 Open, if you would, to your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 2, as Pastor David mentioned before and as Pastor David Zamora spoke to us in our first session. We're making our way through this wonderful book of 2 Timothy. The Apostle Paul wrote about half the books of the New Testament are his letters. When you read the letters of the Apostle Paul, you read about a man, you just get to know him in his heart. He's got so much love. He's got so much grace. He's got so much compassion and heart for people and for the world that it's easy to forget what a completely transformed man he was. That this was a man who'd killed people. He had killed the followers of Jesus. This was a man filled with hatred. This was a man marked by violence. This was a proud and arrogant man until Jesus Christ got ahold of his life. He was a transformed man, but I mean both of those words. He was transformed, but he was a man. When Paul is here in this prison awaiting his death, he's a man. Look, remember that record company from a few years ago, Death Row Records? Yeah, Death Row Records. Riding around in the limousines and corporate jets and five-star hotel rooms. Sure, Death Row Records. Let me tell you something. This is the Death Row Apostle, and this is the Death Row letter that he wrote. Now, I'm not talking about some figurative symbolic way. This man was looking at death square in the face. And so he didn't mess around in this letter. He wrote about the things that were most important, and it's been my privilege, my assignment to bring you something from chapter two. And I tell you, it's a tough call because chapter two is rich with a lot of things that we could talk about. But I hope that the Holy Spirit has guided me to focus on what we're going to see beginning at verse 20. Let me read verses 20 and 20 run to you. Paul says to his young protégé, Timothy, 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 ladder, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Now, do you remember how we started out this morning? We saw that wonderful video clip from Pastor Chuck Smith. Pastor Chuck Smith said something in there that really kind of caught my attention. He talked about the potential that lies within a group of men like this. And that's a true word, isn't it? You think about the potential there is for transformation and God's work and getting the gospel out and good things in this world through a group of men like this. It's awesome. But we've got to get real honest about this. There's a lot of men. Maybe the majority of men, they never live up to their potential. Now, why is that? I'll tell you, one of the things that's addressed right here in this thing is this idea here in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 20 and 21. How Paul talks about how we can be made a vessel of honor. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. Take a look at that first phrase there in verse 20. Did you look at it with me? But in a great house. Now, just in the previous verse, Paul talked about God's work being like a structure, something that has a foundation. He says there in 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 19, the solid foundation of God stands. Now, he has in mind that foundation, but built upon that foundation is what he calls right here in verse 20, a great house. And then he goes on to describe that in that great house, there's a lot of different vessels. Call it whatever you want, bowls, plates, vases, cups, whatever you want. There's a great house and then there's all these vessels within the house. But don't leave that first point too quickly. The image is of a great house. Men, did you know that the church of God is a great house? That really what it is? The family of Jesus that's united across the centuries, across the generations, across church tradition lines, across nations, across all different other sort of barriers, that church gathered together, that is a great house. And it's a great house that Jesus has built. Isn't that what he promised? Didn't Jesus tell us in the Gospel of Matthew that he did not promise, I will build my church? And he's built a great house. Matter of fact, Paul says in another place, 1 Corinthians chapter three, he said, you are God's building. He's speaking collectively with the church. He says in Ephesians chapter two, that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He says in another place in Ephesians two, that the church is being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit. Peter later on says that we're living stones being built up as a spiritual house. Friends, it's as if this, the church of God can be represented in some way like a building that God has built and continues to build. But never forget this, Jesus is the builder. By the way, don't you think it's fascinating that when the Son of God added humanity to his deity and came down to earth that of all the professions he could have chosen, don't you think that on a career day Jesus could have chosen whatever he wanted to do? Of all the professions he could have chosen, what did he choose? He wanted to be a builder, a carpenter. Because that's what God is. The God who built the world, the God who builds lives and Jesus Christ has built a great church. And man, the church is a great house. It's great because of who it belongs to. Man, if it's Jesus's house, it's a great house. It's great because it's been planned and designed and laid out by the most brilliant architect creation has ever seen. It's because who lives in it is a collection of the greatest men and women throughout the centuries that have ever walked this earth. I'll tell you why else it's a great house. It's a great house because of what it cost to build it. You can't measure it. You know, here in Southern California we always talk about property values and how it's going up, what this house is worth and what it cost to build that house. Men, do you know what it cost to build the house that God built? It