So open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where we were. I know I said this on Sunday that I'd really like when we get through 1 Thessalonians to maybe take some weeks and months to talk about relationships from the Word of God. You know, finding the spouse, the marks of a godly spouse, what God's Word says about marriage and relationships. I said that, but then again, I have no idea when I might be done with Thessalonians. I'm in chapter 4, but if you know chapter 4 and chapter 5, there's a lot of stuff going on there, so I'm not setting any dates, all right? But in 1 Thessalonians 4, we'll be right around the beginning of that chapter. right down by verse one. And you might be familiar with this hymn, you might not, but there's a hymn in our hymnal, and we used to have hymnals, called Channels Only. Channels Only. I'm not even sure of the page, but Channels Only. And the first verse and the refrain read like this, how I praise Thee, precious Savior, that Thy love laid hold of me. Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me. that I might thy channel be. Channels only, blessed master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour. And the author of this hymn, Mary Maxwell, she knew, and she reflects it in this song, that a child of God was only a channel, was only a vessel, And right here in 1 Thessalonians 4, we're going to read verses 1 to 5. The Apostle Paul is warning us Christians, he was warning the Thessalonians 2,000 years ago, and the Holy Spirit is warning us today about how we should handle our vessel. Because that's what we are, a vessel, a channel for God to work through. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you, now he's talking to the Christians there, should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, that's unchecked lust, Even as the Gentiles which know not God and you see right there verses 1 to 5 that we believers are to possess our vessel in Sanctification being set apart for God being set apart from filthiness and set apart unto holiness We're to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor not out of control lust not just whatever you feel like putting in there and you feel like indulging and And that's why we read four and five again, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel because if a vessel is meant to carry something or be filled with something, then we have to be careful about what's in our vessel. How do we possess our vessel? It says possess it in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence. So there are some ways that we are to possess our vessel, our body, and there are some things that we should not let in our vessel, our members, our body. So to help us think about that, we're going to look at three vessels that are talked about in the Word of God to examine what's in your vessel. If you wanna take notes, like some of our very studious brethren, I was never good at that, but if you're taking notes and you put titles, you could title this, What's in Your Vessel? And we're gonna look at some vessels talked about in the Word of God and the things God puts in them and the thing God wants to put in them, which speak to a lot of things that should be in our vessel in the New Testament church. So let's have a word of prayer and we'll jump in here. Heavenly Father, we thank you and we praise you for the lovely Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for this. Lord, this blessed old book that we hold in our hands, Father, I pray we'd understand it. I pray we'd get closer to it. I pray we'd get closer to you by reading it, pondering it, meditating upon it, Lord, and just soaking up everything you have to say to us, Lord. Give us ears to hear, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Turn to the book of Exodus, please. I'm going to take a quick sip here. Turn to Exodus chapter 16 the first vessel We're gonna look at here Exodus chapter 16 go down to verse number 32 Exodus 16 verse 32 First question about what's in your vessel? Is there any manna in your vessel? I'll say that again. Is there any manna in? your vessel 32 says they're out there in the wilderness now they've come through the Red Sea they've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and they're in the wilderness now the children of Israel and Moses said This is the thing which the Lord commandeth fill an omer of it Meaning of the manna you see verse 31 to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread With I have fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, take a pot, there's your vessel, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat manna 40 years until they came to a land inhabited They did eat manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan." I want you to notice that after the Lord fed His people with manna, He's done this great thing. After He's fed the people with manna, He told them to lay some up in a golden pot. Now remember, that's very instructive because manna represents the Word of God. Manna represents that bread from heaven that God would feed His people with in the wilderness. And it is the first thing you need in your vessel, and it's the first thing God is commanding his people here to put in your vessel. Look at verse 32, he