Worship (Lesson 6) – Aaron Cozort – September 09, 2026

In Abram, Admonition Podcast, Altars, Biblical Principles, Calling on the Lord, Faithfulness, Genesis, keywords Worship, New Testament, Noah, Old Testament by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening.

Good to see everyone out this evening.

We will be continuing our study of worship

in the Old and New Testament.

As we consider additional principles

concerning worship and some

of the history behind worship,

we’ve noticed a a few of the beginning

examples of that.

We’re going to notice a few more this

evening.

But let’s begin with a word of prayer and

then we’ll get into our study.

Our gracious Father in heaven,

we

Come before your throne, grateful for the

day that you’ve blessed us with,

for the life that you have granted to us,

for the health and the opportunity that we

have to assemble together.

We pray that you will continue to grant us

that health and continue to grant

us that opportunity. Lord, we pray for

those who,

by reason of illness or injury,

are unable to be with us. We pray also for

those who have lost loved ones.

Especially mindful of Beverly and her

family at this time,

pray that you give them strength as they

grieve.

Lord, we pray that you will help us to

always be an encouragement to those

who are struggling in whatever way they

may be struggling.

And help us to be mindful of our position

in life and

be grateful and thankful for all that you

do for us.

Lord, we pray and ask that you forgive us

of our sins when we fall short

of your glory.

And all this we pray and ask in Jesus’

name.

Amen.

We’re going to begin this evening in

Genesis chapter four.

So in Genesis chapter 4, ~ we of course

have noticed the incident

of Cain and Abel earlier on in the

chapter.

We’re not gonna spend ~ any additional

time on that,

but we do notice there in that example

that we have worship occurring.

When we get to the end of the chapter,

we find verse 25 and 26:

Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a

son and named him Seth.

For God had appointed another seed for me

instead of Abel,

whom Cain killed. And as for Seth,

to him also a son was born, and he named

him Enosh,

then men, and notice this terminology,

began to call on the name of the Lord.

This evening as we go through our study,

we’re going to notice examples of altars

that were set up.

And the sacrifices that were offered on

them,

and the connection that exists between

worship

and calling on the name of the Lord.

Because that terminology is used a number

of times throughout Scripture.

Now, as Moses here records the events,

he will utilize the reference.

That is the term Lord in most English

versions you’ll find there at the

end of verse 26 is the term for Yahweh.

It it is the ~ in most English versions,

it’s either all caps or it’s l uppercase

and low or sorry,

large and lowercase. I’m gonna get it

right.

Large and small caps ~ is the way many

translations actually place it in there.

~ but that is there to

To differentiate if you see Lord in all

caps,

it’s to differentiate the fact that

they’re the passages using the term

Jehovah

or Yahweh in the Hebrew, and ~ gives some

special recognition to that.

We we recognize that God will tell ~ Moses

if you go forward into the book of Exodus

that he would be

Known by that name from that point

forward,

that that would be a recognition of God’s

place

and relationship to Israel. But here in

this text,

we notice that humanity begins to call

upon the name

of the Lord. Humanity at large begins to

worship God.

Now,

It’s not going to be but a chapter before

we see the descendants of Cain

and their complete departure away from

God,

and their departure away from what God had

told them to do,

and humanity’s departure away from what

God had told them to do.

but as a result of that,

when we get to the end of chapter five,

we’re introduced to Noah.

And Noah at five hundred years old is one

who finds grace in the eyes of the Lord,

but the contrast to Noah is the entire

rest of the planet.

Because you have in chapter five the

declaration that those sons

of God intermarried with the daughters of

men.

that was actually a discussion Kevin and I

were having relatively recently about

what what does that mean?

Some will come to that passage and they’ll

argue,

well, this is ~ I think ~ I’m not sure

what religious group it is that that holds

to this, but a number of people do,

~ that this is a a time where angels

intermarried with humans.

That’s not what the text is talking about.

What you have in that text because of the

direct reference previously to the men.

Began to call on the name of the Lord,

is you have those of Seth’s descendants

that are worshiping God,

that are faithful to God, and they’re

going to be referred to as the sons of

God.

They’re going to be referred to as those

who are following after the Lord.

They’re calling on the name of the Lord.

And yet Cain’s descendants, which you read

about in chapter 5,

are going to be those who are going to be

following after Cain.

That which is evil, they’re going to

persist in that which is evil,

just the same way that Cain did.

Actually, you read about Cain’s

descendants in chapter four,

verses 16 through 24. But there’s a

separation.

Here’s Seth’s descendants, and they’re

following after God.

Here’s Cain’s descendants, and they’re

following after their own sinful desires

and their own sinful lusts. And what

happens?

The same way it happens in the days of

Israel.

Well, the sons of

These people marry the daughter of these

people,

and guess what? It doesn’t turn out well

for.

It doesn’t turn out well for faithfulness

to God.

And so eventually, through the course of

marrying into one another,

the same way God will later tell Israel:

don’t intermarry with the Canaanites,

don’t intermarry with those Parizzites and

the Hivites and the Jebusites

and the ones that I told you you’re going

to put out of this land.

Don’t intermarry with with the people who

are in that land,

because if you do, they’re going to turn

your heart away from me,

and I’m going to come and judge you.

And sure enough, what do you find to be

the circumstance that leads to the flood?

Intermarrying between those who are

faithful and those who are ungodly.

And so their hearts are turned away from

God,

their hearts are turned away from the

Lord,

while they began to call upon the name of

the Lord.

By the time you get to the end of chapter

5,

Noah.

Stands as a unique example of those who

find grace in the eyes of the Lord.

So, as we look at worship,

we consider that first God expects it.

Secondly, God has expected it generation

after generation after generation from

garden forward. But let’s notice what we

find in the life of Noah.

Genesis chapter five, we’re introduced,

as I mentioned, to Noah, and God is going

to declare that Noah finds

grace in his eyes. You find ~ Genesis

chapter six,

verse one, now it came to pass when man

began to multiply on the face of the

earth,

the daughters were born to them,

that the sons of God saw the daughters of

men,

that they were beautiful, that they took

wives for themselves of all they chose,

and the Lord said, My spirit shall not

strive with man forever.

For he indeed is is indeed flesh,

yet his days shall be one hundred and

twenty years.

There were giants on the earth in those

days,

and also afterward, when the sons of God

came into the daughters of

men and they bore children to them,

they were the mighty men who were of old

men of renown.

Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man

was great in the earth,

and that every intent of the thoughts of

his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that he had made

man on the earth,

and he was grieved in his heart.

So the Lord said, I will destroy man,

whom I have created from the face of the

earth,

both man and beast, creeping things and

birds of the air,

for I am sorry that I have made them,

but Noah found grace in the eyes of the

Lord.

This is the genealogy of Noah.

Noah was a just man, perfect in his

generations,

Noah walked with God. And 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.

And God said to Noah, 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.

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood,

make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside

and outside with pitch,

and this is how you shall make it.

The length of the ark shall be three

hundred cubits,

its width fifty cubits, its height thirty

cubits,

you shall make a window for the ark,

and you shall finish it to a cubit from

above,

and set the door of the ark in its side,

you shall make it with lower second and

third decks,

and behold I myself am bringing the flood

waters on the earth to destroy from under

heaven all flesh in which the br is the

breath of life,

everything that is on the earth shall die.

Because of the wickedness of mankind,

because of their persistence in that which

is evil,

as the book describes it, that they only

thought of that which

was evil continually. It was the only

thing they thought about.

It was the only motivation, and their only

desire was to do that which is wrong.

Now

Could that ever happen again? Absolutely.

Absolutely. It is part of the reason why

it is a necessity

for us as members of the body of Christ,

as Christians, to continue to teach and to

preach the gospel.

It is because the world does

not trend towards righteousness.

It doesn’t habitually just decide to do

that which is right.

The world continues to

Push generation after generation towards

that which is evil.

And it is only through those who are

righteous doing what God has commanded

them

to do that that is held back. And

furthermore,

you see that God has a willingness to

judge the evil that exists in this world.

So when you look at

The events that are going to transpire in

the life of Noah.

Noah is going to build the ark just as God

commanded him to.

God is going to tell Noah to get on the

ark,

and Noah’s going to do that. Noah is going

to take him with him those clean animals

and those unclean animals that God

commands him to do.

And then we find chapter 8. Chapter 8,

we find in verse 20.

As we go down through the text,

then Noah built an ark to the Lord,

or sorry, an altar to the Lord,

and took of every clean animal and of

every clean bird,

and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

When the flood is over, when Noah and his

sons and

his wife and theirs and his sons’ wives

depart from the ark,

when the animals come off of the ark.

We’re told that Noah is going to build an

altar to the Lord.

He’s going to take of every clean animal,

of every clean bird, and offer burnt

offerings on the altar.

You notice here that as Noah offers this

worship to God,

he’s going to offer what is acceptable to

God.

We’ve already seen in the ~ events of Cain

and Abel that Cain offered

that which was not acceptable to God.

That Abel offered that which pleased the

Lord,

that which was accepted by God.

Here we have another event not too far

forward

in the text where again we’re being told.

There’s that which is accepted by God,

and there’s that which is not accepted by

God when it comes to worship.

And should it be any surprise for us today

that that’s still the case?

Should we be surprised when from the

beginning of time God has had

a standard of how worship is to be offered

in order to be accepted by Him,

that He still has a standard? Certainly

not.

But notice

The Lord verse twenty one smelled a smooth

aroma,

a soothing aroma. Let me get my words out

tonight.

Then the Lord said at his heart,

I will never again curse the ground for

man’s sake,

although the imagination of man’s heart is

evil from his youth,

nor will I again destroy every every

living thing as I have done.

You know, I have heard it said before,

usually by gardeners, that those weeds are

the curse that

God placed on Adam. No, they’re not.

We’re told here that that curse ended.

That wasn’t any more in effect the way

that it had been.

Now

There’s certainly things that exist in

this world that are bane

on somebody’s existence, especially if

they’re a gardener.

But the thing which God made that caused

the earth

to be cursed is not in existence anymore.

That was something that existed and was

for a time before the flood and not now.

~ but God says, I’ll never do this again.

I will never curse the ground for man’s

sake,

although the ~ although the imagination of

man’s heart is evil from his youth,

nor will I again destroy every living

thing as I have done.

While the earth remains, seed time and

harvest,

cold and heat, winter and summer,

and day and night shall not cease.

God makes a promise.

That the earth is going to continue to do

exactly what he made

it to do until he says otherwise.

We often ~ hear by a lot of people a

lot of ~ tumult, a lot of of worry,

a lot of hand-wringing about one thing or

another on the planet and

How you know it’s all going to come to a

disastrous end if something doesn’t change

soon. Usually ~ someone’s in an incentive

~ or position to be paid

if that thing ~ doesn’t change.

But you find that they’re quite ignorant

about what God had said.

Now, God didn’t always say that it was

going to be springtime.

And everything was going to be warm and

everything was going to

be cool and everything was going to have

rain everywhere and there wouldn’t

be any droughts and there wouldn’t be any

deserts and there wouldn’t

be any mountains and there wouldn’t be any

glaciers and there wouldn’t be any.

He didn’t say that, did he? He said rather

that the systems that he

put in place were going to persist.

The systems that he established to

maintain the earth would not.

deteriorate beyond the point that he

allowed them to go.

All the way over in the book of Hebrews,

we’re told in Hebrews chapter 1 that

the earth and the world and the universe

that we live

in is maintained by the word of God’s

power.

We notice Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1,

God who at various times

And in various ways spoken time past to

the fathers by the prophets,

has in these last days spoken to us by his

Son,

whom he has appointed heir of all things,

through whom also he made the worlds,

who being the brightness of his glory,

and the express image of his person,

and upholding all things by the word of

his power when he had by himself purged

our sins, sat down at the right hand of

the Majesty on high.

The universe is not going anywhere.

The world is not going anywhere.

It’s not going anywhere because Jesus

Christ isn’t going anywhere.

And it is his word,

it is his authority that allows and

demands that

the world persist.

But isn’t that an interesting point to

realize?

What happened if he ever changed his mind?

What happened, I don’t know, not in

conjecture,

but to say, there is a day in which Christ

will stop doing

that. There is a day in which Christ will

return,

and the purpose that this physical world

and this universe have served

in humanity’s existence to lead us to

eternity will be over.

And when they are,

Peter will write in second Peter chapter

three that it’s going to end

in the very elements being burned up.

Just a little bit of a rabbit chase here.

It wasn’t until

the nineteen forties that we had

confirmation that there

was more power at the atomic level than

had ever been tapped into,

let alone unleashed, in this universe.

by mail.

The atomic bombs that were dropped ~ by

the United States

in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the testing of

the atomic weapons that

and nuclear weapons that followed after

that was the release

of more power in the form of energy power

in one decade than all of humanity had

released to all knowledge in human

history.

from the beginning of time to that point,

in one decade.

So when you think about all of humanity’s

existence from

Genesis all the way until 1940,

and you realize that humanity had operated

in an incredibly limited scope of

knowledge about what God created.

And only after 1940 do you have ~ really a

new world

in which we have insight into

That which goes all the way down to the

atomic level and the egg

the energy that exists at the atomic

level.

And we have the audacity quite often to

think,

well, we that was the last thing to

discover.

That that was the the last nugget of God’s

creation that we could possibly have have

have discovered and imagined and surely we

now know the the most powerful thing

that we’ll ever know about. And I think

that’s probably nonsense.

But then pause for a moment and consider

if you think about the power that exists

at the atomic level and what we know can

be unleashed,

what would happen if God ever kept ever

stopped keeping

it together?

If that’s what can be released simply by

what man can learn,

what would happen if God ever stopped

holding it together?

And we say again. It’d be gone.

He made it. He holds it together.

We exist because he holds it together.

And without that, we don’t exist

in this physical life, in this physical

world,

because it will be gone. And there will be

a day in which that will occur.

But God says, up until that point.

This is never going to happen again.

God is never going to cause an event to

wipe the planet clean like

he did in the days of Noah.

So as you look at this, you consider,

should, that Noah comes

off the ark to a clean planet,

as it were, wiped clean by the Lord.

All the sin, all the wickedness,

all the debauchery, all of the things that

had been filling the earth,

the violence that we just read about,

wiped away. Not wiped away pleasantly,

but wiped away. But as Noah came off the

ark,

Noah recognized

the Lord in worship.

Noah has lived during the time of the

flood nearly a year

in this boat with these animals.

And you can imagine what the sounds would

have been like

inside the boat.

As they listened to the tumult that

occurred outside the boat.

We’re told that God broke up the deep.

God raised up new mountains and made new

valleys.

You don’t have to spend much time looking

at the footage from

~ the event that that took place recently

on the border of China and Nepal.

or looking at the the scars that still

exist in western North Carolina after

the hurricane, to realize that when God

allows nature

to do what nature can do, especially when

it comes to water,

the landscape changes dramatically and

does so incredibly quickly.

~ look look at some of the the satellite

footage from Nepal before the event.

And after the event. And that’s just from

a glacier breaking loose.

So Noah worships God.

A God who could remake the planet.

A God who could start all over again.

A God who could control the deep and the

skies above.

but also a God who could save them through

the midst of it.

Noah and his family had a true

appreciation for what it meant

to be saved by God.

Then consider chapter twelve.

We put spotlight on some additional events

of worship.

In Genesis chapter 12, of course,

we’re introduced in chapter 11 to Abram.

We’re introduced to his family,

and chapter 12, we’re introduced to the

call of God to come out of his nation,

out of his country, out of his family,

and from his father’s house and go to a

land that God would show him.

So in Genesis chapter 12, verse 1,

we read, Now the Lord said to Abram,

Get out of your country, from your family

and from your father’s house,

to a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation,

and I will bless you. I will make your

name great,

and you shall be a blessing. I will bless

those who bless you.

I will curse him who curses you.

In you all the families of the earth shall

be blessed.

As the relationship between God and Abram

is

Is beginning to be unfolded here by Moses.

We’re told about this covenant promise

that God makes to Abram.

We’re told about what God tells Abram to

do.

He says, You need to leave your family,

you need to leave your country,

you need to leave your father’s house,

and you need to go to the place where I

will show you.

And so Abram does. Verse 4:

Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to

him.

And Lot went with him, and Abram was

seventy five years old when

he departed from Haran. Then Abram took

Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s

son and all their possessions that they

had gathered,

and the people whom they had acquired in

Haran,

and they departed to go to the land of

Canaan.

So they came to the land of Canaan.

Abram passed through the land to the place

of Shechem,

as far as the Terabinth tree of Morah.

And the Canaanites were then in the land.

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said,

To your descendants I will give this land.

And there he built an altar to the Lord,

who had appeared to him. God has spoken

with Abram before

when he was in Haran. God speaks to Abram

again now that he arrives in Shechem,

and God says, This is part of the land

that your descendant.

descendants will receive. And as Abram

stops there in Shechem,

Abram will build an altar to the Lord.

And he moved from there to the mountain

east of Bethel,

and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the

~ on the west and Ai on the east,

and there he built an altar to the Lord,

and called on the name of the Lord.

So here we see this continuing action,

this

This regular activity that Abram was

involved in.

Abram, when he would go from one place to

the next place,

when he would arrive there, when he would

pitch his tent,

when he would prepare to stay in a

particular place for an extended period of

time,

Abram would build an altar. You know,

over in James chapter four.

James, as he is writing to the Christians

and specifically the Jewish Christians

in the first century, will write to them

and say,

beginning in verse 13 of James 4,

come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow

we will go to such and such a city,

spend a year there, buy and sell and make

a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen

tomorrow.

For what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a

little time and then vanishes away.

Instead you ought to say, If the Lord

wills,

we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance,

all such boasting is evil. Therefore,

to him who knows to do good and does not

do it,

to him it is sin. As James writes to the

Christians,

he

Emphasizes to them that when it comes to

your plans,

when it comes to your priorities,

when it comes to your decision-making

process,

your first question ought to be:

will this accomplish the will of the Lord?

The Christians were struggling.

You go all the way back into the beginning

of chapter four,

and they were struggling with more than

just where to move to and how long

to stay there. They were struggling with

the fact that they were asking

for things from the Lord only to spend it

on their own lusts and desires.

They were only interested in what they

wanted.

And James condemns them for it.

James tells them they need to reorder.

Their priorities. They need to go back and

determine first what is the will

of the Lord. And if that is the will of

the Lord,

then they’ll go do it. They need to stop

prioritizing prophet

and start prioritizing the will of God.

As you look at the life of Abram,

one of the things that you see is number

one,

he’s following the Lord.

He’s going where the Lord tells him to go.

Secondly, you’ll notice that when he

arrives anywhere he’s going,

he’s going to worship the Lord.

There’s not a point in Abram’s life where

you

see Abram departing from God.

Abram is very conscientious to go where

God desires for him to go,

when God desires for him to go there,

and when he does go there, he worships the

Lord.

He builds these altars to the Lord,

and interestingly, as you note.

~ this particular altar that we just read

about is going to be built in Bethel.

Where is it that Jacob is going to be when

the Lord appears to him as he is fleeing

from his father’s house

and from his brother after he has taken

the birthright?

Bethel.

And so Abram builds an altar.

Abram will hear worship the Lord.

And Abram will provide an example to us,

not just in worship, but in life.

Just the same way James emphasizes that

our focus needs to be doing

the will of the Lord.

Our focus needs to be doing that which God

desires for us to do.

And when we do, God will take care of the

rest.

And when we don’t, James says,

when you know to do good and you don’t do

it.

To him it is sin. I remember all the way

back when we were in school of preaching,

we had a a student come to us and he was

young.

we were young at the time, but anyway,

he was young and and he was not quite

happy with

the political situation at the time,

and it was getting on, I think,

election year or whatnot. And ~ and he he

came to me one time,

he said, Aaron.

I’ve had somebody tell me that if I don’t

vote,

I’m sinning. And specifically if I don’t

vote for who they think I should vote for,

I’m definitely sinning. And they quoted

James chapter four,

verse seventeen to me.

And I said, well, that’s not what that

passage is talking about.

He said, but on the other hand,

if you determine to do what you want

instead of what the Lord wills,

now we have a problem. We need to be

careful with passages and keep them

in their context. But Abram’s going to

build this altar at Shechem.

He’s going to build another altar at

Bethel.

And then chapter 13.

At the end of chapter 12, Abram’s going to

go down to Egypt,

and he’s going to remain there because of

a famine that was severe in the land,

according to chapter 12, verse 10.

When Abram returns from Egypt,

we find in chapter 13, verse 1,

then Abram went up from Egypt,

he and his wife and all that he had,

and Lot with him to the south.

Abram was very rich in livestock in silver

and in gold,

and he went on his journey from the south

as far as Bethel,

to the place where his tent had been at

the beginning,

between Bethel and Ahai, to the place of

the altar which he had made there at

first,

and there Abraham called on the name of

the Lord.

You notice when Abram comes back up out of

Egypt,

Abram doesn’t say, you know what,

I’m a whole lot richer than I was when I

came down into Egypt.

I don’t know that I really need to worry

about God anymore.

After all, I’m a pretty significant guy at

this point.

I I I’ve got plenty of possessions and I’m

rich in gold

and and and possessions, such gold,

silver, livestock. What do I need the Lord

for?

That’s not what Abram does. Abram comes up

out of Egypt and he goes right back

to that altar.

But again, what’s the message behind it?

God provided for Abraham when he was in

the land.

