[0:00] All right, so let's find in our Bibles.
[0:12] We'll start in 2 Kings this evening. There we go, 2 Kings.
[0:24] And chapter 14, this is where we left off last Wednesday night. I'd like to conclude the study we've been doing about vessels in the house of God. 2 Kings 14, a real quick review.
[0:41] We're kind of pulling out the analogy that vessels in the Pauline epistles are likened to individuals, to men and women.
[0:52] We, the children of God, are called vessels, vessels that are supposed to be sanctified and meet for the Master's use. And in 2 Kings here, we're going to pick it up right kind of in the middle of some history with vessels, that literal vessels, that were in the Temple of God.
[1:13] Remember, the Temple of God now is a picture of the church. And so I'm taking those two analogies and putting them together to draw out some thought that you and I are vessels in the Temple.
[1:26] And so as we've studied thus far, we've studied that vessels of God's Temple were made holy, that they were fashioned and sanctified, and they were placed in that Temple.
[1:36] And they were, even Moses sprinkled them with blood of a sacrifice. And the priest, the high priest, was to cleanse them, and they were declared to be sanctified.
[1:48] They were set apart unto God and for God's use alone. And that was really an important thought that we kicked off on, that God, as He saves your soul and creates in you a new man, He sets you apart from the body of the sins of the flesh, and you're to touch not the unclean thing.
[2:07] And now in Christ, you're to live sanctified, and to live what you are in position, to live that in practice. And we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.
[2:20] And now you're supposed to live like you were that sanctified vessel. And to set yourself apart from the cares of this life, and from the lust of other things, and from the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and get yourself to where God can use you.
[2:36] And we'll cover some scripture again in 2 Timothy, that describes how you're to be, to set apart, or what's the term there? Depart from iniquity.
[2:47] Now, the vessels of God were made holy, and they were sanctified for God's service alone. The second thought that we covered two weeks ago, was that these vessels, the original vessels, were sanctified and set apart there, but then over time, more vessels were added.
[3:04] And we saw that with Joshua and his conquests of the land. They added vessels, dedicated them to the house of the Lord. We saw that with King David. And he was receiving gifts, and he dedicated them to the Lord.
[3:16] And Solomon, then in his new temple, they made brand new stuff, and they brought in the old ones. And side by side, the vessels were there to serve in the house of God. I think it was a beautiful picture, that God could take even a heathen vessel, that was a vessel of dishonor, and could take that and dedicate it, and consecrate it to himself.
[3:35] And now it can be standing, and be right beside the original gold things, that were made way back in the day. Even those that Solomon prepared. And there God can set apart another vessel unto himself.
[3:48] Now last week, we continued with the thought, and we got into 1 Chronicles chapter 9. And we noticed that in the wilderness journeys, there were certain Levites that had the responsibility of transporting and of handling the vessels of the sanctuary.
[4:06] And you could read about one of the specific brothers or sons of Aaron. It was of him and his kin that was supposed to be handling those things. And then we saw that directly in the passage of 1 Chronicles 9, verses 26 through 29, that the vessels had overseers.
[4:23] That's the term the Bible used, was an overseer for the vessels of the sanctuary. They were overseeing the, oh, they were the chambers and the treasuries. And priests had to confer with them before they took them.
[4:37] They kept them by tail or by number. They numbered them. And so we studied a little bit last week, that word overseer ran it into the New Testament and saw that God has an overseer of the vessels of his church or of his temple and saw that his duties is to feed the flock of God.
[4:53] Both times the word overseer or oversight showed up was the command to feed them. And I thought that was important to bring that out. Then we saw there was an overseer in Nehemiah's day who was to be blamed because he, when Nehemiah caught up with him, he relieved him of his duties and kicked him out because what he had done was cleared out a room or a chamber of the temple and allowed Tobiah the Ammonite to come in there and set up his own quarters and to live there in the house of God.
[5:24] And what a thought of ministers and overseers of our day running out the holy vessels of God and bringing in the world and bringing them into the church house and bringing them in and just making the church look like the world.
[5:39] And it has no business being that way. And when the man of God, Nehemiah, saw that, he said that he had wrought evil in the house of the Lord and he ran them out and he restored the order that ought to be there.
[5:51] Now that was the third thing, the overseers of those vessels. But fourthly now, we noticed in closing last week that God's holy vessels can be removed from his holy place.