says, and Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord commandeth, fill an omer of it, meaning manna, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. You see, manna, that bread from heaven that only God could provide, that's how the Lord fed his people in the wilderness. And brethren, we're in the wilderness right now. We're not home yet. We've been redeemed by the blood. Praise Jesus Christ for that. And we're on our way to our heavenly home. Praise God for that. But in that interim time of being in this world of wilderness, you know we need some sustenance. We need some strength. But this little thing that the world doesn't esteem, and we often don't esteem, manna. What is it? It's bread from heaven. What does it picture? The word of God. What is that to us? That's how God feeds us. That's how God strengthens our inner man. That's got to be in your vessel, in your mind, in your heart, in your speech, in your ears, in your eyes. Is there any manna in your vessel? Look at Matthew chapter 4. That's how God fed the children of Israel, His elect nation in the wilderness. Can I tell you, that's what the Son of God his elect servant fed on in the wilderness as well. Matthew chapter four, not manna, but that bread that only God could provide. Matthew chapter four. I wanna be precise in what I'm saying here. Matthew chapter four, verse one. Then was Jesus let up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was after and hungry. So this isn't something physical like manna that you'd put in your mouth. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, not by anything you eat, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The Son of God was fed, not with something physical, but something spiritual. Jesus said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And God's word is that spiritual bread from heaven, pictured by the manna that he gave to sustain his people in the wilderness, his son in the wilderness, all of his servants in the wilderness. Go to Jeremiah chapter 15. I know this seems elementary, brethren, but it is the basic things that you will trip over until the rapture. Get as much of this book, as much of God's bread, into your vessel while you can. Jeremiah 15. The nation was fed with manna in the wilderness. The son of God was fed with bread from heaven, spiritually speaking, when he was in the wilderness. And that word of God, that's what the man of God fed on to give him joy during a time of trouble. Look at Jeremiah 15. Jeremiah is in the midst of such a difficult situation, trying to serve God, trying to speak for God, trying to preach God's word. And in Jeremiah 15, he says, in verse 16, thy words were found. because you can find them, amen? You got yourself a King James Bible? You don't have just God's thoughts, you have God's words. They're not stuck in the original somewhere. They're not floating around some dead language that nobody has, some mystical originals that nobody can put their hands on. Jeremiah could say, thy words were found. Paul could tell Timothy, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. Guess what, baby? I've got God's words in my hands! and it excites me. I have the truth. I have every word that God wanted me to have because he promised in Psalm 12, 6, and 7 to preserve them from this generation forever. So I don't have to worry about what a better rendering should be and what this guy thinks the text should be and what blah blah blah blah blah and all these people want to say the Bible should say or need to correct it. I know God could give me his words, and he's preserved them right here in this blessed old book, the King James Bible, and I love it today. I love every word of it, every punctuation mark, every jot and every tittle, and he says, thy words were found. That was a different message. Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by the name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah found them, Jeremiah fed on them, and Jeremiah found joy in a time of trouble because of them. Go to Job 23. Is there any manna in your vessel? Is there any word of God in you? Write, didn't David say, thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee? Do you have any word in you? They said of John Bunyan that if you cut him, he'd bleed scripture. He wrote Pilgrim's Progress while in jail with no Bible in front of him, I believe. They said if you cut him, he would bleed scripture. Is that the testimony they would say of you? Are you so full of this book that it just drips out of you? It's not fake, it's not contrived, it's just what you're thinking. It changes your speech, it's changing your actions, it's changing your behavior. You only get that when it's in you. You put this thing in you, and it will change what comes out of you. And if you look at Job 23.12, Job is another one in the midst of trouble, and he says, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Now, we like to eat, amen? I know some of you, and you know a lot of me. We like to eat. But the perfect man, Job, that's what the perfect man esteemed more than the food he ate with his mouth, the words of his God. Is that your testimony? Is there any of this book in you? Listen, if you are What you eat, do you have any manna in your vessel? Is there any laid up in you? Is there any that you've stored