If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 2. I want to look at several things
in this chapter tonight, but primarily at verse 21, which
speaks of a vessel of honor being purged, sanctified, and made
meat for the master's use. Now Paul is instructing in this
epistle a young pastor, and he here gives a parable to illustrate
what he's about to tell him. He tells us down here in verse
20, but in a great house, in a great house, There are not
only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth
and some to honor and some to dishonor. And the great house
here spoken of is the church of the living God. Unless I'm
just totally deceived, this is what he's talking about. The
house of faith, he's talking about the church as it is in
this world. Now, I know God's church spans
all time and all generations and so on. But here in particular,
I think he's talking about the church as it appears in this
world. And he's talking to these pastors
about pastoring those churches in these different parts of that
country. And so he gives this illustration
of the great house and begins to speak about these vessels.
And you may look around tonight and say to yourselves, and they've
done a wonderful job here, I don't mean to take away from that at
all, but this is not a great house. What Paul's talking about here
is a great house. He's talking about a house that's
superior to all houses. He's talking about a great house. And this little building here
couldn't hold a candle. I've seen the National Cathedral
up in Washington, D.C., and you could probably put this church
in a restroom. I mean, it's a... We had to go
back a block and a half just to take a picture of it. And that's a great house, I suppose,
in the natural sense. Yet under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, Paul here likens, he likens these little assemblies,
he likens these churches, if you will, to a great house. And it's a great house because
it's designed by a great God. It's a great house because of
its designer, and it's a great house because he builds it. I
took pride, I was a builder most of my life and I took pride in
the houses that I built. And I wanted folks to know when
I got done that I built this house and my name was in that
house and I wanted that house to be right and everything about
it to be right. And here this is a great house
because God himself builds it. And it's a great house because
of its foundation. Upon this rock, he said, will
I build my church? And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Paul tells us we're built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. So it's a great house because
of its foundation. And it's a great house because
of who owns it. God owns this house. This is
his house. And it's a great house because
of who abides in it and who rules over it. And it's a great house
because it was built to His honor and it was built to glorify Him. And it's a great house because
of its cost. You know what the cost of this
great house is? The blood of Christ. The blood
of Christ. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. It's a great house. Redeemed,
Peter said, with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but manifest in these last days for you. It's a great house, and within
this house, there are vessels, all kinds of vessels, some of
honor and some of dishonor. And I was talking with Brother
David before the service, and I said I was surprised that a
lot of the commentators are kind of split here as to what these
vessels are, but I'm kind of the mind of old Ralph Barnard.
This Bible sheds a lot of light on them commentators. It sure
does. And I believe that these vessels
are men and women. Some who are there because of
professions they've made and decisions they've made and others
are there because God did a work of grace in their hearts. Some
are gold and silver and some are wood and clay. But they're
all there by his design. They're all there by design and
they're all there to serve a purpose, yet some to honor and some to
dishonor. Well preacher, why do you think
this refers to saved and unsaved men and women? Because this is
not the only place where Paul uses this example. He talks about
it again over in Romans chapter nine. In Romans 9, Paul said,
all of those who try to blame God for their ignorance and rebellion,
he says this to them, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Have not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another to dishonor? What if God, now listen to the
language here, what if God willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known endured with much long suffering these vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction? What if God, what if God allowed
them to continue? What if God endured their rebellion
and suffered their ungodliness and ignorance and used them the
way a farmer uses straw after it's been separated from the
grain? Use them in a common way. Use them like a farmer takes
that straw and puts it in a dirty stall to clean it up to be trodden
underfoot by bees. uses it, uses it in a common
way. And God uses ungodly men who
are fit for destruction, ungodly men who refuse the light God
has given them, the light of conscience and some even the
light of the gospel. And he gives them over to a reprobate
mind and yet he uses them. He uses them. And he uses them as servants,
and he uses them to accomplish his purpose. And he uses all
men in this great house. All men, all women in this great
house. And then he tells us in verse
23, that he might not known the riches of his glory. on the vessels
of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom he had
called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now
I don't live in a great house, but I have in my house vessels
of honor and vessels of dishonor. I have things that I bought knowing
that I'd just use them for a while and throw them away. Bought them
with that intention. Have them in my house with that
intention. And when they serve their purpose, I cast them away
forever. And I have other things which
I put on display, things of value, things I hope to pass on to my
children. And I don't look on these things
the same way. I don't treat these things the
same way. Some of these things are vessels of honor. Some of
these things are vessels of value. Some of these things have a different
purpose than other things. You know, I've visited a lot
of houses in my lifetime, but I've never been in one who put
the trash can as a centerpiece on the dining room table. Never
have. And neither does God take these
ungodly men and make them centerpieces in his house. But he uses them. He uses them. I've never seen
an old throw rug hung up on the wall like a piece of tapestry.
Yet these things all serve a purpose, and even so, they're all in the
great house of faith. They're all in God's church.