[6:01] Not just the way we saw Eliashib do it, that priest in Nehemiah's day, where he removed them and made room for the unclean to come in. But here in 2 Kings 14, let's read the verse again.
[6:13] It's in verse 14 when Amaziah, the king of Judah, is going to war against Jehoash, the king of Israel. And Jehoash beats him down pretty bad.
[6:23] And he even comes down to Jerusalem and breaks part of the wall down. And while he's at Jerusalem, verse 14, he took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and all the treasures of the king's house and hostages returned to Samaria.
[6:36] So some of the holy vessels of God had been removed from their holy place of service and taken to Samaria. Now turn over, we're going to move like 250 years beyond that and look at 2 Kings 24.
[6:52] And now in this chapter, you're coming to the very end of this kingdom of Israel before the captivity. And I want to point out that this happens again.
[7:05] Now 250 years has passed. There's been some good kings coming in. Hezekiah, for one, who restored Passover worship and got him back to the law of God. Another king, Josiah.
[7:16] And much had been done and restored back to the service of God. But then Nebuchadnezzar comes on the scene. And so 2 Kings 24, look at verse 13. It says, And he carried out, he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord.
[7:40] So it doesn't say he cut all of them up, but just the ones that Solomon had made. All right, so look a little bit later. Look at chapter 25, verse number 13.
[7:52] 2 Kings 25, 13 to 15. So the Bible says, And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord did the Chaldeans break in pieces and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
[8:04] And the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the spoons and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered took they away. And the fire pans and the bowls and such things as were of gold, in gold and of silver, in silver the captain of the guard took away.
[8:19] So the vessels are gone. They've been removed. It's a sad day for that nation. It's a sad picture here to consider what was once set apart unto God, what was once anointed or rather sprinkled, was consecrated and sanctified, is now in the hands of the ungodly heathen.
[8:42] And you could look back if you're God, you could look back at these very vessels and remember the day when they were sanctified long ago, when they were set apart, when they were created and set into that place of service for him and the joy and the rejoicing and the cleansing and the holiness, the singing even and the shouting in some cases with Solomon's day.
[9:04] Once these vessels were used for the service of God and now they're profaned by the hands of the unclean and they've been removed. Now turn to Daniel chapter 1. The story goes on.
[9:15] Daniel chapter 1. Daniel was one of those Hebrews that was taken out of his home and transported over to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel, Daniel chapter 1.
[9:35] And he also makes note of the vessels of God's house, how they've been removed and taken from their place, the place that they belong and the place where they were designed to be in the house or the temple of the Lord.
[9:48] I'll start in verse 1, Daniel chapter 1. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God.
[10:01] Now it says part because this wasn't the final captivity or besieging of Jerusalem, but it kind of went in phases. Daniel went with that first phase. And so part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his God.
[10:15] And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his God. Small g, right? It's not hard to make the comparison to that small g that Paul warns us about the God of this world.
[10:29] The vessels that were sanctified and meet for the master's use and service have been removed from that temple, that place where they belong, where nobody's supposed to touch them.
[10:40] Nobody borrowed them. These were gods alone. And now the heathen have them. And now they're in the hands of the heathen. It's sad to see these holy vessels in an unclean place.
[10:50] They don't belong in. I think you can see the picture. They weren't made to serve here in Shinar. They weren't made to be brought into the treasure house of some God that is no God at all.
[11:06] And yet there they are. So the vessels can be removed. They can be removed from their holy place of service or from what we'd call the temple of God, the church as we're picturing.
[11:17] Now understand this is not a teaching that you can lose your salvation and be damned to hell. This is a picture and a type. And so therefore, we won't cross any doctrinal lines with the apostle Paul just to make a picture stronger.
[11:30] So don't presume that. But they can be removed. And your picture is that they can be taken away from where they belong on a Wednesday night or a Sunday morning and in fellowship with God and in fellowship with his children and there with those holy, sanctified, consecrated vessels.
[11:46] And they can be out there, out there in the world, out there where they don't belong. And it's a sad thing, but it's the truth. And this is a picture of a believer getting away from God, ending up in the house of other gods, ending up where he's not walking in the spirit, but he's in the flesh.