away in you, hidden your height, your heart, meditated in your mind? Brethren, you can't survive too long without eating. I think Gandhi went three weeks with complete starvation. He didn't look too good. He was wrapped up in a towel. He was wasting away. I mean, the best man that ever lived went 40 days, and I don't think he could go beyond that. Some Christians try to go way too long with a good old-fashioned feast in the Word of God. Just sit down, throw your phone in the other room, and read your Bible and think about God's promises. Because when you stop eating, you know what that usually is? It's a sure sign you're getting ready to die. All right? I mean, I don't mean to stir up any wounds, but when somebody's getting ready to die, whether it's a pet or somebody you know, and they stop eating and they haven't eaten for days, that's a sign that the end is coming. Something's ending. Something's wasting away. Something's about to perish and be over. I wonder, is your walk with Jesus Christ about to die? Is that why you stopped eating? I mean, how strong can you be? Go back to Exodus 16. Is there any manna in your vessel? How strong could your walk be without the Word of God just, not just scraping the bottom of the barrel, but filling your cup? Look at Exodus 16, 32 again. Look what he said again. He said, Moses said this is the thing which the Lord commandeth fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread where they have fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt and Moses said unto Aaron take a pot and put an omer full of manna therein and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations right and yeah verse 32 is the one I want that they may see and remember listen God put some manna in a golden pot so his people would remember and So generations down, decades down, maybe hundreds of years down, the children of Israel will remember that's how God fed us in the wilderness. Not by our own strength, not by quail. He fed us with bread from heaven. And Christian, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten how God sustains you in the wilderness? He sustains you by this book, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You're not going to make it if you don't have some manna in your vessel. You are not going to get victory over sin. You are not going to be a good dad. You're not going to be a good mom. You're not going to be a good husband. You're not going to be a good wife. You're not going to be a good friend. You're not going to be a godly Christian. You're not going to be a godly brother or sister in Christ. You're not going to be a godly servant. You're not going to be a godly employee. You're not going to be good for anything in terms of Jesus Christ if you don't first have not laid up some manna in your vessel. Lay it up to remind yourself and to feed you and remind yourself when the next meal rolls around that, man, I need God's bread. Listen, I can hear people talk about food all day long, but that doesn't give me any nourishment. I can read books about food with all kinds of pictures and all kinds of descriptions, but that cannot satisfy me. I need the food itself. I need to take it in myself. Go to 1 Timothy 4.6, and such is the case with the Word of God. It's okay to read books about the Bible. but not in place of reading your Bible. It's great to listen to preaching. You should come to church and listen to the Bible taught and preached, but not as a substitute for fellowshipping with God around His Word yourself. Church is at best a compliment and a buttress to what you are doing in your private time with the Lord. If you don't have that private meal with the Lord, then watching what I dole out or somebody else doles out is not going to really strengthen you. It's not going to be enough to sustain you. It'd be like watching somebody else eat a meal and smelling it come off the plate, but none of it's going in your mouth. And just because the preacher's preaching or you're reading a book about the Bible and they're talking about the verses, guess what? That is not a substitute for you reading, meditating, memorizing, quoting, learning, studying God's Word yourself. Put the other books aside and read God's Word yourself. It'll make your church experiences much better. It'll make, when you do turn to those other books about the Bible, much more enriching, because you're full of the good stuff, and then you can begin to appreciate and discern everything else. Look at 1 Timothy 4.6. Ooh, I'm not gonna get off this point. I would like to stay here all week. 1 Timothy 4.6. Look what Paul tells his young protege, Timothy. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereinto thou hast attained." You see, it's the words themselves. The power is in the words, not the thoughts, not the interpretations, but the very words themselves. That's why we give out Bibles, that's why we want you to turn to the verses, that's why we stop and we read them out loud, because my commentary or analysis means jack. The words themselves have the power, and the words themselves are what provide the nourishment you need in the wilderness. Have you heard of the name George Mueller? great prayer warrior, maybe one of the greatest prayer warriors in the Philadelphian age of church history. Prayed in over, I think around $8 million for orphanages in Bristol, England. And you would think that all he did was pray, and he did do a lot of praying, but when he pointed to the source of his power, listen to what he said. He said, as the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so it is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man, Mueller asks? Not prayer, but the word of God. Not the simple reading of the word of God so that it only passes through our minds just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts. Go to Colossians chapter three. He's saying it can't just be your 945 Bible notification that gives you a verse for the day to keep the devil away. I'm sorry, you need more. Colossians 3, you gotta think about it, you gotta meditate on it, you gotta memorize it, you gotta go back and read it again. Colossians 3 gives us a great piece of counsel on laying up that manna in your vessel. Colossians chapter 3, verse number 16. The Bible says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, abundantly, plentifully, you know, a lot of it. in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. God's word has to dwell in you richly, man. It can't just be something you read on Monday to try to make you into Saturday. You gotta get that manna every day, every morning, except on the Sabbath. Every morning, you're supposed to get fresh manna. And every morning, you better get fresh bread from God's oven so you can get through the day and live a victorious Christian life. If not, you're gonna lose and stumble and fall. Mark it down. Is it abundant in your vessel? Is God's Word that manna abundant in your vessel or is it lacking? Are you running on fumes? Are you full of the Word of God? Get yourself a Bible reading program. Grab one from our table at church when we meet together or just find one online and get some structure if you need that and read your Bible every day and lay up some manna in your vessel so you're strong for the wilderness. That's number one. Now go to the book of Numbers. That could be a vessel unto, a message, a vessel, a message unto itself. Numbers 7. But that's not all we see God putting in vessels. Numbers chapter 7. Look at verse 1. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers chapter 7. Oh, the Bible is such a great book. Oh, what a book. Oh, I gotta kiss it. What a book. What a book. What a book. What a book. Number 7. And it came to pass, on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them, that the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them, that were numbered, offered, and they brought their offering before the Lord. Now jump to verse 14, and here is part of what they offered. One spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense. Part of what God's people offered was a golden spoon of incense. So my second question is this. Is there any incense in your vessel number one? Is there any manna in your vessel a picture of the word of god second one? Is there any incense in your vessel now incense? Is the material the israelites burned? To make a fragrant smoke in the tabernacle Now, why is it important that some of it might be in your vessel? We'll go to psalm 141 I'm glad you asked that question. I love the audience participation. Psalm 141, look at verse number one. Can I tell you that incense represents prayer in the Bible. Incense represents prayer in the Bible. Is there any incense in your vessel? a spirit of prayer, a willingness to pray, a desire to offer prayers up before the Lord. Psalm 141, he says, Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Watch verse two very carefully. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. See that simile he draws there? That prayer is as incense. Incense representing prayer in the Bible. Now remember in the tabernacle. You'd walk into the holy place, and right before you walked into the holiest of all, where the presence of God was, there was an altar of incense. Before that high priest actually went into the presence of almighty God once a year on the day of atonement, he would take that coal from off the brazen altar, he'd put it on the altar of incense, and he'd put that incense in there, and that smoke would go up, and that high priest would approach the holy God of Israel in that smoke. And in the same way, believer priests today can enter into God's presence today through prayer, through that cloud, through that smoke, through that incense, typifying prayer. Look at Revelation chapter number 5. Revelation chapter 5. Revelation 5. Is there any incense in your vessel? Revelation 5. Look at verse 6. A little glimpse of heaven here, Revelation 5, 6. Get there with you, Revelation 5, 6. The Bible says, and I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne of the four beasts. So John gets this vision of heaven before the tribulation starts. And in the midst of the elders stood a lamb. as it had been slain, Jesus Christ, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, that's his Holy Spirit. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, like a, Sweet smell which are the prayers of saints So a picture of heaven you see the people around god's throne the creatures around god's throne have golden vials of odors which have a An odor is a smell right a probably a sweet smell That are vessels of prayer all around god's throne being offered up to god. Look at revelation 8 verse 3 Revelation 8 verse 3. It's another telling of the tribulation now Revelation 8 3 it says and another angel came and stood at the altar Having a golden sensor. The sensor is what they would use to kind of spread incense and Lost my place, sorry. That he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. That incense, you see the picture there? That incense, like your prayers, coming up before the presence of God. Like a sweet smell, like an odor acceptable unto God. Look at Exodus chapter 30. Is there any incense in your vessel? Offering anything up to God, in communion with God, praying to God, beseeching God, having that desire to just reach out and cry unto Him like David and the saints of old. Look at Exodus chapter 30, speaking about the high priest Aaron here. Exodus chapter 30, Exodus chapter 30, look at verse one. Talking about the furniture of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense. What I mentioned earlier, that altar of incense, right before the holiest of all. Of Shittimun shalt thou make it. Now look at verse six. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony. Right before the veil when you walked into the holiest of all, where the presence of God was. And the ark of the testimony, the ark of the covenant. before the mercy seat that is over the testimony where I will meet with thee." Right? So God's presence abode over that mercy seat. And that's where the high priest would meet with God once a year on the Day of Atonement. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lambs, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps uneven, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. You see, in the Old Testament, every morning and every evening, Aaron was to burn incense. In verse 7, it's called sweet incense. In verse 8, it's called perpetual incense before the Lord. It wasn't anything that anybody else saw. Nobody really looked in on the outer court into what was going on right before the veil. That was something only that high priest and those people that ministered in the tabernacle might have seen. It was a very select few. It was before the Lord because that incense is for God. And that prayer is for God. The Lord says, that's sweet. So is there any incense in your vessel? Are you offering up any of those sweet odors perpetually every morning when you wake up, every night before you lay your head down to sleep? Is there that communion with God, that crying out to God, that praying before God, those prayers of the saints that come up before God that he says are sweet? It's for God, man. It's not for you. We think prayer is a way to get all your needs met. Yeah, he meets your needs, but it's really for God. He takes pleasure in that. He enjoys that. He says it's sweet. A poet said one time, God warms his hands at man's heart when he prays. God's just like, oh. That's some good stuff, man. Seeing them reach out to me, seeing them cry out to me, seeing their hearts inclined toward me, that blesses our Heavenly Father. Is there any incense in your vessel? Look at Romans chapter 12. Let's bring it to the New Testament a little bit as we finish this point here. Romans chapter 12. Romans 12, 12, look at all the New Testament directions about having that constant prayer. We see in the Old Testament pictures, we see in the Old Testament picture where the priest is bringing up that incense morning and evening, but you know what? In the New Testament, he's telling us all the time, pray, all the time, pray, all the time, pray. Romans 12, 12, rejoicing in hope, Patient in tribulation, continuing instant, continuing life. It's perpetual. Keep doing it. Continuing instant in prayer. Look at Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6, 18. That Old Testament picture points to a New Testament truth. Ephesians chapter 6, verse number 18. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, verse number 18. Ephesians 6 18 The Bible says Ephesians 6 18 Praying always Wow Praying always What does that mean? I think it means always praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and Watching them too with all perseverance and supplication for all saints one more first Thessalonians 5 and 1 Thessalonians 5, look at verse 17. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, the Bible says this, three words that are easy to memorize and hard to live. Pray without ceasing. Continuing instant in prayer. Praying always with all supplication in the spirit. Pray without ceasing. I think God wants his people in the New Testament church to be a praying people. So is there any incense in your vessel? A spirit of prayer, a desire to pray, a willingness to look up and commune with your Heavenly Father. You know, in number seven, where we started this point, every tribe brought a spoon of incense that day as an offering and God wants that tells me that God wants to commune with all of us every tribe brought a spoonful of incense All you need is a spoonful of incense. All you need is that little bit of desire? To want to pray to your Heavenly Father Do you have that much? Do you have a spoonful of desire in you? I? I would like to be a good prayer warrior. I