Lessons From A Spider – Aaron Cozort – October 25, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, baptism, Christian sermon, dependence on God, evangelism, industriousness, keywords Aaron Cozort, lessons from spiders, resilience, Romans 6, sin and salvation by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron Cozort (00:00)

Good morning.

As Eddie and I were traveling this week, we were spending a few days in Louisville at an Airbnb because of meeting up with the board of Truth FM and having our annual board meeting. And the very first night we were sitting on the porch of this location and sitting on the porch, lights off on the porch, but

you know, city and everything in front of us. Looked up in the corner of the porch and there was a light on up there and shining out towards the street. And in front of the light was a spider’s web.

And as I was looking at that spider’s web, it occurred to me that there are some lessons from nature that we ought to learn.

Different times in Scripture, God will speak of different creatures and and draw lessons from their actions, their activities. Jesus would speak as he was dealing with the issue of money and specifically anxiety about the things that we have, and would indicate that God provides for even the birds of the air.

And for the sake of those who don’t like creepy crawly things, I didn’t do a PowerPoint this morning.

I have a sister in law that would have wormed her way all the way out of the auditorium if I’d put a picture of a spider up during the whole lesson.

But I want us to consider some lessons from the spider. You begin first by thinking about spiders, and and I think one of the very first things that comes to my mind is perhaps because of childhood, and that would be that movie Charlotte’s Webb

Almost everyone has probably seen that movie, whether the newer versions or the old classic version from Disney. But the the idea was here was Charlotte and she was industrious.

The character that made up Charlotte in Charlotte’s web was always doing something. She was always active. She was doing something to benefit others. She was industrious.

And when you think about spiders, truly they are. You see the webs that they build. You walk out of your house one morning and the where there was no spider’s web the night before, right in your path, getting in your hair, there now is one. Overnight.

Many of us have probably seen spider webs where we looked at it and we thought, how in the world did a spider get from there all the way out to build this giant web?

They’re industrious. Proverbs chapter thirty says.

The Proverbs writer Solomon will write in Proverbs chapter 30, beginning in verse 24 There are four things which are little on the earth. But they are exceedingly wise. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer. The rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags, the locusts have no king.

Yet they all advance in ranks, the spider skilfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings palaces.

There’s some question in the translation is in some translations it’s spider, others it’s it’s ⁓ essentially lizards. But the premise, especially in ancient days, is true either way. They climb to places no one else would otherwise get to, and they build their homes in the most opulent of buildings and the most deserted.

They’re industrious creatures.

Because God made them that way.

And we need to learn the value of being industrious.

When God made Adam and Eve, God placed them in the garden and as God concluded that creation and said it was very good.

He did not say to Adam and Eve, All right, leave lean back, lay back, enjoy your time. You have nothing to do, no responsibilities. This is vacation forever.

No, God put Adam and Eve to work in the garden. They had a responsibility to tend and to keep the garden. Even the paradise of God had work that needed to be done.

God did not put us here to sit back, kick back, relax, and take it easy. And in the kingdom of God, God certainly didn’t place us in the kingdom to sit back, relax, and just wait for heaven. God has instructed us to be busy in his kingdom. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

Paul, as he’s writing concerning the resurrection, as he’s spoken through these words to the Corinthians about the hope of the resurrection, the assurance of the resurrection, the victory of the resurrection, he does not say, and here you need to just wait until it shows up. No, he says, Therefore, verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

He says, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Paul will further write, as he writes to the brethren in Thessalonica, if a man will not work, neither should he eat.

Paul makes it clear that as Christians, we are to be industrious in the kingdom of God. As people, we are to be industrious in our lives. God made us that way. Just like the spider. Proverbs chapter 24 says.

We read in Proverbs twenty four and in vers six stin.

For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. One of the things that the spider does if you watch them for day after day is they’re constantly in a state of repairing their net, their web. You might take it down one day, they’ll have built it back the next night.

They might have caught something or something may have passed through it and torn part of the web. It’ll be back.

They’re constantly repairing that which is broken. In Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah will make this comment Isaiah chapter 58, verse 10 if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

As Isaiah is picturing the state of Israel, their neglect of God, their rebellion against God, the judgment that was coming, and ultimately the restoration of the nation back to the place in Jerusalem where they once inhabited, and back to a right relationship with God, and then looks past that point to the Christ, the Messiah, and the kingdom. He says part of what we do is we rebuild what is.

Broken.

We repair what has been torn down. Sin tears down someone.

Rebellion and rejection of God leaves people in a destitute, defiled, and destructive cycle.

But the word of God rebuilds. The word of God lays a foundation upon which that which is built can sustain a person through the difficulties of life and build them into something even better.

As Christians, we are to be industrious, we are to be laborers, we are to be repairers of what sin has broken down.

But then consider number two, another lesson that we learn from spiders, is that they are both strong and flexible.

You watch a spider work and it gets fr from places to places in ways you would be like, not a chance in the world.

Decades ago there was an individual who was so enamored by the ability of spiders to get anywhere, he created a Marvel comic called Spider Man.

They are strong and they are flexible. Sto Proverbs twenty four

Proverbs twenty four.

Verse ten we read, If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

Proverbs writer makes it clear, if if you give up every time something hard comes along, if you see the hardship coming and you just like, I’m gonna lay down, I’m gonna sit this one out.

So you’re never going to grow in strength.

The spider is one that overcomes hardship. They deal with hardship on a constant basis. They deal with it from the elements. They deal with it from the the things and the creatures that live around them. They are constantly in a state of having to deal with changing environments.

And yet they don’t lay down and give up.

So too in the lives of Christians, sometimes we find that individuals have laid down in the face of hardship. They have turned their back in the face of difficulty. And Galatians chapter six tells us, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens. And so

Fulfill the law of Christ.

God tells us that we have to be watching for the hardships. We have to be observing our brethren for their things that may cause them to stumble, may cause them to be overtaken, may cause them to succumb to the world. And we have to help hold them up. We have to help repair what has been broken. Philippians chapter 4, Paul will write to the church at Philippi.

And he will write to them this congregation that had worked with him through so many different occasions, had supported him through a midst of different struggles. And he writes to them, verse 10, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.

I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Paul is writing to them from a Roman prison.

Paul is writing to them and telling them, I can be flexible.

With wherever the Lord puts me.

I’ll just keep doing his will.

We need to learn from the spider to be both strong and flexible. For hard times will come, difficulties will arise, circumstances will change, external forces will tear down what we’ve built, and we’ll have to build it again. But then consider as well, we also think concerning a spider, it is skilled at catching its prey.

As I was looking at that spider’s web there in on the porch in Louisville, I was looking up and I noticed here’s the light, here’s the web. And you know what insects do with light, right?

straight at it all the time and I just sit there and watch, there’s one insect, there’s another insect, there’s another insect. Caught in the web again and again and again and again.

The spider didn’t just happen upon a location and just happen upon the ideal location. No, God made them to understand the ideal location.

And intelligently the spider built its web right in front of the thing that attracts the insect.

Proverbs chapter eleven.

Solomon is giving wisdom to his son.

In Proverbs chapter eleven and in verse thirty we read, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

Part of the goal and part of the mission, part of the work of the church is to win souls. It’s to teach the truth. It is to declare the message. It is to help save a lost and dying world. It is to do what Peter was doing in Acts chapter 2, when with many words he convinced and exhorted a wicked generation to save itself.

from that wicked generation.

Solomon says if you’re gonna win souls, you’re gonna have to be wise.

You’re going to have to understand them first so that you can teach them.

You’re going to have to be where they are. Jesus would be confronted by the Pharisees and the Sadducees at times, and His disciples would be confronted at times, and they would question Jesus: why is your teacher eating with publicans and sinners?

And Jesus said, That’s kind of like asking why a doctor spends time with sick people.

Because the sick people don’t need the doctor, or the well people don’t need the doctor. The sick people do. Can you imagine walking in to Methodist Hospital over here in Germantown? Walking up to the nurses, walking up to the doctors, walking up to the physicians, and saying, I have a question to ask you. Why do you spend time with so many sick people? Don’t you know?

That this is not an ideal place to spend every one of your days? Aren’t you worried about the germs? Aren’t you worried about the contamination? Aren’t you worried about what you’re surrounding yourself with?

And they’d look at you like you had kinda lost it. They would say, We have the psych ward down this way. Let me guide you.

We’re here because they need us.

So too are Christians who are to be skilled not at catching their prey to devour them, but of bringing life to those who are lost in the form of the Word of God.

Jesus never tricked anyone into receiving salvation.

But Jesus was incredibly wise about presenting the gospel in a way they’d hear it. Paul would say concerning his efforts to convert those, he said, to the Jew, I become as a Jew. To the Gentile, I’ll become as a Gentile. To the one under law as under the law. He said, I’ll do what I have to do to get the gospel in front of an open heart and an open mind willing to hear.

Paul was skilled at reaching people with the gospel. But then consider as well concerning spiders that they are vulnerable to anything larger than them.

They are a nuisance to those of us who build houses, those of us who have homes, those of us who don’t want spider webs all over our homes because they get in everywhere. But one of the things that we can at least appreciate is they’re not hard to kill.

You can get a thumb on one, they’re done.

If you can get a little bit of poison on one, they’re done. They’re not hard to kill. They are vulnerable to everything larger than them.

But turn to Psalm eight.

David as he writes concerning humanity.

Will write, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. Who have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I considered your heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him?

David, as he’s writing, as he’s pondering, as he’s thinking concerning God’s creation, he looks at everything God has made. He stares out into space and out into the stars and he says, God, I’m looking at humanity and going, we are so inconsequential. Why are you so concerned about us?

You know, many have said who have their priorities confused, you know, the best thing we could do for this planet is just get rid of the humans.

Seems they don’t have the same view of humanity that God does.

As you look at the passage, he says, You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all.

If you were spider.

And you could have one ally.

Don’t you think you’d want it to be somebody much, much, much bigger than you?

Someone to defend you from the only thing that was really a threat, which is everything bigger than you.

Someone to stand guard around the web.

To keep the horse from running through it, to keep the the bird from coming down and swooping upon it, to keep the thing that can destroy you without a second thought.

From bringing injury and harm to you.

Psalm thirty three, the Psalmist writer.

We’ll write, beginning in verse sixteen, no king is saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety. Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those.

who hope in his mercy.

God did not come to this earth to teach us to become self sufficient.

Christ came and showed us how to be sustained by God.

Jesus would say to his disciples, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

But there is a threat to your relationship to God. In Isaiah chapter 59, Isaiah will describe the threat to your relationship to God. In Isaiah chapter 59, verse 1, he writes, Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is ear heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated you from your God.

As Isaiah writes to the nation of Israel.

He reminds them they had an ally. They had a savior. They had someone that would hear their cry, that heard it many generations ago when they were in Egypt and they cried out to the Lord for salvation, and he heard them. Exodus three.

But now, Isaiah says he’s not listening. And it’s not because he’s grown old and is hard of hearing. Some of the wives in this auditorium say, Yeah, my husband can’t hear anymore. I asked for help and he goes, I never heard you.

‘Cause this year that d he can’t hear anything and I was over there.

Isaiah says his his ears are working just fine.

And his his arm hasn’t become shortened or weakened so that he can deliver you. The problem’s not his hearing and the problem is not his ability.

Problem is your wickedness, your sin, your iniquity has separated you from him so that he will not.

He writes, but your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies, they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

Izea seurblem is you.

Your problem is the lies you’ve been telling.

The deceit you’ve been weaving. As a matter of fact, he will go on to say they hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out, their webs will not become garments.

Nor will they cover themselves with their works, their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands, their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths, the way of peace they have not known.

And there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths, whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Jesus tells us.

That there’s a broad way and there’s a hard way. There’s a way that seems easy, and many will go in thereat.

But there’s a narrow and a difficult way that involves obedience to God.

But you can’t allow your sin to separate you from God.

In Romans chapter six, as we conclude our thoughts this morning, Paul writes to the church at Rome.