God provided for Abraham when he was in

Egypt.

God provided for Abraham when he came back

up out of Egypt.

And Abram recognizes that not a thing

about

his circumstance and his situation was his

doing.

Except for the trouble that he almost

caused by the lie that he told in Egypt.

But everything else was God’s doing.

Abram had a recognition that he owed

it all to God. If you turn over to chapter

thirteen and verse fourteen.

We find verse twelve Abram dwelt in the

land of Canaan,

and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain

and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.

But the men of Sodom were exceedingly

wicked and sinful against the Lord.

And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had

separated from him,

Lift your eyes now and look from the place

where you are,

northward, southward, eastward,

and westward.

For all the land which you see I will give

to you and your descendants forever,

and I will make your descendants as the

dust of the earth,

so that if a man could number the dust of

the earth,

then your descendants could be numbered.

Arise, walk in the land through its length

and its width,

for I give it to you. Then Abram moved his

tent and went and dwelt

by the Terabinth trees of Mamre.

Which are in Hebron and built an altar

there to the Lord.

God tells Abram,

after Lot and Abram have separated,

he said, You’ve you’ve got some traveling

to do.

You need to go survey the land.

You need to go view the land that I’m

going to give to your descendants.

You need to go to the north, you need to

go to the south,

you need to go to the east, you need to go

to the west,

you need to go throughout the land.

And you are going to see what I’m going to

give to your descendants after

you. Now, as God says this to Abram,

Abram has no children. Abram is over 75

years old.

He has no child. He has no descendants.

And as will be pointed out later on.

The one who is currently set to inherit

all that Abram has is one of his servants.

But God is going to make it clear to

Abram.

I’m going to not only give you servants,

I’m going to not only give you

possessions,

I’m going to not only give you gold and

silver,

I am going to give you this land,

and I am going to give you descendants to

fill it,

so that if you could number the dust of

the earth,

you would be able to number your

descendants.

God is going to make it clear to Abram.

That the promise is still in effect.

The promise that God had made with Abram

in chapter 12,

God was still going to fulfill it.

No matter how much time transpired,

no matter what had happened in the

intervening period,

Lot was not going to be the one through

whom God would fulfill the promise.

Abram’s servants were not going to be the

ones through whom

God fulfilled the promise. God was going

to provide descendants.

But as God sends Abram through the land,

what do you find Abram doing? Builds

altars,

worships the Lord.

Wherever he went, you would have found

Abram worshiping God.

As a matter of fact, it is such an aspect

of the life of Abram that over in chapter

22,

the test of Abram concerning his

faithfulness

to God will be couched in worship and

Isaac.

The two things that Abram would have

desired to do no matter what, have a son

and worship God were the things with which

God tested Abram.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. And you see ~ you see that all

the way forward ~

to the days in Jesus’ time where the

altars that

are discussed in the mountain of some of

the Samaritans being referenced

all the way back to the days of Jacob and

Isaac ~ and those altars being built

there. All right, we’re about out of time,

so we’re gonna go ahead and put a put a

plug in it there.

But as you think about

These passages, what I want you to do as

you’re reading,

as you’re doing your own Bible reading,

take a note. When worship happens,

what are the things that are described

around it?

What are the things that are going on?

And what do we learn about worship,

the motivations for worship, the reasons

for worship,

what is acceptable worship by the

circumstance

that surrounds the worship that is

acceptable to God.

Okay? Thank you for your attention.

Principles of Faithfulness from Hebrews – Aaron Cozort – September 06, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, biblical examples, Christian maturity, decision making, endurance, faith, Faithfulness, Hebrews, keywords spiritual growth, perseverance, Timothy by Aaron Cozort

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Good afternoon. Take your Bibles if you

will and open them to the book Hebrews.

The Hebrew writer is going to write

to primarily Jewish Christians,

to those who had been in the faith for

some time.

They had gone through a number of things

as they

had been pushed back upon by their own

nation.

They had been pushed out of the synagogue

in some circumstances.

Some scenarios they had faced persecution

from their own brethren,

and yet in the midst of all of this,

they are considering going backwards.

They are considering returning to the law

of Moses.

If you turn over to Hebrews chapter 5,

you learn a little bit about these

individuals in that they’re not new

Christians.

In Hebrews chapter 5 and in verse 12,

the Hebrew writer writes, For though by

this time you ought to be teachers,

you need someone to teach you again the

first principles of the oracles of God,

and you have come to need milk and not

solid food.

As the Hebrew writer writes to these

Christians,

he’s writing to a group of people,

at least predominantly,

Who are not novices. They’re not brand new

in their Christian walk.

And yet, he says, you’re acting like you

are.

You’re acting like your babes.

You are behaving and you are in your own

spiritual walk,

those who are immature in Christ.

But notice, the Hebrew writer will point

out,

this isn’t because they hadn’t been

taught.

This isn’t because they were in a scenario

where there was no opportunity

for them to grow. This was because of a

lack

of decision making and action on their own

part.

Verse 13 for everyone who partakes only of

milk is unskilled in

the word of righteousness, for he is a

babe.

But solid food belongs to those who are of

full age.

That is

Those who, by reason of use,

have their senses exercised to discern

both good and evil.

The Hebrew writer, as he writes to these

Christians,

says: the reason why you aren’t mature is

because you haven’t used your senses.

Because you haven’t used the revelation of

God to build yourself up.

As we look at our lives.

And we look at the decisions that we make.

The fact of the matter is we choose where

we are spiritually.

Now, when a f person is first converted,

they don’t. They’re in a natural state.

Their natural state is most likely that of

being a novice in

the scripture because they’ve just now

been acquainted with it to be able

to be converted by it, to be able to.

be right in the eyes of God, and as a

result of that,

they are still novices.

But the Hebrew writer points out that

these Christians have become

satisfied with being novices.

He says, as we just read in verse 13,

for everyone who partakes only of milk.

Now it’s it’s in the analogy, right?

A baby partakes only of milk. But it’s

also in this text a choice.

They have chosen to stick with the basics

only.

They have chosen to focus so entirely on

the basics that they haven’t consumed

anything else. They’ve never determined to

move beyond infancy.

They would ask,

as it were, to their teachers,

no, no, just give us the easy things.

Just give us the basic things.

Don’t challenge us. Don’t push us.

Don’t force us to become more than we are.

Let us stay right where we are.

One of the things that the Hebrew writer

confronts in Christians in his

day and time is a satisfaction with

a spiritual state of being ignorant.

As we think about our lives,

as we think about our choices,

whether in the body of Christ or outside

the body of Christ,

whether someone who is in fellowship with

God or someone who’s outside

of fellowship with God.

Whether someone who is a Christian who has

just become a Christian or

one who’s been a Christian for many years,

we all make a choice whether we will

improve from

our current position or stay in our

current position.

We all choose wha how we will handle the

Word of God.

Turn over, if you will, to 2 Timothy

chapter 2,

and notice what Paul

Writes to Timothy. Now Timothy was one who

was a young man,

yes. He was one who was faithful and had

been taught the scriptures from infancy,

yes. But in 2 Timothy chapter 2,

as Timothy is going through hardship,

he is described by Paul at being as being

almost on the brink of tears because

~ and despair, because of the hardships

he’s going in,

and he’s suffering the hardships of

Not primarily from the world, he’s

suffering them from the church.

But he is told by Paul in Titus or sorry,

Second Timothy chapter two, verse 10.

Therefore I endure all things for the sake

of the elect,

that they also may obtain the salvation

which is in Christ Jesus with eternal

glory.

This is a faithful saying.

For if we died with him, we shall also

live with him.

If we endure, we shall also reign with

him.

If we deny him, he will also deny us.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

He cannot deny himself. Remind them,

Paul says. Remind the people who you

teach,

Timothy. Remind them.

These things, charging them before the

Lord,

not to strive about words to no profit,

to the ruin of the hearers, be diligent to

present yourselves approved

to God, a worker who does not need to be

ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.

Paul tells Timothy, You have a choice.

You have a choice how you stand before

God.

You have a choice to stand before God as

an approved worker,

or you have a choice to stand before God

as someone who has failed

in the basic function of working in the

body of Christ.

Now, as we go back to the book of Hebrews,

the Hebrew writer also points out that

the situation that the Hebrew Christians

are in.

is not because they’ve never been put to

the test.

It is not the situation that they’ve never

had to endure anything hard.

You know, sometimes, especially if you’ve

worked with people when they’re young

in age, when they’re just growing up,

when they’re just getting out of those

late teenage years,

you get one a few of these people and and

they’ve never had to do anything hard.

They’ve been coddled pretty much their

entire life.

And they get out into the workforce and

it’s quite apparent they don’t know

how to do anything. If you ask them to

clean the bathroom,

they wouldn’t know how. If you ask them to

make a meal,

they wouldn’t know how. It’s been done for

them their entire life.

The Hebrew writer is writing these

Christians,

and he’s not saying, I know you’ve never

done anything,

I know you’ve never exerted yourself,

I know you’ve never suffered, I know

you’re in this state of of infancy.

He says, No. Turn to Hebrews chapter ten.

In Hebrews chapter 10, he writes to them,

beginning in verse 32, he says,

But recall the former days in which after

you were illuminated,

that is, after you came to a knowledge of

the truth,

after, as it were, the light of the word

of God shone in your life

and you became obedient to it.

He says, After you were illuminated,

you endured a great struggle.

with sufferings. The Hebrew writer,

as he writes these Christians,

says, I know what you’ve been through.

But here’s the key. They went through

those things when they were infants.

They went through those things when they

were novices.

They went through those things when they

were new Christians,

when they were on fire for Christ,

when they had a zeal for Christ.

Notice what he says. He says, partly.

While you were made a spectacle,

both by reproaches and tribulations,

and partly while you became companions of

those who were so treated.

He points out that in the former days,

in the earlier times of their Christian

walk,

they not only suffered persecution,

they were willing to walk alongside those

who were suffering persecution.

He says, For you had compassion on me and

my chains,

and joyfully accepted the plundering of

your goods,

knowing that you have a better and an

enduring possession for yourselves in

heaven.

Therefore, do not cast away your

confidence,

which has great reward. The Hebrew writer

writes

to them and he says, I know what you’ve

been through in the past,

because you went through it with me.

You helped me. You sent your funds to help

me as I was being persecuted,

as I was in chains, and now you’re

considering turning your back

on your faith?

You see, they had gone through hardship,

but they had gone through it when they

were young and zealous

and had bunches of strength to be able to

endure,

and now they’ve become complacent.

He says, Verse thirty five, Therefore do

not cast away your confidence,

which has great reward, for you have need

of endurance.

So that after you have done the will of

God you may receive the promise

for yet a little while, and he who is

coming will come and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith,

but if any one draws back, my soul shall

have no pleasure in him.

As the Hebrew writer here

Brings to mind the things that Habakkuk

was told.

The things that he was told when God says,

Listen, I’m gonna bring the Chaldean

nation against my people,

but don’t worry, I know who belongs to me.

I know who are mine. The just shall live

by faith.

And I’m coming, and I’m going to judge,

and I’m going to deal with your enemies,

but you be faithful. The Hebrew writer

says,

You listen, you have need of endurance.

Because the immediacy of the problem is

not your persecution.

It’s not the people who are against you.

It’s your own state of mind.

One of the greatest struggles,

as identified by Brother Franklin Camp in

the church,

in any generation, isn’t persecution.

It isn’t the difficulties within the body

of Christ by way

of contentions or arguments. It’s apathy.

It is being in a state of being complacent

and no longer having the zeal.

That we had when we were younger,

no longer having the desire to endure hard

things for

the cause of Christ. The Hebrew writer

writes,

verse 39, but we. One of the things you’ll

notice in the book of Hebrews

is the Hebrew writer will talk about them,

talk about them, talk about them.

But every time he turns it around and says

something about what they’re about to do,

he includes himself in it.

As if it is a forethought that they are

going to follow his example.

They’re gonna do what he’s gonna do.

Over and over in the book, he’ll say,

Let us, let us, let us, let us,

as if, here’s my plans, here’s what I’m

doing.

Come on, let’s go. Brings to mind,

in my mind, at least, the end of the book

of Joshua,

where Joshua will say to the people,

Choose you this day whom you will serve.

But as for me and my house, we will serve

the Lord.

The Hebrew writer says, but we are not of

those who draw back to perdition,

but of those who believe to the saving of

the soul.

The Hebrew writer says, I know what camp

I’m in.

And I know what camp you’re going to be

in.

There are times in life

Where we have to help people make

decisions.

I’ve seen this with missionaries,

I’ve seen this with elders, I’ve seen it

with preachers.

Where they’ll take somebody who’s kind of

waffling on something,

the idea of doing something in the kingdom

is in their mind,

but they just can’t make a decision,

and they’ll walk up to them and say,

Brother so-and-so, here’s what you’re

gonna do.

And that person will go, okay,

let’s go. They couldn’t make the decision,

but they could do the action. As soon as

someone presented them with

an already determined decision.

They were indecisive, but they were not

uncommitted.

And so the Hebrew writer says,

Listen, you need endurance, and here’s

what we’re going to do we’re

not going to draw back to perdition.

We are going to move forward. We are going

to believe to the saving of the soul.

But then consider as well that the

placement of this book

is likely before the fall of Jerusalem.

It’s during the period of the church.

It’s after the church has been established

for some consigant period of time.

But it’s not yet at the point where

Jerusalem has fallen.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 8.

In Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 1,

we read, now this is the main point of the

thing we are saying.

We have such a high priest who is seated

at the right hand of the throne

of the majesty in the heavens.

As the Hebrew writer has written to them

about the high priest,

about Melchizedek, about this idea of a

king and priest.

He says, We have one of those.

And he’s sitting or serving at the right

hand of God.

But then he says, a minister of the

sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which

the Lord erected and not man. The Hebrew

writer says,

Let me tell you where our high priest

serves.

Our high priest is in heaven. Our high

priest is in the tabernacle,

not the tabernacle made by hands,

but the tabernacle of God. And he is

seated at the right hand of

the throne of God. But he goes on to say,

For every high priest is appointed to

offer gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore it is necessary that this one

also have something to offer.

For if he were on earth, he would not be a

priest,

since there are priests, and notice the

phraseology,

who offer present tense, the gifts

according to the law.

As the Hebrew writer is writing this book,

the the fall of Jerusalem has not come

yet.

The temple has not been destroyed yet.

The priests are still there. The Jewish

priests are still making offerings.

They’re still offering these sacrifices

every day in Jerusalem.

And the Hebrew writer says listen,

if our high priest was a high priest under

the law of Moses,

he wouldn’t even be able to go up on the

altar.

He wouldn’t be able to offer those

sacrifices,

but the priests are offering them right

now.

As the Hebrew writer writes to these

Christians,

they’re facing the difficulty of the fact

that they still

have a choice. Consider that for a moment.

Sometimes when a person has no choice at

all,

they’re not given an option, they just

move forward and serve.

But when they’re given a choice,

when there’s an alternative, there’s a war

going on in their mind

as to what decision to make. These Hebrew

brethren were at a point where they’re

in a war in their own mind. Do I continue

to follow Christ with all

the things that are going on, with all the

hardships,

with all the things that are involved in

my nation?

In the situation where I’m set apart from

my nation,

where I’ve been kicked out essentially of

Jewish society?

Do I continue to serve Jesus?

Or do just go back to Moses? It’s easy

enough that the temple’s still here.

The priests are still offering sacrifices.

Surely it would be okay for me to just go

back to Moses

and to the law and to the priesthood and

to the temple.

And the Hebrew writer says, No.

Not only is it not alright,

this is what would happen if you do.

Turn back to chapter ten.

He says, therefore, brethren, verse 19,

having boldness to enter the holiest by

the blood of Jesus.

He establishes that their current

spiritual condition

is a state of being holy,

washed in the blood of Jesus Christ,

and that because of that holiness,

they are holy and they are able to enter

the presence of God.

Notice what he says.

He says, by a new and living way,

which he consecrated for us through the

veil,

that is his flesh. The Hebrew writer says,

you can approach God. You can go into the

holiest.

The phraseology here means the holiest of

holies.

In the old tabernacle, when God gave the

tabernacle and told them how to build it,

there was the holy place.

At the outer portion of the tabernacle,

when the when the person went in,

the priest went into the holy place,

they entered into the tabernacle,

the very first room they entered into was

the holy place.

And then there was a veil right in front

of them.

And beyond the veil was the holiest of

holies.

They couldn’t go in there except once a

year,

and only the high priest could go.

So nobody from the tribe of Judah could go

in.

Nobody from the tribe of Naphtali could

even enter the holy place,

let alone the holiest of holies.

And yet the Hebrew writer says,

Jesus Christ consecrated and made possible

a path

for you to boldly enter the holiest,

the holy of holies, by his blood,

by his flesh. And then he says,

having a high priest over the house of

God,

let us draw near.

With a true heart, in full assurance of

faith,

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil

conscience and our bodies washed with pure

water. He says, You’ve gone through the

process of salvation.

You’ve gone through the process like the

high priest of old would have done

on the Day of Atonement. He would have

gone through that brazen labor before

he ever was able to enter into the

tabernacle,

before he was ever to go into the holy

place,

before he could ever enter in through the

veil.

He had to first be washed.

And the Hebrew writer says that’s happened

to you.

You’ve been washed,

you’ve been consecrated, you’ve had your

evil conscience cleansed.

He says, Let us hold fast the confession

of our hope without wavering,

for he who promised is faithful.

As they’re considering the direction

they’ll go,

as they’re considering whether to stay

with Christ or whether to return to Moses,

the Hebrew writer says, Don’t you waver.

You made a decision, and you have access

to the holiest.

You have access to something you never had

in the Old Testament.

You never had through Moses.

But then he says, and let us consider one

another in order to stir up love

and good works, not forsaking the

assembling of ourselves together as

the manner is is of some, but exhorting

one another and so much the more

as you see the day approaching.

I firmly believe because of the Hebrew

context,

because of the context of the entire book,

that the Hebrew writer is saying,

Listen, there was a day that Jesus told us

was coming.

In Matthew chapter 24,

Jesus told us about a day where the temple

would be destroyed

and not one stone would be left upon

another.

And as Hebrew brethren, you need to exhort

one another to be faithful.

You need to make sure no one gets caught

up in iniquity.

You need to be focused on remaining in the

assembly of the body

of Christ and remaining faithful and

steadfast because the day of the demise

of the Jewish nation is at hand.

He says, verse 26, but if we sin

willfully,

after we’ve received the knowledge of the

truth,

there no longer remains a sacrifice for

sins.

See, Their mindset was, you know what?

Well, Under the old law, we could offer

these sacrifices,

we could offer blood the blood of bulls

and goats,

we we could offer atonement for our sins,

and God accepted it in under the old law.

Can we not just go back?

Will God not now accept it again?

If we just turn back from Christianity and

go back to the law of God,

I mean God gave the law. Surely we can go

back to what God gave.

We’re not asking to go off into paganism.

We’re not wanting to go off into man-made

doctrines.

We just want to go back to what God gave

that we’ve always had.

And the Hebrew writer says, no.

Because If we sin willfully after we’ve

come to a knowledge of the truth,

there is no sacrifice for sins.

There’s only been one, and it’s Christ.

He goes on to say but a certain fearful

expectation

of judgment and fiery indignation that

will devour the adversaries.

Anyone who rejected Moses’ law dies

without mercy on the testimony of

two or three witnesses.

Of how much worse punishment do you

suppose will he be thought worthy

who has trampled the Son of God underfoot?

The Hebrew writer asked them if they would

think back

to the judgment that was given in the Old

Testament,

in the law of Moses. What happened to the

individual,

for instance, under the law of Moses,

as the law had been given, the ordinances

had been given,

and then there was the man who determined

to go out and pick up sticks

on the Sabbath day.

As if he were to shake his fist at God and

say,

You know what? I don’t care that you said

we weren’t to work on the Sabbath day.

I’m going to do it anyway.

He was observed, he was found,

he was taken, he was brought under

custody,

and it was questioned of Moses,

what are we to do? For he has violated the

Sabbath,

what does the law say we’re to do?

And so Moses goes to the Lord and inquires

what it is that they are to do.

And the punishment was death.

The man suffered the punishment under two

or three witnesses because he had rebelled

against God.

And the Hebrew writer says, think back.

What was the punishment when someone

rebelled against the law of Moses?

It was death. How much.

How much worse do you think it’s gonna be

if you take the very Son of

God and the blood that He offered for you

and you walk on it as

if it means nothing? He says,

Of how much worse punishment do you

suppose will he be thought worthy

who has trampled the Son of God underfoot,

counted the blood of the covenant by which

he was sanctified a common thing,

and insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, Vengeance is

mine,

I will repay, says the Lord, and again the

Lord will judge his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the

hands of a living God.

You say in your mind it ought to be okay,

God gave the law to begin with.

In your mind you can’t see a problem with

it.

Love Is Not Provoked – Aaron Cozort – September 06, 2026

In 1 Corinthians 13, Admonition Podcast, anger, Biblical Love, Christian living, Humility, keywords Love, kindness, patience, reactions, self-control by Aaron Cozort

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One clarification on the announcements,

which it’s clear when you write it,

not always clear when you read it.

~ Nathaniel Lebow,

who we’ve sent cards to, ~ is a contact in

South Haven.

He has ~ cancer.

His father unexpectedly passed away this

week.

So he’s this young man’s dealing with

cancer at age 17.

