending to build a tower does not

First, sit down and count the call.

You evaluate the changes that are coming, the things that we’re seeing in this world, the

differences that are going to occur.

We need to be mindful.

And we need to plan ahead.

when anything that’s always been valuable suddenly becomes worthless.

It causes a lot of difficulty in this life.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to first Kings.

towards the end of the time where Solomon has dedicated the temple, we understand that

Solomon had been granted wisdom from God, that Solomon had been using that wisdom.

He had been using it in making decisions in the kingdom.

He had been using it in making uh his plans and the things which he had done.

He had been using it in building the temple.

And in 1 Kings chapter 10 and in verse 14, we read the weight of gold that came to Solomon

yearly was 666 talents of gold.

Beside that, from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings

of Arabia and from the governors of the country, and the king Solomon made 200 large

shields of hammered gold, 600 shekels of gold went into each shield.

He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold.

Three minas of gold went into each shield.

The king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

The throne had six steps and the top of the throne was round at the back.

There were armrests on either side of the place of the seat and two lions stood beside the

armrests.

Twelve lions stood there, one on either side of the six steps.

Nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom.

All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold and all the vessels of the house of the

forest of Lebanon were pure gold.

Not one was silver.

This was accounted uh for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

I want you to notice what happens when something that is scarce suddenly becomes abundant.

as we’re reading here about all of Solomon’s wealth and all of Solomon’s riches that he

gained by having virtually unlimited intelligence.

As you examine the list, you have this made of gold and this made of gold and this made of

gold.

And the reason why it was all made of gold is there was so much silver available in the

Kingdom of Israel because of all of the wealth garnered through unlimited wisdom and

intelligence that silver had suddenly become worthless.

When something that used to be scarce suddenly becomes so abundant that everyone has as

much as they want, its value drops to virtually zero.

So as you think about what is coming in the future, if information is reached a point

where it is virtually free, and if intelligence becomes something that reaches a point

where it is virtually free,

How do you make decisions on what to do in planning for the future?

In planning for income, in planning for savings, in planning for retirement, in planning

for grandchildren, in planning for legacy, how do you make decisions?

And what do you make sure to focus on?

One of the things that you see here in this example is how something can become devalued

just by being abundant.

and intelligence is becoming abundant.

So anything that has value exclusively because of intelligence?

is going to become devalued.

Anything that is still scarce, and what have we mentioned again and again and again, is

exhibited as still being scarce in this world?

Character.

Now suddenly becomes more valuable because it’s still scarce.

Nehemiah chapter four, Nehemiah chapter four, verse six, as Nehemiah has returned to

Jerusalem to work to rebuild the wall, Nehemiah is going to come to the wall.

He is going to observe the city.

He is going to see the plight that is going on in the city.

And Nehemiah is going to work with every single family.

in the city who had a property that was up against the wall and he’s going to commission

all of them to build the wall together.

And so in Nehemiah chapter 4, we have a description of the fact that the people worked

together because the people had a mind to work.

And as you go through the course of that event and that story, you’ll find that at the end

when the wall was completed, they dedicated portions of the wall that had been built by

individual families and they put the family’s name on the wall.

as a dedication to the work and the labor that they did.

mention this because as we enter into what is bound to be a rather tumultuous time in

human history.

Something that has never changed is that when God’s people work together…

They build what could never have been built working alone.

And in the coming days and in the coming years, there will be challenges for the church.

There will be hardships for the church.

There may be a significant change in the ability of the church to do the things that it’s

done in the past.

It may become easier.

It may become harder, but it’ll change.

But what won’t change is the willingness of those who believe in the Word of God and are

obedient to the Word of God to work together to reach lost souls.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3.

And in verse 6, Solomon tells us that there is a time to keep and there’s a time to throw

away.

My wife loves this verse.

She just wishes I would apply it more often.

The last part, not the first part.

I consider almost everything to be a time to keep and she considers almost everything to

be a time to throw away.

but when uh intelligence becomes as abundant as information.

Think about what you’ve probably done somewhat in your life.

Years ago, you would buy a product.

The product would come in a box or in a package.

You’d open the package.

Inside the package was an instruction manual.

And the manufacturers now know what happens to most of the instruction manuals.

Most of the instruction manuals immediately get thrown in the trash.

Why?

Because the information is abundantly available at a search that does not involve

searching your house for where you put the instruction manual.

You can get on YouTube, can get on Google, you can put in the name of the product, and you

can get the user manual downloaded for free.

I don’t need to keep the paper anymore.

Now I know some of you, you still have filing cabinets full of those papers somewhere in

the house for that product, that thing that you bought 20 years ago.

Some of those products you’ve got papers for you haven’t owned in 20 years.

But when information becomes abundantly available for free, guess what you don’t have to

keep as much of stored up just in case you need it in the future?

Information.

When intelligence becomes abundantly available, same thing’s going to change.

That’s going to change a lot of people’s lives and their actions and how they operate.

But there’s a time to keep and there’s a time to throw away.

There’s a time to realize that, you know what, the past, as nostalgic as it may be, is the

past and it’s time to move on.

Holding on to the past doesn’t usually get us very far.

Changes will come.

Things will change.

But here’s the thing, as we’ve gone through this, I want you to notice that nothing we’re

talking about here is new.

All the way back in Solomon’s day, humanity had access to unlimited wisdom and knowledge.

Matter of fact, the queen of Sheba came to Solomon back in chapter 10, sorry, chapter nine

of, sorry, it is chapter 10 of first Kings.

Queen of Sheba had heard about Solomon and all of his wisdom.

And so she came to inquire of Solomon to find out just exactly how much wisdom he had.

And when she left, she said that the half had not.

been told.

Abundant intelligence is not a new thing in this world.

It’s just new in the packaging that is currently in.

But I also might remind you, Matthew chapter 15 verse 13, that Jesus would tell us that

every plant which my Heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

One of the things that you’ve seen occur in the last 150 years of modern technology and

innovation and industrialization is you have seen splintering and splintering and

splintering and splintering of the church.

Because with new things come men who want to chase the new thing instead of the thing God

gave.

So there’s a warning here that with this new technology, you will find men promoting the

following of technology instead of God.

You will find false teachers teaching something that sounds a lot like the Bible, but it’s

not.

It sounds a lot like the Word of God, but it’s

We need to have our eyes and our ears open.

We need to be careful to examine the things which we hear, the things which we’re taught.

One of the things that is somewhat abundant in the current tools of AI is sometimes it

will just straight out lie to you.

They call it hallucinating.

It just loses its context and it just gives you an answer out of nothing because it knew

you wanted an answer.

So it just told you anything.

Well, people do that too, by the way.

Employees do that.

I don’t know what the answer is.

I’m just going to make it up.

But when we allow ourselves to be duped into believing that religiously, it has eternal

consequences.

I am here to remind you that over in the book of Acts, when we read about the Bereans, we

read about those individuals who were Jews, those individuals who were not Christians, but

they were more noble than those of Thessalonica in that they searched the scriptures daily

to see whether or not the things Paul was preaching were true.

If it is necessary to check the teaching and the preaching of an apostle, it is most

certainly necessary to check the things that come out of AI.

We need to be aware.

We need to have our heads up.

We need to have our eyes open and we need to check what we’re learning against the Word of

God because it may sound right and it may be entirely wrong.

Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel was a governor of the king of Babylon who ruled under the king of Persia.

Daniel was an old man, probably 85 or older.

And as Daniel was serving as governor of the land of Babylon, together with three other

governors, the king decides everything that I give to Daniel turns out great.

So I’m just going to give Daniel more.

And the other governors decide that’s a really bad idea because they don’t want less

power, they want more power.

So they go to begin some investigation of Daniel’s life to try and find something they can

use against him and they find out.

that there was no charge or fault that could be laid against Daniel because he was

faithful.

So they go to the king and they inquire of the king, great king, considering all of your

might and majesty and all of your greatness, we think it would be best if you would issue

a decree that no one should offer any request or prayer to any king or any God except you

for 30 days.

a law and a rule which certainly could have been written by the kings of the Medes and the

Persians but could never have been adopted by a follower of God.

So the king writes the law, signs the law, and when the law had been written and when the

law had been signed, Daniel went and did as he did every day.

And he went into his house and he opened the windows towards the land of Jerusalem and he

prayed in accordance with, by the way, the prophecy that Solomon made at the consecration

of the temple.

And the people observed that he was praying, and they took him before the king, and they

sent word to the king that Daniel had violated the law which had been written, for he had

prayed to the God of the Hebrews.

And the king knew that he had been duped.

The king also knew something about the law, the Medes and the Persians.

What was written was written and it couldn’t be changed.

So the king took Daniel and put him in a den of lions.

And the king, the door of the lion’s den, was about to be closed.

determined that surely Daniel’s God could protect him.

So the king went back to his house and stayed up all night worrying and concerned about

Daniel’s well-being.

And first thing in the morning, the king came to the door and inquired, Daniel, has your

God saved you?

Remember this, in a time of abundant intelligence and AI, all of the magical wonders that

technology can offer do not stand in comparison to the might or the ability of God.

Daniel answered the king, I am well.

For God has sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions.

We need to be reminded that no matter what the law says, no matter what men contrive to

order people to do, we are to follow God no matter what comes.

And we are to trust in God no matter what comes.

Obedience to God requires character.

It requires honesty, discipline, self-honesty, and humility.

All of these should be an abundant supply amongst Christians, and they should be mighty

rare in the world to come from the world around us.

So in view of that, what kind of person do you want to be when you have access to all of

the world’s knowledge and intelligence?

Because if we don’t determine now how we will live, how we will move, how we will have our

being, if we don’t determine before it ever occurs how we will operate in obedience to

God, then we will be too late when we have to make a decision.

How will you be as a person when everything that was so hard suddenly becomes easy?

When everything that you couldn’t afford is suddenly available at the touch of a finger?

When everything that you wanted to produce can now be produced for virtually nothing?

Will we just have houses chocked full of stuff forever?

Proverbs chapter four verse seven.

In the coming age, in the coming years, I suggest to you that this passage will become

abundantly more important in all of our lives.

Wisdom is the principal thing.

Therefore, get wisdom.

And with all thy getting, get understanding.

If you’re here this afternoon and you have needed the invitation of our Lord, understand

this.

No matter what humanity produces by way of technology, our Lord reigns.

No matter what a world power produces by way of a weapon, our Lord reigns.

No matter whether the language that is spoken abundantly around the world is English or

Mandarin.

Our Lord reigns.

No matter whether Christians are lauded as the unique bright shining light in all the

world or persecuted in every corner of it, our Lord reigns.

If you’re not yet a child of our Lord, we encourage you to hear the word of God and

believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because he provided evidence as we discussed

in our sermon this morning that he was.

If you believe that he is the son of God, you must be willing to repent of your sins and

confess the name of Christ.

You must be willing to be immersed in water for the remission of your sins, to rise to

walk to newness in newness of life, because this world will be burned up and everything in

it.

And when eternity comes, you will stand before God in judgment.

As the Hebrew writer says, we’re all going to die.

And after this,

the judgment.

So when you’re ready for that day I encourage you to be ready standing as a Christian,

obedient to God, faithful to Him.

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

Matthew 5 – Justin Evergarden – May 06, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian living, heart purity, influence, Jesus teachings, keywords Bible study, Matthew 5, persecution, righteousness, salt and light by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening, everyone.

It’s now 7 p.m.

Time to start Bible class.

Give everybody just a moment to file in.

Before we get started, we’ll go ahead and start off with a word of prayer.

If you would please bow with me.

Dear Lord, our Almighty God and Heavenly Father, we come to Thee in prayer this time

thanking you so very much for the wonderful day that we’ve had to enjoy.

Thank you for keeping us safe on our drive to this location to study your Word.

Lord God, may we please take the lessons that are given to us tonight and apply it unto

our daily lives.

May we remain attentive and aware of all that you have to teach us for.

everything that we go over tonight, Lord, we know that we’re simply skimming the surface

of the bountiful and unending amount of knowledge that you’ve decided to share with us.

Please continue to be with us.

Bless the sick of the congregation and those in need of prayers.

Please continue to guide and direct our lives as you see fit.

And so we pray to you in Jesus’ name, amen.

So last we came together for class, we were going through the book of Matthew,

specifically Matthew chapter five.

And last class period, we had made it almost through all of the Beatitudes.

I had it marked down that we had made it all the way to verse 10.

So that’s where we will pick up again this evening and continue our study of the book of

Matthew.

So, as we do, the chapter really breaks into three natural sections.

The first are verses 10-12 where we going to start.

I know it also goes back all way to the first where Jesus finishes the Beatitudes by

speaking about persecution.

Second, verses 13-16 where He speaks about the influence in the world as salt and a

comparison to light as well.

And then the third section would be verses 17 through 48 where He deals with the subject

of righteousness.

Christ shows us that true righteousness is deeper than simple outward performance in this

section.

uh It’s something that reaches the heart.

So, if you remember correctly or if you still have your notes from Matthew chapter 5 last

time, I know it’s been about a month or so since we last had the class, uh our key thought

is still the same as it originally was.

which is, let your light shine, as well as our key word still being righteousness for this

chapter.

So, we’ll go ahead and pick up in verse 10, and I’ll go ahead and read this first one.

You know I like to call on people to read.

So, verse 10, he starts out with, This is an important verse because it reminds us that

living right does not always make life easier.

Sometimes it does, and it’s great when it does, but not always.

Many times in life, doing the right thing can make life harder on us.

But Jesus does not say, blessed are they which are persecuted, because uh they were rude.

He says, blessed for righteousness sake.

He does not say blessed are those that are persecuted because they were foolish.

Again, He says, for righteousness sake.

That means that this is a type of suffering that comes because a person is standing behind

what God wants them to stand behind.

He says, for righteousness sake.

Now, we live in a world, unfortunately, where many Christians are persecuted the world

over.

In

Our country right now, for the most part, you don’t see that.

We don’t have to worry about being a Christian and going out to the local McDonald’s and

getting shot for our faith.

But there are countries where simply possessing a Bible is completely illegal.

So, uh here we don’t have to worry about being killed for our faith, but many brethren

around the world do.

So, we want to always keep that in context of the many blessings that we have here in the

States.

ah Of course, we still face things like persecution.

We face ridicule many times ah and lots of times mockery, specifically from the scientific

community.

ah But as we study throughout not only the rest of this chapter, but the rest of the

Bible, we see that science and the Bible always go hand in hand.

ah They are a great commentary for one another.

When looking through the proper lens, they’ll never coincide.

ah So, Paul said, if we turn over to 2 Timothy,

3 and verse 12, we’ll have someone get that.

It’s a good commentary on what Christ is saying here in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 12.

So, all shall suffer persecution if we live justly in Christ Jesus, all of us.

If you are doing what is right, you are going to suffer in the world because of this.

Persecution is not a sign that something has necessarily gone wrong.

Sometimes it’s a major sign that you’re doing something right.

And rightly so.

Many times the apostles were doing the right thing and they suffered because of it.

Who here has ever heard the phrase, no one ever kicks a dead dog?

It’s an old phrase or a horse.

Yeah, no one ever kicks a dead horse is another way people don’t usually attack what is

powerless, uh what is irrelevant and what is just not accomplishing much.

But they will attack what is alive, what is moving, what is visible and especially that

which is effective, won’t they?

Of course, when a Christian lives in a dark world and stands for righteousness, darkness

many times pushes back.

So, Jesus says that the persecuted are blessed.

Why is that?

Is it because the kingdom belongs to people like that?

The kingdom belongs to those who are willing to suffer for what is right?

These are the types of servants that God looks for.

He doesn’t just want people with an outward appearance that just punch in the punch clock

in the back of the building and pretend to be a Christian.

It’s, who was it?

Was it, uh I’m trying to think of the name right now.

uh Big playwright of the earliest, early centuries.

uh

Shakespeare, thank you.

All the world is a stage and everyone’s a player, right?

So, Christians aren’t that.

We’re not actors playing the part of Christians, are we?

Christians is a denotation of our job.

It is a definition of who we are.

So, there’s a big difference between a subjective reality and an objective reality.

Subjective, you can look like something, but you’re not actually there.

An actor can only portray things that they’ve seen before.

Now, those of you that know me know that I used to do magic back in the day.

I was a magician for corporate events and trade shows for many different years.

And one of the things that I got told many, many times were, you’re just an actor playing

the part of a magician.

See, that’s the subject of reality.

The object of reality is when you start to take that term and redefine it.

We know that there’s no such thing as magic and miracles today, right?

But as a magician, it would be someone who, I prefer the term illusionist.

because it’s someone who performs illusions.

Now, objectively, you could be that, someone who performs that.

So now you’re not an actor pretending to be that, you are actually that thing.

This is what we want to be as Christians.

Our Christianity should not be subjective, it should be objective.

The objective reality of who we are on the inside.

And if it is on the inside, that’s what’s going to project onto the outside.

moving forward, verse 11 through 12, this is kind of when it gets personal.

Jesus makes the persecution more personal.

So, if we go back, verse 10, He said, �Blessed are� who?

�Those.� Now, in verse 11, He changes and He shifts here.

He said, �Blessed are ye.� Blessed are you, specifically.

�When men shall revile you and persecute you.�

and say all manner of evil against you falsely.” Key word right there.

If they’re saying evil against you and it’s truthfully, that’s not a good thing.

But you are blessed when they accuse you falsely.

For my sake, not for your own sake, but for my sake.

Rejoice in being exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted

they the prophets which were before you.

Verse spoke more generally.

Verses 11 and 12 become very, very personal to us.

So, Jesus tells us the kinds of things that may happen.

He lists them out.

He says, men may revile you, they may persecute you, they are going to say evil things

against you falsely.

The word falsely there, this is not about suffering because we did wrong, this is about

suffering because we are suffering for Christ specifically.

And many times that kind of persecution takes the form of words.

People can attack your name, they can attack your motives, because they don’t see into the

heart of a Christian like God can.

They can attack your character and even the reputation of the church.

So, I had an illustration in mind and I had thought about bringing a prop to kind of

illustrate this point, but you’ll have to use your mind’s eye because I figured out that

it wouldn’t work.

But if you take a flashlight,

and shine it on something, typically what are you trying to do?

You’re trying to illuminate it, right?

You’re trying to cast more light on it so you can see more detail in the dimly lit room.

Now, if you were to use this illustration as what they’re doing, accusing falsely, they’re

shining the flashlight and your deeds, your actions will cast a shadow.

So the more deeply they look, the more deeply they falsely accuse,

If you are of the Christian character that you are supposed to be, what kind of shadow is

going to lay out in front of you?

Is it going to be a clean shadow, nice sharp lines, or is it going to be hazy with the

false accusations?

Well, maybe they did do that kind of thing.

The point being is when people look at a Christian who’s living inside the way they are,

it will reflect on the outside.

So, being under that type of scrutiny,

shining the flashlight, you’re going to see the deeds cast in the shadow.

You are going to see everything laid out bare in front of them and your own deeds and

actions will speak for themselves.

The motives will become clear.

They try to inspect us, they try to expose us, but the shadow goes in front of us.

In other words, the very pressure that they use against us can sometimes make our

testimony of Christ just that more visible because they see how we do, how we act.

So, Jesus says, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

Now, that sounds strange from an earthly perspective, but it makes sense spiritually.

because our reward is not rooted in this earth, where is our reward rooted?

It’s rooted in heaven, exactly.

And so, Jesus says, this puts us in the company of the prophets.

The prophets were not always celebrated in their day.

Many times they were stoned, and we read about them having to wipe the dust off their

sandals and keep moving forward to the next city.

Many of them were opposed, rejected, persecuted.

So, if the world pushes back against us for doing right,

Could it possibly be that we’re walking a road that’s faithful to Christ?

Yeah, no one ever kicks a dead dog, no one ever kicks a dead horse.

If we suffer that kind of persecution, this should absolutely be something for us to

rejoice over.

Absolutely, because they’re seeing our actions.

They don’t want to continue seeing the good actions and the light of Christ that’s being

brought into the world.

So now we move forward to verses 13 through 16, and we’re gonna, I’m gonna label this.

inner small sections, salt and light, because Jesus moves from persecution now over to

influence.

And what happens?

So, let’s go ahead and have someone read verse 13.

nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand.

Alright, so backing back up to verse 13, he says, are the salt of the earth.

Salt does several things and we’re going go through that tonight, but each one gives us a

good lesson.

So salt, what’s the number one thing that comes to your mind that salt does?

It adds what?

Flavor to the food, yes.

It keeps things from becoming tasteless.

Bland.

It enriches the flavor.

Specifically, if you take a little bit of salt and you add it to melted chocolate when

you’re making brownies or whatnot, it elevates the chocolate and actually makes it

sweeter.

I didn’t know that for years.

I thought that was crazy, but apparently that’s how it works.

I tried it, 100%.

It gets a whole lot sweeter.

In the same way spiritually, Christians bring meaning and godly influence to a world

that’s spiritually bland.

We had flavor to it.

A good flavor.

What something else salt does?

It preserves.

In Bible times, this would help slow corruption and decay.

Typically now we have preservatives.

We have all these chemicals that I’m not even going to try to pronounce.

but we have them in everything from our McDonald’s french fries that sit under the seat

for months at a time and still look like they were ate yesterday, right?

I saw the movie Super Size Me years ago and they had a hamburger and they put it in a

sealed jar and they came back six years later and unwrapped that thing, looked like it was

made five minutes ago.

Disgusting.

But that’s aside the point.

Salt is there.

to slow corruption and decay in a natural way.

So, it’s a fitting picture because Christians are meant to have a preserving influence in

the world.

Our lives, our teachings, our example should be one that holds back corruption, just as

salt does from food.

We should be trying to influence the world in a way that the corruption doesn’t take and

point people toward the holiness of Christ.

Did know that salt can also help heal?

I actually didn’t know this one until I had studied specifically for this lesson.

Saltwater gargles, I have listed Epsom salts for your feet and other methods.

The world, however, is sick in sin.

Christians are meant to bring a healing influence to the world.

This is why Christ says, we are the salt of the world.

We can’t heal the world through human philosophy.

Can we heal the world through entertainment?

The world is littered with it.

It’s just getting worse.

What about politics?

Here’s one that hit hell and to me, what about self-help books?

Not if they’re not Bible-based, absolutely not.

The Word is healed by the Word of God, first and foremost.

Something else about salt is that salt does not do its, uh it doesn’t do any of its work

if it’s not in contact.

with what it’s going to preserve, with what it’s going to flavor, with what it’s going to

heal.

It must come in physical contact with what is going on.

As a Christian, we’re called to be different from the world.

is different from a hamburger, right?

But to flavor the hamburger, we put a little bit of salt on there.

Well, maybe the French fries, but.

Do we have to come in contact with the world as Christians to have an influence on them?

Yes.

Can we live in the world, but still be apart from the world at the same time?

Yes, absolutely.

That’s what we’re called to do.

That’s what we’re told to do.

But then Jesus gives the warning.

If the salt loses its savor, it becomes useless.

So here’s the analogy.

If a Christian has no influence, if a Christian has no conviction, if a Christian has no

testimony, that Christian is not fulfilling his purpose.

Be ready always to give an answer of the hope that lies within you.

1 Peter 3 15, with meekness and fear.

He says, we have to have that testimony ready to give to people.

This is our salt.

Someone get Luke 17 and verse 32.

You can also just say it if you haven’t memorized.

It’s only three words.

Remember Lott’s wife.

What happened to Lott’s wife?

She turned into a filler of salt.

Why was she turned into a filler of salt?

She disobeyed, she looked back.

And the terminology there in the Greek gives the light as if she was almost looking back

at a longing, uh a disappointment to see the city of Sodom, which, you know, burn and get

the justice that it so rightly deserved.

They had been told, they had been given a chance to repent and they did not want that.

So she turns around.

She’s literally turned into a pillar of salt.

Does God want statues?

He wants servants.

He wants warriors for Christ, people going out, doing the job of evangelist, having

testimony.

Her assault was not supposed to be a monument in this, in her case, physically to her

indecisions of whether or not to follow God.

Yes, she physically went, but her heart, we can safely assume remained in Sodom because

she looked back.

Could her salt have been more properly used to salt the earth with the testimony of what

had happened in Sodom and Gomorrah?

Absolutely.

I think it’s very fitting to use Lot’s wife in this same analogy with Matthew chapter

five.

God wants our lives to season the earth with a testimony of His truth, His Word, not

merely become a warning because of disobedience.

So, moving on to verses 14 through 16, we’re going to label this one, Ye are the light of

the world.

And we’ve already read it, so, uh Jesus changes pictures, but the point stays the same,

it’s influence.

He says, You are the light of the world.

There are a couple of things that light does that darkness absolutely cannot do, that evil

cannot do.

Light reveals while darkness tries to hide.

Light shows the way while darkness obscures it.

Light can bring clarity and darkness makes it harder to see.

We read a city on a hill cannot be hidden and a candle is not lit so it cannot be covered

up.

When you light a candle, typically why do you light a candle?

So you can see, for light.

This was the key lesson of the chapter, remember, let your light shine.

Jesus is not calling us to a private religion.

This is not the Gnostics back in the day of the early church.

Or as Brother Cain likes to say, the Gnostics, because it starts with the G.

These were a type of people that claimed that they had a private,

lesson from God.

had some kind of hidden knowledge, thus, gnosko, hidden knowledge, or gnostics, gnostics.

Notice what he says will happen.

He says that they may see your good works.

This is important because some people talk, unfortunately today, as if works don’t matter

at all.

But he says specifically, so that they may see whose good works.

Ours.

There’s ownership in the word your.

It takes possession of works in the sentence.

Again, this is important because people talk as if works don’t matter.

Now, we can never do so many works that we deserve salvation.

That’s not how it works.

It’s still a gift from God, but He still demands that we work.

And that’s for every Christian.

Jesus says artworks can glorify God when they are done from the right heart and for the

right purpose.

So, good question.

If people watch my life, are they seeing enough light to be pointed towards God?

When they shine that flashlight on us and our works, our shadow is laid out, bear to see,

can they see that arrow or that shadow on the ground pointing towards Christ?

That’s something I hope we all ask each

ourselves as we go throughout our lives.

So, verse 17 through 18.

