If you would open your Bibles
with me, the book of Second Timothy, chapter two. Lord willing, next Sunday, we'll
have a 10th birthday dinner to celebrate Rosalie Tate's 10th
birthday. I know for a fact she has been
counting down the days for about two years, so I hope we'll be
able to have a good time together. All right, 2 Timothy 2, we'll
begin our reading in verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are
not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore
purge himself from these, he should be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every
good work. Flee also youthful lusts, but
follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that
call a name on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and
unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. All right, let's stand together
as Shawn leads us in singing our call to worship. Come, let our voices join to
raise a sacred song of solemn praise. His glory let the people
know. His wonders to the nation show. Come, let our souls address the
Lord, Who formed all nature by His Word. He is our shepherd,
we His sheep, In times of need He doth us keep. Lord, let us hear Thy voice today. The counsels of Thy word obey. Thy works of grace, how bright
they shine! How great Thy mercy, how divine! One day we'll see and hear and
know All we desired and wished below And every power finds sweet
employ In that eternal If you would, turn to song number
48, His National Swerve. O could I speak the matchless
Word! O could I sound the glories forth
which in my Savior shine! I'd soar and touch the heavenly
strings and pie with Gabriel while he sings in notes almost
divine, in notes almost divine. I'd sing the precious blood He
spilled, My ransom from the dreadful guilt Of sin and wrath divine. I'd sing His glorious righteousness,
In which all perfect heavenly dress My soul shall ever shine,
My soul shall ever shine. I'd sing the characters he bears,
And all the forms of love he wears, Exalted on his throne. In loftiest songs of sweetest
praise I would to everlasting days Make all His glories known,
Make all His glories known. Well, the delightful day will
come when my dear Lord will bring me home, and I shall see His
face. Then with my flavor, brother,
friend, A blessed eternity I'll spend, Triumphant in His grace,
Triumphant in His grace. You would open your Bibles this
morning to Colossians chapter 3. We have a scripture reading
from Colossians chapter 3. Beginning at verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify,
therefore, your members which are upon the earth. fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which
ye also walked some time when you lived in them. But now ye
also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth. Why not one to another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds and put on
the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all. and in all. Put on, therefore,
is the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one
another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave ye, so also do ye. And above all
these things, but on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also you are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye
do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him. Amen. Let's pray. Our mighty, holy Heavenly Father. Thank you that we can come before
your throne of mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we pray that you would leave us not alone as we gather here
this morning, but that you would give us a word from you. Give our pastor a message from
thee to feed your sheep. Give us receiving hearts, hearing
ears. let us not meet in vain. Pray
that we would be gathered in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And while we ask for this local congregation, Lord, we ask for
men and women wherever they gather this morning, wherever men stand
to proclaim the glory, the holiness, the righteousness of our substitution,
Christ Jesus. Father, keep us humble. Yes, Lord, we seek to proclaim
Christ boldly and without fear, but let us do it with a humility
and a meekness. Let people know from our actions
that we are completely dependent on Christ, that we have nothing
in ourselves to recommend ourselves to Thee, that our righteousness
is in Christ and that our sin is put away in Him. Father, we
pray that you would continue to bless this congregation. Father, we pray for our children. Don't leave them without Christ. Reveal yourself to them in a
saving manner. Cause them to see their need
and to run to the Savior, to cling to the Savior. For our
young people going out in the world, Father, we pray that you
would watch over them. Cause them to seek out places
where they can sit under the gospel. for young families and
old alike. Father, cause us to have Christ-centered
homes. We need thee. We confess that
our faith is small. Thou art able. Father, we pray
for those who are ill. We lift them up to thee. We ask
that you would bless them and return them to worship with us
Father, once again, we ask that you would bless this service
here this morning. Leave us not alone, but send
your spirit to anoint your word, the hearts of your people. Give
us these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I need thee every hour most gracious
Lord no tender voice like thine can peace afford I need thee
oh I need thee Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. I need thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power. when thou art nigh. I need thee, oh, I need thee,
every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to enjoy your pain come quickly
and abide or life is vain I need thee oh I need thee every hour
I need thee oh bless me I come I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One, O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, ?