And he writes to them about the life that they once lived, the life that they no longer live because they’re Christians. He says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Isaiah says, Your sin and your iniquity that you will not remove yourself from, you will not wash yourself from, you will not absolve yourself from, has hidden God from you.

You are small, insignificant, and easily destroyed, and yet you have no defender because you have ruined the relationship through your sins.

And yet Paul writes to the Church of Romans says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who have died to sin live any longer therein?

See, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait. If sin is what separates a person from God, and if the people that Paul’s writing to had died to sin.

then they must have a right relationship with God. How’d they do it? Because if they could do it, I can do it.

Okay? So how’d they do it? We’ll just keep reading. He says, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, we’re baptized into his death?

Paul writes to these Christians in Rome, many of whom he had never met, and says, I know what you did. I know how you died to sin. How would how would could Paul know what they did? Because Paul taught the same gospel they heard.

He taught the same message Jesus preached.

Jesus said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. End of discussion. Paul knew what they did.

He says, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. Isaiah says, you’re dead to the Lord because of your sin. Paul says, you were, and now you’re alive to Christ.

What did you do to go from being dead to alive? You were buried with him in baptism. And you were raised to walk in newness of life.

Paul wants them to be incredibly clear about one fact. That doesn’t mean you get to go back to your sins. You don’t get to say, All right, I’ve got the grace of God, I can live however I want to now. no. Paul goes on to say, he says, For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of.

To sin.

One thing about spiders is they’re going to do exactly what God made them to do.

They’re bound by nature. They function in the way they’re designed.

But you God gave a choice too.

God created you to be something glorious in his eyes.

sin may have separated you from the Lord. If you’re here this morning and you look at your life and you go, I I don’t I don’t know my state with the Lord.

If you can’t open up the word of God and say, here, let me show you exactly what I did, let me show you exactly how I did it, here’s how I know I’m saved. You can’t do that this morning.

Then I encourage you to talk to us.

Let us open the Word of God with you and make sure you know if you’re saved or not. Not because we say so, but because you can read it for yourself.

Because wouldn’t it be glorious to be able to say, like Paul, you know, the old man of sin, he’s crucified. He’s dead and he’s gone. And I now live in newness of life. If you have need of an invitation or questions about anything, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing the song of invitation?

Revelation 22 (Lesson 1) – Aaron Cozort – October 25, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, book of Revelation, Christian persecution, Church, keywords Revelation 22, Laodicea, Roman Empire, tree of life, water of life by Aaron Cozort

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Good to see everyone this fine fall morning.

we’ll see if it sticks around more than a week or so.

We’re going to be in Revelation chapter twenty two this morning.

I had intended to get into chapter 22 last week, and we didn’t quite get there, but we’ll

we’ll get into it this week in our study.

Let’s begin with a word of prayer.

Our gracious Father in Heaven, giver of all good and perfect gifts, Father of light, Lord,

we are grateful for your blessings.

We’re grateful for your tender mercies.

We’re grateful for your love and your concern.

your provision, your daily bread that you provide us with, and we ask that you help us to

forgive others as we are forgiven by you.

We ask that you help us to show mercy as we have been shown mercy by you.

We ask that we might be conduit for your grace to go out into the world in our daily

activities, but also through the spreading of the gospel and the teaching of the truth.

Lord, we pray that we might always be diligent in these things, that we might always hold

fast to the word, that we might never depart from it, might never change it.

We’re mindful of the promises of Scripture, the ones that have a reward, but also those

that have a judgment.

And Lord, we pray that we might strive daily and diligently to live in view of the cross

and to live and to walk in the light of the

As you are in the light.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Revelation twenty two

Opens with an and he showed me that this is a progression of things that the angel who

came to John, the angel who had the one of the seven bowls that he poured out the wrath of

God, he comes to John and he says, Let me show you the bride.

When John is first approached by the angel, John sees the city.

And John sees the nature of the city that we’ve talked about in the last two weeks.

City four square, a city 1,500 miles wide, 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles tall.

He sees the foundation adorned with precious jewels and the names of the apostles.

He sees the gate, and every gate is just one giant pearl.

He sees that there’s no sun.

For the Lamb and the Father are the light in that city.

He sees that the nations and the kings of the nations bring their riches, their wealth,

their power, and bring it into the city.

Now, this is an interesting contrast, by the way, because through the book, you remember

when the angel came forth and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city which

deceived the nations of the world.

And then you have in chapter 15 and chapter 16 the picture of the great harlot who has

seduced the nations.

One of the things that God is making clear is that Rome was a horrible partner.

Rome was not someone that you wanted to create a long-term alliance with because they were

seducing you so as to take everything you had.

There are relationships in life that are upright, that are undefiled, that are good.

And then there are relationships in life where you realize I’m getting the raw end of the

deal on this no matter how it goes.

And that was Rome.

But notice the contrast of God’s kingdom to Rome’s kingdom.

Here the kings of the nations find God’s kingdom, and they willingly and with their own

desire bring their glory into it and make it subservient to the kingdom of God.

Ignore for a moment.

The natural difficulties of personality and background, and ask yourself this question.

If every ruler of every nation under heaven was a member of the Lord’s church and a part

of the kingdom, would there be another war to fight?

Not if they were behaving like Christians.

Not if they were ruling like Christians, not if they were serving their people as a leader

that serves instead of a leader that demands.

Not if they were exhibiting in their life and in their actions the sacrifice of Christ.

Not if they were praying to the Lord at the beginning of their day, Lord, forgive us of

our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

You would have nations go, I know that you did wrong there.

Now how can we help you do right?

What John is seeing as he sees the kings and the nations come into the kingdom, the bride,

the church.

is he’s seeing a world remade in the image of God.

when people choose to do what’s right instead of what’s wrong.

Has there ever been a nation’s capital in all of Old or New Testament history that from

the least to the greatest bowed the knee before God and repented?

Shake your head this way.

Tell me what minor profit it is.

There was this prophet that was sent to a nation it wasn’t Israel.

Matter of fact, it was an enemy of Israel.

It was a threat to Israel.

And Jonah said, I ain’t going.

I don’t want that people saved.

I don’t want that horrible, ungodly, perverse nation that worships idols to be allowed to

remain on this planet.

They are a threat to us.

They are a threat to everything we are.

And the world’s better off without them.

So Jonah got on a boat headed to Tarshish, the polar opposite direction of Nineveh.

Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians.

Nineveh was a city devoted to idolatry, in a nation devoted to heinous acts against their

enemies.

And I mean heinous.

You think you do harm to the fish when you catch him in a hook and pull him out of the

water.

You should see what the Assyrians did to their enemies.

Absolutely.

As a national Israelite, you could understand Jonah’s thinking.

As a matter of fact, Jonah before the end of the book will wish that he was dead.

And I firmly believe it’s because he knows word is gonna get back to his own nation that

he’s the reason the Assyrians are alive.

But God tells Jonah.

You’re going to go to the city, and you’re going to preach to the city, and you’re going

to preach this message.

Repent, or in forty days you will be destroyed.

And Jonah will be delivered to a approximate location near the city by his escort, a well

prepared fish.

And Jonah will walk into the city and it will be a three day walk across the city.

Proclaiming the message repent, or in forty days you will perish.

Now do you remember in the book of Revelation before those seven bowls were poured out,

there were angels that went forth and proclaimed to the nation that was Rome Repent,

repent or else?

God did for Rome what God did for Assyria.

God gave them an opportunity.

The difference is Assyria repented.

But what you’re seeing in the end of chapter twenty one is you’re seeing that some of the

nations that were once those who had succumbed to the idolatry and the harlotry and the

worship of Rome.

Vented.

some of the nations that had been seduced by Rome when they watched Rome fall.

Sed who is this Christ?

That we can worship him.

When you go look at history.

As Rome begins to decline, the

And troubles begin.

What does one Roman ruler end up doing?

He actually ends up

We’ll put this in air quotes converting.

And turns and makes Christianity the whole national religion in Rome.

And Christianity in the two hundreds and three hundreds AD spreads and spreads and

spreads.

All while Rome goes.

But chapter twenty two opens.

And we’re not looking at anything different.

We’re still looking at the bride.

The one who had the bowl with the judgment of God, the angel, shows John, here’s a picture

of the bride, it’s the city.

Here’s a picture of the bride, it’s the nations coming into the city.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding from the

throne of God and of the Lamb.

As John i again, I I I love the idea of a of the movie, the camera just it it starts off,

it’s got this wide view, you see the fifteen hundred foot or fifteen hundred mile wide

city, and it’s so wide and then it zooms in and it zooms in and it zooms in, past the

gates, past the walls, down into the heart of the city.

And in the heart of the city there’s a river running through the midst of the city.

Quick question, what Old Testament world power had a capital city with a river that ran

through it?

Babylon.

You know the difference between God’s city and Nebuchadnezzar’s city?

The source of the water.

‘Cause the source of the water at Babylon was the reason the city fell.

You s

Cyrus came along and said, I I can’t besiege the city and conquer it.

Because they’ve got a river that runs through it.

They never run out of food.

If you never run out of water, you never run out of food.

You can’t starve a city to death through a siege if they never run out of food.

So Cyrus said, Fine, I’ll divert the Euphrates River.

And Cyrus took the Euphrates river that ran under the wall of Babylon, that made Babylon

undefeatable, and he not only diverted it, he then took his army under the wall in the

riverbed and into the city.

The thing that the Babylonians thought made their city undefeatable, because its source

wasn’t in the city, made them fall in one night.

But as John is shown picture after picture after picture, he says, Let me show you a city

where the source of the river that flows is in the middle of the city.

How do you divert a city’s source of water when the source is inside the city?

You can’t.

As a matter of fact, the river of water of life flows from inside the city out.

In John chapter four, Jesus sat by a well.

And a woman came to draw water and Jesus asked for a drink from her.

And she was puzzling as to why him being a Jew would ask a drink from her, a Samaritan

woman.

And Jesus would tell her, if you knew who I was, you would ask for a drink from me, and I

would give you of the water of life, and you would never thirst again.

And the woman says, I want some of this water.

But you don’t have anything to draw with.

How are you going to give me a job?

The woman, by the time she realized that he was the Messiah,

No longer wondered how she’d get access to the water.

She just wanted to tell every friend that she had, every person she knew, every person in

her city.

that there was access to living water outside their city.

You see, in the city of God, the water flows from inside out.

And notice he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from

the throne of God and of the Lamb.

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life.

Where do we where are we first introduced to the tree of life?

The Garden of Eden.

Genesis 1 and 2.

When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3.

What did God place at the edge of the garden so that they would lose access to the tree of

life?

Flaming sword.

God says sin doesn’t get to live forever.

E a sinful individual.

who has death reigning over them doesn’t get access to the tree of life.

But when John looks into the city and looks into the midst of the city and looks all the

way down to the throne of God in the midst of the city and he sees the river of water of

life, he sees the tree that was lost so long ago.

On either side of the river.

And what is the point?

Is the point that there is someday going to be a city where Christians, far into the

future or near into the future, whenever Christ returns, whenever judgment comes, God’s

going to create a 1,500-mile-wide city, a 1,500-mile-long city, a 1,500-mile-tall city,

and in the middle of the city is going to be a river, and in the middle of the city is

going to be the very throne of God, and in the middle of the city is going to be the

Fizical tree of life.

If so, you better hope you don’t live on the wall because you’re going to get really tired

walking to get the fruit on a regular basis.

What’s half of fifteen hundred miles?

A long walk.

Do you think John is immediately concerned about how far he’s going to be from the center

of the city and to whether or not he might somehow fail to get access to the tree?

No indication of scripture.

Do you think Jesus was indicating to the woman?

that if she didn’t live close enough to the river of life, she’d perish and die.

No, Jesus made the statement, if you drink from the water that I give you, you’ll never

thirst again.

The picture of the tree of life isn’t about God’s gonna resurrect some species of tree

that hasn’t been seen since creation.

God says, I’m going to make a new heaven and a new earth where holiness dwells.

I’m going to make a city where there is no sin inside the city, so you can have access to

the tree of life again.

I’m going to make a city where you can have access to the water of life and never thirst

again.

