A Sanctified Vessel

It's impeccable, it's impregnable.

The Bible says the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

But the local church is far from perfect.

And obviously there's a lot of different local churches and

both of those the, the church as a whole and the local church are

described by the Lord in in Matthew's Gospel.

And like I said, we've talked about that.

He mentions the, the universal church in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

And when I say universal, I say that in its pure form.

I'm not talking about in an ecumenical gathering of the

World Council of Churches or, or something like that.

Those are that's wickedness. But where he mentioned it as

being founded upon the rock and being invincible, that is the

church that I'm talking about, just all the churches as a

whole. Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I

will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it. He mentions the local church and

the functions of the local church in Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

And remember just last week or the week before, I preached you

a message about where two or three are gathered.

And that's Matthew chapter 18. And you have the context text of

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

that passage leading up to that. And he's talking about the the

reception of the believers, his little children.

He's talking about the restoration of of backsliders as

sheep having gone astray. And he's talking about the

reconciliation of the brethren. But that that chapter portrays

the local church as being in need of corrective ministry,

right? The the local church is not

going to be perfect and we always have things that need to

be addressed, things that need to be taken care of and of of

course, some members need to be restored.

Some members need to be expelled.

The Bible makes that pretty clear there in Matthew chapter

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

18 and other places. But both the the universal

church and the local church were future things when the Lord

spoke. The church was not in existence

yet when Christ was talking about it, but he discussed those

subjects quite adequately with adequately with, you know, these

two initial references. By the way, each of Paul's

epistles were written to local churches and every one of them

was was directed at problems that they were having within

that local church. Now, what Paul did with most of

those things was, Hey, here's a lot of good things that you're

doing. These are the things that I

appreciate. These are the things that you're

doing well and you need to just keep, you know, keep keep doing

those things in and make sure they stay strong.

But here's a few. Things that you need to to to

get taken care of. God did that in Revelation

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and chapter 3. Here's the seven churches, and

here's the things that I really appreciate about it.

But be careful because here's some things that you need to

fix, right? So that the, the, the gates of

hell shall not prevail against God's church as a whole.

But there are times when the local church needs to be purged

and needs to be cleansed. And that's what we have in

Second Timothy chapter 2 and verse #20 But in a great house

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

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 shall 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 on the Lord out of a pure heart.

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that

they do gender strife. So here in Second Timothy

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 verse #20 Paul sees the local church as a, as a

great, great house. And it contains just a variety

of utensils. And in the local church

fellowship, you're going to attract the unsaved as well as

the same. Now, mostly it's going to be the

same, but you're going to people that come in from the outside

that don't know Jesus Christ as their savior.

It's the way that is. And honestly, it's a good thing

when you attract people from the outside that come in that are

looking for the answers. And our job is to give it to

them. But in a, in a great house,

you're going to have those who are saved and those who are

unsaved. You're going to have some who

who grew up in church and have learned how to speak the

language of the church, and they're going to act like

they're saved, but they have, no, they're not anymore saved

than somebody that's living out in the world and doing whatever

they want to. They have the knowledge in their

heads, but they have nothing in their hearts.

They've been baptized, they've been received into membership,

they've been entrusted in areas of service, but they have never

been saved at all. And others might profess

conversion, maybe in response to some pressure that was put on

them when they were a child or when they were in a special

meeting or something like that. But they've never showed

evidence of a new life in Christ.

I met a guy a couple years back who said that his testimony was

that he got saved when he was 5. Years old.

But he only did it, and he said he remembered this very plainly,

only did it because he was trying to make his dad happy.

He knew that his dad would be happy if he got saved.

So he went forward and he accepted Christ as a Savior.

But almost immediately after that, he began to have doubts.

And he graduated from high school with doubts about whether

or not he was saved. And then he graduated from

college with doubts about whether or not he was saved.

And he had gone to a Bible college, he graduated and he

went into a youth ministry, became a youth pastor.

And even while he was a youth pastor, he had doubts of whether

or not he was even saved. And finally he got to the point

where he said, I can't handle this anymore.

I'm going to get this settled. And as a youth pastor, he came

down the aisle on a Sunday morning and he accepted Christ

as his Savior. You know one way or another that

the person that comes into the church and even finds a way into

the pulpit sometimes or into the office of a Deacon sometimes,

Some might not even be saved. And the Bible makes that pretty

clear. In a church, you're going to

have all kinds of different vessels right in their hearts.

Whether it doesn't matter if you've been in church for 30

years, it doesn't matter if you've become a Deacon, it

doesn't matter if you're on staff in a church somewhere, it

doesn't know. Those things don't matter.

What matters is whether or not you know Jesus Christ as your

Savior because if you don't, you're still a stranger to

Christ. Doesn't matter what position you

find yourself in. There's the thinking is worldly.