Every hour I need thee ? Oh bless me now my savior ? I come to
thee If you would, open your Bibles with
me again to the book of 2 Timothy chapter two. passage that we
read to open the service this morning, entitled the message,
Vessels of Honor and Dishonor. I want to review just for a moment
where we ended our message last Sunday, verse 19. Now we know
that the future is certain. We know that, don't we? It's
certain in this way. The future and all of its events are fixed
in the purpose of God. Every event in the future will
unfold just exactly as God has ordained from eternity. It all
happened according to God's eternal will and purpose. We don't have
to worry that anything is going to happen that's outside of the
express will of our God. And we know that, we believe
that. But to our way of thinking, the future is uncertain in this
way. We don't know what the Lord's will to do, do we? We don't know.
We know that people will do many things that they ought not be
doing. They'll cause a lot of pain and suffering. We know people
will even leave the gospel. They'll leave it for something
else because scripture says they never were of us. Some will leave
the gospel. Maybe they'll repent and come
back. They will if it's God's will, but we don't know. So in
that way, we say that the future is uncertain because we don't
know what the Lord has willed to happen. But the comfort for
God's people is found in verse 19. where Paul writes, nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal. The Lord
knoweth them that are his. Now the comfort of God's people
is that no matter what happens, I don't care what it is, God's
will concerning the glory of his son and the redemption of
his people is being done. It is being done. God's will
is not being done in spite of what men are doing. Men are doing
what they're doing in order to accomplish God's eternal will
and purpose for the glory of his son and the redemption of
his people. It's not being done in spite
of what men are doing. Men are doing what they're doing
in order to accomplish God's purpose. I think that's very
important for us to remember. The foundation of God stands
sure and unmovable because the foundation is Christ. Foundation
of God standeth sure having this seal, Paul says, the Lord knows
them that are his. He's always known them. He always
will know them. The Lord knew his people in eternity
in divine election, but he chose them unto salvation. He knew
his people when he put them in Christ in the covenant of grace.
God knew his people when he wrote their names in the Lamb's book
of life. And he knew his people even when they fell in Adam.
He knew them, he saw them. Christ knew his people when he
came to this earth to redeem them from their sin. He came
to this earth for those people, those specific people, he came
for them on purpose to seek and to save that which was lost.
Christ knew his people when he went to Calvary and he suffered
and died for them. He died for those people and
only those people that the father gave them He died for them because
he loved them. Their names were written on his
heart. Just like the high priest of old, he went into the Holy
of Holies to offer that sacrifice and offer the blood before the
Lord. He's wearing that breastplate with the 12 names of the tribes
of Israel on his breastplate. Christ went to Calvary's tree
knowing who he was dying for, knowing who he was redeeming.
He died for those people he loved. The Lord knows his people in
every path that they take. We may think we can't see the
Lord, the Lord sees you. He knows the path that we take.
And he will know his people eternally when he gathers them around his
throne. That's just about as sure and unmovable as you can
hope to find. And that gives God's elect complete
rest for our souls, doesn't it? The foundation of God stands
as sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. God's will shall be done. But
notice, The verse doesn't end there. Paul says, and, and let
everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Now the Lord knoweth them that are his. He saved them and absolutely
nothing can cause them to lose their salvation. And Paul says,
this is also true. Let everyone that names the name
of Christ, let everyone that names the name of Christ saying
that they believe on his name, let them depart from evil. That's
just as true. The Lord knoweth them that they
cannot lose their salvation and let everybody that believes Christ
depart from evil. Don't, don't sin that grace may
abound. Run from evil, run from it and
run to Christ. And Paul gives us an illustration
here in verse 20. But in a great house, there are
not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and
of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore
purge himself from these, he should be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every
good work. Now it hurts us to see those
that make a show of piety, a show of religion, to fall away from
the gospel, to seek comfort, to seek pleasure, to seek some
kind of religious hope, spiritual hope in something else, something
other than the gospel. When they do that, they show
themselves to be a vessel of dishonor. Now it hurts us, but
it ought not surprise us when we see it happen. Brother Henry
said this in his commentary on this passage. He says, dead branches
are on every tree and hypocrites are in every church. So it ought
not surprise us when they show themselves to be a dead branch
or to be a hypocrite. But we also need to remember
this, those dead branches, those hypocrites, they're there to
serve God's purpose. They're there just like vessels.