Now we come to the heart of the chapter.

Jesus turns to the subject of righteousness in relation to the law.

He says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.

I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no

wise pass from the law

till all be fulfilled.” Jesus says very plainly, I have not come to destroy the law of

Moses.

I not here to destroy it.

I am here to fulfill the law and prophecy.

That means He came to bring them to their intended completion.

There is a big difference between simply tearing something down and completing it.

The law of Moses was not permanent in the sense of final covenant of man for all time.

It was preparatory in nature.

It pointed towards Christ.

One useful way to explain this is kind of like in terms of our local legal systems or

constitutions.

A government may have one constitution for a certain period, certain laws on the books for

a certain period.

We see this all the time when we go from Republican to Democrat.

Republican to Democrat, don’t we?

Did laws change between the two back and forth?

Kind of seesaw and teeter?

I’m not saying that’s what’s happening here in the Bible, but we did have a different law,

a different covenant.

And now we have, if you read the book of Hebrews, it’s all about it.

We have a better covenant because we have a better lawgiver.

We have a better sacrifice.

We have a better high priest, which is Christ.

The former one served its purpose while it was in force, but it’s replaced when the new

leadership comes.

Now, it’s always been led by God.

In a similar way, God’s people have lived under different divine judgments or

arrangements.

What three different periods do we have in the Bible?

Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations, right?

Jesus did not recklessly tear down the old law, He fulfilled it and established the new

law.

When you look at the different prophecies of the Bible,

I can’t remember right off the top of my head how many prophecies.

think there are, uh correct me if I’m wrong, Kennedy, there were over 300, 400 different

prophecies in the Bible of Christ specifically.

And we had read in one of our books that someone did the math on it.

And the chances of Him fulfilling every prophecy of the Old Testament, the one person, was

as if you had the entire state of Texas full up about two foot with quarters.

And on a single quarter in all of Texas, there was an X.

And it would be like walking and waiting through these quarters and on the first try

reaching down and pulling out that quarter with the X on it.

That’s a good comparison to how hard it would have been to fulfill that.

And many people argue, well, people lied about some of the things that he did.

uh He was trying to fulfill the prophecy so he did X and Y and Z.

If that was the case, how did he fulfill the prophecy of being born in Bethlehem?

Someone get Hebrews 10 and verse nine, please.

Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 9.

Alright, and now if you turn back over to Hebrews 9 and just skim through and look at

verse 16 through 17, He teaches that a testament goes into effect when the testator, the

person who wrote it, passes or dies.

Christ’s became binding through His death.

We don’t get the money from our in-laws until after they’ve passed.

You don’t go for their will and testament until the death has already occurred, do you?

If you do, something’s wrong.

This means that we are not under Moses today as our covenant authority.

We’re under Christ.

And this matters because many in the religious world still try to mix covenants.

They want an all you can eat buffet.

They want specific things and rules for Moses.

And then they walk over to the salad bar, they walk over to Christ.

Oh, I like that, but I still want some of this over here.

I’ve met families that study and still today don’t know which law and covenant they’re

under.

And so we have to teach them.

Easiest way for that is typically I’ll ask them to sit down and read the book of Hebrews

with me because that’s the theme of the whole book, is what covenant are we under?

Someone back up a little bit and get Hebrews 8 and verse 13.

says a new covenant he has made the first obsolete.

Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

So tell me, you get a brand new cell phone, do you still keep the old cell phone or do you

trade it in towards the new one to get some money back?

I knew there’d be somebody in here that’s like, I keep it just in case.

In relation to the covenant, you don’t do that.

Generally, you would trade that in because it is now obsolete.

It’s no longer working.

But the new one is, and it’s far better.

Romans chapter seven verses two through four uses marriage language to show the

impossibility of being bound in that way to two systems at once.

So, Matthew 5 and verse 17 is not a minor point.

This is foundational.

Christ fulfilled the old law and established the covenant under which we now live.

So, that brings us to verse 19 back in Matthew chapter 5.

This is respect for God’s commands.

He says, �Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments.� Does every

command from God matter?

Yeah.

Does it matter if it�s small or big?

No, God’s truth is not ours to dim down.

It is not ours to soften, and it is absolutely not ours to selectively obey.

We have to obey all of God’s laws.

If Jesus treated the revelation of God with that kind of seriousness, then shouldn’t we

too?

Yes.

So, verse 20.

Let’s go ahead and have somebody else get verse 20 for me of Matthew chapter 5.

that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and parishes,

ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Okay, now if you remember from our

earlier notes a little over a month ago, this is one of the key verses of the entire

chapter.

The Pharisees looked righteous.

They were subjective in their following of Christ.

They had appearance, they had ceremony, they had visibility.

They definitely had religious performance.

They walked down the street to be seen of others praying.

But Jesus said true righteousness is one that has to exceed theirs.

That does not mean bigger parades.

That does not mean louder prayers so people can hear you when you’ve got the door closed.

make a show out of it.

It’s not by being louder, it’s not by being more theatrical, it’s not, but it is by going

deeper, internally.

Their righteousness was often outward without inward purity.

Jesus is about to show that the kingdom of righteousness is not just about actions, it’s

about motives, it’s about desires, it’s about the heart.

Does God know the thoughts and the intents?

of the hearts of every man and woman alive?

Yeah, absolutely.

He knows everything.

So he knows if we are just punching that punch card in the back and pretending to be a

Christian on Sunday.

He knows what you’re talking about around the water cooler at work.

He knows the guy that you sent a vulgar sign to while you were driving past him on the

freeway.

He knows what you’re thinking when you honk the horn at the guy who doesn’t move forward

at the red light.

Yeah, I know, I just used two driving, but Memphis is full of bad drivers.

brings us to verse 21 and through 26.

If you want to label this section in your Bible, I’m calling this one, Murder and Anger.

Right?

have heard that it was said of them of old time, thou shalt not kill.

But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in

danger of the judgment.” Here Jesus begins again in the same repeated pattern we’ve seen.

You have heard, but now I say to you.

Now, why can Jesus say, but I say unto you?

Because He’s the one with authority, right?

Look, you’ve heard under the law of Moses that you should not kill, you should not commit

murder is the Greek word there.

But I say unto you, because I’m above Moses, right?

I have more authority than that, which he absolutely did.

He’s not correcting Moses.

He’s correcting the shallow way people had handled Moses.

These are people that were very legalistic.

Remember the Pharisees, the Sadducees?

They were very, very legalistic and they wanted to follow the letter of the law.

They would never necessarily go beyond that.

The Pharisee could absolutely say, I’ve not murdered anybody.

But Jesus says, about anger?

What about contempt?

What about bitterness?

Holding on to anger that you could let go of.

In other words, sin begins deeper than the final outward act.

It reminds me of the word Methusko.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard the word Methusko.

I know you two in the back.

The word Methusko is a transitive verb.

It’s Greek, but it’s very much considered like the word thaw, to thaw a piece of chicken.

At what point uh of taking it out of the freezer, setting it on the counter, putting it in

the bowl of water, putting it in the microwave, hit and go,

At what point does the chicken begin to thaw?

As soon as you take it out of the freezer, it’s the start of a process.

So Jesus says, whoever’s angry with his brother without a cause.

I jumped forward in my notes.

if a man carries rage and contempt in his heart.

He can justify the world’s by saying, well, I never killed him.

I never murdered him.

I never went the final.

But Christ is saying, what about anger?

It’s very related back to Methusco, to Thal.

He’s saying don’t start the process.

Anger is where the murder starts from, from one reason or another.

Don’t start the process that leads you down the road to that final act.

Then Jesus presses the need for reconciliation.

If a relationship is broken, for lack of better term, He basically says deal with it.

If relationship is broken, do not pretend to be right with God while refusing to make

things right with your brother.

When Jesus said, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, he’s condemning a

specific anger, a sinful anger, selfish anger, hateful anger.

But that also shows that there is such thing as righteous anger and unrighteous anger.

There are times then…

We absolutely should be angry.

It doesn’t mean we have to be angry at the person, but we can be angry at the sin.

The difference is that righteous anger is controlled.

Righteous anger is holy.

And righteous anger is never centered upon one’s self.

Can we have a cause for righteous anger?

Yes.

Should we be angry without a cause just to be mad?

No, that’s just your Sinusso discourse in your heart.

Someone get Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 26 and someone else please get Mark 3 and verse

5 after that.

Ephesians 4.26 and Mark 3 and verse 5.

Be ye angry and sin not.

Is that a command to be angry?

not necessarily, but he’s saying it is okay to be angry.

If we have righteous anger, that is okay.

But there’s a comma there.

It sits there and says, sin not.

All right, Mark three and verse five.

So here we have Christ, righteous anger.

It said because of what?

Because of the hardness of their hearts.

It’s because their motives behind pushing the rules they were, was not righteous.

It was wrong of them to act that way.

And so out of anger, he said, hold out your hand, I’m gonna heal you.

Despite what they say, because he had righteous anger.

As Christians, we need to make sure that when we are angry at people, it’s for the right

reasons.

We don’t need to hold contempt in our heart for things that are unrighteous reasons for

anger.

And sometimes that’s hard whenever somebody just cuts you off in traffic, right?

It is hard.

Yeah, yeah.

My wife will tell you, I had some guy pull out.

I’m pulling out of the parking spot just the other day.

I had just backed up and I start turning my wheel and he wedges himself, comes around the

corner and wedges himself right there within a paint job of my vehicle.

And I just look at him and go, what do you want?

Like I’m trying to pull forward and get out of your, you can’t wait?

I have two more foot to go and I’m out of the way.

And the dude just looks at me like I’m.

You gotta let it go.

And it hurts.

It hurts sometimes, right?

I was fuming about it for the next hour and a half.

I do.

I do, namely this lesson actually.

So that’s what I did.

I had to start reminding myself of the Beatitudes.

I had to start reminding myself of Matthew chapter 5.

And look, at the end of the day, I wish that man well.

I hope that, you know, he gets the help he needs, right?

Driving lessons.

Verses 27 through 30.

We’re gonna move forward.

He comes to adultery and lust.

I’m not sure how much further we’ll be able to get in this because we’re getting fairly

close on the clock.

You have heard it said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.

So here he is, here’s this pattern again.

You have heard it said, but I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after

her, hath committed adultery.

with her already in His heart.

Here again, Jesus takes the law deeper than the Pharisees ever did.

They were satisfied with just the outward act, right?

The Pharisee could feel justified in his own mind by not doing the final act.

But Jesus shows us that sin starts much earlier.

Remember the example of Methusco.

It begins in the heart.

So, the Lord is teaching us that righteousness is not simply about what our hands have

done,

but also what our heart has welcomed into our lives, what our heart has entertained, and

sometimes even what our heart has desired.

And sometimes those desires need to be unlearned, and it’s not always the easiest.

A man can be clean in the eyes of society, but still stand guilty before God if he allows

lust to take root in his heart.

This is something that’s especially needed in our time.

Now, why?

Because many people, my glasses are getting annoying, because many people excuse inward

lust as though it was harmless.

Well, it’s okay, I’m not acting on it.

So, but even though you’re not acting on it, are you still cultivating something on the

inside if you hold it in?

Yes.

Jesus says the heart matters.

The inward man matters.

The private thoughts, the hearts, the intentions of man matters.

The hidden life matters.

Your reason for doing something, obeying Him, matters.

Now the Bible tells us we are to fear God and keep His commandments.

But Christ says, if you love me, what?

Keep my commandments.

Let’s use our definitive two cents here, right, collectively.

Which would God prefer the reason be that we serve Him?

Out of fear or out of love?

Love.

It’s okay to fear God, we should.

He’s the most powerful being in all of existence.

He created us in the universe.

He has the final say on everything.

But our fear,

I’m sorry, let me start over.

Our love should outgrow our fear.

Early on when we are disciplining young children, they listen because they don’t want to

get a spanking from dad.

As they grow up, they start to love dad.

And they start to listen and obey, no longer out of fear of the hand or the belt or the

nose in the corner, however you choose to discipline, but out of love.

This is what God wants for us, is to grow in our faith and our love for Him.

Going back to the verse where we were talking about, Jesus says that the heart matters.

This is where we need to stress something important.

Jesus is not condemning the mere recognition that a person is attractive.

That’s going to happen.

What He is condemning is the deliberate, lustful looking.

The look that feeds sinful desire.

The look that turns people, a person, into an image to be worshiped.

Now, do mean by an image to be worshiped?

Justin, we don’t worship idols anymore.

How many idols do we carry around in our wallets from day to day?

dollars bills.

Many, many people worship that.

They lust after money, piles of money.

Some lust after women, some lust after cars.

It could be any number of things.

Then Jesus says, “‘If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, cast it from thee.

If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, cast it from thee.'” His language is severe on

purpose.

He showing us how important this stuff is.

He is not teaching self-mutilation.

He’s not saying if you like looking at that pretty girl, go ahead and gouge your eyes out.

He is teaching radical seriousness.

Sin is so destructive.

Sin is so dangerous.

Because by disobeying our Creator, we can condemn ourselves to eternity in hell.

It has got to be dealt with very decisively, like a surgeon with a scalpel.

Anything that leads us to commit sin needs to be addressed decisively and immediately and

thoroughly.

So the lesson is this, don’t play with sin.

Do not pet temptation.

Don’t sit there and say, well, it’s okay if I watch this, it’s a…

I the saying is a slippery slope.

It’s slicker than you think.

Don’t make excuses for lust.

Don’t try to manage it while keeping it alive.

If something in your life is feeding a sinful desire, it needs to go.

If Christ is not in it, neither do we need to be in it.

Jesus is teaching us that it is better to lose something precious in this life.

than to lose our soul eternity in hell.

The battle with lust is not won when the hand is restrained.

It is won when the heart has surrendered to God.

And we’ll go ahead and leave it there, and we will pick up next time on verses 31 through

32, where we will talk about divorce and marriage.

I’m sure everybody is looking forward to that one.

Thank you for

Sarah: Who Counted Him Faithful Who Promised – Aaron Cozort – May 10, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical lessons, faith, Genesis, God's promises, Hebrews, keywords Sarah, motherhood, Obedience, patience, trust by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

To all of the mothers who are here this morning, happy Mother’s Day.

to all of the children and husbands who are here, it’s Mother’s Day, just in case you

didn’t know.

Take your Bibles if you will and open them to Hebrews chapter 11.

As I was thinking this week.

Who, which mothers have I not preached on?

In the years since I’ve been here, I know I’ve preached on Mary.

I know I’ve preached on a few other mothers found in scripture, Hannah and others.

And dawned me, I don’t know that I’ve ever preached a sermon on Sarah.

In Hebrews chapter 11, we read by faith Sarah, verse 11.

herself also received strength to conceive seed.

And she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had

promise.”

This morning I want us to spend some time considering Sarah because she judged God

faithful to His promises.

Sarah is one who, if you were to look at her from Old Testament texts, you’d say maybe

she’s uh kind of one of those 50-50 characters.

She’s got some good things about her.

She’s got some baggage she carries.

But the Hebrew writer doesn’t mention the baggage.

The Hebrew writer, as he does with many of the faithful of Old Testament scripture,

focuses on what they did because of what they believed.

is we’re introduced to Sarah, we’re introduced to her in Genesis chapter 11, so I

encourage you to take your Bibles and follow along with me there.

We’re gonna spend some time in Genesis, some time in Hebrews.

But in Genesis chapter 11, we’re introduced to Sarah in the record of the genealogy of

Tira.

Beginning in verse 27, this is the genealogy of Tira.

Tira begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Haran begat Lot.

And Haran died before his father, Tira, in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Then Abram and Nahor took wives.

The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milka, the daughter of

Haran, the father of Milka and the father of Iska.

But Sarai was barren.

She had no child.

As we are introduced to Sarai, as we will later know her,

Sarah.

She has no child.

She has the experience that some who experience this day have.

This day as a celebration of mothers would have been one more reminder that she wasn’t.

Though she desired to be, though she desired to bear children, though she desired to bear

offspring, she was barren.

And as you consider what the text is telling us, it’s telling us that though there is a

desire, there’s an inability.

And yet this is going to be the foundation of this recognition of Sarah in the New

Testament.

It is a reminder to us that it is often the things that we struggle with.

It is often the things that we are powerless to overcome and yet are faithful during that

define our lives.

So often in history, in talking with people, in paying attention to cycles of American

history, you notice that it is the desperate times, it is the hard times that alter the

complexion of a person forever.

Many of us have known grandparents, great grandparents, maybe parents, depending upon what

age we are, who grew up in…

a time that came out of the Great Depression, who reacted towards things very differently

than we do, because they grew up in a very different time than we did.

Those of us who grew up in the post 1950s live in a time of full industrialization, full

electro-electricity, I can’t even get that word out.

We grew up with electricity.

We grew up with running water in the house.

We grew up with cars.

We grew up with machines.

People who grew up in the Great Depression often grew up with none of that.

People who were early adults who were just trying to get their family going and they

couldn’t even keep a stable job grew up with none of

We often chuckle as we think back to grandparents, great grandparents, and the pantries we

would go into with just shelves of canned food.

from years we can’t even remember how many years ago it was and if you dusted the dust off

of the top, nobody wrote on it.

You just know that it’s been there as long as you can remember.

but it was the hard times that defined their choices.

And for Sarah, it was the thing that she was powerless to overcome that defined her glory.

You find in chapter 12, now the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country from your

family and from your father’s house to a land I will show you.

I will make you a great nation.

I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing.

will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.

And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son and all their possessions that

they had gathered and the people whom they had acquired in Haran.

And they departed to go into the land of Canaan.

So they came to the land of Canaan.

As we are further introduced to Sarah’s history,

We are introduced to her not only as someone who is barren, but someone who is already

aging.

When Abraham, as we will later know him, leaves his home, leaves his family, leaves his

country, as he is told by God, he takes Sarah, his wife, with him naturally.

But I say naturally and then we should really honestly pause and think about that for a

moment.

How many husbands live in the place they live near their in-laws simply because his wife

refuses to move?

How many people live in one place and will never move because their wife says, no, I grew

up here and I’m staying here.

It’s easy for us to just pass over and say, Sarah went with Abram.

think about that.

Sarah departed from all the family she knew.

Sarah departed from the only country she knew.

Sarah departed from the only land that she had.

It wasn’t just Abram who left.

Sarah chose to go with Him.

So Sarah, who is barren?

Sarah, who has no child and is powerless to do anything about that,

will still follow the command, the instruction, and the promise of God even when she’s 65

years old and she’s looking at that promise going…

Okay, sure.

I’m gonna bear a child?

At 65?

but she goes out as Abram did.

believing the promise.

She went out trusting God’s promise.

So she went to a land that she didn’t know.

She went to a people that were not hers.

She went with the people that she had and she took what family she could have with her,

but she departed from all the family that she knew.

And as she went forth, she trusted God.

We turn over to chapter 12, I’m sorry, further into chapter 12.

We find that life wasn’t easy as they left their home.

They had many concerns about the place they were going.

The land of Canaan already had a reputation.

If you remember a little bit of your Old Testament history, you know that Canaan was not

just a land, it wasn’t a country, it was a father of descendants.

For the descendants of Noah, one of the grandchildren is known as Canaan, and his people

were those who were known as the Canaanites, and their people were those…

who were made up of a number of different peoples and yet they were those who had rejected

God.

So as Abram departs from his land, we know from other texts and from other things that not

all of Abram’s family were those who worshiped God and were faithful to him.

There were issues with idolatry among his people, but it seems as though at least the

character of his people were somewhat different than the reputation of the Canaanites.

as Abram comes down into the land of Canaan as he has been instructed by God because God

didn’t tell him where to go, God said, I will show you where to go.

As he arrives there, there is concern about what the people in this new country will do to

him, to his family.

Whether they will kill him to keep his wife and his possessions and his servants.

So we find chapter 12, verse 10, Now there was a famine in the land and Abram went down to

Egypt to dwell there for the famine was severe in the land.

And it came to pass when he was close to entering Egypt that he said to Sarai his wife,

Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

Therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife

and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Abram looks at the situation as they’re preparing to go down to Egypt and he looks at his

seventy five or sixty five plus year old wife and says, You’re so beautiful, they’ll kill

me to take you.

We find out Sarah was very beautiful.

We find out based upon a number of passages that she was beautiful such that this occasion

will, or this type of occasion will occur not only when she’s 65 plus, but when she’s 85

plus.

But as they go, we see some of the blight, some of the imperfection in Sarah’s record.

For Sarah will lie on behalf of Abram.

She will deceive on behalf of her husband.

He conceives the plan.

She agrees to carry it out.

Verse 12, therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say,

This is his wife and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake and that I may

live because of you.

Sarah will proceed with Abram’s plan, though it will be proven to be unnecessary.

For the people in the land of Egypt are not like the Canaanites.

They are not like those who had rejected God, and they would have honored Abram in spite

of the fact that they were mistrusted.

If you go down to chapter 16, you find another blight on the record of Sarah.

as Sarah will determine eventually that this lineage thing, this offspring thing isn’t

going to work out.

Time has passed.

She’s now not 65.

She’s now nearly 75.

And no son has come forth.

No child has come forth.

No nation has come forth.

And so Sarah is going to give Hagar, her handmaid, to Abram.

And so Abram will…

father a child through Hagar, and yet this is going to cause strife, contention, and

hardship among the family.

It is going to cause a problem even among Sarah, and yet Hagar is going to be protected by

the Lord, as will her offspring.

You go again to chapter 18 and a little while further ahead in history.

At the time when the Lord appeared to him by the terrible trees of Mamre, verse 18, verse

one, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.

So he lifted his eyes and looked and behold, three men were standing by him.

And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the

ground and said, My Lord, I have now uh if I have now found favor in your sight, do not

pass on by your servant.

Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the

tree.

and I will bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts.

After that, you may pass by.

In as much as you have come to your servant, they said, do as you have said.” So Abraham

hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, quickly make ready three measures of fine meal,

knead it and make cakes.

And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man and he

hastened to prepare it.

So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared and set it before them and

he stood by them under the tree and they ate.

And then he said, then they said to him, where is Sarah your wife?

So he said, here in the tent.

And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life and behold,

Sarah, your wife shall have a son.

Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of

childbearing.

Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have

pleasure, my lord, being old also?

And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child,

since I am old?

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall

have a son.

But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid and said, and he said,

no, but you did laugh.

We notice here in the text as we get to this passage that Sarah is going to find it

impossible from a physical perspective.

She looks at herself and she considers herself as you notice in the text and the things

that are going on.

Sarah is well advanced in age.

Sarah is at this point where the idea of bearing a child from a physical perspective was

an impossibility.

And yet, in the midst of this, we learn some things.

And that is that the promises of God are not always easy to understand.

The promises of God are not always those which make complete sense to us.

The promises of God are not always those things which we…

look at and we immediately grasp and we immediately know exactly how God’s going to do it.

Sarah laughs at the promise of God, but the Hebrew writer reminds us she also considered

God’s promises to be faithful.

In Genesis chapter 20…

We find another occasion where we find somewhat of a blight on Sarah’s record.

Similar to the prior event, we also see some protection from God.

For God has told Abram that within a year, Sarah will bear a son.

And yet again, another time occurs where they need to journey.

And so we find chapter 20, verse 1, and Abraham journeyed from there to the south and

dwelt between Kadesh and Shur.

and stayed in Gihar.

Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister.

And Abimelek king of Gihar sent and took Sarah.

But God came to Abimelek in a dream by night and said to him, Indeed, you are a dead man,

because the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.

But Abimelek had not come near her.

And he said, Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also?

Did he not say to me, She is my sister?

And she, even she herself said, He is my brother in the integrity of my heart and the

innocence of my hands I have done this.

And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your

heart, for I also withheld you from sinning against me.

Therefore I did not let you touch her.

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, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.’

So Abimelek rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told them all these

things in their hearing.

And the men were very much afraid.

And Abimelek called Abraham and said to him, What have I done?

What have you done to us?

How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?

You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.”

Then Abimelek said to Abraham, what did you have in view that you have done this thing?

And Abraham said, because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place and they

will kill me on account of my wife.

But indeed she is truly my sister.

She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother and she became my

wife.

And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father’s house that I said to

her, This is your kindness that you should do for me in every place wherever we go.

Say of me, he is my brother.

Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham.

And he restored Sarah his wife to him.

And Abimelech said, See, my land is before you.

Dwell where it pleases you.

Then Sarah, then to Sarah, he said, Behold, I have given your brother

A thousand pieces of silver indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and

before everybody.

Thus she was rebuked.

In this occasion, we find that the story that they had been telling was not a two-time

occasion.

This was just the story they kept telling.

and it was out of fear for their lives.

As we pause for a moment and consider, sometimes the fears that we have are entirely

unjustified.

Sometimes the fears that we have exist only in our mind and in no sense of reality.

Sometimes we consider things about people because they’re strangers to us, because they’re

not like us, because they dress differently than us, they live differently than us, they

come from a culture that is different than us, and we surmise that therefore they’re not

trustworthy and they certainly must not fear the Lord.

and Sarah and Abraham are rebuked.

Because instead of allowing the character and the life and the righteousness of the person

to determine whether or not they should be considered trustworthy, they assume

and they failed to trust God instead.

As we consider the promise of a son, God protects his promises.

God is going to enact the things that he will with this individual and with his household

because God made a promise and God is going to deliver on his promises.

even if it means he has to keep Sarah and Abraham and Abimelek from messing it up through

miraculous means.

One last thing that I want to point out back in chapter 17, as you’ll notice that Sarah’s

name has changed.

Back in chapter 17, after the reiteration of the covenant we find in chapter 17 and in

verse 15, then God said to Abraham, for Sarah, Sarah, your wife, you shall not call her

name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name.

I will bless her and I will give you a son by her.

Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations.

Kings of peoples shall be from her.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to

a man who is one hundred years old and shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?

And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.

Then God said, No, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son.

And you shall call his name Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants

after him.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard you.

Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.

He shall beget twelve princes and I will make him a great nation.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time

next year.

as Sarah is promised by God, her name is changed by God to become the mother of many

nations.

And she will have a child, his name will be Isaac, and she will receive the promise.

But as we consider Sarah, I want us to notice that the receiving of the promise wasn’t the

end of the story.

for after she received the promise, she then had to let go of the promise.