And now the sudden passing of his father

at the same time.

So keep Nathaniel Lebow and his family in

your prayers.

Charlie was his his father who passed

away.

~

Take your Bibles, if you will,

and open them to First Corinthians.

We’ve spent some time in the last few

weeks examining this idea of love does

not,

love is not. Paul, as he’s writing to the

church at Corinth,

will help them to understand love.

He is helping them to understand love in

view of

the miraculous gifts that they are

struggling with because they have raised

The miraculous gifts in their minds to

such great importance to

be more significant than basically

anything else in their spiritual lives.

To have a priority on these things,

to measure oneselves by these things,

to say this gift is better than this other

gift,

and therefore the person who has this gift

is greater than this other person

who has in their minds a lesser gift.

Paul will begin as he writes to them and

say,

Though I speak with the tongues of men and

of angels and have not love,

I have become a sounding brass and

clinging symbol.

Paul says, if you can perform these great

miracles through the power

of the Holy Spirit in the first century,

if you can speak in a language that you’ve

never studied and open your mouth

and proclaim God’s word in that language,

A language that you don’t even understand

when you speak it.

But you don’t have love?

You’re empty. He goes on to say,

and though I have the gift of prophecy

Excuse me.

Hmm. The air’s thick this morning.

And though I have the gift of prophecy and

understand all mysteries

and all knowledge, and though I have all

faith,

so that I could remove mountains and have

not love,

I am nothing.

Prophecy was in their minds the second

greatest gift right next

to speaking in tongues. And at the same

time,

there were the gifts of knowledge,

the gifts of faith. He says, if you If you

have one of these and

you don’t have love,

Do nothing.

He says, and though I bestow all my goods

to feed the poor,

and though I give my body to be burned,

but have not love, it profits me nothing.

It doesn’t matter what gift you have.

It doesn’t matter what level of sacrifice

you’re willing

to give if the only thing you’re

interested in is yourself.

If it is not motivated by love.

And then from that, Paul will write,

Love suffers long and is kind.

Love does not. And with verse 4,

he begins a series of things that love

doesn’t do.

That love isn’t. We’ve noticed all of them

except one.

We’ve noticed love does not behave rudely.

We’ve noticed that love does not envy,

does not parade itself, is not puffed up.

We’ve noticed love does not seek its own.

We’ve noticed that love does not rejoice

in iniquity.

So we will conclude with this one.

Love is not provoked.

As Paul writes to the church at Corinth,

then he says, Love does not seek its own,

is not provoked.

The word provoked in the original language

comes from a word meaning to irritate,

to stir up, to sharpen, to make angry.

Something being sharpened to a razor

point.

is the idea. But as it’s used,

it usually connotates a sudden or intense

outbreak.

It is the response where someone lashes

out at you and says something incredibly

pointed and incredibly mean as a reaction

to whatever you did. That’s this word.

And Paul says this

is not a description of love. There’s a

word in the English,

paroxysm.

Which means a sudden intense outbreak of

something.

It comes from it’s really a tra almost a

transliteration wor letter

for letter of this Greek word.

Here though, it’s in the passive.

In other words, in the Greek it’s saying

this is something we,

if we have love, do not allow ourselves to

respond with when

others do something to us.

We do not have this reaction to what

others do.

So, in other words, Paul is saying love

refuses

to allow the actions of others to set it

off and control its reaction.

Sometime.

We all have to admit.

That we, in a circumstance, on a rare

occasion,

lose control. Yes.

At some point, all of us are going to say

something we shouldn’t have said,

react to someone in a way that they did

not deserve.

Quite often in a scenario where

circumstance after circumstance after

circumstance

after circumstance have piled on one

another,

and they were the straw that broke the

camel’s back.

They didn’t deserve that. They just ended

up being the one who got it because

of all the people who frankly did deserve

it along the way,

but didn’t get it.

The idea here isn’t, and as Paul writes

these things,

Paul does not intend for us to look at our

lives and go,

well, okay, I never do that, and I never

do that,

and I never do that, and I never do that,

and I never do that, and therefore I have

love.

Because I never do all of the things love

is not.

That’s not what he means. Paul’s talking

about when

we build our lives structured.

In love, that these things will

not be a common description of our

everyday life.

Not that we’ll be sinlessly perfect or we

can’t possibly love anyone.

But rather that the description of our

lives

is built up in a description of this isn’t

how we live.

Paul says

Love is not provoked.

Now the King James says it is not easily

provoked.

a as if

This attitude, this reaction is dry

kindling and somebody lights a match.

You know, if you take wet wood and you try

and build a fire with it,

you’re gonna have to have some patience.

You’re gonna have to have some endurance.

You’re gonna have to have some other fuel,

and you’re going to have to wait to get

that in the right state where it will

burn.

You take dry Kinlin and you light a match

to it and it’s up.

That’s this.

The person who Paul is describing is not

on the edge of their seat,

a hair trigger, waiting for the very

moment for someone to do something

so they can let off.

But what is it not?

This idea is not first righteous anger.

Over in the book of Mark, Jesus

on the Sabbath day is with his apostles in

the in the fields.

And the people,

the Pharisees specifically, bring to him a

man who has a withered hand.

And the text tells us that they did so.

to see whether or not Jesus would heal the

man on the Sabbath.

So here is an individual who’s become

nothing more than a prop to their

argument.

Nothing more than a potential opportunity

to catch Jesus

in something that they can leverage

against him so as to say Jesus

is in violation of the law and contrary to

Moses.

They don’t care about this man,

they don’t care about his withered hand.

They don’t care about the fact that in the

first century where

the majority of people build and maintain

their income by the work

of their physical hands, that this man is

incapacitated and in some

way unable to provide for himself.

They don’t care about that.

They care about the fact that they believe

that Jesus is healing people

on the Sabbath and that’s a violation of

the law,

and they’re gonna prove to the people that

Jesus is in violation of the law.

Now, of interest, it is the same law of

which Jesus said,

the greatest commandment in the law is to

love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,

with all thy soul, with all thy strength

and all thy mind.

And the second was like unto it,

to love thy neighbor as thyself.

That is not a concern to them.

The thing that concerns them is the nature

of the commandment about

not violating the Sabbath.

And not what Moses said about not

violating the Sabbath,

but rather what their elders had taught

about not violating the Sabbath.

So they bring a man into the situation in

the presence of Jesus

as a test, as a tripwire,

as an opportunity to create a stumbling

block for someone they disagree with.

And when they bring the man with the

withered hand before Jesus

Jesus asked the question, is it lawful to

do good

or to do evil on the Sabbath?

And the text tells us.

that they wouldn’t answer.

And the text tells us that Jesus looked

upon them with

anger.

And said to the man, Stretch forth your

hand.

And his hand was made whole.

Consider what Jesus has done.

Jesus has become righteously angry

because they, in their position of power,

in their position as leaders,

fulfilling what Ezekiel had prophesied

about them,

that they would be the evil shepherds who

would not take care of the sheep.

They would not provide for the sheep.

They would not console the sheep that was

injured.

They would not heal the sheep that was

sick.

They would rather consume the sheep than

help them if

it was in their interest to consume the

sheep.

Jesus looks upon them in righteous anger

because they

in their hardness of hearts did not care

what happened to this man.

They cared about keeping their power.

So Jesus not only proves them to be hard

hearted,

he also demonstrates that he was far more

intelligent than they were.

As all he did was ask the man to put out

his hand.

He didn’t pray to God. He didn’t shout

some great shout.

He didn’t cause the man to do some great

wonder.

He just said, put forward your hand.

How are they going to claim Jesus worked?

He didn’t do anything other than tell him

to put his hand forward.

Righteous anger.

That is anger which exists because someone

realizes that the very nature

and law of God is being violated,

oftentimes in God’s own name, it’s being

violated

is not under consideration when Paul says

love is not provoked.

But then consider as well confronting

wrongdoing.

Over in Galatians chapter 2, Paul

is going to describe a scenario and a

situation when he was among

the churches of Galatia, and there were

those from Jerusalem that were coming

and were gathering with the churches of

Galatia,

and they were teaching them and they were

helping them grow.

And one of those who came is Peter.

And he says in verse 11, now when Peter

had come to Antioch,

I withstood him to the face because he was

to be blamed.

Wait a minute, Paul. Are you saying Peter

provoked you?

Not in this sense. Rather in the right

sense.

Because Peter was at fault.

Notice what occurred.

For before certain men came from James,

he would eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he withdrew and

separated himself,

fearing those who were of the

circumcision.

And the rest of the Jews also played the

hypocrite with him,

so that even Barnabas was carried away

with their hypocrisy.

And when I saw that they were not

straightforward about the truth of the

gospel,

consider here that this is no slight

against Paul.

This is not a reaction of Paul because he

is personally offended,

because they have done something against

his teaching.

Paul is slighted,

Paul is reacting this way because of what

they’re doing in violation of

the word of God.

He says, But when I saw that they were not

straightforward about the truth

of the gospel, I said to Peter before them

all,

if you being a Jew, live in the manner of

Gentiles and not as the Jews,

why do you compel Gentiles to live as

Jews?

We who are Jews by nature are not sin or ~

and not sinners of the Gentiles,

knowing that a man is not justified by the

works of the law,

but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have

believed in Christ Jesus that

we might be justified by faith in Christ

and not by the works of the law,

for by the works of the law no flesh shall

be justified.

Paul made it clear, Peter,

you’re being a hypocrite.

And you’re leading others to do the same

thing,

even Barnabas, because you’re afraid of

others’ opinions.

Now was Paul in violation of love is not

provoked when he did that?

No. Then consider Acts chapter seventeen.

And Act chapter seven teen.

We read as Paul is there in Mars Hill.

As Paul is in Athens,

as he’s not yet to Mars Hill, but he is

he’s in Athens.

This is the only other use of this word,

the Greek base word in the New Testament

for provoked.

And it’s here in this text. Now,

while Paul waited for them at Athens,

his spirit was provoked within him.

When he saw that the city was given over

to idols.

Paul, as he walks through the streets of

Athens,

passes idol after idol after idol on every

corner,

in every house, in every business,

another idol and another idol.

It was said of Athens that there were more

idols than there were people

in the city of Athens in the first

century.

And Paul in his heart, in his spirit,

is provoked by this. He’s got to do

something about it.

It causes him to have a reaction.

The reaction is to go to the Areopagus and

speak to these people.

Feeling of indignation at wrongdoing,

and the seeking to right that which is

wrong by teaching the truth

is not under consideration when Paul says

love is not provoked.

Now, we would be tempted to say,

okay, that means as long as the person

deserves it when I lash out,

then I’m justified.

I don’t think that’s what that means.

You’ll notice in every single one of these

scenarios,

the indignation, the response,

the anger is because of

a person’s violation against God.

and not the person who’s having the

reaction.

You see, it is right for us to abhor evil.

It is right for us to react strongly

against sin.

It is right for us to stand up against

brethren who are behaving

in a way so as to put a stumbling block in

front of those who are weak

and those who are ignorant.

But when we try to justify ourselves

by our sharp reactions,

now we’re in violation of the command.

So some examples. As we’ve gone through 1

Corinthians 13 and we’ve looked

at all these examples over and over,

we found Paul’s already talked about this.

Paul has already

Corrected situations in which they’re not

living out what they should have been

living out. First Corinthians chapter 3.

Paul says, And I, brethren,

could not speak to you as to spiritual

people,

but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

I fed you with milk and not with solid

food,

for until now you were not able to receive

it,

and even now you are still not able.

Paul said, I I taught you the basics.

Because that’s all you could handle in the

beginning of your Christian walk.

You weren’t ready for the meat.

You weren’t ready for the substance and

the depth of God’s Word,

yet you needed to get out of the Word.

You needed to slowly but surely migrate

out of a mindset of

~ of carnal and fleshly things and the

paganism that you had grown

up in into spiritual things. So I gave you

milk so that you could take it.

He says, The problem is I still can’t give

you any meat.

I still can’t give you the bulk of the

word because you’re still not able

to take it, because you’re not growing.

He says, For you are still carnal,

for where they are or Where there are

envy,

strife, and divisions among you.

Are you not carnal and behaving like mere

men?

There’s your picture.

Paul said, I look at you, and you’re at

war with one another.

You’re striving not against spiritual

matters,

not against principalities and powers of

this world,

not against the evil ruler of darkness,

not against Satan and his minions,

not against the wickedness that exists in

your culture.

You’re striving against one another.

For when one says I am of Paul or I am of

Apollos.

are you not carnal? Who then is Paul?

And who is Apollos but ministers through

whom you believed as the Lord gave

to each one?

Paul says, you want to know how I can

prove you’re carnal?

You want to know how I can prove you’re

fleshly minded?

You’re arguing over which teacher to

follow instead of following the Lord.

You’re being provoked to react to the

teaching of others instead

of following Christ.

Over in First Corinthians chapter ten.

Paul will point out that he intentionally

avoids causing this reaction

in evangelism. First Corinthians chapter

10,

he writes, beginning in verse 31:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink,

whatever you do, do all the glory of God,

give no offense, either to the Jews or to

the Greeks,

or to the church of God.

He says, when you’re out there in your

daily life and you see a scenario where

you could provoke someone to anger,

you could provoke them to having a mindset

that is a stumbling block to the gospel.

Stop it. Don’t do it.

Hold yourself back from creating the

reaction.

He says, verse thirty-three, just as I

also please all men in all things,

not seeking my own profit, but the profit

of many that they may be saved.

says you know somebody has a problem with

something.

This is much to the to the mindset of i i

if you knew that

it was something against the conscience of

a of a friend of yours who’s a Jew.

To do something or to eat something and

you invite them over for dinner,

don’t serve them the thing that you say,

you know what, I’m gonna prove them wrong.

I’m gonna put it on the plate and see if

they eat it.

He says, Don’t you do that. Why don’t you

worry about their soul instead?

Why don’t you help them hear the gospel

instead and get the stumbling block

out of the way?

So then, Paul tells them in chapter 11,

verse 1, imitate me as I also imitate

Christ.

Then you see in chapter 14.

You see the reaction from the

disorderliness in the assembly.

As Paul writes to them, How is it then,

brethren? Whenever you come together,

each of you has a psalm, has a teaching,

has a tongue, has a revelation,

and has an inner interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.

He says, I’m gonna demonstrate you’re

doing this in your own assembly.

Everybody shows up and they’ve got

something to say.

But you’re not edifying one another.

You’re not getting up to say something to

the benefit of the congregation.

You’re getting up to say something for

yourself.

To prove how good you are.

To prove what you know. To prove what you

can do.

He says, verse 27 if anyone speaks in a

tongue,

let there be two, or at the most three,

each in turn. And let one interpret.

He says, You’ve got somebody who knows how

to speak in tongues?

Great. No more than two or three in a

whole service.

Ain’t got time for that.

And if you don’t have an interpreter,

as you’ll notice, sit down and be quiet.

He says, Let one interpret, but if there

is no interpreter,

let him keep silent in the church and let

him speak to himself and to God.

Let two or three prophets speak and let

the others judge.

And if anything is revealed to another who

sits by,

let the first keep silent. Notice,

he says, you’re supposed to give way for

somebody else.

If something is revealed to one who is a

prophet and you’re in

the middle of speaking, and they say,

the Lord has shown me something and I need

to speak,

he says, Go sit down and let him speak.

He says, For you can all prophesy one by

one,

that all may learn, and that all may be

encouraged.

And the spirits of the prophets are

subject to the spirits.

For God is not the author of confusion,

but of peace, as in all the churches of

the saints.

He’s pointing out, he says, if God gives a

prophecy to someone and it’s

in the middle of the service and they see

that prophecy,

and they have that vision given to them,

or they have that revelation given to

them,

guess what?

They can keep their mouth shut until

there’s an opportunity to speak.

Imagine the scenario in the first entry

church in Corinth as they were getting

up and one person would get up and they’d

start speaking in tongues.

And in the middle of that person speaking

in tongues,

someone would get a prophecy and they’d

start speaking as well.

And then this person over here would start

speaking in tongues at the same time.

And then this person over here said,

Well, I had a prophecy too, and they’d

start speaking.

You ever been in a room where everyone’s

talking,

nobody’s listening? That was the church in

Corinth during their assembly.

Everybody wanted to be seen.

And everybody wanted to be heard,

but nobody wanted to listen. Nobody wanted

to be subservient

and humble and sit down and be quiet.

Paul goes on to say.

Verse thirty four, let your women keep

silent in the churches,

for they are not permitted to speak,

but they are to be submissive as the law

also says,

and if they want to learn something,

let them ask their own husband at home,

for it is shameful for women to speak in

the church.

Or did the word of God come originally

from you,

or was it you only that it reached?

Paul says, here’s the ordinance when it

comes to women.

They may be a prophet.

They may be able to speak in tongues.

They may have a gift of the Holy Spirit.

It was prophesied all the way back in the

days of Joel that there would

be women who received the gift of

prophecy.

Philip had four daughters who had their

gift of prophecy.

Paul says, that’s great. Not in the

assembly in public.

Not in leadership in the church.

Now when he says to keep silent,

the idea here is utter silence.

But he’s not talking about the

participation in worship.

Because they’re also commanded to sing.

Have you ever noticed someone sing

silently?

Not in accordance with the New Testament

commandment,

you haven’t. Not unless they were quite

literally mute.

They’re doing everything they can to sing,

and that’s physically unable to.

Paul is not teaching that the women be

utterly silent.

In worship, he is teaching that they be

utterly silent in leading in worship.

He says, It’s not gonna happen.

That’s not appropriate. That’s not what

God commanded.

So then we consider as well that Paul

and his companions also lived this out

before the church in Corinth.

If you go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

When Paul is using himself, Apollos and

Cephas as examples

He says down here in verse 10,

he says, We are fools for Christ’s sake,

but you are wise in Christ. We are weak,

but you are strong. You are distinguished,

but we are dishonored. He’s using sarcasm

to set a contrast between

the way the Corinthians view themselves

and the way he was living.

He says.

To the present hour we are but we both

hunger and thirst.

We are poorly clothed and beaten and

homeless.

We labor working with our hands,

being reviled, we bless.

Being persecuted,

we endure. Being defamed,

we entreat.

We have been made the filth of the world

and the off scouring of

all things until now.

Paul says, if there’s anybody who could

return evil for evil?

If there’s anyone who’d be justified in

reacting because they were done

wrong? If there’s anybody that would be

justified

in the human mind of pushing back instead

of taking it,

he said, we’re right at the top of the

list.

That’s not what we do.

He says, when we are reviled, we do

exactly what Christ said,

we bless in return.

You see, Love doesn’t do what’s natural.

What’s natural is to when someone does you

wrong,

you fire back. Paul says that’s not love.

As a matter of fact, Jesus said that’s not

love in Matthew.

Matthew chapter 5. Jesus in the Sermon on

the Mount will establish this very idea.

He says you have heard that it was said

verse thirty eight,

an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I tell you not to resist an evil

person.

But whoever slaps you on your right cheek,

turn the other to him also. If anyone

wants to sue you and take away your tunic,

let him have your cloak also. And whoever

compels you to go one mile,

go with him too. Give to him who asks you,

and from him who wants to borrow from you

do not turn away.

You have heard that it was said you shall

love your neighbor and hate your enemy,

but I say unto you, love your enemies,

bless those who curse you, do good to

those who hate you,

and pray for those who spitefully use you

and persecute you.

Jesus, why? Why would we ever do such a

thing?

Why would we allow ourselves to be

trampled under?

Why would we allow ourselves to be

persecuted?

Why would we not stand up for ourselves?

That you may be sons of your Father in

heaven,

for he makes his son to rise on the evil

and on the good,

and sends rain on the just and on the

unjust.

And then he says this: For if you love

those

who love you, what reward have you?

Do not even the tax collectors do the

same?

And if you greet

Your brethren only. What do you do more

than others?

Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Therefore you shall be perfect as your

Father

in heaven is perfect.

When Paul writes to the church at Corinth

and says to them,

Love doesn’t seek its own. Love is not

provoked.

He’s saying when someone does you wrong

If your reaction is to get them back,

to respond sharply, he said,

It’s time to go educate yourself in the

ways of God.

It’s time to send some sunshine on their

dark day.

It’s time to give them some rain when it’s

a drought.

It’s time to demonstrate love toward your

enemies and not.

just your friends. Because love

is different than the world.

Love suffers long and is kind.

Love does not envy. Love it does not

parade itself,

is not puffed up, does not behave rudely,

does not seek its own, is not provoked,

thinks no evil, does not rejoice in

iniquity,

but rejoices in the truth.

If you have need of the invitation of our

Lord to put Christ on in baptism,

to be once again reunited with Him through

repentance,

or for any reason, why not come forward

now as we stand and as we sing?

Revelation 19 (Lesson 3) – Aaron Cozort – September 06, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, Christ, Christian faith, end times, Jesus, keywords Revelation, prophecy, spiritual warfare, symbolism, victory by Aaron Cozort

image

Test one two. All right. There we go.

It’s good to see everyone this morning.

It’s good to see a face we haven’t seen in

a while.

Someone finally repented and came back

from Louisiana.

Sorry. Did I say that out loud?

Good to have Tanya with us. ~ take your

Bibles,

if you will, and open them to the book of

Revelation.

We are in chapter nineteen.

Uhhuh.

We’ll get into our study i in just a

moment,

but let’s begin with a word of prayer.