There are many different vessels in a great palace. Some of those
vessels are honorable. Some of them are dishonorable,
but they're all there to serve a specific purpose that the master
has used for in his house. So the vessels of honor and dishonor,
they're both there in the visible church. They're both there. And
they're there serving God's purpose. And part of what Paul is teaching
us here in context is that it's better off for the vessels of
honor to avoid being around the vessels of dishonor as much as
possible so that the vessel of honor doesn't become contaminated
by the vessel of dishonor. That's what's being taught in
context concerning Hymenus and Philetus that are mentioned in
verse 17. They're to be shunned, but you're
better off to avoid them. Now that's true, and that is
part of what's being taught here. But this is also true, this matter
of having a vessel of dishonor and vessel of honor, that is
also true of every individual believer. Every individual believer
has inside them both a vessel of dishonor and a vessel of honor. And that's how I want to look
at these verses this morning. And I have this illustration
to show you what I'm trying to tell you, and hopefully it'll
help you remember later on. When Jan and I are at the house
alone, And we eat off what I would call the normal dishes. We don't
need great big serving bowls, you know, for the two of us.
It's just the two of us. We don't need anything fancy, you know,
for the two of us. Our table, as far as I'm concerned,
is beautiful as long as she's there. We don't need fancy china
to make it. It's just the two of us. But
now when the kids come home or visiting pastor and his wife
are there, Janet gets out different dishes. She's got these fancy
looking bowls. That's the most amazing thing
to me. The same bowl. It'll keep hot food hot or cold
food cold. Just depends on what you put
in. She always gets those out when we have visitors. She's
got some nice China dishes. She's got some serving dishes
we got in Mexico. We like to put those out. They're
colorful, they're beautiful, fond memories for us. Those are
Jan's vessels of honor. She puts those out to make the
table look nice so we can enjoy a nice meal together. Not only
does the food taste good and look good, the vessels do too.
Now how do you think? Janet wouldn't react. We've got
company over. The kids are home. And she's
got her vessels of honor sat there on the table. One thing
we always have for breakfast when the sons are home, bacon.
Always. She puts it in that bowl that
keeps things hot. She's got a lid on it. She's
got this stuff. Oh, my. I mean, she's worked and prepared.
Now, every meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner,
she's got them serving dishes out there. I'm out in the backyard. And I come in, I bring in the
garbage can. Not the one that's under the
sink. You know, Janet'll wipe that off, kind of clean it up
every once in a while. I'm talking about the garbage cans out there in the
alley. I never clean it. I mean, never. It stinks, it's
gross, it's ugly looking. And I bring that great big old
trash can and set it in the middle of Janet's table, all those vessels
of honor. How do you think she'd react? You may know how she'd react,
don't you? Oh my. Jane would be offended. She'd
be mad. She'd be mad at me. How dare
you mix that vessel of dishonor with my vessels of honor? This
food for my family. How dare you? Those that sit
at the table, they'd be offended. The sight of that thing, the
smell of that thing. It doesn't mix with bacon, does
it? I mean, the smell of bacon. Is
there anything better than bacon? Ah! Got the trash can smell with
that bacon? That's not going to go over well,
is it? It's not going to go over well on the table. Those vessels
of dishonor do not belong on the dinner table. They shouldn't
be together. Well, now in every believer,
there's a vessel of dishonor. The old man, he's a vessel of
dishonor. That vessel of dishonor willingly
holds the filth of our works. It willingly holds the works
of the flesh and wants to hold that filth, the filth of those
works and offer them to God. Take that vessel of dishonor
filled with the muck of our works and take them to God thinking
it'll make God happy with us. Now that's where our works belong.