We don’t have to guess what he’s talking about, because where did Jesus invite the people

who gained access to the water of life?

He invited them into the kingdom.

Into the church.

He says, There will be no more curse.

Sorry, I didn’t get the end of uh verse two.

In the middle of the streets, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which

bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The uh first century people would have been very accustomed to finding certain.

leaves and they could take those leaves and turn them into a compound or a paste and they

could use it for medical purposes.

That they would make their ISAV over in uh the region where this letter was written to.

Which church had a letter written to it about their I salve?

Seventh one, The lukewarm one.

The one that thought they could see and they thought they were rich and they thought they

had plenty and they thought they were wealthy and healthy.

And he said, You’re poor and blind and naked and you need me.

God says, I can heal the nations.

But not if you try to do it your way.

You’ve got to do it my way.

You’ve got to bring them into the kingdom, not turn around and try and hold hands with the

world.

Paul would write in Romans chapter twelve.

Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,

that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your

reasonable service.

And do not be conformed to this world.

Paul says the world is going to try and put a mold around you and make you into its image.

He says, Don’t you do it.

says rather, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is

that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Go back to Rev Revelation chapter three.

And in Revelation chapter three to the Laodiceans, God would write through John and to the

angel of the church of the Laodiceans write these things, says the Amen, the faithful and

true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish you were either cold or hot.

A lot of times we’ve we’ve talked about the fact that God would rather be s have somebody

against him than lukewarm.

That’s not the point of what John John’s writing here.

In the city of Laodicea, the city was a rich city, it was a commercial city, and you would

come to the city, and if you stood in the city of Laodicea, you could see the white capped

peaks of the mountains.

And the Romans had taken and built an aqueduct from the city that was in the mountains

where the runoff from the mountains snow melt came from.

And when it originated at the aqueduct, it was cold, crisp, great water.

And it would flow through the aqueduct down to the Laodicean city.

And when it reached Laodicea, it was lukewarm.

And if you turn the other direction, you would see over to another city that had hot

springs.

And the hot springs were valuable and they were useful and they had health properties.

And the Romans built an aqueduct from the city that had hot springs over to Laodicea.

But by the time the water got to Laodicea, the water was lukewarm.

God is visually presenting Laodicea with a circumstance they’re familiar with every day

when they get water.

If their water had come from the source, it’d be valuable.

It’d be enjoyable.

It would be useful.

But what they have is just water.

And it’s not very good water either.

It’s the kind that you put in your mouth you want to spew out.

God is saying, I wish you were at the source of something valuable.

I wish you were close to me where you could be valuable, but instead you want to stay

where you’re physically rich.

The city where the springs came from, or the city where the where the runoff came from up

in the mountains, wasn’t as rich as Laodicea.

The city where the hot springs were located wasn’t as rich as Laodicea.

They wanted to stay where the money was.

Then God goes on to say, I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish you were either cold or hot.

So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my

mouth.

He says, Because you say, God, why would you vomit a church out?

Why would you throw a church out of the kingdom of God?

He says because you say you are rich.

And notice they didn’t just say they were rich.

They said, we are rich, we have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.

Lord, we don’t need your city.

We have Laodicea.

We don’t need your living water.

We’ve got Laodicea.

We don’t need your clothing of holiness adorned in the robes of righteousness.

We’re Laodicea.

We don’t need your help or your healing.

We

Are the producers of a commercially successful ISAV?

Notice what he says.

He says, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich and

white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be

revealed, anoint your eyes with ISA that you may see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.

God tells them, oh, I see your commercial success.

I’m just telling you you’re destitute.

You’ve become attached to the harlot that is Rome.

And you don’t even know that she is going to leave you destitute.

But you could come to my marketplace.

You could take all those riches that you think Rome has for you, and you could buy from me

gold refined in the fire.

Is John going to tell the Christians about a refining process they’re about to go through?

Yeah.

And are many of them not going to make it?

Because they will instead pledge allegiance to Rome?

Yeah.

And God is looking at Laodicea and he says, You think you have a rich city?

Let me show you my city.

We paved the streets with gold.

We laid the foundation with precious jewels.

And guess what we have?

We have the source of water right there in the middle of the city.

No lukewarm water for you.

We have the tri of life.

And all of the people in our city who dwell in heaven, that is, those who are righteous

and holy, whose dwelling place is not on this earth, who are sojourners on this earth,

they may be poor, they may have a pittance on earth, they may have no place to lay their

head, they may n the foxes may have holes and the birds may have nests, but they may be

just like Jesus and have nothing.

But they do have a home waiting for them, and they’re a citizen of a city whose builder

and maker is God.

There shall be no more curse, verse three of chapter twenty two.

But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.

They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.

Now wait a minute.

Go back to chapter seven and ask yourself: when was the first time the names were written

on their foreheads?

Before the very first judgment started.

So who are we looking at?

The people who are alive or the people who are dead and gone on and the people in

eternity?

We’re looking at the people that are alive.

We’re looking at the Christians.

They shall see his face.

And his name shall be on their foreheads.

Does it sound like heaven?

Yeah.

But what it is really is the church.

John chapter seventeen

John chapter seventeen.

Verse 6, Jesus says, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of

the world.

They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you, for I have given

to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them and have known

surely.

That I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them.

I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

Now I am no longer in the world.

Wait a minute.

Where was Christ sitting when he said he’s no longer in the world?

He was sitting in the world.

He says, Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you,

Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as

we are one.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name.

Those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost except the Son of Perdition,

that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I come to you.

And these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in them.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the

world, just as I am not of the world.

I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them

from the evil one.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by your truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their

word, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.

That they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the

glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one.

Revelation twenty two.

says they see the face of God.

He’s not talking about physically.

He’s talking about a relationship.

Hebrews chapter four tells us that we have a high priest who cannot be touched by the

feelings who can be touched by the feelings of our infirmities, because he was in all

points tempted like as we are yet without sin.

And says that as a result of this we can come boldly before the throne of God to find

grace and help in time of need.

God says, Approach my throne.

Do so with boldness, for you’re my children.

In chapter twenty two and in verse four, they shall see his face and his name shall be on

their foreheads.

There shall be no night there, they need no lamp, nor light of the sun, for the Lord God

gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

It’s all right if the slides don’t go forward.

There we are.

The picture of the river is an Ezekiel picture, Ezekiel forty seven.

Picture of the river and the picture of the presence of God with his people is an Ezekiel

picture, chapter forty eight.

The picture of the safety that they have within the city and in the presence of the

kingdom of God is a Zechariah picture in Zechariah chapter fourteen.

John didn’t just suddenly stop using Old Testament pictures.

These are all Old Testament pictures.

What are they pictures of?

The kingdom.

The body of Christ, the thing that God said he would establish.

Then consider in verse six.

Then he said to me, These words are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the Holy

Prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place.

John, here’s what I need you to do.

Need you to write all this down?

Because sometime, two thousand plus years from now, people are gonna need to know what’s

coming.

John, I need you to tell the church.

What’s about to happen?

Because they’re already the city foursquare.

Because they already have their dwelling place in heaven.

They already have God’s name written on their forehead.

They already are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

They just need to know when it looks like Satan’s winning, he’s not.

And when their loved ones

Are being beheaded for the cause of Christ?

Are being taken into the Colosseum and thrown to the beast?

When they look as they try and run their business and every single consumer that they once

had now says I can’t buy from you, you won’t pledge allegiance to Caesar.

And as they stare dreading the coming day because they know their children are starving.

He said, John, you need to tell them before it starts.

What’s coming?

And also tell them how it is.

Behold

I am coming.

See John, it’s not just about the things that will shortly take place.

It yes, you’re gonna go through the ringer.

Yes, some of you are gonna die.

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth, he says.

You know this.

I’m coming to judge this nation.

He says, Behold, I am coming.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

You’ve got people running all over the place today.

Signs of the times, the signs of the times, the signs of the times.

Look, look, the signs are coming.

Christ’s return is imminent.

They’re just eighteen hundred years too late.

Christ came.

Not in the final return.

Christ came in judgment on Rome, the way he came in judgment on Jerusalem, the way he came

in judgment on Babylon, the way he came in judgment on Assyria, the way he came in

judgment on Greece, the way he came in judgment on Edom, the way he came in judgment on

the Philistines, the way he came in judgment on the nations of the people that lived in

the Canaanite land.

And the way he came in judgment on Judah and Israel.

He says, I’m coming.

And I’ll tell you how the battle’s gonna turn out.

I’m gonna bring all my soldiers.

You remember this?

From chapter nineteen and chapter twenty.

I’m gonna bring all my armies.

They’re all gonna show up.

They’re gonna show up adorned in linen.

And fine clothing for a feast because I will have already won the war.

And when you look at Christ, he says, I’m gonna be the one riding on the white horse, and

I’m gonna be covered in blood.

Because I’m going to feed my enemies to the birds.

This message is sometimes questioned as to what’s the point of the book of Revelation if

it’s all about something that’s already happened.

To which I’d have to ask, Well, what’s the point about the book of Genesis?

About it’s all about stuff that’s already happened.

What’s the point of the book of Matthew?

It’s about stuff that’s all already happened.

Scripture is given for our

Learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

We’re not given the book of Revelation so we can know what’s coming.

We’re given the book of Revelation so we know how it all ends.

No matter what’s coming.

No matter what nation we’re in.

Let me ask you this as we close.

What do you think this message reads like for a Christian in Iran?

What do you think this book reads like for a Christian in China?

What do you think this book reads like for a Christian in North Korea?

Or Cuba?

So many times we get so focused on us.

That we go, Well, I wanna know what’s in it for me.

Shouldn’t surprise us, the apostles wanted to know what was in it for them.

Christ said, you’re going to lose everything because you’re going to give it up willfully.

You’re going to give up homes and family and kindred and nations, and you’re going to walk

away from all of it.

But don’t worry, I’m going to give you all of it back a hundredfold in this life and in

the lifetime.

What a comforting book.

Especially to people who don’t dwell in a place of freedom.

But in a fla place of persecution.

Thank you.

What Kind of Man? – Walker Cain – October 18, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christ example, Christian living, folly, foolishness, keywords Bible, laziness, Proverbs, Spiritual Growth, troublemaker, wisdom by Aaron Cozort

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Walker Cain (00:00)

Be ye followers of me, even as I am a follower of Christ. Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians. This was a people who faced division. They faced discord among themselves. They were biting and devouring one another with what they chose to do. They weren’t able they were not even able to take of the Lord’s supper properly without acting as though they were trying to have a contest of who had the most food. When a brother was going out and sinning,

They were all puffed up too much to even do a thing about it, perhaps even proud of the sin that he was committing. This was a people who needed to follow Christ. They were Christians, but they were following something else entirely. Now the Lord in his word shows us how to be imitators of Christ, but not only does he show us how to imitate Christ, the Lord also shows us exactly who we are not to be. And sometimes the best way to learn

Who to be is to see the negative ex negative example of who not to be. To do this, let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs, as many books of the Bible, is written by someone well prepared to write it. David wrote the Psalms, he was a man after God’s own heart. This was a man who he was obedient to God. This was a man who also had trials.

This was a man who wrote about the things of the heart as well. This was someone who was ready to talk about these things that took that emotional understanding. Then there was Paul who was able to discuss things that were of incredible logic and argumentation because he was prepared in that Greek rhetoric, all that reasoning and argumentation. And Proverbs is no different. These are the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

They are written by the wisest man to have walked the earth up until Christ came to this earth, who truly was the wisest man. Now what is it that this man shows us about who we are not to be? Three different individuals who will be seen in Proverbs twenty six are the fool, the sluggard, and the troublemaker. And as we go through these, we want to ask, are we imitating Christ or are we imitating these men?

Are we imitating these examples of whom we are not to be, or are we imitating their exact opposite?