know I am not. But that's the one thing I'd really like to be. I would like to be better at praying. Not a better prayer, but just better at praying. Don't you? Any incense in your vessel? And finally, go to Matthew 25. Matthew 25, just looking at three vessels that God has in his Bible that point to things that we should have in our vessel as Christians in the New Testament church. And Matthew 25 gives us another picture here. My question here is this. Number one, is there any manna in your vessel? Word of God. Number two, is there any incense in your vessel? Number three, is there any oil in your vessel? Matthew 25 verse 1 then shall the kingdom of heaven that's important be likened unto ten virgins Plural that's important which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom and five of them were wise and five were foolish They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. I want to remind you that oil represents the Holy Spirit in the scriptures. I'll show you in 1st Samuel chapter 16. Turn back to 1st Samuel chapter 16. 1st Samuel chapter 16. How we doing, we doing okay? Amen. 1st Samuel chapter 16, this is anointing of David to be king of Israel. 1st Samuel 16, 13. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of the brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. David was anointed with oil and the Holy Spirit came upon him. And then you get to the New Testament, Luke chapter 4 verse 18, which is about the son of David, Jesus Christ, and it says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." I want you to see that in the Old Testament, kings and priests were physically anointed with physical oil to foreshadow and to point to the spiritual anointing the Holy Ghost would perform spiritually later on. So oil would anoint people, and oil pictures the Holy Spirit of God that equips, enables, and fills somebody to serve the Lord. Now in Matthew 25, these virgins have oil in their lamps. Notice it's in their lamps. And a lamp is there to light their way. Very interesting that the oil was there in the vessels to give them light. in the tabernacle, oil was used to light the candlestick. You'd walk into the holy place and there was two pieces of furniture, well three pieces of furniture. The candlestick, the table of showbread, the altar of incense. And the only light in that whole holy place, only light in that tabernacle proper was that candlestick and it was lit by oil. Picture the Holy Spirit of God. And that candlestick did something, it illuminated The showbread, which pictured the Word of God, six loaves each, right? Six, like 66 books of the Bible, right? Those loaves of showbread, which picture the Word of God, the light came from the candlestick, which was burning with the oil that pictured the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is there to give us light on the Word of God, to illuminate our eyes to what the Word of God means so we have the right interpretation. John chapter 16, John chapter 16. I hope you see that connection John chapter 16 look at verse number 13 the Bible says how be it when he The spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth He's a person for he shall not speak of himself But whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come the Holy Spirit typified by oil in the Old Testament, was given to guide us into all truth. And if you flip the page to John 17, 17, Jesus told us of God's word, thy word is truth. God's word is the truth and God's spirit is that oil that lights our way and helps us see what God's word means for us today. Now go to Daniel chapter 5 for another wonderful illustration of God's Spirit illuminating God's Word so we have understanding and light on the text. Daniel chapter 5. You know, when I tell people to turn somewhere, I just start flipping pages, I don't know where I'm going, and then I gotta go back to where I'm supposed to be. I don't know why that is, I'll get that right one of these days. Daniel chapter five is the story of the handwriting of the wall, on the wall. Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar, is just grossly exploiting the vessels of God, abusing them, drinking his wine, worshiping his gods in the vessels that were meant for the service of Jehovah, and that hand appears and writes on the wall, right, mene, mene, mene, mene, Tekal a portion. I'm gonna mess that up somewhere, right? I forget what it is Yeah, meanie meanie tackle who parson right writes that stuff on the wall and in Daniel 511 the Queen gives belches are some information about interpreting it and She tells him there is a man in my kingdom in whom is the spirit of the Holy Gods Now she didn't know any better She didn't know it was the Spirit of the Holy God, singular. She just said, oh, it's the Spirit of the Holy Gods. But she could recognize that there was a spirit in Daniel that was different than anybody else in the court. Do they see that in you? Is there any oil in your vessel? And in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him. whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. For as much as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. Then was Daniel brought in before the king, and the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry? I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. I