1 Timothy 5 (Lesson 5) – Aaron Cozort – 08-31-2025

In accountability, Admonition Podcast, elders, good works, hasty judgments, impartiality, Keywords church leadership, medicinal needs, Paul, sin, Timothy by Aaron Cozort

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1 Timothy chapter 5, we’re down to about verse 20, where in regards to the issues with

elders, Paul tells Timothy to not even accept an accusation against an elder, except uh it

comes from two or three witnesses, that those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of

all, that the rest also may fear.

Paul is making it clear there is no position in the body of Christ that is above the law.

uh One of the things that was somewhat unique in Old Testament times under the

Medo-Persian Empire is that even the king had to follow the law.

And that once the law was written, as we read in the text of Daniel, the law was written.

And the king even himself had to abide by the law because the law was higher than the

king.

Now that was not normal in monarchy periods or in times uh in the Old Testament or New

Testament.

And yet here in the church, Paul is also emphasizing that the person is not higher than

the law.

So if you have an individual who is an elder, that elder is not

above the law of Christ.

That elder, if he is outside of the law of Christ, if he is behaving and acting in a way

that is improper in view of the law of Christ, is to be rebuked by the law because the law

is higher than he is.

As you consider this, Paul is emphasizing the necessity for the church to evaluate to

to guide and to judge all those who are inside the body by the same standard.

You know, one of the things that we should understand and hopefully do understand is that

as a person’s responsibility grows, as their authority grows, their accountability grows.

And so there are things that an elder would be held accountable to

know and to practice and to live that maybe a brand new Christian wouldn’t be held to the

same standard that that elder is.

And quite often in the world we see it the other way.

We see that the more someone grows in power and authority, maybe the less they’re held to

the same standard of the lowliest person.

Not in the church.

Jesus emphasized that the one who would be the

ruler, the one who would be, the one with authority would be servant of all, not ruler

over all.

Now, as we close that discussion out, Paul writes in chapter 5 verse 21, I charge you

before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things

without prejudice

and with doing nothing with partiality.

Paul emphasizes to Timothy, I’ve written to you about qualifications of elders.

I’ve written to you about the qualifications of deacons.

I’ve written to you about false teachers.

I’ve written to you about widows.

I’ve written to you about those who qualify as widows that the church can support.

I’ve written to you about elders and the qualification for them to receive support.

All of these things, Paul says, I charge you, I commission you as a soldier.

Timothy, because it’s the idea of the term charge, that you do these things and you don’t

show partiality.

When you act, you do not act in favor of someone because they are your friend.

You do not act in opposition to someone because you don’t get along with them.

You rather act without partiality.

You show righteous judgment.

He says, not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins.

Keep yourself pure.

Have you ever noticed that there’s a tendency when someone, if we were to use kind of an

older term, gets a burr under their saddle?

that they go around and try and get person after person after person on their side to

complain about the same thing that they’re complaining about or to have the same stance or

the same position that they have.

Paul warns Timothy, don’t be hasty in these actions.

He’s not telling Timothy, take these actions.

As matter of fact, he’s just commanded him to take these actions, but he says, do not take

them in haste.

Now, are there times in matters of judgment, even within the body of Christ, where

The long suffering, the waiting for someone to change has run out.

Yeah!

But there should be a recognition that there’s the term long at the front of long

suffering.

That Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter four to reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long

suffering and doctrine.

Paul emphasizes to Timothy,

as he’s a young preacher, as he’s going out into this work, as he’s working with the

Ephesian brethren, he said, do not be hasty in these matters.

We need to recognize and apply within our own lives what Paul is telling to Timothy that

we need to be careful.

We need to be thoughtful.

We need to be patient in these matters.

Now, Paul will write, as we just examined last week, concerning, in 1 Corinthians chapter

5, concerning the man who had his father’s wife, Paul says, I’m judging in this matter and

I’m not even present.

because the circumstance was clear not only to them, not only to him, but to all the

people who were Gentiles and Pagans around them what was going on and that it needed to be

put to a stop.

The scenario was clear and the circumstance demanded immediate action.

But most times in life and most circumstances in the body of Christ are not that type of

scenario.

So Paul cautions Timothy.

Number one, you act without partiality.

Number two, you act without haste.

And number three, do not share in other people’s sins.

What people is he talking about here?

Alright, anyone that’s sinning, do you think context-wise he’s talking about people

outside the church or inside the church?

Both, but I think predominantly inside.

There’s a reminder that is important, something that uh Brother Wesley Simons, who was one

of the directors of the school when Eddie and I were there, he emphasized to us, he said,

guys, you need to remember and you need to talk to your family and your children.

He said, because we would tell our children, you’re going to hear things.

because you’re in the preacher’s house and sometimes people come over and have a

discussion.

You’re, as children, going to hear things and you can’t say a word.

You have to be able to operate as though you don’t know that because you’re hearing and

you’re not part of it.

But at the same time, as those who are elders, those who are deacons, those who are

ministers, those individuals in that family,

they’re going to be aware things are going on that other people aren’t aware of.

And sometimes they have to quietly, patiently just keep their mouth shut.

and say nothing and wait.

Paul is emphasizing to Timothy that you’re going to be aware of problems and you have to

not only make sure you stand against those things that you can stand against, you have to

make sure you don’t participate in the problems other people create.

You go back to earlier on in the chapter, and he discusses the problem with widows who are

younger widows who eventually become wanton and they turn to gossip and to backbiting and

to telling things about people.

Paul says, Timothy, you don’t share in other people’s sins.

One of the other things that we were reminded about, and

You you say this and you think, well, that’s kind of disappointing, but let’s face it,

humans are disappointing, right?

People are disappointing.

One of the things that was discussed in our house growing up as the son of a preacher is

every sin that’s outside the church is inside the church.

Why?

Because there are people outside the church and inside the church.

And sometimes you have to realize that when you walk into an assembly of God’s people, you

are not walking into a group of perfect people.

You are walking into a group of people who are perfected by the blood of Christ.

Through grace, mercy, and forgiveness, they stand justified.

Not because they’re flawless.

And so sometimes within the body of Christ you’re going to have people who have turned

around from going the right direction and they’re still in the assembly but they’re going

the wrong direction.

Paul’s cautioning Timothy, you be careful who you spend your time with, you be careful how

you judge, and you be careful that you don’t get drawn away by the sins of others.

Turn back to chapter one.

You might remember that Paul already wrote to Timothy in chapter one, verse 18, this

charge, commit to you, son Timothy.

according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the

good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected.” Now, he’s

talking about some teachers within the church in the first century.

He says, “…which some having rejected concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of

whom are Hymenaeus.”

and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Paul warns

Timothy about teachers who have fallen away from the faith, who have pursued that which is

opposite to the doctrine and the truth of Jesus Christ, and he says, you hold the doctrine

with a good conscience.

You do so out of faith and you do not shipwreck your faith or the faith of others.

If you turn over to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy chapter 1, beginning in verse 13, says, hold fast the pattern of sound words

which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

That good thing which was committed to you keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

This you know that all those who in Asia who have turned…

I’m gonna get my words out in just a minute.

This you know that all those in Asia have turned away from me among whom are phygellous…

and Hermogenes.

The Lord grant mercy to the household of one Cypherus, for he often refreshed me and was

not ashamed of my chain.

But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me.

The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day.

And you know very well how many ways he ministered to me in Ephesus.” Paul writes about

some who have left him, departed from him, some who have continued

with him, but you read over in 2 Timothy chapter 4 where we read in verse 9, “‘Be diligent

to come to me quickly, for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has

departed for Thessalonica.'” Paul emphasizes as he writes to Timothy that some of those

same people that Timothy would have traveled with

that Timothy would have known in his earliest days traveling with Paul are now no longer

faithful.

They’re no longer doing what they ought to do.

And Paul cautions Timothy not to be hasty and not to share in other people’s sins.

Rather, he says, keep yourself pure.

But then we read verse 23, no longer drink

only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.

Paul here introduces to us a problem that Timothy had.

What was Timothy’s problem?

Well, what was his physical problem?

He was frequently sick.

And Paul is telling Timothy that part of his problem is that he is frequently sick as a

result of what?

Likely.

Say again.

Contaminated water.

Even today, if you travel much outside the US, especially to third world countries, you’re

going to be cautioned, reasonably so, don’t drink the water.

Because it’s not purified, it’s not filtered, the contaminants are not removed from it,

that we often do in the water plants and things here in America.

Now, Paul is going to tell Timothy, know concerning your condition, and here’s what you

need to do about it.

What does he give him by way of an instruction to do?

All right, drink a little wine instead of water what?

What’s the word that comes there?

Only.

Okay, now why would Paul make this suggestion concerning wine?

And I want to discuss this from a perspective of how did, what did they do to the wine

that would have allowed this to have resolved the issue of the water?

All right?

ah It could be the fact that it was fermented.

Now, was all wine fermented?

No.

Okay.

So, first thing to note is that he could have drank fresh wine, which would have been the

equivalent of what?

Grape juice.

have had likely the same contamination that the water had?

No.

All right.

First thing to realize is there’s nothing in the text that states this is fermented wine.

It is simply Paul saying consume this drink instead of this.

But we’ll go ahead and assume it’s fermented.

What happens in the fermentation process?

All right?

There’s a sterilization of things because of how the process occurs.

So you have, and by the way, alcohol is in itself what?

A sterilizing agent.

It kills other things off.

Okay?

uh So as Paul introduces this, there’s a number of different ways we can understand it,

but.

First, we should understand Paul is dealing with a contrast between only drinking water

and drinking something other than water.

Now, were there any scenarios in a Jewish circumstance, any vows or covenants or anything

like that, where a Jew would be restricted from drinking wine in any form, even grape

juice?

Alright, Nazarite vow.

Was the Nazarite vow something that was designed to be uh somehow in opposition to

alcohol?

What other things came along with a Nazarite vow?

Not just not drinking wine, but what else?

Cutting one’s hair.

If you assumed that the Nazarite vow was in opposition to alcohol, should you also assume

that

It was in opposition to the sin of short hair.

No.

What was the Nazarite vowel about?

All right?

It was about an entire life focused on God.

And these things that you did were to focus you entirely upon God.

So every morning when you looked at how you look, you were reminded that you were focused

entirely upon God.

when others would see you and they would see your hair that had never been cut.

Focus on God.

So, when you look at some of the things that happened in Jewish society, there were some

who would have had the position of they didn’t drink any wine.

They didn’t drink any grape juice.

They didn’t drink any fruit of the vine in any form.

It seems as though Timothy has taken that scenario, not that he was uh taking a Nazareth

battle, but that that’s how he was operating in his daily life.

He was drinking water only.

That’s what the text says.

Now, let’s discuss this from another perspective.

Is it wrong when you go and have open heart surgery to allow the surgeons

to give you something that’s going to knock you out.

Is that wrong?

Did God say that that’s wrong?

No.

Which one is more debilitating in your sober-mindedness?

The medicine that’s going to knock you out for surgery

or a little bit of wine.

Why?

Because you’re done.

You’re gone.

Hopefully, right?

Hopefully.

Is there anything that the scripture tells us that is wrong with an individual who has an

infirmity or has an illness or has a need for a procedure or has a need for something

medical to be done that they could not take any medicine that will somehow affect their

sober mindedness?

Is there anything in the text that indicates that medicine that affects you

mentally is in opposition to the Word of God.

No, because there’s a recognition that you’re doing that because of a greater problem,

okay?

This is not for pleasure, this is not for convenience, this is not a discussion of, hey,

you know what, I kind of like the way morphine feels.

I think I’ll take a little bit every night.

This isn’t a discussion of, you know what, I just kind of like the calming feeling of just

a little bit of THC.

Or, you know, I understand that I need focus.

So a little bit of cocaine will get me a long way.

Is that what we’re discussing in this text?

Well, how about the person who says, you know what, I understand, but I’m just a lot more

relaxed in the end of the day with just a beer or two.

Is that what we’re talking about in this text?

No.

What are we talking about in this text?

We’re talking about medicine.

And Paul is telling Timothy in the circumstance of his medicinal need, because he is

frequently getting sick, he needs to take something for it.

And what was the prescription that Paul gave?

a little wine.

Now is that like, you know, a bottle or two every night?

No.

Paul’s saying your stomach needs something.

You need to give it the, whether that be the killing off of the antibodies or something,

you need something for your stomach.

Take something and stop letting your conscience get in the way of taking something for

your infirmities.