The responses are the responses of a natural man, not a

spiritual man and their and their and their service is

blemish turn. Keep your finger there in second

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 2. We're coming back to it, but but

turn over to Matthew Chapter 7 because here's what happens.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

There's there's a lot of people who end up in churches and they

might be educated and they might be polished and they might be

capable members of a community, but in the church, they're

counted by God as vessels of dishonor because they do not

know the Lord. And I, and I'm not trying to get

you to doubt your salvation, but what you need to understand is

that you need to make sure that you know Jesus Christ as your

Savior. It doesn't matter what your

background is, it doesn't matter if you've grown up in church.

Every person has to make that decision for themselves.

Matthew Chapter 7 ought to be a very, very sobering passage for

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

us in verse #21 Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord

shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he that do it the

will of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not

prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils,

and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart

from me, ye that work iniquity. Who's the ones that are up there

saying, I'm prophesying this in the name of Jesus Christ?

Who's the ones that are up there casting out devils in the name

of Jesus Christ? Is that your your bum on the

street? Is that the person that never

goes to church? No, it's the people who are who

are leading the churches. It's the people who are there in

the front doing ministry. And if and if those people, the

ones who are saying, Lord, Lord, I'm prophesying in your name and

I'm casting out devils in your name and doing all of these

things are not even saved. Then imagine how many people in

churches across the country today are sitting in church

thinking that because they've been there a long time.

Or thinking that because they've spoken in tongues or thinking

that because at some point they got baptized along the way, that

they're on their way to heaven. And they're going to stand

before God someday. And they're going to say, look

at all the wonderful things that I've done for you.

I was I was in church my whole life.

I was in usher. I taught Sunday school.

I did this, I did that and he's going to say I never knew you

depart from me. Ye that work iniquity because

it's not about what you do for Christ.

It's about your relationship to him.

Once you have that relationship with him, then you ought to do

for Christ. But until then nothing matters.

And so some vessels in the house are are costly and some vessels

are common. And the same is true of the

church. Some members are pure gold.

They give the highest possible kind of service and their

character and their faithfulness are of great worth.

Other believers, the Bible says, in fact, if you want to go back

over to second Timothy chapter 2, you can see the, the

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

different comparisons that he's making.

In a great house. There are not only vessels of

gold, but then he says vessels of silver.

They're made of, of genuine metal, but it may, it doesn't

come up to the excellence of gold.

And then he says, and some of wood and of earth.

The earth that he's talking about would be the unregenerate

people there in a church, whether it's somebody who's

already joined the church or somebody who's been coming to

the church for a while, it's an unregenerate member.

They're just made of common clay.

They're earthen vessels. Earthen.

Vessels or vessels of. Clay kind of give the idea that

that it's service that is given by just an unregenerate person,

but they also mentions wood vessels of wood.

And that that's the suggestion there that it's a man made

workmanship, human nature, human effort or doing things in our

own strength. I I think the.

Easiest way to explain that would be to say that it's a

carnal Christian. It's somebody that does know

Jesus Christ as their Savior, but they're not living to please

the Lord. They only show up every so

often. They only, they're only going to

do so much. Don't ask them to do anything

else. It's just, it's just somebody

who is, who is a Christian. But just not living for the

Lord. And the work they accomplished,

the, the work that's accomplished by spiritual

believers is the, is the highest order, the gold, the silver,

right? The work that's accomplished by

many times well meaning but unregenerate church members.

I mean, I don't I don't think you'd be in a church for 30

years as an unregenerate unregenerate member if you

didn't have if you weren't well meaning if you didn't want to

try to do something that you thought was pleasing the Lord.

But on the other hand that there's very little to be

commended about that. The Bible says just like a a

clay pot can crack and break and and just like a wooden container

can can chip and become damaged. That's that's the service that's

done by an unsaved person. Those flaws are going to show

eventually. And I, and I'll think about

this, you know, fairly often, only God knows people's hearts

and only God knows who's saved and who's not saved.

But I believe that one of the reasons why so many churches

seem so ungodly in the way that they dress and act, in the way

that they are jumping around and dancing around on the stage and

they think, they think that they're doing this in the name

of Christ. And that's exactly.

What you have there in Matthew Chapter 7, I think there's a lot

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

of churches. Many of them are your big non

denominational churches, but it doesn't matter if it's big or

not. It can be a small church that's

doing the same thing, but but a lot of your churches fit into

that category where they, they, this is church.

And I mean, you, you hear about this all the time.

We, we just do church different, right?

We're just, we're just trying to be attractive to everybody.

We don't want people to come in and feel like they're at church.

We just, we try to be everything to everybody so that people will

come in, right? That's, that's the mindset.

And you look at some of these churches and they have thousands

of people going there on Sundays and you think, how is God

blessing that church? How is God blessing them?

They have thousands of people every Sunday.

How does God give them those blessings?

Well, the truth is, it's not really God's blessings.

Right. I mean, if you want to talk

about that being a measure of success, then some of the

biggest churches happen on Sunday afternoons in the NFL,

right? Because they'll pack out a

stadium of 50 sixty 7080 thousand people that are

screaming and hollering and all focused on everything that's

going on. And that doesn't that doesn't

equal success in the eyes of God.