They do belong in a vessel of dishonor. They belong in a trash
can. They belong in a slot bucket.
They smell bad. They're offensive. They're no
use to anybody. And that vessel of honor holds
those things and puts some confidence in those things, thinking I can
serve that and God will be pleased with me. That's a vessel of dishonor. Every believer has that old man.
But thank God, every believer also has in him a second vessel,
a vessel of honor, the new man. That vessel of honor, he's filled
with Christ. He's filled with Christ's obedience,
not mine. That new man, he's filled, that
vessel is filled with the blood of Christ that cleanses me from
all my sin. That vessel is filled with God's
love for me, not my love for him. It's filled with Christ's
life, not my life. It's filled with Christ's power,
not my power. That vessel of honor trusts Christ
and Christ alone and puts no confidence in the flesh. He'd
only dare be filled with Christ. Every believer has those two
natures in us, and you're going to tote those two natures around
as long as you live in this flesh. Here's the lesson. Don't put
the two of them together in the service of God. Don't put that
vessel of dishonor together with the vessel of honor in the service
of God. Don't put them together in the worship of God, thinking
God will somehow be more pleased with you, with your works of
the flesh. Put those works in that vessel of dishonor in the
garbage can and leave it out to curb. Put those works in the
slot bucket that the pigs eat from and keep it away from the
dinner table. Let the pigs eat from it, but
don't bring it to the dinner table of God, to the worship
of God. Leave that out there with the pigs and come to God
in Christ alone, in his beauty, in his holiness, in his righteousness,
in his fullness. It's all you need. Purge yourself
from those vessels of dishonor. And what that means is this.
Shun trusting in your own works. Don't trust in them. Shun those
vessels of dishonor. Those people who are the enemies
of Christ and the enemies of His people. But be sure most
of all to shun trusting in the slop of your own works. Paul tells us to depart from
iniquity. And you know what the worst iniquity
that there is in God's creation, the worst iniquity you can find,
it's trusting in your own works. That's the worst iniquity that
you can find. Shun that, depart from that iniquity and flee to
Christ. See, the vessels of honor that
are on the master's table, that's a picture of the believer. They're
beautiful vessels. They've been made beautiful in
Christ's beauty, which the Lord put on them. Paul calls them
sanctified vessels. They're vessels that are made
holy. They've been set apart for the master's use. They've
been sanctified, made holy in regeneration when they're given
a brand new holy nature that never existed before. And they're
set apart for God's use. The vessel of honor has been
prepared, been prepared for good works, for good uses. That's
the believer. You know why God made them? He
made them unto good works. They've been made to trust Christ
alone and to serve him in love and serve his people in love,
to serve him in thanksgiving, not because they're trying to
keep the law, but serving in love. That's a good work. They've
been prepared to do that. Vessels of honor, they're vessels
that have been made beautiful so that they can hold good, Good
food for people to enjoy at the dinner table. That's the believer. The believer has been made beautiful
in Christ's righteousness. And that believer holds good
things. They're supposed to be helpful
to God's people. The believer in him holds a new
man, a new holy man, a new nature. The believer holds in him Christ
himself, who dwells in the hearts of God's people by faith. that
God prepared those people, those vessels of honor. He prepared
them for His glory, His glory, to glorify His mercy and His
grace. Now the vessels of honor, they're
vessels that are not beautiful. They're just, they're made of
earth or wood. They haven't been painted to
look pretty. Nobody took any pains to try to make them look
pretty because they're made for dishonorable uses. They're made
for chamber pots. Few younger ones don't know what
a chamber pot is. Ask your parents at home. It's
a chamber pot. That's what it's fit to hold.
They're buckets. They're just wooden buckets.