Okay, so is there an appropriate way to use medicine?

Yes.

Is it in opposition to the word of God to appropriately use medicine?

No.

Is there an inappropriate way to use medicine?

Is there an inappropriate way to use things that are natural but act in a medicinal way?

There are some herbs, flowers, uh natural things in the world that make great medicines.

There’s also some that will kill you.

There are some that can be used the wrong way.

There’s some that if you have access to more of it than just a little bit, you’re gonna

end up in a very bad state.

By the way, which one’s natural?

Something that was created by God,

and changed by man or something that was created by man and changed by man using only the

things that God created.

They’re both natural by the way.

They both originate with what God created.

uh The fact that something grows in the ground and the fact that something’s manufactured

from the components uh of biology and the DNA and the mRNA and all the other things that

God created doesn’t make either one of them unnatural.

The question is what are we doing?

Now, let’s turn this around.

Would it be wrong?

for a young person to take medicine just to feel good.

Would that be a bad idea?

Would it be a bad idea because it’s an irresponsible use of medicine?

It would be a bad idea because it’s an irresponsible use of medicine and because they’re

doing damage long-term to their ability to function.

What if

An older person takes medicine just to feel good.

Same thing.

You know, sometimes we talk about the drug problem in America.

The drug problem in America is not a uniquely young person problem.

The difference between the young people and the older people is that the older people can

get the prescription with no problem.

And the younger person has to steal it from somebody else or buy it.

But the drug problem, ask anybody in law enforcement.

The drug problem in America is not a uniquely young person problem.

The problem with illicit drugs is typically a young person problem, but it’s a problem

that starts in the medical industry, from the pharmaceutical companies all the way down.

Now, Paul, in this text, let’s note a few things he does not do.

Paul does not endorse the use

of alcoholic wine to the point of drunkenness, does he?

No.

Second thing Paul does not do, Paul does not use a term that would necessitate that there

was anything alcoholic even in the use of the wine he discusses in the text.

Thirdly, Paul does not authorize Timothy to consume wine in a large quantity.

in the text.

Fourthly, because I think I’m on number four, Paul does not authorize the use of wine in

Timothy’s scenario for anything other than medicinal use.

Those four things are not in this text.

And any use of this text to argue for any of those four things would be fallacious because

it’s not in the text.

Paul is addressing

a problem that Timothy has and a solution that is readily available for the problem.

The problem was his stomach.

The solution was a little bit, specifically in the text, of wine in addition to the water

which he drank.

One of the things that they would do quite often with the wine uh is instead of fermenting

it and making

actual full wine, they would actually uh dry it and get it down to basically a uh solid

and then they’d put the water into the wine and reconstitute it, but you wouldn’t have a

fully fermented environment there.

You would just have water remixed with those uh dried grapes and they would drink that.

That’s another scenario where you have something that’s not fermented.

it’s simply dried, almost like a raisin or mashed uh raisin would be.

You also have scenarios where the term wine is referencing a vinegar-like substance that

would not be intoxicating either, uh but could have potentially been part of this.

uh Now, you go down to verse 24, he says, some men’s sins are clearly evident.

Now want to connect something that Paul just did.

In verse 22 he said, not share in other people’s what?

Sins.

Then he jumps out of that discussion into Timothy’s stomach and then reverses direction to

discuss what?

some men sins.

Almost like he didn’t change topics at all.

So what sin might Paul have in mind when he discussed wine and Timothy’s very limited use

of it right in the middle of discussing some men’s sins and participating in them and then

some men’s sins and not participating in them?

Folks, when we’re dishonest with the Word of God and with the context of passages so that

we can argue for participating in activities which the Bible never promotes, never

suggests are good, always describes in a negative fashion, and clearly condemns in an

extreme fashion, we’re being incredibly dishonest with the text.

Paul says, don’t participate in other people’s sins.

Timothy, take some wine for your stomach’s sake.

Now let’s talk about other people’s sins.

He says, some men’s sins are clearly evident, proceeding them to judgment.

But those of some men follow later.

Paul is telling Timothy, there are going to be some things you’re gonna see and you’re

going to be able to judge immediately by their fruit.

You’re going to see someone doing something and you’re going to know immediately that’s a

sin, that’s wrong, it has to be stood against immediately.

Name an example in Paul’s life where Paul saw a sin

happening and in the very midst of it happening addressed it immediately.

Alright, Galatians chapter 2, Paul describes the event, or chapter 1, where he was with

the Gentiles, Barnabas was with the Gentiles, Peter was with the Gentiles, and some

brothers from Jerusalem and Judea came, and when those Jews arrived, Peter withdrew

himself from those Gentiles.

And others were starting to be influenced by Peter withdrawing himself from those

Gentiles.

And who even was being influenced?

Barnabas was.

So what does Paul say that he did?

Paul says, withstood him to the face, for he was to be blamed.

Paul is telling Timothy there are going to be some circumstances where men’s sins are

clearly evident.

When that’s the case, you need to address it immediately.

This is in view of, he said, don’t be hasty in matters.

Don’t be in a hurry, but sometimes you’re going to see something that is so clearly wrong

you need to deal with it right then.

But then some matters, he says, follow later.

When Timothy and others and even ourselves today, when we’re dealing with matters of

people’s lives.

We can only know.

what we can know.

Go back to an example that Wesley gave us one time when he was in school.

Wesley was also one of the elders at the congregation.

And they had three elders.

And they would sit down and talk with people.

And at times, especially, you know, new members uh that were placing membership and other

uh scenarios, people who were uh new converts, and they’d have discussions with them.

And in the midst of a discussion, something might come up concerning their marriage.

and maybe that one of them’s been married before maybe they’re married to someone else now

and Wesley made a point to say

We can only know what you tell us.

We can’t know if you’re telling us the truth.

We can help you discover if what you’re telling us is in accordance with the word of God,

but we can’t know what you don’t tell us.

But understand this, God knows whether you’re telling the truth or not.

And there is a relief in that for someone who has to judge on a matter, has to counsel

someone on a matter, has to instruct someone on a matter, that you know what?

We’re accountable for what we know and we can’t be accountable for what we cannot know.

If someone lies to you,

about how they live their life, and you can’t ever, there’s never a scenario where you’re

going to be able to learn the difference, you’re not accountable for the fact that they

lied to you, or for judging them in that matter, because you can’t know what you can’t

know.

But what Paul’s emphasizing to Timothy is, there is a judge who knows.

And Timothy, you don’t have to get everything right, and you don’t have to know how to

make every decision, because there is a judge who will judge.

So when the matter is clear, when the matter is evident, you need to judge, and you need

to operate, and you need to do what God’s Word says.

And then there will be some matters where you’ll go,

I don’t know how to judge that.

I don’t know how to tell people what to do in this matter.

Or, I’m looking at this and it doesn’t look right.

It doesn’t seem like the right thing to do, but I don’t have enough Scripture to say that

I need to stand against it.

because God will deal with it.

He says here in verse 25, likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those

that are otherwise cannot be hidden.

Paul says here’s one thing that you can do.

You can look at the fruit of the things that they do.

As emphasized in other passages,

It’s not just the evil things that someone does, the sins that they commit that produce

some sort of long-term result.

There’s also the good things that they do that produce a long-term result.

And Paul here emphasizes that the good works of some are going to be clearly evident.

They need to be recognized.

And then you’re gonna look behind you

and someday, and you’re gonna see the results of good works that were being done in

silence, that were never recognized, and you’re gonna see the action of some who are

righteous, not by the fact that anyone was aware that they were doing these things, but

because of the fruit that was born by those actions.

Paul is encouraging Timothy to judge in these matters, to judge cautiously with long

suffering in these matters, to not be ensnared by the actions of others, to do it because,

well, brother and sister so-and-so, they’re good Christians and they do it, so must be

fine.

Paul says, no, that is no way to judge.

That is no way to determine whether or not something should be done.

You don’t do it because somebody else does it.

You do it because it’s right.

But then he also points out that there are some matters in which you will have clear

evidence and it needs to be addressed immediately, and some matters that you’ll just have

to let it ride because you don’t know.

And then there’s some matters where you’ll see clear evidence of the good works of some

and some where you’ll never quite know all the things that they did until it comes years

later.

And you see the fruit born from all their works that they never told anyone they were busy

doing.

All of those things, Paul says, are important in the life of a minister as he strives to

help a church like Ephesus grow and mature and be faithful to the Word of God.

Any comments or questions?

We’ve got a few minutes, but I don’t want to get into chapter 6 since we’ve only got just

a few minutes left.

Was there anything that I was not clear about or I was clear as mud?

Okay.

If not, Phil.

Yeah, no, I think that the indication of the terms themselves is that he was sickly.

He was often getting sick and it was something that could easily be addressed.

Okay?

Good question.

All right, thank you for your attention.

You’re dismissed.

Mark 8 (Lesson 2) – Aaron Cozort – 08-27-2025

In Admonition Podcast, cost of following Christ, denial, discipleship, identity, keywords Jesus, Mark chapter 8, prayer, Spiritual Growth, understanding God by Aaron Cozort

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Good evening.

It’s about time for us to get started.

If I start a minute early, we can end a minute late, and we only went one minute over,

right?

All right.

ah Thank you for being here.

We’re grateful for your presence.

We’re going to begin with a word of prayer, and then we’ll get into our study in Mark

chapter eight.

Let us pray.

Our gracious Lord and God, all-powerful.

all-knowing, and all-present God that you are.

We’re grateful for your wisdom, for your mighty hand, the works that you have done

throughout the existence of this world, the salvation which you have brought to us through

your Son and through the scheme of redemption, that we might both have salvation and a

family in the body of Christ.

Lord, we pray that we might

search diligently to know your will and your word that we might live daily in accordance

with it.

We might strive to walk in the light as you were in the light.

Lord, we pray that when we stumble and when we fall, when we recognize our own sins and

the sins of those around us, we might repent of those things, that we might pray that

those things are forgiven.

Lord, we pray that we might always be those who are willing to

stand before you in holiness and strive to correct those things that are wrong in our

lives.

pray for those who are struggling with illness.

We pray for those who are awaiting word from doctors or physicians concerning potential

illnesses.

We pray that you will be with them and we pray for good outcomes of those tests.

Lord, we…

are grateful for all those who are present this evening.

We’re grateful for uh Terry and Jenny being able to be with us again this evening, and

we’re grateful for their safety and traveling.

Lord, we thank you for all of these things, and in all of these things we ask in Jesus’

name, amen.

In Mark chapter 8 verse 27, Jesus said to his disciples, who do men say that I am?

And as the disciples respond, what are some of the answers that they give?

All right, John the Baptist, Elijah.

one of the prophets.

All of these individuals were individuals who either they had perhaps heard of in person

or seen witnessed in person in the case of John the Baptist, and they thought that perhaps

John had been risen from the dead.

Name one person who thought when he heard concerning the deeds that Jesus was doing that

John had been risen from the dead.

Herod.

if Herod believes it, he’s probably not the only one in Judea that believes it ah or in

the land of Israel.

And so, some were suggesting that this is John the Baptist, and others were suggesting

this is Elijah.

Why Elijah of all the prophets?

Alright, he went to heaven and didn’t see death, at least in the typical sense.

Part of the reason why Elijah is, there was a prophecy that Elijah would return.

And Jesus will actually identify who that return was, and it was a typified Elijah, it was

not Elijah himself.

But who did Jesus identify as being that person?

John the Baptist, okay?

So there were those who knew of the prophecy.

and said, well, this must be Elijah.

This must be the fulfillment of that.

And yet Jesus says, no, no, you’ve got the wrong guy.

That’s John.

But then in addition to that, you also have the phrase, one of the prophets.

This likely has to do with the prophecy in Matthew chapter 18.

sorry.

I keep saying Matthew.

I’m not meaning Matthew.

Deuteronomy chapter 18, and that is where

Moses says that God would raise up one like unto me and specifically states it would be a

prophet like unto himself.

He says, hear him.

Okay.

So in Deuteronomy 18, Moses forecast that there’s a Moses or one like Moses, a prophet

like Moses.

And they were told to hear that prophet.

Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist, some say one of the prophets.

But he said to them, who do you say that I am?

Peter answered and said to him, you are the what?

the Messiah, the Christ, the one who was foretold in the Old Testament as the Savior.

So, as these questions are being asked, Jesus then responds and tells them to tell

everybody.

Right?

No.

Who are they supposed to tell?