Just because you have numbers right, just because you're

getting people in. But I think what's?

Happening is many of those churches are being led by people

who are not even saved. Many will say to me in that day,

not just a few, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have

we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils,

and in thy name done many wonderful works.

There's going to be a lot of people that are standing before

God saying that someday. That's why the Bible says the

road is narrow and few. There be that finding the road

that's the right Rd. leading to heaven, The road that's leading

to hell and destruction, the Bible said is wide.

And there's a lot of people on that road.

And of course you can look at the world and see that there's

so many people that don't know Jesus Christ as their savior.

But I think it's a lot of people that are in these churches that

think they're on the narrow way and they're on the wide Rd.

following everybody else to that hell and destruction.

But we look at those churches and we wonder is God blessing

them? And it it God's not blessing

them. They're vessels of of wood at

the very at the very best. And mostly they're just earthen

clay vessels. What does the Bible say about a

house that's built on sand instead of on the rock?

Hey, look, the guy that built this house on the sand and the

guy that built this house in the rock, both looked the same for a

while, right? It, it didn't, he didn't get

halfway through and the, and the, everything collapsed.

No, he built this house on the sand and he was living in the

house and then the storms came and then the winds blew and then

the house collapsed, right? Something that is not built on

the rock, something that is not built on the solid foundation of

Jesus Christ is going to come crashing down.

And why is it that in all of these big neo non denominational

churches that are just just there as a giant Country Club 1

after another, you see these pastors disgraced, kicked out of

the ministry and the church just dwindles down to nothing, right?

Because it's not built on the solid foundation, It's not built

on the rock, it's not built on Jesus Christ and it's not going

to last. It can't last.

Jesus Christ is the foundation, and if it's not built on Him and

upon His Word, it cannot and will not stand.

The Bible is filled with examples of of earthen and

wooden vessels, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Philetus, lots of

different people, but it's also. Filled prime examples of gold

and silver vessels. And I've if I asked you to give

me a couple examples, I'm sure you could.

Paul, Timothy. Titus, Joseph, Daniel, David.

So Many. Others that that that would fit

into that category. And by way of introduction, I

want to say that you better make sure that you're one of his.

In 10,000 years from now, it will not matter what you did for

a job. 10,000 years from now, it's not going to matter where

you lived 10,000 years from now. The only thing that's going to

matter is where you live then. And it's either going to be

heaven or it's going to be hell. But for those who are saved, it

also matters how you live. God is looking for vessels of

honor and so this morning I want to look at 3 characteristics of

a sanctified vessel. How does God want us to live as

participants and members of his local church?

I want to take a few minutes to talk about that.

Preach to you about that this morning.

A sanctified vessel and. I hope you'll pray.

Along with me, as I pray here at the beginning of the message

that that you'll help ask God to help you evaluate where you are.

Are you a vessel that's just a wooden vessel?

Are you a silver vessel or are you a gold vessel?

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for

the opportunity we have to be here this morning.

I pray that you'd help us to to be a late awake and alert and to

to hear the message that you have for us this morning.

God, may you help it to be conviction to us where we need

to be convicted. May may it be a help to us where

we are already strong in some areas.

Maybe. God, I pray that it would be a

help to all of us and that we'd have the power of the Holy

Spirit evident in the service here this morning.

Thank you again for all that you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.

The first thing I want you to see is that a sanctified vessel

will be purged. A sanctified vessel will be

purged, the Bible says in verse #21 If a man therefore purge

himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified,

and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every goods,

every good work. God wants a clean vessel.

God wants a clean vessel. Oh, how can God demand that out

of me? He knows that I'm not perfect.

He knows that I don't have everything all together.

He knows that I'm a flawed human being.

Well, look, do you demand a clean vessel when you go to a

restaurant? Oh, you know that the dishwasher

is not perfect. You know that he's not going to

get everything right. You would demand a clean vessel

though. Purge himself from these.

God says that means a separation from the vessels of dishonor.

Timothy was to separate himself from the vessels of dishonor,

and Paul had already told him to shun men.

If you go back, go back up, just a couple verses in that chapter,

2 verse #17 and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is

Hymenaeus and Philetus. He called them out by name and

said, these guys are poisoned, stay away from them.

They'll eat you up like a like a cancer.

And Paul had already told him to shun men like Hymenaeus and

Philetus and all of those who are just vain, profane and vain

babblings, He says. And it's my job as the pastor to

make sure that the false doctrine is not circulating

throughout the church and that and, and it's not leading people

astray, but it's also the responsibility of the people to

make sure that they are avoiding false doctrine.

By the way, my job as the pastor is to to know what kind of

doctrines are circulating, right?

And and, and and look, I think it's good that people are.

Having conversations, doctrinal conversations, right?

It's better than everybody sitting there talking about

sports and everything else, right?

But my job as the pastor is to be the gatekeeper, right?

What if, What if I just allowed anything and everything into the

church and this guy came in with this idea and I said, well, he

must have got it from somewhere. I guess that's fine.