As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool, as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. Verses one through eleven are going to continue being focused on the fool. Now verse three a whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. This is a person who is

Who is going to go and do that which is going to hurt him. Just as a horse is going to be whipped, just as a donkey needs a bridle, a rod is what is deserved on the fool’s back. Also, look at verses ten and eleven. ⁓

returns to his folly. This person is going out and doing that which is going to hurt him even when he has been taught differently. How often when growing up did parents say, don’t do that, don’t do this, and then what happens? It’s done. And then what happens? it’s the same thing over and over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different

result. This fool is a glutton for punishment. He’s going to go do that which is going to hurt him, and he’s not going to c care about what it’s going to do. He’s going to go and do the same iniquity, and he’s going to get whipped again for it. There’s nothing that is going to change him. This foolish man is a glutton for punishment. Verse 11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. It’s nasty.

It’s gross. How often is it the dog does the best cleanup job after he makes a mess? It’s gross, but it’s true. With how gross it is, that shows us what sin is like in the eyes of God. Just as a dog is willing to go eat that which what in the world? Just as a dog’s willing to go and do that, A fool is willing to go back and do what’s going to hurt him the most. The fool is willing.

In God’s eyes, sin is as disgusting as vomit, and even more than that. But the fool thinks it’s pleasant. The fool thinks that this bottle is going to help him. This it’s going to bring him pleasure. There’s an entire passage in Proverbs that’s dedicated to the fool who has redness of eyes, the one who tarries long at the wine who goes to seek mixed wine. But then he’s going to be like the one who is he is like one at the top of a mast on a boat in the ocean.

He’s going to be like one who is all dizzy, and he’s going to after that say, When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. The fool is going to go do the same thing over and over. It applies with this alcohol, and it applies with anything else that he decides to do that is outside of what God has told him to do. When he goes and does that which is against God’s commandments, he does that which is disgusting in the eyes of God and continues to go back to it, even though that sin itself is going to hurt him.

And even though there is punishment for that sin afterward, a whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the fool’s back. The foolish man is a glutton for punishment. But moving forward the fool is also hard to handle. Verses four and five. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. ⁓

Let’s all go home. We just found a contradiction in Scripture. It can’t be God’s word anymore. Is that what this is? Is God going to so blatantly make a contradiction in Scripture? No. There is a lesson here for us to learn. You answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit, or answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him. You see, with the fool, he’s hard to handle.

You have to figure out, okay, how am I going to approach this this time? A fool, you’re not going and trying to change him. You’re trying to figure out, okay, how do I have to deal with this person now? It’s almost like a person on the interstate, you know, you’re not going to change the way they drive. You just got to figure out, okay, do I should I stay behind them or should I pass them and make sure they’re not a danger? You’re just trying to figure out how to handle this person. Same thing with a fool. Should I speak and ⁓ acknowledge what he has said?

L so that he is not wise in his own conceit? Should I let him think that he hasn’t won this battle? Or should I not answer him, so that I am not like him? This is not a contradiction in Scripture. It’s showing the fact that there’s some times you have to answer a fool, there’s other times you should not answer a fool. And we simply must decide, or we must gain the experience through life to figure out when is it I should answer? When is it that I should not answer? And that’s something that

Comes with time and practice in life. The foolish man is a glutton for punishment, the foolish man is hard to handle, and also the foolish man he’s going to let you down hard. Verses six and seven.

He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. As he that bindeth a stone in his sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. Yet again, we have more about this foolish man and what he is going to do. Verse six is about when someone gives responsibility to this foolish man. He’s given a job.

Most specifically, he’s given a message. He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. You trust a fool with something, do you expect it to be done? Well, if you have a trusted somebody, then usually that means you’ve trusted them to do it. But if you trust a fool with a job, you can actually trust he’s not going to do it. He that sends a message by the hand of a fool, he cuts off his own feet and he drinks damage.

If we decide to take a fool and give him a job and say, hey, go carry out this, it’s as though we’ve cut off our own feet, sat on the couch, and he’s gone and done it and done it the wrong way. This is someone who does not handle responsibility correctly. This is someone who does not handle information correctly either. This isn’t just a job, this is a message. Who knows what he did with that information? Did he just go to his own home and not do anything with it? Did he go and share it with somebody else?

Whatever the case, he’s not doing that which is proper. There are times that we have responsibilities given to us that we are to carry out. There’s times where a s a father might tell one son, Hey, go to give this message to your brother. And then that son, because he didn’t say it, this son didn’t then do what the father said to do. So what happens after that? Well, you have one son who’s in trouble because he didn’t do what God said or the father said to do, and then you have another son who he’s in trouble because he didn’t tell the son what to do.

The one who sends a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage. It’s only going to lead to hurt. What are we? Are we the kind that we can be given responsibility and we can carry it out? Or is giving a job to us, just like setting a ticking time bomb? The fool Is a glutton for punishment. He is hard to handle, and finally he’s going to let you down hard.

Now we’ve just said that what we’re looking with at with this today is how does this kind of person compare to Christ? What is this kind of person in the light of who Christ was? Christ was not a glutton for punishment. Christ was one who, yes, He came to this earth, but the entire reason he came was so that he could suffer for us. He didn’t come to suffer punishment for what he did. In fact, Christ himself led a sinless life.

He was not a glutton for punishment, he was a bearer of punishment for us. Christ also was not hard to handle. In fact, he was the one who was handling other people who were hard to handle. Think about the Pharisees. There were times that Christ answered what they said, where he was willing to answer and say, When they ask, Why are your disciples not doing the tradition of the elders? Christ would say, Well, why are you transgressing the tradition of God?

And then there were other times where Christ, instead of answering, he would say, You know what? I’ll answer this if you answer me. Christ handled the Pharisees, realizing that they were fools. They were these people that lacked common sense. You know, there are those people in life who they’re the reason they stopped making pennies. That applied to the Pharisees. Their two cents were the reason they stopped making pennies. And we will meet people in our lives who are like that as well.

Christ dealt with people like that. We are going to deal with people like that. We must simply ask Am I the one that’s hard to handle? Or am I the one that is going to go and treat people with wisdom as Christ did? The fool is, as we mentioned, going to let people down. Christ came with the greatest responsibility ever imagined. The responsibility of dying for our sins, of not only dying for our sins, of living a life of existence.

Exemplifying who we are to be and then dying for us after that. Christ did not come and let us all down. Christ was one who did the work. While the f this fool, he is one who if he’s given a message, he’s going to let you down. The fool, he’s one where if you give him a parable, if you give him a wise saying, he’s going to misuse it. It’s interesting how you can have someone who does not have wisdom, but then they have a wise saying.

How do they end up using it? Well, you can have a fool who has Scripture itself. You can have someone who does not respect God, but then he takes Scripture, all its parables, all of its wisdom, all of its teachings, and all he’s going to do is teach error with it. As he that

Turning back to Proverbs twenty six, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. The one who has wis the fool who has wisdom in his mouth, it’s as though the lay legs are not equal. It’s not only going to hurt him, it’s not going to help anyone else. And then verse eight again, as he that bindeth a so stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honor to a fool. If you build him up, if you praise him, it’s only going to bring harm to

And hurt this person is not to be given this honor. Turning to verse one, as snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. He shouldn’t be given a task, but also he shouldn’t be given this honor. What happens when it snows in the summer? Well first all of the weathermen go crazy because now they have some really good material to talk about. But af also you have rain in harvest.

When you have rain, when you have hail and harvest, the farmers are thinking about how they’re going to feed their families. When you have this rain, it’s going to bring harm and hurt. It’s not supposed to happen in the first place. And then when it does, it only brings pain. The fool is going to let you down. And when he receives any kind of honor, when he see receives any kind of praise, he’s only going to bring trouble for everybody else. Brethren, are we as Christ who came and he used wisdom

To help everyone on this earth, or are we the ones who people are just trying to use wisdom to figure out how to get around us? Who are we in our lives? We have discussed the fool, but also there is the lazy man in this passage, the sluggard. Turning to verses 13 through 16. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way. A lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hinges,

So doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, it grieveth him to bring it to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that could render a reason. We’re going to call this sluggard a lump. He’s just a lump. Now what is he a lump of? First, he is a lump of excuses. Verse thirteen, as we read, he says there is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets.

Now this fool, he was in the Middle East. He was not in North America. Yes, lions were actually a thing where they were. But lions did not come into the city. The lions stayed out in the in their area, in in the rural regions, and if they came into the city, that was a sign that the people had left, that no one was there, unless God was sending ⁓ sending punishment their way as he did with the Samaritans.

This fool is using something that is highly unlikely just to say, you know what, I shouldn’t get out of bed. It’s as though it’s like saying, you know what, I shouldn’t go drive my car to work. I might get in a wreck. Now, there’s times where people can be fearful of those things because of something that has happened in the past. We’re not talking about that whatsoever. We’re talking about the person who he’s never faced a wreck in his life. He’s never had this kind of experience, but he just wants to say, you know what, I think I might get in a wreck. I’m not going to go drive today.

Just because he wants to sleep in. This is someone who’s going to use what is highly unlikely, just so he can get a few extra hours and not go to work. This is a person who is a lump of excuses. It applies in more than just sleep. We must ask, do I use the work I already do as an excuse for not doing more work? What else do I what other excuses could I present? Could I say I’m not capable of going to do that? It’s not just

This job is too dangerous for me. It’s this job, I’m just not able to do it. This sluggard is going to find whatever reason he can for saying he cannot do it. Now again, we’re comparing these men with Christ. We compared the fool the fool to Christ. Now we compare the lazy man to Christ. How did he act in his life? Again, he took that great responsibility of coming to this earth for us. He didn’t make excuses. In fact, he had every right to say no to

But he still took that for us so that we could be with him. The Lord had no excuses when he ca was in heaven and decided to come down to this earth. And then Jesus had no excuse when he was on this earth before he went back up into heaven. Even when he had a disagreement with the Father, even when his will was not matched up with the Father, when he said, Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. If it be thy will,

Let this cup pass from me. Notice that it was the Father’s will that Christ go to the cross, to the cross. But the Son did not want to go to the cross. Their wills were not the same. But Christ didn’t make an excuse there. Christ said, You know what? N let not my will, but thy will be done. Christ did not make any excuses. In fact, he was willing to submit anything that, all of his fear, to the Father, because he was going to carry out his command.

He did not make a single excuse, even when he had every right to say no. But the sluggard, he’s just a lump of excuses, but also he is a lump of uselessness. Verses fourteen and fifteen. As a turning versus fourteen and fifteen, as the door turneth upon his hinges, sl so doth the slothful upon his bed. The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom

It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.

As we grow older in our lives, we start with school, and then we go on to more and more complicated things. You start with basic arithmetic, one plus one, or two minus one. And then you build up and perhaps you get over to algebra and then you go into calculus or whatever if you’re one of the crazy math people. Or if we’re talking about the other things, you have you better learn your alphabet and then you carry things on after that. You start with the basics and move forward in life.

Can you ever get to any of these things that are greater if you never do what is basic? This sluggard can’t even get out of bed. This sluggard rolls around and doesn’t figure realize that there is a day ahead of him. Also, this sluggard, he is one who does not even bring his hand to his mouth while he is eating. It’s like he he has his Cheerios on the table, he has his spoon right there, and then it’s just too much for him to pick it up and bring it to his mouth. bless his heart.

He can’t do this simple thing. He cannot do the simple thing of getting out of bed. He can’t do the simple thing of feeding himself. How in the world is he going to prepare for the winter? How in the world is he going to get anywhere in life besides his mama’s basement? He’s not going to move forward in life whatsoever because he can’t even get the basics down. The slugger is not going to use the effort it takes to do the simple things, and therefore he’s never going to move forward to anything else.

We had a Lord who was willing to traverse the Middle East preaching and teaching, or traverse Palestine to be more specific. He was willing to go out and he did not have a car like we did. He went out walking. Beautiful are the feet of them that preached the gospel. Well, Christ’s feet, they were shining. Because he was going out and he was always preaching. He was one who was not lazy. He was one who, when he went out to rest and the multitudes came, he still had compassion on them.