No one.

if the people understood who he was and they fully understood who he was.

some things could have gone very differently.

we’re told even later after the crucifixion and after the resurrection that the putting to

Jesus to death was done ignorantly in unbelief.

And there is a clear line between what Jesus was doing and where Jesus was going and why

he was here.

Was Jesus ever here to save the world without going to the cross?

No.

As a result, you see some of the things that Jesus does are to make sure that his mission

is actually going to be completed.

Imagine a general giving an underling a command to go out into the battlefield with his

regiment or with his uh soldiers and to take a particular hill.

and he makes sure to make it clear to that underling, there’s no cost too high.

No matter what, you must take that hill.

or the consequences will be far greater than whatever it costs to take the hill.

What is the underling going to do to take the hill?

everything he can to make sure that the outcome is the taking of the hill.

Jesus does the same thing.

Jesus puts both statements in place, questions in place, doctrines in place, to both

teach, yes, to admonish, yes, to reprove and rebuke, yes, but also to create stumbling

blocks for people.

You say, wait a minute, I thought God wanted everyone to be safe.

He does.

but he doesn’t want everyone to just go about feeling they’re self-righteous and feeling

like they’re saved and yet they are not interested in spiritual things.

They’re not interested in God or his commandments.

They just want to feel saved.

That wasn’t gonna work for Jesus.

Jesus was going to put stumbling blocks not in front of those who were honest hearts.

but rather those who were dishonest hearts.

Is there an Old Testament example of a prophet of God putting a stumbling block in front

of a dishonest heart to their own destruction and demise?

Pharaoh, Moses, and Aaron did a number of things to put a stumbling block in front of

Pharaoh.

But what was the first thing that they did?

Very first time they came before Farah.

All right, they said, the God of our forefathers, the God of the Hebrews said, let my

people go.

Did Pharaoh have an open, clear, honest opportunity to obey God?

Yes.

Did he refuse that opportunity?

Yes.

And afterward, event after event after event that would have transformed an honest heart

into an obedient heart caused his heart

to be hardened.

So Jesus in this example is utilizing much of the same tools that the Old Testament

prophets used, which was they didn’t tell everybody everything.

They wanted people to have to search it out.

They wanted people to have to discover and diligently seek.

to find the truth because there’s actually a purpose in the seeking.

Jesus said, seek and.

So what does that say about the people who never seek?

They hold on fine.

Ask.

And it should be given to you.

What does it say about the people who never ask?

You see, God does not desire people to follow a crowd to salvation.

God desires, according to John chapter four, and Jesus speaking to the woman at the well,

God desires those who will diligently seek Him and who will worship Him in spirit.

and in truth.

That requires someone willing to study, willing to search, willing to learn about God.

And so Jesus is going to withhold information.

Not that they couldn’t have learned it, but that the disciples are not going to go and

spread it about.

So verse 31.

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the

elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

He spoke this word openly.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

But when he had turned around, he looked at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, Get

behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

when he had called the disciples to himself with his disciples also, or called the people

to himself with his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let

him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” As Jesus is teaching, Jesus begins to

tell the disciples what’s going to happen.

Do they immediately understand what he’s taught?

No.

Do they understand what he said?

Yes, that’s why Peter rebuked him.

That’s why Peter said, this is not going to happen.

And so they understood what he said, they did not understand what he taught.

They understood the words, they did not understand the meaning and the purpose and the

reason behind the things he was saying.

They did not see it in God’s grand picture.

They saw it as this person says they’re going to go be put to death.

That can’t happen.

He’s our Savior.

He’s the King.

We’ve seen Him literally speak the waves to calm and the winds to silence.

And you’re telling me that the chief priests and the elders are going to accomplish

killing Him?

So in their disbelief, Peter being the prime example here, Peter tried to dissuade him

from this.

But then he calls to the people, he tells the people to listen to this and he says,

whoever desires to come after me, which is the idea of being a disciple, let him deny

himself.

take up his cross and follow me.

Why did Jesus use the imagery of the cross if the people listening to him did not know

that he was going to be crucified?

What would a cross have meant to them?

Okay, so the Romans were not the first ones to use crucifixion as a punishment.

It had gone all the way back to the Persian Empire.

uh And the Medo-Persians had used that during their time and it had been used.

uh But the Romans like a lot of things.

They didn’t originate an idea, but they really worked at perfecting it.

They were quite diligent at perfecting the experience of crucifixion.

And so it was common among the Roman Empire that they would not just crucify you, they

would not just bring about a period of uh punishment by death, they would humiliate you

and then crucify you.

They would make it an object lesson for everyone else.

And so it was common practice for them to take the individual who they were going to

crucify and lay the cross on their shoulders and make them carry their own cross to their

own death.

This was not a one, when we read about Jesus doing this, this was not a unique one-time

experience.

This was the Roman Empire demonstrating its power and authority and its willingness to

bring about humiliation and pain to the point of death.

Absolutely.

ah You go into the period uh of Nero and you would have individuals who were mounted on

crosses or mounted on objects there in the city of Rome and they were lit on fire as the

lighting for the streets.

So Rome took this to another level beyond what others had done.

and they did so and so when Jesus makes this statement the people’s immediate mind would

not have gone to Jesus talking about his death that’s what our mind goes to that’s the

cross we immediately think of but their mind would have gone to person after person after

person throughout their life in the Roman Empire that they had witnessed bearing their

cross to their capital punishment

Yet Jesus says…

The first thing that the person must do is not take up his cross, is it?

What’s the first thing the person must do?

Jesus says the first thing you have to do, you want to follow me?

You have to deny you.

What does mean to deny yourself?

Let’s go from the casual idea, the daily action.

Somebody give me an example of denying yourself.

Say again.

All right, denying yourself oh some form or fashion worldly pleasures.

So let’s take it from the amoral first.

You stand there as we did a few months ago up in uh Mackinac Island and you stand at the

counter where the fudge is, all right?

And you look at the fudge and you know I’ve already bought five pounds of fudge.

Do I really need another one?

The answer is of course yes.

But say you haven’t bought any fudge but you just left the doctor who said you’ve got to

cut sugar out.

You’ve got to cut all the sweets out and you’re standing there in Mackinac looking at a

pound of the most delicious fudge ever and you go, I’ve got to deny myself.

and you turn and you walk out of the store.

There’s a casual experience of denying yourself.

You can take it to another level and you can go, all right, to the moral level, Here’s

something God says is not good for me, here’s something God says is morally wrong, here’s

something God says I should not do and yet because of the sinful life that I’ve had in the

past, these are things I have done, this is a temptation for me, and you see that

temptation and you say, no, I will not do that, and you turn and go the other way.

You have denied yourself.

You were tempted to do that, which you should not do, and you chose not to.

There’s one example, there’s another example, but there’s one beyond that.

What about when it’s the thing that isn’t wrong, isn’t bad, is actually a good thing to

do, and would benefit you?

But it would also distract you from Christ.

Sometimes we see the example of the man in the book of Luke.

The man comes to Jesus and says, I will be your disciple.

Only let me go and bury my father and then I will come and follow you.

Question.

There’s often discussion about the wording, does the Greek imply that his father’s not yet

dead?

It’s set all that aside, doesn’t matter.

Is there anything wrong with burying your father?

Is it something expected of a son?

then why did Jesus say, the dead bury their dead?

Come and follow me.

So that’s part of it.

If his father’s dead, he could do no more for his father.

But Jesus’ point is not about the value that he can bring to burying the father.

His point is directed at the heart and the motivation of the individual who is saying,

will be your disciple.

And Jesus is drawing out that this man’s attachment to this world.

is still fully intact.

that he is fully still tied to the world and its way of thinking.

and that he has not yet died to himself.

He’s still prioritizing the things he wants above the things that Jesus says.

And so as a result of that, Jesus uses this point to say, you haven’t yet forsaken or, I

lost my word there, uh denied yourself.

You have to do that first.

when we understand that Jesus demands not just obedience, but He demands from us that we

are willing to take everything we’ve always thought we would do, we would be, we would

have, and say, God, it’s up to you.

If you want me to have these things, I’ll have them.

But I will never choose them over you.

I will, yes.

No, you’re fine.

They will start.

dirty everything that I paint her.

putting myself first and learning that I have to put myself first in order to do that, not

above God by any means, because that is what’s gotten me through everything.

But I’ve always, having been in the church my whole life, Jesus first, others second, and

your self-blasting, and always being blessed.

And it’s taken me a long time, like I’m there now, but learning it’s okay.

put yourself first, it could seem a godly way.

that’s necessary.

But that’s always been a really important thing, because there’s so much guilt that you

don’t put yourself first.

So working that in, I would challenge the terminology.

because by taking care of yourself, that’s not putting yourself first, all right?

It’s not.

Here’s the example, okay?

If a runner wants to be an Olympic runner, right?

They want to be the best of the best of the best.

Do they run every hour of the day?

No.

Why not?

If they’re going to be the best, don’t they have to train nonstop?

All right?

The muscles have to have time to rest or they don’t strengthen.

They have to go through a cycle of strain, the uh exercise, and then they have to recover.

If they never recover, they don’t get stronger, they deteriorate.

So.

God intended, and you by the way see this in the life of Jesus, you know when Jesus went

out away from the crowds and escaped in the night as it were, when the disciples were

still asleep and he went up into a mountain to pray, no indication that that’s Jesus

acting selfishly.

That’s Jesus taking care of himself.

It’s not him putting himself first, it’s him properly managing himself so that he still

can do the things for others that he needs to do.

The preacher who is always invested in everyone else’s problems, is always available,

who’s always studying and never spends any time and rest, guess what they are?

they’re deteriorating as a preacher.

Because that’s not how God made us.

That is denying the very principles that God has instituted in our humanity.

Now what if a person says, yeah, the way I’m going to approach this whole thing is if

there’s ever a point where I want to do something for me, that’s going to be right here at

the top.

m

and then maybe I’ll consider the things that God wants me to do and then maybe I’ll

consider other people.

But I’m coming first.

See, there’s a difference between the world’s mindset.

You’ve got to put yourself first.

And sometimes what they mean, okay, is you’ve got to stop incessantly denying yourself for

everyone at everyone’s whim.

And that’s true.

because everyone’s whim of what they think you should do is really a bad idea.

Does everyone have your best interests in heart when they ask you to do something?

No.

One of the best ways to put a business out of business is tell the business the business

has to do everything that a customer thinks is a good idea.

And answer the phone every time a customer calls.

It’s not a healthy way to run a business.

because the customer doesn’t have the big picture in mind and their priority is not the

business.

The same thing is true in a family.

What if the family says, you know what, any time anyone asks us to do anything, we’re

always going to say yes.

Are they ever going to prioritize the things that God tells them to do?

No, because they prioritize what everyone says to do.

Let’s add to it one more principle.

What is the thing that God commanded of Israel that they had to do every single week?

The Sabbath rest.

He says in six days you shall do your labor, but on the seventh day, you’re going to rest.

Now, the rest was a two-fold purpose, right?

It was that they needed to rest.

It was important that they rest, but also that they could then focus on what?

on God and on spiritual matters and on worship.

So God says, if you don’t rest, you’re doing it wrong.

If you don’t set a priority on taking care of yourself, you’re doing it wrong.

By the way, in that command, he doesn’t just say, you rest.

He says, you rest and your household rests and your servants rest and your beasts rest at

everything rests.

It’s not just the head of the household who finally gets to take a break.

It’s everybody.

And it was a violation of the law to put your ox to work while you rested.

God says it is fundamental to our lives,

to rest, to take care of ourselves, to do those things that are appropriate.

Where do we read of Jesus being on the Sabbath day over and over and over and over again?

in the synagogue.

I challenge people out in the world.

who will say, I just don’t really, I don’t do the whole going to church thing.

It’s the only day I take off, that’s my day to rest.

My challenge to them is they misunderstand rest.

Because if you relax the body, but you do not invigorate the soul, you’re still draining.

You go without reinvigorating and nourishing the soul while you relax the body and while

you rest from your labors, but you don’t put anything spiritual into your life and guess

what?

You’re going to run out.

you’re not going to accomplish the rest that you want because what the rest does is it

allows the mind to move beyond the physical.

What is it that Paul writes?

That day by day we’re perishing, but inwardly we’re being renewed.

You see, when the world thinks rest, the world thinks focus on self.

When God says rest, God says stop focusing on you, focus on me.

because perspective is by far the thing that we need most.

Perspective about our struggles, perspective about our work, perspective about our labors,

perspective about these things.

So as we draw that back in here, yes, rest is a great thing.