And this guy came in with that idea and well, he must have got

that from somewhere. That's fine.

No, my job is to, is to head off the doctrinal error, right?

And the same thing is true when it comes to the standards of the

church, right? We, we have a certain standard

that we expect especially the workers to, to hold themselves

to, right? What if I just let everybody do

anything they wanted to in the church?

It would be chaos because everybody has different ideas

about what they think the right thing is to do, right?

And this is not, by the way, if you're sitting there and

thinking, man, it would sure be nice to be the pastor and get up

and get to tell everybody what to do every.

This is not an enviable, enviable position, All right?

This is, this is this is a position that God put me in.

It's not an enviable position. I don't like telling people what

to do and what not to do. I don't like it at all.

I hate it in fact, because I'm the bad guy and there's people

that don't like me and there's people that get mad at me and

there's people that don't like what I say and don't like what I

do. And then then you do one thing

to make this person happy and then you make another person

mad. You can't win.

You can't win. So my job is not to follow you

and what you want. I don't get up here on Sunday

and say, what would you like me to preach on today?

What would you like me to do when it comes to this area?

I mean, you, you tell me and then I'll just, I'll just, we'll

just try to see if we can get. Everybody to get on board with

it. Right.

That's not, it's, it doesn't work that way.

My job is to make sure that everything is purged out of the

church that's going to harm the body, right?

The same way that you do it when it comes to any kind of medicine

that you would take, right? Because that's what has to

happen for it to stay healthy. And I have to be the bad guy.

And I will be the bad guy because I'm not following you,

I'm following Christ. And everything that I do, I try

to do with a biblical basis and a biblical backing and a

biblical foundation. It's not just my idea.

And this is how I want it to be done.

So this is how we're going to do it.

Everything that I do has a biblical basis for it.

And that's my job. And even though it's a difficult

job, and even though it's a, it's something that I don't

always like, I'm going to do it because I'm not going to answer

to you someday. I'm going to answer to God

someday and I want to be able to say I did everything that I

could to try to lead them from where they were to where they

needed to be. That's my job as your pastor and

I hope you'll be willing to put yourself under that authority to

help me help you get to where God wants you to be.

That's what the whole premise of Hebrews chapter 13 is.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves

for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that

they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is

unprofitable for you. It's unprofitable for you when

when you rebel against the authority that God has put in

your life, you're not hurting the pastor, you're hurting

yourself. I can it can roll off of me,

right? I can handle it.

I'm a I'm a big boy. I can handle it.

It's hurting you and it's hurting your family and it's

hurting your ability to to really be used by God.

And so my job as the pastor is to make sure that this church as

a vessel is a vessel that God can use.

But a church is not just a thing.

A church is made-up of people and you are the church.

And so as an individual in this church, your responsibility is

to be a clean vessel before. God.

The word purge is only mentioned two times in the New Testament

here and in first Corinthians chapter 5 and forsake a time

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I'll read it to you. The Bible says this at verse #7

purge out there for the old leaven that you may be a new

lump as you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover as

sacrifice for us. Now that obviously goes all the

way back to the Old Testament talks about the fact that on the

Passover when they when they celebrated the Passover, they

were supposed to have every every bit of leaven out of their

house. Leaven is a picture of sin, and

so because leaven is a picture of sin, they were supposed to

purge their entire House of leaven.

You know what happens if you keep a little bit of leaven and

you put it in your bread? Nobody's going to know it

because it's all mixed together in one big lump.

But when does it come out? When you stick it in the oven.

And everybody's going to know. Why is your loaf so high

compared to mine? You must have put leaven in your

bread, right? And look, it's the same thing.

There's a house that's built on sand and a house that's built on

the rock, and they both look the same until the storm's gone.

And the same is true. You as a Christian can sit in

church and look perfectly fine and everybody looks at you and

says, wow, he must be a pretty good Christian.

He's here all the time. He's faithful to do this and

he's involved in that. And he's a person that that that

you can always count on. He must be a good Christian.

And then one day. The bread rises and it's pretty

obvious that you didn't have the leaven out of your life.

All right. It's, it's sad to me.

It's very sad. I mentioned to the men on Friday

morning, there's a, there's a guy that I've, that I've known

for many years and I don't know him.

Like he knows who I am. I know who he is.

He's a pastor out in Oklahoma, pastor for 35 years.

And it came out just, I don't know, maybe a week or two ago

that he's had an affair with at least three women in this

church, possibly more. Here's a guy that gets up and

preaches every week. He teaches in a Bible college

that's not far from where his his church is.

He produces a magazine, a Baptist magazine once a month.

Here's a guy that had a life that was full of Levin.

And to the outside world, it looks perfectly the same.

But it's a, it's a vessel that's not been purged.

And eventually, guess what happens?

It comes out. You might get away with it for a

while, people might not. Notice it for a while, but it's

going to come out. Purge out there for the old life

in the Bible says see a cup with a little bit of dirt on it is no

longer clean. The cup can be 99% clean.