And you know what they're made for? When you're sick, you throw up in
them. That's what it's made for. You don't do that in them dishes
we got in China and in Mexico. Nobody's throwing up in them
things. No. We have a bucket for that. We have a bucket. That's
what they're made for. They're just a slot bucket. You
just take out, throw the slop out to the pigs. You don't have
to make it look pretty. The pigs are going to eat anyway,
aren't they? That's what this flesh is. That's all the flesh
is. It's just dead, ugly, rotten
flesh. That's what the unbeliever is.
God's not sanctified them. God's not made them holy. God's
not made them beautiful. They're just flesh. Now the believer,
the vessel of honor, they've been prepared for God's glory,
to glorify God's mercy and grace. This vessel of dishonor, it's
been prepared for God's glory to glorify God's justice. Let
me show you that. First Peter chapter two. I'm
not making that up. I want you to see this. First
Peter chapter two. Both have been made by God to glorify him. One to glorify his mercy. The
other to glorify his justice. First Peter chapter two. Verse seven, unto you therefore,
which believe he is precious, but unto them, which be disobedient,
the stone, which the builders disallowed, the same as made
the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
even unto them, which stumble at the word being disobedient
were unto also, they were appointed. That's why God made them to be
a vessel of dishonor, but you, You're a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar purchase people that
you should show forth the praises of him who had called you out
of darkness in his marvelous light, which in time past were
not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That's why God
made those vessels of honor. They've obtained mercy to the
glory. God's mercy. See, both are made
for God's glory, one way or another. Now in our text, Paul tells those
of us who believe, he tells the vessels of dishonor, those of
you who believe, or the vessels of honor, those who believe Christ.
He says, depart from iniquity, depart from iniquity. And the
biggest way to do that is don't mix the vessels of honor with
the vessels of dishonor in the worship of God. in service of
God. Don't mix that vessel of honor
with a vessel of dishonor and bring it to God and expect God
to accept you. Don't mix grace and works. Salvation is either
all grace or all works. It can't be any mixture. Don't
mix Christ's work. Don't mix His obedience, His
righteousness with your works of righteousness. If you do that,
that's just like taking that garbage can from the alley and
setting it on the table alongside the fine china. Just trust Christ
alone. That's using the good dishes,
the good china, the vessels of honor. So depart from iniquity. Don't mix grace and words. And
then Paul gives us several other ways here in the rest of these
verses to depart from iniquity. And the first one is this in
verse 22, he says, flee youthful lusts. I spent some time looking
at that, youthful lusts. I don't know about what you think
about when you think about youthful lusts, but I tend to think about
those things that young people are typically drawn to, pride,
arrogance, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, driving too fast,
those kinds of things that young people do because they think
they're indestructible. And that's a mistake young people
make. They think they're indestructible. They haven't lived long enough
yet to learn by experience how painful those things can be.
Someone once said, he said, I used to think I was growing in grace
until I finally realized my body's just producing less testosterone
than it used to. I just got less energy, you know,
to do those things anymore. During the conference, we were
having a picnic and we watched some of our young people run
around, diving after balls and just running. I mean running.
Like, it's nothing. I mean, it just, ugh. I told
Chris Cunningham, I said, don't you just hate that? He said,
that is an obscene display of youth and athleticism. That's
not sinful. That's not youthful lust. That's
not. But just young people, they got so much energy, they don't
get hurt. The writers I read said this, that youthful lusts
are those things like seeking vainglory, wanting to have the
preeminence. They like to argue and debate,
you know, to show how smart they are. And unfortunately, young
believers tend to fall into some of those kind of traps. You know,
the Lord saves them, gives them faith, gives them just a little
bit of light. Oh, they think they know everything. Watch out,
you know. Maybe that's what Paul's talking about, youthful lust.
But I tell you, the longer I live, I see older people liking those
things too. Unfortunately, I don't see those
things decreasing in my flesh at all. I see older people seeking
after these things. And you know why? It's because
that's the old man and his sin nature. That's how he displays
his sin nature. And that old man, he's not getting
old. He's not wearing down. The old
man is not getting tired of those things. He'll always love those
things. He'll always have the energy
for those things. Always. We still will have him
always. And Paul says, Flee those things. Flee those things that the old
man is always lusting after, is always trying to push you
to trust in those things. Paul says, flee those things.