A gracious Father in Heaven, we come

before your throne grateful

for the opportunity that we have to be

able to study your word,

to join in fellowship with your body,

to praise your name, to sing songs of

praise to you,

to remember your Son and the sacrifice and

the offering that was made on our behalf,

to examine ourselves whether or not we are

in the faith.

To look at our lives and see w if we’re

walking in the light as you

are in the light. And Lord, as we look

through this book,

as we know it, the Book of Revelation,

we pray that we might look and examine our

own lives to see whether or

not we are those who truly dwell in

heaven.

Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go

throughout this day.

May all that we say and do be right and in

accordance with your will.

And may we grow in wisdom, in knowledge,

in stature, in faith, in holiness each and

every day.

We pray for those who are struggling

because of illness.

We pray for those who are dealing with the

hardships of caring for others

and being caregivers. And we pray for

those who are dealing with ongoing

difficulties. We pray that you give them

strength and give them their desired

position in life and care.

the ability to endure through the

hardships that this life brings.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

As we’ve discussed the book of Revelation,

we’ve mentioned over and over again,

and it bears mentioning again,

that the book of Revelation is not

presented

in a strict timeline of events order.

The book of Revelation will go through and

tell you something’s going to happen,

and then it will go back up and it will

discuss it in more detail.

And then it will go through go forward and

then it will back up and

it will discuss something else in more

detail.

And it will give you picture after picture

of what is going on

and what you’re supposed to draw from it.

What many people struggle to do in

understanding the book of Revelation

is they try and make every single scene,

as it were, a new event happening in a

progression.

And so they’re expecting because this

happened at one point,

then it’s sometime in the future before

the next thing in the next chapter

happens.

When in reality the thing that was just

discussed and the thing that’s being

discussed in this chapter might be right

in line with one another,

just a zoomed-in view to examine the

detail of what

is being discussed. That’s what’s going on

in Revelation.

Chapter 19. In Revelation chapter 19,

you have a discussion of things that were

already presented in the victory scene

in Revelation 16, and the victory scene in

Revelation 17,

and the victory scene in Revelation 18.

It’s just a different picture for the

Christians

to realize you win. And you win in victory

over Rome

so thoroughly.

that it’s gonna be like a marriage feast

is happening.

Back in the first century, especially

among the Jewish cultures,

~ w what length of time was a common

marriage feast?

A week, all the way up to a month.

Now, bear in mind, agrarian cultures could

do that.

All right? You you put the seed in the

ground,

you have the harvest, and then you have

the time in between the harvest

and the next time to plant. There’s a lot

of farmers that take vacations

at very specific times of year because

they don’t have anything to do.

So they could be gone for a month.

Well, often it was that case.

In this day and time, they could afford to

take a week to go to

a marriage feast because the marriage

happened at a time of year where they

could.

Well, what if you were under threat,

under attack, constantly under siege by an

enemy?

Do you think you’d take a whole week for

the marriage feast?

No. If you picture in your mind what

Nehemiah,

the book of Nehemiah, tells us about what

Israel was doing in Jerusalem

as they were rebuilding the wall that had

been torn down by the enemies that were

around them, that had been burned,

and that they had

No protection for the city of Jerusalem.

You read there in the book of Nehemiah,

because of their enemies, because of the

threat that they were under,

because they were building the wall to

defend themselves,

they were constantly aware,

and it describes a point in which they had

basically a sword in one hand

and they were building with the other.

They weren’t taking a day off to have a

marriage feast.

They weren’t taking a week off to have a

marriage feast.

They were constantly on guard and

constantly building because without that

they were going to perish.

The threat was such that they could not

even

put down the sword to build with two

hands.

So when God pictures the Christians coming

out of the persecution of Rome,

the persecution of the great harlot,

the persecution of the great city,

the persecution that would come in the

eighth head,

which was Domitian, it pictures the defeat

of God’s enemies

so completely that the church could go

have a marriage feast.

That the church could celebrate with not a

concern in their mind

of the threat that Satan could bring

through Rome.

That’s the picture of Revelation 19.

That the enemy has been so completely

vanquished.

Everybody can lay down their sword.

Everybody can lay down their defenses.

Everybody can relax and rejoice.

You pick up in chapter 11 or chapter 19,

verse 11. Now I saw heaven opened,

and behold, a white horse.

And he who sat on him was called faithful

and true,

and in righteousness he judges and makes

war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire,

and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew

except himself.

I want to point out something that’s

interesting.

~ How many heads are on the beast?

There were seven, and then one was as if

it was killed,

and then another one came up. So there’s

eight total when it’s all said and done.

How many horns are on the beast?

Ten. All right, because we’re told there

were seven heads and ten horns.

And then another horn. So eleven.

Alright, so you’ve got eight heads,

you’ve got eleven horns.

And we’re told that all the horns were

kings.

They were subservient kings to Rome.

When you see the picture of Christ,

how many heads? One.

But how many crowns?

Doesn’t give us an exact number,

but is it one or is it multiples?

As a matter of fact, as he is described

here,

he had many crowns.

If you were to think about it this way.

Imagine if someone got a crown every time

they won.

If you were to think about the Olympics,

in our modern day and time, you invariably

have somebody who ends

up at the Olympics, summer, winter,

doesn’t matter, that just dominates in a

particular arena.

So much so that by the end they’ve got.

Gold medal after gold medal after gold

medal after gold medal after gold medal

and then whatever team they’re on in the

team sport has a gold medal

and a gold medal and a gold they just

dominated.

I’m gonna leave that comment where it is.

And

That’s the picture of Christ here.

When you look at Christ,

it was as if in the vision you got one

head because

he didn’t die. There was no transition

from him to somebody else.

There’s no other ruler. There’s no one

like Christ.

By the way, when it comes to the church,

there is, according to the book of

Ephesians,

one what?

One body, and how many heads do typically

bodies have?

One. There’s one Lord,

one faith, one baptism, one God and Father

of all.

There’s one head when you see Christ.

But on top of that head in the vision,

crown, crown, crown, crown, defeated

enemy,

defeated enemy, defeated enemy,

defeated enemy, defeated enemy.

No losses.

All victories. They’re undefeated.

He is undefeated.

So notice in the picture: his eyes were

like a flame of fire,

and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew

except himself.

I mentioned as we came through this

passage last week that we were going

to come back to this idea.

The idea of a name which no one knew,

~ what good would it be if you have a name

and I don’t know

it if I’m trying to get your attention?

Not all that useful. So you might look at

that and say,

well, so is are we saying that everyone’s

a stranger to him?

Nobody knows his name? That’s not the

idea.

The idea here is much like the picture

in the Old Testament where God will work

with an individual,

God will have a relationship with someone,

and then through the course of time,

God will give them a

A new name.

Abram, Abram, Abram, Abram, Abram,

Abram, Abram, until a certain point where

God says,

I’m calling you Abraham. Sarai,

Sarai, Sarai, Sarai, Sarai, Sarai,

Sarah. Saul,

Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, Paul. Cephas,

Cephas, Cephas, Cepha, Peter. God hands

out

all through Scripture names.

And the name is never just a way to

reference the person.

The name is always saturated with meaning,

with connotation, with character in

relationship

to that person and God.

And so God here

in describing Christ describes him as

someone who God

has given a name that is entirely unique

to him.

It’s not the idea that no one would know

how to call him that name,

it is the idea that there is no one else

that has that name.

There is no one else who shares that.

That character in relationship to God.

But notice as you carry that idea forward

that you’re going to

see some other things about names before

we get out of the text.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in

blood,

and his name is called the Word of God.

Now, wait a minute, I thought you just

told us there was a name that no one knew.

And then you come around and tell us what

the name is?

Yeah. Nobody knew because

it was about God giving the name.

It was in the mind of God that the name

was there.

Interestingly, where in all of scripture

is Jesus referenced as the word of God

until John writes it in John chapter one.

He’s not. It isn’t until God,

through John, gives Jesus

the declaration of the word

of God that we’re ever told.

Now, was Jesus the word of God in that

function

all the way back in the beginning?

Absolutely. That’s what John tells us.

John tells us that from before creation,

Jesus in his relationship to the Father,

in his role in the Godhead,

was the Word of God. Notice the text.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God and was God.

He had the role, the position,

and the function before the world was

created,

and we’re never told about it for 4,000

years.

Until God through John says He’s the word.

A name that no one knew.

And then John’s like, and by the way,

the name was the Word of God.

God knew something about Christ.

And didn’t tell anybody. Now, when you

read it in John 1 and then

you go backward through the Old Testament,

you are saturated with meaning in the Old

Testament when you realize references

to Christ and things that occur in Christ

and the descriptions,

even in John Genesis chapters 1 and 2,

God spoke and it was done.

And John tells us through him God created

all things,

and without him was not anything made that

was made.

But we’re not told that in Genesis.

We’re not told that in Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

We’re not told that in the Old Testament

anywhere.

There’s a saying that often goes around

houses

by parents to children. You don’t have to

tell everything you know.

Because children have a habit of saying

the thing that not everybody wanted said.

Because they know something that nobody

else knows.

And they just blurt it out.

God here says, I kept a secret.

I held back from

you for generations. Something you would

eventually learn,

because I’d eventually reveal it.

That shouldn’t surprise us. Paul tells us

about that all the time.

Paul talks about mysteries that existed in

the Old Testament,

which God reveals in the church.

All through the years of God and Israel

and marriage and all of the things that

God had done, you would never have known

when God

was giving Moses the ordinances for the

tabernacle that he would

be explaining in pictures the church.

But when you put the types and the

anti-types together,

you find him not only explaining the

pictures of the church,

you also find him explaining heaven.

But he didn’t tell them that when he gave

them the ordinances for the tabernacle.

He said, put a drape here, make it this,

make it of this kind of cloth,

put this garment on it, put this or put

this helm on it,

do this, wear this, build this.

And he never once said, and by the way,

I’m explaining to you spiritual matters

that you do not yet understand.

Christ had a name. It was the word of God.

And notice the armies in heaven,

clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Stark contrast, by the way. Here’s the one

on the white horse. How is he arrayed?

How is he adorned?

In a robe dipped in blood.

Then you see in the picture all of his

armies,

all of his soldiers. How are they arrayed?

Not a speck on

Now, what army are you aware of where

there’s multitudes

and millions in the army and the only one

who goes out to fight is the king?

Don’t think that’s the way it normally

works.

But in the Lord’s army, that’s how it

works.

Because the one who never loses is the

king.

And he comes out of the victory covered in

blood,

and everybody comes out.

Pure white.

By the way, if you’re ~ prepping for war

and you’re ~ you you’re at the closet,

right? It’s like, ~ today’s battle day.

I think I’m wearing the fine linen.

I think that’s the right choice for the

battle.

It’s definitely gonna hold up,

right?

No, the Lord is wearing a robe dipped in

blood,

he has defeated his enemies, he has been

victorious,

and all of his armies get the benefit.

All of the Christians come out of it,

adorned in fine linen, clothed in white,

arrayed in the righteousness of.

The works of the saints.

They don’t look defeated. They’re not

arrayed

for war because he won the battle.

Turn to Hebrews chapter two for a moment.

Actually we’re gonna start in chapter one.

Chapter 1, verse 8, but to the Son,

he says, these are all Old Testament

passages the Hebrew writer is bringing

to bear on explaining why Christ is better

than everything else.

He says, And to his son, he says,

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of

your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated

lawlessness.

Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness more than your

companions. And you, Lord,

in the beginning laid the foundation of

the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your

hands,

they will perish, but you will remain,

they will all grow old like a garment,

like a cloak, you will fold them up,

and they will be changed, but you are the

same,

and your years will not fail. Now

The Hebrew writer, as he quotes Psalm 102

in this second passage,

takes this and says, You would have

thought that was talking about the Father.

But that wasn’t talking about the Father.

When he says you laid the foundations of

the earth,

it’s talking about Christ.

And that your reign, your years will never

fail?

Talking about Christ. But notice what else

he says.

But to which of his angels has he ever

said,

Sit at my right hand till I make your

enemies your footstool?

Are they not all ministering spirits sent

forth to minister for those

who will inherit salvation? The Hebrew

writer says,

Do you not realize that all the angels,

all the messengers from heaven,

all the spiritual beings are here as

ministers on behalf of those

who are being saved?

And they’re helping those who are being

saved?

Because God’s defeating Christ’s enemies.

And He’s going to put all of His enemies

under His feet.

Now notice what he says: therefore we must

give the more earnest heed

to the things that we have heard,

lest we drift away. For if the word spoken

through angels proved steadfast,

and every transgression and disobedience

received a just reward,

how shall we escape if we neglect so great

a salvation?

Which at the first began to be spoken by

the Lord and was confirmed to

us by those who heard him. God also

bearing witness,

both with signs and wonders, with various

miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit,

according to his own will. The Hebrew

writer says,

Do you not realize that we didn’t just we

didn’t just read these things?

We haven’t surmised these things from our

deep study of the Old Testament.

These were the things that were spoken to

us.

They were confirmed by miracles,

they were attested to by that which God

said,

by Christ Himself, and they are assured

through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There’s no doubt about anything I’m saying

to you.

He goes to verse five. For he has put the

world to come,

of which we speak in subjection to angels,

but one testified in a certain place,

saying, What is man that you are mindful

of him,

or the Son of Man that you’d take care of

him?

You have made him a little lower than the

angels,

and crowned him with glory and honor,

and set him over the works of your hands,

you have put all things in subjection

under his feet.

And you read that in the Old Testament,

when David writes it, and you go,

he’s talking about humanity.

For in that he put all in subjection under

him,

he left nothing that is not put under him.

But now we do not yet see all things put

under him.

The human writer says, He’s not talking

about humanity.

He’s talking about Christ.

That he made Christ lower than the angels.

That he did so so that he could put Christ

in a position

to die for his brethren.

Because they could never win the battle.

He could. And he could do it once for all

time.

Watch this. For it was fitting for him,

for whom are all things, and by whom are

all things,

him bringing many sons to glory to make

the captain of their salvation perfect

through sufferings. For both he who

sanctifies and those who

are being sanctified are all of one,

for which reason he is not ashamed to call

them brethren.

Saying, I will declare your name to my

brethren.

In the midst of the assembly I will sing

praise to you,

and again I will put my trust in him,

and again here am I, and the children whom

God has given me.

Inasmuch then as the children are have

partaken of flesh and blood,

he himself likewise shared in the same,

that through death he might destroy him

who had the power of death,

that is the devil.

Why is Jesus the only one arrayed in a

robe dipped with blood?

Because he was the sacrifice. Because he

was the victor.

But his victory wasn’t in life,

it was in death.

And as we come to the book of Revelation,

you might say, Well, wait a minute,

Aaron, but that happened before Domitian

ever came to the throne.

Christ Christ reigned and died on the

cross,

AD 33, not AD ninety-six.

You’re right.

Pause a moment and consider when

did God end the nation of Israel as his

people?

A.D. 33 was Jesus hung on the cross.

When Christ was nailed to the cross,

we’re told that the Old Testament,

the laws, the ordinances, the thing which

held them in bondage to that point

was nailed to the cross too.

In the days leading up to it, Jesus made

the declaration that

on this generation that was alive at that

moment in time,

all the blood of all the righteous

prophets that Israel had killed

in all their history was coming on that

generation.

Their defeat was signed,

sealed, delivered, A.D. 33, when Jesus

hung on that cross.

When did the city of Jerusalem fall?

eighty seventy.

Thirty seven years later, the entire

lifespan Jesus walked the earth and then

some.

So did Jesus not fulfill what he said in

ending Israel?

he most certainly did.

The fact of their defeat was done.

The fact of the end of them as God’s

people was finished when Jesus went

to that cross. The rest is just the

details playing out.

When Daniel

in the vision sees in Daniel chapter seven

this fourth beast

and he sees him consuming the saints and

he sees him destroying everything

in sight and sees him so monstrous in his

character that he can’t even describe him.

And he wonders at the beast.

Daniel’s told by the messenger,

what are you worried about? Who are you

wondering for?

I’m gonna tell you how he ends.

He’s slain. He’s destroyed.

And the Christ, the Messiah,

the son of David, is going to ascend back

to his throne.

And he’s going to be there forever.

When Rome is pictured as being defeated,

they’re pictured as being defeated in the

sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Not in AD 96.

Because in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,

Jesus laid the foundation for the church,

the kingdom of God. In Acts chapter 2,

as

Jesus in Acts chapter 1 has said to his

apostles,

You remain in Jerusalem until you are

endued with power from on high,

and you will be witnesses to me in

Jerusalem,

in Judea, in Samaria, and in the uttermost

part of the earth.

He says, My kingdom will cover the planet,

and you win. Now,

when was that enacted? It was enacted in

the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

on the cross and his resurrection from the

dead.

How long did it take? It’s still going on.

And it will till the end of time.

But what Revelation wants you to realize

is that every enemy that will ever

come against the church isn’t defeated in

that moment in time.

They’re defeated before they ever arrive.

They’re defeated before they ever come up.

They’re defeated in the sacrifice of Jesus

Christ on the cross.

There’s not a nation, there’s not a

government,

there’s not a person, there’s not a power,

there is not anyone who will ever defeat

Christ.

And as a result, there’s never anyone who

can defeat the church.

Because when the battle’s over,

you’re going to find the church arrayed in

fine linen,

white and holy, and you’re going to find

there’s that sacrifice again.

That nobody can ever defeat. Turn to

Hebrews chapter nine.

Verse sixteen, for where there is a

testament,

there must also of necessity be the death

of the testator.

For a testament is in force after men are

dead,

since it has no power at all while the

testator lives.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was

dedicated without blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to

all the people according to the law,

he took the blood of calves and goats with

water,

scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled

both the book itself and all the people.

In the old testament,

They consecrated, they sprinkled the blood

of the sacrifice on all

the people after the law was given.

Saying, This is the blood of the covenant

which God has commanded you.

Then likewise he sprinkled the blood both

with blood,

both the tabernacle and all the vessels of

the ministry.

And according to the law, almost all

things are purified with blood,

and without shedding of blood there is no

remission.

Therefore it was necessary that the copies

of the things in heaven should

be purified with these, but the heavenly

things themselves with better sacrifices

than these.

For Christ has not entered the holy places

made with hands,

which are copies of the true, but into

heaven itself,

now to appear in the presence of God for

us.

Not that he should offer himself often.

Notice, the Hebrew writer says,

Listen, don’t you think that your Lord

goes out and dies every time

an enemy comes up? Don’t you think that

your Lord goes out and dies every

day when you sin?

Don’t you imagine that your Lord is put to

death again and again

and again and again? Nonsense.

He says, not that he should offer himself

often.

As the high priest enters the most holy

place every year with the blood of

another,

he then would have would have had to

suffer often since the foundations

of the world. But now, once, at the end of

the ages,

he has appeared to put away sin.

By the sacrifice of what? Himself.

There’s your picture in Revelation

nineteen.

The one on the white horse. He goes forth

judging and making war.

He’s adorned in a robe covered in blood.

Because he is the victor.

He is the conqueror.

He is the king. He

Is the one doing battle, and he is the

sacrifice that defeats every enemy.

So he says, sacrifice of himself,

and as it is appointed for men once to die

once,

but after this the judgment, so Christ was

offered once to bear the sins of many.

To those who eagerly wait for him,

he will appear a second time, apart from

sin.

For salvation.

The Hebrew writer says, listen,

when he comes back, he’s not coming back

to solve the problem again.

He’s coming back to welcome home those who

are righteous.

Okay? So back to Revelation 19.

The armies in heaven clothed in fine

linen,

white and clean, followed him on white

horses,

now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword,

that with it he should strike the nations,

and he himself will rule them with a rod

of iron.

He himself treads the wine press of the

fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty

God.

He we’ve seen this picture over and over

and over again.

I think it’s chapter fourteen,

where the wine press is poured out.

God calls all of his people and says,

Cred out the wine press, end my enemies.

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a

name written,

King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun.

Pretty hot place, isn’t it? It’s a

picture.

He sees an angel standing in the sun and

cried with a loud voice,

saying to all the birds that fly in the

midst of heaven,

All right, watch the picture. Here’s the

angel.

He’s standing in the sun, and he’s going

to yell out to all the

all the flying creatures of earth.

He calls and says to all the flying

creatures,

the birds of heaven that fly in the midst

of heaven,

come and gather together for the supper of

the great God.

Now, back in Isaiah,

there’s a picture of God defeating his

enemies

to such a degree that,

by the way, the New Testament.

Picture that Jesus uses is Gehenna.

He says, I’m going to defeat my enemies to

such a degree that

the worm never runs out of something to

eat.

Where the worm dieth not,

and the fire is not quenched. We’re going

to burn my enemies,

and the worms are going to consume my

enemies,

and they’re never going to run out of

food.

Well, here’s the picture in Revelation:

God calls the birds.

And notice he says, Come and gather

together for the supper of the great God.

Th this is not a moment in time where

suddenly all of for those of

you who’ve seen Lord of the Rings,

you know, you there’s always that point in

one of the movies,

invariably where the eagles show up and

they either carry someone away

or they defeat the enemy or whatever.

Like the birds arrive just in time.

That’s not the picture here. God says,

Listen, you want to get the vultures over

here?

There’s a lot to eat.

There’s a feast. It’s all of God’s

enemies.

Come on. He says that you may eat the

flesh of kings,

the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty

men,

the flesh of horses, and those who sit on

them,

and the flesh of all people, free and

slave,

both small and great.