In Genesis chapter 22.

And in verse one, now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said

to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of

Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall

tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men

with him.

and Isaac his son, he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the

place of which God had told him.”

As you consider her belief, faith, and obedience in God, consider that she was faithful

for 25 years before receiving the promise.

and that she counted God as faithful who promised.

So much so that when God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, her son, her only

son.

and offer him as a burnt offering to the Lord, she didn’t refuse.

She didn’t tell her husband, no, no, you’re not.

She didn’t tell Abram you can kill me, but you’re not taking that boy.

Quite often we come to this text in Genesis 22 and we think about Abraham.

And because her name’s not mentioned, we don’t always think about Sarah.

Sarah was faithful even after receiving the promise.

Sarah considered God faithful even when the possibility of losing that only son and all

the promises that came with it could be taken away.

I want us to notice one last thing from Hebrews chapter 11.

In Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 8.

We read, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to the place where he would

receive an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he dwelt in the land of promises in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with

Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he waited for the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.

By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to receive seed or conceive seed, and she

bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky

and multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.” These all, notice the

all there.

These all died in faith, not

having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them,

embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

And truly, if they had called to mind the country from which they had come out, they would

have had opportunity to return.

But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the

promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall

be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he

also received him in a figurative sense.

By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the things to come.

By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped,

leaning on the top of his staff.

By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of

Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.

As you walk through the successive lineage from Abraham and Sarah to Isaac, to Jacob, to

Joseph.

You see a pattern.

It was a pattern of lives built on promises.

when you consider four lessons as we close from Sarah’s life.

Consider first that Sarah believed God’s promise when physical circumstances denied it.

She didn’t have no questions about God’s promise.

She didn’t always act as though she believed God’s promise.

but she believed God’s promise even when physical circumstances denied the very

possibility of that promise being fulfilled.

Number two, Sarah believed God’s promise when fulfillment wasn’t immediate.

too often in life, are adept at receiving a promise and then going, all right, come on,

where is it?

We are impatient.

If somebody says, I’m going to give you X, great, give it to me now.

And yet Sarah was faithful even when the fulfillment of the promise took years in the

terms of Isaac and was never experienced in this life in view of the promise of the land

and the descendants and the nations.

And yet she lived in faithfulness to that promise that she never received while she was on

this earth.

But then consider number three, Sarah believed God’s promise when obedience to Abram was

required.

Over in 1 Peter chapter three, Peter will reference Sarah and show her due honor because

he sets her forward as an example of one who called Abram Lord.

The idea there is not

Well, the husbands are better than the wives and she needed to be in subjection and she

needed to do, no, no, no.

She called Abram Lord.

The text is making it clear it was her choice to go with her husband, to obey her husband,

to submit to her husband, to dwell with her husband, even though at age 65,

they started a brand new adventure.

home.

Then consider number four, Sarah believed God’s promise and did not withhold that promise

once it was given.

Sarah surely is the mother of the faithful.

In Romans chapter 4, Paul will write about Abraham as the father of the faithful.

But a father doesn’t have children without a mother.

And Sarah sets a shining example of trust in God and the results that can be had

generation after generation after generation of a life lived faithful to God, trusting His

promises.

Now, let’s all be assured Sarah’s descendants had their own problems.

Sarah’s lineage had their own difficulties and not all of them were faithful.

But Sarah is recognized as a mother who believed the Lord and counted him faithful in his

promises.

You’re here this morning.

You should know with great assurance that God is faithful to his promises.

He was faithful to Sarah when it was impossible in physical terms.

He was faithful to Sarah after she had died.

He was faithful to Sarah in bringing forth His Son, the seed of her womb that would be

ruler and Messiah and King over all the earth.

And that promise was fulfilled generations after she died because God is faithful to His

promises.

So as you look at your life, shall we ask, do you count God faithful to His promises?

And if you do, are you living like it?

Are you living like Sarah lived when there were some doubts, when there were some

hesitancies, when there were some failures, or are you living faithfully?

even though it’s an impossibility in some people’s minds.

When you look at your life, do you count the Lord faithful who is promised?

If you have need of the invitation of our Lord to put Christ on in baptism to become born

a child of God, you say, Aaron, I don’t know how that could possibly happen.

I don’t know how I could be forgiven.

I don’t know how all of the things that I’ve done could be wiped away.

I don’t.

It’s okay.

There’s someone who’s faithful to his promises.

and he knows how.

If you have need of the invitation, why not come as we stand

Scoffers in the Last Days – Aaron Cozort – May 10, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Authority of God, Christian living, False Teachers, keywords Bible, Last Days, Morality, prophecy, Scoffers, Scripture, Second Coming by Aaron Cozort

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Good afternoon.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to 2 Peter.

I lost the page in my notebook that my notes were on.

There it is.

Starting too far back.

In scripture, a scoffer, generally someone who mocks truth, rejects correction, ridicules

righteousness, or treats God’s warnings with contempt.

Peter as he is writing in the closing chapter as we have it in our English Bibles of this

second letter writes in 2nd Peter chapter 3 beginning in verse 1, Beloved, I now write to

you this second epistle.

In both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of

the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that

scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts.” This

afternoon, I want us to

consider this phrase, this statement made by Peter concerning scoffers in the last days.

Now we’re not going to delve into a highly uh deep view of what are the last days.

I’m gonna give you what they are and let you do your own study on it, but the last days

are the Christian age.

It is the period of the age of the church.

uh beginning in Acts chapter two, starting with the day of Pentecost and going forward

from that time.

That’s what the New Testament speaks of as the last days.

So we’ve been in the last days for 2,000 years.

We’ve been in the last days since the day of Pentecost and since the church began.

That is what the New Testament identifies as the last days.

But Paul, sorry, but Peter,

has reminded us that the prophets spoke clearly that there would not be an end to those

who reject God’s Word or God’s message just because the Kingdom had come, just because the

Church had been established, just because Jesus came to the cross, died on the cross, and

ascended back into heaven didn’t mean that there would not be a time when people began to

reject Christ.

or even when the church began to reject Christ.

This is also consistent with what Paul wrote.

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and told them that there would be the return of

Christ, that Christ would come back, He would come a second time, but that before that

point there would be a falling away, there would be those who would arise teaching

perverse things and

would draw away those after themselves, if you combine what he said in Thessalonians to

what he says in Acts chapter 20 to the elders at Ephesus.

So the point is this, yes, the last days at large are the Church Age, but there were

events that were spoken of, that were prophesied in the early days of the Church that

still had some fulfillment to come in the days ahead.

and Paul, sorry Peter, I’m gonna get my words out eventually.

If they could just get their names changed where they didn’t start with the same letter,

that’d be easier.

uh But Peter is going to speak and write to these Christians and inform them as he’s

getting older, as he’s nearing the end of his life, there is still a departure that is

coming.

And he tells the Christians that coming in the last days there will be those who will be

scoffers.

and they will be opposing the Word and the works of God.

So I wanted to spend some time with this idea of what a scoffer is, what it means to be a

scoffer, and perhaps from this text and a few others, what we can learn about the scoffers

that Peter was writing about.

First, you should notice the reality of the situation.

Peter makes it clear in chapter 2 verse 3 he says, this first.

Let me just begin with that phrase, knowing.

He doesn’t say, you know what, I think, uh I have great expectations there might be.

He doesn’t couch it in terms of potential.

He says, this is known.

This is without doubt.

Peter is writing to these brethren that the things that are going to be talked about are

already happening and they were going to continue.

He says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days.

Peter has already said that the things that he’s writing to them about were things that

were spoken of by the prophets.

He is indicating that there were those who had inspired miraculous knowledge delivered to

them by God in the early church who said, this was coming.

But he also points out that even the apostles had stated that this was coming.

The apostles had been teaching that there would be those who would rise up within the body

of Christ who would teach people to reject God.

Now that shouldn’t surprise us.

It should not surprise us that there were those who were coming in the first century who

were going to teach Christians from within the body of Christ to depart from God.

For that’s always been Satan’s tactic.

Satan has always utilized those within as the primary way he could get individuals to

depart from the Lord.

And it’s a reasonable thing in the sense of strategy.

Let’s face it, when Christians are around those who are outside the church, they are

outside the body of Christ, they are those who reject God, they reject his testimony, they

reject his word, they’re guards up.

They look at those individuals and go, I’m not going to do everything that they do because

they’re not Christians.

And yet, here comes along a nice looking young preacher or teacher and he’s well-schooled

and he sounds educated and he seems to know what he’s talking about.

And he starts teaching the doctrine of Christ mixed with the doctrine of pagans.

and he starts intermingling it.

Or he starts teaching that you must keep the law and be circumcised in order to go to

heaven.

And well, I mean, he came from Jerusalem.

He came from where the church and the gospel message originally came from, so he must know

what he’s talking about.

Peter is going to warn them.

Not that there would be those outside the church that would reject the message of God, but

rather that there would be teachers inside the church that would reject the message of God

and that had already been prophesied.

And when it occurred and when they observed it, when they witnessed it, when they

experienced it, they weren’t to be surprised.

They were to know this was coming.

But as you notice in the text,

He says, I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

When Peter writes these things to them, he writes to them having already told them these

things in person.

He is reminding them of what he already taught them when he was with them.

what he already wrote to them about in his first epistle, what Jude is going to write

about, what Paul is going to write about, what James is going to write about.

He says, we’re reminding you and reminding you and reminding you and reminding you.

Because we do not want you to be susceptible to being deceived.

I bring up the reality simply because of this.

There are times and there are individuals who act as though there are no false teachers

that we need to abstain from fellowship with, that we need to not listen to what they say.

We should just take all information and just put it in a big pot and just eat the stew

that comes out.

That’s just false.

we are to do as the church at Ephesus is spoken of as doing.

If you turn to Revelation chapter two.

Revelation chapter 2, we read to the angel of the church at Ephesus, right, these things

says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven

golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, that you cannot bear with

those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and

have found them liars.

There were teachers going around to the churches, including Ephesus, in the first century,

and they were claiming to be the apostles of the Lord.

And the church at Ephesus had put them to the test.

They had used properly the miraculous gifts to establish that these individuals were

liars.

They had tested them and they had proven them to be false.

Now, if there were false teachers in the first century that John writes and tells us are

liars and that you should not follow them, you should not adhere to what they’re teaching,

therefore you should not give them a platform to teach it.

Why would we imagine there aren’t today?

Why would we imagine that we’re somehow exempt from that and that everybody who claims to

be a Christian is clearly a Christian and everybody who claims to be a Christian, they can

just teach whatever they believe and it’ll be fine?

Nonsense.

Scoffers were coming in the last days and Peter says they’re already here.

But he also

will state in considering the reality of this that the things which were spoken by the

scoffers had already been settled by God.

The things they were going to teach were going to be a rejection of what God had already

said.

One of the easiest ways we can evaluate whether or not someone is a false teacher or

teaching the truth is this.

Take what they say and lay it against the Word of God.

And if they don’t agree with the Word of God…

We don’t have to discuss it anymore.

We don’t have to have an evaluation any further than that.

Do they teach what the Scriptures teach?

Or are they rejecting the very word they are claiming to uphold?

Then consider number two, the rejection of the message.

You go down to verse four and Peter is going to point out one of the specific things that

he has in mind that these scoffers who would be coming in the last days would reject.

Verse four says, they would be saying, where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of

creation.

For this they willfully forget, Peter says, that by the word of God the heavens were of

old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that

then existed perished being flooded with water.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for

fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

Peter says there are some who are coming out among you and will come out among you who are

going to come and they’re going to teach and they’re going to preach and you’re going to

hear what they have to say and they’re going to say Jesus isn’t coming back.

They’re going to say there is no second coming.

There is no eternity to be worried about.

There is no return of Christ.

There is no judgment day for you to be prepared for.

Everything’s existed the way it’s always been and it will always be the way it’s always

been.

So you just live your life and enjoy it.

Peter would point out that the rejection of the message would be couched in a denial of

history.

Peter says.

They willfully, they willfully forget.

The problem is not that the teachers were unaware of what the Scriptures taught.

It’s not as though the teachers were going to open up their Old Testament Scriptures and

suddenly the first half of Genesis is missing.

He says they just ignore it.

They just pretend that it’s not true.

They willfully forget that there was a point in time where God had created the world and

then because of the evil that existed in the world, God wiped the face of the planet off.

Peter points out that as the scoffers come, they’re going to reject the message.

They’re going to reject the history.

Turn to John chapter 3.

In John chapter 3, Jesus as He is speaking to Nicodemus…

We’ll say to him beginning in verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to

condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved

darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

Jesus would point out that the actions of the false teacher become self-evident when you

shine light on them.

The actions and the words of the false teachers start to become evident when you compare

them to the Word of God.

Jesus points out that the false teachers in His day, the chief priests, the elders, the

Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, had all rejected the very message of God for their

own traditions.

And the only light that was going to expose them was the Word of God.

As you consider the text of 2 Peter chapter 3 and in verse 4, you’ll notice

that they rejected Christ’s appearing.

But if you go further into the book of Jude, you’ll find that Jude also warned concerning

the scoffers.

And in Jude chapter 1, beginning of verse 16, he says, These are grumblers, complainers,

walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great swelling words, flattering

people to gain advantage.

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord

Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would

walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

These are sensual persons who cause division not having the Spirit.

Jude will point out they not only rejected Christ appearing, they rejected Christ’s

morality.

They rejected the teaching of His laws concerning their actions, their lifestyle, and the

things that they could and could not participate in.

If you were to go down the list of things that Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and

7, and you look at that Sermon on the Mount and you read the words where Jesus said, you

will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness

of the scribes and the Pharisees.

You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

And these scoffers would have wiped those pages away.

They were not interested in the morality that Jesus taught.

They were not interested in the lifestyle Jesus taught.

But if you go over to James chapter four, you’ll also find as James will reach back into

the Old Testament to give a statement concerning humility.

We read in James chapter four and in verse six, but he gives more grace.

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

That’s from Proverbs and we’ll be back to that in a moment.

But he says in verse seven, Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee

from 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.

Do not speak evil to one another, brethren.

He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges

the law.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.

Who are you to judge another?

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such a place, such a city, spend a

year there, buy and sell and make a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life?

is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live to do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James will

point out that there were those in his day, there were those within the church

who because of their pride, because of the things that they desire to participate in,

because of those actions that there was their lifestyle, he says you are rejecting God’s

authority.

Consider, when a person starts teaching that which contradicts scripture, for instance,

that Christ is not going to return, that there’s not going to be a resurrection, that

things will just continue on as they always have.

They don’t just reject the message of the appearing of Christ.

They don’t just reject the Second Coming.

For when you examine their lives, they rejected the morality of God, and when you examine

their teaching, they rejected the authority of God.

I’ve heard people say at times when they examine why one group, one religious body or one

group practices and worships one way and another group practices and worships another way

and the church teaches that we ought to worship the way the New Testament Christians

worshiped and that we ought to worship the way the first century church worships.

They say, well, the only difference between this group and that group is this instrument.

Nonsense.

The difference between the church and not the church is the authority of God.

And whether or not we will accept God’s authority or replace it with our own.

Because if we replace it with our own, we are the scoffers.

We are the ones who have chosen to live according to our desire, our lust, our passions,

instead of His.

Instead of His Word.

consider Proverbs chapter twenty-one.

Solomon would write concerning scoffers, would write concerning those mockers that he

warns his son about.

And in Proverbs chapter 21 and in verse 24, he writes, a proud and haughty man, scoffer is

his name.

He acts with arrogant pride.

Over in Proverbs chapter 3,

Solomon will write in Proverbs chapter 3 and in verse 34, surely he scorns the scornful

but gives grace to the humble.

This passage is where James’ statement from James chapter 4 verse 6 comes from.

The point that James is making, the point that Solomon was making is God rejects the

scorner, he rejects the scoffer,

He rejects the prideful because they have rejected Him in their pride.

But then consider the root, the root of the problem.

In Proverbs chapter 22, Solomon will write in Proverbs chapter 22 and in verse 10, cast

out the scoffer and contention will leave.

Yes, strife and reproach will cease.

Sometimes we find that there are those who are ignorant and are learning.

And they’ll say things that are incorrect.

They’ll believe doctrines that are incorrect.

And over time, they will learn the truth.

They’ll grow, they’ll mature, and they’ll replace their opinions that they’ve been taught

by culture and the world around them.

their parents and their grandparents and the people that they’ve known at work, they’ll

replace those with the authority of God and they’ll suddenly realize, I always thought it

was different than that.

And they’ll put God’s word where it belongs and they’ll learn and they’ll grow.

That’s not what he’s talking about here.

What he’s talking about here are those within the assembly, in this case, the Old

Testament assembly, the people of God, modern.

view of this would be in Peter’s day the church and they have no interest in replacing

their opinions with God’s word.

They have no interest in replacing their rejection of God’s authority with their

authority.

They have no interest in replacing their ideas with God’s commands.

And Solomon writes, you know, when you take the contentious person and you remove them

suddenly

All the problems go away.

He says, the scoffer is cast out, the contentions are gone.

Sometimes we do ourselves and our own congregations a disservice when we allow the scoffer

to stay.

When you allow the scoffer to remain.

Over in 1 Thessalonians.

Paul, as he is writing to the church at Thessalonica, will warn the brethren that those

who will not admit that the things that the apostles taught were the Word of God were to

be removed.

They were to be put out of the assembly because the things that the apostles taught were

backed up by the miraculous.

The things which they spoke were backed up by the…

Spirit of the Lord.

The things that they taught had the authority to validate that they were from God.

And Paul’s point is, if they won’t adhere to the message that’s been authorized by God,

they don’t have any business here.

We need to be mindful of that in our own assemblies today.

In Isaiah chapter 28, Isaiah chapter 28, beginning in verse 16,

Isaiah has an interesting comment here in his prophecy concerning scoffers.

and it’s quite interesting that the context that it falls into.

Isaiah chapter 28 and in verse 16

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried

stone, a precious cornerstone, uh a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not act hastily.

Now, if you are familiar with Isaiah’s prophecy, there is a single individual that Isaiah

describes as the cornerstone.

There is a single individual that Isaiah has prophesied about that God will lay the

cornerstone in Israel and anybody who rejects him will be destroyed, will be ground down,

will be broken to pieces by that cornerstone and it’s Christ.

So in this context, Isaiah writes, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried

stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

He says, verse I also will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet.

The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

Your covenant with death will be annulled and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.

When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

As often as it goes out, it will take you.

For morning by morning it will pass over and by day and by night it will be a terror just

to understand the report.

For the bed is too short to stretch out on and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap

himself in it.

For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perizm.

He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may do his work, his awesome work, and

bring to pass his act, his unusual act.

Now therefore…

Do not be mockers.

Lest your bonds be made strong, for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a destruction

determined even upon the whole earth.” Isaiah, as he’s writing concerning the Messiah, as

he’s writing concerning the foundation that God says he would lay, as he’s writing

concerning the cornerstone, says, uh trust me, you don’t want to be a mocker.

You do not want to be found on the other side of God’s plans because when He enacts His

plan, you’re going to be judged and you’re going to be destroyed.

In Proverbs chapter 15,

Proverbs 15 and in verse 12 we read, scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will

he go to the wise.

As Peter writes about the scoffers that would come,

He uses a term that the Proverbs writer has already identified the primary issue with

these people.

It’s not their ignorance.

It’s not their lack of knowledge.

It’s not that they’re young in the faith.

It’s not that they’re babes in Christ.

It’s that they refuse to be taught.

They have decided that they are the expert and they will follow their own wisdom to their

own destruction.

We need to be careful when we realize that we perhaps are refusing to be taught.

In Titus chapter two, Paul will write to Titus and after he gives a number of

admonishments about some groups within the body of Christ, teaching other groups in the

body of Christ and setting an example for them, he will write, for the grace of God that

brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Teaching.

us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, should live soberly, righteously, and godly

in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God

and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul writes to Titus and he says, you need to be taught by grace.

Too often,

We find individuals who are scoffers, they’ve rejected the message of God, they’ve

rejected the morality of God, they’ve rejected the authority of God, and the only thing

they want to talk about is grace.

and yet they refuse to be taught by grace.

Grace is something that is extended from God because salvation has appeared to all men.

But grace teaches us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, and to live soberly,

righteously, and godly in this present world because there is coming a day when Christ

will return.

So in order for the scoffer to reject the teaching of grace, he had to reject the teaching

of the second coming of Christ.

In order to reject the second coming of Christ, he had to reject the Old Testament

history.

In order to reject the Old Testament history, he had to reject the authority of God.

If you turn back to 2 Peter chapter 3,

You’ll notice what Peter will say or will write after this warning about these scoffers.

He will write in 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning

his promise as some count slackness, but is long-suffering to us were not willing that any

should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with

fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to

be in holy conversation or conduct and godliness?

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will

be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which

righteousness dwells.

you meet someone who says, yeah, I just don’t believe in the second coming.

You’ve just met a scoffer.

But if you meet someone who says, yeah, I just don’t believe that we have to live

according to all those rules and ordinances in the New Testament, you’ve met a scoffer.

If you meet someone who says, yeah, I know that’s what the New Testament says we are to do

in worship, but I just don’t think it’s a big deal, you’ve met a scoffer.

If you meet someone who doesn’t understand grace teaches us to live righteously and

instead they want to use grace as an excuse for sin, you’ve met a scoff.

Peter says, be careful, because they’re coming.

And we need to be aware.

And we need to be understanding enough to discern that when we meet a scoffer, we don’t

start instilling their doctrines into our lives.

If you’re here this afternoon and you have needed the invitation of Christ, there is

coming a day when this world will be destroyed.

There is coming a day when the elements will melt with fervent heat because God has said

that is exactly what He was going to do.

There is coming a day when whether or not you live to see that day or not, this life will

be over.

And after death comes the judgment.

Are you prepared for it?

Are you living according to the message of Christ?

Are you living according to the morality of Christ?

Are you living uh in accordance with the authority of Christ

If not, why not begin today?

If you have need of the invitation, it is open as

Mark 15 (Lesson 2) – Aaron Cozort – May 13, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, atonement, Bible prophecy, biblical lessons, Christian faith, crucifixion, faith, keywords Jesus, New Testament, resurrection, temple veil by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening.

take your bibles and open them to mark chapter fifteen

Let’s get into our study after we have a word of prayer.

Gracious Father in heaven, we come before your throne grateful for the day that you’ve

blessed us with.

grateful for the opportunity that we have to serve you and to glorify your name.

We are grateful for the opportunity to edify one another and encourage one another, lift

one another up in the spirit and in boldness to proclaim your word throughout each and

every day.

Lord, we pray that you be with those who are striving to declare the truth in countries

where it is very difficult because of persecution.

and because of the threat that comes upon them for doing so.

Lord, we pray that you help them to always be bold to speak the truth and remain steadfast

and sound in the faith.

We pray for this nation and we pray for its leaders and we pray for the leaders throughout

the world.

They might make decisions which are wise that are in accordance with your wisdom and your

word and the understanding that we have from scripture that we might know how to walk, but

that we might have peace as well, that we might be able to

to focus on preaching and teaching the gospel.

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

In Mark 15, the record of Jesus’ trials and His time before Pilate and ultimately His

sentencing to be crucified are given in this chapter.

We got down to about verse 14.

Pilate said to them, why, what evil has He done?

But they cried out all the more.

crucify him.

So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and he delivered Jesus

after he had scourged him to be crucified.

Many evil things have been done in history out of a desire to appease someone else.

You think all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.

And while we’re not explicitly told that Adam partook of the fruit to appease Eve,

We are told that Eve was deceived and Adam wasn’t.

So Adam, knowing what he was doing and knowing that he was sinning, participated anyway in

eating of that fruit after it was given to him by Eve.

In this passage, you find those chief priests and the crowd and the Jews coming to Pilate,

and they are insistent.

They would rather have a murderer back in their midst.

They would rather have a seditious person and a leader of a rebellion in their midst.

that killed his own countrymen rather than Jesus.

And it is somewhat of a testament to the fact that oftentimes the facts of the matter, the

truth of the matter has very little to do with the circumstances and the actions that

people participate in.

sure certainly be great for all of society if every court case, every legal decision was

based upon truth and based upon facts and if the law actually reigns supreme, but more

often than not, in most places in the world, people reign supreme.

You’ll notice that Pilate made this decision out of selfish.

reasons.

He made the decision because he wanted to appease the people.

We mentioned two weeks ago when we were discussing this that Pilate had been dealing with

revolts amongst the Jews and he was under pressure by indication of tradition and some

historical evidence that has been found through the years.

He was under pressure because of those revolts that if he didn’t get the revolts under

control, it would be his head.

that would be on the chopping block from Rome.

And so it is for his own interests that he will choose to send Jesus to the cross.

Now, we know from the other texts that Pilate will wash his hands of the situation

publicly and even physically as a demonstration that I’m not doing this, you’re doing

this.

and the people would cry out, let His blood be upon us and upon our children.

They were so motivated and so desirous to see Jesus dead because they trusted their

religious leaders.

because they were willing to accept the Word, the testimony, and the incitement of those

who were supposed to be their teachers, were supposed to be teaching them how to live and

how to be obedient to God, and instead they were inciting them to kill an innocent man

because of their selfish ambition.

Selfish ambition put Jesus on the cross.

We need to be careful that we do not allow selfish ambition to destroy congregations.

when John is writing about diatrophies and he is writing in those letters about this

individual who loved to have the preeminence.

That’s the type of person who put Jesus on the cross.

That’s the type of individual now in that scenario in the body of Christ that would have

gladly sacrificed his Lord to keep his power.

Verse 16, then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called

together the whole garrison, they clothed him with purple, and they twisted a crown of

thorns and put it on his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

Then they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him, and bowing the knee, they

worshiped him.

the mocking and the attitudes of the soldiers so that they mocked his situation.

Now, for a Roman, who would they have considered king?

Caesar, Caesar.

For a Roman, they would have considered Caesar to be king.

They would have considered any individual who sought to be a king over a province that

Rome had rule over to be someone who was already bound for destruction.

Somebody who was not quite all there thinking they could oppose Rome.

And so you have them carrying out this mocking, you have them uh behaving in such a way as

to ridicule the very idea that he was the king of the Jews.