Putting yourself first in the sense of taking care of yourself so you have something to

give to others is fundamental to God’s Word, but…

Jesus challenges us to say, will you deny yourself?

not incessantly serve others, but deny your leadership position in your life.

Will you choose to serve me?

Did somebody have a question?

Stop doing what you want to do and come follow me.

was look at my example and how I set myself aside for you and now I’m asking you to do the

same for me.

Okay.

So, let me add to that 2 Timothy chapter 2.

In 2 Timothy chapter 2, as Paul’s writing to Timothy, says, you therefore, verse 1, my

son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard

from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach

others also.

Therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may

please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

m

Paul says, you’re going to accomplish the work of a soldier, you’re going to have to stop

getting ensnared, entangled, wrapped up in the things of this physical world.

Now does that mean that we can’t have a job?

No.

No.

No, Michael.

It doesn’t mean that we can’t have a job.

It means our job can’t be what?

the highest priority.

Does it mean we can’t have a family?

No.

Did Peter have a family?

Did other apostles have families?

John?

Yes.

Did Paul point out though that the Christian who has a family has things he must

prioritize and not just the work of God?

Absolutely.

Paul writes about that, 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

So, will having a family change what you can and can’t do in the kingdom?

Yes.

But if it’s bad to have a family, then all the elders are bad because they had to have a

family to be an elder.

They had to have a wife and believing children.

So, it’s not only a good thing,

It’s something that qualifies someone for the eldership and yet can it take priority over

God and what he’s told us to do?

And answer is no.

The first thing Jesus says, number one, you’re going to have to deny yourself.

So the last point I wanna make on the denying yourself side of things is,

Will denying yourself look equal and the same for everybody?

No, I won’t.

to the rich young ruler, what did denying himself look like?

Go sell all that you have, but what did he have to do with the profits?

give to the poor, then come and follow me.” For that individual, not for everybody, by the

way, that it was not Jesus’ message to every person he met along the way.

It was his message to a young man whose heart had been captured, for he loved his

possessions.

And he had many of them.

And because He had been captured by His possessions, Jesus said, step one, deny yourself.

And that young man went away sorrowful.

Not because he couldn’t have carried his cross, but because he wasn’t willing to deny

himself.

Sometimes.

when we listen to people.

We listen to people in the religious world around us say.

God told me to do this.

God told me to start this company.

God told me to launch this product.

God told me to play this game.

God told me to…

Seems like God’s only interest in things they’re interested in.

And that, by the way, is the way the world relates to God.

The world relates to God in the genie who gets the lamp rubbed and you come out and say, I

wish I could do this.

And the genie says, I’ll make it happen.

That’s not God.

Now, challenge ourselves to also remember this.

There were times in the Old Testament where God told a non-believer to do something that

was intended to result in a benefit for his people.

Name one example.

Thinking the Old Testament and coming back from Babylonian captivity.

No, when Cyrus wrote a decree.

that the people should go back to their homeland and rebuild their temple.

How about when Nebuchadnezzar

came and destroyed the southern kingdom of Israel.

Was that to the benefit of God’s people?

Shake your head this way.

because what group out of that people was saved from that judgment?

the righteous.

It was a net negative for a nation.

It was a net positive for God’s people in the nation.

for uh Daniel, Ananiah, Azariah, Michiel, they went to Babylon.

Yeah, they lived their lives in captivity as the governors in Babylon.

Ezekiel sitting on the shores of uh outside Shushan, the palace, writing back to Israel.

It was a Neb positive for God’s people.

It a negative for the nation.

Now, Nebuchadnezzar thought it was his idea.

Nebuchadnezzar thought he was doing His will.

God finally convinced Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter four that Nebuchadnezzar had not

been doing his will at all.

He had been doing God’s all along.

There are times where God utilizes the motivations and the actions and the self-interest

of men for His purposes.

If you’re not sure about that, go read Habakkuk.

You’ll get it, it’s there.

But having done that, it was all to His glory, it was all for His purpose.

So sometimes,

It may be true.

God said I should do this.

And yet the real benefit isn’t to them.

It’s to God’s people.

Okay?

One last thought as we close.

Jesus says, first, deny yourself.

Second, take up your cross.

Three, follow me.

When we realize that denying ourselves doesn’t mean that life has now become easier.

rather that we have just begun to bear the real burden in this life.

And that the real burden is very different than what the world thinks it is.

That’s where we’re going to pick up next week.

Thank you for your attention.

1 Timothy 5 (Lesson 4) – Aaron Cozort – 08-24-2025

In accountability, accusations, Admonition Podcast, Church, elders, Ephesus, keywords Timothy, monetary issues, public rebuke, restoration, sin by Aaron Cozort

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Paul is writing to Timothy.

Timothy is in Ephesus.

He is going to be teaching and educating those who are in the church at Ephesus.

He is going to be encouraging and edifying those who are leaders and those who are

teachers in Ephesus.

He is going to, unfortunately, have the

struggle and the responsibility of rebuking those if they are not doing what is right.

And yet, he’s a young man.

And so, Paul is going to address some of the things that Timothy needs to be teaching the

church, some of the things that the church needed to have set in order.

You know, when we read in the book of Acts that Paul will send Titus, or Paul will send

Timothy, or Paul will send others,

and he will send them to a church to set things in order.

Sometimes there’s a specific discussion in that context about ordaining elders in the

church, and that’s appropriate and that is exactly one of the things that Timothy is going

to have instructions on, if I can get my words out, have instructions on in this text

going back to chapter 3.

There’s a reason why Paul gives the qualifications for elders

because one of Timothy’s roles was to ordain elders in the churches as he is there with

them as Paul and Barnabas also will come back through in their journeys and do the same

thing.

But as we get down to verse 17 of chapter 5, we have a further instruction as we’ve

entered into a discussion in the beginning of chapter 5 about monetary things within the

body of Christ.

The first area of discussion concerning these monetary issues was widows.

The second one has to do with elders.

Chapter 5 verse 17, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor,

especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

We discussed that in some detail last Sunday, so we’re not going to spend a great deal of

time on it other than to introduce it by saying God is through Paul

to Timothy telling the church that an elder who is working in that role, is diligent in

that role, and is given his full-time focus to that role is one who is worthy of being

paid for the work that he is doing.

But he’s further pointing out, as we discussed last week, that there’s a discussion of

honor.

That’s back in verse 3, honor widows who are really widows.

Okay?

That means it was that these widows were worthy of financial support, but there were

qualifications.

In verse 17, he describes double honor.

Now, what he’s not saying, and again, we talked about this last week, you can go get the

full discussion from the recording from last week, he’s not saying, hey, they get double

the pay.

That’s not what he’s talking about.

My firm conviction is their children had a responsibility to them and he’s just gone

through a long discussion about the children’s responsibility to honor, that is to provide

for, their parents.

So the elder who has reached this age, because he’s one who has ruled well already, past

tense, he’s already been an elder for some time, he’s now reached the age at which his

children

should be providing for them to make sure that their provisions are taken care of in their

old age, Paul is saying that does not alleviate the church of its responsibility to show

honor to an elder who has ruled well.

Now that their children are taking care of them, that does not relieve the church of what

they owe that elder who has ruled well.

Rather, he says they’re worthy of double honor.

both from their children and from their spiritual children, the church.

Okay?

So he says that they are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and

doctrine.

For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.

Paul is going to reach back into Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 25, and he is going to

tell these Christians that God’s principles

of how we treat others haven’t changed.

That you as a person, if you own a business, should not withhold the pay from the laborers

because they’re worthy of it given that they have done the labor.

The same way as he brings the analogy from the agricultural world, God gave instruction to

the farmers

You don’t muzzle the ox that is treading out the corn, treading out the wheat.

What’s the idea here of muzzling the ox as it’s treading out the wheat?

All right?

So in the practice of the, especially the time period where they would separate the wheat

from the chaff, all right, so the harvest would have been done and they would bring in the

wheat and they would go through the process like with a mill where they would grind it and

they would separate the wheat from the chaff, from the stalk, from the rest of it, so that

they could, and then they’d blow the chaff away, okay?

They’d blow away the part that was not,

the wheat.

Okay?

They would do this usually by having an ox that would just be running in circles, uh

walking in circles, pulling that heavy wheel that was grinding out the corn.

And God says, don’t put a muzzle on the ox.

If you close the mouth of the ox, the ox is not, as he’s working, not going to bend his

head down and eat.

Which means you’re going have more wheat left when it’s done because the ox isn’t going to

eat.

God says you don’t do that.

He’s doing the work.

He’s worthy of eating from the produce.

Okay?

There’s other passages that describe

the laborers and the things involved uh throughout the Old Testament as they pick the

grain, as they consume some of what they pick.

God says you don’t withhold that.

They’re the ones doing the labor.

They should have part of the bounty from it.

Now, Paul takes that principle in Deuteronomy 25 and brings it forward and says this

scripture has already been stated.

The truth has already been given by God.

You don’t expect labor

and the laborer to not get any return from the labor.

Now is God condemning, volunteering, and helping someone in asking nothing in return?

No.

eh That is not the discussion here.

Everyone has the ability, has the opportunity to work, to labor in some task and ask for

or insist on nothing in return.

What example do we have of that from the New Testament?

Paul, okay, when y’all make comments you gotta speak loud enough to be heard by me at

least.

Paul would not allow what group of people to pay him.

In he uses the example, but what was his practice in every church where he was?

He wouldn’t let the local church that he was teaching and that he was giving birth to as

he went into a city where there was no church, he would not let that local church pay him.

Why?

Exactly.

Paul said, as he explains this to the Corinthians, though it wasn’t the only occurrence,

he explains that he never wanted anyone to be able to argue that the reason he had come to

Thessalonica or Berea or Antioch or any other city to preach the gospel was because he

wanted them to pay him.

That he did it for the money.

So rather,

He says, I robbed other churches so that you might receive the benefit.

What does he mean by he robbed other churches?

Alright, he asked for their support.

Well, wait a minute.

Why is he calling it robbing?

Is he still laboring at their congregation?

No, but they’re giving.

Okay?

He’s saying, I’m taking funds from another congregation where they’re not getting the

benefit of my labors.

They have in the past.

It was usually the churches that he had already worked with that supported him, like the

church at Philippi.

He writes about that in Philippians chapter four.

But he says, they’re not getting the benefit of my labors.

You are.

And yet, I’m not charging it to you because you need to focus on spiritual matters and not

supporting me.

Okay?

So it’s authorized for someone to do something and accept no pay.

Because it may be the case that someone looks at a lot of churches today and they go,

well, I see a lot of elders and I don’t know of any of them that are getting paid.

There’s a difference between someone who says, number one, I’m willing to do the work,

because that was qualification number one of elders, right?

They had to be willing to do the work.

They had to be desirous of the work of an elder.

But they also have to be willing if they’re going to be paid to accept the pay.

And some will say, no, I don’t need that.

God’s blessed me with what I need.

I’m able to work without that.

And that’s perfectly fine.

But are they worthy of it?

And that’s the discussion here, and Paul says they’re absolutely worthy of it.

They’re not only worthy of it, but as they have demonstrated their worthiness through the

labor that they have done when they were self-sufficient, they now should not be have that

support withdrawn from just because now their children are aiding them in honor.

He says they are just like the ox in the Old Testament.

They are doing the work and as a laborer doing the work they’re worthy of their hire.

He says, verse 18, the laborer is worthy of his wages.

Do not

He then continues in this discussion, do not receive an accusation against an elder except

from two or three witnesses.

Paul, as he’s giving instructions concerning elders, says to Timothy, Timothy, you’re

going to be in a position as the minister where someone could at some point come to you

with an accusation against one of those elders.

He says you don’t even hear it.

Be careful with, do not receive it, and do not listen to what’s being said.

oh There’s a difference between the two.

This is a judicial style receiving an accusation.

This is to receive it and consider it, to act upon it.

It’s not, wait a minute, I don’t see three people here, so nope, you can’t talk to me

about Brother So-and-so.

That’s not what he’s saying.

What he is saying is you do not receive it and act upon it in a judicial manner as a

minister if it is not corroborated by two or three witnesses.

And you go back again to the Old Testament.

And what was the law from given by God to Moses to Israel concerning the death penalty

under the Old Testament?

Alright, they had to have a minimum of two people in order as witnesses who could

establish this thing under the law.

Alright, turn over the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26.

The Hebrew writer says, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of

the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation

of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

Anyone who rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of

What?