Listen, we've got an old man. He'll never change. He'll never
wear out. He's not going to change. You're
going to have to fight him the rest of your life. But don't
use him as an excuse to sin. Just because we've got an old
man doesn't mean we have to give in to him. The new man lusts
and fights against the old man. Paul says, flee him. Flee those
things that he's driving you towards. And that word flee means
flee to safety. Flee, like your life depends
upon it. Flee from your own works. Flee
from them. Flee to safety from them, because
they'll damn you if you trust in them. And flee to safety in
Christ. See, flee these things. And while
you're fleeing these things, don't just randomly flee. Don't
just randomly run away. Flee from these things and follow
after some other things. Seek to be filled with these
things as a vessel of honor. Flee iniquity. And secondly,
follow after righteousness. Verse 22, flee also youthful
lust, but follow righteousness. Follow. Seek after. Press on. Press on. to have the
righteousness of Christ. So you don't want to have your
own works recommending you to God, do you? Then flee those
things. You want to have the obedience
of Christ. You want to have Him as your righteousness. Then flee
your own obedience. Flee your own works of the law
and flee to Christ. You don't want to appear before
God dressed in your own rags of righteousness, do you? Then
flee those things and flee to Christ. Look back at Philippians
chapter three. Paul is telling us to do the
very thing he did. He talked here about all his
righteousness after the flesh, all his righteousness after following
the form and ceremony of religion. And he says in verse eight of
Philippians chapter three, a doubtless, I count all those, all things,
all those things. I count them, but loss. for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom
I've suffered the loss of all things. I've suffered the loss
of all those things that I used to trust in. That's about me.
And I count them, but done that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which
is of God by faith. Paul says, that's what I'm seeking
after. is to be found in Christ, to
have him as my righteousness, not anything that I've done.
So so flee iniquity, follow after righteousness. Second, you flee
iniquity by following after faith. He says, follow righteousness
and faith. Now, press, press on to have
salvation, make it your your heart's desire and goal to have
salvation through faith, through faith in Christ and not by your
words. And that's going to be a lifelong
process. Labor, labor. The writer to the
Hebrew says, labor, work at this to enter into his rest. Now,
how do you work to rest? How can you labor to rest? Is
to keep resisting the temptation to trust in your works. And that's
what the flesh is trying to get you to do, to trust in your own
works. Keep resisting that temptation to trust in your works and labor
to rest in Christ. in Christ alone to have salvation
by faith, not words. It also means this press, press
to have salvation based upon the faithfulness of Christ, the
faith of Christ to do everything that God requires of you. See,
we don't want salvation. If you know yourself at all,
you don't want salvation based on your faithfulness. We want
salvation based upon the faithfulness of Christ to do everything it
takes to save us from our sin. Let me show you that in Galatians
chapter 2. We're saved by faith in Christ,
but we're also saved by the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of
Christ to do everything that the Father sent him to do. Galatians
2 verse 16. Knowing The man is not justified
by the works of the law, by his own works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. His faith, the faithfulness of
him to do the works of the law. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. Not only we are justified by
faith in Christ, we're justified by the faith of Christ to do
everything it takes to save us and not by our own works of the
law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. The only way sinners like you
and me can be justified is through the faithfulness of Christ. To
do everything it takes to put away our sin and to make us righteous. So follow after faith. Flee iniquity. Flee that temptation to trust
in yourself and trust in Christ. Fourthly, Paul says flee iniquity
by following after charity. Now follow after, follow after,
having love for Christ, to love him and to enjoy his love, to
enjoy his love and enjoy his love for his people. Press for
having love for the brethren. I wish this wasn't true, but
unfortunately it is. Sometimes it's hard for even
brethren to love one another because we just make it hard
to do. Loving our brethren can be hard. They've got an old man,
hard-loving. Loving our brethren can be hard,
because I got an old man. He's hateful. It can be hard
to love one another. But strive. Strive, not just
to feel it, but to show genuine love for the brethren. Because
this is what our Lord said, follow after love now. By this shall
all men know you're my disciples, that you have love one to another. In fifth, Paul says, flee iniquity
by following after peace and strive, strive to have peace
with God. How can you do that? How can
you have peace with God? Only through the blood of Christ's
sacrifice. Paul said in Colossians 1 verse 20, that the Lord Jesus
Christ made peace for us. He made peace for God's elect
through the blood of his cross. Now, how did Christ, by the blood
of his cross, make peace for God's people? Christ made peace
with God by his blood. Because his blood, wiped out,
washed away, atoned for, paid for, covered, the blood of Christ
removed the sin that made God angry. God loves his people,
but God's all we love. He can only love his people if
they have no sin. For the blood of Christ made
peace with God. Because it took away the sin
that made God angry. Now God is at peace. He's at
peace with his people. He has no reason to be angry
with them. He has no reason to have any wrath for them. The
blood of Christ took away anything that would fuel the holy wrath
of God. God's a just God. And his justice
is not seeking anyone for whom Christ died. Because justice
is satisfied. The blood of Christ proves it.