Verse 19, then they struck him on the head with a reed and spat on him and bowing the knee

they worshiped him.

And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him and

led him out to crucify him.

Then they compelled a certain man, Simon of Cyrenean, the father of Alexander and Rufus,

as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross.

The text indicates that as Jesus has gone through the scourging, He’s gone through the

beating, He’s been up all night.

And if you pay attention to the text before that, He had been up quite some time even

before that point, that His exhaustion and His weakness is such that He cannot bear on

Himself or His own uh ability.

the beam that would be carried from the city center out to Golgotha.

And so they lay that beam partly on Jesus and partly on this Simon.

They brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated place of a skull.

Then they gave him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but he did not take it.

And when they crucified him, they divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine

what every man should take.

Now it was the third hour and they crucified him.

And the inscription of his accusation was written above the king.

of the Jews.

With him they also crucified two robbers, one on his right and the other on his left.

So the scripture was fulfilled, which says, he was numbered with the transgressors.

And those who passed by blasphemed, wagging their heads and saying, Aha, you who destroy

the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.

Likewise, the chief priests also mocking among themselves with the scribes said,

He saved others himself he cannot save.

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe

even those who were crucified with him reviled him.” What was it that the Jews had said so

often to Jesus, just show us one more what?

Sign!

Just show us one more miracle and we’ll believe.

The scribes, the elders, the Pharisees, always one more sign, one more sign.

Jesus said that He wouldn’t show them one more sign except save this.

What sign did He say He would show them?

All right, the sign of Jonah as he references Jonah going down into the belly of the fish

for three days and three nights and then being spat back up on the seashore to go into uh

the city and to proclaim the word of God.

It is that sign.

He says, go look in your Old Testament.

You’ll see the sign.

And when you see it, you’ll know.

Quite often, we find that the Scripture identifies there were things that Jesus taught,

there were things that Jesus said, where people had to listen to them, then they had to

remember them, and then eventually they would see the reason and the actual enactment of

the thing which He taught.

good reminder for us that it’s important as we’re listening to the Word of God, as we’re

being taught the Word of God, that we don’t let it go in one ear and out the other.

For those who were casual with the word that Jesus spoke, they were casual with the things

which Jesus said, they lost the opportunity of hearing the very Son of God and being

impacted by those things.

You think about the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus would say in the Sermon on the Mount there

at the end that the one who hears these sayings of mine and what?

And does them.

him I will liken to a wise man who builds his house upon the rock and he describes how

that when the person hears these sayings and does them, there’s a long-term continual

blessing that comes from building your life on the Word of God.

But the comparison is to a man who does what?

Build this house on the sand, is the analogy of doing what?

He hears the sayings and then doesn’t do them.

It’s not that he didn’t hear the sayings.

It’s not that he never heard Jesus speak or heard Jesus teach.

It’s that he heard it, didn’t do anything with it.

We have to be admonished and we need to be reminded that it is not just the hearing of the

Word of God that is important.

but the hearing, the retaining, the enacting in our lives and the building of our lives on

top of the Word of God.

If people around you don’t wonder why you live the way you do and why you act the way you

do and why you do the things that you do and don’t do the things that you don’t do, maybe

you should be looking a little closer at Scripture.

Because trust me, when you live like the scripture describes, people wonder why you are

the way you are.

as they mocked him.

They mocked him because he claimed he could save others.

They mocked him because he performed miracles to deliver people from blindness, deafness,

being mute, being dumb, being imprisoned by evil spirits, and even from death.

And their accusation was, if he can save others, but he can’t save himself, he certainly

isn’t the son of God.

He can’t possibly be the king of the Jews cause he’s about to be dead.

So again, we’re reminded and encouraged to consider.

that what many people believe to be true is only true because they don’t understand the

actual situation.

So often in the first century and later on in the second century and the third century as

well, Christians would be persecuted by Rome, they would be taken into the Coliseums, and

they would be fed to the lions.

and they would be rejoiced over in their deaths that they died and that they were able to

be killed.

And the thought and the mindset of the people was these individuals not only were

deserving of death, but they were powerless to stop it and they were defeated.

Were any of the Christians who were killed in the Coliseums defeated?

Or were they, every single one of them, victorious?

See, that’s the message of the book of Revelation.

that when you give your life for the testimony of Christ and when it costs you everything

in this physical life, that’s not defeat.

That’s victory.

And so as the chief priests and as the elders and as the Pharisees are standing there

mocking him, claiming that he’s not able to save himself, they’re actually proclaiming the

very act of him saving himself and everyone else to be the exact opposite of what it is.

They considered it defeat.

He knew better.

Six hour had come.

There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, lama sabachthanai, which

is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Some of those who stood by when they heard that said, Look, He is calling for Elijah.

Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed and offered it to

him to drink, saying, Let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come down, will come to

take him down.

And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last.

Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

So when the centurion who stood opposite him saw

that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, truly this man was the Son of

God.

Do you believe or do you think that the centurion’s reaction is a casual one?

think the centurion had been paying very close attention because he had been at guard

during the proceedings.

He’d heard all of the things that had been said.

He even probably heard the one thief who started off reviling him, and Mark doesn’t record

the occasion of the thief turning his…

perspective around.

But through the midst of this, he observes all of these things.

And what are some of the things that would have been a clear sign that this wasn’t just

another criminal dying?

The way you spoke, what else?

The darkness, we mentioned two weeks ago as we were talking about it, the darkness here is

not the idea of, uh yeah, it was kind of a shadowy day.

It’s not the idea of uh the clouds covered and blocked out the sun.

The darkness and the idea here is the darkness like on Egypt during the plague of darkness

where they could not even move.

They did not come out of their beds because they couldn’t even see in a house.

They could light a candle and they still couldn’t see the candle.

darkness came upon the face of the earth.

And it wasn’t a momentary thing.

wasn’t an eclipse of the sun.

It was for three hours.

And as the centurion has been watching these things and listening to these things, he has

the honesty.

compared to the Jews.

to state at the end of these things, surely this was the Son of God.

the Jews had been so bent on their destruction of Jesus.

It didn’t matter how many signs they saw.

It didn’t matter how many scriptures they witnessed being fulfilled by the actions and the

statements of Jesus.

None of those things mattered.

None of those things broke through the barrier of their hate and their self-interest.

But for this, perhaps you could call him disinterested centurion.

In other words, he didn’t have a dog in this fight, he wasn’t a Jew.

he could honestly as a third party stand back and go that had to be the son of God.

and saints rising from the grave.

And yet, the Chief Priest and the

the temple’s curtain was torn and they saw all this stuff and yet they still tried to

cover things up.

Absolutely.

It’s interesting to uh note, know, we’re not told, least no recollection in my memory, are

we told how many people were raised from the grave?

But…

It does make you wonder if some of those 120 that are there 50 days later with the

apostles had been dead 120 days or had been dead 50 days before.

And so here they are.

He’s cried out.

He’s quoted the Psalms.

He’s fulfilled so many different prophetic statements concerning the Messiah.

and the veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom.

First of all, any inkling for how big the veil of the temple was in the temple?

My memory serves me correctly and I could be wrong, but I was thinking it was 30 cubits in

height, which would be about 45 feet.

So you have a not small object.

And it’s not torn the way it would be torn if a man were to tear it.

If you have a man tear it, you get one really strong guy and you start cutting and one guy

pulls one way and one guy pulls the other from the bottom and it tears from bottom to top.

That’s not how it tore.

It tore from top to bottom.

But at end of that…

Who’s allowed to be in the temple?

in the holy place on the front side of the veil, the priests are going in throughout the

day, offering the offerings, offering the incense, doing the things that they would do

with the sacrifices and with the things pertaining to the showbread.

You have the table of showbread that would be there.

So, there things that were going on throughout that time.

And so throughout the day you would have the priest entering and exiting the holy place.

But in the most holy place, on the other side of the veil, only the high priest was

allowed to go.

And how often was he allowed to go?

Once a year.

There wasn’t a single priest.

alive and serving at the time of Christ who, excluding the high priest, who had ever, by

all indications of text and scripture and ordinance, who had ever passed through that veil

to see the Most Holy Place.

But here’s something else maybe you haven’t considered.

When the tabernacle was first built and when Solomon’s temple was built, when the most

holy place was erected and the temple was consecrated and the tabernacle was consecrated,

what was inside the most holy place?

Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat, which was on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.

the cherubim that were there over the ark, all of these things would have been inside the

Most Holy Place.

What did the mercy seat signify to Israel?

What would happen on the Day of Atonement when the high priest had offered that sacrifice?

Remember there were the two lambs.

One was the scapegoat that was let go.

and one was sacrificed, what would the high priest do with the blood of the sacrifice?

Alright, there would be a sprinkling of the blood.

and the blood after there was a consecration of the high priest and atonement for his

sins, atonement for the people’s sins, the blood would be carried into the Most Holy

Place.

And on the day of atonement, the high priest wore a garment that had bells on it because

they were instructed that the bells were to essentially announce their presence as coming

into the Most Holy Place.

And so they would wear the garment, they would wear the bells, you would hear the sound of

them going in, going into the most holy place, and then going in, or going into the holy

place, then going through the veil and going into the most holy place.

And there was a process to it, but when they got inside the most holy place, then they

would take the blood, and the blood would be poured out on what?

On the mercy seat.

as an atoning and a reminder of the sins of Israel year by year, according to the book of

Hebrews.

Now, when Jesus dies, who is our atonement?

Christ.

John would write in John chapter 1, grace and truth came by who?

Jesus Christ.

when the temple veil is torn, when those regular priests, as we could call them,

saw perhaps for the very first time inside the Most Holy Place, what did they see?

The answer is an empty room.

The Israelites in the first century didn’t have the Ark of the Covenant.

They didn’t have the mercy seat.

They didn’t have the cherubim.

They didn’t have the articles that would have been in the most holy place in Solomon’s

day, in the most holy place in Moses’s day.

When the veil was torn,

all those who were in the temple could see through to realize that Israel had an empty

presence where God was supposed to be.

because God was out there on Gotha’s Hill on a cross.

Their sacrifice was the one they had just killed.

Their atonement was the one they had just put to death.

and there was no representation of God inside the temple.

And so it was fitting as a testament to who Jesus was.

that everyone could look in and see it’s just an empty room.

as go down through the text.

Verse 40, there were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary

the mother of James, the less of Joses, and Salome, who also followed him and ministered

to him when he was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Mark highlights the presence of the women, the women who followed Jesus.

They didn’t follow Jesus because they were his adoring fans.

They followed Jesus because they knew who he was.

It was Mary who anointed Jesus there at that supper at Simon’s father’s house, or Simon

the father of Judas.

It was these women who had provided for Jesus in so many different occasions.

And as they are witnessing this, you’ll notice where are they.

They are far off.

Now, who was closer?

Who was a woman?

His mother.

John will tell us that she was at the foot of the cross.

as Jesus life ends.

There are those who are.

mindful of what needs to come next.

among which are these women.

There’s an interesting thing as you’re going to see him buried and what the women will do.

First of all, they will prepare the body or they will prepare to to prepare the body for

burial.

But they observe the Passover.

In spite of everything that they’ve witnessed, in spite of everything that they’ve

believed, in spite of everything that they’ve done, number one, they still consider Him to

be their Lord.

Number two, they will not forsake the command of God and the binding law and God’s

ordinances on the matters of the Passover for their own personal grief.

as they are waiting until that Sunday morning.

Why would they wait until the Sunday morning to go and to actually finish preparing the

body for burial?

All right, first reason reason number one, they weren’t allowed to touch a dead body.

Otherwise they were no longer able to participate in the Passover.

What else?

All right, it’s a Sabbath day.

Can’t work on the Sabbath.

They couldn’t prepare the body for burial on the Sabbath day.

The body is taken down that night so as to be down before the Sabbath begins and before

that uh Sabbath day starts.

And so as a result of that, there are these events that are leading up.

They’re simply not time to do.

all the things that need to be done before the Sabbath.

So they’re waiting.

Have you ever experienced a worship service where because of the loss of a loved one, you

can’t concentrate at all on what’s going on in the worship service because all you can do

is think about the person who you’ve lost.

I imagine those women went through a Sabbath day very much like that.

where their only thought was continually on Jesus.

So we find verse 42, now when evening had come because it was the preparation day, that is

the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who was

himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went into Pilate and

asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate marveled that he was already dead.

and summoning the centurion, he asked him if he had been dead for some time.

So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

Why do you think that Pilate wanted to know if he’d been dead for a while?

So there are many skeptics who still to this day in spite of zero evidence whatsoever for

it will argue for the swoon theory.

Jesus just appeared to be dead.

He had passed out and it was so it was so thoroughly that he had passed out that no one

realized he was still alive when they put him in the grave.

That’s why he came out of the grave.

He was still alive.

There are some things that the Roman centurions weren’t good at, but knowing when someone

was dead or alive wasn’t one of them.

If the Roman centurion said he was dead, he was dead.

They were quite skilled at telling the difference and fixing the difference.

Mark doesn’t record it, but what had one of the centurions done as Jesus was there on the

cross after they observed that he was dead?

They took a spear and they shoved it into his side and what was the evidence that he was

dead?

Out came blood and water, meaning that the blood had begun to separate from the water in

the body, which happens after death, not before.

As I mentioned, they’re pretty efficient at knowing whether or not somebody’s dead.

One action was all it took.

Now,

Based upon the other texts, what did they not do that was customary in the crucifixion

process because he was already dead?

Didn’t break his knees.

fulfilling again prophecy that not one bone would be broken.

Allsuit tells you that he went through all of that pain and all of that suffering, the

scourging, the beating, and not one bone was broken, but there was a whole lot of pain

that was inflicted.

The Romans gave witness to the fact that he was already dead.

Joseph of Arimathea, who is a disciple of Christ, he is waiting for the kingdom.

comes to Pilate and asks him, and Mark points out he was one who took courage.

You’ve just had the person who you knew to be the son of God killed not for anything that

he did, but just for being who he was.

takes a whole lot of courage to then go associate yourself with him publicly before the

person who ordered the execution.

But he comes to Pilate and he asks for the body.

So verse 46, then he brought the fine linen, took him down, wrapped him in the linen and

laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the door

of the tomb.

And Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Joseph, observed where he was laid.

They’re watching.

You can visualize if you would a hill and the body being taken down by Joseph.

I imagine Joseph had some servants.

Because if Joseph had taken the body down himself, he couldn’t have observed what?

The best of the Sabbath.

So the body is taken down, the body is carried away to the tomb.

What was unique about the tomb according to Scripture?

It was among the rich.

It was a tomb that was unused.

It was intended by all indications for Joseph when he died.

So this is a man of wealth.

This is a man of prominence.

This is a man of oh means.

Yes.

I don’t know that that would have been his thought process, but perhaps it certainly would

be true.

um Now, of course, because, you know, we know everything about history and every single uh

identifying mark was uh immediately notated.

We know exactly where Jesus’ tomb is,

Now if you go on a tour…

You’ll find Simon’s house is still standing and Jesus’s tomb was right here and this…

aah Anything for a dollar.

Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome

brought spices that they might come and anoint him.

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, came to the tomb where the sun had

risen, or when the sun had risen, and they said among themselves, Who will roll away the

stone from the door of the tomb

for us.

They’ve put all the preparation into preparing his body for final burial.

They’ve brought everything that they need.

and they come into the place where the tomb is and it occurs to them.

we’re not gonna be able to this stone.

Why was the stone there?

The argument from one side was to keep the disciples from stealing the body and claiming

that he had been risen.

The argument from the other side would be to keep the chief priests and the elders from

getting their hands on the body.

But what else was in front of the tomb?

centurions and guards.

But when they arrived at the tomb, they looked up, they saw the stone had been rolled away

for it was very large.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the

right side, and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, Do not be alarmed.

You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He is risen.

He is not here.

See the place where they laid him.

As they walk into the tomb, they observe this young man sitting there.

He’s on one side, body would have been on the other side.

You could almost mentally picture it.

He’s not here.

We’ll put a pause in it there.

Come back next week.

On His Mind Before Death – Aaron Cozort – May 17, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian life, death, eternity, Faithfulness, Gospel, keywords Paul, perseverance, preparation, spiritual readiness, trust in God by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die.

And after this, the judgment.

Death is something that is coming for all of us.

If the Lord delays His return, long enough for us to reach that point.

James tells us that death is the separation of the body from the spirit.

And yet as we consider…

our lives, circumstances we find ourselves in, our nature and our existence.

As we consider the ultimate end of our physical lives in the form of death, we understand

and we comprehend that not all of us will, as far as humanity goes, will reach an old age.

Some will die young.

Some might be

because of disease, perhaps because of war, because of other circumstances.

Some might die when they’re old, some die when they’re older than everybody else.

But in 2nd Timothy chapter 4…

we see a glimpse into what was on Paul’s mind when death was approaching.

Yes, over in Philippians, Paul’s going to write to the church at Philippi and tell them

that he desired to depart.

He was already ready at that point, earlier on in his life, to depart and be with the

Lord.

He knew that for him, death was an opportunity to leave this life and all of its cares and

go be with the Lord.

And he desired that to be the case, not because he didn’t desire to live.

Matter of fact, he said, I know it’s more needful for me to remain.

for the benefit of the church.

He desired to live, to continue working, and he knew that either way Christ would be

served, but his desire was to go and to be with the Lord.

But here in 2 Timothy chapter 4, later in Paul’s life, Paul has reached the point where he

knows his time is short.

He knows that death is coming.

And as a result of that, as he is writing to Timothy, as he sits once again in a Roman

prison for the second time,

He will write to Timothy about things that were on his mind when he was approaching death.

So we’re going to go through 2 Timothy chapter 4 in that view.

As these are the things that were on Paul’s mind when he was nearing death, so what should

we be learning about that is important for our lives so we can be prepared for death the

way he was?

Consider chapter 4 verses 1 through 5.

When Paul was near death, preaching was on his mind.

2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.

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 up for 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.

As Paul was approaching death, he was concerned about the preaching of the gospel.

He was concerned that the preaching of the gospel would continue after he was gone.

He was concerned that the preaching of the gospel would remain sound and faithful to the

message of the gospel after he was gone.

He was concerned about the teachers and the preachers and their faithfulness when people,

Christians, the churches no longer desired to hear a message of faithfulness.

They no longer desired to hear the truth in its clarity, in its sincerity, in its

simplicity.

They wanted their ears to be tickled.

They wanted to hear something that was pleasant, something that was easy, something that

was enjoyable.

If you could find any way to describe many of the religious worship assemblies of the

world around us, it is entertainment.

Paul tells Timothy, when the church wants to be entertained, preach them the truth.

When the church doesn’t want to listen to you, preach them the truth.

When the church desires sincerely to hear the truth, preach them the truth.

when the individuals in the congregation are not living in a right way before God convict

them of the truth and rebuke them.

when they’re struggling because of the difficulties of this life and the world that we

live in and all of the things that we face, He said, exhort them and uplift them and

encourage them, but preach the truth.

He says to Timothy, you be watchful in all things.

It’s hard to watch everything at once.

But that’s what Paul told Timothy to do.

He said, you be watchful.

You be careful.

You be aware of what is going on.

so the truth can continue to be preached.

but he also wanted him to be one who endured, who did the work, who fulfilled his service.

That’s what the word ministry means.

Paul, as he reached the end of his life, had his mind on the preaching of the gospel and

its continued preaching after he was gone.

Well, Paul also had his mind on the price that he had paid.

In chapter 4 and verse 6, Paul writes, for I am already being poured out as a drink

offering.

and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith.

As Paul thinks back concerning his life, he can see the price he has paid to reach the

position that he’s in.

Paul didn’t say,

I’m approaching death, I’m nearing death, and boy was it easy.

Not at all.

Paul says, I have fought the good fight.

I have fought diligently to be obedient to God, to be faithful to Him.

to serve him in a way that is acceptable and right in his sight.

You do not fight the good fight by fighting your own fight.

As far as Paul was concerned, you only fight the good fight when you’re fighting the

Lord’s fight.

Paul is very clear that his definition of good here is that it is acceptable to God.

If we are fighting as we finish out our days here on this earth and if we are fighting in

accordance with the commandment of God, accordance with the will of God, in accordance

with the order of God, then we have fought the good.

But it is important to realize that Paul will point out the same thing that Jesus pointed

out when Jesus was approached by a young man and said, I desire to be your disciple.

And Jesus would reply to that individual, no man putting his hand to the plow and then

looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.

It is important to realize that in view of what Paul is saying, Paul is saying it is not

the case that someone can fight the good fight and then give up on the fight and go home.

Paul is making it clear, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have

kept the faith.

At no point had he ever discarded his fight, his race, or his faith because it was too

hard, because it was uncomfortable, because someone made him upset, because someone

disagreed with him, because someone decided that…

Paul wasn’t all that and they wanted to follow someone else.

or even because they had preached the gospel just to encourage more pain and punishment be

brought upon Paul.

As Paul was approaching death, he considered the price he had paid to reach the point he

was at.

But he also considered the prize that was available.

You consider chapter 4 and verse 8, he says, finally there is laid up for me the crown of

righteousness, which is which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day

and not to me only, but also to all who love his appearing.

As Paul was nearing death, he was focused on the prize.

He was considering and dwelling on and thinking about the prize for the righteous, the

prize for the faithful, the victorious crown of the one who runs the race, endures the

race, and wins the race.

Paul says you don’t get a crown simply by participating.

You get a crown by enduring to the finish.

But also Paul made it clear that you don’t just get a crown if you come in first.

You get a crown if you cross the line.

He says it’s not for me only, but for all those who love his appearing.

Paul was certain and Paul had clarity and Paul was dwelling on the reward of the righteous

in eternity.

and Paul had no doubts about eternity.

oh Paul certainly understood that there were things Paul didn’t know about eternity, but

those weren’t doubts.

The lack of knowledge, the absence of knowledge is not doubts concerning what we have full

knowledge about.

Paul didn’t have doubts about eternity.

Paul had confidence in every promise and every statement God had made about eternity.

And so Paul could say, there is, not there might be, not I hope there is, not well, we’ll

find out.

No, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Paul was looking forward to a day where the reward for the price paid would be delivered.

Paul had in mind as he was nearing death the preaching of the gospel, the price he had

paid, the prize that awaited him.

But Paul also had in mind the peril that had been going on and would face Timothy in the

future.

In verses 9 and 10, we read, Be diligent to come to me quickly.

For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.

and has departed for Thessalonica, Cretians for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.

uh As Paul looked at his circumstance, as Paul considered his time as he was approaching

death, he understood the peril of being alone.

It is sad.

It is unfortunate that some will go through this life and as they reach the end of it,

they will be alone.

Maybe they’re alone because of the circumstances they find themselves in.

That was Paul’s situation.

Paul would not have chosen to be where he was if he could have chosen to be somewhere

else.

But Paul was in prison.

Paul wasn’t getting to do the choosing.

But so many individuals are alone because of the choices they’ve already made.

So many individuals are alone because they’ve forsaken their spouse and chosen to live for

themselves instead of for their marriage.

Some individuals are alone because they have neglected their family and served their own

selfish desires.

And so when they become old, their family is no longer interested in them.

Some are alone, out of no fault of their own.

It just so happens that all the people they’ve always been surrounded with have already

gone before.

Some are alone because they’re simply waiting for those who are their companions to

arrive.

So Paul encourages Timothy, diligent to come to me quickly.

But then consider as well that he’s warning Timothy about the peril that Timothy can face.

You notice he mentions Demas, he says, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this

present world.

Paul is going to remind Timothy that there is peril in this world.

There is peril in the circumstances we find ourselves in because it is tempting in the

state that we’re in, in the world that we’re in, to love this world.

John would tell us though, that if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not

in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of

life, are of the world and they’re not of the Father.

We need to understand, as Paul understood, as Paul admonished Timothy to understand the

peril of this world.

We sing the song, this world is not my home.

I’m just passing through.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

We are reminded of Abraham.

We are reminded of Sarah.

We are reminded of Isaac.

We are reminded of Jacob, who though they knew,

that they were dwelling in a sojourning capacity, though they were dwelling in tents made

with hands, they had a home.

in a city whose builder and maker was God.

Paul warns Timothy, don’t get caught up in the troubles of this world.

Keep your eyes open.

Be watchful.

Understand that there are those around you who will love this world and they will forsake

God because of

But then consider as well that as Paul reached the end of his life, Paul was concerned

with personal relationships.

He was thinking and dwelling on people who had been with him and who were separated from

him.

You find there in the end of that verse that Cretians had gone to Galatia, Titus to

Dalmatia.

We know Titus was one of the young preachers that Paul had written to, that Paul had

trained.

But then you also find in chapter 4 verse 11, only Luke is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for the ministry.

As Paul is considering his circumstance, he’s thoughtful of personal relationships, of his

time with Titus, of his time with Cretians, of his time with Luke, Luke being the only one

who was present still with him.

but he’s also thinking about relationships he’s had in the past.

So Paul is going to tell Timothy, you need to go get Mark.

John Mark was that young man who had started off on that missionary journey with Paul and

with Barnabas and had gone some way and then had turned back.

And when that missionary journey had concluded and Paul was ready to go back out on

another missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark and Paul said no, because he

turned back the first time.

The years have transpired and apparently John Mark has developed and certainly we know

that he certainly would as he is the writer of the book of Mark.

But now as the years have gone by, Paul is ready to say, know what, bring Mark with you.

He’s beneficial to the ministry.

Paul looks back on his personal relationships and realizes that there are profitable

relationships in the present that perhaps had not been in the past.

Paul realized that there were those who, while they were young and immature in the past,

now have matured and now they’re profitable.

It’s important in life.

that we do not take the circumstances of the past and make them override the scenario of

the present.

Paul could have said, you know what, I’ll never do anything with John Mark ever again.

But that’s not what Paul said.

Paul said, bring Mark with you.

He’s profitable for the ministry.

But Paul also was mindful of the parchments.

He would write in verse 12 in Tychicus, have sent to Ephesus, bring the cloak that I left

with Carpus at Troas when you come and the books, especially the parchment.

The indications of the text seem to be that the parchments that Paul’s talking about are

the Scriptures.