Two or three witnesses.

And notice, 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 the living God.” The Hebrew writer here

establishes what the Hebrew Christians already knew.

That under the law of Moses, a person who rejected God’s law and would not be obedient to

it could be put to death with

two or three witnesses.

Yet the Hebrew writer says, how much sore punishment do you suppose we’re worthy if we,

having received the knowledge of the truth, having received obedience to the gospel,

having been those who at one point submitted to God and to Christ and recognized the

sacrifice of Christ, turned back and reject the doctrine of Christ?

and we count that sacrifice as an unholy or a common thing and we show that we don’t care

about the sacrifice of Christ.

We’re going to do what we’re going to do.

The Hebrew writer uses this exact same knowledge concerning the Old Testament to establish

the fact that under the Old Testament you can be put to death by two or three witnesses.

How many witnesses were necessary for the Jewish trials of Jesus?

Well, they went searching for witnesses.

How many did they need?

They needed to.

What was the problem?

They couldn’t find two that agreed.

They finally found two that both said he said he would tear down the temple in three days

and rebuild it.

And since the temple belongs to God, there they could say, ah see, he blasphemed against

God, he rejected the law.

He can be put to death.

So they started searching for witnesses, not because they were interested in the truth,

but because they had a legal requirement they had to get over.

And so they went.

Witness hunting.

That’s not what’s being described here.

This is not, just the same way that was not lawful, this is not, you know what, somebody

said something bad about brother so and so who’s an elder, let’s go start spreading the

word until we find somebody who agrees with them.

That’s not a witness.

A witness is someone who says, no, I was there and I and this other person

are concerned that based upon this action this elder has departed from the truth.

That’s the discussion here.

This is not, you know what, Elder so-and-so got really mad last Sunday and in front of all

these other witnesses he blew up and he said really unkind things about me.

Okay?

That’s not what we’re discussing here.

Now is it the case that it

elder needs to have a temperate attitude, they need to be a person of self-control and

soberness, does that mean that there’s never going to be occasion in all the rest of their

lives where they ever fly off the handle and need to apologize for their attitude?

No.

It means their character of life is such that that’s not how they behave.

If an elder sins and others witness it, what should the elder do?

step down from the eldership.

He needs to do the same thing every other Christian needs to do, which is what?

Repent, confess that to the Father if it’s private, but we’ve already said there were

witnesses, so it wasn’t private, was it?

He needs to go address that with who?

The people who witnessed it.

The people who, if there was a, someone sinned against,

He needs to go address it with first the person who he sinned against, then those who

witnessed it who that could become a stumbling block to and to God.

Those are the categories of people that need to be addressed.

Now, what if the elder says,

I refuse.

I’m not going to repent for that.

I think I’m just fine participating in whatever action that was involved in this scenario.

Then what is the church supposed to do?

The next step, if we were to take Matthew chapter 18 as an example, Jesus provides us an

example of, here’s an individual who sinned against someone else.

That individual says, so and so has sinned against me.

And he brings that situation forward.

He should first have addressed it with the individual, right?

Now, let’s take the scenario and review it again.

Here’s an individual who says, we’ve witnessed brother so-and-so who’s an elder and he

committed this sin against this brother.

And they bring that to a person who’s Timothy.

Timothy’s a minister.

Why are they bringing it to Timothy?

Because he’s a minister.

Question, what should they have done first?

Say again.

They should have gone to the elder first.

As Jesus teaches in Matthew chapter 18, it is important when you see that someone has

sinned that you address it first with the person who has sinned and that you don’t include

anyone else.

That you don’t spread it abroad.

rather scripture all the way from Proverbs all the way to the end of the book of

Revelation tells us that the person who loves his brother will hide the sin if the person

is willing to repent of it and appropriately and properly deal with it.

That instead of spreading it abroad, do you know what brother so-and-so did to brother

so-and-so?

And they’re talking to somebody who wasn’t there.

and who never needed to know.

He says, no, no, you go take care of it with that brother who sinned first and privately.

Because if you can take care of that sin privately, then you have gained your brother.

Turn to Galatians chapter 6.

In chapter 5 verse 25 we read, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

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.” Notice what Paul does not tell them to do.

You see a brother overtaken in a fault?

Go tell everybody so there’s a lot of social pressure on him to go change.

It’s not what he says.

He says, you who are spiritual, go to that brother.

But he also says, bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

if we understand that in many scenarios the fewer people who knew that someone stepped out

of line the easier it is to get them to step back into line and head down the right path.

If their heart is right, if they’re open and willing to repent

if they understand what they did was wrong, and all of this is under the discussion of an

elder.

This is a person who’s of spiritual maturity.

They ought to know all of those things, and yet they might still sin against somebody

else.

They might still be overtaken in some sort of fault or trespass.

And Paul says that you who are spiritual, go restore them.

Don’t tear them down.

Don’t rip them apart.

Don’t criticize them in front of everybody, go restore them in a spirit of what?

Gentleness, meekness.

If we turn over to 1 Thessalonians…

see if I can find the right passage that I’m looking for because I didn’t write this down.

Looking for the passage where he talks about, ah, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, that’s why

I’m in the wrong book.

2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 6.

I knew it was the last chapter of Thessalonians.

Wrong book.

Second Thessalonians chapter uh 3,

make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, If anyone will not work, neither

shall he eat.

For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at

all, but are busybodies.

Now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work

in quietness and eat their own bread.

But as for you, brethren,

Do not grow weary in doing good.

And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep

company with him that he may be ashamed.

Yet, do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

in this very idea of financial matters and work and labor, Paul as he’s writing to the

church at Tesloneica says, it’s reported that there are some who are in your presence,

some who are in your congregation, who are sitting back and they don’t work, yet they

expect to be fed.

Here are individuals who are just sitting back and the idea, the context is they were

taught concerning the resurrection that Jesus was going to return so they quit their jobs

and they’re just letting the church feed them until Christ comes back.

Paul says, get back to work.

If a man will not work, neither should he eat.

Paul says that’s exactly what we taught you.

But he says if you’ve got somebody who’s not obeying our commands,

then you need to withdraw from them.

But as you do so, you need to admonish them as a brother, not treat them as an enemy.

So, um what, and if I understand your question correctly, what do you do in a congregation

where there are elders and they’re not practicing withdrawing from those who disorderly?

First of all, in order for that to be addressed, it has to be addressed through the elders

and through the teachers, okay?

You must first get the,

people doing the teaching and those making in those roles to understand that they’re not

following the commands of God and that is if if withdrawing from those who have walked

disorderly has not been practiced for many years that’s a long process.

uh And it usually is going to require taking some time and probably some outside help from

other preachers who those individuals respect and honor and them coming in and helping

them understand, listen, you’re not doing what you need to be doing in uh practicing

withdrawing from those who walk disorderly.

You’re not actually fulfilling the commands of God.

And so, in short, rarely is that situation

ever solved by members inside the congregation getting leadership inside the congregation

to correct their actions.

It almost always needs help from outside ah in my experience.

um Which by the way is what Paul and Timothy are doing at Ephesus.

They are correcting issues and where did Paul begin in chapter one?

With Timothy correcting teachers.

He says, you’ve got to go in there and you’ve got to make sure nobody’s teaching this.

Nobody’s doing this.

The assistance needed to come from outside the body.

You go to 1 Corinthians and what is it that the house of Chloe had reported to Paul?

That there were those who were teaching things that they shouldn’t teach, that they were

drawing away people after themselves, that there were people calling themselves after

brother so-and-so and brother so-and-so and brother so-and-so instead of after Christ?

The house of Chloe couldn’t fix it.

They needed the help from Paul and from others to help correct the leadership and the

problem there.

So I just say that to say we have a bunch of New Testament examples to point out that

rarely when there is a leadership problem is that leadership problem going to be fixed

from the inside, especially if both the minister and the elders are in the same position.

Now, if the minister’s saying one thing and the elders are saying something else,

then there is some hope for the minister to correct the elders, just the way Timothy was

taught.

But I’m going to tell you that he probably won’t be there long even if he fixes the

problem.

When there’s that division between the eldership and the minister, and the minister

saying, we’re not doing what’s right, and the elders are saying, we’re not going to hear

you, that preacher’s not going to be there very long.

ah And if he’s wise, he will go…

This is not my task to overcome.

I need help from outside and he’s going to get that help to come in and help those elders.

And if they still won’t hear, then you have a different discussion.

But short version is you’re rarely going to solve that inside that congregation by itself.

It’s just not going to happen most times.

All right.

So back to Timothy.

As we’ve discussed all these issues about hearing an accusation, that’s all to say,

If someone is sinned against, who should they take it to first?

The elder or the minister?

The elder who sinned against them or the minister?

The elder who sinned against them, just like they would any other brother.

And if there are two or three witnesses to the event that occurred, whatever the event is,

who should those witnesses take it to first?

the one who sinned.

If the one who sinned will not hear the person who they sinned against and will not hear

those two or three witnesses, who then should those witnesses and the one sinned against

take it to?

The church.

Now we have the discussion of Paul to Timothy about receiving an accusation.

Because Paul says when someone comes along and they say there is something that I have

ought against this brother who is an elder, Paul says, if there’s an elder who has been

faithful, and all of this, by the way, already assumes they’ve met the qualifications,

they’re not an elder who is a disqualified elder, they’re active in the work and in the

labor of an elder, and here comes someone coming along saying, I have an accusation

against that brother, Paul says there is a requirement that they must have two or three

witnesses.

before you receive that accusation and you move upon it.

Why?

Because the actions of the elder through their history have established their spiritual

conduct.

And you don’t allow someone to come along with no witnesses, therefore without sufficient

evidence, and tear down God’s spiritual pillars in that congregation.

The says you don’t even accept that accusation.

Not if they don’t have witnesses.

Now, is there some scenario where you may say, well, wait a minute, um couldn’t that be

dangerous because couldn’t someone in power use their power to make sure that there are

never any witnesses but they continue to abuse their power?

Yes, could.

But if there’s multiple people they’ve sinned against, wouldn’t there be multiple

witnesses?

Yes, okay.

So the point is, rarely does power get corrupted in a vacuum where there’s no witnesses.

Paul’s saying, there’s no witnesses?

You don’t accept that accusation.

If there are witnesses, different story, okay?

Now, he says, those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may

fear.

What context is this in?

Is this in the context of general Christians, everyday members?

Elders.

When you come to this passage, do not remove it from its context.

Its context is elders.

This is not a carte blanche for Timothy as a minister to see someone who’s a member of the

church who’s been a Christian for two years and he saw them out partying and drinking and

drunken and he gets up Sunday morning and says,

Brother so-and-so, let me tell you everything he did, let me tell you how he’s sinning,

let me rebuke him before everybody.

Would that be improperly using the position of a minister?

Yes, it would be.

That’s not the context here.

The context is you must have this barrier that you must get over to accept an accusation.

Once you’ve received that accusation, that barrier has been met and this brother is

identified as one who is living in sin, though he is an elder.

You don’t deal with that privately.

Now, this already assumes that the person who was sinned against took it to him and said,

you need to fix this.

It already assumes that the witnesses went to him and tried to fix this.

They’re taking it to the minister because it can’t be fixed yet.

He refuses to repent.

Paul says, next step is the entire congregation.

He must be rebuked publicly.

You cannot sweep this under the rug.

You must, Timothy, you must rebuke him before all because your concern at this moment is

no longer just his soul, but whose.

the entire congregations.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

1st Corinthians chapter 5 you have the events of a man who has his father’s wife and we

read chapter 5 verse 1, is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and

such sick sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his

father’s wife and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this

deed might be taken away from you.

For I indeed, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged as though I

were present, him who has done this deed.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my

spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the

destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” If I

were to put that in our more common terms,

Paul says when the next assembly arrives, you as a congregation are going to publicly

withdraw from this individual and put both of them out of the assembly.

You are returning them to the world, to the condemnation of the world and the recognition

that if they do not change, they are

lost.

And you’re going to do it as a congregation, you’re going to do it publicly, and you are

going to do it with the authority of Christ.

But now notice what he says.

He says, your glorying is not good.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are

unleavened.

For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice or

wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the

covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the

world.” Paul’s saying, when I wrote

this command to you, I wasn’t talking about the person who’s never been a Christian, who’s

a pagan, who’s governor of your area, or who’s a lowly worker, who lives in adultery.

Says I didn’t give you a command to have no interaction with them.