And he was willing to do what it took to fed feed them. He was not lazy. He did not have a sense of any kind of uselessness. He did everything he could to help humanity, help mankind. While this fool he can’t even think about opening his front door. Who are we? Do we struggle to do the basic things in life, or are we moving forward, striving for the goals that are before us? The lazy man, he is a lump of excuses. He is a lump of

of uselessness, and finally and most importantly, he is a lump of pridefulness. Looking at verse twelve once again, seeest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. This is a person who thinks that he has it all figured out. There is more hope of a fool than of this person. Remember, we just talked about all the things that a fool would do, all the things that a fool would do wrong. But this man

⁓ th this fool might think he’s wise, but this sluggard, he thinks he’s even wiser than that. Looking at verse sixteen, the sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. Seven men that actually have common sense, we might call it uncommon sense today because so few people have it. But seven people that have common sense, he thinks that he’s wiser than them all put together. This is a person who thinks he has perfect wisdom.

Listen, this is seven men that can render a reason. This is a perfect amount of reason. But he thinks he’s wiser than that. When he, as we discussed earlier, can’t even lift the spoon out of his Cheerios. This is a person who thinks he has it all figured out. He thinks he has all the wisdom, but he can’t do the simple things. So often it can be easy that we can justify what we are doing by thinking, you know what? I’m really doing more than I’m doing it all. I have it all figured out.

And by doing that, we say we justify us not moving any further in life. That’s what this sluggard does. He thinks he is wise, he thinks he knows the dangers that are out there, and he knows all the reasons for everything he does, but he doesn’t do anything. This sluggard is just a lump on a log. He is a lump of uselessness, a lump of pridefulness, a lump of excuses. We’re comparing these people to Christ. Was Christ prideful?

He certainly looked forward to the joy that was set before him, Hebrews twelve, and that joy was having the glory of being by the Father once again, but also of us being with him. Christ certainly looked forward to being glorified, but he did not come to this earth, and nor is he in heaven with this kind of pridefulness. This is a pridefulness that is a part of who man is, when we decide that we are greater than those around us, when we decide that who I am is more valuable than who anyone else is.

Christ, being God, was willing to come down and say, You are worth me dying on the cross for you. That is him recognizing he is God and he has the power and the worth to die for us, but also that is the humility to do that for us in the first place. When we we need to decide if we are too prideful to help anyone at all. Of course, we are not required to be prideful. That’s not what we mean by saying this is a part of who man is. But this is something that man must fight.

The devil himself wanted Christ to fall to pridefulness. He wanted Christ to fall to pridefulness when he took him up onto the temple and said, If you be the Son of God, well the angels, they’re supposed to come down and pick you up. The devil wanted Christ to fall to that temptation, that test to prove that he was the Son of God, but Christ did not fall to it. His eyes were open. He was not blinded by this pride. We must ensure that we are not blinded by pride either.

And this pride can certainly be a part of laziness if we suspect that to be in our lives. We have seen the foolish man, the lazy man, and finally the troublemaker. This troublemaker is going to light fires. He’s not a firefighter, he’s a fire lighter. Looking at verse seventeen, he that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is as he that taketh a dog by the ears.

We have already seen a proverb that has been about a dog. As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. But now we come to this metaphor. The one who meddles in a conversation not his own is as he that taketh a dog by the ears. We need to remember these Palestinian dogs, they aren’t little chihuahuas. They aren’t little cute dogs that you could just go and pet. You’re not going to keep these in your purse, you’re not going to have a crate out for them.

These are the kind of dogs that are scavengers. They are going out and they are eating whatever they can find, and you don’t leave your children out because you don’t want them around. It was it’s interesting, back at our grandparents’ house, my grandparents’ house, they live on a sixty acre place and you have coyotes out there. Now, after you ru reached any age at all, they weren’t a trouble, but you didn’t let your children out way late at night because you know that that can be prey for them if you let a little toddler out at night.

In the same way, these dogs, they’re not going to be good to have around. It’s like a coyote, but worse. And you don’t want one of these to take you by the head, because that’s what happens if you take them by the ears. He that meddleth in a conversation not his own. This is when two people are having a disagreement, a discussion, a fight, and you come in and try to put your own two cents in. There are times where there is a fight that needs to be broken up.

Where these two people are fighting and you know, hey guys, we need to cool this down. But it’s not this isn’t about when things are being cooled down. This is about adding fuel to the fire. And when we come into a discussion and we just add fuel to the fire, it’s as though we’ve taken a rabid dog by the ears or a vicious dog by the ears. Hopefully not a rabid one, but a vicious dog by the ears. And it’s only going to hurt us. We’re not going to help anybody when we do that.

The troublemaker is going to light this fire of strife, and this fire is going to hurt himself. But also verses twenty and twenty-one, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. When this kind of man he leaves the scenario, when he’s finally off of the job, when he finally gets fired, then there’s no more strife.

But as long as the boss keeps him on, we’re going to continue dealing with strife. We’re going to continue dealing with contention every single day. This is a person who is only going to bring strife to the situation. We must ask, am I the kind of person who, when I am around, am I helping everyone else? Or am I making everything tougher? Am I bringing strife and reproach or am I bringing peace and a cool head?

Verse twenty four He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart, whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation.

This is a man who is a troublemaker. This is a man who is divisive. Now we discussed Christ coming down to save us before. He came down to save us. The Hebrews writer shows he did that so he could call us brethren, so that he could make us one with him again. Now compare that with this fool. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips. The one who hates, the one who has this strife within him.

He’s not content with this strife being within himself. His satisfaction in life comes from tearing people apart. When you have a family and no one can agree and no one cares about agreeing, and it ends up with divorces and what have you, you have and you have this strife. Perhaps you have people who are making trouble and not trying to make amends. You have people who are lighting fires, they’re not trying to put them out because there’s no love there. Love

First Corinthians thirteen is going to do everything it can to help others, everything it can to be a blessing. But this kind of hatred, this kind of deceit, this this pridefulness, this selfishness, it’s only going to hurt, it’s only going to harm, and as it tries to climb up the ladder, it’s going to tear everyone else down. If we see division, division comes from pride. Division comes from a lack of

being able to say, you know what, I love you, and we’re going to do this together. Now of course there’s times people don’t work well together. There’s times where this person is going to be better going and doing this job and this person doing their job over here because their personalities and methods just don’t work well together. There’s times that that is the case. Well we’re talking about when people simply cannot stand one another just out of who they are, out of who they are as people.

There is always a way to work around this division, this contention, if we truly try, if we strive to do it. And as Christians, it is our duty to be one body, to be one under Christ. If we are divided, it’s as though there is a cancer and infection within the body. It’s as though there is something that’s only going to heart and h h harm and hurt us. Are we strife within the body?

Or we striving for unity? Are we causes of division? But also are we causes of harm? Verses eighteen and nineteen. As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows in death, so is he that deceiveth his neighbor in saith, and not I in sport? I’m just playing around. As a man who casts arrows that have fire on the tips, and just lets that shoot in his neighbour’s backyard for a little bit, so is the one who says,

You know what, it’s no big deal that I was lying to you. I was just playing around. There’s times that we joke one another, there’s times that we jest with one another. But dishonesty is something entirely different. And there’s no way to shove off dishonesty and just say, I was just playing around, I was just being funny. The troublemaker does not acknowledge the kind of harm he can do. The troublemaker is not willing to say, you know what, what I do can hurt people.

Instead, he says, you know what, what I was doing was just playing around. It was just a little bit of fun. We need to be willing to acknowledge when we’ve hurt people. Otherwise, we’re just saying, you know what, I was only joking. it’s no big deal. Are we willing to acknowledge it? Christ, as we compare these men with Christ, he never hurt anyone. And he could not have hurt anyone because if he did, he was going to have sinned. There were times he of course said what was not comfortable, but he did that for bit.

though their pe their benefit. He never did anything just to harm someone else. But someone who has a Christ like attitude, even when they do harm someone else, they’re going to come and try to make amends for it. There’s not going to be this trying to cover up what was done. He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy. But the one who hides them he’s not going to prosper. We cannot hide them any under any cloak.

This man is one who’s going to bring harm. He’s not going to acknowledge it when he should. And also he’s going to continue doing it, even though he knows what’s happening. As coals are to burning coals, and as wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. He doesn’t care about anyone else. The words of a tailbearer are his wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. This man is only hurting others. He does it with his actions, and he does it with

His words.

Anything he says is just for his own benefit and pleasure. Christ says that every idle word is going to be taken under judgment. As Christians, we must ensure that what we say has a purpose. What we say is based on trying to help others follow God’s way and encouragement toward others. But if we do not have a mindset like that, we might find ourselves just having words that are wounds instead. Are our words focused on Christ?

Or are our words focused on whatever I want to say that comes next? This man, this troublemaker brings harm, and he’s going to harm himself. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him. Wiley Coyote, Roadrunner. He gets his rocket shoes out.

He gets whatever else he can find, and he’s going to go get Wiley Coyote. He might even roll a stone himself just to get it. And what happens to Wiley Coyote each time? He’s going to crash into a rock, he’s going to find another way to hurt himself, whatever it is, it’s only going to bring him pain and hurt. Even though he wanted that snack, he wanted that roadrunner, he’s only hurting himself. Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.

He’s only going to hurt himself. Now, he might hurt others in the process, but his plan ultimately is only going to bring harm to himself. If it’s not in this life, it will be in the next. This troublemaker is going to bring himself trouble. But Christ, what is he going to do? He never brought trouble. He never brought harm to anyone else. And yes, he suffered pain for us. But Christ did not just bring harm upon himself.

He did that which was wise all his days, and may we do the same, not bringing harm to others, not bringing harm to ourselves. Brethren, we must ask, do I follow the example of Christ? Or do I follow the example of those the Lord tells me not to act like? The example of these who are going to have their wickedness shown before the whole congregation, as Proverbs would also say. We must ask, who are we?

What kind of men and women will we be for Christ? If you have not followed the example of who Christ is, but have instead followed the path of perhaps the fool who does not look for wisdom, perhaps the sluggard who has not done the work for the Lord, or the troublemaker who is not worried about anyone else, worried about unity. If you have found yourself being like one of these, the Lord desires your repentance, and he wants you to come back to him so you can follow the example of Christ.

If you are not a Christian at all, if you have not submitted to the Lord in baptism or are unsure if you have done so, the Lord wants you to follow his way, and we would love to discuss that with you. If you are in need of the forgiveness Christ offers to you today, would you come forward as we stand and as we sing?

Hosting Salvation – Aaron Cozort – October 18, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical homes, Christian living, Church, evangelism, Gospel, house of God, keywords Salvation, Noah, spiritual home, Zacchaeus by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron Cozort (00:00)

I wanna take just a moment and tell you about two things that I learned about this morning. ⁓ one that I’m hopeful for and one that

Sets perspective on some of the events in the world. We ⁓ I received a message early this morning from a brother in Oslo, Norway, and they are going to be working with TruthFM ⁓ and with the company that I run, Wisdom Integrators, to help them increase the evangelism that they’re able to do online and through the work.

of the church in Norway. The w church in Norway is not very big. It’s quite small. ⁓ but we’re hopeful to be able to help them in that effort. And so I encourage you if you will to pray for the church in in Oslo and the church ⁓ in Norway that we can reach more of the people in Norway. for those who have familiarity with Europe you know probably

No, that ⁓ Europe is in quite a bit of an identity crisis right now due to immigration and changes and the impacts that Islam is having on Europe. but I believe there’s still many opportunities for the gospel in Europe and so we’re hopeful for that. But on that same topic and in that same region, generally speaking, read this morning

⁓ of a church in Ukraine where their situation is so desperate they were meeting this last Sunday and they had those who were desirous to become Christians, but because of the ongoing bombing and because of the facilities that Russia has targeted, none of them have water. They can’t even fill a bathtub to do a baptism.

in Ukraine in some cities now because of the continuing attacks. So please pray for the church in Ukraine, ⁓ and pray for the church in Europe. ⁓ it is facing threats and opportunities. And our prayer should be with both ⁓ both groups. Take your Bibles if you will.

As we open the study, I want us to consider this idea hosting salvation.