You see them every day. You pastors here, you have them
in your church, and I have them in mine. And they're in this
great house of faith, vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 19, it said, there must be heresies
among you. There must be. that they which
are approved may be made manifest unto you. And if you'll go through
this chapter, you'll notice that he mentions Moses. Moses has
to have his jannies and jamborees to manifest to his people their
folly. And Adam and Eve had their cane,
and Noah had their ham, and Isaac had his Esau. And the great house
of God has its vessels of honor and dishonor. So how is it that
these vessels of honor find their place in God's house? How does
a vessel of honor, how did this vessel, all made of the same
lump, all come from the same clay, all had the same background,
all of them under the condemnation of God. How did these vessels
get to be gold and silver? How did these vessels find their
place into the master's house where they're put on display
as trophies of his grace? How did they get there? How did
they get there? How did they find their place
in this great house of God? Look back at verse 19 of our
text. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He
knows. I don't know. I don't know. And that's why I travel and go
where God opens his providence, and I preach, because I don't
know who they are. But I have a confidence, and
this is my confidence right here, he does. He does. Lord knoweth them that are his.
Vessels of honor are vessels chosen, ordained, and predestinated
of God unto the adoption of children. They're vessels of mercy aforeprepared
unto glory. And these vessels are vessels
chosen by the master of the house. He knows them. He lets them go
for a while, just like the prodigal. The father let him go for a while,
but he didn't throw away the ring, did he? He didn't throw
away the ring. He didn't disown his son. He
didn't go burn the robe. He didn't take it down and give
it away to the Salvation Army. He hung it up and kept it prepared.
He kept a calf fatted in the stall. He knows His own. He knows His
own. He knows them that are His, and
His provenient grace attends their way. His providence leads
them to the shepherd, and His Spirit guides His preachers to
them. He knows them who are His, and
in time, He makes them to know Him. The great house of God is
a house of faith and this is how it's built. Living stones
laid into that temple. This is how it's ruled. This
is how it's ruled and this is how it functions. This is a house
of faith. A house of faith. By grace are
you saved. through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. And Paul begins this epistle
by telling us this, he said, God has saved us. Who did? Somebody told me the other day,
he said, well, I got saved. I said, you did? God has saved us. That's the
language of believers. God has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought
life and immortality to life through the gospel. What purges these vessels from
all common vessels is the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And how is a man brought to see
that? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Exactly what's taking place here tonight. That's how
he comes to see that. He'll never see this. He can
read all the books he wants to. He can read this book. He'll
never come to see this until God sends him a preacher. Why? Why? Why is it that way? Because
it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That's why. Preach a wonderful plan for your
life, but it won't purge you from these dishonoring vessels.
Preach man's potential, but it won't purge you from your dishonoring
state of being. You can preach morality and moral
reform, but it's not sufficient to do the job. The way God makes
men meet for the master's use is through the person and work
of Jesus Christ. He'll never be fit for the master's
use until God teaches him these things. Let me see if I can take
a few verses here in 2 Timothy 2 and show you four things, very
briefly, that Paul tells us about men being purged and sanctified
and made meat for the master's use. The first thing I want you
to see is the means. How can an old fallen son of
Adam purge himself, be sanctified, and be enabled to be used as
a vessel of honor by the master himself? And the answer is through
the hearing and believing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I say this to you, God won't
use you as a pastor here unless you preach this gospel, unless
you're faithful to this gospel. He'll remove you from his church.
And this church will never minister to men unless they learn and
believe and rejoice and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything purposed by the Father
and accomplished by the Son comes to the sinner by way of gospel
preaching. That's how it comes. and the
work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with that gospel. He does not
magnify himself, or promote himself, or speak of himself, and I'm
talking about the Holy Spirit now. But he takes of the things
of Christ and shows them unto you. How does he show them? Through
a preacher. In this gospel, he discovers
the divine revelation of how God can save sinners and still
be God. He becomes acquainted with the
eternal will of God in Christ Jesus. He comes to know something
of the glory of the accomplished redemption of Christ and they
discover Christ as the God-man. The mediator, one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. He's the great high priest,
they come to understand that and hear that. He's the great
high priest who's able to save to the uttermost all who come
unto God by him. They come to see him as the covenant
head of God's chosen people, their representative and substitute
the surety of all God's covenant promises. I don't know if you've
ever read this or not, but over in the book of Galatians, Paul
said, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He didn't say seeds as of many, but as of one and thy seed, which
is Christ. This is the covenant surety of
all the eternal promises of God. And our ministry is that God
was in Christ reconciling sinful men to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. And we preach not to give you
something to do to make yourselves acceptable to God, but to point
you to an all-sufficient Savior who's able to save even to the
chief of sinners. He said, he saved me and sent
me forth first as an example of how far down Christ will go
to save a sinner. In Acts 13, 38, he preached this,
this chief of sinners whom God had saved. He preached and he
said, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And we're
purged and sanctified and made meat for the master's use as
we hear and understand and believe and rejoice in the gospel of
God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And then secondly, I want
you to see why we preach. Why do we preach? Why do you
preach the way you preach? My sister asked me that one time,
my younger sister. She said, why do you preach the
way you, why do you preach so dogmatic? Why do you preach in such a way
that you're not leaving any argument, you're not leaving any room for
any kind of a response? She said, why do you preach that
way? Why do you preach that way? Why
are you willing to sacrifice? Why are you willing to sacrifice
yourself? She came up and seen our little
house up in Taylor and she came over and patted me on the head.