So we gotta ask. Is this picture a

physical event that we’re supposed

to be waiting on? We’re supposed to be

waiting on the day where all

the birds of heaven just come in and

attack God’s enemies?

No, that must these these must be 117s.

These are the B 2 bombers, these are the

birds that fly into heaven,

these are the these are the planes that

John was forecasting being part

of this great nuclear war at the end of

No.

Turn back to Matthew chapter six.

And appreciate something that Jesus said.

Connect in your mind these two pictures.

Therefore I say unto you, do not worry

about your life.

Jesus, when he was speaking to the people,

the Jews, the people of God, his

disciples,

said, stop worrying about your

life.

He says, what you will eat or what you

will drink,

nor about your body what you will put on,

is not life more than food and the body

more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, for they

neither sow,

nor reap, nor gather into barns,

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

God provides for his creation.

He provides for the nature that he

created.

He provides for the birds of heaven.

He provides for the animals that he

created.

They glorify him. They glory glorify him

in doing what he created them to do.

And here’s a picture over in Revelation

where God says,

Hey, I got a feast for you.

I’m not just taking care of my people,

I’m gonna take care of my creation too.

I’m gonna let you feed on my enemies.

But remember this Jesus’ point with the

analogy that God takes care

of the birds.

Is what are you worried?

God’s in control. What’s the entire

message of Revelation been about?

What are you worried for? Yeah,

you’re going to go through persecution.

Yeah, you’re going to get come under fire

from Rome.

Yeah, some of you are going to die.

But what are you worried for? God’s in

control.

If he wanted to defeat his enemies,

he could just call the birds of heaven.

And hand them over.

Sometimes we worry too much and about all

the wrong things.

Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of

heaven,

and all these things shall be added unto

you.

That’s still the message of revelation.

Thank you for your attention.

Hebrews 1-3 – Walker Cain – Sep. 2, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, authority, Bible, Church, God, Hebrews, Humility, keywords Christ, Moses, New Testament, Salvation by Aaron Cozort

image

Abraham, and then you have all of the

history from Genesis through

the Old Testament showing how God was

using Abraham to bring the Israelites.

And then the Israelites to bring about all

this prophecy preparing

the world for Christ. This law that

prepared the world for knowing how bad sin

was,

so that one day they could recognize how

great their Lord was.

You have this Old Testament that is

bringing man ready to where he

can see the Christ, he can know the

Christ.

And then you have Matthew.

Where we get to see our Lord is born.

He comes to this world. John starts

preaching,

repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at

hand.

Christ preaches the same message.

You have this entire buildup through

thousands of years coming to

the point of Christ preaching salvation.

And then you have Acts chapter two where

the church is established.

Christ has died on the cross. Acts chapter

two now says that men can repent

and be baptized for the remission of sins.

In the name of Jesus Christ. Mankind is

able to be saved and follow this

new law rather than following the old law.

And now we have the book of Hebrews.

Now, for reasons we won’t look into today,

~ it’s thought that Hebrews was written

around sixty-three AD or so.

Now we don’t know who the writer was,

but we can tell that it seems as though it

was written before

The destruction of Jerusalem, which

occurred in AD seventy,

because it refers to so many things about

the old law,

about the Old Testament, about the

priesthood.

It shows so many things that say,

hey, look at what the old law was and

compare it to what the new law is,

how good God’s way is. So you have Hebrews

building up to this point where

the gospel has been preached, and now you

have Jews who are part of that old law,

who have become part of the new law.

They have become Christians.

But now they are facing something.

A right after Acts chapter two,

you begin having the seeds of persecution

grow.

And that persecution is going to become

more and more severe.

It’s first not the Romans who do it,

but the Jews. They’re the ones who are

bringing the apostles to the court.

They are the ones saying, Preach no more

in this name.

And this is going to not just be something

that happens to the apostles,

this happens to all the brethren.

You have Saul who is persecuting the

Christians and they were scattered abroad

everywhere. This persecution has built up

and it is severe.

And just because Saul decided to convert

didn’t mean that all

of that persecution stopped. The Jews were

still hurting their bret hurting

the Christians. They were still

persecuting them as though they were

heretics.

And now you come to the book of Hebrews.

Now, with all of that, they’re wanting to

go back to the old law.

You’ve had this thousands of years where

they look back and they say,

This was the way we were to follow.

And then Christ comes and he changes all

of their reality by saying,

Listen, now the old law is fulfilled,

you follow this now. And then you have old

you have Jews who do not want

to go toward it. In fact, they tell

Christians,

if you try to go toward this, you’re going

to be persecuted.

You are going you are going to be

suppressed for what you’ve decided to do.

So there were Jews that were there were

Christians who were tempted to

go back to the old law.

They were tempted to go back to what they

knew beforehand.

And because of that, you have the book of

Hebrews that shows the fact that

we can look toward the new law and see how

much better it is than the old.

Now, the what we want to focus on today is

going to be the fact that Christ,

with all the things He is, He He is so

much better in so many facets.

But tonight we’re going to focus on the

idea of Him being

the better lawgiver compared to Moses

himself.

Now before that we’re going to prove what

we’ve talked about with

the fact that Christ he is the focus from

the very beginning of this book.

Starting in Hebrews chapter one verse one,

God, who at sundry times and in diverse

manners spake in time past unto

the fathers by the prophets, hath in these

last days spoken unto us by his son,

whom he hath appointed heir of all things,

and by whom he made the worlds.

Who, being the brightness of his glory in

the express image of his person,

and upholding all things by the word of

his power,

when he had by himself purged our sins,

sat down on the right hand of the majesty

on high.

We already get to learn so many things

about Christ in these three verses.

It says, God spoke through Christ.

He spoke through the prophets beforehand.

Remember that Old Testament that we

referenced,

where it was preparing the world for

Christ.

But now the Lord speaks through Christ.

God tells us what we need to do through

Christ,

and then Christ, He speaks with His own

words,

the words that are written and read that

we all know and love.

But also He spoke through His apostles.

He told them, Whatever you bind on earth

will have been bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will have been

loosed in heaven.

He delegates to them authority that says,

What I tell what you say

Is what I want you to say. They are going

to be inspired,

as is shown in his discussion with them,

starting in John chapter 13. The Christ is

now the one through whom

God lets us know what it is we must do.

And this in and of itself is one reason he

is our lawgiver.

A lawgiver is one who tells you what you

must do.

Now, with that, Christ is also the one by

whom God made the world.

He appointed him heir of all things.

He is the one who possesses all things,

and he is the one through whom the worlds

were made.

He is the designer. He is also the owner.

And throughout the rest of this book of

Hebrews,

it’s going to show that he is better than

Moses,

as we will focus on. He is a better high

priest.

He is a better sacrifice. Christ is better

than everything they could have turned

back to, than everything they could have

looked at and said,

you know what, I want this instead.

Christ was what was better.

Now, with that laid before us,

let’s look at Moses himself. Or let’s

let’s look more into Christ being better

than Moses. First, with the Old Testament,

as we have said, it shows that the fact

that Christ was better.

Looking at Hebrews chapter one,

verses four, verse four, and then through

chapter two through eighteen shows that

Christ is better than the angels.

Remember, we’ve talked about the fact that

the Old Testament shows how much

we can look at Christ and say,

Look at how great He is. Look at how

magnificent He is.

Hebrews chapter one, verse four,

being made so much better than the angels,

as he hath by inheritance obtained a more

excellent name than they.

Christ, it it’s not that he was

It’s not that he was made and then now you

are greater than the angels.

Christ was and is and shall always be.

But Christ, after he was willing to suffer

what he wa did,

and even before that, he was greater than

the angels.

He was greater than the ones who were made

to serve the Lord.

And it’s going to show more of why he was

greater throughout the rest

of this chapter. But we’ve just we’ve

established that Christ,

we can better understand the glory of

Christ by these angels.

But also they allow us to understand the

humility of Christ.

Remember with Moses, how is he described?

He was the meekest man to walk the earth

during his time.

Now what is Christ going to be?

Verse 8, Thou hast put all things in

subjection under his feet,

thou being the Father. For in that he put

all in subjection under him,

he left nothing that is not put under him.

But now we see not yet all things are put

under him.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little

lower than the angels,

for the suffering of death, crowned with

glory and honor,

that he, by the grace of God, should taste

death for every man.

For it became him for whom are all things

and by whom are all things,

in bringing many sons unto glory,

to make the captain of their salvation

perfect through suffering.

Angels were amazing, weren’t they?

You have a hundred and eighty-five

thousand enemies against the Israelites,

who were slain in one night by an angel.

Christ is greater than the angels.

But also Christ, not only is he greater,

he was willing to be made a little lower

than the angels.

He was willing to come down to this earth,

literally be lower and on this earth,

not in heaven, with mankind. You have God

the Father who is above all.

You have the angels who are below him.

You have man down here. And Christ decided

that while he was still fully God,

he was also going to be fully man.

He decided to humble himself by taking the

form of a man so that

he could suffer death for us. It says,

for the suffering of death.

But we see Jesus who is made a little

lower than the angels for

the suffering of death, crowned with glory

and honor,

that he by the grace of God should taste

death for every man.

He came down to this earth, being made a

little lower than the angels,

so that he could f face death for us.

You see, a spirit cannot face death,

not in a physical way. They can certainly

face spiritual death,

but Christ could not be our sacrifice

without coming to this earth.

He was greater than the angels,

more powerful.

more eternal than they ever were.

And then Christ was willing to be lower

than the angels.

Now, Moses was the meekest man on the

earth,

but then you have Christ, who was God

himself,

but he was willing to be made lower than

the part of his creation,

and then be made equal with a part of his

creation,

mankind, so that he could serve them.

Now Christ was still God. Christ was fully

God and fully man the entire time.

And if we deny either the fact he was

fully man or fully God,

We deny who he called himself.

He was both the Son of God and He was the

Son of Man.

John chap John is going the book of John

affirms the fact that Christ

was with God and that he was God.

We do not want to take away from that

fact.

But also Christ was willing to be humble,

to be meek, to come down to this earth for

the purpose of not just living among us,

but dying for us. The Old Testament

prepares us for seeing how great Christ

is.

It also prepares us for seeing how humble

he was willing to be,

and why did he do that? For it became him

for whom are all things,

and by whom are all things, and bringing

many sons unto glory to make

the captain of their salvation perfect

through sufferings.

Christ is the captain of our salvation,

and he was made complete through

suffering.

There’s things that we get we can learn

when it comes to suffering.

But Christ was willing to learn by

experience what it was like to suffer,

so that He can make our salvation sure.

You have all of this in the Old Testament

with angels preparing us.

And then after that, you have Moses

himself.

We’ve seen the glory of Christ affirmed by

the Old Testament,

the humility of Christ affirmed by the Old

Testament.

And now it is going to affirm his

authority.

And for this we want to turn to Hebrews

chapter three.

I said we talk about Moses at some point.

We finally made it. Hebrews chapter three.

Starting in verse one, wherefore,

holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly

calling,

consider the apostle and high priest of

our profession,

Jesus Christ, who is faithful to him that

appointed him,

as also Moses was faithful in all his

house.

For this man was counted worthy of more

glory than Moses,

inasmuch as he who hath built the house,

hath more honor than the house.

With Moses he was one who

God appeared to him in a burning bush,

and the Lord said, You’re going to go

deliver my people.

This is one who God worked miracles

through him.

He led potentially two million people

through the wilderness.

We had six hundred thousand men.

If you put an equal number of women with

that,

and then you have children, it grows and

grows.

He led a multitude through the wilderness.

He had the Lord speak to him directly.

He is the one that the Lord said,

He is my when the Bible describes him,

it says, Moses spoke to the Lord face to

face as a man speaks with his friend.

The Lord is going to defend Moses later on

against Aaron and Miriam,

who come against him because of who he had

married.

They don’t agree with it being a

Phoenician woman,

if I remember correctly. And it looks more

like

also in their rebuttal against Moses,

they didn’t like the fact that he was the

authority.

They go against Moses and the Lord is

going to say,

When I speak to this when I speak to this

world,

and I do it through a prophet,

I do it through dreams and visions.

But this Moses, I speak with him face to

face.

And you’re going to speak against him.

You’re going to think that you can come up

and speak against my servant,

also the one who is o who is called in

scripture my friend.

Moses was one who was amazing and he had

authority because he simply spoke what

God wanted to be spoken. Now that’s

something for us as Christians to keep in

mind.

It’s not that we have an authority,

we have a greatness over anyone else,

but we do have a message that is

authoritative to give to those around us,

to give to those who need to hear the word

of God.

If we make sure that what we say is what

God has shown to us,

we can be like Moses in that we show the

law.

That God wants to be given. No,

we are not lawgivers like Moses or a

lawgiver like Jesus was,

but we do show the law that God has given

if we speak what has been spoken

to us like Moses did. You have Moses who

is this great,

he was this amazing, and but the Hebrews

writer is going to show that Christ

is greater. First, while Moses served in

the house,

while he served and he served faithfully,

Christ built it.

As we read before, verse two, Moses,

who was faithful to him that appointed

him.

Verse two, who was faithful to him that

appointed him,

as also Moses was faithful in all his

house.

For this man was counted worthy of more

glory than Moses,

inasmuch as he who hath builded the house

hath more more honor than the house.

You see a mansion and you see all those

beautiful,

those hedged bushes, those trend bushes,

you see every flower that is ornate,

and then you look and you see that

structure itself.

You see those window panes that are clear

and crisp.

You see all the different other aspects of

that house.

So you even realize they didn’t go cheap

on the gutters.

The gutters even look good. It’s like even

today you look at a nice house

and it’s like, you guys did the gutters on

that house cheap.

But you look at this one and no,

they did it right. They did it well.

Every aspect of that house, you look at it

and think,

that’s impressive. I’m happy for them.

I’m glad that they get to live there.

But then you think, you know, someone

designed that house.

Someone built that house. Now,

what’s more impressive? The fact that the

house is there or the person

who built the house? Well, the fact that

that house is there is great,

but that house didn’t have any muscles or

brain to put itself where it was.

There was a person who went to school.

Or learned as a tradesman the ability to

build that structure,

~ multiple men realistically, who learned

the trade to build that structure

and then they made it together.

And they are the ones that are impressive.

That house, it’s just material.

It’s just components that were put

together.

The people who made it, that’s who are

impressive.

Whether we talk about automobiles,

we talk about houses, or whether we’re

talking about something that

is such so spiritual as the people of God.

The designer is greater than what is

designed.

This world we live in is designed.

Christ made the world as we described

earlier,

by whom he he appointed heir of all

things,

and by whom he made the worlds.

That’s what we read in Hebrews chapter

one.

Christ is the maker of all things.

And he’s going to be the maker of what

Moses was over.

Now what are some things that we recognize

when we see a house?

We first recognized as we described that

there was a designer.

Somebody laid out the blueprints for that.

Somebody made sure that when they went and

built it,

they had what they needed to build it.

They knew how to put together what they

had.

They had the plumbing, they had the

electrical,

they had the a the ventilation,

they had all of it set up to where they

knew how it was going to go together.

There was a designer. But a designer is

not enough.

You can have all of the plans in the

world.

But if you’re not willing to carry them

through,

or if you don’t have the power to carry

them through,

they’re not going to do much good.

You have the Galatians who they had many

things that they lay laid up to do,

but then they didn’t follow through.

Now they had the power to do it,

but they decided not to, or they just let

it fall by the wayside.

Our Lord was both the designer of what

Moses was over,

but he was also the builder. Now,

as the builder,

Something interesting about builders

today.

Usually when you see a house built by

someone,

is he going to live in it or someone else?

Someone else is usually going to live in

it.

It belongs to someone else. He’s building

it under a contract.

Our Lord didn’t make this world under a

contract.

Now he has given us the opportunity to be

stewards of it,

but it’s his. And the same is true over

what Moses was over.

Now what was the house Moses served in?

Moses was over the Israelites.

He was over, and this is important,

the people of God. Revelation is going to

speak of that woman who

was trying the dragon was trying to

consume.

And there are those who want to say,

Well, this is the Israelites, or no,

this is the church. Well, if we just step

back and say,

no, this is the people of God,

it all makes sense. This is the people of

God throughout time.

Moses was over the people of God here.

He was faithful in all his house.

Now this house could be his as in it’s

Moses’ house,

or he was over stewarding it. Or it can be

Moses,

he was over the father’s house.

He was over the house that was given to

him to serve in by God.

Now, as we described earlier,

everything was built by someone.

As we described with that house,

all things were built by God.

This house, it says

Everything every house is builded by some

man,

but he that built all things is God.

Now turn back to Hebrews chapter one

verses five through eight,

making sure that we don’t make any

assumptions,

but we pull what this is from the text.

Chapter one starting in verse five,

for unto which of the angels said he,

the Father, at any time, thou art my son,

this day have I begotten thee,

and again I will be to him a father,

and he shall be to me a son.

And again, when he bringeth in the first

begotten into the world,

he saith, And let all the angels of God

worship him.

And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his

angels spirits,

and his ministers a flame of fire?

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne,

O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of

righteousness is the scepter

of thy kingdom. So we’ve established the

fact that a house is built by somebody,

whether it’s a physical house or it’s the

people of God.

A house is built by someone. Now,

and then also he that built all things is

who?

It’s God. God is the one who has built all

things.

But also what we’ve just read,

the Father looked at the Son and said,

Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The Father, the one who has all authority,

looked at the Son. He looked at Christ and

said,

Thy throne is

is forever and ever. God Himself affirmed

that Jesus was God,

right here in the book of Hebrews.

And as we described earlier, it’s done in

the book of John.

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, distinct from

the Father,

but also the Word was God. It was part of

deity as well.

The Lord the Father in heaven calls Jesus

God Himself.

God the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Ghost are the Godhead.

Now, with this idea, turn to Matthew

chapter 3,

verses 16 and 17, just for a brief review

of this idea.

Matthew chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

Jesus has come to full age, and he is

desiring,

as he tells John,

To fulfill all righteousness. Now the

purpose of baptism for

the whole of man was for remission of

sins.

Even under John’s baptism, they were to b

be baptized in repentance.

And then when Christ came, when there was

that baptism that was under

the authority of Christ rather than the

baptism that is called John’s,

it is still for the remission of sins.

Well, Christ didn’t have any sins to be

remitted,

but he still decided to be baptized.

To to do this, to fulfill all

righteousness,

to be an example of what must be done,

verse fifteen. Now, verse sixteen,

and Jesus, when he was baptized,

went up straight away out of the water.

And lo, the heavens were opened unto him,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending

like a dove,

and lighting upon him. And lo,

a voice from heaven saying, This is my

beloved Son,

in whom I am well pleased. You have the

Son who is being baptized.

You have the voice from heaven saying,

This is my son, therefore that voice is

the Father.

And then you have the Spirit of God

descending like a dove,

Father, Son, and Spirit. You have three

distinct personalities here,

three distinct beings occur doing what is

occurring here.

Now, does that mean that we have three

different gods?

Certainly not. Scripture itself tells us

that we have one God.

Deuteronomy six verse four. Deuteronomy

six four.

It’s a short verse, but ever important.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,

is one Lord. We have one God.

And yet this one God decides to show

himself as the Father,

the Son, and the Spirit. Now all the

aspects of how the Godhead work

no man can fully explain, and surely not

the immature one standing here before you.

But what we do need to know, and what we

can know is the fact that our Lord

is one Lord. And for whatever reasons he

has chosen,

he has shown himself to us as the Father,

the Son, and the Spirit. We can be sure

that Christ Himself is God.

He is not just a God, He is God.

Just like the Father is God, just like the

Spirit is God.

Every house is built by someone.

As the Hebrews writer says, every house is

built by some man,

and then he that built all things is God.

And also as the Hebrews writer says,

Christ himself is God. Looking back at

Hebrews chapter 1,

verse 2, it says, Christ is the one by

whom he made the worlds.

Throughout this book, it’s go it shows the

fact that Christ is the

one through whom the worlds were made.

He is God himself. In the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth.

Well, if God created the heavens and the

earth,

and Christ created the heavens of the

earth and the earth,

therefore Christ is God Himself.

If A equal if A equals B and B equals C,

then A equals C. Throughout Scripture it

affirms this.

Now we’re going to have those who are out

in this world who they don’t like

to read the book of Hebrews. They like to

say that Christ is not God.

They want to say that he was a created

being.

Instead of looking at what Scripture has

to say.

And we must keep in mind that if we fail

to see the fact that our Lord is

the Son of God, and He also is God,

we lose the key to what we believe.

We are Christians. We follow Christianity.

If we lose the Christ out of Christianity,

then we have nothing that we follow.

Let us keep ever in the forefront of our

minds that our Lord,

the one who made the worlds,

Christ is God, and He is the one who is

over us.

Since he is God, and since he built all

things,

he built the house over which Moses

stewarded.

The people of Israel, they were under

Moses’ delegation,

under his authority. But got God in Christ

built that house.

He was the one who made this people.

It then follows that Christ is in charge

of those people,

and he is in charge of anything that he

makes.

He is the designer, as we described

earlier.

He’s also the builder.

Well, if someone is the designer and the

builder,

they get to decide how it works.

Moses was over the children of Israel,

but Christ had built all things,

therefore is the creator of the

Israelites.

They were Christ’s house. But you have the

Israelites there,

as has been described. But what do you

have today?

You have the church that has been made.

