 Who are the cowardly in Revelation 21-8? Good question. Passes is taken out of context often. So let's go and look at it. First of all, let's recall, what has just happened? We're at the very end of Revelation. Remember, we've gone through the tribulation. Whether you are post-trib, mid-trib, pre-trib, which I am pre-trib, then you understand there's this rapture that's taking place, this tribulation. But it doesn't matter if you have a different eschatology. We're all together here, whether you pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, whatever. We're all here. The millennium is over with. Satan has been cast into the pit. He's been released. War has been made. He was thoroughly defeated. And now the last enemy, including Satan himself, was destroyed. That is death. So now we're into Revelation 21 and we're getting a kind of a wrap-up, a summary. And let's just start in, let's start in verse five. A Revelation 21, he says, And he who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said, right for these words, right for these words are faithful and true. Then he said to me, it is done. Huh, wait a second. Hold up, pause for just one minute. He said to me, it is done. Can I ask you guys a question? When I say it is done, does it harken you back to another thing that he said? Oh, I know. When he was on the cross, it is finished. Isn't that amazing how God's plan just comes together? It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things. And I will be his God and he will be my son. Now, let's look at what he's saying. He who overcomes will inherit these things. Well, what's the word for overcome? He who overcomes will say that, is he saying that if you overcome, you will inherit these things? That is not what he's saying. He's not saying if you overcome, he's calling you an overcomer. How do I know? Look to the right hand side on the Greek. Ha Nikon, that is these overcoming ones. Well, how do you become an overcoming one? Remember, John says in 1 John, he says that all of us that are overcomers, the overcoming ones are the ones who have been born of God, born of the spirit. How do we become born of God? Well, Peter says, God caused us that. Jesus goes into that in John 3, that says before you can even think about or see the King of God, first you must be born again, born of water and spirit, born of the spirit, which is only a work of God, the spirit, not as a work of you, and of course, as a kind. Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Deuteronomy and Hosea and other passages, other books, other prophets tell us that God is going to do so. He is going to cause these hearts to be regenerated, which is what Paul says to Titus as well. That's how we were saved. So now going back to this passage, these overcoming ones are the ones that have been born again that God has caused to be born. And what does he say? They will inherit these things. Keep in context now. And I will be his God and he will be my son. Now verse eight, but for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murders and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters in all liars, their part will be in the lake of fire, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Now, a whole lot was put there, but notice how he puts them all together. As a matter of fact, we've got a rule from Greek that shows up here. I told you before about this rule called the Granville Sharpe rule. The Granville Sharpe rule we call the TSKS rule. What it is is the Granville Sharpe, notice something in the Greek that tends to work 100% of the time. We're talking about the same thing or the same person. Here it is. Whenever you have a, let me just give you the rule. Whenever you have the substantive, which can be a noun or something in the place of a noun, it can be a noun. It can be an adjective, it can be a participle. Anything that functions in that, separated by the chi, which is the word and in English. And then another substantive, as long as they're both the same gender, singular, as long as they are not impersonal, they are personal, not a thing. And as long as not a proper name, then it's saying the same thing. For example, before I go to this passage, let me go to Titus 2.13. I'll put a couple of examples on the screen. Titus 2.13, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior. Our great God and savior follows this rule. So therefore, Jesus Christ is our great God and savior. 2 Peter 1.1, I mean, 2 Peter 1.1, yes. Peter, a bond servant and apostle follows the same thing. A bond servant and apostle is describing the same person, Peter. So now that being the case, let's go back to our passage, verse eight. But the cowardly and unbelieving, what do we have here? We have the Granville Sharpe rule here. So the cowardly and unbelieving, it's the same person. It's not a person who is afraid. It's not that the cowardly, someone that's afraid of certain things or certain people, I'm a coward when it comes to fighting bears. I am, if you put some bears in front of me, I'm a coward, I'm a chicken. If you put some lions in front of me, I'm a chicken. You are too. Does that what it means? No. It doesn't mean that if you go around running your mouth and you're bold and you say things kind of in a forceful fashion, because you want people to think that you're not a coward, that you're not scared, that you're tough, that's not what it's talking about. Oh, by the way, I know you're better than that. Every single person on this planet is scared of something. Stop with this nonsense, this foolishness, guys, where we think that because I'm tough in this situation, that I'm always tough. If I'm never a coward, yes, you are. You are not as strong as you think you are, but good news is Paul makes it clear that when I'm weak, then I'm strong. So stop. So I'm strong only in him. And the in him is the key point. He says, but for the coward and unbelieving, so this person who's a coward is the unbelieving, the person that's not continuing, because look what else it also adds. And abominable, and murderers, and moral persons and sorcerers, all of these people are the ones that have gone to hell that have been thrown in. And these are the descriptions of each one of these people. Are you with me? So that's what the pastor's talking about about a cowardly person. Amen.