Rather, he says, but now I have written to you, 11, not to keep company with anyone named

a brother.

who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an

extortioner not even to eat with such a person.

For what have I to do with judging those who are outside?

Do you not judge those who are inside?

But those who are outside, God judges, therefore put away from yourselves the evil person.

So when Paul says to Timothy,

Okay, you’ve received the accusation.

It’s come with witnesses.

It’s been established this individual is not living faithfully, has rejected the law of

God, and will not repent.

You can’t take care of this privately.

This must be a public congregational rebuke and putting aside.

Someone says, how can you take an elder out of the eldership if he’s living in sin and

refuses to give up his position?

right here.

the minister and the congregation remove him from the eldership.

Because Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, you put the evil person from among you.

By the way, you can’t remove him from the eldership and leave him as part of the

congregation.

if he has committed sins where he is and is unwilling to repent of them and it has been

witnessed publicly, it has been attested to publicly, it has been addressed privately, it

is now being addressed publicly, you cannot remove him from the eldership and claim he’s

still a faithful member.

Can’t be done.

Now, is there a scenario where an individual realizes because of their sin they need to

step down from the eldership, they need to repent, they need to take care of the sin?

but because of the sin, they can no longer continue in that role and they need to step

down from it?

Sure.

Can they then still be a faithful member?

Yes.

Should they be received as a brother who is faithful in Christ now, having repented of

that sin?

Absolutely.

But could they have done such damage to their reputation, they could no longer serve as a

qualified elder?

Yeah.

So all of these things are things that are necessary for a congregation to realize this

is, these are God’s instructions when it comes to elders.

There’s a barrier because they’ve already, they’ve already gone through the qualification

process because they’re already elders.

They’ve already been established that they have good reputation outside and inside.

By the way, that’s one of the reasons why you can’t say, well, they get most of the

qualifications, so we’ll just go ahead and appoint them.

No, no, you’re asking for trouble because when they get most of the qualifications and

then somebody raises a problem inside the congregation because they’re actively doing

something that’s wrong, which would have been against the qualifications, but you ignored

it.

Now you’ve got a real problem because it’s really hard to get an elder out who’s doing

what’s wrong and he was doing what was wrong before he was put in, but you decided to

overlook it then and now you want to hold him accountable now?

Now you got a problem.

Okay?

Thank you for your attention.

We’ll close out chapter five next week.

Looking Ahead, Not Behind – Justin Evergarden – 08-24-2025

In Admonition Podcast, biblical lessons, Christ, Elijah, Esther, faith, keywords spiritual growth, Lot's wife, moving forward, overcoming the past, purpose by Aaron Cozort

image

There we go.

This evening, while we’re speaking and going through God’s Word, I want you to be thinking

of a question.

And I want you to think of this question in reference to your life uh throughout the

entire lesson.

Have you ever considered why your windshield is larger than your rear view mirror?

Now, I would love to take credit for this, but the idea originally came to me during one

of the BNI meetings.

that I had attended with Brother Kozort.

And that was his quote of the day, was why your windshield is bigger than your review

mirror.

And as I left, I couldn’t help but notice the giant windshield of my Volkswagen van.

And how, uh if you’re familiar with Volkswagen vans, how itty bitty tiny those little

review mirrors are.

So much so that with the cabinets and everything else in it, it’s almost like looking

through a pinhole in a door trying to figure out what’s behind you.

m

Imagine driving a car.

Obviously, all cars have a windshield, obviously, that’s larger than a review mirror.

That is unless you’re driving a tank, right?

Why is that?

Why do we put such a large pane of glass in front of us?

uh

Well, obviously it’s because where you’re headed, what’s in front of you is far more

important than what is behind you.

Yes, we glance into the review mirror to take a reference as to what’s behind us, where we

came from, but our attention primarily is focused forward.

You can’t drive safely forward while staring into the past is the idea here, right?

Spiritually, people crash.

There are problems each and every day.

But typically it’s not because of what lies ahead that people crash spiritually, but over

what’s behind, because they can’t stop looking behind.

Tonight we’re going to take a look at four different references.

People that either did look behind in the review mirror, and those that did not look in

the review mirror, but instead looked through their windshield.

If you would, go ahead and turn your Bibles over to Genesis 19, and we’ll start in verse

24.

We’re going to look this evening at Lot’s wife.

We’re going to look at Elijah.

We’re going to look at Christ, and we’re going to look at Esther.

Lot’s wife, a little historical background about the danger of looking back.

Here we see Sodom and Gomorrah.

These were cities of wealth, cities of abundance.

Nestled in the fertile plains near the Dead Sea, uh they were about 13 miles south of

Gomorrah was Sodom, right?

So to the human eye, they seemed prosperous.

We think the same thing when driving through Nevada now and we come across New Vegas.

On the surface level, it seems like they’ve got all the

money, things like that going on, offering ease and pleasure.

But beneath this facade, the cities were morally bankrupt, consumed by sin and decadence.

In Genesis chapter 19 verses 4 through 5, we read an express depiction of sexual

immorality.

Over in Ezekiel chapter 16, it lists things like arrogance in hospitality and the neglect

of the poor.

The people of Sodom had so much.

yet they chose so little righteousness.

God’s judgment’s not arbitrary, it was just.

They had been warned, but their iniquity had finally reached its peak in these cities to

where now, those of you that have read it, we know the ending to this story.

Both cities were destroyed completely.

Sodom was destroyed by God’s fire.

I keep getting tongue-tied.

A divine verdict on a city that refuses to repent.

So here we are in Genesis chapter

19 verses 24 and 25, then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire

from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities.

Let’s take a look back when we had talked about Genesis chapter 19.

In verse 17 it says, it came to pass when they had brought them forth from abroad that he

said escape for thy life.

Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain.

Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” These were orders given to the family to

leave behind Sodom and Gomorrah.

Specifically, he said, do not look back, do not stay there, keep moving forward.

Otherwise, you’re going to be consumed.

Skipping forward in Genesis 19 verses 26, he said, but his wife looked back from behind

him and she became a pillar of salt.

The reason being is that Lot’s wife’s heart still lied in Sodom.

She was looking back in the review mirror more than she was in through the windshield of

what she was taught.

Though Lot’s wife physically left, her heart remained there.

When she looked back, this wasn’t just a glance.

This wasn’t, well, see you later.

It was almost like a grieving, a longing to remain connected to the past where she had

come from.

Think of it this way, I had written an illustration.

Imagine running from a burning house with your children.

Your house is on fire, you’ve scooped up your family, you’re running out the door, you’re

holding your spouse’s hand, the fire’s roaring out behind you, and you stop and look back.

Not in concern, but how many times would you look back in regret?

That’s what Lot’s wife did, and she was turned into a pillar of salt because of that.

The salt of her soul should have had a different purpose, not to season the ground with

her regret, but it should have been used to season the earth with testimony, with

obedience, saying, look, look what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah.

We obeyed, so should you.

Instead, it said that she became a pillar of salt.

She became a monument to her own indecision.

God doesn’t want statues.

He wants soldiers, doesn’t he?

We sing the song, many, many Sundays, soldiers of Christ, arise.

We don’t sit in our pews, we get to work.

He doesn’t want us stuck in the past, he wants us to walk forward in his word.

Walk in the light as he is in the light.

Lot’s wife, her heart was chained to Sodom.

Her past is something that paralyzed her future because she could not get her eyes outside

of that review mirror.

I want you to think, are you holding on to anything from your past that’s keeping you

stuck looking in the review mirror?

Today we live in a society of what we call victim culture now.

Everyone’s a victim of something, aren’t they?

Everybody, either a physical element, uh

emotional distress, something that they happened in their past, or they simply blame it on

the minority, don’t they?

For the church, we’re a victim of one thing or another, and that’s why we’re no longer

growing, right?

We’ve heard this many times.

I say that there’s a Greek word for it.

It’s called hogwash.

Yeah, hard to pronounce, I know.

The church isn’t growing because we stopped working.

It has nothing to do with money.

It has nothing to do with time.

has nothing to do with society.

The problem starts at home.

Specifically, the problem starts in here, right?

In our hearts, with our minds, not the one that beats, but the one in our heads.

It’s not because people won’t open doors.

It’s not because society has changed.

It’s not because we’re not offering, as Rob said, coffee and popcorn out in the foyer.

We need to look forward.

We serve a God that wins, right?

Not a God that loses.

We can win this battle, but we’ve got to get out of our heads.

We’ve got to stop looking in the review mirror of past could-be’s and have-beens.

First Corinthians chapter three, verses six through seven.

I have planted, Apollo swattered, who gave the increase?

God gave the increase.

So neither then is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God giveth the

increase.

This verse does not tell us to sit on our rear ends and just watch.

We have to plant in water.

More so than that, we need to start thinking of things in a different light.

Why have churches of Christ over time, and I’m getting a little off topic here, but I feel

like it’s necessary.

Why do we think that we can equate or quantify success with bodies dipped in water?

That’s not what this verse teaches.

Our success is by seeds planted, right?

That was Paul’s job.

It says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, then baptize them in the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I’ve

commanded you.

Not only is teach before baptism, it’s also after, mentioned twice as often.

As evangelists, as preachers, our job is to plant the seeds.

The Bible also says the soul that sinneth is the soul that dieth, right?

We’ve got to stop equating it with people in the water, but seeds.

Now granted, I’m not saying that baptism is not important.

It is the most important thing for that soul to obey and observe all things that Christ

commanded them.

That needs to be our end goal, right?

Back to the lesson.

Cross-referencing Luke chapter 17 and verse 32, he tells us to remember Lot’s wife.

Some of us are still looking back.

Could be past relationships, failures, past glories, has-beens, the 80s, the 90s.

Things were always better back looking in the rear view sometimes, right, it seems.

But God is calling us today, escape for thy life.

Our future is not in our past.

So where is our future?

Isn’t it in God’s promise?

His promise that He’ll wash away all of our sins if we’re obedient to Him?

Let’s look at Esther, someone whose eyes were forward, toward, and to promise.

Go ahead and turn over to Esther chapter 4, and we’ll start in verse 14.

While you’re turning there, let’s give them a little bit more historical and cultural

background.

Persia, like many ancient empires, deeply a patriarchal society, Men held nearly all

political power.

The royal court was dominated by male authority.

Women, especially Jewish women, right?

Didn’t have much.

Very little public influence.

While of course royal women like Queen Vashti did have power, she was also only had so

much level of influence throughout the palace.

Her position even as queen was still a very fragile one.

As we see in the Book of Esther, any act of disobedience or even perceived disrespect to

the king could lead to banishment and even death, right?

When Vashti refused to appear before the King Xerxes, she was immediately removed from her

position as queen, just because she didn’t make one appointment.

I’m glad our doctors don’t do that to us.

Non-royal women, however, had even fewer privileges.

Either as both a woman or as a Jewish exile, both were doubly disadvantaged, weren’t they?

They would approach the king without being summoned.

It was a capital offense.

It would lead to your being killed.

Yet, despite the danger, Esther kept her eyes fixed on the prize, forward through that

windshield.

She had to make a bold decision to step forward in what she knew was right.

She embraced her role and she risked everything, including her own life, to fulfill God’s

plan for her people, didn’t she?

Esther chapter 4 and verse 14,

thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed.

And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Jumping down to verse 15 and going through 16, then Esther bade them to return Mordecai

this answer, go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, fast for me.

And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law.

And look at this, if I perish, I perish.

She reserved herself to her fate, but she was going to do what needed to be done, with or

without the prayers of her people.

Esther didn’t dwell on the danger.

She didn’t dwell on what she was going to give up.

She had one singular focus.

She was looking through the scope at her mission.

Like her, we cannot let our past stop us from embracing our future.

Cross-reference this with Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13.

It says, Brethren, I count myself to have apprehended but this one thing which I do,

forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are

before.

Don’t forget, at one point Esther was an absolute nobody in almost everyone’s eyes.

But she became a somebody when she obeyed God, right?

She mattered.

Are you ready to step into your purchase, your purpose, regardless of what you’ve left

behind?

Let’s jump over to Elijah.

If you would go ahead and turn to 1 Kings chapter 19 and we’ll pick up there.

Elijah had a calling.

He had a mission.

He was told not to look back, but what was going on?

This was Elijah as he emerges from a time of very deep depression, right?

He had previously had his victory on Mount Carmel, as we read in 1 Kings chapter 18, where

God proved his power over the prophets of Baal.

450 prophets of Baal and I mean he really socked it to him.

He even added insult to injury.