But what happens when you go to a restaurant and they bring you

a glass and it's got a little piece of corn stuck right in the

top edge? You say, I'll just pick that off

and throw it out. The rest of the cup is clean.

You say that or do you say? I didn't pay for that and so I'd

like you to take that back and give me a new cup, right?

That's what you say. Because a 99% clean cup is not a

clean cup, right? You want 100% clean cup and so

does God, right? If a cup that is completely

dirty touches another cup, it's going to get dirty too.

But only by disassociating ourselves from wickedness and

from sin can we be cleaned vessels can we be purged,

vessels that are fit for God's use.

Second Timothy chapter 2 right there in verse #9 the end of

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

that 19. Sorry, the end of that verses.

And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from

iniquity. You claim to be a Christian.

You call yourself a Christian. You're naming the name of

Christ. Depart from iniquity.

That means get it all out, purge it out of your life.

If you're a Christian, then ought That ought to be the

characterization of your life. Are you going to make a mistake

here and there? Sure.

Are you going to sin every now and then?

Absolutely. Because none of us are perfect.

But as Christians, our goal should be to be as close to

Christ and become more like Christ, not less.

Our goal should not be to see how much of the the world we can

bring into our life and how much of the of the world's mindset

and the world's philosophy and the world's pleasures and all of

those things that I can bring into my life and still

technically call myself a Christian.

You'd have no idea who this is. I saw a post from somebody the

other day that I'm associated with.

Doesn't even live anywhere closer around here so don't try

to think about. I wonder who he's talking about.

You'll have no idea who it is but this guy put a post and he

said this is he said something. Along the lines of, oh, I really

enjoyed hanging out at such and such bar until one O clock in

the morning and then we went over to such and such other

place and that was really cool. And then we went to church on

Sunday morning and then we went to such and such on Sunday

afternoon. And my, my first thought was,

what did you get out of church? Number one, you're probably

drunk when you got there, but #2 how can you just act like all of

those things are the same? They're not.

You didn't just go to the bar and go to this bar and then go

to church and then go to some other bar, right?

That's, that's not what a Christian does.

Just because you go to church doesn't make you a Christian.

If you are a Christian and you truly are a Christian, then you

should be staying away from those things and getting more

and more like Christ, not less and less just because you can.

By the way, that includes movies that are produced by the world.

You know, I don't know if you remember this a couple years

ago. I don't, I don't even remember

exactly when it came out, but that new movie, that new Top Gun

movie that came out, everybody was talking about it and a

pastor and, and he had, he had done a lot of questionable

things already, but he was, his dad is very, very well known in

the independent fundamental Baptist circles and he became a

pastor. I don't know if he started a

church or took a church or what he did, but he pretty pretty

early on he started going in the in the wrong direction.

And but but still because of who his dad was and because he was a

pretty. Popular guy himself.

He's preaching all over the place and for all different

kinds of people. He put a post on Facebook about

oh. We went down and watched that

new Top Gun movie, best movie I've seen in many, many years.

And I was like, OK, well maybe I'll go see what this is about.

So I went and looked it up. That thing was filled.

I didn't watch it. I looked it up.

Before I watched it because I, I, I, I do that with every movie

that I watch. And if it's got something in it

that I know is not going to please Lord.

Cursing. Swearing.

Any of those things, I don't watch it right.

Does it limit what you can watch?

Absolutely it does. This thing was filled with

cursing, taking the Lord's name in vain, immorality.

And not just that, he decided to watch it in the privacy of his

own home and enjoy that movie. And, and, and he told the whole

world that he watched it. And he told his entire church

that it's OK to go watch movies that are filled with this

garbage in it. That is not a clean vessel.

That is not a vessel that is purged and fit for the masters

use. Our desire should be toward more

holiness, not less. Turn over to Psalm 51.

I think one of the reasons why most Christians are not living

lives of victory over sin is because we're trying to win the

victory ourselves. We try to self cleanse.

Well, if I, if I admit that this is a problem, then what are

people going to say about me? So you know what, from now on,

I'm determined I'm not going to do this anymore.

I'm not going to do that anymore.

Whatever it happens to be, before long we're right back

into it again. And then I don't know why I just

can't get victory over this thing because you're trying to

do it in your own strength. What we need is the heart of

David when sin broke him before God.

Psalm 51 and verse #7 David said, Purge me with hyssop and I

shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter

than snow. He was talking to God.

That's a strong purging. That's a strong cleansing.

But it was necessary for David to get his heart right with God.

There's a big difference between repentance and remorse.

Remorse is concerned with the consequences.

Repentance is your concern with your relationship with God.

I am broken over my sin because it hindered my relationship.

Most people are broken over sin because it hindered their their

their image, because it hindered their reputation.

That's remorse. I'm sorry for what I did because

it affected me. Repentance doesn't care what it

makes you look like, it just wants to have a relationship

with God. That's right.