Paul had his written Scriptures and he desired to have them with him where he was in Rome.

So Paul desires for Timothy to bring the Word of God to him.

As Paul is nearing death, Paul wants to read the text.

from God again.

Now you think about that and consider that Paul is an inspired apostle.

Paul has access to divine revelation directly from God.

And yet that doesn’t satisfy Paul’s desire to have the Word of God.

He desires to have the written Word of God that he can dwell on, that he can read.

And he wants Timothy to bring it to him.

As he is reaching the end of his life, he doesn’t look at the book that God has given and

say, you know what, I’m kind of done with this.

I think I’ve probably read it enough times.

No, Paul said, I want to read it again.

as Paul was nearing the end of his life.

He also thought about people and the past.

We find in verse 14, he says, Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm.

May the LORD repay him according to his works.

Paul is not vindictive.

But Paul knows who belongs to the Lord and who doesn’t.

And Paul is concerned about Timothy and his ability to operate and preach and teach and

help the church.

And he knows there’s an enemy of the church who is out there looking to do harm to the

body of Christ.

And it’s evidenced by their continued actions exactly the way they had been participating

in that harm back when Paul…

was there.

Alexander the coppersmith will be one who will cause many to riot and will cause

disruption among the church because Paul was affecting his profit margin.

So Paul was concerned about people in the past.

You consider as well, verse 15, he says, you also must beware of him, for he has greatly

resisted our words.

Paul says, you watch out for those who become the enemies of God and who persist in their

attacks.

You be watchful of Him.

You beware of Him because if He hates me, He’ll hate you too.

You know, that was the message that Jesus gave to His disciples, that the world had hated

Him and they’ll hate you as well because if they hate me, they’ll hate you.

If they hate the Master, they’ll hate the servant.

And so, Paul is reminded and thoughtful as he nears the end of his life concerning the

people who have acted in opposition to God in the past so that Timothy can be forewarned.

but he’s also mindful of personal forgiveness.

when we are done harm.

When we are neglected, when we are forsaken,

We can hold that and we can hold that and we can hold that all the way till our dying day

in animosity towards those who did us harm, who neglected us, who forsook us.

but not Paul.

As Paul was nearing the end of his life, Paul was concerned about personal forgiveness.

You notice in verse 16, he says, at my first defense, no one stood with me, but all

forsook me.

May it not be charged against.

As Paul examined his life and Paul examined his scenario, as Paul was thoughtful about his

life and where he was at, he said, don’t hold this to their charge.

He exhibited much of the same mindset of Christ on the cross.

When Christ looked at those who were surrounding him, who were mocking him, who were

beating him, who had scourged him and said, do not lay this to their…

Paul looked at those who had forsaken him, who had left him to stand on his own.

Who had the ability to come and stand with him, but didn’t.

Paul was willing to forgive.

Then you also look and you notice that Paul was concerned with preservation and

protection.

verse 17, but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.

So the message might be preached fully through me and that all the Gentiles might hear.

And also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord will deliver me from

every evil work and preserve me from his, uh preserve me for his heavenly kingdom.

to Him be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

As Paul was looking at his scenario, his past, his personal relationships, the peril that

was facing Timothy, the things that he had in regards to the price that he had paid and

the prize that he had been working for in the preaching of the gospel.

Paul was mindful of the preservation of the Lord.

Paul said, I didn’t get here by myself.

When everyone else forsook me, there was one who stood with me, and it was the LORD.”

As Paul thinks about the preservation of the Lord, he’s not just talking about his past.

If think about it, many of us who spend a lot of time with people who are up in age know

one thing that we’re probably going to experience when we spend much time with them, it’s

called stories.

They’re gonna talk about stories.

They’re gonna talk about the past.

Paul’s not aimlessly talking about stories.

Paul’s pointedly making a statement to Timothy that Timothy needs to have confidence in

the Lord.

that when no one else is there to help Him, when no one else is surrounding Him, when no

one is standing with Him, there’s still one who’s never forsaken Him.

turn over to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13.

the Hebrew writer will make a statement concerning Christ.

He says, verse 5 of chapter 13, Let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with

such things as you have.

For he himself said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

So we may boldly say, the Lord is our helper.

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

That is the message of Paul as he is approaching the end of his life.

That is the declaration that Paul makes to Timothy.

The Lord never forsook me.

But it is with that same boldness and with that same confidence that Paul will also speak

concerning the Lord’s deliverance.

He says in verse 18, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for

His heavenly kingdom.

Paul knew as much as he had confidence in the Lord in earthly matters, he had just as much

confidence in the Lord in spiritual and heavenly matters.

Paul said that God deserves the glory forever and ever.

As Paul was nearing the end of his life, Paul was concerned with personal greetings.

One last time.

Tell so-and-so hello.

He will write, verse 19, greet Prisca and Aquila and the household of one Cyphorus.

Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Tromophus uh Trofimus, I have left in Miletus sick.

Do your utmost to come before winter.

Eubulus greets you, as well as Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brethren.

It’s interesting as you read Paul’s letters that Paul always finds time for the personal

greetings.

a reminder to us that eternity is important, spiritual matters are important, but personal

relationships are also important.

But as Paul closes the book.

as Paul pens what to our knowledge are the last words?

that the Holy Spirit had the foresight and the willingness to hold onto and preserve for

our reading for the rest of eternity.

Paul had in mind the precious grace of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ be with you, be with your spirit.

Grace be with you.

Amen.

Life is not easy.

and death comes for everyone.

and this world.

throws its onslaught against God’s people incessant.

And Paul was going to remind Timothy one more time.

of God’s grace.

It is a challenge for us to face death.

It is a challenge for us to watch others face death.

It is hard to watch people grow old.

And I’m learning more and more every day.

It’s going to be hard to grow old.

but when we near death.

and long before we do.

We should be thinking about where we will be thinking when that time comes.

If I can get through this, I will.

a new man when I was young.

By young, mean a child.

He was the great grandfather of good friends of mine.

We spent time with them a couple of times a year.

We would go to a camp that was near them.

We would stay with the grandparents, and the great-grandparents were just down the hill.

As he got up into his late 80s, he started to lose track of things mentally.

It got bad enough that the grandparents finally moved the great grandparents up the hill

and into their house.

and every single morning.

He woke up.

got dressed for church.

walked out to the living room and asked, is it time to go to services yet?

when his mind had failed him.

The only thing he had on his mind was going to worship God.

Now I know the mind plays a lot of interesting tricks on especially with age, especially

with things like dementia.

And sometimes people turn into people they never were.

and it’s hard.

It’s hard to lose the person you’ve always known and some people have.

But it’s beautiful when a person reaches that point where they no longer have control over

what they’re doing or what they’re thinking.

And the thing that’s left is a prime example of what they’ve always been and how they’ve

always lived.

We need more Christians that are ready to face death thinking about what Paul was

thinking.

because too many times.

the only thing that’s on their mind.

are the things they didn’t do.

the things they didn’t say.

the acts and the service they didn’t participate in.

And so it is with that reminder that I will remind you, you are preparing today what you

will be thinking about when your life is almost over.

So how prepared?

How are you preparing to have the things that you will consider when this life comes to an

end?

You’re here and you’re outside the body of Christ.

One of the things Paul had great confidence in was his eternal destiny, his soul and its

state.

He didn’t have it because of some

small feeling.

He didn’t have it because of an emotional experience.

He didn’t have it because he had a small voice in his head that whispered to him at night.

He had it because he had fought the good fight.

He had kept the faith.

He had finished the course.

And he knew that the promise of God was to those who would be found faithful.

So we look at our life and we have to ask, will I be found faithful?

If you’re outside the body of Christ, you haven’t even begun to be faithful.

You haven’t begun to obey the command of the Lord.

But if you are in this audience this morning and you have been faithful in the past and

you have turned back.

When you reach death, will not be confidence that awaits you.

it’ll be regret.

Have you noticed in all that Paul wrote, as he neared death, he didn’t write anything

about regret?

Well, there were certainly times where Paul expressed his regret on persecuting the

church, doing things that he had not desired to do.

And certainly there were things that Paul mentioned in many of his letters where he

recognized that he sinned and that he failed and that he had faults.

But that wasn’t on his mind when life was over.

Paul had work to do.

Paul had assurance to prevail that preaching and teaching would continue because he had

planned for it.

Paul had people that he cared about.

and a Lord who preserved him.

You have need of that confidence.

It is found not in this world, but in the Word of God.

If you have need of the invitation to come forward to renew a right relationship with God,

because here’s what we all know.

There’s coming a day when this life will be over.

you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stay.

Footprints Of Jesus – Jacob Kennedy – May 17, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian walk, Faithfulness, Following Christ, keywords Footprints of Jesus, sacrifice, Salvation, service, Spiritual journey by Aaron Cozort

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footprints of Jesus.

Sweetly Lord, have we heard Thee calling, come follow me.

And we see where Thy footprints following lead us to Thee.

Appreciate Aaron leading that song for us today as we begin this lesson and looking at the

footprints of Jesus.

Now, as a younger brother, I have to say what I saw my brother do is most often what I

did.

You follow as siblings, you follow in the footsteps of your older brothers or your older

sister.

And when we think about Christ, He is our older brother, if you will.

He is our brother just as much as He is our King.

And so we follow His example, but it’s hard to follow an example that we don’t know.

It’s hard to follow in Christ’s footsteps if we don’t know what His footsteps are.

If we don’t know how He walked.

If we don’t know where those footsteps lead.

And so as we go through this lesson, I want us to keep in mind this image of looking on

the sands, as you see behind me on the PowerPoint, the idea of looking at these footprints

on the sand.

And what does that cause us to do?

Well, first thing is that when we see footprints on the sand, if we know who made those

footprints, it calls us to follow after them.

It calls us to follow in those footsteps.

Now, when we think about Christ, we think about the footprints that He left for us, we

think about the fact that He is calling.

We see His calling.

But the question that comes is, well, who is He calling?

Who is it that Christ is calling?

In Luke 15 verses 4 through 7, we have the example, or the parable rather, of the lost

sheep.

And this section of scripture where Christ is trying to get the Pharisees and the Jews to

understand how they are to view the lost.

To understand how they are to view those who come back to God after having been gone away

for a long time.

He tells the story of a shepherd who loses one sheep.

Now he had a hundred sheep, but he lost just one.

Well, what does the shepherd do?

He goes and he looks for that sheep.

He does not say, well, I have ninety nine, so that’s fine.

What’s one sheep?

Right?

No, he goes and he searches for that sheep.

He calls for that sheep.

And when he finds that sheep, what does he do?

He rejoices.

And he calls all of his friends and neighbors together to say, come and rejoice for I have

found that which I lost.

I found that sheep that went astray.

When Christ, when we look at who He’s calling, Christ is calling the lost to come to Him.

He’s calling those sheep that have gone astray to come back to the fold.

But He’s not just calling the lost.

He’s also calling the weak.

Look with me at John chapter 9.

John 9, starting in verse 1.

Here we have a situation in which Jesus finds a man who is in need of help.

Being blind, he is weak in the sense of not being able to sustain himself back in culture

such as that in the first century.

John 9 starting in verse 1, and Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin?

this man or his parents that he was born blind.

Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God

should be made manifest in him.

I must work the works of him that sent me while at his day the night cometh when no man

can work.

As long as I am in the world, I am, notice this, the light of the world.

And this light of the world shines a light for the man who has never seen light before.

Verse 6, when he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and

he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the

pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, sent.

He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

As the light of the world, Jesus is calling those who are weak to come to him for sight,

to come to him to have strength.

to come to Him to have what is truly their problems corrected.

This man, they had a serious problem of being born blind, of not being able to see, but

there is a problem that is far worse.

The problem that we talked about first off with being lost.

Jesus calls those who are weak, He calls those who are lost, but He also calls the rich.

For this, at, look with me at Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18.

Here Jesus has a conversation with a man we call the rich young ruler.

Now this man he was a devout Jew.

He had lived his life following the commandments of Moses keeping to the old law.

And when Jesus sees him Mark Mark’s account notices that he loved him.

He loved him for his attention to law of Moses but he noticed something about this man’s

heart.

He noticed a problem that this man needed to correct.

something that was going to keep him out of eternal bliss, something that was going to

keep him out from having eternal life as he asks in verse 18 of Luke 18, good master, what

shall I do to inherit eternal life?

This is the man’s question.

He’s coming to Jesus knowing that he is a good teacher, knowing that he is different from

others.

And he says, what shall I do?

What must I do?

Jesus starts off by noticing the commandments of the old law.

Of course, the man says that he’s done these things and notice verse 22.

Jesus heard these things, he said unto them, unto him, yet lackest thou one thing, sell

that thou hast and distribute unto the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and

come and follow me.

Jesus calls this man who is rich, this man who by the world standards had everything.

Even by a Jew’s standards, he would have seemed to have everything because not only did he

have riches, but he also was diligent in keeping the law.

But Christ saw the one thing that he truly needed.

The one thing that was keeping him from having that eternal life.

The one thing that was lacking in his life was that he needed to remove covetousness.

and that greed that had taken hold of his heart.

When we look at the man’s response, it’s less than favorable, unfortunately.

Verse 23 it tells us that he went away sorrowful for he had much riches.

The calling that Jesus offers is not one that is irrefutable.

It is not one rather that is unable to be denied.

Sadly, as we see with this rich man, he denied the Lord’s call.

He denied it when he denied Christ when he told him the one thing he needed to do.

But so we notice that he’s calling the lost.

He is calling the weak.

He is calling the rich, but he’s also calling the strong.

Look with me at Philippians chapter three.

Philippians chapter three, starting in verse four.

The apostle Paul notes, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man

thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, more.

Paul is saying I have all that I need to trust in myself.

If anyone wants to have a self exaltation, it’s him.

He had the right to do so by the world’s standards.

But notice what he says as his pedigree.

Circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel.

of the tribe of Benjamin, notice this, and Hebrew of Hebrews as touching the law of

Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in

the law blameless.

But that what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ.

Notice this by the Jews standards.

Paul was strong.

by what we would consider to be strong and conviction and zeal.

Paul was strong.

But yet Christ called him to be weak, to humble himself, to realize that he was in the

wrong and to correct his life.

And Paul does this so much so that he, as verse seven says, he counted all for loss.

He said none of this matters.

He accepted the call of Christ to follow him.

As verse eight says, Ye doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of

the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.

And do count them but dung that I might win Christ and be found in him, not having mine

own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the

righteousness which is of God by faith.

Paul gave up all when he heard the master’s call.

when the Lord says, You’re persecuting my church.

Paul repents.

He changes his life.

He starts following Christ.

But when we think of, so when we understand this idea of who is God calling.

He’s calling the lost.

He’s calling the weak.

He’s calling the rich.

He’s calling the strong.

But there’s one more person he’s calling.

You.

Christ is calling every single one here.

Every single person on this earth, Christ is calling.

In 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 14, we read the following.

Whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

What we hold in our hands, this word of God.

is not just for those who have already named the name of Christ.

It is not just a set of guidelines for how we should live.

It is not just a analytical study of how God loves man or how sin entered the world.

This is a call from our Savior to come and follow.

This word is a call from our Father in heaven to serve him.

This word is a call to each and every one of you.

But what are we being called?

What is it that this call is saying?

What is it calling us to do?

Well, if we back up to verse 13, Paul writes, but we are bound to give thanks always to

God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you

to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.

Whereunto?

This idea of sanctification of the spirit, belief in the truth, the idea of salvation.

whereunto He called you by our gospel.

We are called to salvation.

The message that Christ has left in the gospel, the message that is left for us in the

word of God is come to be saved because you’re in need of it.

And truly every single person here today is in need of salvation.

We can’t do it on our own.

Praise be to God that he does offer that call whereby we can be saved.

But he doesn’t just call us to salvation, he also calls us to faithfulness.

In Revelation 2 and verse 10, John by inspiration writes, Don’t worry about these things.

Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer.

Behold, the devil should cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall

have tribulation ten days.

But notice how the verse ends, but be thou faithful.

unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

the gospel calls us to be faithful.

Even in those moments when sin surrounds.

Even in those moments when it seems like we can’t win.

When it seems like the only logical response is just to give up.

even in those moments when we feel discouraged and alone.

God calls us to be faithful.

And what does he say is the reward?

A crown of life.

But not just any life.

Eternal life with the Father.

Eternal life with our God.

We’ll know more about this as we continue, but when we think about the calling of Christ,

it is a call to faithfulness.

It is a call to salvation, but it is also a call to share the Gospel.

How was it that the Thessalonian brethren had heard about the call of Christ?

How is it that any of us understand the call of Christ?

It’s not because we have some miraculous uh conversation with God.

He doesn’t part the clouds and say, you need to be saved.

But what he does is he calls us through the gospel, a gospel which we as Christians are

called to preach and to share.

Mark 16 verses 15 and 16 tell us this very plainly, that we are to go and to preach.

We are to go and teach the gospel which Christ has left for us to proclaim.

Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be

condemned, shall be damned.

In March 16, we are not only told the command to go and share the gospel, we are not only

called to go share the gospel, we are also told why it is so important.

because if they don’t believe, if they aren’t baptized, if the gospel isn’t shared to the

lost world, then the lost world dies.

and not just for a moment.

We have a weighty task on our shoulders, brothers and sisters.

We have been called to share the gospel.

But as we see with this calling and as we know in the song, the question is, will we

answer the

Or will we simply ignore it?

Whenever your phone rings that someone is calling you, you have a couple options.

You can let it ring and do nothing.

You can answer it.

or you can hang up.

Imagine that God is calling you right now.

Your phone’s ringing.

Will you set it down and say?

I’ll get to that later.

Will you, will you, on an iPhone, hit the power button and silence it so you don’t think

about it?

You ignore the call?

You deny the call?

Or will you answer?

Here’s the call.

What will you do?

Another aspect of the footsteps of Jesus is not only seeing the call that they set forth,

not only seeing the calling of His steps, but also how He walked.

We see His walking.

How did Christ walk?

He walked in sacrifice number one.

When we think about Christ and we think about songs that discuss what Christ did for us,

one of my favorites is a song is, if that isn’t love.

He left the splendor of heaven knowing his destiny was the lonely hill of Golgotha.

There he laid down his life for me.

If that isn’t love, the ocean is dry.

There’s no stars in the sky and the sparrow can’t fly.

If that isn’t love, then heaven’s a myth.

There’s no feeling like this if that isn’t love.

When Christ came to this earth, gave up so much.

He lived in poverty.

Think about that.

The one who had an eternity with God, the one who is in the place of majesty, heaven, the

place that we are all trying to get to is the place that Christ left to as a newborn baby

be set in a manger.

Luke 2 and verse 7 tells

not because it was some special manger, no, it was a common feeding trough.

The King of Kings.

became a carpenter’s

The Son of God became known as Mark 6 and verse 3 tells us as Joseph’s son, the carpenter.

In Mark 6 verse 3 specifically it talks about this idea of how they were rejected and were

offended at Christ claiming to be the Messiah because they said, we know who your dad is.

We know Joseph.

We know your mother.

We know your brethren.

What are you talking about being Messiah, being the Christ?

He was also looked down on for being a Nazarene.

Being from the city of Nazareth.

When Philip goes to Nathaniel, he says, we found the Messiah.

We found the one we’ve been looking for.

Nathaniel says, wait a minute, hold on.

You mean he’s from Nazareth?

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

The same Jesus who lived in eternal glory traded it for a place that even the Jews hated.

A place that was not seen as a great city where great men came from.

but a city of less than desirable means.

but he also lived in poverty in the fact that he had no home.

Matthew 8 and verse 20 tells us that this man comes to Jesus and he says, Master I’ll

follow you anywhere you go I will follow you I’ll be your disciple and he says birds have

nests, foxes have dens, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

and searching for a place to live after I moved out of school, that thought of, I’m about

to have no place to lay my head has come into my mind a few times.

But I’ve also heard from several members of the church of, we got a room for you.

Don’t worry.

If you need a place to stay, we’ll take care of you for a while.

And I appreciate that greatly, but when we think about Christ, He didn’t necessarily have

that.

there were some places where He had refugees, some places where an individual would say,

hey, Jesus, you’re staying with me tonight.

We got plenty of room in the house, you’re coming over to stay.

There were times of this, yes, but He had no home.

He had no brick and mortar to call his own.

He left a city built of eternal beauty.

a city that is indescribable in heaven to come to a place where he would have no place to

call home.

That’s what he gave up.

That’s how he walked in sacrifice.

But he also walked in service.

We think about his service to his servants, which inherently sounds completely insane.

Well, why would you serve your servants?

Isn’t that backwards?

Aren’t you as the master supposed to be served by the servants?

But in John 13, when the disciples keep in mind are arguing over who will be the greatest

in the kingdom.

Well now Peter, I know you think you’ll be the greatest, but I just think it’s going to be

me.

You have a disagreement going on between the disciples of who is going to be greatest and

while they’re all bickering.

Jesus gets up from the table.

He guards a towel around him, and he starts to wash their feet.

A job for a lowly servant was being performed by the King of Kings.

The one who had, as Matthew 28 tells us, all authority had been given to him in heaven and

in earth.

And he was sitting there, washing the feet of his disciples, who were just arguing about

who would be the greatest.

Jesus shows us an example of service.

It doesn’t matter who we’re serving.

What matters is that we are to have the mindset as Christians that we will serve.

because we will glorify our Father.

We will love our fellow man.

He walked in service of his servants, but he also walked in service of his father, of the

father of the Lord Jehovah.

Philippians 2 verses 5 through 8.

Philippians 2, 5 through 8.

Paul in showing the greatest example of what it means to be humble, of what it means to

have a heart that submits to God, that does not seek for self-gratification, he offers

Christ as the example.

And notice what he says in verse 5,

but made himself of notice this no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and

was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he exalted himself and

he disagreed with God and he did what he wanted.

Is that what that says?

No, I should see more hands shaking their head.

That’s not what it says.

He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

I don’t know about you, but if I were in Jesus’s shoes, I wouldn’t want to go on the

cross.

Jesus did not want to endure the agony.

He did not want to suffer the loss that He was going to have to face.

In Matthew 26, we find Him in the garden begging God.

Sorry.

Begging God, if there be any way, let this cup pass from me.

He is on the ground, the very ground that He spoke into existence, and He is begging the

Lord.

But notice how he concludes that prayer.

Nevertheless, not as I will.

Lord, it’s not about what I want, but I will do what it is that is your will.

He walked in service to the Father and John 8.29 tells us that he did, he does always

those things that please the Father.

As Jesus lived on this earth, he did exactly what God wanted him to do.

And he shows us an example of how to walk in service to our Father.

but he also shows us an example of how to walk in diligence because he did just that.

He focused on what his work was.

His focus was not on pleasure.

His focus was not on entertaining himself, on gathering up riches.

His focus was on doing the Lord’s work.

John four in verse thirty four tells us as he has had this conversation with this

Samaritan woman at the well as he has told her things that he should not have known as a

normal man and as she realizes that he is the Messiah and that was prophesied to come his

disciples returned from the city and they say Lord well here’s some bread here’s some food

and he says I’ve already eaten.

I’ve been satisfied.

And in verse 34, he tells his disciples that his bread, his essence, his life is not tied

to the things of this world, but to glorifying his Father.

Have you ever been so happy to do something or so invested in something that you forget to

eat?

Growing up, my dad, whenever he had a project to do in the yard or whenever there was

something going on, some kind of project that he had my brother and I out there helping

him, we would get to the point where it’s about noon and we’re getting hungry.

We want something to eat.

And we start saying, hey, dad, why don’t we take a break from this and go get some food?

Why don’t we go stop for lunch?

And he said,

Work ain’t done yet.

The job ain’t finished yet.

Why would we stop?

In essence, that’s what Jesus is saying.

The work’s not finished.

There’s more important things than to stop and eat a sandwich.

What nourished Christ was not physical food.

That kept up his body, yes.

But what truly nourished him was doing the Lord’s work.

That was his focus.

And we see a aspect of that in John 9, 4, as we’ve already read, and that he must work the

works of him that sent him while at his day.

the night cometh when no man can work, he understood the immediacy with which he needed to

work.

He understood that there was coming a day when he would not be able to any further.

And so he served.

He walked in diligence.

and he walked in diligence and undesired work.

There are things that we have to do that we don’t want to do.

I can tell you right now there’s some assignments at school that I don’t want to do.

I still got to get them done.

There are some papers that I wish that deadline would get pushed out a little bit further.

But the work comes due.

And when we think about Christ, when we think about how he would have wished for the cross

to be a little bit further off, he would have wished that there was another way for him to

be the sacrifice for sins of man.

but we also read Romans 5, 8, and 9.

Look with me there, Romans 5, 8, and 9.

Don’t miss this how that Christ did not want to suffer.

No one truly does.

He did not want to face that agony that he would on the cross.

But notice what happens.

Notice what Romans 5 tells us.

But God commendeth his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for

us much more than being now justified by his blood.

We shall be saved from wrath through him.

Christ understood the job.

He understood the work that was to be done and ultimately his love for the Lord for the

father his love for each.

Each one of us that needed His blood overcame His fear of the cross, overcame His desire

to not be put in that agonizing pain.

He walked in diligence.

But finally today we notice where this walking leads.

Where do these footsteps lead?

Every trail, every time that tracks are followed, there is a destination that is reached.

Whenever we’re walking, even if we’re not intending to, we walk somewhere.

We reach a destination.

Well where is it that Christ leads?

When we follow His footsteps, having heard His call, having seen the way He walked, when

we follow in His steps, where do we end up?

John 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Notice this, no one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus didn’t say you can pick the way you want.

Just follow whatever way feels good to you.

Just obey when you want to.

Follow me as it’s convenient.

No, he says there is only one way to the Father.

There is only one way that leads to God and that’s through Christ.

Walking in His steps.

Jesus tells us that, or rather Paul tells us that Jesus will deliver up the kingdom to the

Father.

Those of us that are Christians, those of us that are part of the kingdom of Christ, we’re

going to see the Father one day.

We are going to be reunited with the Lord.

We will be able to dwell with God for all of eternity.

And what a day that truly will be.

And so he leads us to the Father, but he also leads us to rest.

Matthew 11 and verse 29.

Jesus calls us to take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart

and ye shall find rest unto your soul.