Well, maybe he’s, Baal has gone to the restroom.

He just can’t hear you.

Speak up louder.

Got them jumping up on top of the tables, cutting themselves, screaming all day long.

Hours and hours this went by.

Nothing happened from Baal.

What happened when he called for his Lord in a soft prayer?

Even the stones themselves in the ground where all the water was poured from all the

buckets of water that they had poured, the barrels, right?

Every bit of it licked up dry in an instant.

Even the rocks consumed.

But here, Elijah faced a sudden threat from Queen Jezebel.

Fearful for his life because of what had happened, Elijah fled into the wilderness.

He feels exhausted.

He feels isolated.

And we see him described as feeling almost spiritually defeated.

Despite his success on the mountain with the prophets of Baal, he believed his mission had

failed and that he was the only faithful one left.

In fact, in 1 Kings 19 and verse 4, he even asks God to take his own life as he’s

overwhelmed by his own despair.

But in response, God showed compassion.

Instead of rebuking Elijah, yelling at him,

What does God do?

He provides food, gives him rest, water.

He wants to strengthen him for the 40-day journey to Mount Horeb, or Sinai.

There, God spoke through not dramatic wind.

He didn’t speak to him through an earthquake.

He didn’t rage at him through the fire.

But we see it described in 1 Kings 19, verses 11 through 12, as a gentle whisper.

He was kind to Elijah.

He picked him up.

God reassured him that he wasn’t alone.

In fact, he reveals in that passage that 7,000 Israelites had not worshiped Baal.

He was not alone, far from it.

And he gave Elijah new tasks, one included anointing his successor, Elisha.

Elijah’s story shows that even after great victories, yes, we can win many, times.

Emotional burnout and sometimes doubt can set in, can’t it?

Well, did I really do the right thing?

God’s care is tender, it’s patient.

It offers both rest and renewed purpose to us if we’ll simply listen.

When Elijah finally passed the mantle to Elisha, it wasn’t just a call to preach the

gospel.

It was called to burn the bridges of the past.

What do we see Elisha do?

He left behind his wealth, his family legacy, his friends, security.

all to follow the call of God, right?

So let’s look at the scripture here, 1 Kings 19 and verse 19.

So he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shephat, who was plowing, skip a little

down, and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him.

And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me, pray thee, kiss my father and

mother, and then I will follow thee.

and he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh

and went after Elijah and ministered unto them.

Here we read of Elisha burning the plow.

He had no intention of turning around.

He fully embraced God’s will with no rearview mirror.

It’s like if he were sitting in the VW bus now driving down the road, this man would have

reached up and ripped the rearview mirror straight off and threw it out the side of the

window.

He had no reason to look back.

Jesus’ letter echoed this in Luke 9 and verse 62.

No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

When we realize we need to do good, we’ve got to go at it with all of our might.

A young man once told a missionary, I want to serve God, but I also want to keep my

career, you know, just as a backup, just in case, right?

I heard this missionary reply to him, son, God doesn’t use backups.

But I’ll tell you what he does use.

He loves to use burnouts, soldouts, and all ends, doesn’t he?

What are you still holding onto from your past?

If you are holding onto something, are you willing to burn the plow, stop looking back,

burn it all for God’s future?

God doesn’t just want obedience, He wants full commitment, everything we have.

And finally, we have to look at the ultimate example of forward focus, right?

Christ Himself.

If you turn over to Luke chapter 9 and verse 51,

Jesus knew the cross was coming.

He absolutely knew the pain that was coming his way.

He knew betrayal was coming his way, and he knew death awaited him the moment he walked

back into Jerusalem.

Yet where did he set his face?

Forward, straight to it.

We don’t see him flinch, and we definitely do not see him turn back.

Luke 9: 51 says, it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up, he

steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This was a man absolutely determined to die on that cross for us.

Hebrews 12 and verse 2 puts it this way, looking unto Jesus, the author,

and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.

If anyone was ever the living embodiment of the saying, started it and I’ll finish it,

that was our Savior.

Matthew 10 and verse 34 says, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.

I came not to send peace, but a sword.

For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her

mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s foes shall be they

of his own household.” When we obey Christ’s calling, when we obey the gospel, we’re going

to get feedback.

And not a lot of it’s going to be good.

You will have people hate you.

You will have people despise you.

but Christ never flinched.

A soldier doesn’t flinch in the line of duty.

Jesus marched towards the cross with determination, purpose.

He never turned around.

Could you imagine what would be if he turned around and looked and said, Lord, let me go

back to carpentry.

I’ll keep that as a backup.

He didn’t say that.

He walked onward and he fulfilled the mission.

If Jesus kept moving forward into the storm for us,

How can we keep looking back in fear?

Worried about our past?

Our mistakes?

Yeah, we need to look at them.

We need to learn from our mistakes, know how to apply God’s teaching in a better way the

first time.

But that’s totally different looking back in reference, right?

Is that the red car I passed on the left?

Okay, it’s back there, right?

You’re making sure you don’t run into them when you switch lanes.

It’s the same thing here.

You look in your rearview mirror for reference to learn, to better yourself.

Yeah, your past is real.

It’s happened.

It’s done.

I’ve done many things that I’m ashamed of, right?

But it’s not my future.

The rearview mirror is for reference, not direction.

We get our direction where?

In this book, this is our roadmap.

It’ll never, never turn us along.

Wrong.

Genesis 19 and verse 17 says, it came to pass when they had brought them forth that he

said, escape for thy life, look not behind me, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape

to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

And another section of the Bible, I didn’t have it written down, so I can’t remember the

reference.

He says that, I think it was Isaiah, yeah, Isaiah 2, 2, and it shall come to pass in the

last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the

mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it.

We have something we’re aiming for, right?

God’s kingdom coming.

We’re part of His kingdom now as part of the Church of Christ, but we need to look forward

to the promise that God gave us.

We have got to stop looking back.

So my challenge for you this evening is to think of these next couple of questions.

Are you still living in Sodom like Lot’s wife?

Do you look at your past and your mistakes and where you came from and do you look in

regret to learn off of them?

Or are you looking in a form of regret that wishing you were still back there?

Are you ready to face your calling like Esther?

Will you put your face forward and say, if I perish, I perish?

Are you willing to burn the plow of your past like Elisha?

And are you willing to set your face forward towards the cross like Christ?

He did it for us.

If you’ve let your past consume you,

but you no longer want it to.

You have a family that’s here ready and willing to help.

You have a savior that if he’s obeyed, you can put on him in baptism and have the blood

wash away all the sins of your past and start over with a clean slate.

It’s the same as ripping off that rearview mirror and tossing it outside.

You don’t have to look back anymore.

If that’s what you need this evening, we’d be more than happy to help you put on Christ

together as we stand.

Xaris (Grace) in Ephesians – Aaron Cozort – 08-24-2025

In Admonition Podcast, Church, Ephesians, faith, God's favor, Keywords grace, kindness, power of God, redemption, Salvation, unmerited favor by Aaron Cozort

image

Good morning.

It’s good to see all of you here.

It’s good to have our visitors with us.

We’re grateful.

for your presence and we’re grateful for the opportunity to spend time with you.

We’re grateful for your interest in worshiping God with us.

We hope that you will come back and see us again at your earliest convenience and we hope

if you can and are willing that you’ll stay and eat with us as there’s food that is

prepared almost every single Sunday here at this congregation.

We’d love for you to stay and to eat and let us learn a little bit more about you.

This morning our discussion is on the word in the Greek, charis.

It is the word for grace, for favor.

We’ve often termed the idea of God’s grace that which is unmerited favor.

But what we’re going to do this morning in our lesson is we’re going to go through the

book of Ephesians.

We’re going to notice all of the instances of this word or variations, derivatives of this

word that are found in the book of Ephesians.

Now we will move rather quickly, so hopefully the slides will help you if you’re taking

notes to go back and spend some more time in this.

But what I want us to do as we look at the text is I want us to see

the picture that is here in this book of God’s grace and of all of the things that

surround

God’s grace and the things that God’s grace was doing in the first century and is doing

today.

And we have in the book of Ephesians a good picture of that.

We begin in chapter one in verse two.

In chapter one of the book of Ephesians and in verse two we read, to you and peace from

God our Father and the Lord.

Jesus Christ.

We see first here grace as a common greeting within the church.

As Paul writes and you read the letters of Paul to the churches, you find that he begins

almost all of them in some form or fashion with grace or grace and peace as uh a desire

that that be bestowed upon the church.

Now,

This was a part of culture.

This would not be uncommon in a Jewish culture for a greeting, but a very common greeting

in Jewish culture was peace to you.

Paul emphasizes as he greets these churches, Jew and Gentile alike, grace and peace.

And so, we notice just as we recognize that grace is part in the first century of just a

common greeting, but one that Paul used in direct reference to Christians and that which

God was doing for them and that Paul desired to have done for them.

Grace, peace, mercy, all those things included.

But then consider chapter 1 verse 6.

Something else that we see, and I would love if we had time to go through and read the

entire book and get all the context out of all these passages, but we’ve already got 14

passages to get to, so I don’t think we’re going to have time to do that in the few

minutes that I have.

But chapter 1 verse 6 we read,

in this passage is Paul is writing to them about their salvation that they already have.

He’s writing to Christians that God’s grace is praiseworthy.

It is that which we should look at in awe and in glory and give it the glory and the

praise that it is due.

We do not look at grace that comes from God, that originates with God, and think, you know

what, I’m so glad I have it, but frankly, I deserved it.

So it’s not really all that praiseworthy, it’s expected.

No.

No, Paul makes it quite clear that we ought to stand in viewing God’s grace and we ought

to glory and glorify God for the grace which He has given to us because if you read Romans

chapter 5 and Paul’s discussion concerning the sacrifice and the blood of Christ, he

offered us that sacrifice.

He offered us that salvation when we were

UN

worthy of it.

So Paul points out here that that grace is something that ought to be praised.

Consider as well that the grace, as he describes in this same verse, is that which has

made us accepted by God.

One of the reasons why grace is praiseworthy, one of the reasons why we ought to glorify

God for His grace is because without

it we could never stand before God in an accepted state.

oh

John will write in 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 concerning the sacrifice, the propitiation

that was made by Christ on our behalf.

He emphasizes that terminology of propitiation, meaning that it was a worthy and

acceptable sacrifice because everything up until that point, all the blood of bulls and

goats, wasn’t.

It wasn’t sufficient for salvation.

It wasn’t sufficient for forgiveness.

And even our own sacrifices, all that we could do would never have made us accepted before

God without His grace.

So grace is that which has made us accepted.

But then also you consider verse seven.

Paul continues and says, him we have redemption through his blood, speaking of Christ, in

him, Christ, we have redemption through his Christ blood, the forgiveness of sins.

according to the riches of His God’s grace.” As you consider what Paul is writing to them

about their salvation, he reminds them that they have salvation nowhere else except in

Christ.

There is salvation that is found nowhere else except in the sacrifice of the blood of

Christ.

But it was through that sacrifice that God

richly bestowed His grace to us.

Imagine.

if you were living in a place of famine.

You don’t have to go very far.

You can look at some of the pictures and some of the news coming out of Gaza and imagine

what it would be like to have lived day in and day out with no food.

And then you hear the word spreading amongst the people.

There’s trucks coming in with food.

What do you think you do?

Just go, well, you know what, I’m sure there’s plenty for everybody.

We’ll just patiently all just slowly progress, stand in line, all be calm and perfectly,

perfectly orderly because there’s an abundance of food.

No.

You know, in that scenario that we see on the news on regular basis, there is not only not

an abundance, there is a pressing and an urgency to get what little there is that can be

had.

Now imagine a world inundated like our world with sin, and imagine if God’s grace was in

limited supply.

that God only had enough grace to forgive just 100 or 200 people out of the few billion.

Paul says that’s not the case with God.

His grace is not lacking in resources.

His grace has been provided to us richly, abundantly to all those who are in Christ.

I am grateful that every single week we don’t arrive here vying for who gets grace this

week because there’s not enough to go around.

But rather, Paul says, that it is made available to us according to the riches, the

abundance of His grace, but also that it saves us.

do not miss before we ever get into the remainder of the book of Ephesians that Paul has

already said in the text that we’ve already read, there is no salvation anywhere except in

Christ.

That there is no access to the salvation that is in Christ without the blood of Christ.

And that the grace of Christ only saves us as those who are in contact with the blood of

Christ.

Now John says the same thing.