And if we're to be purged vessels, God wants us to be

clean vessels, but he also wants us, wants us to be consecrated

vessels. A Christian should be, as the

Bible said, vessels unto honor sanctified, and meet for the

Master's use. Much of the work that goes on in

local churches in the name of service is worldly, and it's

carnal because it's being performed by unsaved church

members or by by Christians who are carnal at the very least.

In spite of that fact, God always has His gold and silver

vessels in the church. That word, translated honor in

verse #21 and Second Timothy chapter 2, is a testimony to the

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

value of God's gold and silver vessels in the church.

That word literally means value. Go vessels unto honor.

It's it's esteemed or it's precious.

And he says these are vessels that have value.

These are vessels that are esteemed.

They're vessels that are precious.

And that word. Sanctified, he says Sanctified

and Meat for the masters use. It gives the idea that they've

been set. Apart for God, if we're meat for

his use or fit for his use, and that means we're useful and

we're profitable for Him. Are you a consecrated vessel?

Have you set your life apart for the masters use?

Are you a vessel unto honor? Or would you have to say that

you are a vessel unto dishonor? Because there's only two

options, vessel unto honor or a vessel unto dishonor.

God's desire for you to be as is to be a Christian, that is, that

is consecrated for His use. He wants to use you, He wants to

use you, but He wants to use you as a clean vessel.

Not as one that's dirty, one that set apart for His use.

Not one that does everything that the world does and wants to

do and everything else and then comes in on Sunday and tries to

be clean. No, God wants a vessel that is

set apart for Him. I know I've read this before, so

some of you may have heard it, but I think it fits well here.

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found

myself in the room. There were no distinguishing

features except for the one wall covered with small index card

files. They were like the ones in

libraries that list titles by author or subject in

alphabetical order. This is before computers, by the

way, but these files, which stretch from floor to ceiling

and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different

headings. As I drew near the wall of

files, the first to catch my attention was one that read

Girls I have Liked. I opened it, began flipping

through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to

realize that I recognized the names written on each one.

And then, without being told, I knew exactly where I was.

This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog

system for my life. Here were written the actions of

my every moment, big and small in detail my memory couldn't

match. A sense of wonder and curiosity

coupled with horror stirred within me as I began randomly

opening files and exploring their content.

Some brought joy and sweet memories, others a sense of

shame and regret so intense that I would look over to my shoulder

to see if anyone was watching. A file named Friends was next to

one marked Friends I have Betrayed.

The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird.

Books I have read, lies I have told, comfort I have given,

jokes I have laughed at. Some were almost hilarious in

their exactness. Things I yelled at my brothers,

others I couldn't laugh at. Things I have done in my anger,

things I have muttered under my breath and never cease to be

surprised by the contents. Often there were many more cards

than I expected, sometimes fewer than I hoped.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived.

Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to each of

these thousands or even millions of cards?

But each card confirmed this. Truth.

Each was written in my own handwriting, each sign with my

signature. When I pulled out the file

marked TV Shows I have Watched, I realized the files grew to

contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly,

and yet after two or three yards I hadn't found the end of the

file. I shut it, shamed not so much by

the quality of shows, but more by the vast time I knew that

file represented. When I came to a file marked

Lustful Thoughts, I felt a chill run through my body, pulled the

file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and

drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed

content. I felt sick to think that such a

moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on

me. One thought dominated my mind.

No one must ever see these cards.

No one must ever see this room I have to destroy.

Them In insane frenzy, I yanked the file out.

Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the

cards. But as I took it one end and

began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single

card. I became desperate and pulled

out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to

tear it. Defeated and utterly helpless, I

returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the

wall, I let out a long self pitying sigh.

And then I saw it. The title bore people I have

shared the gospel with. The handle was brighter than

those around it, newer, almost unused.

I pulled on its handle in a small box not more than 3 inches

long, fell into my hands. I could count the cards it

contained on one hand. And then the tears came.

I began to weep sobs so deep that they hurt.

They started in my stomach and shook through me.

I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame from the

overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of files shelves

swirled in my tear filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of

this room. I must lock it up and hide the

key. But then, as I pushed away the

tears, I saw him. No, please, not Him.

Not here, anyone but Jesus. And I watched helpfully, as

helplessly, as he began to open the files and read the cards.

I couldn't bear to watch his response, and in the moments I

could bring myself to look at his face, I saw a sorrow deeper

than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to

the worst boxes. Why did he have to read

everyone? Finally, he turned and looked at

me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in his

eyes, but this wasn't a pity that angered me.

I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands, and began to

cry again. He walked over and put his arm

around me. He could have said so many

things, but he didn't say a word.

He just cried with me. Then he got up and walked back

to the wall of files starting at one end of the room.

He took out a file and 1 by 1 began to sign his name over mine

on each card. No, I shouted, rushing to him.

All I could find to say was no, no, as I pulled the card from

him. His name shouldn't be on these

cards, but there it was, written in red, so rich, so dark, so

alive. The name of Jesus covered mine.

It was written with his blood. He gently took the card back.