She just went like that and walked away. I like my house and table. Why are these preachers willing
to sacrifice their health and sacrifice themselves? I'll tell
you, it's not healthy to sit in a chair six, eight hours a
day, is it? Well, you get up and you can't walk, and your
legs are numb, and you sacrifice your health. Go to any length to bring this
gospel to those whom God gathers to hear it. And there's two reasons,
two reasons. And the first and greatest reason
is this, for the glory of God. For the glory of God. And I tell
you, the last part of verse four here in our text, he said that
we might please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. We preach for the glory of God.
I want to please Him. And I tell you, I want folks
to believe. I want you to believe what I'm preaching. I'll take
time. I'll talk with you. I'll pray
for you. I want you to believe. I want
you to believe. I want to preach in such a way
that you can understand what I'm saying. Now, God will have
to enable you to believe it, but I want to preach so you can
understand at least what I'm saying. I want folks to believe. I want folks to find what God
alone can give them. I want them to experience the
peace and joy that God has given me through the gospel. I want you to experience that
peace and joy of an enlightened saint, one whose sins are gone
forever. Gone forever. One who's looked
upon and treated as a righteous servant by God himself. I first
read that thing where he said in the scriptures, well done,
thy good and faithful servant. He can't be talking about me,
but he is. But he is. One who's been washed in regeneration
and renewed by the Holy Ghost. But even if you despise me and
despise my gospel, I still wanna preach for the glory of God.
I still wanna preach for His glory because that's my first
reason for preaching. And my second reason for preaching
is found in verse 25. Look down there at that. in meekness
instructing those who oppose themselves, if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,
and that they might recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,
who are taken captive by him at his will. Men and women walk,
Paul said, according to the prince of the power of the air. Did
you know that? You can read about it over in
Ephesians chapter two. That's what it is to be dead
in trespasses and sins. He said, wherein you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, that spirit who now worketh in the children
of disobedience, and were by nature the children of wrath
even as others. Captives of a fallen nature,
easily duped into serving the prince of darkness, but who are set free by the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Set free. Served Him all their
lives, followed Him, listened to everything He had to say,
and one day set free. Set free. And then thirdly, I
want you to see my confidence. Here's my confidence. God knoweth
them that are His. See it down there in verse 19?
This house is his house. He's the wise master builder. It's God, Paul said, who hath
built all things. He's the builder. And he's before
all things. It says this of Christ over in
Colossians chapter one. He's before all things. All things
were made by him and for him. And he's determined the times
before appointed and set the bounds of our habitation. He
inspires, he teaches, he leads, he finds his lost sheep and lays
them on his shoulder and carries them safely back to the fold.
And Paul said, I know, I know this, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded of this, I'm
persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto
him against that day. That's my confidence. My confidence
is in him. It's not in me. Sometimes I'll
study and study and study and I'll get to a text and I just
fumble and stumble and fall around and can't get it out and when
it goes, I take my notes home all the time and throw them in
the trash can. And Kathy will go over and dig them out and
put them on the internet and that'll be the message that everybody
responds to. That great message I thought
I had, everybody says, uh-huh, and that's it. This is my confidence. My confidence
is in Him. It's in Him. All these things
which I've committed unto Him. And then lastly, my hope. Here's
my hope. Hope both for myself and those
who hear me. that they might be purged from
these ungodly vessels and be manifested as vessels of honor,
sanctified, sanctified, and made meat for the master's use. Only God can do it. Only God
can do it. But if He does it, He can take
the chief of sinners That's what Paul called himself. And I don't
think he just did that out of humility. I think he looked at
his case compared to other cases. And folks think they're going
uphill when they get in religion. Paul said he went downhill. That's
how he got to be the chief of sinners, because of his religious
works. And he said, and God saved this
chief of sinners. But when God saved the chief
of sinners, the worst of the bunch, it was him who penned
half the New Testament. It was this man, this man, this
chief of sinners, this most undeserving of all men that God gifted and
worked in and purged and sanctified and made him meat for the master's
use. And my soul, what meat he was. Oh, my soul. Could be God could
do that today. Let's pray that he will. Our
Father, we thank you. Thank you for your word. Oh,
how lost we'd be if left to our own imaginations and our own
philosophies and our own traditional understanding. But God in his
kindness has purged us from men and given us an understanding
and given us an enlightenment and caused us to enter into these
glorious mysteries. All use these things which we
prepared. Use the Scriptures itself. Use the Word itself, which we've
read tonight, and enlighten dead sinners for the glory of God.
We ask it for Christ's sake.