Matthew 16, 18. Christ is going to say,

Upon this rock, upon the confession of

Christ being Lord,

I will build.

my church. Christ is going Christ has

built a new house.

That isn’t the people of Israel.

It is the people that are now Christians.

Now, as we described earlier, we can see

this as the people of God throughout time.

But we today are part of something

special,

something that cr God was preparing us for

since the foundation of the world,

and that is the church. Now, what are the

implications?

What do we need to take home from the fact

that Christ built the church?

He is over

What we are now a part of. If Christ built

it,

then he was able to design the door.

We have a world who wants to say,

you can go into the church this way or

that way.

You can be sprinkled, you can have water

poured on you.

You can just say this is how you you just

say this little prayer.

You we call the sinner’s prayer.

No, you can’t find it in Scripture,

but just roll with it anyway. They want to

say that that’s the way in,

that that’s the door. Well, Christ says

that he is the door,

and he himself said

If any man come after me, let him deny

himself,

take up his cross, and come after me.

And part of that denying self is being

willing to do what the Lord has said,

and one of the things he’s told us to do,

Acts two thirty eight, repent and be

baptized,

every one of you in the name of Jesus

Christ,

for the remission of sins. If we are going

to go through the door that Christ

designed for us, we must ensure that we’re

not following anything that a man made,

but instead what Christ made, since he is

the one who designed the house.

If Christ built it, then who laid the

foundation of it?

Men or Christ? When you build a house,

you need to lay a foundation to it.

Christ, he laid the foundation.

He said, Upon this rock I will build my

church.

And he says, Upon this rock I will build

my church,

after Peter says, Thou art Christ,

the Son of God. Christ built the church on

his identity,

on confession of who he was.

As we described earlier, we must keep ever

in the forefront of our minds that Christ

is God. He is the one who created the

world.

He’s not a created being, he is part of

God Himself.

If we forget that, then we have lost the

foundation of the church.

We have lost the foundation of what Christ

has built,

and what we follow means nothing.

If Christ built it, he got to design the

door.

If he built it, he laid the foundation of

it.

And guess what? It was him himself.

And then

If Christ built it, who chooses how large

it is or what it encompasses?

Christ got to decide the borders of the

house.

No one gets to say, you know what,

the house is going to be this much bigger.

We’re going to expand onto it.

We’re going to make this denomination that

has some different rules when

you come into this house. That’s not it.

There is one house that follows one set of

rules.

You have houses that, you know,

they have rules, you know, if you’re in

this house,

we love each other. We’re going to hug,

we’re going to say I’m sorry.

Well Christ has rules on his house,

the house that he built, and he gives

those rules to us in his word.

If we follow those, we get to be in his

house.

If we don’t follow them, there’s no extra

house on the side that we get to be in.

We must follow his word, otherwise we are

not in his house.

We are not in what he has designed.

Christ is the better lawgiver because he

built the house.

But also he is the better lawgiver because

Because he is the man of the house.

Continuing forward, verse four says,

For every house is built by some man,

but he that built all things is God.

And Moses was verily faithful in all his

house as a servant,

for a testimony of those things which were

to be spoken after.

But Christ as a son over his own house,

whose house are we, if we hold fast to the

confidence and the rejoicing of the hope,

firm

To the end. Now, Moses, as we described

earlier,

he had a special relationship with God.

There was no man like him, as described in

Deuteronomy thirty four,

verse ten. But Jesus had a relationship

with the Father,

not even Moses did. Moses was a servant,

but Christ was a son. Verse six,

but Christ as a son over his own house.

You have fathers who they they go and they

build their income,

they build their wealth, and then they

they might even give a son to the

a house to their children if they have got

ha gained that ability,

if they have that blessing. And if they

give that house to their

son or their daughter, that house belongs

to them.

Now, is it still the same thing if that

person,

if that father gives a house to a servant?

no, that servant’s just taking care of it.

That servant, maybe he’s making sure it’s

dusted,

it’s mopped, it’s cleaned.

But a son, he takes care of the house,

but also it belongs to him. As we

described earlier,

the fact that he built the house makes it

his.

But also not only did he build it,

it is his because the Father gave it to

him.

Verse six Christ as a son over his own

house.

Christ has authority, he has possession of

this house.

Whose house are we if we hold fast to the

confidence of the hope,

firm

unto the end. Christ has authority over

his own house.

And also it shows who are part of his

house.

An idea we will look at more momentarily.

At the moment, turn to Matthew twenty

eight verses eighteen through twenty.

Matthew twenty eight eighteen through

twenty.

Christ has given the great commission to

his apostles,

or is giving the great commission to his

apostles.

And he tells them, All power is given unto

me in heaven

and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach

all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,

teaching them to observe all things

whatsoever I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even unto

the end the day.

of the world. That first verse that we

read,

all power is given unto me in heaven and

in earth.

The Father had given all authority to the

Son.

He was now king, he was now head over his

people,

or he would be very soon. And the apostles

were therefore to go

and teach all nations. Christ has been

given authority,

He’s been given authority over his house,

as he says in Matthew twenty eight

eighteen.

And we bring that to Hebrews chapter 3,

verse 6. Christ is the Son over his own

house.

He has been given all power and authority

in heaven and in earth,

and certainly in the church. Now,

as we described earlier, if Christ built

the house,

does he not get to lay the design out for

it?

But also if Christ, he not only built it,

he owns it. Well, if Christ owns it,

what does he get to decide? Christ’s

If Christ owns it, whose name should be on

it?

If Christ built the house, should it be

named after Calvin?

Should it be named after Luther?

Should it be named anything else besides

Christ himself?

Now there is not a scripture that says

thou shalt have a church that

is called the Church of Christ.

There are sound congregations in other

countries where they follow God’s word

and they don’t call themselves they don’t

have on their sign Church of Christ.

But they follow His will. They follow His

way.

But then you also have congregations that

have the name Church of Christ

on the outside, but they don’t follow

God’s way.

They have gone to the right or they’ve

gone to the left.

But do we ensure that God’s authority is

written on us in everything that we do?

If it’s not written on the name outside

because that’s just not the name used

in that particular country, do we ensure

that God’s name is written when

it comes to what we follow, when it comes

to the authority that we base

our actions upon? We are the church of

Christ because we belong to Christ.

His name is what is on it, whether that’s

what’s on the sign outside or not,

when we follow his will and his way and

his alone.

Now Christ, as we described earlier,

if he is the owner of the house,

he gets to decide the rules for entering

it,

and no one else can change that.

And also he gets to decide the rules for

how to stay in it.

Verse six, but Christ as a son over his

own house,

whose house are we, if we hold fast and

The confidence and the rejoicing of the

hope firm unto the end.

Now, when we were building up the context

of the book of Hebrews,

what is it that the Hebrews the Hebrew

Christians were wanting to do?

They were wanting to go back to Judaism.

They were being persecuted, and you know

what?

This was discouraging. You know,

if we just go back to Judaism,

we have the temple, we have an entire law

that we’ve been following for generations,

we have an incredible history of.

The fact that we’re even here,

even though the Romans have come,

now we’re under the Romans, but we don’t

like to talk about that.

But we’re still here, even though the

Romans have come and have subdued us,

they could go back and they could be proud

of what they were a part of,

but they could be a part of something

better.

They were a part of something better,

but if they held fast to the confidence

and rejoicing of the hope,

firm and to the end. The condition that

the Hebrews writer shows is

we must hold fast to our confidence,

otherwise

We will not be a part of the house.

Now it’s not the case that if we have a

moment where we struggle,

that it’s immediately, nope, you’re not

going to be a part of the house anymore.

But we must decide that we are going to

hold to it even if we’re struggling,

that his will comes before ours,

his way comes before anything of the world

if we desire to be in his house.

The Hebrews writer is then going to show.

What happens when his will is not

followed,

when God’s will is not followed.

Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith,

Today if ye will hear his voice,

harden not your hearts as in the day of

provocation,

in the day of temptation in the

wilderness,

when your fathers tempted me, proved me,

and saw my works forty years. Skipping to

verse twelve,

take heed, brethren, lest there be in any

of you an evil heart of unbelief.

The Hebrews were tempted to do what?

They were tempted to turn back to the old

law.

They were tempted to turn back from

Christ’s way.

And the way that’s going to be described

is their hearts were hardened.

And how does the Hebrews writer apply it?

How does he say, You know what,

now that you’ve looked at this,

what should you do? He says, Don’t you be

turned away by a heart of unbelief too.

Even if we looked at God’s word and say,

You know that’s right, but I want to go to

something easier,

that is unbelief in itself.

If we decide to turn to something easier,

if we decide to try to justify it,

to try to rationalize it, that is still a

heart of unbelief toward what

God has said. The belief that Scripture

shows,

pistis is a belief that says,

I believe this to the point I’m going to

invest my actions into it.

I’m going to invest my life in this.

We can be a part of this house if we hold

fast to this confidence,

to this hope.

Firm unto the end, but only if we do that.

We have a world where we might not know

what happens tomorrow.

So far in our country we have had the

freedom to worship our Lord,

but if that freedom is taken away,

will we still be willing to preach God’s

word to follow his way,

even if it means danger for us?

Now there are times where wisdom must be

used.

The Christians scattered abroad because it

wasn’t wise for them to just stay

in Jerusalem and to be massacred.

There was also a time where in our own

country there was a disease going around

and elders had to decide, you know what,

we need to do what’s wise. And so many

decided we’re not going to

be meeting right now. But when it comes to

following God’s way,

to being a part of His will, to doing His

will,

are we going to be willing to stand up to

persecution?

We don’t have to stay and try to be

slaughtered by the opposition that comes,

but we certainly cannot back down from the

truth given to us.

We can use prudence, but we cannot forsake

the way God has given us.

There is a difference between being wise

and worshiping where one needs to worship,

and also deciding not to worship because

it’s what is convenient for

me or because it’s too dangerous to do it.

Take heed, my brethren, lest there be in

any of you an evil heart

of unbelief in departing from the living

God.

If we desire to be in Christ’s house,

Christ, who is the better lawgiver,

we must recognize that He built the house,

that He is the owner of the house,

and He has decided that the way we stay in

the house is we hold fast to Him.

And as we have described, Christ is the

way into the house.

The Hebrews wanted to go where?

They wanted to go and enter the land of

rest.

But God is going to swear that they would

not enter into his rest.

Verse 18. But with whom was he grieved

forty years?

Was it not with them that had sinned,

whose carcass carcasses fell in the

wilderness?

And to whom swear he that they should not

enter into his rest,

but to them that believe not. The they

could not enter into rest because they

did not believe what God had said.

And in the same way, if we decide to go

against what God has shown us,

if we decide not to follow

What he has given to us, then we will not

be able to enter rest either.

Now, we aren’t going to try to enter the

land of Canaan,

but we do want to cross Jordan and see

heaven on the other side.

But we must hold fast to what God has

shown us.

Now, there’s an encouragement in that,

a beauty in that. What they could not have

within them was a heart of unbelief.

Now, when God commands us to do something,

is it ever impossible for us to do it?

If God commands us to do something,

that means we can do it. And God has

commanded us to believe.

Well, if God, who has never given us

anything we can’t do,

has told us that we can believe,

then we can go to His Word and be

confident that there is evidence in it

for what we are to believe. Remember that

this pistuo,

this piste, this is a belief that invests

itself into what is believed.

And we can be sure in

Scripture itself. As we looked at already,

Scripture all throughout it shows the fact

that Christ is God.

It is all consistent and shows that fact.

It also shows in its inerrancy.

It shows in the accuracy that even when

the historians say,

No, this isn’t the case, then Scripture

comes and says it is,

and after a hundred years, they dig up

something and they realize,

you know what? The Bible was right.

Of course, just saying that it has all of

the information doesn’t make

it have all the information. But if we

dig,

if we look, which all of us should be

doing,

if we dig and we look at Scripture,

we can be sure what God has given,

so that we need not have an heart of

unbelief,

but a firm foundation of belief in Christ.

Christ is a better lawgiver because he

built the house,

because he is the owner of the house,

and because he is the way into it.

And he has shown us that that way is

believing in him to the point

of submitting to what he has given,

with a firm hope in what he has allowed us

to follow.

Our decision, our question is if we are

going to follow it so that we can

be a part of that house, seeking the

evidence so that we can believe

and one day enter into that rest.

Thank you for your time, plus thirty

seconds.

3 Things Every Person Needs – Aaron Cozort – August 30, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Biblical Principles, Christian living, Church, fellowship with God, Gospel, Grace, keywords spiritual needs, Salvation by Aaron Cozort

image

Good morning.

It is good to have each and every one of

you with us.

It’s good to see a few faces we haven’t

seen in a while and it’s great

to have our visitors with us. We

appreciate your presence at every

opportunity that

you have to to meet with us.

There are things that every person alive

needs.

One of the first ones that comes to mind

is oxygen.

~ you won’t get very far without oxygen

in your bloodstream and in your body and

around you.

Another is water.

You will sustain yourself for a short

period of time without water,

certainly longer than you can go without

oxygen.

But

Try to go without it for very long,

and you’re gonna find out in a quite

devastating way that you need water.

Food. We have an abundance of food here

today.

So I hope all of you are planning on

staying to eat lunch with us because there

is food, and that’s one of the needs that

you have is food.

So some of us could probably do with a

little less by way of portions,

and some could probably do with a little

more,

but we all need food.

Three things that every person needs.

Oxygen, water, food.

What I want talk about this morning is

three other things that every person

needs. ~ unlike the prior three,

that all of us pretty much have no choice

but to come to grips with

the fact that we do n need oxygen,

water, food.

A lot of people do not realize they need

these three things.

Though if they were to examine their

lives,

especially in view of the Word of God,

they would find they absolutely need these

three things.

As we consider the first of those,

consider number one, that Every person,

everywhere that has ever lived,

of any culture, of any nation,

of every tongue that has ever been born

needs grace that saves.

Paul will write in Romans chapter 3 that

all have sinned and come short

of the glory of God. In Romans chapter 6,

verse 23, he will write that the wages of

sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life

through Christ.

Every person of every nation,

of every tongue, of every language needs

grace

that saves. Turn to Titus chapter 2.

As we spend time in the text that will

be shown there on the screen as we go

through our lesson,

bear in mind we will say some things about

them,

and we will not have time to say all the

things that we would like

to say about them. In Titus chapter 2 and

in verse 11,

we read for the grace that of God that

brings salvation has appeared

to all men.

God doesn’t do useless things.

God doesn’t do things that have no value.

God doesn’t do things for people that they

don’t need.

And yet God has made that grace available.

He has made it appear. It has made it ~

that which is accessible

to all men. Teaching us that denying

ungodliness and worldly lust,

we should live soberly, righteously,

and godly in this present age.

Looking for the blessed hope and glorious

appearing of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave

himself for us that he might redeem

us from every lawless deed, and purify for

himself his own special people,

zealous for good works. Speak these

things,

exhort, and rebuke with all authority,

let no one despise you. As Paul is writing

to this young preacher,

Timothy.

He makes it incredibly clear to Timothy

that God has made salvation accessible

to all men, to every person who is alive.

But that grace which saves us also demands

something of us.

It teaches us how to live and how not to

live.

It demands of us a change in our lives.

Paul is going to write to Titus,

and he is going to make it clear that

grace is that which leads to salvation.

It is that which has made salvation

accessible.

But it is also that which causes us to

deny ungodliness.

And the stark contrast of ungodliness is

to live in righteousness.

But he also makes it clear that that grace

causes us to look

for something beyond this life.

So many people who live their daily lives

in misery,

in dread, and in despair do so because

they

are not looking past this life.

And this life for them holds nothing that

they

can take joy in. And yet,

Paul will tell us that grace causes

someone to look toward that

hope of Christ appearing. There is a time,

there is a place, there is an event that

is coming,

and Paul lived in assurance of it that

Christ would return,

that this world was not all that there

was,

that there was a home waiting for those

who were faithful.

Paul would write in 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Concerning the fact that in this life he

had fought the good fight,

he had finished the course, he had kept

the faith.

Therefore he said, I know there is laid up

for me a crown of righteousness,

and not for me only, but for all those

who love his appearing. Grace that saves

demands that we look forward in hope to

Christ’s appearing.

But it also teaches us the difference

between the lawless deeds that

we had been partakers of in our former

life before our salvation and the

redeemed,

purified, and zealous state we are

supposed to be in as a result of our

salvation.

We are not to be those who look like the

world.

We are not to be those who live like the

world.

We are not, as Christians, to be those who

entertain the things that

the world entertains because we don’t live

in the world.

Our home is in heaven.

And we are a unique people.

But he also makes it clear that that grace

causes us to speak.

As Paul wrote to Titus, he demanded of

Titus.

If that grace has appeared to all men,

then the gospel must be preached to all

men.

And it means that even amongst Christians,

Paul says, you’re going to have to speak,

you’re going to have to exhort,

and you’re going to have to rebuke.

So many times when people are corrected,

they would love to claim, Well,

you didn’t do that correcting with the

right attitude.

You you didn’t do that correcting and that

admonishing and that rebuking

in the way that I wanted it to be done.

It’s really hard for the person who’s done

the wrong to complain about

how they get corrected.

I know we live in a world where people

want to soften just about everything.

There are probably some teachers in

schools that are no longer feeling

as though it’s appropriate to use red to

correct the incorrect answers

on the test for the students. Because red

is such a harsh color.

It implies that they’ve done something

wrong.

They did. They got it wrong.

And by correcting it, you haven’t harmed

them,

you’ve helped them.

It’s sad when we have neglected

to understand that grace is supposed to

correct us,

not permit us to continue in wrong.

Paul will make it clear to Titus that

grace has appeared to

all men so that we might have salvation

that has appeared to all men,

so that we might live corrected,

purified, sanctified lives.

If you turn over to 1 Peter, Peter,

as he is writing to the first century

church,

will write concerning the very nature of

God.

He writes in First Peter chapter one,

beginning in verse 15, and writes,

But as he who called you is holy,

you also be holy in all your conduct,

because it is written, Be holy,

for I am holy. ~

See, grace doesn’t allow us to be what we

are.

Grace demands of us that we become like He

is.

And that is holy.

If you turn over to First Thessalonians

chapter four.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul will

write concerning the conduct of

our lives as Christians. And he will

write,

finally, then, brethren, we urge and

exhort in the Lord Jesus that

you should abound more and more,

just as you received from us how you ought

to walk and to please God.

Notice as he’s about to continue in the

things that he’s stating,

he is going to say, We already told you

this.

We already informed you of this.

We already taught you this.

And we want you to abound in what you have

already been taught.

He says, For you know what commandments we

gave you through

the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of

God,

your sanctification, that you should

abstain from sexual immorality,

that each of you should possess.

or should know how to possess his own

vessel in sanctification and honor.

He says, as he writes to them,

he says, we taught you how not to live

like the world.

We taught you the things that you were not

to participate in,

that the world glories in. We taught you

how to possess your person

in honor.

He goes on to say, not in passion of lust,

like the Gentiles who do not know God,

that no one should take advantage of or

defraud his brother in this matter,

because the Lord is the avenger of all

such.

No, wait, no, no. The the Lord is loving

and gracious and forgiving.

The Lord would never do anything that was

harmful.

What do you think the word avenger means?

God says, you defraud your brother in

matters of sexuality.

He says, I will avenge them on you.

Notice, he says, that no one should take

advantage of or defraud his brother

in this matter, because the Lord is the

avenger of all such,

as we also forewarned you and testified.

Paul says, I told you this. When I taught

you when you were converted,

we spoke this in your hearing.

He goes on to say, For God did not call us

to uncleanness,

but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects

this does not reject man.

But God, who also has given us His Holy

Spirit.

Paul says not only did we tell you this

while we were present with you,

not only did we warn you that this was the

case,

and not only did we teach you properly how

you ought to behave,

we also made it clear that if you deny

what we’re teaching,

you’re arguing with the Lord and not us.

Grace that saves demands

a corrected life that corresponds to the

very holy nature

of God. We turn to Ephesians chapter four.

Paul writes in Ephesians chapter four in a

context where he’s describing

the maturity of the body of Christ,

and he will begin in verse 17,

and he will write, This I say,

therefore, and testify in the Lord that

you should no longer walk as the rest

of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of

their mind.

Notice in the prior passage, he said,

Don’t walk the way they do, because they

do not know God.

Now he’s writing to another group of

Christians and saying,

do not walk as they do, because they are

futile in their mind.

They don’t know what they’re doing.

He says, having their understanding

darkened,

being alienated from the life of God,

because of the ignorance that is in them,

because of the blindness of their hearts,

who being past feeling, have given

themselves over to lewdness,

to work all uncleanness with greediness,

but you have not so learned Christ.

The grace that has been given that has

brought salvation,

and that salvation has appeared to all

men,

is the teaching of Christ.

And Paul says, you didn’t learn Christ in

that sort of lifestyle.

You weren’t taught to live in this sort of

lifestyle.

He says, rather, if indeed you have heard

him and have been taught by

him as truth is in Jesus.

That you put off concerning your former

conduct,

the old man which grows corrupt according

to the deceitful lust,

but renew in the spirit of your mind,

and that you put on the new man,

which was created according to God in true

righteousness and holiness.

Paul is going to tell these individuals,

you need the grace of God.

Not so you can keep living the way you

lived in the world,

but so that you can recreate yourself in

the image

and likeness of God, so that you might

know

how to be righteous.

and holy and sanctified and justified in

his sight.