He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards.

I don't think I'll ever understand how he did it so

quickly. But the next incident seemed.

I heard him close the last file and walked back to my side.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and said it is

finished. I stood up and he led me out of

the room. There was no lock on its door.

There were still cards to be written.

I want to tell you something this morning.

Jesus Christ blood covers your sins, but He didn't save you, so

you could go right back to the world and live your life how you

want to live your life. He wrote His name over all of

those cards for you so that you could go and live for Him.

And that's what a sanctified vessel will do.

A sanctified vessel will be purged very quickly.

I want to give you the second point #2A sanctified vessel will

be prepared. Verse #21 The Bible says, if a

man therefore purged himself from these, he shall be a vessel

unto honor sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared

unto every good work. We've talked about this a quite

a bit, and so I don't want to spend a lot of time on this this

morning, but we should be prepared through study.

Second Timothy chapter 2 right there in verse #15 says Study to

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be

ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The truth is that we don't know what situation we're going to

end up in from day-to-day, what temptation we may face from

day-to-day, or what God might call us to do.

We need to. Study the Word of God and

memorize the word of God so that we can be prepared.

We have to be able to rightly divide the word of truth.

There's no honor and ignorance. Just because you don't know what

the Bible says doesn't mean that you that you are innocent.

Of the charges that might be laid against you when you don't

follow what God's word said, right?

You think about a police officer that pulls you over for going 90

and a 45 and he comes up to the door and he says, do you know

why I pulled you over? No, I have no idea.

You were going 90 and a 45-O. I didn't know the speed limit

was 45 here. Is he going to say, oh, very

valid excuse. Well, the speed limit's 45.

You just try to drive safely. No.

What's he going to say? That's your fault.

You should have looked for the speed limit sign.

It's 45 and you were going 90. Get in these handcuffs and get

in the back of my car, right? Ignorance is not an excuse.

Just because you don't study God's Word and you don't know

what God's Word says does not mean that you have a reason not

to obey it. And that's what we mean by

prepared through study, prepared through storms as well, though.

Second Timothy, chapter one verse #8 Be not thou therefore

ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,

but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel

according to the power of God. Verse 12.

For the which 'cause I also suffer these things,

nevertheless I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed

and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've

committed unto him against that day.

So prepared through study, prepared through storms, but

also prepared through striving. He says there in verse #22 of

Second Timothy chapter 2. Flee also youthful lusts.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

We often equate that verse with kids youthful lust.

Flee youthful lust. Hey you kids, you flee the

youthful lust. But a lot of commentators

estimate. That that that Timothy could

have been somewhere between 30 and 40 years old at that time.

It was just a young man compared to Paul, but the youthful lust

that he was talking about is the thing that starts in our youth

and sticks with us throughout our entire life.

See, a lust is just an unlawful desire.

Sure, it can be sensual, and that's a lot of times what we

associate lust with, but it can also be a lust for power, a lust

for position, a lust for prestige.

The list could go on and on. A lust for money or whatever it

happens to be. Paul says that we need to flee.

From those things, it's not an easy thing to do, but that's why

we have to strive to stay right with God.

But then he says follow righteousness, faith, charity,

peace. If you're going to run from

something, you should be running to something else, right?

If a lion was chasing you, you wouldn't run out and just go

into the open desert. You would try to find the

closest car or the closest house or something that you could run

to, right? So if you're fleeing one thing,

you should be following after something else, trying to get

somewhere else. And he says, follow after

righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them, that call on

the Lord out of a pure heart. Let me give you #3 turn over to

James chapter 1. If you will see, a sanctified

James 1 · chapter mention

vessel will be purged, A sanctified vessel will be

prepared, and lastly, A sanctified vessel will be

purified. James chapter 1, verse #27 I

James 1 · chapter mention

want you to see first of all, that you'll be purified on the

outside, pure religion, and undefiled before God and the

Father. Is this?

To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and.

To keep himself unspotted from the world.

Unspotted from the world is an indication of the outside.

We don't follow the world's fashion in dress, in music, in

the lifestyle, in anything. And that means we seek out those

who are living for the Lord, he says with them that call upon

the Lord out of the pure heart, right?

But it's also, it also means that we're going to be purified

on the inside. The outside is important, what

we might call the outward conformity, but the only but

that only matters when the inside is pure, right?

There's a lot of people who have figured out how to how to how to

conform on the outside. You look like a Christian.

You do the things that a Christian does, but that doesn't

count for anything if the inside is not pure.

Titus chapter 1 and verse #15 Unto the pure, all things are

Titus 1 · chapter mention

pure, but into them that are defiled and unbelieving is

nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him,

being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good

work reprobate. There are so many Christians who

live their entire lives with an outside conformity and never

know what it's like to be completely pure on the inside.

Maybe, maybe you're one of those Christians, especially if you've

grown up in church. You know exactly how to talk,

you know exactly how to dress, you know exactly how to carry

your Bible, you know exactly how to show up for church and all of

those other things. That's an outward conformity.