1 John chapter 7.

He says, you walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ

continually, the text there indicates through the Greek, continually cleanses you of all

sin.

But the point is clear in John’s writing, as the point is clear in Paul’s writing, that

there is no salvation found by God’s grace outside of Christ.

So before we ever get into a discussion about all of the benefits and all of the things

that God talks about in His grace, we must understand.

that we do not have access to the grace of God outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ

and we only have that relationship through His blood, the sacrifice of Christ, and we come

in contact with that blood and we are put into Christ, we put on Christ in Baptism

Galatians chapter 3 verse 27.

You do not have access to grace outside of immersion into water, dying to sin, being born

again and resurrected with Christ, Romans chapter 6.

Now, as we’ll see through the text, you will still, even outside of Christ, experience the

benefits to some degree of grace.

We’re going to see how that happens.

But what you won’t have is the saving power of grace outside of Christ.

Paul says in verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood.

What is it?

The forgiveness of sins.

According to what?

Through what power?

according to the riches of his grace.

But then consider verse eight, sorry, verse eight, verse eight’s in chapter two.

We’re gonna get to chapter two, verse eight in a minute.

I’m getting confused.

All right, chapter two, verse seven.

Chapter 2 verse 7, Paul writes, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding

riches of his grace.

He’s already talked about the riches of his grace, the abundance of his grace, but he says

that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness

toward us in Christ Jesus.

As Paul again directs their attention to the fact that God didn’t save them because they

earned it, God didn’t save them because they were worthy of it,

God rather has saved them through His unmerit-

favor, that he has saved them through the work and the function of Jesus Christ.

He demonstrates that God is not only showing this to this generation, he’s not only

showing it to the generation that walked with Jesus, but through his exceeding riches in

his grace, he is showing it to generation after generation.

that in Christ grace is found.

He has shown us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ.

You cannot get grace outside of a relationship with Christ.

It is only found in one place.

As a matter of fact, John will write in John chapter 1, as he writes concerning the coming

of the Messiah, as he identifies the one who was with God and who was God in John chapter

1 verse 1, he says that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

You’re not going to have grace separated from Christ.

But then chapter two in verse eight, he says, for by grace you have been saved through

faith that dine of yourselves.

It is the gift of God.

As Paul writes about the grace of God, he says that grace saves us.

We already talked about that.

We read that in verse seven of chapter one.

But he also tells us now here in this text that grace saves us through

oh faith.

God does not bestow His saving grace to a population of people uninterested in Him and

unwilling to obey Him.

Rather, grace works through faith.

Paul will write over in Romans chapter 10, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word

of God, grace does not work apart from the Word of God, because faith is a necessary part

of grace.

Now, Paul says to those Ephesian brethren, don’t misunderstand me, you’re not working your

way to heaven.

God does not owe you anything.

Your works of faithfulness, your faith lived out in your life is not going to cause you to

merit, earn, or God to owe you salvation.

It is His gift.

But it does not work apart from faith.

But then consider in chapter three, verses seven and eight, that it is extended through

his servants.

As you notice, chapter three, Paul writes, oh

I’m going go back to verse so we can get just the context here.

He says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his

promise in Christ through the gospel.

Paul’s saying God’s intention all along was that the Gentiles be part of the saving gospel

and the saving work of Jesus.

That God had intended from the very beginning that the gospel be

brought to the Gentiles of which, by the way, the church in Ephesus was.

Paul says you’re not an afterthought.

You’re not a separation from the Jewish church.

You are part of the body of Christ.

And yet he says, “…of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of

God given to me by the effective working of his power to me who am less than the least of

all saints.

This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of

Christ.” Paul makes it clear that he threw God’s grace.

had been given a commission to extend God’s grace to a group of people that had yet not

heard the gospel.

And that the extending of that grace didn’t come by God just waking up one morning and

deciding, I’m going to save the Gentiles and they’re saved.

It didn’t occur because the Holy Spirit decided to suddenly pour Himself out on the

Gentiles.

It occurred because God put an instrument in place whereby the Gospel would arise.

at the Gentiles and God’s grace was extended to the Gentiles.

Through what means?

Through the gospel, through the preaching of it.

So Paul will write in Titus chapter 2 and verse 11 that God’s grace has appeared to all

men.

teaching us the denying ungodliness.

We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

What?

Grace is a teacher?

Yes.

Because grace is extended through the gospel.

It is accessed through obedience to the gospel.

It comes when someone hears the gospel and will obey it, and through faith it works.

God’s grace is extended through His servants.

to those who are outside the body of Christ by presenting the gospel to them so they can

go from being outside to in Christ.

And yet, it is extended through us.

Consider also here in verse seven that grace is an exhibition of God’s power.

Grace is not

recognition by God that he somehow lost control of the world, that Satan overcame him,

usurped his authority, and now God’s got to do something about it.

No.

Grace is not a settlement by God.

Grace is not an ignoring of sin.

As a matter of fact, Paul will tell those in Mars Hill in Acts chapter 17 that for all

these generations, God overlooked these things, but now commands all men everywhere to

repent.

Grace is not the overlooking of sin because of the weakness of God or the weakness of

God’s judgment.

Grace is rather the exhibition of God’s power.

Notice verse 7 one more time of chapter 3, of which I became a minister according to the

gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul will write about the crucifixion, that the cross and

the message of the cross seems to be foolishness to the Gentile in his wisdom and a

stumbling block to the Jew in his knowledge of the Scriptures.

And yet it is neither.

It is the power of God unto salvation, Romans chapter 1, verses 15 and 16.

You see, grace is a demonstration of the power of God.

But then also verse 8, grace is that which is received by the unworthy.

Paul writes in verse 8, me, who am less than the least of all saints, this grace was

given.

Paul says, when I look at myself, when I look at my past, when I look at my present, when

I look at my sin, when I look at all the things that I’ve done wrong, and if you think

that Paul had really kind of reached the plateau of Christianity where he no longer really

did anything that was wrong, he was kind of just the perfect Christian going about all the

time, flawless and sinless in every way, you should go read Romans chapter 7.

Paul says, I am the least of all saints, and yet this favor, this grace has been given to

me so that the Gentiles might be saved.

It’s received as grace by those who do not merit it and are unworthy of it.

There has never been a faithful body of Christ, a congregation of the Lord’s church that

had attained such spiritual perfection.

They had finally earned God’s grace.

It’s never occurred and it never will.

It is that which is given to the unworthy, not the worthy.

It is that which is extended as a gift to those who without Christ could never, ever have

achieved it.

But then consider verse 7 of chapter 4.

In chapter 4 and in verse 7 we read, but to each one of us grace was given.

Paul says, wasn’t just given to me.

It wasn’t just granted to me.

Rather, he says, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of

Christ’s gift.

Now you’ll notice in the first century that Paul is drawing out in this discussion,

because he’s about to discuss elders and preachers and apostles and prophets and teachers

and the work in the first century church that the work that they had going on through the

miraculous gifts was enabled by the grace of God.

Not only did they not receive the grace of God having earned it, they did not receive the

miraculous gifts that the church needed to grow to maturity because they earned it.

It demonstrates, as Paul uses this example and shows to us, that God’s grace is active in

the body of Christ.

It continues to work in the body of Christ.

Now in the first century in this context, Paul says it’s going to work in the church,

building up the church to maturity in Christ through the revelation of God.

In that context, in the first century, it was through the miraculous revelation of God in

the apostles, the prophets, the elders, the teachers, and the evangelists in the church.

And yet…

As we’ve already noticed, grace doesn’t work apart from the gospel.

Grace doesn’t work apart from faithfulness.

Grace doesn’t work apart from the message.

Rather, it works through those things.

And so today, God’s grace is enabling us to reach maturity through the written revelation,

which also, by the way, was enabled by the miraculous gifts.

Paul is telling us God’s grace is active.

It was active in the first century in the miraculous gifts, bringing about the maturity of

the body of Christ, and it’s still active today through what was produced by those gifts

in the written word.

That grace, as Paul wrote to Titus, might teach us

that we ought to depart from worldliness and put on righteousness.

So then consider as well.

Chapter 4 verse 29, Paul says, let no corrupt communication or word proceed out of your

mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the

hearers.

Paul says to the church at Ephesus, you’ve got to watch your mouth.

You’ve got to examine your speech.

You have to test your words and you have to evaluate and make sure that no corrupt

communication comes out of your mouth.

Paul, how are we going to measure that?

He says your first measurement is this.

You need to measure it to figure out whether or not what you’re about to say is good for

necessary edification.

He says, I want you to measure whether or not your words are going to build up the body

and if they’re appropriate.

But he further says that also it may impart grace to the hearers.

Sometimes when we look at the words that we speak, we look at the things that we teach, we

look at the gospel and the doctrine, we think, oh great, every bit of this aligns with the

word of God.

All right, well it’s accurate, therefore it’s appropriate, therefore it’s edifying others.

And Paul says, mmm, maybe not.

Sometimes what we can find is we’ve got the letter of the law down and we’ve got the

letter of the law perfectly put into our teaching.

And all we’ve managed to do is convince everyone that they could never live up to the

standards of God, so they should quit trying.

And if so, we’ve used the truth incorrectly.

We’ve not used the truth to convince them that God loves them, that God desires them to be

saved, that God’s grace extends to them, and that God is not the one sitting up in the

clouds waiting for them to make one mistake so he can send them to hell.

But rather, he is the one who sent his son because he loves the world, desires for it to

be saved.

And to be certain, we never change the truth.

We never change the truth.

May I say it again, we never change the truth.

But we should convey the truth with the grace of God so that we can build up those in

Christ who are faithful to Him and not destroy what someone else paid for, which was their

soul.

Consider that grace is imparted by words, but it also requires hearing.

If you notice there in chapter 4 and in verse 29, he says,

It’s not enough to say, oh, God’s grace is abundantly available.

oh

for it is available to those who will hear.

It is available for those who will hearing it, receive it, and obey it, having believed

it, will become obedient to it.

God’s grace was available through the words of Jesus Christ.

And yet Jesus said it quite plainly in Matthew chapter 7, the one who hears these sayings

of mine and does them,

is the one that I will liken to a wise man who builds his house upon a rock.

What’s that?

That’s grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ that created a scenario where a wise man

could stand.

Because he heard it, and having heard it, he obeyed it.

But grace heard by someone who rejects it?

Jesus said, I will liken that man to an individual who having heard these sayings of mine

goes and does not do them.

And him I will liken to a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand and when the

winds come and the rains come and the storms come, they beat upon that house and it will

fall.

What was the missing ingredient?

It wasn’t built on the rock.

What was the missing ingredient?

It wasn’t built with the grace of God in the house.

And as a result, Jesus said, not only did it fall, but great will be the fall of it.

So then consider chapter 6 verse 24.

that Paul makes it very clear that grace is available to all.

As Paul writes, as he closes out the words of this epistle, Paul says, grace be with all

those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

When we think about grace, let us consider that yes, it is a gift of God that saves us.

Yes, we will never, never merit that grace.

No, we cannot work our way to heaven.

And there are no works sufficient to pay the price for our sins, but there was a

substitute for our sacrifice, for our death, for our penalty, and it was Jesus Christ.

And that He shed His blood and paid for our atonement, that we could stand before God

accepted.

But he didn’t just pay the price.

He paid the price and then established the church, his body, to go out and declare the

message of salvation so that people could actually receive the grace, having heard the

message, the gospel.

that they would be willing to be able to believe that message.

They would be able and be willing to hear and believe and obey that message that they

might be baptized into Christ, that they might put on Christ, that they might have access

to the blood of Christ, that they might have the grace of God that continually cleanses

their sin through the power of the blood of Christ.

but that grace wouldn’t stop there, that that message wouldn’t stop there, that the work

of the church wouldn’t stop there.

Just having them saved wasn’t enough.

Christ established the church and the message of the gospel so that they could be built

up, so they would no longer be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but rather

through the work of grace, they could come to perfection.

They could be a complete and mature person in Christ.

Paul would write to Timothy as he discussed the work of grace, and he would say, scripture

is given by the inspiration of God.

It’s all God breathed.

Why, Paul?

To build us up to a perfect man in Christ.

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

God’s grace has been extended to you in the gospel, in the message of Jesus Christ and the

cross.

And in that message is the power of salvation through grace, the gift of God.

And in that message is the hope of eternity through grace in Christ.

And in that message is all that is needed to build you up

into that which is accepted before God.

If you’re here this morning and you have need of the grace of God, why not come forward

now as we stand and as we sing.