Every person everywhere needs the grace

that saves.

But every person everywhere also needs the

church,

the body of Christ. In Matthew chapter 16,

Jesus will ask his apostles, Who do men

say that I am?

And they will respond Well, some say you

are Elias or Jeremiah or

one of the prophets.

And Jesus will say, Who do you say that I

am?

And Peter on that occasion will respond,

You are the Christ, the Son of the living

God.

Now, Jesus is going to say,

Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,

for flesh and blood is not revealed this

unto you,

but my Father which is in heaven.

And upon this rock,

now much has been said through the years

by individuals about

the fact that Peter’s name means rock.

And that upon this rock, Jesus must be

saying,

Well, upon you, Peter. No.

Peter’s name means pebble.

Jesus says, Upon this bedrock.

What is the bedrock? The testimony of

God the Father is the bedrock.

Upon the testimony revealed by God the

Father.

Through the mouth of Peter upon this rock,

Paul Christ says, I will build my

assembly.

That’s what the word church means.

I will build my called out people.

That’s what the word ecclesia or church

means.

And the gates of Hades shall not prevail

against it.

Jesus came as one of his very explicitly

stated purposes

to build his church.

He didn’t come to build a thousand

churches.

He didn’t come to build a million

churches.

He didn’t come to build a church for every

thought and belief in humanity.

He came to build his singular church.

Because it belongs to no one but Him.

And it goes without saying

That if there is someone else’s name on

the church of which you are a member,

you should maybe examine whether or not it

belongs to Christ or belongs

to the person whose name’s on it.

But I want us to point out that Jesus

makes this explicitly stated

as his purpose in coming.

Jesus would say elsewhere in the book of

Luke that he came

to seek and to save that which was lost.

And that’s true. But he came to accomplish

that purpose in his church.

And he said, I’m building it, and death

won’t stop it.

But then consider as well in Ephesians

chapter four,

as Paul writes concerning the church.

You go back to chapter one, and he says,

beginning in verse twenty-one,

that he as verse twenty rather,

which he worked in Christ when he raised

him from the dead and seated

him at the right hand in heavenly places.

Far above all principality and power and

dominion and might,

and every name that is named, not only in

this age,

but also in that which is to come,

and put all things under his feet and gave

him to be head over all things

to the church, which is his body,

the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul says that Christ’s authority is

exhibited first

and foremost in

The church, and the church is the body of

Christ.

But we go into chapter four, and as Paul

is talking about

the oneness of the body, as he’s talking

about the oneness of

the church and illustrating that in the

oneness of God,

and the oneness of Christ, and the oneness

of the baptism in which we are called,

he says all of these things, but he says,

But to each one of us, grace was given

according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Therefore, he says, when he ascended on

high,

he led captivity captive and gave gifts to

men.

Now this he ascended. What does it mean?

But that he also first descended into the

lower parts of the earth.

He who descended is also the one who

ascended far above all the heavens,

that he might fill all things.

A lot of people struggle to understand

what is Paul saying.

Paul’s saying that Jesus Christ died and

was buried.

But he didn’t stay in the grave.

He descended, he was laid in the tomb.

He also ascended, he came forth from that

grave and was ascended back to the Father.

And in the promise of doing so,

and in the statement before he did so,

he said, I’m going to send the power of

the Holy Spirit to be able

to provide you what you need to accomplish

the mission.

And so Jesus told his apostles to wait in

Jerusalem until they were endued with

power from on high, after which they would

begin preaching

and testifying concerning him in

Jerusalem,

and then in Judea, and then in Samaria,

and then to the uttermost part of the

earth.

That occurred in Acts chapter 2.

You can read about it. And then Acts

chapter 3,

chapter 4, chapter 5, all the way through

the end of the book.

But as Paul is writing to the church at

Ephesus,

he makes it clear that these things God

did because

he was equipping the church. He says,

and he himself gave some to be apostles,

some prophets, some evangelists,

some pastors and teachers for the

equipping of the saints,

for the work of the ministry, for the

edifying of the body of Christ.

He says, These things were done,

these gifts of the miraculous gifts in the

first century were given to

the church so that the church might be

equipped to do its service.

That’s what the word ministry means.

Till we all come to the unity of the faith

and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

to a perfect man, to the measure of the

stature of the fullness of Christ,

that we should no longer be children

tossed to and fro,

carried about with every wind of doctrine.

By the trickery of men in cunning

craftiness of deceitful plotting,

but speaking the truth in love may grow up

in all things into him

who is the head Christ, from whom the

whole body joined and knit together

by what every joint supplies according to

the effective working by which every part

does its share causes growth of the body

for the edifying of itself in love.

Paul as hiz writing to these Christians.

says there’s one church.

But all of you are individual members of

it.

And as he’s writing to these Christians,

he’s making it incredibly clear that God

has given what the church needed

in the first century and forward from that

time,

the what they have what they needed in

order to become mature in Christ.

But have you never ever noticed?

That someone who goes through the the

harsh reality of having to have

a part of their body amputated the

amputated part doesn’t keep living.

It it doesn’t go on and say, Well,

I never really needed the rest of the body

anyway.

I’m pretty good on my own. I mean I’m a

finger.

Who needs a leg? Who needs a heart?

Who needs an eye? I’m a finger.

Now I I know some of you grew up watching

the Adams family.

You thought that hand was real.

But believe it or not, a part of the body

doesn’t live without the rest of the body.

Many people are quite convinced they need

Christ.

They just don’t need his church.

Christ said, ~ you really do.

Because it is in the body.

It is in the church where God is supplying

all the things that

you need in this life to be a part of the

body of Christ.

But not only does a person need the

church,

the body of Christ, because it was

Christ’s purpose to come.

And to build the church. Not only do you

need the church because it is

the place in which our equipping is done

to make us mature in Christ,

you also need it because of

accountability.

Galatians chapter six. Paul writes to

these Christians in the churches

of Galatians says, 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 burden and so fulfill

the law of Christ.

For if any one thinks himself to be

something when he is nothing,

he deceives himself. But let each one of

you examine his own work,

then he will have rejoicing in himself

alone and not in another,

for each one shall bear his own load.

Paul makes it clear as he’s writing to the

churches of Galatia,

he says you all have an individual

responsibility to

To stand up and do the work of the church.

Part of the work of the church is rescuing

those who are wayward,

turning them back from the error of their

way,

restoring the one who is in trespass.

But you also need to remember to carry the

load of those who are unable

to carry their own.

But if you wanna examine somebody,

stop examining everyone else and start

examining yourself.

Make sure you’re first carrying your load.

Paul makes it clear that you don’t get to

have the church without accountability.

You don’t get to be a member of the body

without functioning with the body.

But he also points out that we need to do

so remembering that

the body is important.

Paul elsewhere will write to the church at

Corinth.

He will write to the church in Rome,

and he will encourage them to remember

that the members of

the body are purchased by the blood of

Christ.

And they are precious in the eyes of God.

And that we have no business destroying

what Christ purchased.

But then consider what James writes.

James chapter five. James as he writes to

the first century church will make

it clear that they need the church because

of prayer.

Have you ever considered that a person

apart from the body of Christ

is missing the opportunity and the power

that prayer can have in their lives?

In James chapter 5, James will write to

these Christians,

beginning in verse 16, and he will say,

Confess your trespasses to one another and

pray for one another that

you may be healed. The effective,

fervent prayer of a righteous man avails

much.

Where do you find righteous men?

The answer is you only find them in the

church.

Because they’re the only ones who have

obtained the grace of God.

They’re the only ones who have obtained

the sanctification of God.

They’re the only ones that have obtained

the holiness of God,

and therefore you find them in the place

where God put them.

In the church. If someone says,

I don’t need the church, then you’re

saying I don’t need the prayers

of righteous people.

Someone says, I don’t need the church,

then you’re saying you don’t need the

person who can pray for you when you sin.

He says the effective prayer of a

righteous man avails much.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

He prayed earnestly that it would not

rain,

and it did not rain on the land for three

years and six months.

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave

rain,

and the earth produced its fruit.

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from

the truth and someone turns him back,

Let him know that he who turns a sinner

from the error of his ways will save

a soul from death and cover a multitude of

sins.

But these aren’t the only things that Paul

said that you could pray for.

As a matter of fact, or sorry,

James writes that you could pray for.

Verse 13, he says, if anyone among you

suffering,

let him pray. Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you

sick?

Let him call for the elders of the church

and let them pray over them.

Over and over and over again, James says,

pray, pray, pray, pray for yourself,

pray for others, pray for sinners,

pray for those who are.

Who have repented, pray.

You need the church because of prayer.

You need the church to pray for you.

And you, as a righteous person in the body

of Christ,

need to pray for others. But then consider

Peter also will write in

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 1 that you

need the church because of oversight.

Chapter 4, verse 1, Therefore,

since Christ also suffered for us in the

flesh,

arm yourselves with the same mind.

For he who has suffered in the flesh has

ceased from sin,

that he no longer should live the rest of

his time in the flesh,

but it for the lust of men, but for the

will of God.

For we have spent enough of our past

lifetime in doing the will of

the Gentiles when we walked in the

lewdness,

lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking

parties,

and abominable idolatries. In regards to

these things,

They think it strange that you do not run

with them in the same flood

of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

They will give an account to him who is

ready to judge the living and the dead.

Now Paul has written about what your life

is supposed to be changed from or sorry,

Peter, get my peas right here in a minute.

Peter has written what your life is to be

changed from.

He’s also going to write in chapter five

about the work of the oversight that

has to be done over you. Chapter five,

verse one, the elders who are among you I

exhort,

I who am a fellow elder and witness of the

sufferings of Christ,

and also a partaker of the glory that will

be revealed,

shepherd the flock.

Shepherd the flock of God, which is among

you,

serving his overseers, not by compulsion,

but willingly, not for dishonest gain,

but eagerly, nor as being lords over those

entrusted to you,

but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears,

you will receive the crown of glory that

does not fade away.

Peter writes that because these people,

these Christians, this church is supposed

to live a new life,

they’re going to need some oversight.

They’re going to need someone to shepherd

them.

They’re going to need someone to lead them

in right paths.

And that’s what the work of elders is.

You need the church because it’s Jesus’

purpose to build it.

You need the church because it’s the place

in which you’re equipping to

do the work of the ministry of God and

Christ occurs.

You need the church because of the

accountability that the church provides.

You need the church because of prayer

without it,

without the body of Christ. Those prayers

are hindered.

You need the church because of the

oversight that God established within

the body of Christ. But then consider

number three:

every person everywhere needs fellowship

with God by

the gospel of Christ.

In first John chapter one.

John will write

Beginning in verse 4, and these things we

write to you that your joy may be full.

This is the message which we have heard

from him,

and declare to you that God is light and

in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him and

walk in darkness,

we lie and do not practice the truth.

John, an intimate friend of Jesus Christ,

an apostle of our Lord, an elder in the

church,

will write to the Christians and will tell

them,

you need to be in fellowship with God.

Every person needs to be in fellowship

with God.

And I’m going to write

to you so that your joy may be full.

Because I know that God is light and in

him is no darkness at all.

And yet John judges every single person

who walks in dark.

He says, if you walk in darkness and you

claim you have fellowship with God,

you’re a liar. You don’t practice the

truth.

But then he says,

But if we walk in the light, as he is in

the light,

we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus Christ,

his son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves and the truth is not

in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and

just.

To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned,

we make him a liar, and the his word is

not in us.

John, as he writes to these Christians,

writes about what they already knew.

That at one point in their lives they were

in darkness.

John is going to write to them because

they’re no longer in darkness,

but they have to make sure they stay in

the light.

And they have to do that by what they

practice,

by what they continue in, by what they’re

willing to

ask God for forgiveness for and confess to

Him.

They do that by maintaining their walk in

the light.

He writes in chapter 2, verse 1:

My little children, these things I write

to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate

with the Father,

Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself

is the propitiation for our sins,

and not for ours only, but also for the

whole world.

John doesn’t leave anybody out.

John says it’s possible for you to hear

the gospel,

to believe that gospel,

because Jesus said, Except you believe

that I am He,

you shall die in your sins. To repent of

your sins,

to change your life, to conform to the

Word of God,

because grace demands that you do.

And to confess the name of Christ.

Because there’s no name under heaven given

among men whereby we must

be saved but Jesus Christ.

And to be immersed in water for the

remission of your sins,

because you have to die to sin.

And Paul would write in Romans chapter 6

that when we are buried with

him in baptism, we are buried into his

death and resurrected with

him in the likeness of his resurrection.

Coming up out of that watery grave a new

person,

no longer a slave of sin, but rather a

slave of righteousness.

But then consider first Corinthians

chapter three.

In First Corinthians chapter three,

beginning in verse ten.

Paul writes, 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.

Now he’s already said back in chapter one,

the foundation that he laid was his

preaching of the gospel.

And that he preached Jesus Christ and him

crucified.

And he didn’t preach anything else.

He didn’t preach anyone else. He preached

Christ.

And he says, I’ve laid the foundation.

Verse 11, 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.

He says, There’s one foundation

In the life of an individual that grace

authorizes,

and it’s Jesus Christ. It’s the foundation

which the Word of God,

the gospel, lays. And everyone who builds

on that as they build the life

of that individual, every teacher who

comes along and builds on

the foundation of Christ builds in some

sort of way.

Some people build that which is in

accordance with God’s will,

and some people don’t.

Some teachers build in accordance with

God’s will and some teachers don’t.

And God’s going to test what’s built.

He’s going to test it in the lives of

individuals.

He’s going to find out whether or not what

they’ve built stands up to his testing.

And so notice what he says. He says,

if anyone’s work which he has built on it

endures,

he will receive reward. If anyone’s work

is burned,

he will suffer loss, though 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?

If anyone defiles the temple of God,

God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy,

which temple you are.

Paul brings to mind for these Corinthian

brethren that

old temple that was made in Israel,

that old place that was new at one time,

where God said, I’ll put my name there,

and you will be my people,

and I will be your God.

And Paul says the foundation of that

temple in the life of a Christian

is Jesus Christ.

But you’ve got work to do.

You have to build on that foundation.

But you be careful. Because if you build

on a foundation,

but the building and the structure that

you make is made out of straw,

made out of wood, made out of stubble,

has no substance to it, it isn’t ordered

by the word of God.

It’s going to be destroyed.

But there are precious things that you can

build if you will but do it,

if you will but take the Word of God and

instill it into your lives,

and if you will build on the foundation of

Jesus Christ.

But let me make it clear. That only

happens inside the body of Christ.

That only happens inside of the church.

Because it only happens where grace and

salvation is found,

and grace and salvation place one into the

body of Christ.

Because that is the place where Jesus

said,

I came to defeat everything that death

can send at you.

Three things people need. Many people

don’t know they need them.

Many people think they already have them

and they don’t.

Many people believe that they’re walking

in righteousness,

they’re walking in grace, they’re walking

in salvation,

but they don’t know what the Word of God

actually says because they don’t actually

read it. They don’t study it. They don’t

examine themselves by it.

They don’t judge themselves whether or not

they’re in the faith.

But we as the church, the body of Christ,

have a responsibility to seek and to save

the lost,

for that is the mission of the church.

It is our mission to reach the person next

door

and the person across the globe.

The person who’s an American and the

person who’s from

Iran.

To reach the person who’s lost,

no matter their name, their culture,

their background, their family lineage,

their color of their skin, but rather

understanding that they

are all made in the image of God.

But we don’t call them to live like they

are and just become those

who claim to follow Christ. We call them

to live like Christ.

For that’s what he’s called us to do.

Three things every person needs grace,

the church, and fellowship with God.

And they’re found through the gospel

message of Jesus Christ.

If you’re outside the body of Christ this

morning and you would like to

be added to the body of Christ by God,

we don’t add you. He does. We add He adds

you when you

Obey his terms of entrance to get into the

contract that is salvation,

the covenant relationship with God.

But if you’re one who’s been faithful to

God in the past and you’ve turned your

back

and you’re no longer walking with him,

know this: that we are called upon to pray

with

you and pray for you if you’re willing to

repent.

If you have need of the invitation of

Christ.

For any reason, why not come now as we

stand and as we sing

Revelation 19 (Lesson 2) – Aaron Cozort – August 30, 2026

In Admonition Podcast, Bible Study, Christ, divine judgment, end times, Faithfulness, keywords Revelation, prophecy, sovereignty, spiritual lessons by Aaron Cozort

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Good morning.

Good to see everyone here this morning.

Take your Bibles, if you will,

and open them to Revelation chapter

nineteen.

Going to begin with a word of prayer as we

open our class.

If you will, bow your heads. Our gracious

God

and Father of all mankind, Lord,

we come to you grateful for your word,

for the revelation that you have supplied,

the knowledge that we need in order to

serve you acceptably,

in order to understand what your will is

for.

Our lives, for our nation, for this

congregation,

for those peoples throughout the world,

for the ministry of the church and for the

teaching of the lost.

Lord, we pray that as we go through our

daily lives,

may we be the light that is set on a hill,

may we be the salt of the earth.

May you help us to be those who

Serve one another and love one another in

spirit.

And Lord, we pray that you will be with us

as we work daily in your kingdom.

We pray that you will bless the work and

the labor of our hands,

and that we might serve you in a way that

is acceptable in your sight.

Lord, we pray for those who are sick and

those who are ill,

those who have

ailments and and injuries and pray that

those things be healed and they

be returned back to their desired health.

And Lord we pray that you be with the next

generation as it as they grow.

May they be taught the word of God and may

they be taught to follow

in right paths and to hold faithful to

your truth and your word.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

As we get into our brief review,

as we get into ~ chapter 19 and chapter

20,

we’re just setting a few of the background

items that we’ve already discussed,

level setting as we move forward.

The book was written according to what

John writes and what Daniel

~ in conjunction with what Daniel

prophesied,

it was written in the days of Vespasian.

Towards the end of his reign, Titus was

about to come to the throne,

being the seventh head.

~ and then there’s going to be an eighth

head.

The eighth head is going to look like one

of the heads in the seven.

It was going to look like it was from the

seven,

but it’s going to be the head in which the

city of Rome,

the nation of Rome, the persecutor that

was the instrument of Satan,

which was Rome, would be judged.

And that’s going to be in the head that is

Domitian.

We find John in chapter one. He is simply

and it’s interesting

to take into perspective. John is simply

worshiping when

all of this vision transpires.

And just just take a moment and think

about it,

not correlating identically dreams and

visions,

but have you ever been in a dream that in

the dream it seemed like it was

one or two minutes of an entire day that

you were in the dream,

but then you’ve slept all night when you

wake up?

And vice versa, you feel like you’ve been

in the dream for a month and

you wake up and it’s been two hours and

you’re like,

~ no, I’m not gonna get any more sleep

tonight.

Because you just feel like, wow,

I’ve been asleep for a month. The brain,

the mind does interesting things with

time.

The vision is given while John is

worshiping.

And we’ve been, you know, we’ve been

studying the details of it for weeks.

And all of these things John sees,

and we’re told that he sees them while

he’s worshiping.

And then he’s told to write them down.

So John is on the Isle of Patmos.

For the testimony of Christ, and he is in

the kingdom,

he is a brother in the kingdom,

and he will say, in the tribulation.

Indication is that John will, though in

his old age,

live through a good part of this

experience and this tribulation.

Some have suggested that perhaps John was

actually the youngest of the apostles.

~ and and some attribution of that based

upon the fact of him outliving

by all indications all of the other

apostles.

Also giving a special consideration to the

idea that he was

the apostle whom Jesus loved. He shows a

level of affection for Jesus

at the Last Supper as we read that he laid

his head on Christ’s chest,

that perhaps he’s the youngest.

Of all the apostles. And so there’s a

special rec relationship here between

Christ,

who would have been older than all of

them,

most likely, and John, who might have been

the youngest of all of them.

So interesting thought process there,

drawing some things from passages.

As he is there worshiping and he s begins

to hear a voice behind him,

he turns to see the one who speaks.

And it looks like a glorified Christ.

He has in his hand the seven stars that

are the seven churches.

He is surrounded by the seven golden

lampstands.

And Christ tells John to write to the

seven churches of Asia Minor.

He gives the messages that John’s going to

write in chapter two and chapter three,

individual introductions to the vision.

Okay? When you read those seven letters.

Those weren’t like, hey, John,

write this, all right, cut that out,

send that to ~ Ephesus. All right,

write this, cut that out, send that to

Pergamus.

No. This is an introduction for Ephesus

and Pergamus and Thyatira.

All of these are their direct

introductions to what’s coming after.

Okay? It’s their context for what they’re

all going to share

in the experience of the persecution that

was coming.

But they’re all starting, if you read

those letters,

they’re all starting from a different

position.

Some of them are starting from a position

where God says,

if you don’t repent, you’re the enemy.

And I’m going to fight you with the words

of my mouth.

And some of them, He says, I’m laying no

further burden on you.

And it didn’t mean they weren’t going to

go through the things that were being

talked about. It didn’t mean that they

weren’t going to suffer persecution.

It’s God saying, Listen, you’re doing all

you can,

you keep doing it. And then you have

Churches like Ephesus where God says,

Hey, you’ve left your first love,

and I’m about to tell you you’re about to

go into persecution,

and if you don’t get your love situation

corrected.

You’re going to find yourself worshiping

the beast.

You’re going to find yourself on the other

side.