cost Jesus Christ's life on the cross. It cost everything. But he poured it out gladly to build this great house. And it's a great house because of its importance. This house, God's church is in the center of his plan for the ages. Matter of fact, I'll say this. What happens in God's house is more important than what happens in the White House. It's true. I'm not saying we should have no concern about what happens in the houses of government and state and such, but make no mistake about it. What happens in God's house is more important than that. I think it's strange that God would think so highly of his great house that there would be many people who say they're called by his name who would think very little of his house. In a sense, I don't even want to say those words to you. I have a feeling that most all of you, you have a very high regard for the house of God. After all, you're here eight o'clock on a Saturday morning. God bless you for that. But I suppose there's probably a few among us. You're church hoppers. You're dancing from place to place. You don't have your roots any particular place. You don't want to be committed. You don't want to buy in. You don't want to be accountable to any particular place of believers. Friends, you need to raise your regard for God's house and I'll add this to you. If you know fellow believers who are not connected to a good church, then you pray for them, you speak to them. Why would they feel okay in their conscience despising God's great house when God thinks so highly of it? No, we should pray for them. We should speak to them. We should exhort them and encourage them. Before I leave this point and talk about the vessels that fill that house, let me just make one last application. If you're not a part of that great house yet, God invites you to come in. Isn't that beautiful? The doors are wide open on God's house. I can imagine there's probably a few men here. You got dragged here. Somebody talked you into this. You're here and you're thinking right now, why am I even here? I thought this was going to be completely different. Listen, it doesn't matter why you came here or under what circumstances, you're here and you're here by God's appointment. And you have not yet come into God's house. If you haven't surrendered your life, if you haven't put your faith in Jesus Christ and confessed your sins and come to him in an attitude of complete surrender, what are you waiting for? Now's the time. Today's the day. You know enough to say, forget it. I gotta do what's right before God and man. I'm gonna come before Jesus Christ and I'm gonna come and make my place in God's great house. Now, if you take another look at verse 20, not only does he mention the house, but he mentions the vessels that fill the house. Look at it right there, verse 20, he says this. Vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. You see, Paul has it in his mind and you can just sort of vision that if you will. There you are, you walk inside the house and there's vessels all over the place. Some of them are made out of gold and some of them are made out of silver. Some of them are made out of wood and some of them are made out of clay and they all have their place, they all have their function, but some of them are used for greater honor. There's some that are like the very special platter that you would put the Thanksgiving turkey on. And it's just sort of honored. It's a custom in that home. Wow, that's something of honor. There's other things that are despised. There's a garbage can, there's the ashtray. And I suppose they have their function in the house, but let's just face it. They don't have much honor there. And Paul's just trying to make a distinction. Here in this great house, there's all these different kind of vessels. Some are vessels of honor and some are vessels of dishonor. Do you have that picture in your mind? Now look at verse 21. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the ladder, now what does he mean by the ladder? He means by the ladder dishonor. If you'll cleanse yourself from dishonor, he says, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work. My friends, do you understand what God is saying to you and to me in this passage? He looks to you right now, and God says, he says, look at my word and understand what the Spirit says to you. He says to you right here and now, what kind of vessel do you want to be? Now I know there's a tendency in each and every one of us, we just want to throw that question back on to God. And I get that. Don't we just have a surrendered heart to God? Don't we kind of want to immediately, hey Lord, whatever you want. God, if you want me to be a spittoon in your house, I'm happy being that. I'm just happy to be in your house, God. I'm so happy you opened up. I came out of the devil's house and now I'm in your house. Thank you for letting me be in your great house. And God says, no, no, no. In this particular aspect, I'm not just saying that it's up to my great wisdom, God says, because I want to know from you, what kind of vessel do you want to be? Do you want to be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor? Now again, I totally get it that there's something within us that is just happy to be there. And I appreciate that. We are just happy to be there. But men, I hope that there's no one in this room that has this attitude. You know the attitude I'm talking about? The attitude that says this, how little can I do for God and still make it to heaven? Just be honest, is that attitude not among some people that we know? I hope the attitude isn't like this. How much can I get away with and still escape hell? Men, if that's the question you're asking, you need to do a serious check of your heart and mind. And you need to ask God, I'll be bold enough to say it. You better ask God for an assurance of your salvation because that is not the heart of a man who's seeking after God. The heart that says, how little can I do for him and still