Where there is the blood of Christ, it's been applied to the heart.
That shows there's already been death. Just like the Passover.
You know why God passed over the houses of the Israelites?
Where there's blood on the door? The blood on the door showed
there's already been death in this home tonight. No need for
the firstborn to die. It's already been death. Where
there wasn't blood on the door, Christ went in. Slew the firstborn. There must be death in every
home to satisfy justice. Where the blood of Christ has
been shed, justice is satisfied. The Father said, He's at peace. Now, we're ambassadors for Christ,
telling you, you be reconciled to God. You be reconciled. You
be at peace with God. Come surrender. Stack your arms
and surrender. Quit your fighting. Quit your
fighting. Quit going about to establish
your own righteousness. Quit trying to prop up that dead
corpse. Quit! And surrender. And submit yourselves to the
righteousness of Christ. And have peace with God. And
enjoy it. God's elect should enjoy peace
with God. And you know when we don't enjoy
peace with God? Every believer has peace with
God. You have it. Whether you enjoy it or not,
you have it. You know when we don't enjoy it? When we start looking to our
works. That's when we don't have peace. We start looking into
our own hearts. That's when we don't have peace.
When we look at Christ, we have peace in the heart. When we start
looking at peace in the heart, peace goes away. When we start
looking at ourselves, we can't enjoy peace with God. When we
start thinking, oh, Christ made peace for me by the blood of
His cross. Now I'm going to keep that peace. my work, we lose
the peace. We quit enjoying that peace.
The only way we enjoy peace with God is when we quit looking at
those vessels of dishonor. We quit trying to mix those vessels
of dishonor and the worship of God and look to Christ alone
and rest in peace. That's how we have peace with
God. He is everything that God requires of me. Not only has
Christ done everything that God requires of me, Not only has
he provided everything that God requires of me, Christ is everything
God requires of me. You want to enjoy peace with
God? Rest in Christ. That's how we have peace. Then
lastly, flee iniquity by avoiding foolish questions. Verse 23,
but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender
strifes. This word avoid means to refuse. Refuse. Don't just kind of, you
know, go just a little bit out of your way. Refuse them. Refuse
them. Refuse. Utterly refuse to make
your salvation based on anything that's not clearly revealed in
the Word of God. Just refuse it. Refuse anything. Anything other than Christ alone
for salvation. Refuse it. And refuse to debate. refuse to argue about things
that are not clearly revealed in God's word. If they're not
clearly revealed in God's word, why bother with them? I can tell
you this, if it's not clearly revealed in God's word, it doesn't
matter. It simply doesn't matter. Then don't debate about it. All
that's gonna do is cause strife and anger and division. That's
all it's gonna do. A pastor friend of mine, years
ago, a man called him and wanted him to devote his Sunday morning
service to a debate between him and his fellow. This fellow is
going to go there and have a debate with him on a Sunday morning,
thinking that that's somehow going to be beneficial. No, it's
not. All debate is going to do is cause division and strife
because there's no answer and you're debating something that
doesn't matter anyway. That's being a vessel of dishonor. It's being a vessel of dishonor
because it doesn't honor God in any way. Ever. Ever. People who want to debate
have one goal. It's to honor themselves, not
honor the Savior. Do you want God to be honored? Do you? Do you want God's people
to be drawn together in unity, in faith, in love? Get rid of
this debating business and start preaching Christ. That'll draw
God's people together. It'll give them faith in Christ.