And, and again, you ought to look like a Christian if you

claim to be 1. But it doesn't matter if the

inside is not pure. And I, I, I, there's so many

Christians who spend the majority of their life, if not

all of their life, and never know what it's like to be

completely right with God, to be completely clean before him, to

be completely pure. You ever had that time in your

life where you just knew that you were right with God?

Most Christians always have something that they're

struggling with. God's not pleased with outward

conformity if there's no inward conformity.

I used to share drinks with my kids.

Never thought anything of it with, well, I say kids kid

because it was Jackson. And somewhere around the time

when he was two or three years old, we were sitting at a

restaurant and I bought a drink and I just held it over to him

to get a drink out of the same cup.

And for whatever reason, that restaurant had clear straws and

what I saw go back down. The straw was the last time that

I ever shared a drink with my kids.

I slid it over to him. That was his cup, and I never

shared another drink with them. I've never thought about it

before. Because the cup wasn't clear,

right? Most of the straws are not

clear. So everything on the outside

looks good. It's not muddy.

Not like he spit all over it or licked it and had all kinds of

junk on it, right? Everything looked good on the

outside. But when I saw that go down that

clear straw, I knew what the inside looked like and I was

never going. I was.

That made me think like how many chunks have I swallowed before

this? Right.

And I was. Never going to do that again.

And the same is true of Christians.

You know, they may look look good on the outside and they may

have a lot of people fooled, but the what really matters is the

inside. And God can see all of that.

Not only is the straw clear, the cup is clear.

God can see everything. He knows what your heart looks

like. He knows when you have something

in your life that you won't let him have.

He knows when you're living in rebellion.

He knows when you have a problem with anger.

He knows all of those things. He knows all of it and you're

not hiding it from him. Now, how do you think God feels

when you say, hey, use this cup and he knows everything that's

inside, right? I wouldn't do it with my son.

And that's just a little bit of physical food in there, right?

Because I know what's inside. Why do we expect that God's

going to take a filthy, dirty cup?

And because we demand God, use me, God, I want to be used by

you. Use me.

That he will say, OK, well, it's a dirty cup, but, but I guess

I'll use it. He's not going to say that

because he expects us to be pure.

By the way, those who look a little rough on the outside,

those that a lot of Christians would look at and wonder what's

wrong with them when their inside is conformed to the image

of Christ, the outside is not far behind.

When you have somebody who's outside is not conformed to

Christ, then it gives you a very good indication of what the

inside looks like, right? Because a Christian who is pure

and purged and fit for the Master's use is going to conform

on the outside as well. You're going to look like a

Christian. You're going to talk like a

Christian. You're going to act like a

Christian. Are you conformed to the image

of Christ inwardly? The outside will match if the

inside is conformed to be set apart for Christ to be useful to

Him, to be become prepared for every good work.

The blessings that come from being a vessel unto honor in

Christ's great house are wonderful and they're available

to everybody. You just have the choice and

what type of vessel you're going to be.

You might be sitting here as an unregenerate person, an earthen

vessel, maybe somewhere along the line claim to have accepted

Christ, but don't really know if you did or not, don't have any

evidence of your life on the outside.

That shows that you are a regenerate person.

And you may be sitting there with doubts, even if it's been

20-30, forty years of doubts. It's a earthen vessel that's

going to it's, it's going to crack and break and it's not

going to be worth anything. Maybe you're a wooden vessel,

maybe you're a silver vessel. We all should be trying to be

gold vessels. God gives us a great invitation

in these two verses in His church.

There's only two sorts of vessels, vessels unto honor and

vessels unto dishonor. Vessels that are honorable,

vessels that are dishonorable. And right at this moment you're

either one of the two. So which one are you?

Are you a vessel unto honor, or are you a vessel unto dishonor?

Let's all bow our head and close our eyes if we can see.

We need to be vessels for Christ's honorable purposes by

His help. And it's only by His help we

need to thoroughly cleanse ourselves from the things that

are dishonorable. We need to allow the Holy Spirit

of God to search out anything in US and remove the sin and remove

the impurity. And we need to devote ourselves

to Christ in in Word, in deed and thought, in action, in our

associations, in our attitudes, in everything, and become

vessels for His honorable use. Let's be vessels that are

purged. Let's be vessels that are

prepared. Let's be vessels that are

purified so that He can use us how He sees fit.

Don't you want to be a vessel that God can use?

Father, we thank you for this passage.

Thank you for the reminder that it is to us that we need to make

sure actively, actively make sure that we are cleansing

ourselves and asking for cleansing from You so that we

can be vessels that are fit for the masters use.

Can only imagine what could happen in a church this size

with all of the vessels being fit for the masters use.

I think we'd be shocked to find out what we could accomplish for

you. So may you help us all to

evaluate where we are. May you help us to make sure

that we are right before you and where we need to change, that

you help us to change. Thank you again for all you do

for us in Jesus name, Amen. If you would stand at your seats

with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, we're gonna have a

time of invitation.