He calls us, He asks us to walk in His footsteps because His footsteps lead to rest.

yes, it’s hard on this earth.

There are times when we have to deny ourselves.

There are times when situations are less than optimal,

but his leading, when we follow his steps, they lead to rest.

Hebrews 4 and verses 8 through 11 give us a contrary comparison of how the children of

Israel were denied rest, denied the promised land because they allowed sin to separate

them from God.

And there is a warning contained within Hebrews of do not follow in their footsteps

because their footsteps lead away from God.

They lead away from Christ.

They lead away from rest.

But if we are diligent to God and serving Him, then we will have rest.

But his steps also lead to a reunion.

Following in Christ’s steps leads to a reunion.

First Thessalonians 4 and verse 16 gives us a comfort knowing that those who are asleep in

Christ, those who are dead in Christ, will be raised at the last day.

They will be reunited with those of us who are still alive.

Paul in writing this to a people that were concerned about never seeing their loved ones

again never seeing faithful Christians again who were concerned about what would happen in

the resurrection.

He writes, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the

clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

There is comfort to be had in the reunion with those who are faithful.

1 Corinthians 15, 51 through 58 also give us a similar depiction of what will happen in

that last day, of what will happen when the trumpet sounds.

And there is this idea, this beautiful concept of reunion with those faithful who have

gone on before.

There are many people that we talk about who do we want to see in heaven.

oh I would like to go meet Paul.

I would like to go ask him some of these questions.

What did he mean in some of these passages he wrote?

I would like to go see Peter and talk to him about his dedication to God even through

denial.

Even in turning away from that sin that he committed.

Is there a faithful Christian, maybe a family member, that you can’t wait to see?

when my papal passed, having lived a life that was dedicated to God.

faithful Christian.

My mamma looked at those of us that were there and she said we got to work even harder to

get to heaven.

because not only are we going there to see our Father, not only are we going there to see

our Savior, not only are we going there to see others who have gone on.

But we in the Kennedy household, we’re going there to see our papo.

What a reunion that will be.

footprints of Jesus.

that make the pathway glow.

We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go, but will we?

Are you?

Christ is calling.

He showed us the way.

He showed us how to live.

He’s told us how to be saved, but the choice is ours.

And as many of us here today are Christians.

Having named the name of Christ, having been baptized into His death, being raised to walk

a newness of life, maybe it’s the case that you haven’t been walking.

Maybe it’s the case that you saw these footsteps and you started off walking that same

way.

Oh, but there’s a seashell.

Oh, but here’s something else.

Before you know it, you’re off the path.

If it is the case today that you have strayed from the path, have fallen away from Christ,

come back.

As long as there is breath, it is never too late.

Come home and we’ll pray with you and for you.

If we can help you to be right with God, to be walking in the footsteps of Christ, then

come now as we

Mark 16 (Lesson 1) – Aaron Cozort – May 20, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical lessons, disciples, divine plan, faith, Humility, keywords Jesus resurrection, Mark 16, Mary Magdalene, trust in God by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening.

We are in Mark chapter 16 this evening as we come close to, and we might finish out the

Book of Mark, but I’m not uh overly optimistic that we’ll finish it out tonight.

But by the end of July, I think we ought to be able to be done.

All right, let’s begin with a word of prayer and then we will get into our study.

Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you’ve

blessed us with, grateful for the life that you have blessed us with, the opportunities

that we have to serve you, to bring honor to your name, to glorify your name.

Lord, we pray and ask that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.

Help us to walk in the light as you are in the light.

We pray for this nation and we pray for its leaders.

We pray for them to have wisdom.

and discernment in the things which they choose to do and the things which they lead this

nation in.

We pray that they will enact your wisdom from your word, that they might seek justice and

mercy and tender kindness to those who are in need.

All these things that we pray and ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

As we closed up last week, Jesus was being buried in Joseph’s tomb.

And they brought the body in fine linen, took him down and wrapped him in the linen and

laid him in the tomb, which had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the

door of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where he was laid.

Chapter 16 begins, now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of

James and Salome brought spices, excuse me, bought, I’m gonna get the words uh right here,

bought spices that they might come and anoint him.

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun

had risen.

So as the Sabbath concludes and as they are no longer under the restrictions of the law,

both from buying and selling and uh being able to work and do labor, they go first thing

in the text seems to indicate in the morning, early in the morning.

They weren’t wasting any time.

They weren’t waiting around until midday.

They were getting there as soon as they could.

And so they came on the first day of the week in the tomb to the tomb where the sun had

when the sun had risen, they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the

door of the tomb for us as they arrive?

And as they’re approaching, it seems they’re they’re wondering.

how are we gonna get this stone out from the tomb?

Now, different depictions, know historically I always saw the artist’s renditions where it

was somehow a cut solid flat stone that was round, that was rolled in front of the tomb

and that the tomb was always on a slight hill crest and the doorway was flattened.

I’m not.

quite so certain that that’s exactly what we have here.

It is actually a little more likely that the tomb would have been, uh we know that it was

underground, but it would have been inset into some location and then a regular round

boulder would have been put down and the force of gravity, of course, would hold the

boulder uh in place and it would have required significant force.

uh not one or two people to move that boulder out of the blocking position in front of the

tomb.

uh The closing of the tomb with this particular stone also does not seem to be necessarily

the original design of the tomb.

If you think about it.

There’s no indication that the boulder or the stone that was placed in front of the tomb

was there for any reason other than security.

It’s just a square hole that goes back into the hillside.

But there’s no stone around there that…

capable of being rolled or pushed or…

Right.

So this would have been intentionally brought in for the purposes of encapsulating,

closing, blocking the tomb from being accessed.

And as we mentioned before, there’s motives on both sides, both the disciples and Pilate

and the Jews.

There’s motives for wanting the tomb

uh secured during the Sabbath and during the feast to make sure that the disciples didn’t

come and steal the body and also desire by the disciples to make sure that the uh chief

priests and elders didn’t come and steal the body or do anything to it.

But fact of the matter is, as the women are approaching, they realize they have a problem.

Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?

But when they looked up,

they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.

uh When the scripture says something was very large, this wasn’t the size of large

watermelon.

This was a large stone meant to impede uh access even by those who desired to get in.

And so they come to the tomb and they find the stone is already rolled away.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the

right side and they were alive.

What did they expect to find?

Jesus’s body wrapped in linen, needing to be prepared for his actual long-term burial.

uh Without too much of a divergence, consider the lesson that, you know, sometimes we

worry about things that we will never actually have to deal with.

They were worried about how to move the stone.

They could have out of their worry gone, you know what?

Might as well turn around go home.

There is no way possible for us to move this stone on our own.

There’s not gonna be anybody there who’s gonna be willing to move it for us.

The Centurions certainly weren’t going to move it for them.

So they could have determined that based upon their concern about the impossibility of

moving the stone to just turn around and go home.

Just forget it.

Sometimes we worry and we are overly concerned and sometimes we even change our choices

and our direction on matters that have never happened to us, that are not yet actually

realized and there’s no real evidence that they will be a problem.

Now you say, well, Aaron, the evidence was the stone was put there to begin with and there

was no indication that they should believe the stone had moved.

Well,

Actually, there was indication that this stone should have been moved and would have been

moved if they had understood what Jesus had taught.

And it is the reminder that we should be humble enough to realize we don’t have to

understand how God does everything.

We just have to trust that He will do what He has said He will do.

And in Jesus’s case, Jesus made it clear that He was going to go down into the grave

for three days and is going to come forth.

somewhat of a parallel example of this.

You know, there was a time when there were some sailors and they were very worried about

what was going to happen to them if they took a particular prophet and threw him

overboard.

Weren’t they?

They were concerned.

They almost didn’t do it because they were concerned about their own safety and the

situation they would find themselves in if they had thrown over one who had paid for

passage.

yet Jonah convinces them, just do it, just throw me overboard.

Now Jonah, I am firmly convinced, does not know how God is going to deal with the

situation, but he does know that they’re in peril because of his choice, and that the only

correct decision was for him to align his choices with God’s.

And in both of these scenarios, you find that the correct answer is, do what the will of

the Lord would have you to do and let God deal with the rest.

These women were coming out of a sense of honor and repayment for all that Jesus had done

for them, had taught them in honor of who He was and what He had been while they were with

Him on the earth, and so they were living out in their acts of service the will of God.

even though to a degree they were entirely ignorant of, or at least somewhat ignorant of,

how God was going to accomplish His will.

We’re challenged as we go through life to realize that we do not know what’s coming in the

future.

We don’t know what will happen an hour from now.

We don’t know what will happen a day from now.

We don’t know what will happen a month from now or a year from now, let alone 30 years

from now or 50 years from now.

And yet we are challenged continually by scripture to trust God and do His will.

not because we know how it will turn out, but because He told us to do it.

Jonah could have confidence to tell the men of the ship to throw him overboard knowing

that if for no other reason they would be better off with him overboard than with him in

the boat.

These women…

could have looked at this concern, could have worried over the potential of the

impossibility of completing the task they set out for themselves and they could have

turned back.

And the consequences of that is they would have missed the opportunity to see Jesus, which

Mary Magdalene did.

and also to witness the presence of God’s angels and the actions and the miracles that had

occurred.

Now let’s flip that on the other side.

Where are the disciples?

Where are the apostles?

Should they as the students of Jesus not been the first ones at the tomb Sunday morning?

Should they not have been the first ones looking to honor and bestow honor upon the one

who had been their teacher?

There’s a reason why Jesus will say to them, oh, you of little faith.

because here are these women who are acting more in alignment with the will and the

responsibility and the position and the glory of His teaching than the apostles are.

So they enter the tomb, saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side,

and they were alarmed.

But he said to them, Do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He is risen.

He is not here.

See the place where they laid him.

But go, tell his disciples, and Peter,

that he is going before you into Galilee.

There you will see him as he said to you.”

as the individual who is there in the tomb speaks to them.

He shows them the place where the body was laid.

He shows them the empty tomb.

He makes it clear He is risen.

This individual reveals to them, you didn’t get here too late, somebody didn’t already

take the body.

You got here too late because he’s a lie.

as he instructs them to go tell the disciples, find it interesting that Mark includes the

and Peter.

uh They’re likely, I think it’s a good possibility based upon both scriptural evidence and

historical evidence, that Mark is related by marriage or blood to Peter.

And so, Peter is specifically mentioned here

We remember from the other text that Peter is going to be one of the two disciples that

runs back to the tomb after the women have come and told them that Jesus is risen.

He’s going to run.

He and John are going to run back to the tomb and stop at the tomb and look into the tomb.

Actually, John’s gonna stop, look into the tomb.

Peter’s gonna run right in.

ah

But the instruction by this individual to the women is to go tell his disciples and Peter.

Why do you think it was Ann Peter?

uh I think there’s some, whether the not being around anyone else or not, think Peter was

taking it hard that he…

He most likely would have been very retrospectively examining all the times and all the

situations and all the things and all the conversations and all the things.

said, no, absolutely, I’m going to go to death with you.

And then he denied it.

So likely because of Peter’s struggle is the reason and not because there is some.

significance of Peter needing to know or that Peter wouldn’t have been with the disciples,

the indication is Peter was with the disciples, but rather let Peter know.

Amazing that none of them understood the resurrection.

None of them expected it.

Yet back in chapter 10, he told them a third time.

none of them apparently expected it.

So uh in view of that uh fact that none of them expected it, it is somewhat of a reminder

to us as we teach others.

If we teach somebody something and they don’t get it and then we teach them again later

and they don’t get it and we teach them later and they don’t get it, that’s a human trait.

And Jesus faced the same thing with the apostles and we need to be careful to not be too

hard on the people we know because the apostles have the same problem.

And you know, it’s interesting that you have Mary Magdalene who got

the fact that he was going to die and not the fact that he was going to be buried because

Jesus said she’s come to anoint me before.

But didn’t get the resurrection.

ah again, we have the benefit of uh hindsight and looking back at these things.

But what does he tell the women to tell the disciples?

that he is going before them to Galilee.

I don’t know that anyone else is like me but sometimes I remember thinking and growing up

thinking that after Jesus was resurrected he spent all of his time around Jerusalem before

ascending into heaven.

It’s not the case.

ah He doesn’t dwell in Jerusalem or remain in the Jerusalem area after he is resurrected.

He goes back to Galilee and the disciples go to Galilee and there will be journeys between

Galilee and Judea during the time of this period and the 40 days that he is on the earth

after his resurrection.

So notice verse 8 says,

So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed, and

they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,

out of whom he had cast seven demons.

Now Mark includes a detail about Mary’s history.

and some context in this that, you know, helps reveal a little bit of the central role

that Mary has played in these events.

Mary was not just someone who had heard the teaching of Jesus.

She was not just someone who had believed the teaching of Jesus.

She is someone who previously had

had seven demons dwelling in her and had had them cast out by Jesus.

So you grasp in this the difference and why she was so close to Jesus.

She was so focused on hearing what Jesus had to say and on being there and showing him the

honor that he was due and all of the things that you find

revolving around Mary as the actions that she participated in is because she had perhaps,

shall we say, more indebtedness to Jesus than many who were just simply taught by him.

I think it’s also interesting to point out that while Mary is mentioned and is described

in different scenarios throughout the different gospels,

The introduction to Mary isn’t with her healing, isn’t with the casting out of the demons.

It’s rather just, she just pops on the scene.

And uh Mark only mentions this in passing at this point.

So he rose early on the first day of the week.

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons.

She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept.

And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Mary and these other women are the ones who first and foremost focused on honoring Jesus.

Then they’re the first to witness the angel at the tomb.

Then they’re the first to be confronted and actually speak to Jesus, though the other

women were already gone when Mary sees Jesus there in the garden.

And they’re going to go and going to tell the disciples what it is that they saw, what it

is that they had heard, what they have been told.

And in spite of the fact that all of those things were true about these women, they’re not

going be believed.

It is.

In this text that we should be reminded that we’re maybe a little too harsh on Thomas.

As Thomas wasn’t the only doubting disciple.

All of them were.

Because all of them denied the very first time they were told that he was risen.

They denied the testimony of the women.

Thomas denied the testimony of the other ten and the women.

The fact of the matter is all of them doubted that which they were being told.

Verse 12

After that, he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the

country.

And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

It’s not just the women they didn’t believe.

The two that Jesus met on the road to Emmaus and as he was speaking to them, they did not

understand who he was.

They did not understand who was in their presence.

And so as they’re going, they’re talking, they’re telling Jesus about all the events that

have occurred and the one who has been crucified.

And then he turns around and tells them concerning all the things that the prophets had

said concerning the one who was crucified.

And all the way down the road until they arrive at Emmaus, they don’t know who he is.

At what point in time do the two disciples realize who he is?

They beg him to come in and to eat bread with them.

They sit down and he takes the bread and blesses it.

And it is that moment at which God allows them.

And I think that is the correct way to understand it.

It is that moment which God allows them to know who is in their presence.

Now Mark uses a terminology to say that he appeared to them in another form.

ah How much that is accommodative to he looked different or they didn’t recognize him.

I don’t know.

ah We know in the text, I believe it’s in Luke as he records it, that the text says that

their eyes were open.

It say that he changed forms.

It says their eyes were opened to understand who he was.

ah But as they come back, you remember Luke?

describes the events, describes the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, describes the

events as they discussed the things with Jesus, describes the blessing of the bread, and

that the moment that they realized who he was, he disappeared from their sight, and then

they traveled back to Jerusalem.

And they come back that very night, and the text seems to indicate here that they went

straight to the disciples.

to tell them Jesus is risen, Jesus is alive.

We talked with him on the road to Emmaus, he’s alive.

They still didn’t believe.

later, verse 14, he appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table and rebuked their

unbelief and hardness of

Why do you think they didn’t believe when they were told?

every day that you see.

All right, so being raised from the dead, not exactly a common thing though, they had

witnessed Lazarus raised from the dead just a few weeks before that.

their vision, their mental clarity to see.

But would it have been grief if Jesus then rebuked them for unruly and heartless heart?

oh I believe a lot of it has to do with that idea, Rebecca.

These apostles all the way up until Acts chapter 1, Jesus is about to ascend back to the

Father and they’re going to ask him, are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

You remember just a few days ago they were asking who’s going to be the great, they were

arguing who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom.

They had one pair of them whose mother was coming and saying, when you come into your

kingdom, can you give the right hand and the left hand seat to my kids?

They’re not thinking about a spiritual kingdom.

They are not comprehending what Jesus came here to build.

They’re stuck in a mindset of what their teachers and their traditions and the Jewish

doctrines had framed up as what God was going to do.

And it is no surprise that the prophets will reiterate over and over and over again that

God would do something in the future on a day and the people would marvel at the thing

that was done.

because they didn’t expect it.

They didn’t comprehend it.

They didn’t even know what they were looking for.

So go over if you will.

help a little bit because when he appears to them…

They don’t still understand that that’s who’s standing before them.

And both Luke and John record that they did not understand that it was Jesus.

And then after he gets food from them, verse 45 of Luke 24 says, and then he opened their

understanding that they might understand scripture.

And it’s after that point when he opens their eyes to that, that they understand now that

this is Jesus, that this is who he said he was, that this is

because he says thus it was written and then he’s going to basically repeat what he has

said that Christ would raise himself or that he would be raised on the third day.

So maybe that’s part of it is that it fits with what Rebecca was saying.

They still don’t understand to the point that he has to open their eyes to actually see

what is right in front of them.

That they are so, you know when you’re not looking for somebody or expecting somebody, you

couldn’t pick them out of a crowd, but you put them in the right situation, in the right

setting, and now you recognize them.

They wouldn’t have recognized them if they weren’t looking for that because they were

convinced.

it didn’t happen.

He wasn’t there.

Does that make sense?

Here’s where I want us to maybe bring some of this home by way of application.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32.

The Hebrew writer has been talking and writing to these Christians about having boldness

to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, verse 19, by a new and living way which he

consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the

house of God let us draw near with a true heart.

in full assurance of faith.

Now, set that phrase and that terminology in contrast in your mind to, oh you of little

faith and being rebuked for your unbelief.

This is their disposition in that moment of time and here’s the Hebrew writer saying,

here’s what you can know, here’s what you can have assurance of, here’s how you can

operate in your life, in your salvation.

incomplete and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil

conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the confession of our

hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.” Now you go down to verse 32 and he

says, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great

struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made aspectable both by reproaches and

tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so

Question, was there ever a time in which the apostles were companions together with those

who were being mistreated and treated poorly by their brethren?

their brethren being the Jews.

Absolutely.

The apostles were present when Jesus was nearly stoned, when they desired to take Jesus

and throw him off the top of a mountain.

The apostles were present when the chief priests and the others wanted to arrest him.

The apostles were present when the soldiers were sent to go arrest Jesus at the temple.

The apostles were present and witnessed all these things.

They had suffered, they had gone through, and they had been faithful through all of these

things.

Now, I understand the text here is talking about these Christians, but I’m pointing out

they had operated just the same way these Christians had.

they had operated previously after they had understood the truth in a way that said, know

what, it doesn’t matter what comes, we’re going to be faithful.

But then he says,

For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your

goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

Therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

You can use that to sum up what the disciples had done since Friday.

They had cast away their confidence.

until the events in the Garden of Eden.

you would not have been able to find one of those eleven who had a doubt about Jesus,

about who He was, and about what He was going to do.

What did I say?

Okay, yep, that’d be the other garden.

Not a gardener, I wouldn’t know the difference, but anyway.

think I would know the difference.

All I have to say is it was a good thing that I wasn’t the one told not to eat of the tree

in the midst of the garden because I can’t tell the difference between one fruit and

another and one tree and another.

it’s just not my talent.

Yeah, I know.

All right.

But notice he says, for you have need, verse 36, of endurance.

So that after you have done the will of God.

you may receive the promise.

The Hebrew writer is speaking to these Christians who were dealing with a crumbling

confidence.

and he admonishes them to go back to what they knew to be true and operate on the

confidence that they had previously until their assurance could be had by their faithful

obedience.

When we as individuals start to struggle with our understanding, start to struggle with

scenarios that cause us to doubt things, start to struggle because times are now hard and

we always imagined by this point it would be easier.

I cannot express to you how many times I have talked to people who were in their

50s and 60s and 70s who thought that back in their 20s and 30s that by the time they got

to this age it’s going to be so much easier.

And lo and behold, it’s not!

And the Hebrew writer is confronting these Christians and he is telling them, go do the

will of God.

and stop trying to figure out all the things that don’t belong to you to figure out.

He says, verse 37, for yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not

tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith.

But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving

of the soul.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for.

The evidence of things not seen.

Hebrew writer goes, stop operating on your knowledge.

start operating on God’s promises.

because God doesn’t fail to deliver on His promises.

So when we go back to the text and we go back to Mark, we go back to what Eddie mentioned

about what Luke tells us, how he opened their eyes to what the prophets had already said.

we are to be reminded, you know what?

If we would spend less time trying to discern for ourselves what it is God wants us to do,

and instead just do what He told us to do.

We could leave the area of doubt and go back to the area of confidence and trust in His

promises because He’s faithful.

The entire chapter of Hebrews chapter 11 is just one iteration over another about people

who didn’t have an explanation of why God said to do what He said to do, but they still

did it.

because they trusted the promise without understanding all the details.

Verse 14.

concludes with, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

They’re going to be among the people who will see Jesus.

But is it not interesting that in spite of their doubts, in spite of their lack of

confidence, in spite of their refusal to believe, Jesus didn’t choose them?

to be the ones that he appeared to first.

You know, so much of scripture revolves around the act in the New Testament revolves

around the actions of the apostles in one form or another.

But it is not the apostles Jesus appears to first.

He’s going to appear to Mary first.

He’s going to appear to two disciples

who are on the road.

Could Jesus not have just shown up there with the eleven?

Clearly He could have because the angel knew where to send the women to go find the

eleven.

The women knew where to find the eleven.

Jesus could have just shown up and met them there.

Why, we have to ask, why go through all of this of sending person after person after

person back to the apostles before appearing to them Himself?

My answer is always, he’s teaching them something.

It would have been easy for him to just show up.

He’s teaching them something.

it would have been easy for them to be the obvious choice of the first ones to see Jesus

are clearly his inner circle.

And yet it’s not John and it’s not James and it’s not Peter, it’s Mary.

There is.

There is a very distinct struggle to describe the humility difference in the apostles from

the end of the book of Mark and Luke and John and Matthew to Acts chapter 2, 3, 4.

the humility difference from before the cross and before the resurrection and even after

the resurrection to the institution of the church.

They are getting an accelerated learning, an accelerated course.

on God accomplishing His will.

and that they…

are not the most important thing to God accomplishing His.

Days before, they’re arguing who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus’s answer was what?

He who be greatest will be servant of all.

And as they were nearing that final week and in that final week and the events that

transpired, while they were all bickering about who would be the greatest, which woman was

serving Jesus?

And Jesus said as she anointed his feet,

This will be a memorial to her everywhere, forever.

and then he appears to her.

my opinion, this would be extra biblical.

I think Jesus is teaching them humility.

I think Jesus is teaching them that they must faithfully believe and obey God, and if they

don’t, God will still do His will.

God will do it without them.

Same thing that Esther was taught by Mordecai.

Mordecai tells her, whether you do this or not, God’s going to save His people.

But know this, if you’re not going to go in before the King, your family won’t be saved.

I think that is the lesson that the apostles are needing to learn.

That they are God’s tools as long as they’re willing to submit to God.

And they’re willing to believe God.

And they’re willing to operate on trust in God.

But if they’re gonna try and do it their way, they’re gonna get it wrong.

And God doesn’t need them, they need Him.

Okay, thank you for your attention.

Lessons from Fallen Soldiers – Aaron Cozort – May 24, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical heroes, Christian living, Christian perseverance, faith, Jesus Christ, keywords Bible lessons, moral doctrine, resurrection, sacrifice, spiritual warfare by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

It’s good to see all of you here.

It’s good to see many visitors in our presence and we appreciate your presence with us.

We encourage you, if you will, to stick around for a few minutes afterwards so we can get

a chance to greet you and get to know you better.

For those who are returning visitors, we’re always grateful to see your faces and of

course our members as well.

As was already mentioned, tomorrow is Memorial Day here in this country where we remember

those who have fallen in battles going back through the years.

The first Memorial Day was as a remembrance to those who fell in the Civil War.

Some of you may not know it goes back that far, but it does.

But this morning, what I wanted to do is consider some lessons

from some fallen soldiers, not from the U.S.

military, but rather from God’s army, and consider a few lessons we learn from their fall.

We’re going to begin with John the Baptist.

In Matthew chapter 14, we read of the events of Herod beheading John the Baptist.

Now, you need to combine a little bit of the text in Matthew 14 with Mark chapter 6

because…

Mark will tell us some of the backstory behind John being beheaded.

Because Mark is going to tell us that John had come to Herod and had told Herod that it

was not lawful for Herod to have Herodias, his brother, Philip’s wife.

And as a result of the fact that Herodias and Philip had divorced and then Herodias had

married Herod,

Herod was committing adultery and that it was not lawful for Herod to remain married to

Herodias.

He needed to return his brother’s wife to his brother.

Well, this caused a great deal of consternation in Herod’s household and Herodias hated

John.

But Mark will tell us that Herod would imprison John, but he would continue to bring John

before him.

to hear what John had to say.

Herod was interested in the message of John.

He considered John to be a righteous man, a just man, and so while he had imprisoned him

because of his wife, he knew that he was imprisoned unjustly.

So John will come before Herod on a regular basis, it seems.

Would teach him, would preach to him, would proclaim to him concerning matters of justice

and judgment.

And then one day arrives where Herod is throwing uh a big to-do before all of his

counselors and others.

And in chapter 14 of the book of Matthew, we find at that time Herod the Tetrarch heard

the report about Jesus.

and said to his servants, This is John the Baptist.

He is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.

For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of

Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had said to him, It is not lawful for

you to have her.

And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted

him as a prophet.

But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated,

The daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.

Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, Give me John the Baptist’s head here on

a platter.

And the king was sorry.

Nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it

to be given to her.

So he sent and had John beheaded in prison and his head was brought on a platter.

and given to the girl, she brought it to her mother.

Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus.”