[12:03] When he's not with the people of God, but with the world. When he's not fulfilling the plan that his creator, God, has for his life, but rather he's taken captive by the devil at his will.
[12:15] It's the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the vessels of God, the ones he has saved and set apart to himself, sometimes, sadly, many times even, find themselves out there.
[12:31] They find themselves outside of their holy place. I've seen it. I've even experienced it. I'm ashamed to say. Many of you have seen it and perhaps even experienced it yourself, what it's like to be away from the Lord, what it's like to be outside of the circle of God's will and protection and love and out there in the world where the one that sanctified you and made you fit for his service, you find that you're in the house of another God.
[12:56] And before you ever get into that house of the other God, your heart is already there. Just know that. Before you ever leave the Lord and walk away from his will for your life, your heart walks away and falls in love with another God which is no God at all.
[13:09] And so these vessels are far, far away from the Lord. Now it's more than just being in an unclean place because eventually and probably quite quickly but eventually in our passage these holy vessels of God are now used for unclean practices.
[13:29] They're defiled. Look at Daniel chapter number 5. Remember that I told you this is going way back to the beginning when they were sanctified and consecrated and dedicated to God.
[13:40] That means nobody touches them. Only the priests can use them. Only the right man who's anointed and so forth. They're not for the world. They're not even for the common person to touch or even to see.
[13:52] They were set apart for God. But now they're in the hands of the heathen and you can imagine there's going to be profaned and they're going to be defiled out there in the world.
[14:03] Look at Daniel chapter 5 and start in verse number 1. Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand.
[14:14] Belshazzar whilst he tasted the wine notice this is when he brings this idea or command commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem that the king and his princes his wives and his concubines might drink therein.
[14:33] Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem and the king and his princes his wives and his concubines drank in them and they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver of brass of iron of wood and of stone.
[14:52] My how far these vessels have come. Now they're working that which is unseemly. Now they're being used or maybe abused is a better term for them in an ungodly fashion in an unclean manner.
[15:06] They were not made for this. They were not fashioned by the hands of a man directed by God for this moment to have the filth and unclean heathen worship their gods like they're doing tonight and party it up.
[15:27] God's vessels don't belong anywhere near that scene and yet there they are and they can be removed from where they belong and matter of fact they can partake in some unclean practices and be defiled and profaned.
[15:42] What a terrible picture but here's something to notice out of all of this. Each time that we read about these vessels here in Daniel and it goes on later we'll see it again in Ezra that these vessels are consistently associated with the temple at Jerusalem.
[16:03] They're consistently no matter where they're at on the planet they're the vessels that were taken out you notice how they're consistently identified with the Lord God and the reason they were made that never changed.
[16:15] No matter what king has them in his hand no matter what prince or concubine is using it for that vessel is still the Lord's. It's still the same one that came from the house of God where it belongs.
[16:29] And so it's interesting to think of that no matter what they're praising and how they're partying these same vessels are consistently recognized even when Daniel's referring to this later in the chapter chapter 5 and verse 23 he does it again but he's speaking of Belshazzar says hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee and at the end in the God whose hand thou breathest and whose all thy ways thou hast thou not glorified.
[17:00] He identifies whose vessels they are and where they belong and where they came from that never changes so Christian just take a note of that on the side that when a believer steps away from the Lord's work and when he fills himself with the wine of the condemned or participates in things that are unclean and that the heathen revel in and don't bring glory to God that created him God has not forgotten who you are in Jesus Christ you are still the same vessel that belongs to him and you belong back in his house.