As I have thought at different times, ⁓ I was years ago at a lectureship at the Tri-City School of Preaching, and we a few of the preachers, a few of the instructors, myself, and a few others were talking, and we got to talking about houses. And I mentioned, You know, there’s some interesting houses to study in the Bible. Lessons that are learned from

Events that occur in certain houses. And I was dwelling on that again and thinking concerning that, and I wanted to spend some time thinking about the role of houses, of homes in salvation. And I want us to consider that that role is very much like the role of a lighthouse in the midst of a storm for a ship.

That it is a beacon of hope. It is a safe harbor. It is a place where there is shelter from the storm. But as we consider this idea, I want us to consider a number of houses in the Old and the New Testament. And some of the lessons that we need to learn about how we should be using our homes in the work.

We begin first in the book of Genesis. In Genesis chapter 6, we are introduced to a man whose name was Noah. He was a man who was 500 years old when we’re introduced to him. As we’re able to glean from the scriptures, as we are introduced to him as a man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he has no children. He’s 500 years old, he has no children.

And yet Noah is going to be told by the Lord to build an ark. And I imagine most of us who are familiar with the scriptures are familiar with the account and familiar with the commands that Noah is given. But I want you to notice in Genesis chapter 6 some of the very pointed things that God tells Noah. As we begin in verse 9, this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.

Noah walked with God. Now, Moses is going to tell us about Noah’s three sons, and he tells us about them as the beginning of the events occur. But when you read the later information about Noah’s sons, you’ll find out that none of them had been born when Noah was told by God to build the ark. The oldest one will step off the ark at 98 years old.

And Noah spent a hundred years building the ark. So we have knowledge that when God says the things that he says to Noah, he has no children. But they will be raised under this command. Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt.

For all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. As Noah is given this instruction from the Lord to build the ark, Noah is faced with an environment where the entirety of mankind has given themselves over to that which is evil. That every thought of their heart was only evil continually, the text will tell us. And it is in that environment.

That Noah has to bring children into the world. It is in that environment where Noah is commanded to do the work of building the ark. God said to Noah, verse 13: The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Chapter 7 and verse 1, we read: Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark.

You and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. As Noah has done what God commanded, that is, to build the ark, to build it out of gopher wood, to gather the animals, prepare the ark for the animals, to be able to enter into the ark. God calls Noah into the ark. But he doesn’t just call Noah into the ark.

He calls Noah and his household into the ark.

Someone were to pick up the phone and call Walker. Walker picks up the phone. Walker, I have a house ready for you.

That that’d be an exciting day. Now, the next question might be how much does it cost? And what do I have to do?

In this case, God had told Noah to build his own house.

But it was provided by the Lord. It was that which belonged to the Lord. And the Lord calls Noah into the house. Into the boat. And Noah’s family is going to reside in that boat, in that houseboat, if you could call it that, for a year.

But Noah is going to be called by God with his entire household. Verse 7 we read So Noah with his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood, of clean animals and of animals that are unclean, of birds and of of everything that creeps on the ground, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God commanded Noah, and it came to pass after seven days.

That the waters of the flood were on the earth in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.

As the text tells us about the environment that Noah lived in, the culture that Noah lived in, the world that Noah brought his children into, it also tells us that Noah and his wife were faithful in raising their children to obey the Lord.

So much so that not only were they faithful in raising their children to obey the Lord, but that they were able to convince and to convert their wives to be obedient to the Lord.

In the face of an entire generation.

that was in rebellion against God.

The house, the home.

is a place where children are taught to obey God.

And where faithfulness

Can be delivered from one generation to the next generation, and where salvation can be found. In chapter eight, we read in chapter eight and verse eleven: then the dove came to him, to Noah, in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth, and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him.

Anymore. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

Twelve months after Noah and his family went into the ark, they’re finally about to leave.

Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons wife with you with you, bring out with you every living thing of all the earth that is with you, birds and cattle, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him.

Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth according to their families went out of the ark.

Noah’s house was a place of salvation. Noah’s house was a place of salvation for his descendants and their lineage. In Hebrews chapter 11, we’re told that by faith Noah obeyed in building the ark because he feared the Lord.

But we’re also told in Second Peter chapter two and verse five that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.

Noah preached righteousness to the world around him. Noah preached righteousness to those who were nearby. Noah condemned the world by the building of the ark, Hebrews chapter eleven.

But Noah preached and saved his own family.

House where Noah lived hosted salvation for the next generation. But then consider number two.

There’s the house where sinners are invited to a meal to be called to repentance. Jesus, as he was on this earth, as he is beginning his ministry, will come into contact with a number of young men who are already striving to serve the Lord, but some of them were already in occupations. Some of them were were already laboring in what we would now call careers.

And one of those, his name was Levi, also known as Matthew. Matthew was one who sat at the table of the tax collectors. Matthew was one who was a tax collector. Tax collectors were not thought of well in the nation of Israel because they didn’t collect taxes on behalf of the Jewish government.

They collected taxes on behalf of the Roman government. And many of them had a way about them. Namely, the Roman government established that they were required to collect the taxes that Rome required. But as far as Rome was concerned, Rome didn’t care what else they collected above and beyond that.

And so if they were required to collect a certain amount for Rome and let Rome receive that amount, Rome didn’t care how much they actually collected. And so the tax collectors were commonly known to be those who defrauded individuals and claimed that they owed more than they actually did and kept the difference.

And this is the type of people that Matthew works with. This is the type of people that Matthew spends his day around are these publicans, as they’re called in the King James Version. These tax collectors. As Jesus comes to Matthew and tells him to follow him, notice what we read in Matthew, or sorry, Luke chapter 5, verse 27.

After these things he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, Follow me. So he, Matthew, Levi, left all, rose up, and followed him. Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.

And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus is going to be invited by Levi to the feast. Levi is, by all likelihood, younger than Jesus, and yet he has his own house. He has enough resources to be able to throw this great feast.

And to invite all the tax collectors, and to invite all those who he had association with, and he brought them into his own house.

This wasn’t Levi throwing his own going away party.

This wasn’t Matthew showing the Lord, Look how great I am, aren’t you glad you got me?

This was Matthew.

Creating an opportunity for those who he knew were sinners, who he knew were ungodly, because he worked with them. He knew what they were.

To be in the presence of Jesus.

And Jesus makes it clear why he was there. Jesus wasn’t there to enjoy a good meal. Jesus wasn’t there to accommodate Levi and his misconceptions of the world. Doesn’t seem as though there were any. Jesus wasn’t there to encourage the tax collectors and the sinners in their continued unrighteousness.

Jesus was there to call the lost to repentance.

Levi knew that his house, while he still had the ability to own it, whilst he still had the resources, which by the way, later on he would not have after following Jesus.

He knew he could use his house to help others who were sinners hear the gospel.

He hosted salvation in his house. But then consider number three: the house where the sinner joyfully let the preacher in. In Luke chapter 19, we are introduced to Jesus going to Jericho. Jesus is traveling amongst the cities of the region.

And he enters into Jericho, and wherever Jesus went as he was traveling, the crowds, the multitudes would meet him. And word has come that Jesus is headed to Jericho. And so the multitudes and the people of Jericho are awaiting Jesus’ arrival.

And as the word spreads, a man who was a tax collector hears about it.

And he desires to see this one Jesus of Nazareth.

Unfortunately he had a slight inconvenience.

For the multitude had gathered to see Jesus, and he was very short.

We read in Luke chapter 19, verse 1 Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree to see him, Jesus. For he was going to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place he looked up and saw him and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down, for today I must stay at your house.

So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully.

Zacchaeus didn’t say, no, no, not my house. You might find out more about me than I want you to know.

For he wasn’t just a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. He not only collected on behalf of Rome, he ran the people who collected on behalf of Rome.

But Zacchaeus didn’t say no. Zacchaeus rather received Jesus joyfully. And we notice in the verse, verse seven but when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.

Zacchaeus was well known and not for good things. Zacchaeus is well known, and it’s not a good reputation. All the people look at it and go, he’s going to whose house?

But when they saw it, they had all complained, saying he has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, notice that Zacchaeus does not address Jesus as just teacher.

If Zacchaeus had just referred to Jesus as teacher, he would have called him the same thing that every other Jew would have called a rabbi. He doesn’t do that. He addresses him as Lord or master. He recognizes the position of the person who is in his presence.

And he says, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. Now, in the original language in the Greek, we learned this when we were in school, there’s a there’s such a thing as a first class conditional statement in the Greek.

We don’t really use it this way in English, but here’s what it means. It’s to say something with the assumption of its truth. Here’s another passage where you find it. Satan will say to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4, if you are the Messiah.

Satan’s not questioning whether Jesus is the Son of God. Satan knows exactly who Jesus is. Satan is rather saying in the Greek, since you are, it assumes the truth of the matter, but it’s couched as an if. It’s written if with the assumption of its truth.

Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.

Well, here in Luke chapter 19, Zacchaeus uses a first class conditional statement in the Greek. If I have taken anything from anyone by false accusations,

Zacchaeus is not saying, Lord, you search me out, you test me, and you’ll see that I have always been honest. That is not what he’s saying.

This is Zacchaeus admitting his guilt.

It is further Zacchaeus knowing exactly what the law required of him. The law required under the law of Moses, if you had taken anything by false accusation, you had to restore it four times.

If I were to come to Parker over here, say, you owe me $100. But Parker didn’t owe me $100. But through force of will, through position and authority, I say, Parker, you pay me $100. And everybody else says, Parker, pay him the money. You owe him. So he gives me $100.

And then I realized the error of my way, if I had lived under the old law of Moses, Parker’s repayment would be $400.

Zacya says I’m guilty.

I’m restoring force.

And that’s already after he has said, half of everything I have I’m giving to the

Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

You see, the house of Zacchaeus was a house where the sinner joyfully let the preacher in.

Sometimes

We look at the world around us and we look at the people we know and we look at their lives and we think there’s no way that person would ever be receptive to the gospel. Look at what they’re doing.

But Zacchaeus was. Zacchaeus was so much more receptive to the gospel than the people in the city he lived in were.

But then consider in Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, we find the house where the saved learn to focus on what is most important. Jesus will come to the house of Mary and Martha. And we read in Luke chapter 10, beginning verse 38, now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Therefore tell her to help me.

Here’s Martha, she’s in her house. Jesus comes to the city where Martha’s house is, and Jesus comes into Martha’s house, but Jesus doesn’t travel by himself, does he? When Jesus walks in, here come 12 more men.

There are now mouths to feed, there are people to take care of, there are things that need to be done. And here is Martha, and she’s doing her best to accommodate hosting the Lord.

And every time she walks in the room where Jesus is, she walks out frustrated.

Because there’s her sister.

And all she’s doing is sitting and listening.

She’s not helping with the food. She’s not helping with the preparations. She’s not providing it. She’s not laboring. She’s just sitting there doing nothing.

Mary or Martha finally has enough.

Martha comes to Jesus and says, Do you not see what’s going on?

Tell my sister to get up and help me.

Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.

Jesus helps Martha to understand what some of us also need to understand is that As we are hosting salvation in our homes in whatever way, shape, or form that might be, we will be tempted to be too distracted by the physical things involved in the hosting.

So much so that we can easily lose sight of the spiritual things that are going on.

Jesus will point out that there are times where the house needs to be used to teach the saved to focus on what is most important. But then consider the house is also found to be a place where persecutors try and stop the gospel. The house was so fundamental to the spread of the New Testament church.

It was so fundamental to the evangelism of the first century church that when the enemies of the church try and stop the spread of the gospel, they know where to go. Saul of Tarsus knew where to go. Saul of Tarsus went in house to house to house, pulling out the Christians.

And now Paul finds himself in Thessalonica in Acts chapter seventeen, verse one. Now when they had passed through Ampiphilus and Aphalonia, they came to Thessalonica, there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

And some of them were persuaded. And a great multitude of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. They were converted to Christianity. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought.

To bring them out to the people.

When the Jews who envied what Paul was doing and what Paul was accomplishing in the city sought to attack it and stop it, they attacked the house where Paul was teaching people.

Consider, but when they did not find them verse six, they dragged Jason and some brethren of the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus. And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things, so when they had taken security from Jason and the rest they let them go.

Essentially they said you pay a bond and we’ll let you out.