As we consider John and the end of his life, certainly many of the things that John taught

we could look at and examine, but won’t for the sake of time.

We consider that John lost his life because moral doctrine matters.

We live in a society that would be more than happy in general to take the moral doctrine

of Christ and ignore it.

They would be happy to take the moral teachings of God and consider them nothing but the

whims of the past.

And yet we learn from this fallen soldier of our king that moral doctrines matter enough

to give one’s life for them.

what God teaches about how we live.

What God teaches about what is moral, what is upright, what is righteous, what is just,

and what is not.

Is truly that which we will be judged by.

Jesus would say in John chapter 12 and verse 48, by my words, you will be judged.

We learn from this fallen soldier that moral doctrine matters.

But then, could turn over to Acts chapter 6.

In Acts chapter 6 and also in Acts chapter 7,

We find Stephen.

Stephen is one of the men who was assigned earlier on in chapter 6 to help feed the

Grecian widows.

Because there were those who were widows among the church, among the Christians, who were

being neglected in the daily administration, and they were the Grecian or the Hellenistic

widows that were of Jewish descent, but Grecian location.

And so Stephen, among six others, are full of the Holy Spirit and they’re faithful in

their service and they’re chosen from among the congregation and among the Christians to

help provide for these widows and they do so.

Coming out of that work, it seems, Stephen was one who had gained boldness to teach and to

preach.

And so he begins to teach and to preach and to debate.

uh

concerning the matters of the Messiah.

We find in chapter 6 verse 8, Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and

signs among the people.

Then there arose some from what is called the synagogue of freedmen, Cyrenians,

Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.

Then they secretly induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against

Moses and God.

And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized

him and brought him to the council.

They also set up false witnesses who said, This man does not cease to speak blasphemous

words against this holy place and the law.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place.

and changed the customs which Moses delivered to us.

And all who sat in the council looked steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an

angel.

And Stephen will begin to preach.

But you’ll notice the witness that these Grecian descended Jews would bring forth and the

false witness that they would bear against Stephen was that he had said blasphemous words

against God.

He had spoken that God would change the things which Moses had handed down to them.

That he would speak that they would destroy the temple.

and among the council, the temple, its worship, and its traditions were the center of

their power, their authority, and their position.

So as Stephen begins to preach in chapter 7, we go down to verse 51 and Stephen will

conclude,

by saying, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.

You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so do you.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become

the betrayers and murderers.

who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.

Stephen accuses them of seeking to put him on trial because of the false witnesses that

were saying he was striving to tear down the law, and he says, you’re the ones who won’t

keep

You’re the ones who have refused the law and those who bear witness of the Messiah.

When they heard these things, verse 54, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him

with their teeth.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into heaven and saw the glory of God and

Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, Look, I see the heavens open and the Son

of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord.

And they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their

clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my

spirit.

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this

sin.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

from the death of Stephen.

We learn that men’s power is based on existing beliefs.

and that when they are confronted with the gospel, when they are confronted with the

truth, and when it demands that their beliefs be changed.

There is likely to be someone whose power is reliant upon those beliefs remaining the

same.

and for Stephen that resulted in his death.

We should be careful to examine our beliefs.

We should be careful to examine our preconceived ideas.

We should be careful to examine the things that we’ve always been taught to see whether or

not they are in accordance with the Word of God.

And if they are not, we ought to submit to God instead of holding on to our false beliefs.

But then consider another fallen soldier.

In Acts chapter 12…

James, one of the apostles, one of the inner circle of Jesus, the three that are often

pulled aside by Jesus to special occasions, Peter, James, and John.

The brother of John the apostle, the one who by all indications of history and tradition

would outlive all the other apostles.

James’ brother will be the first of the apostles to die.

James is going to be killed by Herod in Acts chapter 12.

We read, Now at the time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the

church.

Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter.

Now it was during the days of unleavened bread.

So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of

soldiers to keep him intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

James is going to be killed by Herod.

And we learn from this deliverance of James over to be slain with the sword that evil men

will do evil things for they have nothing better to do than evil.

Herod didn’t care about James.

Herod cared about Herod.

And when Herod realized that killing a Christian made the people happy, he was ready to do

it again.

We were to use our common terminology, his numbers in the polls went up.

And based upon that, you know what?

There’s some more Christians we could get rid of.

Sometimes as we serve on behalf of our Lord, as we fight the spiritual battles against

principalities and powers and mights in heavenly places, we will be faced by men who don’t

care anything for heaven or for spiritual powers.

They simply love the evil they do.

They love the power they wield, and they will take a life, and it will mean absolutely

nothing to them.

except one more opportunity to gain prominence and power.

Doctrine Matter.

The truth matters.

Our beliefs should accord with the Word of God.

And we should not fear evil men.

But then if we jump over the book of Revelation, we learn about another of God’s people

who is going to be put to death.

In Revelation chapter two, we don’t know much about this man, but we read as John writes

to the church at Pergamos, to the angel of the church in Pergamos, right?

These things says he who has a sharp two-edged sword.

I know your works.

where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.

As Jesus and John write to this congregation, as they write to this group of Christians,

they say, we know what you’re dealing with.

We know the persecution that is enthroned in your midst.

And we even know about Antipas.

He says, I know your works where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is, and you hold fast to

my name and did not deny my faith, even in the days when Antipas was my faithful martyr,

who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

There was a place among the church in Pergamos.

There was a people in the presence of the city of Pergamos that were so evil.

that Jesus described them as the throne of Satan.

They were so bent on doing that, which is in opposition to God, that they were described

as those who had the dwelling place of Satan.

one of the Christians named Antipas.

We don’t know much about him.

What we know about him, we read right here.

when they threatened the Christians, when they tried to force the Christians to give up on

the testimony of Jesus Christ, Antipas would not

and they killed him for

and the church didn’t turn back.

The Christians who were there did not deny their faith.

They did not turn back.

They did not denounce Christ, even at threat of their own lives.

We are reminded and we should learn and understand from this lesson that Satan is the real

enemy.

There are those in this world who will do His bidding, who will welcome Him to sit as the

ruler and reign over their lives and their decisions and their attitudes and their

actions, and they will oppose everything that God does.

But Satan is the real enemy.

over in Revelation chapter 13.

as John sees in the vision.

the persecution that would be coming against the church.

John writes, then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name,

verse 6, His temple, and those who dwell in heaven.

And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and 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.

as John looks in this vision and he sees the power of Rome coming for the church, seeking

to persecute and destroy the people of God.

He looks amongst the vision, He looks amongst the people, He looks at what is going on,

and He says, they’re going to succeed in many scenarios.

They’re going to overcome the Christians, they’re going to kill them.

but they’re not going to have power over

For He describes those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book.

But if you notice the remainder of verse 8, which we didn’t read, He says, All who dwell

on the earth will worship Him whose names have not been written in the book of the life of

the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.

Here’s something we need to know as we consider lessons from the fallen soldiers of our

King.

Is that our King is a fallen soldier.

Just as Ben described before the Lord’s Supper, He was one who came and was given that we

might have life, that we might be saved.

And it was in the plan and the decision-making of God before the world was founded.

That a sacrifice would be needed, that redemption would be necessary.

And that salvation could come to mankind through it.

over in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

Paul will write to the church.

a church that had so many struggles, so much difficulty in the city of Corinth, and He

will write to them as those who were enduring great difficulty.

Paul writes beginning in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7, he says, but we have this

treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us.

He’s speaking about the revelation of God, the message of the cross, the message of Jesus

Christ.

He says we have this and we deal with it in our earthly life.

We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

We are perplexed, but not in despair.

Persecuted, but not forsaken.

Struck down, but not destroyed.

Always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be

manifested in our body.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake.

that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So then death is working in us, but life in you.

And since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed and

therefore I spoke.

We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will

also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you for all things are for your sakes

that grace

Having spread through the many may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Therefore, we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more

exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Therefore,

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are

eternal.

Paul will write to the church at Corinth and he will describe the death that they’re

dying.

He will describe the persecution they’re suffering, the threat that they’re enduring on a

continual basis just for speaking the gospel.

and he will freely admit some of us are going to die.

But in our death, the life of Christ is made clear.

And in our death we are reminded Jesus Christ is not in the grave.

That tomb had a stone that was rolled away.

That tomb is empty.

in our time.

making trips to Washington, D.C.

One of the places that Eddie and I have had the pleasure of getting a chance to go to on

one occasion was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

For those who have been there, the ceremony is something to observe, something to see.

The honor that is shown, those who are unidentifiable when they come back for more.

and those who are missing, who’ve never come back from it.

But Jesus’ tomb isn’t a tomb that we honor each week because we can’t identify who’s in

it.

Jesus’ sacrifice is something we honor each week because He didn’t stay in it.

because He was resurrected from the grave on the third day and is alive forevermore.

And from that we are admonished and reminded that when we serve Christ, when we go to war

against the powers of Satan, when we do battle against principalities and powers in this

world and in the world to come,

when we are faithful to the testimony and the gospel of Jesus Christ and if we lose our

lives as a result.

That is not the end.

That is merely one moment on a journey to be reunited with our Lord and Savior in

eternity.

Paul would further write to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you

received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word

which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our

sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the

third day according to the Scriptures.

and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

After that he was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part

remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

After that he was uh seen by James, then by all the apostles, then last of all he was seen

by me also, as one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I

persecuted the church of God.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain, but I

labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believe.”

There’s coming a day.

when your tombstone will have your name on

There’s coming a day when if you are a soldier of the king, there will be another fallen

soldier.

Paul says don’t worry.

Don’t be concerned.

Don’t grieve as those who have no hope.

because this world has never been our home.

we’re just passing through.

Our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

If you’re here this morning and you’ve not been commissioned as a soldier of the king,

you’ve not entered into his army, you think it’s sufficient to just sit on the sidelines

as the battle goes on.

not because there’s only two armies and you’re on one side or the other.

When Joshua…

was on a hillside overlooking Jericho.

and looking at the first battle of the promised land.

someone approached him.

And as Joshua looked at the one who was approaching, he asked him, are you for us or for

them?

And that one who appeared before Joshua, who was the angel of the Lord, said,

but as the commander of the Lord’s host.

I am…

We do not serve ourselves.

like Joshua in days before we serve the Lord.

And we follow at His command.

And we do it His way.

Joshua had been planning to defeat Jericho.

I don’t think that walking around the city seven times, once per each time, seven days in

a row, and then seven times on the seventh day and blowing trumpets would have been his

plan.

And I know for sure that if we had asked people how they thought their sins ought to be

forgiven and what they ought to do in order to have their sins forgiven, baptism wouldn’t

have been their suggestion.

But we didn’t get asked and it wasn’t our decision.

Just like it wasn’t Joshua’s.

So Jesus said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.

He that believeth not shall be damned.

When the Jews who put Jesus to death asked Peter, men and brethren, what shall we do?

Peter answered, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.

You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

If you’re here this morning and you’re outside the body of Christ, you’re outside the army

of God.

You’re outside of the place of being a soldier of the king.

May I encourage you from the lives of these fallen soldiers to know that when these

individuals left this life, they were not concerned.

They were not worried that this life was all there is.

They were anxiously looking forward to going home.

Are you ready to go home?

If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand.

The Sickness of Selfishness – Walker Cain – May 24, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Biblical Principles, Christian living, God's love, keywords selfishness, love your neighbor, sin, Spiritual Growth by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron, just led us in the song, Have Thine Own Way, Lord.

Have Thine Own Way.

I am the potter, Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

It’s a beautiful song that shows the fact that our lives, what we do, the things we say,

what we think, it should all be modeled off of God, off of what He desires.

But we have a world that has a different focus, a world that is oftentimes focused on

self.

Toby Keith said it well when he said, I want to think about me.

I want to think about I.

I want to talk about number one, oh my me my.

What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see.

I like talking about you, you, you, you, you, usually.

But occasionally, I want to talk about me.

He saw selfishness in this relationship, or at least the writer of the song did, and said,

you know what?

I see the selfishness where we’re always talking about you.

I want to talk about me every now and then.

He thought that the antidote, the thing that was needed in the relationship was a chance

for him to be selfish instead of the other person.

But what is it that God has to say?

Now in our world we see selfishness easily.

The way that our dictionaries define it, it’s someone that cares too much of self.

Someone who sees his desires or his impulses as greater than anyone else’s.

Let’s take a look at Scripture and see how God defines it.

Now at least in our King James versions the word selfishness doesn’t actually appear, but

the idea does.

And how do we best understand it?

Well, let’s understand selfishness based on its opposite.

And that opposite is what is from God.

Matthew 22 verses 37 through 39 give the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22, 37 through 39.

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy

soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

This is the greatest commandment because everything else relies on this.

Now, what we want to focus on is this word love.

And we often hear about agape.

We even hear about it being a selfless love.

Let’s take a look at it more deeply.

Usually we look at this word and we think deeply affection, but if we look at the verb

form when it’s in an action, those definitions show the idea of value, of setting store

upon something, looking at something for what it is worth.

Christ says, thou shalt agape, this word, thou shalt agape love the Lord thy God with all

thy heart.

you will look at the Lord and say, love you because of your value.

Any decision you make, you make because it’s worth it to you.

I love you because you’re worth it.

That is the love that we are to have for God, and it’s the love that He has for us.

Now, what this love is going to do is shown throughout Scripture.

Christ was willing to give His life, John 3, 16.

In addition, 1 Corinthians 13 describes how this love is going to act.

And if we had time to look through all of it at this moment, we would see that every

single one of the aspects of love, the fact that it doesn’t think any evil, the fact it

doesn’t puff itself up, the fact it doesn’t vaunt itself, all of these things are the

exact opposite of what we would consider selfishness.

We can conclude that the love God has for us and the love we are to have for God is the

exact opposite of this kind of selfishness.

Now.

We see selfishness, but now we can also see what is at its heart.

And there is no way in which we can serve God if we do not have this kind of love within

us.

He who does not love, who does not have this agape love, does not know God.

Now it’s also dangerous because this selfishness is at the very heart of the sin that

plagues our world.

Agape is when I look at someone else and say, love you because you’re worth it, because I

see your value.

Selfishness says, I am more valuable than anyone else.

What I desire, what I think, what I want to follow, that comes before God.

That becomes before anyone else that I see.

And now with that, selfishness in and of its very nature leads to sin.

Sin follows my desires.

James 1, 14, before that,

James 1, 13 and 14, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of what?

His own lusts and enticed.

He’s not drawn away from his brother or sister’s lust.

He’s not drawn away from what someone else desires.

He’s drawn away of what he wants to do.

When what he desires,

is worth his decisions before anything else, before his God or before anyone.

That is when he is led into sin.

Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth

forth death.

This selfishness leads directly to sin in that it follows my wants, and also it follows my

own way.

If you will turn to Isaiah 55 for just a moment.

Isaiah 55.

in this book of prophecy regarding punishment and coming redemption and a chance to come

back to the Lord.

Isaiah 55 verses 6 through 9, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him

while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he

will abundantly pardon.”

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my

thoughts than your thoughts.” We live in a world of humanism, a world where so many want

to practice doctrines that say what man thinks comes above anything, what anyone else

does.

It happens in religion where we follow man who say, I want to do, that comes before God.

We’re going to write a creed.

And then there are those who want to totally be absent from what the Lord says so they can

follow their own ideologies, their own philosophies.

Now the Lord says, your thoughts are not my thoughts, your ways are not my ways.

Does that mean they can never be?

Is this saying, I am so great and you are down here, then there is no way you can ever

think the way God thinks.

Is that the point here?

He says, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous his thoughts.

Why?

It’s because your thoughts are not my thoughts.

Your ways are not my ways.

The point is, they should have been.

Their thoughts should have been God’s thoughts.

Their ways should have been his ways.

Now there are aspects of God that we are never going to have.

We are never going to be, from what we understand, we’re not going to have the all-knowing

nature that he has, or infinite power.

But there are things about God that we can emulate.

But when we decide we don’t want to follow His word, we do not want to emulate the

characteristics of God, it is because we desire to follow our own way instead.

Let the wicked forsake His way.

This selfishness, we saw that it follows someone’s own wants, their own desires, but also

it follows someone’s own way of thinking.

It might be that it’s not about what I desire.

In fact, I might be trying to help someone else.

But I think I know a better way to do it than God.

I think if I lie on these taxes, it’s going to be better than if I help someone do this

honestly.

It’s not just my desires, it’s my ways.

And even with the best of intentions, my own ways are still selfishness in the sight of

God because it’s me exalting what I think above Him.

Selfishness is at the heart of all sin, and it is seen in every sin.

1 John 2, verses 15 and 16.

love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride

of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Lust of the flesh, when I follow what I think is desirable.

He even did it in the garden when she saw the fruit and said that it was good for food.

And then there is lust of the eyes where I see something and okay, it’s not just desirable

to me, I just think it plain looks good.

This is just something that I want because it seems desirable to my eyes.

And then there is pride of life where it exalts myself above others.

I climb the ladder of the status that I have put in my own reality and want to put others

down and when willing to put others down to get to where I want to be.

All of this sin,

starts with selfishness no matter how innocent sin might seem.

It is always over my own desires or following my way of thinking or even both or both.

Now we need to preface an idea here.

We’re looking at this idea of being self-centered.

Caring about your own self, caring about what you need is not selfishness.

Acts 2, 47, after Peter and the rest of the apostles had preached

the first gospel sermon and when people were being baptized they were told be saved, save

yourselves from this untoward generation.

Acts 2.47 is the wrong quote but in Acts 2 somewhere right there you will find that, 34

rather or 44.

We’re just going to move forward there.

Verse 40, and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from

this untoward generation.

See it is there.

They were told to do what?

They were told to save themselves.

Okay there is a concern for self here.

It is not wrong to be concerned about your own eternal destination.

That is something that is a command from God.

Not only that, James chapter 2 verse 8, if ye fulfill the royal law according to the

scripture.

thou shalt love thy neighbor as, as what?

As thyself.

See, if you’re going to love your neighbor properly, if you’re going to have the correct

view of how you should value your neighbor, you need to value yourself first.

The love that we are to have for others realizes that we are made in the image of God.

We, God looked at us and said, I’m going to send my son down to this earth for you.

And then,

we show the same kind of love toward others.

Now, we don’t have a perfect son to give to others, but we have all of our lives that we

can give in service of our fellow human beings, and most of all, our God.

Before we can love others, we must love, appreciate, value ourselves.

Again, selfishness, does not, self-care is not selfishness.

This even applies when we look at marriage.

Ephesians 5 28, husbands are to love their wives even as their own bodies.

A man is not prepared to be a spouse until he knows how to take care of himself, until he

desires to take care of himself.

Someone who doesn’t do that is someone that’s not in his right mind.

we’re looking at something different from self-care, of taking care of yourself.

In fact, if you were worried about just what was best for you, what was going to be the

best thing you could ever do for yourself, you’d look to God’s Word and you’d find the way

to go to eternal life.

This selfishness, it does something incredibly terrible.

If we actually went for what was right for us, what was going to benefit us, we would open

our eyes to reality.

We would look to God’s Word

as we do as New Testament Christians and realize, okay, this is what I have to do to

receive eternal life.

While selfishness says, I have a reality.

I have a way that I look at the world that’s better than God.

What He has for me, that’s not worth it.

I want to follow my own way, my own desires, my own lusts.

Selfishness is a terrible disease where it’s always about what I like, what I know, what I

want, what I see.

It’s a sickness that is throughout our world.

Now, we’re going to look at some other ideas today with this.

We’ll briefly look at the idea of what are the symptoms of selfishness?

How can we easily see where it is in our lives?

Who are the victims of selfishness?

Who is it going to hurt if it is within our lives?

And finally, the solution.

And spoiler alert, we’ve already mentioned it today.

It’s going to be the love of God.

Now, looking at the victims,

looking at the symptoms of selfishness.

Look at three major ideas, and it’s going to be the depth of where selfishness takes you.

First, selfishness is going to make it to where I follow my impulses, what I want in the

moment.

But then after that, it’s going to be willing to follow my goals, that which I desire, but

I’m willing to put off instant gratification to go towards something.

It’s just still not what God desires.

And then even further than that,

when it’s all about my own beliefs, when I have changed, as we mentioned earlier, the way

I view reality because I don’t want the way God says it.

First, looking at the idea of following our own impulses, Scripture talks about this time

and time again.

Proverbs 6, 27-35, can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?

So is he that goeth into his neighbor’s wife.

Whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Men do not despise a thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry, but if he be

found, he shall restore sevenfold.

He shall give all the substance of his house.” Okay, we’re looking at the symptoms of

selfishness, and part of this is the pain that it’s going to bring.

When a man is willing to follow after his own lusts, in this scenario it’s after a woman,

one who already belongs to another man.

it’s going to be like him walking on coals.

He is only bringing pain on himself.

When he sees what he wants in that moment and he goes after it, it is only going to harm

him.

The Proverbs also talks about this idea in chapter 23, 29 through 35.

Not only in the man who chases the impulse of that desire, who hath woe, who hath sorrow,

who hath contentions, who hath babblings, who hath wounds without cause,

who has redness of eyes, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed

wine.” It’s going to go to show, don’t look at this, don’t try to follow it, don’t follow

your own desires.

Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth

itself right.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, it stingeth like an adder.

When someone looks at that wine and says, it is so desirable, the lust of the eyes is

right there.

Look not upon the wine when it is red.

When they think about the desire, the physical gratification it can bring them and follow

after that, this symptom of selfishness, the following impulse is only going to bring

harm.

It’s only going to bring physical pain.

There’s the impulse of my desires.

There’s also the impulse of, there’s that impulse of alcohol I’ve seen previously now.

And there’s also the impulse of the things that I say.

James chapter 3 verse 5, even so the tongue is a little member that boasteth great things,

how great a matter a little fire kindleeth.

Now it’s not just after the things that I chase now.

That’s not the only impulse that there is that can be followed.

There’s the impulse of saying what I want to say because I want to say it because I think

it’s what needs said right here.

If we had time the Proverbs writer shows so much about how make sure your words

are seasoned with salt.

Make sure that your words are what is needed in the moment.

Whatever you say has a purpose, has a benefit.

When it’s just about what one desires to say because there is something to be said, that

is going to only cause fires.

That is only going to cause things that are painful.

Now there’s things that hurt that need to be said.

The kisses of an enemy are deceitful, but the wounds of a friend

Those are something that’s loving.

The Proverbs writer also shows.

It’s when things are said that are hurtful for no purpose or for the purpose of that pride

as was described earlier.

Selfishness will follow my own impulses.

But we also talked about the idea of goals.

Going past the idea of what I want in the moment and going toward, what do I want later?

In this world, we often exalt those who are able to build up riches for themselves.

We look at people who have a fancy house and we’re like, hey, good for him, and rightly

so.

Ecclesiastes’ writer shows a man’s joy, man’s blessing on this earth is to work, to know

he worked, to go to bed knowing he worked, and then to eat of the fruit of his labor.

It is good for a man to enjoy the things that he has.

But if we live a life that is focused on those things, on building up riches, where is it

going to lead?

Even if we won those riches,

Honestly, if that’s our focus, what does it do?

Luke 12 verses 16 through 21.

There was a man who did this.

Luke 12, 16 through 21.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth

plentifully.

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?

Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.

And he said, This will I do.

I will pull down my barns and will build greater.

And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine

ease, eat.

drink and be merry.

This man thought that he had it all and he now had the goal of saying, know what, I have

this great income, let me just store it in a barn, I don’t have to work ever again, I’m

just going to eat, drink, rest, just have a good old time.

What did the Lord say about what he did?

Thou fool, thy soul shall be required of thee.

Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Matthew 6 33,

seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added

unto you.

This man wanted to build his barns.

He wanted to bestow all his goods to himself, but the Lord said that because he had not

been rich toward the Lord.

Because he had been so focused on what he desired, his soul would be required of him.

Someone is not going to be struck down by the Lord today because they are focused on their

riches.

But one day they will have to answer for how they use them.

We are thankful for members of the Lord’s Church who are willing to go out and work hard.

And we are so thankful

when they are able to enjoy the blessings that they have laid up for themselves.

And as the Apostles shown, whatever a man owns that is his own.

Ananias and Sapphira they were killed because they acted as though they gave everything,

but they only gave a portion.

And then what is it the Apostles said?

They didn’t say, you should have just given everything.

What they said was, while it was yours was it not your own to do with it what you will?

When something belongs to someone it’s their own.

The Lord is not a communist, but what he does desire is charity.

What he desires is loving giving.

Not out of some kind of mandate, but out of something that is willing and from the heart.

God loveth a cheerful giver.

But the one who is not a cheerful giver is as this man, who is focused on my barns, my

corn, my wealth, my houses, instead of what the Lord desired.

Selfishness follows my own impulses, going after what I want in the moment.

Or if someone has gone beyond the wisdom of that, he might just follow his own goals, even

spending his whole life going toward them.

He can be focused on the goal of riches, but also on the goal of pursuing authority.

Now this ties to pride of life, as riches could as well.

But there were those who were willing to do incredibly wicked things just for authority.

Saul did this countless times.

1 Samuel 20 verse 30.

1 Samuel 20.

In this chapter there is a feast occurring and in this feast Saul has built up his

jealousy and angst toward David and now there is this feast where Saul desires to have

David there so that he can kill him and then he realizes that he isn’t there and Jonathan

is talking with him about it.

Jonathan tells that

Jonathan unfortunately says the lie giving a false reason for him not being there.

But Saul sees the fact that there is a correlation between David not being there and what

Jonathan knows.

And then verse 30, then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan.

And he said unto him, thou son of a perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou

hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy

mother’s nakedness.

For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor

thy kingdom.

Wherefore now send and fetch unto, fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.” Now we’re

talking about the idea of goals and authority here.

There is something terrible about Saul here.

Not only is it about him being king, not only is he going against God saying, listen, one

day you aren’t going to be king again.

He goes against what God said when he said, your seed will not keep the kingdom.

Saul goes as far as to curse his own wife, his own person that was the mother of Jonathan.

And then he says, don’t you know that as long as David lives, you aren’t going to be king?

The kingdom’s not going to be established in your hands.

Saul took his own goal.

He took what he desired, and he

put it on Jonathan.