[17:32] Now come you can leave Daniel but come to the New Testament now to 2 Timothy and we're going to revisit this passage we were here a few weeks ago 2 Timothy chapter 2 I mentioned that God hasn't forgotten who you are in Christ and you're going to see that come right out of this passage again in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and this is important there's doctrine mingled into this study verse 19 2 19 nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his even if you're in the hands of the God of this world in the moment even if you're participating in body or spirit or heart with the world the Lord knoweth them that are his that's never changed and then secondly he says this in verse 19 and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity so first you still belong to God that has not changed it never will change and you can praise the Lord for that it's not dependent upon you your salvation and your security in Christ and your sanctification in Christ does not depend on your performance day after day after day it doesn't depend on your attendance to church it never has it definitely doesn't depend on your obedience to God because you know as well as I do if you're honest you'd have lost your salvation a long time ago you'd have lost it today probably several times so thanks be to God the Lord knoweth them that are his you still belong to God and there's plenty of vessels that have been sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ that are not serving God they are not in their local church tonight where they ought to be their hearts aren't with the Lord they haven't been for a long time there's plenty of them but they're still his they still belong to him and they always will and secondly we saw that last part of the verse 19 let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity isn't that interesting they name the name of Christ but they have iniquity in them that they need to depart from they're the children of
[19:53] God but there's iniquity that needs to get out they're not sanctified like they ought to be they're not living sanctified it's showing you that this vessel isn't in a clean place it ought to be but it's not it's in a place it needs to depart from matter of fact continue reading verse 19 verse 20 but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver it's just an illustration here but also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor verse 21 if a man now the application 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 so similarly to the charge to depart from iniquity a man also ought to purge himself from some things from some people from some company or some places some associations or some environments that are unclean much like what we're reading and comparing to the book of Daniel he needs to purge himself from some things he must disconnect from some things and flee them in order to be sanctified in order for him to be prepared unto every good work meet for the master's use verse 22 says flee also youthful lusts and so
[21:16] God's holy vessels can be used and can find themselves in unclean places in unclean practices they can be defiling themselves as children of God I didn't say they lose their salvation but they sure have messed up things in their life and they sure have messed up their fellowship with God and their testimony for Jesus Christ and they're getting nothing done for eternity and they're not prepared unto any good work while they're living in filth and living in sin and so they're to depart from iniquity and they're to purge themselves from them so that they can then be used of God meet for the master's use the reason you were made now we come back to Ezra this will be the last point here tonight so far God's vessels can be removed from their holy place of service where they ought to be and on top of that they can be used for some unclean things and unclean practices and even defiled but the good news Ezra chapter one after some years go by the Lord raises up a man after
[22:26] Nebuchadnezzar and after the one we read of Belshazzar in comes Cyrus the Persian in verse number one of Ezra now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying thus saith Cyrus king of Persia the Lord God of heaven hath given me the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him in house at Jerusalem which is in Judah now I'm not going to park here too long but I that is such a peculiar thing for a Persian king that is running the world the known world of his day to say the Lord God has charged me to build him in house and if you know the size of the house it's just a tiny little building over there in Jerusalem far away but God put it in my heart to go do that
[23:36] I couldn't really compare it to something today too well but like the Lord laying it on the heart of the president to go build something forever away in some foreign land and he's going to take it on his heart that God wants me to do this and so he gets the thing going stirs him up to go look at verse 7 also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord it's not been a long time since they were in the house of the Lord the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth and he numbers them he tells you some of them in verse number 11 says all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400 and so they head back to the land and I'll fast forward through this passage and the story because the work that's begun in the land of building it never really comes to fruition it gets put on hold there's some opposition that comes along the way and in chapter 6 there's a new king on the throne this is Darius now and there's some fighting going on saying you're not supposed to be doing this and he's saying no we were given orders and decreed by the king
[24:55] Cyrus and so they look and they find out that Darius makes a decree to search and find out if this is true are you supposed to be building this temple and they find out yes verse number 5 while they're reading this proclamation it says and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem and brought unto Babylon notice the next two words be restored that's the words I want you to see let those vessels be restored and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem every one to his place and place them in the house of God and so in the end the holy vessels are restored to his temple look at chapter 8 where it actually finally takes place there's opposition to this there's interference with all of this it's not necessarily an easy road for those vessels to get back to where they belong but one way or the other God gets what's his and he gets them all every one to his place notice verse number 31 chapter 8 verse 31 then we departed from the river of Hava on the twelfth day of the first month to go unto Jerusalem and the hand of our
