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The Admonition podcast brings you Bible lessons and sermons from the Collierville Church of Christ with host Aaron Cozort. Each episode focuses on interpreting Scripture in its original context, exploring the background of key passages, events, and teachings. Gain deeper insight into God’s Word as we study together, applying timeless truths to everyday life.
If you think back over the last 100, well, I guess you could, seeing that it's the 250th
anniversary of the United States, 250 years ago, a lot's changed in the world today.
A lot has changed since the era of horse and buggy travel.
A lot's changed since the invention of the light bulb and electricity.
A lot's changed over the years, and yet one thing stays the same.
man still has trouble.
Man still has things that we need to know.
Things that we maybe even look forward into the future as it were and say, future me needs
to know this.
when we think about our lives as individuals.
Maybe there are certain problems that uh you say that's a future me problem.
That's a problem for another day, right?
But when we think about our lives as Christians, some things don't need to be put off.
Some things need to be taken care of right now.
But as taking the high road, most of us in here are faithful children of God, faithfully
trying to serve the Lord.
What do you want your future self to know?
What do you want your future self to read?
When we think about this idea, we are going at it from this idea of there will be
struggles in our lives years from now, maybe just weeks from now.
But when we face these struggles in our lives, when we think about what our future holds,
we need to think about it from the standpoint of what the Word of God tells us, of how we
can endure troubles, of how we can make it through trials.
of how we can be strong in the Lord no matter what happens on this earth.
The first thing that we need to know is that we are not alone.
If you would, open your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 20.
You see, Jeremiah, he was no stranger to difficulty.
He was one that faced much persecution in his life.
In fact, his time as a prophet was spent without anyone ever listening and truly heeding
his words.
He was ignored.
And so he had a strenuous tenure.
He had a difficult time as a prophet.
Picking up in verses one through six of Jeremiah 20,
Now, Pasher the son of Emre, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the
Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
He prophesied of coming destruction.
He prophesied of where their sin would lead them, of what the end result of falling in
their current wicked state would be.
Now, Pasher didn't like to hear this.
And so in verse 2, then Pasher struck Jeremiah the prophet.
and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house
of the Lord.
And it happened on the next day that Pasher brought Jeremiah out of the stocks.
Then Jeremiah said to him, the Lord has not called your name Pasher, but Maggermizbub.
Try saying that three times fast.
thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a terror to yourselves and to all your
friends.
and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it.
It will give all Judah into the hand, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king
of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with a sword.
Moreover, I will deliver all the wealth of the city and all its produce and all its
precious things, and all the things of the treasures of the king of...
of the kings of Judah, I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them,
seize them and carry them to Babylon.
And you, pasture, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity.
You shall go down, you shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there.
You and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lie.
When we think about this idea of Jeremiah as being facing trouble, of facing trial.
there were those who were claiming to be servants of God.
Pasher was one who was claiming to be a prophet of God, but he was prophesying lies.
He was lying about the very things that Jeremiah was speaking the truth of God concerning.
And when Jeremiah presents the truth, Pasher tries to silence him.
Now as we kept reading, we noted that he didn't succeed in silencing Jeremiah.
Jeremiah kept on prophesying the word of the Lord, but...
The point we're trying to make here that we need to understand is Jeremiah faced
struggles.
He faced trials.
He faced hardship.
and he even wanted to quit.
Look at verses seven and verse nine.
Verse seven, oh Lord you induced me.
and I was persuaded.
You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily.
Everyone mocks me.
For when I spoke, I cried out, I shouted, violence and plunder, because the word of the
Lord was made a reproach and a derision daily.
Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.
Jeremiah wanted to quit.
He wanted to stop.
He thought, I've had enough.
The persecution is too much.
Are there times when we feel the same?
Are there not times when we feel like this Christian life is just not worth it?
Or we become discouraged?
When we look at these things that surround us, the wickedness, I just think about what
month this is and what our country has sadly chosen to do with this month.
And it's easy for us to look at all these things and to say, there's no hope.
There's no reason to keep going.
Lord, they're not listening.
They don't want to hear the gospel.
I'm done.
But if you notice, we didn't finish reading first nine.
but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary of
holding back and I could not.
Jeremiah says, Lord, I'm done.
I quit.
I don't want to speak anymore in your name because they're not listening.
They're mocking me.
They put me in stocks.
They have slapped me.
They have
persecuted me beyond what I thought I was going to face.
And Lord, you just lied to me because you said I wasn't going to face any of these things.
The Lord didn't promise him that.
He promised to deliver him through these trials.