He impressed his own desire upon Jonathan, expecting him to follow the same thing.

It’s as though Saul acted as though Jonathan would have wanted the exact same things he

did.

There is the idea of authority here.

And there’s also the idea of a father trying to impress on his son the own life of the

father, what he desires.

There can be times where parents say, want you to go be a doctor, go be a lawyer, because

that’s what the parents were.

because that’s what their desires were.

That’s not for the benefit of the child when that happens more often than not.

It’s because the parents want to relive their lives again, to continue some kind of family

legacy and heritage.

When Saul did that he threw a javelin at his son.

When Saul did that his family ended in shame.

It’s not the godly way.

It’s a selfish way that says the way that I desire it is the way it needs to be.

While what God said was train up a child in the way he should go.

And when he is old he will not be

depart from it, the point being there a child should be trained in the way he has been

toward his tendencies.

Jonathan didn’t want to be a king, in fact it would have been wicked for him to want to be

the king.

What he wanted was the benefit of David, but Saul was too selfish to see any of that, to

see any of it God’s way, to see anything Jonathan’s way.

It followed only his own goal of trying to keep the kingdom.

There is the goal of riches, the goal of authority as has been seen.

Saul is not the only one who did this in Scripture.

We could also look at John 11, verse, in John chapter 11, and in this chapter the

Pharisees are going to be gathered together and they’re going to say, need to kill this

person, this person being Jesus, before the Romans come and take away our place and our

nation.

See, in this they are focused on their authority, on their place, and they say that even

before their nation.

It’s not just about their people.

They don’t just look at Christ and say, He’s a threat to national security.

No, He’s a threat to their bureaucracy.

When Jesus is a threat to your government, that government is ready for the judgment of

the Lord.

That is where the Pharisees were, and they would ultimately face the Lord’s judgment AD

70.

This selfishness occurs in the individual level when we want to follow our own riches.

And then it follows even further when we look at the idea of authority.

Moving forward, selfishness will follow my own goals or my own desires.

It will follow my own goals and finally my own beliefs.

In this I won’t see from other people’s point of view.

Proverbs 27 verse 9, the righteous consider it the cause of the poor, but the wicked

regard if not to know it.

the righteous consider it the cause of the poor.

He looks at it and he cares about them, but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

Now this idea of regardeth is the idea of seeing something from another person’s

perspective.

You see the wicked person, the fool, he is too selfish to even start to see it from the

way someone else does.

While the righteous one, he consider it the cause of the poor, as the righteous will do

for anyone else.

If we follow God’s way, we will be able to look at others and look at things from their

perspective, as the righteous will do for the poor, as we will do for anyone else in any

kind of disagreement.

We will be able to see it from someone else’s perspective, but if we are selfish, that

won’t be the case.

It will all be about the way that we think about it, rather than them.

Moving forward, it’s not just a, I can think the wrong thing about others and…

not understanding, and also not seeing past my own tendencies.

1 Corinthians 13 verse 5, the last part of it says that, “‘Charity thinketh no evil.'” The

selfless love that God has is not going to, it is going to take the benefit of the doubt.

It’s not going to immediately impress evil upon others.

While the selfishness that is the opposite of it,

It’s going to place upon others my own wickedness.

It’s going to look at others and say that their motives must be the selfish things that I

say that need to be the case, if those are things that we harbor.

It’s as though a child says, I know that you’re lying because that’s something that he

would often do.

That is not what the Lord’s love is going to do.

this selfishness is going to think the wrong thing about others in these beliefs.

being unwilling to look at them with a proper perspective.

It will also believe the wrong thing about self.

As we saw with Saul, he had a terrible complex.

This is a man who would ultimately be insane.

One of his issues was he thought he was always the victim.

1 Samuel 23 verse 21, and Saul said, and he said to some who had come and said, is where

David is.

Here’s this person you’re trying to kill.

He says, “‘Blessed be ye of the Lord, for ye have had compassion on me.'” He thinks that

He’s the victim.

He thinks that He is the one being wronged.

And it comes out in His words right here.

He believes the wrong thing about Himself.

He’s the one going after David, while He believes David is the one going after Him.

And then, as was described earlier with Saul, He wanted things to be His way with

Jonathan.

Another lesson we can learn from there is He thought He was always right.

He thought that David was the threat to the throne when Saul was himself.

He thought that the way he needed it was correct.

He thought that he was not his own worst enemy.

He thought he was just.

He thought he was correct.

And finally, believing the wrong thing about self, I can believe I’m the main character.

What is it that started all of it with Saul?

What made it to where he thought he needed to be to go after David?

The servant of Akish said unto him, I said unto Saul, Is not this David the king of the

land?

Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his ten thousands?

This is rather the Philistines and not uh David with the Philistines rather than with

Saul.

But this statement is what caused Saul to go after David in the first place.

When David killed his ten thousands, but Saul only his thousands.

he didn’t like that.

And that’s what started it all because he thought he had to be the hero in the main

character.

And it led to the domino effect of everything else that we saw.

If I start to notice that my actions are harmed because someone hurt my pride and it

starts to change the way that I look at others, the way I treat them, there might just be

a problem with selfishness right there.

We’ve looked at the symptoms of selfishness.

It brings pain and suffering.

And it brings pain and suffering through my goals.

through my beliefs, through my impulses.

And who are those that are hurt by selfishness?

Who are the victims?

Everybody.

Time will not allow for us to look at David and his house fully.

He was the one who went after Bathsheba.

He went after Bathsheba, he had his sin, he killed Uriah, and what happened?

The punishment came where the Lord said to him, through Nathan, all of your house is going

to suffer the sword because of what you’ve done.

What’s going to happen because of that one moment of selfishness David had?

He’s going to face children, forcing children.

He is going to face children rising up and trying to be king when there was one who was

supposed to be.

There would be a domino effect of what occurred.

Now, this will happen in our lives if we allow selfishness to take place.

One of the first victims of selfishness is the home itself, and David’s house was overrun

with it even though he was a man after God’s own heart.

If we desire our own impulses to take over, we will hurt our children, we will hurt our

wives, our husbands.

Do we really want that?

Just for one moment or one goal of pleasure, whether that be that impulse or whether it be

the goal of riches, am I willing to put my family on the line for that?

One of the first victims of selfishness is the home.

And before that, as has been described earlier, is the person who is harmed by his own

sin.

But moving forward, a person can be hurt by his own sin, the home can be hurt by his sin,

and then the nation can be hurt by sin.

Righteousness exalteth the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

It’s going to harm a nation if they just follow after their own desires.

What about a nation who just wants to kill babies because it’s an inconvenience?

A nation who wants to put a casino wherever just so people can try to get money that isn’t

even theirs.

What’s going to happen to a nation like that?

Sin is a reproach.

It’s going to hurt the person, it’s going to hurt the home, it’s going to hurt the nation,

and it’s also going to hurt the church.

Diotrephes was one who wanted to have the preeminence as described by Paul.

He would not let some go out, he wouldn’t let some go in.

Rather, he wouldn’t let any come in who had any other doctrine.

He was one who was willing to hurt the church for his own pride, for the goal of

authority.

We’ve seen the symptoms of selfishness, the fact that it’s going to be based on whatever I

want, whether it’s short or long term, and the fact that it’s going to hurt everyone

around me.

But finally, what is the solution?

And it’s going to be the love of God.

It’s going to strain impulses.

It’s not going to go after those things I want to do.

It’s going to realign goals where I truly do seek first the Kingdom of God and His

righteousness.

And it’s going to change my beliefs.

It’s going to make it to where when I look at God’s Word I’m going to be objective enough

to listen to what He says because God’s Word is truth.

He has all the evidence He needs, all the logic He needs for us to look at His Word and

believe it for what it says rather than twisting it to our own devices.

His love will change my impulses, my goals, and my beliefs.

The love of God was willing to send His Son.

It was willing to make a plan for us so that we could be saved.

And now he is patient with us now, waiting for us to be saved.

He has his love that he has shown toward us, and he desires to live that love in our

lives.

If we just simply decide to live that way.

1 Corinthians 13, and this will be our final chapter, our final passage today.

1 Corinthians 13, this love

is the antidote to this selfishness that plagues our world.

even if someone is able to do miracles, he is able to do incredible things, he has the

tongue of men and of angels, and he does not have love, he is a sounding brass or a

tinkling cymbal.

If one has all the power in the world and he can move mountains, what good is it if he

does not have love?

And if he gives everything he has, what good is it?

Without love, no good power or no good deed is even worth doing.

But if we have this charity that is described throughout the rest of this chapter, it will

help us live in God’s way and one day be with him.

Charity suffereth long in his kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is

not puffed up.

Imagine if Saul just had that one verse, that one verse, how would it have changed his

life?

How would it have changed what he did?

Does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no

evil, rejoiceth not iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.

And it bears, it believes, it hopes, and endures all things, and it’s never going to fail.

If you want something that is truly worth your investment, then realize how much others

are worth.

That is the greatest commandment.

love your Lord, to see His value and put it before anything else, and then to see the

value of others.

If selfishness has plagued your life, if you have not come to your Lord, He has a way for

you to be saved.

He has a way that we must believe.

As we have described, selfishness is going to make it to where I am constrained to only

what I think, rather than looking towards God’s way.

But if we believe His Word for what it says,

and believe that word that says we must repent of our sins, we must confess and be

baptized in His name, Acts 2, 38, so that we can be saved.

We can then enjoy the love that He has for us after we have shown our love for Him and

continue to do so throughout our lives.

And for one who is a Christian who has experienced the love of God in your life, one who

knows what it is like

to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, but you’ve turned back to those things.

The Lord wants you, and He’s never going to give up on you so long as He hasn’t come back

to this earth or you have passed away from this earth.

While there is opportunity, will you come and take advantage of the love of God as we

The Eye (Part 1) – Aaron Cozort – May 31, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Eyes, faith, God, Hebrews, Isaiah, keywords Bible, Matthew, Proverbs, Psalms, Revelation, righteousness, Spiritual Sight, Wickedness by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

It’s good to have all of you with us.

It’s good to have our visitors with us.

We’re grateful for your presence, and we hope that you will come back and see us again

soon at your next available opportunity.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs chapter 20.

We read in verse 12 where the Proverbs writer says,

This Sunday and two Sundays from now, I want us to spend a few moments considering the

eye.

The eye which God made.

Now we’re not going to uh delve into all of the scientific looking uh at or explanation of

the eye, though it is an incredible creation.

and certainly declares the glory of God, but rather we’re going to look at it from a

biblical perspective.

Beginning first with our eyes, or the eyes of the righteous.

Turn to the 121st Psalm.

In Psalm 121, the psalmist writer begins with these words.

Psalm 121 and in verse 1, I will lift up my eyes to the hills.

From whence comes my help?

He asks the question, I’m going to look, I’m going to gaze around, I’m going to decipher

and try to understand from where my help comes.

But then he writes verse two, my help comes from the Lord.

who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved.

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper.

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil.

He shall preserve your soul.

The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even

forevermore.

as the psalmist writer considers where his help comes from.

He looks around.

He looks to the hills.

You know, there was uh a king who once thought as he went into the land of Israel and did

battle with the people in Israel and was defeated in the hills, you know what?

That’s the problem.

We did battle with them in the hills.

Let’s do battle with them in the flatlands because their God must be a God of the hills.

So if we do battle with them in the flatlands, we’ll win because their God will be

powerless there.

The king had a false concept of God.

He didn’t understand Jehovah who made heaven and earth.

God says, I’ll defeat you in the hills.

I’ll defeat you in the flatlands.

I’ll send you to your grave.

The point is the psalmist writer uses his eyes and he looks ultimately to the Lord for

deliverance.

God’s people use their eyes to look to the Lord and rely on him.

As we consider additionally, if we turn

back just a few pages in your Bible to Psalm 119.

In Psalm 119 and in verse 18, we learn that the righteous have their eyes taught by God.

In Psalm 119 and in verse 18, we read, Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from

your law.

The prayer

and the request of the psalmist writer here is that God educate his eyes, that God teach

him what the law would have him to know, that he be caused to see the wonders of what God

had done and was doing.

The psalmist writer here is an asking

for some miraculous knowledge to be placed in his heart and his mind, he’s asking for his

eyes to be taught by the Word of God.

Matter of fact, the whole 119th Psalm in all of its verses is dedicated to glorifying and

magnifying and recognizing the value of the Word of God.

And here the Psalmist writer, Ash, opened my eyes.

that I may see.

As we consider the eyes of the righteous, we should understand that they are educated by

God.

They are taught to understand the things which the world does not perceive, does not

understand, does not conceptualize, because the thing they’re missing is divine

revelation.

from God in the form of His Word.

as the righteous we are to have our eyes taught by God.

Psalm 19

The psalmist writer in the 19th Psalm speaks concerning the revelation of God.

He begins by pointing out that God has revealed Himself through the firmament, through His

handiwork.

He reveals Himself every day.

Day unto day He utters speech.

Night unto night He shows knowledge.

There’s no language or speech in which their voice is not heard.

The line has gone out through all the earth.

and all the words to the end of the world.

He’s speaking about natural revelation.

He’s speaking about the thing which we see around us, the universe that we exist in, this

physical world which declares the glory of God.

But he goes on to write in beginning in verse seven, he says, the law of the Lord is

perfect converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

There was a time which historians have termed the time of the enlightenment, a time in

history where there was much discussion and cultural discussion and religious discussion

about God and about the creation and the world around us.

Much discovery was being made about the world and the universe around us and the way that

things were made and exist.

And yet,

God makes it clear as the psalmist writer brings forth that it is the commandment of the

Lord that enlightens, brings light to the eyes.

Most of us at some point, I imagine, have walked through a dark room.

We had a friend back in North Carolina that she was in their house, the house they had

lived in for years, and she was walking with the lights off.

and there just happened to be a wall where she didn’t think there was a wall.

And her toe ran into it and she hit her toe so hard she fell the floor passed out.

in a house she had lived in for years.

You know that wall had been there the entire time.

from the time that they moved into that house.

That wall hadn’t moved.

So why is it that she ran into the wall?

It wasn’t because it hadn’t moved.

It wasn’t because it was new.

It was because there was no light.

Imagine living in a world day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out, without

any light from the revelation of the commandments of God on how to live, on how to be in

this life prepared for the next.

in Ephesians, Paul, as he writes to the church at Ephesus, the church which he had spent

so much time with and had such deep, deep care for, will write in Ephesians chapter 1,

Verse 15, therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love

for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my

prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the

spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His

inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who

believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He

raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in heavenly places, far above

all principality in power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only

in this age, but also in that which is to come.”

He put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church,

which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

as Paul writes to these Christians.

He expresses in this prayer on their behalf that they be granted eyes of understanding.

that they looked to God’s Word.

They looked to the revelation and the knowledge that God has given them.

Now in the first century, He gave it to them through the form of the miraculous gifts,

through the form of those who had inspired knowledge and revelation like the apostles, and

they gave that knowledge and information to the church, and the church was supposed to

learn from it.

You go over to Ephesians chapter 4, and you will find Paul mentioning,

the work of evangelists and elders and teachers and preachers and their function to

educate the church to maturity so that they wouldn’t be blown about by every wind of

doctrine that they encountered.

And Paul is praying on behalf of the Ephesian brethren that their eyes be opened to what

God had been doing and was continuing to do.

But he points out, he says, you need to see the work that Christ is doing.

You need to see his position in heaven.

You need to see his authority over principalities and powers in heavenly places.

Now question, how can you see that?

for everything that he’s describing is something that isn’t visible to the physical eye.

Well, if you turn over to Hebrews chapter 11, the Hebrew writer explains how you can see

it.

He says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You ask, how can I see what is unseeable?

And in the entire chapter of Hebrews 11, the answer is, by trusting God’s Word.

So example after example after example in Hebrews chapter 11 begin by using these words,

by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.

Now that’s not a hope in the dark.

That’s not walking through the dark room and hoping you end up in the right place.

That is God saying, let me shine a light in the room so you can see where you’re going and

I’ll tell you what I’m doing.

And so in Hebrews chapter 12.

The Hebrew writer writes, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud

of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and

let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.

The Hebrew writer says, here’s how you do in the Christian age what the Old Testament

examples did in their age.

You set your eyes on Christ.

You look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set

before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of

the throne of God.

For consider him.

Put your mind’s eye on him.

Stop worrying about what your

physical eye can see.

And start allowing your eyes to be educated by God to see what the mind can know through

faith, through the Word of God, through the evidence that God gives and the testimony He

gives, and consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself lest you

become weary and discouraged in your soul.

Paul prayed that the Ephesian brethren have their eyes enlightened by God.

How do you do that?

It’s not some miraculous thing.

You put your eyes into the Word of God and you allow the Word of God to shine the light of

God in your eyes.

But when you don’t…

The Hebrew writer says when you take your eyes off of Christ, when you no longer are

looking to the author and finisher of our faith, then you’re going to become weary and

discouraged.

I have friends who have lived in Alaska.

Some of my friends have previously lived in Alaska, and some do live in Alaska.

But one of the things they would point out is how much of a struggle there is in the

society of people who live in Alaska with drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and other things like

that.

And it is very much prominent during the six months where the sun doesn’t shine.

When it’s dark for six months, the human perception of things gets a little off-kilter.

It’s not helped too much when it’s bright for six months and the sun never goes down

either.

But the point is we are used to what God designed us to live in.

And the Hebrew writer tells us, put your eyes on Christ.

Stop allowing darkness to diminish your view of Christ.

We are to be those as we consider the eyes of the righteous who look to God.

Jesus would write or would say, as Matthew recorded it in his record of the gospel,

Matthew chapter six.

Matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 19, he says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures

on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where

thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The lamp of the body is the eye.

As Jesus tells us, the light of your existence is determined by your eye.

He’s not talking about your physical eye.

He’s talking about where your heart is, what your heart dwells upon, what your mind

focuses on.

He says, the lamp of the body is the eye.

If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that dark.

Jesus says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

So as we consider the eyes of the righteous, we consider that they are to look to the

Lord.

We consider that they are to be taught by God.

They are to be given light by His word, and they are to look to God.

but then consider the eyes of the wicked.

If we turn to Isaiah chapter 6…

Isaiah chapter 6.

We read of the call of Isaiah.

In Isaiah chapter six and verse one, we read, the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the

Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above it stood Seraphim.

Each one had six wings.

With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with two he flew.

And one cried to another and said, holy.

Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was

filled with smoke.

So I said, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in

the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

As Isaiah sees this vision, he looks at himself and says, I don’t belong here.

because I am not righteous.

I am not a person of unclean lips or a person of clean lips.

I am a person of unclean lips and so are my people.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken

with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has

touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

Then I said, Here am I, send me.

The seraphim comes and he touches his mouth with…

one of the coals from the altar and he says, I’ve purged your iniquity.

I’ve taken your sin away.

And then the question comes from the throne of God.

Who are we going to send on our behalf?

We need a messenger.

Who’s going to volunteer?

And Isaiah says, here am I, send me.

And he said, go and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.

Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they

see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts, and return

and be healed.

God says, I’ve got a message that needs to go forth to the people.

Who’s going to take it?

Isaiah says, here am I, send me.

I’ll take the message.

What’s the message?

God says, shut up the ears and the eyes and the hearts of this people.

Wait a minute.

I thought God wanted people to repent.

I thought God was long suffering and desired for them to be saved.

I thought God was one who was willing and gracious and desires for people to do what was

right.

Yes, he is.

How is it that Isaiah is going to shut the ears and the eyes and the hearts of the people?

The answer is he’s going to declare to them the word of God.

You see, God knows that his word has two effects.

And it has two effects, and which effect it has is determined not by the word, but by the

heart of the person who hears it.

And so God is going to send Isaiah forth to speak his word.

And the result of Israel as a wicked people is instead of having their ears opened to

learn, instead of having their eyes opened to see, instead of having their hearts opened

to be educated by God and repent, the word of God is going to be preached to them and it’s

going to have the opposite effect.

Same message.

different result.

And it’s because the eyes of the wicked are blind to the truth.

They’re not blind because it’s impossible for them to understand it.

They’re blind because they have their heart set on this world.

John would write in 1 John, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

For the things that are in the world are passing away.

But the wicked have their heart and their eyes and their mind locked in on this world.

And anything that is about anything else, they’re uninterested.

So God sends Isaiah to make the eyes of the wicked blind, because they had blinded their

eyes already.

Turn to Mark chapter 8.

Jesus will speak to His disciples after they had witnessed the things which He had done in

feeding the 4,000.

and he will speak to them about why they do not understand what he’s doing.

In Mark chapter eight and in verse 15, we read, then he charged them, take heed, beware of

the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.

And the day the disciples, the apostles reasoned among themselves saying, is it because we

have no bread?

They were looking at their physical supplies and they heard the statement from Jesus,

beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, and they’re like, is he criticizing us

because we kind of forgot provisions today?

Is he faulting us because we don’t have the supplies that we need?

Jesus being aware of it said to them verse 17, why do you reason because you have no

bread?

Do you not yet perceive nor understand is your heart still hardened?

Having eyes do you not see and having ears do you not hear and do you not remember when I

broke the five loaves for the 5,000 how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?

And they said to him 12.

Also when I broke the seven

For the 4,000, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?

And they said seven.

So he said to them, how is it you do not understand?

Then he came to Bethsaida, and they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch

him.

So he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.

And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw

anything.

And he looked and said, I see men like trees walking.

Then he put his hands on him again, on his eyes again and made him look up.

and he was restored and saw everything clearly.

Then he said to him, oh sent him away to his house saying, neither go into the town nor

tell anyone in the town.

Jesus has just confronted the apostles, the disciples about their blindness, their

blindness of understanding, their blindness of lack of education, their blindness of a

lack of perceiving what

Christ was doing!

Any questions?

You have eyes.

Why can’t you see?

You have ears.

Why can’t you hear?

Why do you not understand?

We are taught, we are to understand that the eyes of the wicked cannot understand what God

is doing, not because it’s impossible, but because they won’t pay attention to what God is

doing.

They will not perceive what God is doing because they won’t accept the testimony that

comes from God.

But then as we conclude, we’ve seen the eyes of the righteous, we’ve seen the eyes of the

wicked, now consider the eyes of the Lord.

Psalm 34.

in the thirty-fourth Psalm.

The Psalmist writer

will write, beginning in verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of the LORD, who is the man who desires life and loves many days

that he may see good.

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Depart from evil and do good, seek peace, and pursue it.

But then he writes,

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their cry.

As you consider the eyes of the Lord, we’re not talking about physical eyes.

We’re not talking about the eyes on this earth, the eyes that eventually become dim, the

eyes that used to be able to see clearly and now they don’t see quite so clearly anymore.

The eyes that used to be able to focus long distances away and short distances away, and

now they only focus one or the other?

We’re not talking about those kind of eyes, we’re talking about the eyes of attention.

God’s attention is on the righteous.

His ears are open to hear their prayer and their cry.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous for the ability to deliver them from harm.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous because He’s ready to hear what they need.

quite often in raising children.

My children will love and appreciate this.

As you’re speaking to them and you’re trying to make a point, you say, look at me.

Why?

Because wherever your eyes are, most likely that’s where your mind is.

Well the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.

That tells you that the mind of the Lord is on the righteous.

He cares about them.

in Proverbs chapter 15.

Proverbs chapter 15 and in verse 3.

We read, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

if you were to say, you know what, I’m focusing on everything.

Well, that’d be a little bit of uh a testimony about yourself and it would tell everyone

else you’re focusing on nothing.

Because here’s how we work as humans.

The more things we focus on, the less focused we are.

The more things our attention is on, the less attention we can give to anything.

We have limited capacity.

There is just only so much

we can do at one time.

My wife learned years ago when we were first married that I could focus on one thing,

driving or where we were supposed to stop as we were driving.

We would pull out of school, head back to the house, she would say, we need to stop at

Dollar General.

Dollar General was one mile down the road and we’d drive right by it.

because my mind was already on home.

And since that’s where my focus was, there went Dollar General and she’d look at me, are

we stopping or not?

We have limited focus.

We have limited attention.

Not so with God.

With God, see, the eyes of the Lord are in every place.

The wicked wonder, the wicked surmise, you know what?

We can get away with this.

God won’t see it.

yes, he

and the righteous.

can have assurance that no matter their circumstance, God sees it.

but he also, as he is keeping watch, does so.

And I love the way, as we close, that Revelation chapter 1 presents the picture of Christ.

For in Revelation chapter 1, as John is in…

is on the Isle of Patmos on the Lord’s Day.

And as he is worshiping, he hears a voice behind him and he turns.

And this is what John says he saw.

Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.

And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven

lampstands, one like the Son of Man,

clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like a flame of

fire.”

John as he sees this vision of Christ.

will see Christ manifested in the vision.

as if his eyes were on.

Christ knows what’s going on.

Christ knows what His people are about to come under.

And He’s And He’s ready to deal with the wicked.

It’s interesting when you go through the book of Revelation, we’ll do this a little bit

more in two weeks as we continue this thought, you see eyes and eyes and eyes all over the

place.

You see Christ pictured with seven eyes.

The picture of eyes all over the book.

But all throughout the book, the book is telling us, God sees.

If you’re here this morning and you’re outside the body of Christ, God sees you.

God sees you separated from Him.

at war, at enmity with Him.

Not righteous, not at one with Him, not holy.

God sees you in your sin.

but God doesn’t desire to see you that

God desires you to be a part of His family.

God desires to look upon you as a child of His.

God desires to not see your sin, but rather see the righteous blood of His Son when He

looks at you covering your sin.

If you’re outside the body of Christ, how can you change that?

You can hear the Word of God.

and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because Jesus said, except you believe

that I am He, you shall die in your sins.

But Jesus also said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.

He that believeth not shall be damned.

So you can hear the word of God.

You can have your eyes enlightened and educated by the word of God.

You can believe what God says and then you can obey what he says.

And you can be immersed in water to have your sins washed away.

and you can stand before God not with your sins as a testimony against you, but with His

righteousness as a testimony for you.

as a Christian, as a family member of God, dead to the world, alive to Christ.

If you have need of that invitation this morning, it is open to you now and every moment

of every day.

If you have need of that invitation, why not come now as we stand and as we sing.