It'll feed and comfort and edify their hearts. It'll draw them
together in love. So shun those things. Shun them.
Follow hard after. Strive after the gospel of Christ. Strive to have the gospel of
Christ. Find somebody preaching the gospel
of Christ, whether it's here or in Lexington. Find somebody.
Find somebody and make it your business to be there. Make it
your business. Listen to me. The gospel is not
the gospel of you. The gospel is not the gospel
of me. The gospel is the gospel of Christ. And there's no debating
that. All you can do with that is just
declare it. Just revel in it. Just love it.
I remember the first time I ever taught Brother Henry's class. You remember traumatic events,
don't you? I remember John 1, first verses,
and I was petrified, petrified. And Henry said, he said, don't
worry about that. He said, this is one of these
texts. He said, you just get in it, roll around in it for
about 40 minutes and get out. It's just to be loved. I've never fed sheep. I've never
led sheep. But this is just my suspicion
about sheep. The shepherd leads them to a
field full of lush grass. It's had plenty of rain. It's
lush. It's thick. There's plenty of it. And the
sheep don't debate about, well, now, you know, is this rye grass
or is this blue grass? The shepherd led them to a field
full of grass. And they just start eating. They enjoy it. Oh, they just get their bellies
full. And then they lay down by the stream, those deep waters,
still waters, and they drink. And they just lay there and they
love it. That's where the shepherd is
provided for me. There's no debating the gospel
of Christ. He's just to be declared and to be believed. To be believed. And that's when you'll have rest
in the green pasture of His Word. Just believe Him. Just preach
the gospel. The gospel of Christ will remove
strife from God's people. I promise you it will. Sooner
or later, it may not immediately, but sooner or later, the steady
diet of the gospel of Christ is just going to settle God's
people down. Settle them down. Because that, it promotes peace.
That's what we need. Now Paul says, follow that. Follow
after that. If I got a choice between peace
and strife, I know which one I'm gonna choose. Which one you
choose? Peace, a whole lot more enjoyable,
isn't it? Then follow after that. That's being a vessel of honor.
I pray God will make us vessels of honor and enable us to war
against that vessel of dishonor that's in us. Let's bow together. Our Father, I would thank you
for your unspeakable love, untold mercy and grace to your people
to make sinful men and women such as we are vessels of honor,
vessels of your glory, the glory of your mercy and your grace
to sinners. Father, how we thank you. Father, we thank you for
this word. We thank you for the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray you'd bless it.
Bless your words that's been preached to your glory. Bless
it to the hearts of your people that we might believe in and
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might find the faith
to continue the spiritual warfare against this old man that you've
caused us to never bring that vessel of dishonor, the vessel
of our, the filth of our works and mix it with the glorious
purity of your grace and attempt to worship and please you. The
Father, give us the faith and the wisdom and the grace always
come before you, come before your throne, come to you in worship,
come to you in prayer, come to you in praise, come to you in
thanksgiving in the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Him and Him alone. It's in His blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. would please stand and turn to
song number 34, Immortal and Visible. Immortal, invisible, God only
wise, In line, inaccessible, hid from our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious,
The Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we
praise. Unresting, unhasting, and silent
as thou, Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might. Thy justice like mountains, thy
soaring above, Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and
love. To all life Thou givest to both
great and small, In all life Thou livest the true life of
all. We blossom and flourish as leaves
on the tree, And wither and perish, but not change a flea. Great Father of glory, pure Father
of light, Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight. All praise we would render, O
help us to see, Tis only the splendor of Thine height of Thee.