[26:10] God was upon us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way and we came to Jerusalem and abode there three days now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Merimoth the son of Uriah the priest with whom is Eleazar the son of Phinehas and with them was Jezebad the son of Jeshua of Noadiah the son of so and so Levites they weighed him in the house of God finally made it back to where they were where they were created to be and this has been a long tale it's been a long study with all of this but in the end God gets back what's his and you might liken this to say that the devil may get him for a season and the devil may use him for a season he may profane and defile them and fill them with things they ought not to be filled with but in the end by the grace of God what's his is his and the devil's not going to keep it and he gets it back there's a restoration there's a reunion back with the other vessels everyone in his place in the house of
[27:18] God which again is the picture of the church so I told you I've seen it and I believe you have too those vessels that God has saved and sealed with his spirit and set apart unto himself and consecrated and some have even given their lives to God and surrendered to his service and we've watched them for one reason or another disappear from the house of God and if they're saved the Lord's going to get them back whether it's in our lifetime or in the rapture or after they die whatever the case is the Lord God's going to get his vessels back he will reclaim every soul that he's given eternal life to every child of God that has gone astray they may have fallen into hands of wicked men they may have wrought the will of the Gentiles they may have even been filled with the fruits of unrighteousness rather than what God has called them to but the Lord knows them that are his and God reclaims his property the property that he paid for with his own blood he'll get them back now we'd love to see them all restored today we'd love to see that happen for their sakes and God's but whatever
[28:34] God's working and he knows he knows more than we know we can trust that the vessels that belong to God will be restored with his church and again if not before it'll be at the rapture so the study over the last three weeks were this is vessels in the house of God and I thought there were some interesting correlations to be made to you and I to the church and these Old Testament vessels getting yanked around and moved around and back and forth and seeing that there's pictures and types within all of this that we can study today and even pull out some doctrine as it applies to us today as well as some practical thoughts that hopefully stirs up your pure minds and motivates you to stay clean to realize that God has bought you with the precious blood of Christ it's not something to despise it is a privilege it is a it is a beyond the word privilege to be able to say that you're a child of
[29:43] God to know in your heart that you're born again that the Lord Jesus Christ loved you and gave himself for you and saw you in your sin and rebellion and filth and still by his spirit moved you and pricked your heart to understanding the gospel and as you open your heart to the gospel he placed inside of you a new man and gave and just I quoted the verse earlier blesses a man whose iniquities are for his transgression is forgiven what a what a beautiful privilege that we have to say that we're forgiven by the Lord Jesus Christ and to have your sins washed away and then to have the opportunity to be alive after salvation and to know the truth and to realize that God has placed you here for you to bring glory to him you're his vessel now imagine if he had left you in the heathen land and in the heathen hands imagine if you would have grown up the way you were born and brought up in that family or or around those kids or you can look at some of your family or some of your friends that you grew up with and just look where they are now truth is some of them are dead and in hell and it's but the grace of
[31:00] God you I'm not trying to just build something up on you here that's soft this is real I mean what else is better what else is better in this life than being a vessel that God would want to use today today what's better go ahead just think come up with one thing that's better than living for God than giving yourself to him than dedicating and consecrating everything in your being to his service what's better money you're kidding right you didn't think of that I'm sure you didn't think of that because that's a joke what's better than serving God a little bit of fun a little bit of booze a little bit of partying a little bit of flesh does that turn you on does that get you excited in this life it's defiling you it's destroying your heart the world destroy your mind it'll it'll suck you in and spit you out and leave you helpless and worthless and the
[32:06] God that loves you and that bought you wants you to give yourself to him I pray this study would help you to see that God wants you to stay clean to live for him to be that sanctified vessel that he made and to seek him and offer your life and your services to him all the days of your life and may we all do that maybe we may this church be a church of vessels that are sanctified meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work let's bow our heads will be dismissed fathers we've studied these vessels they were pretty important to you you designed them you this was all of all you're doing the entire thing and Lord as we understand that and make the application please help us to realize and to take the serious heart that we are those vessels that were born in your mind to bring about we are those vessels that you fashioned that you fit that you prepared
[33:11] Lord give us give us understanding of how filthy and profane this world is how the God of this world wants to pull us and filthy us up and and fill us with unclean things Lord let us see it with our eyes and know it in our spirits let us be convinced that the best thing the best choice we can make is to stay clean and to dedicate and to consecrate again and anew and each day perhaps our vessels to you I pray that we would know how to possess them in sanctification and honor now Lord as we go please keep us safe please help us to do right please help us to be a witness for Jesus Christ and may others see Jesus in us and Lord may we bring glory to you we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our wonderful Savior amen amen all right you are dismissed tonight we pray of Jr Zachary əfIR əfIR əfIR əfIR Əαf ƏfIR Əf Iˢ!?
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