make it for heaven? Is that the heart of a child of God? No one's stead, notice what God says here, verse 21. If anyone cleanses himself, now Paul spoke here about a cleansing that is not just a matter of what God does in us as we sit passively. There is an aspect of what Paul spoke about here that is a self cleansing. What do I mean by that? Look at that, I'm just telling you the words right there, verse 21. I'm not making this up, you can read it for yourself. If anyone cleanses himself, Paul wrote. You see, this is a self cleansing for service that goes beyond or is at least somewhat distinct from a general cleansing of sin. Now friends, there's a main aspect of cleansing from sin which comes to us as we trust in Jesus and his word on the cross on our behalf. This is God's work in us. God does not say to you, if you're a man outside of God's great house, if you're outside of his kingdom, God does not say to you, clean yourself up and then come to me. Do we understand that? That God says, you come to me and I'll cleanse you. You come to me just as black and dirty with sin as you are. Don't worry about it. I'll receive you in your sinful state and I will cleanse you and transform your life. And by the way, that's God's work in us. In that sense, we do not cleanse ourselves. It's something that God does in us. Is that understood? But there is another sense of cleansing and this is a cleansing in regards to service that God looks at men like you and I and I love how he speaks to us as men very straightforwardly. He says, hey, if any man cleanses himself, I don't want anybody to misunderstand me. You see, this is not a work that we do apart from God. It's not as if we say this, hey Lord, I really wanna be used by you. Now you stand back, I'm gonna cleanse myself. No way, that'll never work. Even the desire to cleanse ourselves is worked in us by the Holy Spirit. No, it's something that we do in active cooperation with the Spirit of God and his work in our life. But it's not something that happens to us as we just passively sit by. And I don't know, sometimes I think that Christian men walk around in a dream world when it comes to this aspect of cleansing themselves to be a more service in God's kingdom. They think like this, well, I'll just, you know, Lord, tell you what, I'll go to sleep tonight and when I make up in the morning, you make me a more pure Christian. What do you think is gonna happen to you as you sleep? It's gonna happen to you as you follow hard after God. It's gonna happen to you as you live your life with that attitude that says, search me, oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, see if there'd be any wicked way in me in the way everlasting. And if we'll do that, look at what he says there in verse 21, we will be sanctified and useful. Sanctified means set apart. Just as much as there's certain bowls and plates that we value more than others and we set aside them for an honorable purpose so there are some people who are more sanctified and useful to God than others. They're more prepared for every good work. Friends, when I say that, matter of fact, let me say it again because I believe it, but I feel a little uncomfortable saying it and I'll explain why. I'll say that sentence again. There are some people, there are some believers who are more sanctified and useful to God than others. Now listen, the reason why I'm hesitant to say that is I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea and think that some Christians are better than others. Men, the ground is level at the cross. We all come together in the same humility, in the same need, in the same surrender to God, each and every one of us. The ground is level at the cross. There's not one man greater than another and it doesn't matter if somebody puts his trust in Jesus and repents and believes with his dying breath on his deathbed and somebody who served God faithfully for 50 years, they go to the same heaven. The ground is level at the cross. It's important for us to remember that. However, it's important to realize that some believers are more able to be used by God than others. Why? Because they're vessels of honor. They cleanse themselves. They have, in a sense, made themselves more available to God. That's what he says there in verse 21, did you see it? Sanctified and useful, prepared for every good work. I love how he says that, every good work because we must not think of this primarily in the sense of only serving in the church. Now, man, I hope that you serve in your church. I hope that there's opportunities in your own church family for you to serve in serving with the youth group, with serving with the children's ministry, with serving as a usher, with serving as a prayer counselor, with serving, and you go on and on. There's innumerable ministries in your church, ways that you can serve there, but Paul doesn't have that only in mind. What does he say? He says every good work, things you do in your community, things you do to reach the lost, good that you do in Jesus' name, in your workplace, in the school, in the home, all over the place. For every good work, that's how God makes us able as vessels of honor. Now, when we understand this, God says here's honor and dishonor. If you'll cleanse yourself from dishonor, then you'll be more sanctified and useful, prepared for every good work. Then we realize that there is a large sense in which it is left up to us how much we want to be used by God. We have the potential to be, no, let me rephrase that, you have the potential, I'm including myself as well, but I want to make it individual to you. You have the potential to be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor. According to that picture, you could be a gold platter in God's house or you could be a garbage can. Now again, we're just grateful to be in the house, but we don't want to have that attitude to how little can we do and still make it. No friends, your conduct, clean or unclean, set apart to God or not