2 Timothy 2:19-21 A Great House
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God
stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let
everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but
also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if
anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor,
sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
In
verse 19 Paul has just given us a great and high definition of the Church, as consisting of those who belong to God and are on the way
to righteousness.
A) But the obvious question
arises: How do you explain the existence of heretics and false teachers like
Hymenaeus and Philetus?
B) Paul’s reply answers the
question: Paul compares the church to a great house –
1) In the great house there
are different kinds of Vessels.
C) Vessels of dishonor /
vessels of honor.
1) IN those days – vessels
of wood and clay – used for dishonorable purposes – trash / human waste
D) After they were used –
broken and discarded
Vessels
of Gold and silver – were used to eat from / they were used to present things.
A) Paul’s pt. is this: Just
like in a great house there are both types of Vessels.
B) There has always been a
mixture: Wheat / tares
1) Sheep & goats /
Wolves amongst the sheep.
C) The Lord knows those who
are His.
1) The false teachers and
those living hypocritical lives – would be the vessels of dishonor.
D) Who when they are
discovered need to be discarded – like the dishonorable vessel.
But even those who
truly belong to the Lord. – Before they can be an honorable vessel/ 1st
need to be cleansed.
A)
What is clean and set apart for special use can easily get contaminated and be
rendered unusable through contact with
the corrupt.
B) Paul was concerned that
Timothy keep himself in a usable condition for the Lord.
1)
Cleanse yourself from the Latter- False teachers
and those Practicing iniquity.
C)Cleanses
Himself is an interesting phrase that reminds us that we have a part to play in
our Sanctification
1)
Justification: Salvation: Position before the Lord, Righteous
D)
Sanctification: Practical living – Right choices:
1)
Result: Makes us Fit and usable, prepared for the Master’s use.
Before
we close today: I want us to consider this Phrase Paul uses to describe the
Church.
A) A GREAT HOUSE! – A good
description– the Church is a great house.
Why?
1. It is a great house because of who it belongs to.
B) We belong to God- All
thru the OT – the Tab / the
C) He placed His name !
1)Not a Building – but God’s
pp being built together
1 Peter 2:4-5
As you come to
Christ, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to
Him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to
be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. NIV
2. It is a great house because it is planned
and designed on a great scale. It has the most brilliant Architect
A) It is a great house
because – God designed it – Made up of people, all different nations / tongues/
tribes
B) Rich poor / everyone in
between – brought together as a family – before the Lord.
3.
It is a great house because of the great cost it took to build it.
A) It is a house that is far
more valuable than any building ever built on earth-
B) The cost was the precious
Blood of God’s Beloved Son!
1) He took on our sin / paid
our price /
C) Result: Thru faith in
Jesus we could become Beloved sons and daughters of God.
4. It is a great house
because of its importance.
A)
This house and what happens in it is at the center of God’s plan of the ages.
B)
Bring the message of Salvation to a lost and dying world – Spread the goodnews
of Christ –
1)
God wants to use us – to share w/ the World – His hope/ His love/ His gospel.
C) You are the Church – This place & the
1) Where outsiders can come
– be healed – touched
Trash transfer station –
Dirty cleansed.
D) Close: By asking you to
turn to 2 Chron. 6 –
Picture of what the Church –
the Building and the people are to be!
2
Chron 6:19-40
19 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O
LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying
before You: 20 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward
the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer
which Your servant makes toward this place. 21 And may You hear the
supplications of Your servant and of Your people
A place where Prayers are
heard and forgiveness from sin takes place.
22 "If anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to
take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, 23
then hear from heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, bringing retribution
on the wicked by bringing his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous
by giving him according to his righteousness.
The Church is a
place where Strife gets healed!
24 "Or if
Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned
against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication
before You in this temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your
people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to them and their
fathers.
A place where those who are
defeated & beat up in the battle can come to repent and be forgiven /
revived / restored.
26 "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain
because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and
confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, 27 then
hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that
You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on
Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.
A place where those going
thru dry times can be refreshed.
28 "When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight
or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land
of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer, whatever supplication is
made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own
burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple: 30 then
hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone
according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts
of the sons of men), that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as
they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
A place where
those who are Hungry, get fed.
32 "Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your
people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name
and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this
temple; then hear from heaven Your
dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You,
that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your
people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is
called by Your name.
A place where
those who are Foreigners {unbelievers} find a home
and family.
34 "When Your people go out to battle against their enemies,
wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You
have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, 35 then hear from
heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
A place where
those who are in the
36 "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does
not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and
they take them captive to a land far or
near; 37 yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make
supplication to You in the land of their captivity,
saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed
wickedness'; 38 and when they return to You with all their heart and with all
their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried
captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city
which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name:
39 then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their
supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have
sinned against You. 40 Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your
ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.
A place where
those who are captives, get set free.