But the persecutors of the early church knew that if they were going to stop the spread of Christianity, they were going to have to attack it at its heart. And the heart of Christianity is the house where salvation is found.

But then consider in Philemon chapter one, Paul writes to Philemon, primarily because of this individual Onesimus, but we learn some interesting things about the first century church and about Philemon in the process. For we learn about what this individual, Philemon, has done.

And I in Philemon chapter one, we read, beginning in verse one, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apophia, Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. Philemon was one who was a Christian, yes. But more than that, Philemon

Hosted the assembly of the body of Christ in his own home.

Ask yourself, what would happen if this fine building that we’ve been blessed with here in the heart of Collierville was suddenly uprooted, destroyed, taken by flood or fire or tornado? What would happen to the church?

And the answer is not a thing.

It would be an inconvenience, but what would happen to the church? Not a thing.

Because the church isn’t this building. The church doesn’t continue to exist because we have a meeting place. The church exists because Christians assemble and do the work of God. And in the city where Philemon was, they assembled in Philemon’s house. We read in verse two and sorry, verse three, grace to you.

And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. What motivated Philemon to host the assembly in his house?

His love for the saints, his love for his brethren. But then consider that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Philemon did more than just host them in his house. Philemon preached to them in his house. He shared

His faith with them. But then we read, For we have great joy and consolation in your love because the heart of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

Paul is going to write to Philemon, because Philemon hosted the church in his house. Philemon shared his faith with the Christians in his house. And Philemon refreshed the hearts of the Christians in his house. But then go down to verse 17 and consider if then you count me as a partner.

receive him as you would me, speaking of Onesimus. But if ye he has wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand, I will repay, not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self, besides.

Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord, refresh my heart in the Lord, having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. But meanwhile, Paul writes, Also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

Paul is going to write to Philemon, who hosts the Christians, who allows them to assemble in his house, who teaches and preaches to them, who refreshes them as he has the ability.

To receive Onesimus back to him, the slave who had fled from him, to welcome him as a brother in Christ.

He’s encouraged to send him back to Paul so that he can bec continue being an asset to Paul’s ministry. And then Paul goes so far as to say, and make sure my room’s ready when I get there.

Philemon was certainly one who hosted salvation in his house.

Matthew chapter ten. As we close, consider that the house

in Israel determined the fate of the city. In Matthew chap chapter ten, Jesus is going to send out his disciples into all the cities around Jerusalem, Judea, and in Israel.

And he sends them out with the instruction: when you come into the city, you find a house that is worth.

And when you find a house that is worthy, meaning that was a household where they heard that there was a teacher of the word of God present in their city, and they said, You don’t go anywhere else, you come to my house and you stay with me.

Jesus said to his disciples, When you find a house that is worthy, you don’t go from house to house in that city, you remain there. You eat what’s put in front of you, you remain with that family, and you bring your peace upon them. But he also said, If you go throughout the city and you find no house worthy, if you find no household that they see that you are a teacher of the word of God and that you are a bringer of

the words of the kingdom of God and a preacher of righteousness and they see that and no one welcomes you in. He says, You walk to the edge of the city and you shake the dust off your feet and you pronounce a curse upon that city.

The house determined the fate of the city.

Because if there was no house that would host salvation, if there was no house that would house a preacher and bring their friends, their family, the low the people they know who were lost, the people who they know needed to be saved, the people who they knew were sinners in need of repentance, and would bring them in the presence of the gospel.

Then Jesus said, that city’s already judged.

Because there’s not a house that will host salvation.

As we examine our hearts and our minds and our lives, may we examine how we use our homes.

Different stages in life, Our house is going to be used for different things. Sometimes it may be for the raising of the next generation to be faithful to the Lord. Sometimes it may be to offer shelter. Sometimes it may be a place where the gospel can be preached. Sometimes it may be a place to host those who are preaching the gospel. Sometimes it’s a place

where hearts can be refreshed and encouraged and edified.

But may we never find ourselves living in a house.

Where Jesus said concerning that house, dust off your feet, for that house will be judged. If you’re here this morning and you’re outside the body of Christ.

The church is the house of God. The church is the body of Christ. And it is the place where salvation is found. If you have need of the invitation of our Lord to put Christ on in baptism, to hear the word of God and believe that Jesus is the Christ, to repent of your sins and confess the name of Christ, to be immersed in water for the remission of those sins, to rise to walk in newness of life, bringing all that you have and all that you possess to

into and under his will. Even your own house. Then we invite you to do that this morning. If you’re a member of the body of Christ and you say,

Maybe I need to reconsider how my house has been used. We encourage you to be in a right relationship with God. And if need be, follow the example of Zacchaeus, who said, repentance is coming to my house today. If you have need of the invitation, why not come now as we stand and as we stand?

Revelation 22 (Lesson 1) – Aaron Cozort – October 18, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Christian faith, Church, divine promises, eternal life, foundation of Christ, heaven, keywords Revelation 21, perseverance, Spiritual Growth, spiritual imagery by Aaron Cozort

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Aaron Cozort (00:00)

Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Revelation. Chapter twenty-one.

Mm-hmm.

We’ve been noticing the visions that John saw and the things which he saw towards the end of the vision that is the book of Revelation. And we are in the portion where God is describing the state of the church after the troubles are over. Okay?

So we are in Revelation chapter 21. We’re going to begin with a word of prayer and then we’ll get into our study. Gracious Father in heaven, we come before you grateful for the day you’ve given to us, for the life that we have been blessed with and the opportunities that we have to serve you. Lord, we pray that you will be with us as we go through this period of study this morning. We also thank you for the safety of

⁓ the procedure with Brother Eric and pray that he continues to recover fully from that. Lord, we pray that you be with those who are dealing with illnesses and struggles. We pray that you give them the strength that they need as well. Lord, we ask that you be with those who are mourning the loss of loved ones and give them comfort, give them strength. Help us as a congregation to be an encouragement to those around us.

To those who are in the world and those who are a part of the body of Christ in all of the efforts and all of the things that they’re involved in that bless this world and that bring the gospel to every nation under heaven. Lord, we pray that you be with us as we move forward this week with a brand new week. May we focus our lives on the work of your kingdom and your glory. All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Revelation 21, ⁓ we noticed that verses one through eight look like a picture of heaven. It’s old testament language, comes from Isaiah, it comes from chapter 65, it comes from chapter 28, chapter 35. It describes a city that is impenetrable. we talked last week about the fact that the the description of

of the city four square is such that it is a fifteen hundred mile long city, a fifteen hundred mile wide city, and while that may be impressive, the other factor is it’s a fifteen hundred mile tall city.

My wife came up to me afterwards, I’m a I’m gonna tattle on her. She said, When you said that thing about, you know, all the satellites running into it, she’s like, That can’t be right. And then she googled and she’s like, Yeah, they’d be running into it like halfway up. You you don’t realize the description and how close things are, you know, that we think satellites and other things are in our atmosphere in terms of miles. There are only so many miles up.

Well, you start throwing a number like fifteen hundred miles tall up and you’ve you’ve got the planet and you’ve got a city that sticks like this far out from the planet.

And yet, some, even unfortunately, some within our brotherhood, are challenged so much by admitting the nature of the language and the application to the church that they’re struggling to figure out how God is going to build the new heavens and the new earth where we’re going to physically dwell.

If God’s going to build a new heavens and a new earth and it’s a physical heavens and a physical earth and we’re going to dwell there for eternity in the immortal life, then pray tell what’s he doing with gravity?

Because that city is not going to exist in the current form of gravity.

The point is when you’re looking at this picture.

You’re looking at a picture that is another variation on the picture of a mountain made without hands that grew and encompassed the entire earth. Where did that picture come from? Where is that language found?

In Daniel chapter 2. When Nebuchadnezzar saw the vision, and he saw the head of gold and the chest and arms of silver and the belly and thighs of brass and the legs of ⁓ and and feet of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay, and he sees the vision and he says, Here are these four kingdoms, and then he sees a mountain. Starts out really small.

But it is a mountain that is cut out without hands and it grows and it grows and it grows until it encompasses the entire planet.

Don’t you think the planet would look really weird if it was one mountain just circling around the sun?

So did Nebuchadnezzar look at Daniel and go, Yeah, it can’t happen.

Or did Nebuchadnezzar look at Daniel and say, Okay, so tell me when got when is God going to start construction on the mountain?

And ⁓ how big’s the base and and is I mean, how big are the peaks? I need to know about the physical dimensions of the mountain. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t ask about the physical dimensions of the mountain. Cause guess what? Nebuchadnezzar knew. The mountain was a picture.

Picture of a nation that can never be defeated. A picture of something that can never be destroyed by earthly means.

And so Nebuchadnezzar didn’t have to wonder was God going to construct a physical mountain? Neither do we have to wonder if God’s going to construct a physical city.

Nor should we ex be expecting that when we arrive in heaven we’re going to be on the hundred and ninety-seven thousandth floor of the single city.

Because the picture isn’t about heaven. It isn’t about eternity. It is a picture of a glorified state of the church delivered from persecution as the nation that will never be destroyed.

Furthermore

If you think about the foundations of a building.

You think about the skyscrapers that are in New York and other places. One of the things you’ll find out if you do any research into engineering is when they build these massive buildings, they got to go down a considerable distance in order to go up. There’s a reason why there’s always basements in these buildings. It’s because of the way the building has to be erected in order to have the strength to go up.

So notice in the text what the foundation of the building is, what the foundation of the city is. God will say, let me find where I’m at here.

Verse eighteen. The construction of its walls were of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third Chalcedoni, the fourth emerald, the fifth Sardonyx, the sixth Sardius, the seventh chrysalite, the eighth barrel, and

The ninth Tobaz, the tenth ⁓ chrysophase, the eleventh Jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. Now, you go, okay, so the foundation of the

Walls of the city, the walls that go up fifteen hundred miles, are rare jewels.

The foundation of the thing that’s made out of pure gold, or the foundation of the walls that go up fifteen hundred miles, are jewels. And the gates are pearls. Not pearls in each gate, not adorned with pearls, one pearl.

But if you go back and you look

You go back and find

That the city walls, verse 14, had 12 foundations. ⁓ that’s right, 12 foundations. We just read about the precious jewels that made up the 12 foundations. Except go read it again. Now the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Not only do we have the foundations were erected out of precious jewels, but engraved on the precious jewels are the names of the apostles.

Does this sound like what God has promised in eternity? No.

Does this sound like the church? You go, well, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought about the church that way. Maybe, just maybe, we should spend some time thinking about the church this way.

As a city, four square, as a mountain that encompasses the earth, as a city so large that it can never be defeated, laid on a foundation of the rarest of rare things.

The word of God.

Foundation that can never be destroyed. The New Testament tells us that no other foundation can any man lay than that which was laid, and who was it?

Jesus Christ.

When Paul tells about the work of the church, go to First Corinthians.

Paul’s gonna write in First Corinthians chapter three.

And he’s gonna say in verse five, Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field. You are what’s the passage say? God’s building. But then notice what he says. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation.

And another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work of what sort it is.

If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Now, as you see the similarities in the passage, don’t mistake, I’m not saying Paul’s describing the same thing in visionary language that John is. I’m taking you to a passage where Paul is clearly saying that we are workers taking the gospel to those who are lost. And when a person hears the gospel, they believe the gospel, they obey the gospel.

They become a part of God’s work, which he was describing to Nebuchadnezzar back in Daniel chapter 2. They become a part of God’s work. And Revelation 21 is a picture of God’s work. But Paul further uses the illustration to say that we lay all of those things that we build in the gospel on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

We lay it on one foundation. A foundation that can never be destroyed. A foundation that will never be broken down. The chief cornerstone, as Isaiah will describe it. And as we lay and build on that foundation, Paul says, some of the things that we build, you’re gonna look at it and you’re gonna realize some of them are hay, some of them are straw, some of them are stubble, some of them are gold and silver and precious things.

What’s he talking about?

Those six categories of things, what’s he talking about?

He’s talking the hearers. He’s talking about the people who hear the gospel. He says some of these individuals are going to be, let’s use Jesus’ analogy. Some of them are going to be wayward soil, and they’re not going to hear the gospel. Some of them are going to be thorny soil, and the seed is going to go into the soil and it’s going to begin to grow, but the cares of the world are going to choke it out.