set apart to God. Useful to Jesus or not useful to Jesus. It really matters. It matters not just for your life. Doesn't it matter for the people around you? Look, you might be the most selfish man in this room. You say, well, it didn't really matter to me as long as I'm saved. What about the people around you? What about your family of friends? But don't they need a strong man of God like you? What are you always waiting for somebody else to be that man? No, you're the man. You're the one to stand up and be that. Listen, here's a lie that the devil loves to tell us. Here's the lie. Your sin only hurts yourself. Isn't that what he says? Isn't that what he whispers to the man who's trapped in pornography, as Pastor David mentioned in the previous message? Isn't that what the devil says to the man who can't stop masturbating? Isn't that what he says to the man whose life is filled with addictions or impurities? The devil loves to whisper, oh, you're only hurting yourself. It's okay. Man, that is a lie from the pit of hell. You are hurting your family. You're hurting the body of Christ. You're hurting the cause of God in this world. You are hurting more people than you can ever imagine through your refusal to get right with God and make yourself a vessel of honor unto Him. So how do you change it? Well, he says right there, verse 22. Flea also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes knowing that they generate strife. You see what he said there? How do you do this? What's a very practical step you can take towards being a vessel of honor and no longer being a vessel of dishonor? Number one, flea youthful lust. This is the first aspect of cleansing that Paul mentions to Timothy. And youthful lust describes the kind of desire and temptations that are especially prominent to someone who's an adolescent or a young adult. We're talking about sexual temptation, illicit pleasures of the flesh, a longing for fame and glory. Aren't these things that oftentimes mark youth? Now we assume that it only applies to youth because Timothy was a relatively young man when Paul wrote this to him. But man, let's not be fools. This applies to men of any age. You don't have to be young to go after a youthful lust. So he says, flea the youthful lust. And don't see how simple the command is. What does he say? Flea, run from them. Don't entertain them. Don't challenge them. Don't try and endure them. Here's another lie the devil likes to tell us. He tells you that you should have the attitude. Well look, I'm just gonna test myself on this one to see if I can stand against it. What are you crazy? Kind of fool. Do I have to be to believe that? That I'll put myself or allow myself intensely to be put in a tempting situation just to see if I can stand up to it. Are you kidding? Flea those youthful lusts. Here's the measurement. If you cannot also flea youthful lusts, there's a real limit to how much God can use you. There's a limit to how useful you're gonna be to the master. Do you understand this? That you can't really say yes to God until you can also say no to some other things. That's just how it is in God's kingdom. Now whenever I read this verse, flea youthful lust, my mind is always drawn back to Psalm 119 verse nine. Do you know that verse? You can turn there if you want, or I'll just read it to you. Psalm 119 verse nine. Here's the verse. How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? Isn't that a wonderful verse? How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? Listen, that's not a question that people are just asking today. That's a question that was asked in the ancient world. Thousands of years ago, men who cared about God were asking the question, how can a young man cleanse his way? And this is a question that some, I'll say even some who are numbered among the people of God, they never seem to ask for themselves. There are some people, young people, sometimes older people, who just aren't concerned for moral purity. They accommodate a large measure of moral compromise in their lives. There was an early church leader in theologian, a man named Augustine, he was famous for this prayer. He really battled with the temptations of the flesh and sexual temptations. It was one of the main obstacles blocking him from coming to the Lord. But when Jesus Christ got ahold of his life, he was a transformed man. But you know how he used to pray? He used to pray something like this, before Jesus really got ahold of his life. He would pray, Lord, make me pure, but not just yet. And maybe some of you can relate to that kind of prayer. You know the kind of man God wants you to be. And you know what, yes, I'm gonna be that man. Yes, I'm gonna be that man that God wants me to be. You're persuaded of that in your heart. You're just telling yourself, not just yet. Oh, I'll be that man, but you don't give myself a few more years. That's what the world says to us, doesn't it? The world says, have your good time when you're young. Get it all out of your system. When you're really old, then you can settle down and get serious about God. You know, like when you're 30, then you can get real. Friends, you know that's a lie, isn't it? Because how are you gonna feel when you're 30? You say, well, I'm not that old. And pretty soon you're gonna be in your 50s telling yourself that you're not that old. And the time for really getting it serious with Jesus Christ is always gonna be kicked down the road. God's ways says, if you're gonna live for me, do it now. Do it without delay. And the younger, the better. That's the way God always is. He always claims the first, and he always claims the best. And if you give it to him, you will not regret it. I challenge you. I could give you my own testimony, but I challenge any man in this room who has given the young years of his life to serving God, ask them if they regret it. And they'll tell you, I do not regret that. It's the best decision I ever made to give the young years of my life to serving