But nevertheless, Jeremiah feels like quitting, but yet when he tries to actually quit, he
says, word was like a fire in my bones.
I couldn't but speak the truth.
I couldn't bud speak these things that God has told me about.
He got back to work.
Brethren, there are times when we feel like quitting.
When we say, it's enough, I'm done, I can't go on, I can't keep going like this.
But we, like Jeremiah, need to get back to work.
And we'll come back to this idea of the word being a fire in our bones later, but
We need to make sure.
We need to truly consider the words that we hold in our hands of how important these words
are, what they truly mean.
Because when we do, when we truly appreciate that these are the words by which man can be
saved, that teach us how to live, that teach us how to have a home and glory with our
Father, well then we like Jeremiah.
We'll get back to work.
We'll have those moments of struggle, yes, but we will remember Jeremiah and we too will
continue serving our God.
What else do we need to know?
We need to know, yes, that we're not alone, that there are others who have faced similar
trials, there are others who have even faced worse trials than us, but we also need to
know that we can endure.
Carrying on with this idea of those who have faced worse trials than us, look with me at 2
Corinthians.
2 Corinthians chapter 11, there are few in the church
recorded for us in scripture that faced as much difficulty as Paul did.
He struggled much.
He faced much hardship, much persecution for the cause of Christ.
And yet, we read a record of his struggles, of his trials here in chapter 11.
Starting verse 16, I say again, let no one think me a fool.
have otherwise at least received me as a fool, that I also may boast a little." In the
context of these individuals who were trying to say, well, I'm better than Paul, you
should be listening to me.
Paul doesn't know what he's talking.
Paul's not even an apostle.
There's no reason to listen to Paul.
Paul is saying, okay, if you want to play the game of I don't have the right to speak when
God's given me the inspiration, let me tell you what I've endured.
Now he mentions I speak as a fool.
This is not how Paul
normally would approach these things, but he needed to in this moment and the spirit gave
him inspiration to do so.
And in verse 17 he continues, what I speak I speak not according to the word or to the
Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting, seeing that many boast
according to the flesh, I will also boast.
For you put up with fools gladly since you yourselves are wise.
For you put up with it.
if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes you from, takes one from
you.
going down to verse 22.
Paul says, are they Hebrews?
So am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool.
I am more.
And laborers more abundant.
And stripes more, and stripes above measure.
And prisons more frequently.
And deaths often.
From the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a
night and a day I have been in the deep, and journeys often, and perils of water, and
perils of robbers, and perils of my own countrymen, and perils of the Gentiles, and perils
in cities, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false
brethren, and weariness and toil, and sleeplessness often.
and hunger and thirst and fastings often and cold and nakedness, beside the other things,
what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches.
Who is weak and I am not weak?
Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation?
He goes on and continues this thought, but suffice it to say, Paul suffered greatly.
He faced more than I would dare say any of us will ever face in our lives.
Than any of us have faced in our lives as Christians.
And yet, what do we see about Paul?
endured to the very end.
In 2 Timothy 4 and verses 6 through 8, Paul in concluding his time on earth and writing
his final epistle to his son in the faith, Timothy, he tells him, I have fought a good
fight.
Back in verse 6, he says, my time is at hand.
I'm ready to be offered as a drink offering.
I'm ready to go and be with the Lord.
Why?
because I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous
judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only but into all them also that love is
appearing.
Paul shows us the weekend in dirt.
And the apostle Paul faced far worse than we will ever face or have ever faced, and he
endured to the end, then so too can we, brethren.
Brothers and sisters, there is not a trial, there is not a temptation, there is not a
struggle on this earth, a persecution that we can face that can force us to abandon our
God.
Only we can choose that.
but stay true to him.
You can endure.
We can endure just as did Paul.
But you know there's another example in scripture of one who endured and quite frankly
he's the ultimate example.
That being our Savior Jesus the Christ.
Now Jesus suffered.
He suffered far worse
than what we can even possibly imagine.
And the reason was not that no one had ever suffered on the cross before.
The reason was not that no one had ever been scourged and beaten like Jesus was.
That was not why he suffered so much worse than everyone else.
The reason he suffered so much worse than any other human being, than any other being on
this earth is because he could have said no at any moment.
with any of the lashes that ripped his back apart.
He could have said, I'm done.
in any of the six hours that he remained on the cross, he could have said, Lord, I'm done.
No.
They want to see me come down from the cross.
I'll show them how I can come down from the cross.
He could have said that.
but he didn't.
and we look at passages such as Isaiah 53, wherein his suffering is prophesied.