That’s kind like straw when you light a fire, right? Any resistance whatsoever from straw when you light a fire? No, it just burns. Paul says, some of you who I taught the gospel are no better than straw when a fire is lit. You are not building something eternal in your life with the gospel. You heard it.

But that’s all. You obeyed it, but then you did nothing with it. You’re letting the cares of the world choke you out. Jesus further says there’s the stony soil where the the seed goes in, it begins to j germinate and it begins to bring life out and it produces, but then what comes?

The heat of the sun. And because it has no root in itself, Jesus will say, it will wither and die from the hardships of this life.

Go back to First Corinthians 3 and notice he says, wood, hay, straw. Which of those three those three things endures the fire?

Of a furnace.

None of them.

Some of the people who you teach the gospel to

We’ll hear the gospel, they’ll obey the gospel, they’ll be interested in the gospel, they’ll be faithful for a while.

But what they won’t do is allow their s heart to become good soil.

And instead they will allow the cares of the world or the lack of lack of depth in themselves to allow themselves to be destroyed when the world comes with persecution or shiny bright new things.

And they’ll be gone. Now, Paul’s point here in First Corinthians three is when the worker, the laborer, the teacher teaches someone and they’re obedient to the gospel, there’s a reward for the worker.

But if the person who hears the gospel, obeys the gospel, then departs from the truth and goes back into the world, the worker suffers loss of the reward, but they don’t lose their soul.

They’re not destroyed because the person was unfaithful. If it was the case that their eternal condition was destroyed because there was someone who they thought was who was unfaithful, whose eternal condition would also have been destroyed when he was on this earth?

Jesus. You remember when Jesus said to the apostles, Will you two turn back and walk with me no more? The reason he said that is because there were whole multitudes that said, This is too hard for us.

⁓ you mean they had no root in themselves?

But what was Peter’s response?

Lord, to whom should we go? You have the words of eternal life.

So pay attention. Here’s three examples of substances that get consumed by fire. But then the other three examples are gold, silver, and precious stones. What happens to them in the fire?

Some of get purified, some of them get harder, some of them get more precious than they ever were before.

Here you have three substances, they don’t get destroyed by fire, they get better by fire. Okay?

And to those Paul says, the person who did the teaching has a reward.

Because they’re part of God’s building and they’re not going to be destroyed by this world. They’re not going to be destroyed by temptation. They’re not going to be destroyed by a lack of faithfulness. They’re going to become stronger through it. Now go back to Revelation 21 and think about this.

Hier’s the picture.

The church physically, When you looked at it purely from a perspective of if you were standing on the planet looking at these Christians who Rome had thrown everything against.

They would have looked like they were barely hanging on.

But God’s not interested in what the world sees. God’s not interested in how things look physically. God is trying to tell John to tell the church here’s what I see. I don’t see anybody dead. I don’t see anybody defeated. I see my church brought through the fire.

Undefeated and undefeatable. Go ahead, Satan. What fire are you going to throw at my kingdom? Go ahead, Satan. What fire are you going to throw at the church? All you’re going to do is cause it to spread and grow. You won’t defeat it. You’ll make it better. You’ll make it stronger. You won’t tear it down. You’ll make it last forever.

And so the picture in the passage is about rare jewels. The picture in the passage is about a city overlaid with gold, with streets of gold.

Picture is heavenly language.

Of a kingdom that isn’t of this world.

Because Jesus said, If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.

But the kingdom’s not of this world, neither is the church. ⁓ we’re in the world, for sure. But we’re sojourners in the world. Our real dwelling place is where? In heaven. Now, he says, verse 22, but I saw the temple. Let me skip forward here in some slides. Verse 22.

There’s nothing defiling in this city. Okay? Verse 22: I saw no temple in it. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Now, Paul just used the analogy in 1 Corinthians 3 that was the reverse of this, right? He said that we are the temple, right?

He says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in you? Okay, he uses one analogy to describe we are the house where God dwells. This is a different picture. This is a picture of the city of God, and God says, I didn’t have to build a temple here.

Because I dwell with you. You don’t come to me, I’m with you. Notice what he says. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminate it. The Lamb is its light.

Jesus would say, as John records in John in the book of John, I am the light of the world.

John would open. John chapter 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was the life, and the life was the light of men.

Light shine in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

When Jesus walked the earth

The light of God’s glory was physically present on this earth. And did the world realize what was in their presence? No.

Thirty years in, it takes God speaking from heaven to say, this is my beloved son.

33 years in. It takes God speaking from heaven as Jesus is on the mountain to say, This is my beloved son. Hear you him.

thirty three and a half years in.

As he’s hanging on the cross

God just takes all the light away to make the point.

This is the light of the world.

And the world comprehended it not. So who comprehends it?

Church. Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of life.

John is going to be shown the city. And he says, God, God didn’t build a city and then put a temple in it.

The temple is the city. And God is in it. The city is the church. God’s not separated from the church. God’s not far off from the church. Matter of fact, Paul will write that he’s near each and every one of us.

So then notice what he says. The nations of those who are what?

Saved. Notice this is a city where the saved are. ⁓ well, they must be just the Jewish saved, right? The hundred and forty four thousand, they were all Jews. They were of the twelve tribes. Well, except one tribe was left out.

That that these must be only the Israelites say No. He says, and the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

So, what this is really meaning, of course, is that God’s planning on setting up a national headquarters on the earth, and the governments of the world are gonna bring their power and their might and their military, and they’re gonna br make treaties with God’s nation, and God’s going to have one world government. Where have we heard this before? Don’t you love it when Satan

And false teachers make nonsense out of the gospel? I don’t. Because people get so caught up in the nonsense that they never bother to read the word.

Believe it or not, God established a one world government.

Two thousand years ago.

It hasn’t stopped operating since. Every nation under heaven is welcome inside. Every king from all over the world can bring everything they have and enter in to that government. All they’ve got to do is what?

Obey the gospel and pledge allegiance to the king of that government.

But this isn’t about the IMF or the UN or the US or the nation of Russia or China or or anything like that. This is about the church.

But notice this, you say, Well w what does this mean? That that the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it.

Think about it this way.

When Paul was preaching

And he was in prison in Rome under house arrest. And we’re told in the book of Acts that even some of Caesar’s own house were converted to the gospel by the gospel to the church.

Did they stop being royalty?

No, physically they were royalty, but all the things that they were, all the things that they had been in the world, just got brought into the assets of the church.

Think about a man named Barnabas over in Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 5. Here’s a man who is of some status. He’s a landowner. He’s got possessions. We know this because he sells them and gives the proceeds to who?

To the church. And then proceeds to go traveling with Saul of Tarsus.

All throughout the region.

What was he before? We have no idea. What was he after? A Christian. And every asset he had became part of the assets of the kingdom.

There was a centurion in Acts chapter 10. Centurion who is of some status, seemingly and quite clearly, because he’s been aiding the Jews. He’s been giving alms to those who are in need. He’s been doing good, but he knows that he needs more than that. And he prays to the Lord, and the Lord sends him Simon Peter.

And he and all of his household obey the gospel.

What did Cornelius’ assets instantly become?

The assets of the kingdom.

Because Cornelius said, I’m giving my allegiance to Jesus Christ.

The point of the passage is whatever the world thinks it has, when someone obeys the gospel, those become the assets of the Lord. The the glory they had become that which comes into the kingdom.

But Jesus is just as satisfied with the widow who has nothing.

Than the rich man who has everything. James will point out in James chapter 2 that the Christians were doing wrong in their assembly when they would welcome in the rich man, give him a fine place to sit and not say anything about his sinful life, while they’d take the poor man, the destitute person, and put him in a place of disgrace and not say anything about his sinful life.

He says, you let somebody walk in and you give them prominence because of who they are physically, and you have forgotten, you have become guilty of the whole law because you’ve shown partiality.

The point of the passage is everything that a person who becomes a Christian brings with them. Everything God’s blessed them with up until that point just becomes one more asset of the Lord.

He goes on to say concerning the city, its gates shall not be shut at all by day. There shall be no night there. Well parenthetical statement. Gates never get shut during the day, and day’s all there is.

You know, that new heaven and new earth thing, ⁓ God’s gonna have to make the plants to grow without any nighttime.

But they’re also not gonna have any heat because there’s not gonna be any sun.

He says, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, but there shall by no means enter anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Jesus will give a parable.

He gives a parable of one who owns a field.

And the master of the field sends his workers out to plant the field. And they go out and they plant the field. And then overnight the enemy of the one who owns the field comes and sows tares throughout the field.

As time goes on, the servants come to the master and they inform him ⁓ Lord, we we we have tares growing amidst the wheat.

And they say, What should we do?

Shall we go and rip the tears out?

What does the master tell the servants to do?

He tells them, wait till the harvest. Because when harvest time came, they would be able to differentiate quite clearly between the tares and the wheat. By the time that the plant had grown to that point and matured to that point, it was easy to distinguish which one was the real wheat. He says, wait till the harvest.

You know, in the kingdom, in the church

You’re going to meet people.

Who you go through interactions with them and you spend time with them and you experience their life spiritually and you think to yourself, I’m pretty sure I’m interacting with a tear.

They just don’t seem to really be a Christian. Spiritually, they’re empty. I’m looking at their life and they have produced no fruit.

But you wanna know what the Lord doesn’t tell you to do? He doesn’t tell you to root out of the church.

He tells you to wait till harvest. He said, I know which ones are which, and I’ll separate them. And the one who’s the tear will be burned in the fire.

As the Lord pictures the church, as he pictures them coming out of the persecution, guess what? The persecution did.

It burned up all the straw and wood and stubble.

Somebody asked me years ago, back when we lived in North Carolina, almost twenty years ago. Starting to feel old.

But I know some of you can say fifty years ago, you know, so I feel better.

Somebody asked me, Aaron, what’s it gonna take for the church to grow in America again?

And I think the answer I said then still applicable, still true. Persecution.

Because we have too many congregations that are full of tears.

We have too many congregations that because it’s easy, because there’s no hardship in sense of be being a Christian and being faithful, there’s nobody knocking on your door.

Saying you renounce Christ or die.

It’s not happening in America. Sure, you could point to an event, you could point to a traumatic experience, you could point to a a a mass shooting, you could point to an event, but you can’t point to a nationwide event.

Where someone said you choose to be faithful and you’re dead.

The picture of the church post persecution.

was a picture of a church swept clean, a picture of a per of a church post harvest, where God said, Yeah, everybody that was pretending

Already gave up and walked away. And they’ll be judged. And what’s left? There’s no hay, there’s no straw, there’s no stubble, there’s no wood, there’s only gold and silver and precious stones.

Because they came through the fire.

And they’re better for it.

He says they’re the ones written in the Lamb’s book of life. So as you read Revelation twenty one, should you learn something about the church glorified in eternity? Yes, you should.

But what you should take the time to do.

Is look at the passage and go, what am I learning about the body of Christ and the kingdom which the Lord set up which shall never be destroyed? Or as another way to think about it. You remember when Samuel was told to go anoint the next king of Israel when Saul had disobeyed the Lord?

And Samuel goes to the house of Jesse and he sees first the the oldest, and he looks, he looks like a king. And Samuel wants to anoint the oldest, and God says, no, you don’t.

I don’t look at the outward man, but I judge the heart. So he goes, and there’s the first one. Nope. The second one. No. Third one. No. Fourth one. No. Fifth one. No. Sixth one. No. Seventh one. No. Jesse, do you have any other sons?

Well yes, the youngest one, he’s out in the field tending the sheep.

Call him.

And he anoints the one who the Lord saw what was not readily apparent to anyone looking physically.

That’s the church. That’s Revelation twenty-one. That’s what John’s trying to get you to see. The Lord doesn’t look at the church the way the humanity does.

And he doesn’t look at the state of a persecuted, embattled, bloodied group of people the way the world does.

He says they’re lined with gold. They’re made of precious jewels, and the fire can’t do anything but make them stronger.

And he says, that’s my church!

Their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.