God. Look, even when we have the desire to walk pure before the Lord, there are many things that make it difficult to cleanse our way, to flee youthful us. I mean, this is a difficult thing. There's youthful energy in the sense of carelessness that comes with you. There's lack of wisdom that comes with you. There's the desire for gaining independence. There's a physical maturity and maybe sexual maturity that goes beyond spiritual maturity and moral maturity. There's a money that starts coming into your pockets and the freedom that that brings. There's a difficulty of young women who maybe they do it knowingly or maybe they do it unknowingly, but they encourage moral impurity. Man, you know how it is in the world today. If you're expecting the women to keep you pure, you're gonna fall. No, you gotta be a man and stand up. Then there's a spirit of the age that expects and promotes moral impurity among men. Then of course there's always the desire to be accepted by peers, right? We say this is how it is and this is what makes you popular or makes you someone prominent in our particular group. Now please, understand me, it's not only the young man who faces these challenges, it's men of every age. Listen, God says this to the young man and to the older man because he wants to spare you the bondage of sin. Men, are you aware of the power of experience to shape your habits? Let me tell you how it works. If you surrender to any temptation, if you transfer it from the realm of mental contemplation to something that you have acted out in experience, that temptation instantly becomes more difficult to resist in the future. Automatically, right there. And then each successive experience of surrender temptation builds a habit, a habit that's reinforced not only spiritually but also in your brain chemistry, it's repeated. And those ingrained habits are more and more difficult to break the more they are experienced and it's almost impossible to break those habits without replacing them with another habit. Men, can I recommend you a habit to replace your impure habits with? Are you ready? Look at the next line or I'll just tell you the next line from Psalm 119 verse nine by taking heed according to your word. That's the habit you need to replace it with. You need to become marked no longer as a man of impurity but a man of God's word. That's how one takes heed. That's the foundation for a morally pure life. It's found in God's word. And as you give yourself to it and your focus upon it and your understanding upon it and your meditation upon it, it will build in you the strength and the character, the habits that you need to walk in a morally pure way. Many, many years ago, I picked up my brother's Bible and I opened it up and I found something that somebody wrote in the first page of that Bible. I always remember this and maybe some of you, you have this written in your Bible. It's a very simple phrase. It just says this. This book will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from this book. You know how it lays out? That book will keep you from sin. If you make it your heart, your focus, your meditation, your habit. Let me tell you something. Sin will keep you from that book. Well, let me go back now to 2 Timothy chapter two. Starting in verse 22 and we'll just wrap up with a few final thoughts here. Notice this, he says, verse 22, but pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. Men, true righteousness and usefulness in God's kingdom, it can never be a matter of just avoiding bad things. Stay away from that. Don't do that. Don't look at that. Don't touch that. It can never be just a matter of that. It means pursuing the right things. And so God puts a glorious pursuit in front of you. Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. Pursue peace with those who call on the name of the Lord. You've got to have a godly and wonderful pursuit of the things of God. Listen, I can tell you something. The fact that you're here this morning shows that you're interested in that. That is a good sign. You know what God says to you? Keep it going. Run on. Don't quit. Keep it going until you cross that finish line, pursue all those things. But now look at something to avoid at the end of verse 22. He says, but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes. See, walking clean also means staying clear of endless disputes and arguments. These distracting interests and elements can also limit how much God might be able to use us. So look at this. Paul closed the chapter of 2 Timothy chapter two with a warning. Look at the warning at the very end there, verse 26. He warns about those who have been caught by the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Friends, I hope a little chill ran up your spine as you read that. Isn't that a terrifying thought? Having been caught in the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Men, I tell you, if you walk in sin, if you walk in dishonor, you may end up a captive of the devil. I'll tell you right now, he doesn't care a bit whether you believe that or not. Do you think the devil's only looking for people who are on guard against him to attack? Men, we're playing for real stakes here. The men who don't do these things are the ones who drift off into the snare of the devil, but to be a servant of the Lord, a vessel of honor for him, you gotta be empty, you gotta be clean, and you gotta be available. So man, can you do that? Can you come before God in those terms of unconditional surrender? Lord, I empty myself. I'm just empty before you. Here I am, I'm holding nothing back. And then Lord, you cleanse me, but I'll have a plashing to cleanse myself as well. And then Lord, I just make myself available for your use. Lord, I don't wanna go down the other path and maybe find myself Sunday, snared by the devil, a captive to do his will. Men, God puts in front of us these two paths. God trusts that every man here will have the wisdom and grace from God to be a vessel of honor.