And you’re not going to be provided

through this persecution.

So, as those letters of introduction go

forth,

then we open to chapter four. Chapter

four,

John is told basically to go through this

door that he sees in heaven.

He goes through the door.

He finds himself in the throne room of

God.

He sees the one who sits on the throne.

The one who sits on the throne is reigning

right then.

He has been reigning.

Since the beginning of time, he will

continue reigning forever.

He is already King of kings and Lord of

Lords.

He is already on the throne.

He is already victorious.

He’s just going to tell John how that’s

going to work out in the very near future

because these things are shortly to come

to pass.

Okay? So

The elders cast their crowns before the

one who’s on the throne,

and they worship him day and night,

continually, forever. Then John sees the

book

in the right hand of the one who sits on

the throne.

It’s sealed with seven seals. So John

desires to know what’s written on the

book.

No one in heaven or earth is found who can

read the book,

but they search heaven and earth,

and under the earth, no one’s found.

John begins to weep, but one comes to John

and says,

wait, wait, wait.

We found the one who’s worthy.

And it’s the Lamb who was slain,

the Christ, the Messiah, the Lion of the

tribe of Judah,

the second person in the Godhead,

the one who was alive and died

and is alive forevermore. So he takes the

lamb,

takes the scroll from the one who sits on

the throne and begins to open the scroll.

And the seals are opened, and we first see

in these seals.

As we’ve already discussed, a forecast of

what’s coming.

Then we’re going to see after the seals

are open,

we get in the seventh seal, a full

examination of what’s coming.

Then when you get into the seventh seal,

the rest of the book happens in the

seventh seal.

So we’re still in the seventh seal.

When you say, hey, what happens in the

seventh seal?

The answer is everything from chapter

seven all the way to the end

of chapter 22 happens in the seventh seal.

Okay?

But as those seals are open, one of the

things John sees is John sees

in the fifth seal, the well actually let

me back up.

First thing that John sees is John sees a

white horse,

and that white horse is, and the one who

rides on it goes forth and conquers.

Okay? The beginning of the revelation,

John says, the one who rides the white

horse is conquering.

Seal two opens, and now the devil’s

pushing back.

Now hardship is coming. But when it’s all

over,

the one on the white horse is gonna be

conquering again.

Okay? We’re about to get to that last

part.

Now notice in the fifth seal, we have the

saints under the altar that have been

dying for the cause of Christ,

for the testimony of the word of God.

And they’re crying out, how long,

O Lord, the sixth seal is open.

God says, here, let me tell you how this

is going to work out.

They’re going to be running and hiding

from the wrath of the Lamb.

Then there’s a pause. God says,

wait, wait, wait, hold on. We gotta mark

all of our people.

So the angels that are holding back the

wind are told to hold back the wind,

to hold back the judgment of God until all

the people of God are marked.

Over in Revelation chapter 3, we’re told

that the church is going

to receive the name of God on their

forehead.

And in chapter 7, they receive the name of

God on their forehead.

The vision in chapter 3 is the vision in

chapter 7,

is the vision in chapter 19. It’s just a

picture of the people of God.

God saying, I know who belongs to me.

Okay?

So then we have the seven trumpets,

and the seven trumpets are seven partial

judgments that happen inside

the seventh seal, and those seven partial

judgments begin to sound.

With every sounding of the trumpet,

another partial judgment, a third of this

or a quarter of this,

is judged and destroyed. But God’s not

telling the church,

hey, when you see a third of all humanity

die off,

that’s when you know that that’s partial

judgment.

No.

He’s using pictures from Egypt.

He’s using pictures of the plagues and the

events that occurred in Exodus to say,

listen, I’m gonna judge this nation.

And I’m gonna judge them however I choose

to judge them,

but you’re gonna recognize my judgment

because you’re going to have known

the scriptures. Remember Revelation

chapter,

sorry, Romans chapter 15, verse 4?

Paul would write that the scriptures,

the things that were written aforetime,

were written for our learning.

that we through patience and comfort of

the scriptures might have hope.

Paul’s making it clear when you read the

Old Testament scriptures

and when you educate yourself in the Old

Testament scriptures,

you can now look at the world around you

and go,

not a problem. I have hope.

God’s got it under control. Okay?

So we see some of the visionary images.

We see the ~ the devil loosed from ~ the

bottomless pit.

We see all of these things occur and

coming up.

In the midst of these judgments,

in the midst of these partial judgments,

and it looks like God’s people are done

for.

So then John says, Wait, wait.

Or God says to John, Hold on, you need to

know something.

So he sends the mighty angel with another

revelation,

and John’s told to take the revelation and

to eat it and to consume it.

And John’s going to be told through that

revelation,

the church is going to preach.

The church is going to testify concerning

the name of God,

and then the church is going to suffer.

It’s going to be a witness, like the Old

Testament witnesses,

like the Old Testament prophets were.

And while those prophets prophesied,

and some of them lived natural lives,

many of them were killed because of their

prophecy.

And God said, I took care of them and take

care of you.

So while it looks like the church is going

to be persecuted to death.

And while it looks like they’re going to

be defeated,

God says, listen, I’m in control.

It’s all handled. Yeah, you might die,

but not forever. Because I’m going to

resurrect you back to life.

And then you’re untouchable. Then chapter

12 opens,

and the devil is there, pictured as the

red dragon,

the great beast with seven heads and ten

horns,

and he’s waiting to consume.

The child of the woman. The woman has 12

stars around her head.

She looks like the people of God.

And she brings forth the Messiah.

And the devil wants to kill the baby,

but fails. And eventually the baby ascends

up into heaven,

and the devil can’t reach him anymore.

So the devil instead tries to make war

with the woman,

but fails at that because after he’s put

back down to the earth.

The woman is taken away by God.

You you can’t fight somebody you can’t

reach.

And so he says, You know what,

I can’t get to her, but I can make war

with her children.

Who are the children of the people of God?

Christians. The Christians that are alive

in the world today and we’re alive

in the world in the days of Rome.

They’re the ones that belong to God.

They’re the ones that are the offspring of

the people of God.

And so the devil says, Fine, I’ll make war

with them.

In order to do that, he needs some allies.

So he goes and gets the sea beast and the

land beast,

and we have there a picture of the

persecuting power of Rome and

the false prophets of Rome.

Bear in mind, when you see the sea beast

and the land beast,

you’re dealing with the persecuting

corporate power of Rome

and the religion and false prophets of

Rome.

So when you see them defeated,

what gets defeated? The persecuting

corporate power of Rome and

the false prophets of Rome get defeated.

We’re gonna see that. We also see the

people who ally themselves because

of the work of the land beast.

~ will have the the number of the ~ the

number of man on their head.

All right. So chapter 14 opens and you see

the lamb on Mount Zion

and there’s rejoicing going on.

And they’re singing a new song.

And the declaration is Babylon has fallen

and the reapers begin to gather.

And it looks like judgment’s about to

commence because judgment’s about to

commence.

Then you have the seven angels giving the

seven plagues and the seven bowls,

and the song of Moses and the Lamb comes

forth.

Basically, God says, I’m commencing full

judgment on Rome,

and they’re going to receive all the

plagues that are written in this book.

Now, when you get into these last three

chapters,

19, 20, 20, last four chapters.

I can do math. 19, 20, 21, 22.

You have promises that anyone who alters

the words

of the prophecy of this book will receive

the plagues that are written in the book.

Now that’s interesting.

Because those who hold to a dispensational

premillennial view

say every bit of this is coming in the

future.

I have met more than.

Three or four business people in the

general community who have told

me that the signs of the times of the book

of Revelation are all over

the place and that all this is at hand and

AI’s bringing it and blah blah blah.

Interesting.

Because if that’s true, then that would

mean anybody who altered

the prophecies that were made in the book

for the fur last two thousand years didn’t

receive the things that were written in

the book.

Because the things written in the book

haven’t happened yet.

They’re still st they’re still waiting.

What’s God gonna do? Resurrect those

people that have been dead

for nineteen hundred years so that they

can go through some nuclear war?

If you believe in dispensational

premillennialism,

you’re going to have to believe that.

Because otherwise, they didn’t get the

plagues that were written in the book.

The point is this: the book is written to

a people who are alive and who are going

to go through these things. And God says:

if you take what I tell you and you alter

it anyway,

I’ll tell you which side you’re going to

be on.

When this all happens, and it won’t be

mine.

So the warning is you get on the right

side and you stay there,

or else. Now,

chapter 16 opens, and the seven angels

pour out the seven bowls on the earth.

Chapter 17 opens, and John is shown the

mystery

of the great harlot that rides upon the

beast,

which is

Again, that picture of the devil and

Satan.

She is endued with the power of the devil

and his ends,

but she’s Rome and she is defeated in

the head that is Domitian.

Then we see again, as we’re about to see,

the going forth and the conquering of

Christ.

We’re gonna see that some more.

Chapter 18 discusses more concerning the

great city’s defeat.

Chapter 19, we have the marriage feast and

victory.

Okay? So as we’ve gone through this,

we’re dealing with more detail about what

we’ve already seen

happen. Back in chapter 16, the boar the

bowls are poured out.

The victory is completed. God wins.

But now we’re examining more detail about

what occurs when

God wins. Okay?

Chapter 19, we’ve already noticed that it

opens up with a shout,

as it were, of hallelujah for God.

The pronunciation by the Christians is

Christ reigns.

God reigns, He’s undefeated.

One of the things we celebrate in the

sports world,

not that I’m a big sports fan,

but it happens sometimes, is when somebody

goes.

undefeated for an entire season.

Or some teams that go undefeated for

multiple seasons.

They they just spectacular in their

performance,

never fails. They win.

But they’ve never quite reached the level

of God.

He’s never lost. Not once.

Not ever. Not for a period of time.

Not for a short while. Not temporarily.

Never. Now there are times where

it looks like God lost.

You know, when Jesus Christ was hanging on

a cross.

With the back of his body ripped open and

shredded,

with a crown of thorns nailed deep into

his skull.

with nails punched through his hands and

his feet.

Struggling every moment just to extend his

body into an upright position,

just to take a breath, to make one more

declaration from the cross?

You wanna know what it looked like?

Looked like Satan won.

You want to know what it was? The exact

polar opposite.

The assurance that Satan loses.

So chapter 19. We’re going to pick up down

in verse 7.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give him

glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his wife has made herself ready.

Who’s the wife of Christ? The church.

Who’s the bride of Christ?

The church. Who’s the betrothed bride of

Christ,

as we examined ~ last week? The church.

Who’s the married wife of Christ?

The church. Because they’re all just

different pictures of the church.

So by the way, when John over in chapter

21 is told by one of

the people in heaven, hey, let me show you

the great city,

the

Bride. Who do you already know it is?

The church. All right,

just getting you ready for it,

’cause it’s coming. Verse seven Let us be

glad and rejoice and give him glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his wife has made herself ready,

and to her it was granted to be arrayed in

fine linen,

clean and bright, for the fine linen is

the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he said to me, Write, blessed are

those who are called to

the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And he said to me, These are the true

sayings of God.

A number of blessings occur, as some have

termed them the Beatitudes of

the Book of Revelation. This is one of

them.

And this is a blessing pronounced on

everybody who’s invited to the marriage

feast.

And everybody who comes to the marriage

feast.

Did Jesus ever give a parable about a

marriage feast?

Yeah. And do you remember in the parable

who didn’t come?

Who did the king initially invite to the

marriage feast?

All the supposed friends.

He sends out his servants and sends

messages to the friends.

What do the friends reply?

I’ve married a wife and I can’t come.

I’ve bought a pair set of oxen and I need

to go go test the I

I have bought property. I I’m sorry,

I can’t make it.

So when the one whose son is getting

married hears that no one’s coming,

what does he tell his servants to do?

He says, you go through the highways and

byways,

you find anyone in the ditches,

doesn’t matter. You bring the people and

you fill this feast.

Now, hold on to that because

the description here was incredibly clear.

Notice this again. Hold on to the parable,

hold on to the end. We haven’t talked

about it yet,

but think about it. And think about what

you just read.

As we read, then he said to me actually,

let’s go back to verse 7.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give him

glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his wife has made herself ready.

And to her it was granted to be arrayed in

fine linen,

clean and bright, for the fine linen is

the righteous acts

of the saints. Then he said to me,

Write, Blessed are those who are called to

the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Now go back in your mind to that parable.

How does it end?

It ends with a man who arrives at the

wedding feast,

but he’s what?

He’s not arrayed in marriage garments.

He’s not arrayed in,

you see, that here’s here’s what you’re

supposed to understand from the parable.

The king not only said,

invite everybody, he also,

by implication of the text, said,

and supply them everything they need.

You don’t show up at the marriage feast in

the clothes that you were laying

in the gutter in.

But that’s okay. You don’t have to have

better clothes because the king

has provided the better clothes.

But this man refused to wear

the wedding garments. This man chose to

ignore

the demands of the appropriateness of this

marriage feast.

And so the king casts him out.

Now, over here in Revelation, we’re told,

you want to know what that fine array is?

Those are the righteous acts of the

saints.

In other words, if you were to put these

two together,

these two stories, what God is saying

through Christ is listen,

if you’re not a holy one, if you’re not

arrayed in

the righteousness of my son,

You’re not gonna have access to the feast.

So then we read

Verse ten and I fell at his feet to

worship him.

Now who’s who’s falling and at whose feet?

All right. So these things are being shown

to John by an angel.

And John in the vision sees John falling

at

the feet of the angel. Why do I say John

sees himself in the vision falling

at the feet of an angel? Well,

the answer is because John, the apostle,

knows better than to worship an angel.

But just the same way Paul will often use

himself as an example as he’s writing

to the churches, John’s going to see

himself in the vision as the example.

And the example is quite clear:

you don’t worship anybody but the Lord.

You don’t worship an angel. Notice what we

read.

He said, and I fell at his feet to worship

him,

but he said to me, See that you do not do

that.

I am your fellow servant, and of your

brethren who have the testimony of Jesus,

worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is

the spirit of prophecy.

So the one who’s speaking to him says,

Don’t worship me. I’m just one of your

brethren.

I’m just like you are. I’m a servant of

God.

You don’t get to worship the messenger.

You worship God.

And so

That continues. By the way, you’re going

to see it again over in chapter 22.

You’re going to see John fall down again

and begin to worship somebody that what

you’re what you’re supposed to be getting

from that is this.

John’s relief

and awe at what is being shown to him.

His marveling at God’s success

in bringing the church through this,

his wonder at all of the things that he’s

been shown,

and all of the things that God has done is

an overwhelming thing.

And just like you go back to the days of

Moses,

what did Moses do when Moses approached

the burning bush?

He fell down on his face as dead.

There’s your picture. So

Now, As I saw heaven open, ~ verse 11,

and behold a white horse. Now,

as you get into the end of this,

John is going to see the white horse

again.

There’s only one white horse in the book

of Revelation.

You say, no, no, We’re about to be

introduced to a whole lot of white horses.

Yes, there’s only one singular white horse

in the book of Revelation.

And the one who rides on him is about to

be very clearly stated.

So the white horse in chapter 19,

when we find out who’s riding on him in

chapter 19,

we know who was riding on him in chapter

6.

It wasn’t the Antichrist,

it was the Christ. Chapter 19,

verse 11: Now I saw heaven opened,

and behold, a white horse. And he who sat

on him was called faithful.

And true, and in righteousness he judges

and makes war.

You go back to what Jesus said in the book

of John.

Jesus said that judgment had been placed

into whose hand?

His. But he wasn’t going to judge of

himself.

He was going to judge the judgment which

God had given him.

So this is the person who is faithful and

true.

This is the person who judges and makes

war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire,

and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew

except himself.

Hold on to that.

idea. We’re we’re gonna come back to that

one.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in

blood,

and his name is called

The word of God.

You don’t have to make any guesses as to

who this is.

Because John wrote another letter.

And it opened with the words,

In the beginning was the Word.

And in Revelation nineteen, John,

as he pictures the one who’s on the white

horse,

the one who wears many crowns,

the one who’s faithful and true,

the one who judges and makes war,

he says his name is the word.

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.

This is the Creator.

This is the Word of God, and the Word

became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory as of the only

begotten of God.

The Word is Christ.

The one on the horse is Christ.

The one who rides the white horse is

Christ.

Not the Antichrist. It’s Christ.

And notice, by the way,

before I

go too much further. Just to make mention,

the w the term Antichrist doesn’t show up

anywhere in the book of Revelation.

The only people who’ve ever put it there

are people from

the denominations that insert it from one

of John’s other letters.

You’ll you’ll read in all the Baptist

material about the Book of Revelation

and all the Jehovah’s Witnesses book

material about the Book of Revelation.

You’ll read about the Antichrist and the

Antichrist and the Antichrist.

He’s never here. Except John says who the

Antichrist already is,

and it’s false prophets. So I guess

technically he’s here because

all the false prophets that are mentioned

are here.

But there’s not a singular antichrist.

There is a spirit of those who oppose

Christ,

which is what Antichrist means,

and it’s false prophets gone out in the

world.

And those were certainly in abundance in

John’s day,

and they are today. Now,

he was clothed with a robe dipped in

blood,

and his name is called the Word of God.

This robe dipped in blood, what do you

think it is?

What’s the significance of its dipped in

blood?

All right. You have salvation.

All right, you have the picture of of

victory.

If you were to think about this.

It is in the moment of

Christ’s crucifixion and his suffering.

Where both his original garment was on

him,

and then that was removed. Then they

placed a purple robe on him in mocking.

Then that was removed. Then they cast lots

for his garments. But it is in this

bloodied state

in which Christ is victorious.

But I think there’s perhaps another part

of this vision that’s a little

bit more Old Testament-like. Do you

remember what the Hebrew writer writes

concerning the Old Testament sacrifices?

That everything in the Old Testament that

was holy was consecrated with what?

Blood. The altar had blood sprinkled on it

to consecrate it.

The people.

had blood sprinkled on them to consecrate

them.

You go back and look at the old testament

picture and you have everything made

holy with the blood of the sacrifice.

So I think probably you have two things

here.

You have a picture of holiness and

consecration.

He, in his very person,

is the holiness of God.

But you also have it a picture of

the carnage of war and the complete

victory of Christ.

You don’t go through war.

As a victorious person, as a victor in a

battle,

having never come in contact with blood,

not in those days, you come out covered in

it.

So whose blood is it? Well, it could be

the blood of the sacrifice.

It’s most assuredly the blood of his

enemies.

But the point is, he wins. Notice,

we read, he was clothed with a robe dipped

in blood,

and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine

linen,

white and clean, followed him on white

horses.

Now notice he’s not the only one on a

white horse.

All the Christians are riding white

horses.

He’s just the only one who’s singled out.

Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword,

that with it he should strike the nations,

and he himself will rule them with a rod

of iron,

he himself treads the wine press of the

fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty

God,

and he has on his robe and on his thigh

a name written King of Kings and Lord of

Lords.

When Augustus was on the throne,

Christ reigned.

When Tiberius was on the throne,

Christ reigned. When Vespasian was on the

throne,

Christ reigned. When Domitian was on the

throne and the church

was going through persecution,

Christ reigned.

When Mao was on the throne, Christ

reigned.

When Hitler was all over Europe,

Christ reigned.

When Biden was elected or Trump was

elected,

Christ reigned.

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,

Christ reigned.

We spend a lot of time worrying

about this world, about the state of the

world.

Christ doesn’t.

Because Christ has handed to us the

instrument of destroying nations.

Did you catch what it was?

It’s not an army, it’s not horses.

It’s the sword of his mouth.

You want to bring down the tyrannical

leader?

Teach all of his people to be Christians.

You want to bring down a tyrannical

leader?

Teach him to be a Christian.

You want to topple governments and bring

peace to the world?

Teach them to obey God.

You wanna know what governments are for?

God tells us we don’t have to guess.

Turn to Romans chapter thirteen.

Romans chapter 13, let every soul be

subject to the governing authorities,

for there is no authority except from God.

And the authorities that exist are

appointed by God.

Hey, did you know that Christ was reigning

and God was on his throne when Paul wrote

the book of Romans? Huh. How about that?

And verse 2: therefore, whoever resists

the authority,

resists the ordinance of God, and those

who resist will bring judgment

on themselves.

For rulers are not a terror to good works,

but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of

the authority?

Do what is good, and you will have praise

from the same.

For he is God’s minister to do f for good.

But if you do evil, be afraid,

for he does not bear the sword in vain,

for he is God’s minister and avenger to

execute wrath on him who practices evil.

You wanna know what governments exist for?

The suppression of evil.

Now, do governments sometimes get

overtaken by the evil people?

Sure. And when they do, guess what?

God’s got another government around to

come take care of them.

See what we’re supposed to learn from the

book of Revelation?

And we’re supposed to realize is that yes,

these things happened in the days of these

people.

These things were shortly to come to pla

to take place.

These were these things were at hand.

And these people were gonna live through

them.

Some of them were gonna die in them,

and some of them were going to live to see

the other side of them.

But the thing they were supposed to come

out of it knowing was.

Is it doesn’t matter what the government’s

name is.

It could be Babylon, it could be Rome,

it could be Egypt. Wouldn’t matter.

The outcome’s always the same.

Governments come and go.

Powers rise and fall. Satan will try his

hand with any of them he can get a hold

of.

But he never wins. Because there is one

King

of Kings and one Lord of Lords.

And Satan will never be him.

Thank you for your attention.