And we read in verse one, verse two picking up, he shall grow up before him as a tender
plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
He has no form nor comeliness.
And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He has noticed this despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow.
and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
He was despised, and we did not esteem him.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him, stricken,
smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are...
Jesus suffered greatly.
1st Peter 2 and verses 22 through 25 tell us this again that how he suffered and yet he
did not revile.
He did not respond in kind to those who had treated him like dirt.
to those who had slapped him across the mouth for saying, as they would say, for speaking
to the high priest like he did, to those who would blindfold him and beat him and say,
tell us, teacher, if you are the son of God, tell us who struck you.
to those who wagged their heads at him as he hung on the cross in agony and said, if he's
the son of God, let him come down.
He said to others, surely he can save himself.
but Jesus not respond in kind.
suffered but in his suffering he shows us an example of how to endure.
He shows us the fact that we too can endure.
We're not going to be facing the same thing Jesus faced.
We won't be hung on a cross for our faith.
We won't endure the same mocking and beating that Jesus received.
But he has, as 1 Peter tells us, left us an example that we should follow in his steps.
Brethren, we can endure.
And in Hebrews 5, starting in verse 7, we see this very fact that Jesus did endure.
Hebrews 5, 7, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and
was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the
things which he suffered.
And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Why did Jesus endure?
How did Jesus endure?
How did Paul endure?
Because their focus was not on this earth.
Paul looked for the place beyond the veil.
as Philippians 1 talks about, uh he was longing to be with his Lord, to be united with the
Father.
And when we think about Christ in his mind was the fact that he is the Savior of man.
with every stripe, with every hour he spent on the cross, there was the thought of...
Eric, you need this.
Jay, you need this.
Terry, you need this.
Jacob, you need this.
And further still was the thought of this is what the Father's will is and I will do the
will of my Father.
in the life of Jesus and in the, what we have recorded for us in the Bible is this idea of
endurance through commitment, endurance through an understanding that this world is not
our home.
we can endure.
And when we face trials in our lives, when we face persecutions, when we face these
difficulties, we need to understand, we need to read the scriptures and realize we can
endure.
Number three, we need to understand, we need to realize that we have a purpose.
You have a purpose in this life.
I told you we were going back to Jeremiah.
We look at this idea of Jeremiah and how his purpose in life was to proclaim the word of
God as a prophet of the Lord.
And when he abandoned his purpose, when he abandoned the very reason he was walking on
this earth, the word of God was like a fire in his
It's this idea of you just gotta tell somebody.
You can't keep it quiet.
Have you ever had some news that you just could not help but sharing?
Now I know a lot of you in here are grandparents and I know that with my mom and dad just
about anytime you asked them about, you know, well how's Brittany and Sam doing?
well let me show you the pictures.
We got two beautiful grandbabies.
You know, they would show pictures and everything.
They could not help but spread that news.
Is the Word of God like that to us?
is the Word of God such that we cannot help but spread it, but proclaim it.
Brethren, the gospel by its very definition is good news.
And yet many times we treat it as if it's the worst thing that's ever been brought to man.
try to hide it away.
when we look at this idea of the word being a fire in our bones.
Look with me at Acts chapter four.
Acts chapter 4.
In the context you have these individuals, Peter and John, who have faced or are facing
persecution because they faithfully proclaim the Word of God.
They were teaching about Jesus in the temple.
They had healed a man who had been lame since his birth.
He was lame 40 years.
and they were proclaiming the good news of Christ.
the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they didn't want hear that.
They didn't want Peter and John to be saying that they had crucified the Son of God.
And so when they tell these faithful apostles to stop speaking in the name of God, notice
what happens here.
Verse 15 starting, when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they
conferred among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men?
For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell
in Jerusalem.
And we cannot deny it.
But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that
from now on they speak to no man in this name, the name of Jesus.
So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of
Jesus.
And notice their response.
But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to
listen to you more than to God, you judge.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
In other words, Peter and John said, you're not going to keep us quiet.
You're not going to stop us from spreading the gospel.
We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Well, brethren, what have we seen and heard?
We have heard God's word.
We hear it every time we come together.
We hear it and read it as we do our personal Bible studies.
But we also hear God's word.
The things that we have seen and heard as it were is the fact that salvation
is available that you don't have to die in sin.
that you can be saved.
You can be in a right relationship with the Father.
Is that not good news?
Tell me, have I misunderstood something?
Is this not good news?
It is.
So why don't we share it?
Why don't we lead others to the one who can save them?
Brethren, our goal is heaven.
The purpose of this earth, of being on this earth, yes, part of that is the idea of the
word being a fire in our bones that we are here to spread the word of God.
Matthew 28, 18 through 20.
but another purpose of ours.
Another reason, the reason why we fight, the reason why we struggle, the reason why we
endure is because heaven is the victory.
Yes, we fight Satan on this earth.
2 Corinthians 10 verses 3 through 6 tell us this plainly that we are in a spiritual
warfare.
We are in a battle against the devil.
We are fighting against his cause.
doing our best to serve the Lord.
And we are as soldiers of the cross.
As Christians, we are soldiers fighting for our Lord, fighting for our King.
It's not yet time to lay down our weapons.
until the trumpet of God sounds or until we are lying on our deathbed.
It's not time to drop your weapons.
Rather, it's time to take up arms against the devil and to fight with a purpose in our
hearts.
The purpose of heaven as our reward, as our home.
We fight to attain heaven.
We fight to go home.
My great uncle served in World War II.
My dad one time asked him, what were you thinking when you were over there?
What were some of the things that were just going through your mind?
And he said, it was a job.
We did our job and we wanted to go home.
What was the goal for my great uncle?
His goal was to get back home.
Brethren, for us as soldiers of the cross, soldiers of Christ, soldiers of the King of
Kings, our goal is to go home and to take as many people with us as we can.
That's our purpose.
That's the reason why we fight.
That's the reason why we struggle.
Look with me at 1 Corinthians 9.
Read with me there, 1 Corinthians 9, starting in verse 24.
Paul writes, you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the
prize?
Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
And everyone who completes or competes, rather, for the prize is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty.
Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air.
but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to
others, I myself should be disqualified." Paul's purpose on this earth, his goal in
preaching to the Corinthians, his goal and doing the work that he did in those missionary
journeys and just his life in general, his goal was that imperishable crown.
His goal was reaching heaven.
His goal was bringing all of us with Him, as many as He good, as many as He could reach.
But His purpose was also seen in glorifying the Master.
Back up a few chapters to chapter six.
1st Corinthians 6 and verse 20, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in
your body and in your spirit, which are God.
Brethren, don't belong to ourselves as Christians.
We don't belong to ourselves.
We belong to the Master.
We belong to the Lord.
We belong to the one who bought us, who saved us from our sin.
We belong to the Savior.
And as such, our purpose on earth is to glorify our master, it's to glorify our Lord.
We have been bought with a price.
What was this price?
First Peter 1: 18 through 19 tells us we were not redeemed with corruptible things as
silver and gold.
We weren't bought with currency, but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We have been bought.
Therefore we glorify our Father.
We shine the light of God.
We do what we can to be an example to those around us, to point people to God.
Matthew 5:16 tells us that we are shining our light, not so that men can glorify us, but
that so they can see our good works and glorify the Father, which is in heaven.
Our purpose is to live for the Lord.
Our purpose is to serve Him.
Brethren, we have one purpose on this earth and it's not to get the most riches.
It's not to have the most comfortable lifestyle.
Our purpose on earth is revealed to us in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13.
Fear God and keep His commandments.
Solomon tried everything.
He lived in luxury.
He lived for the thrill as the saying goes.
He did everything that the world says, surely this will give you a good life.
Surely this is what life is all about.
And he says, it's all vanity.
It's all pointless and empty.
but to live for God, to keep His commandments, now that is a life worth living.
That is our purpose on earth.
What future you needs to read?
We looked at this idea of.
enduring.
The idea of suffering, that we're not alone in our suffering, but that just as others
endured, just as others went through trials, we too can endure and come out the better.
and that we have a purpose on this earth.
It's not all for nothing.
But what does present you need to read?
What do you need to know right now?
If you're not a Christian, then you need to know that there's a way to be saved.
That although you're lost in your sins and you are on the road to hell, you can be saved.
It's not too late.
having heard God's Word, do you believe it?
Will you repent of your sins?
Will you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord?
Will you be baptized for the remission of your sins?
But maybe present you is a Christian, but wayward.
Having lived a life that was at one point dedicated to the cause, dedicated to the truth,
dedicated to the Lord, but Satan's good at his job.
and you fell and you want to come home.
You want to be reunited with your family.
Be reunited with the Father on the path to heaven.
And we stand ready to help you.
Friends, if we can be of any assistance to help you make your life right with God so that
you're ready to see Him, so that future you, the you that's in eternity can say, this is
exactly what you need to do.
Don't give up because heaven's worth it.
If we can help make heaven your home, then come now as we stand.