want you to notice, brethren, that a man with God's spirit, when Belshazzar needed to understand what God had written on the wall, he turned to Daniel. He turned to a man with God's spirit enough in him that he, Daniel, was able to give light on the text. My, my, my. Is there any oil in your vessel? Because when the world is troubled, and when the world is troubled enough to want light on what God wrote, is there any oil in your vessel to dissolve their doubts and show them the interpretation? Tell them what the writing of God means for them. Now, go back to Matthew 25. I want to clarify something. I just want to rightly divide this passage, as we always should when we read, especially in the book of Matthew, which is a very Jewish book written about a Jewish Messiah coming to build a literal kingdom in a Jewish economy, in a physical, literal kingdom of heaven, which only appears, by the way, that phrase kingdom of heaven in the book of Matthew, I believe it's 52 times. But I want you to notice something. While we can learn some spiritual truths from the virgins in these parables, This is not about the church directly or doctrinally. Let me just point out a couple of things 25 1 then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins plural Notice this parable is about 10 virgins plural The church is a chaste virgin singular 2nd Corinthians 11 3 notice it says in verse One, at the end, they went out to meet the bridegroom. Notice they are going forth to meet the bridegroom. We, Christians in the New Testament church, body of Christ, are waiting to marry the bridegroom. So this is not a direct application. This is not about somebody getting out of heaven, getting kicked out of heaven, missing heaven. It's not about that at all. It's directly and doctrinally about people missing the kingdom of heaven. But, however, There's another application to every verse of the Bible, a spiritual application, a devotional application, an inspirational application, and spiritually speaking, there are many Christians. Some are foolish and some are not. Some are full of the Spirit of God and have oil in their vessels, and some are full of the world. Living like fools Ephesians chapter 1 almost done folks hang in there Ephesians chapter 1 This is a church epistle, so this is doctrinally for us Ephesians 1 12 look at the Bible says We should be to the praise of his glory Who first trusted in Christ that you trusted in Christ nod your head amen in whom he also trusted so something that happened inside of you and After that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom it's in you brethren Also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise So praise the lord if you've trusted jesus christ as your personal savior the holy spirit has sealed himself inside you he lives inside of you 1 Corinthians 6, and He'll never leave you or forsake you, 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6, look at verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body, this vessel, this house of clay, Job said, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, Ephesians 1, in you, Ephesians 1, which ye have of God, because he gave it to you and put it in there, and ye are not your own? Right now, Christian, right now, brother, right now, sister, your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. That's where He dwells today. He doesn't dwell in buildings made with hands. As nice as they might be, or as nasty as they might be, He does not dwell in any building. He dwells in your body. Now think about this. In the Old Testament, even though the Lord dwelt in the temple, and he did. There was the holy oracle, he dwelt in the temple, and in the tabernacle, he dwelt inside that holiest of all. In both of those buildings in the Old Testament economy, God actually dwelt and resided in those places. And even though he dwelt in the temple, in the Old Testament, there were times when God filled the house. when His glory was so manifest that you could see it like a cloud, and the priest couldn't even go into it. 1 Kings 8 talks about it. I think 2 Chronicles 5 talks about God actually filling the house. Now, He already dwelt there. That's where you had to go find Him. You had to pray in that direction. You had to go bring your sacrifices there. The high priest had to go into His presence there, but even though He dwelt there, He still, under certain conditions, when things were made right, and the heart was right, and the thing was cleansed, and God would then fill the temple, or fill the tabernacle, And brother, go to Ephesians 5, God dwells in you, yes, but when you clean out this vessel and your heart is right and you're full of the Word of God, you know what God's Spirit does? He fills your vessel. He fills your temple so that others can see and He can do a work through you. Ephesians 5, look at this command. This is a command to Christians. It's a command to us. Ephesians 5, 18, he says, and be not drunk with wine. That's another spirit. Some of you wouldn't think twice about having some of those spirits. How about the Holy Spirit? And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess. He's saying that spirit only leads you to do stuff you shouldn't do. Amen. but be filled with the Spirit, capital God, capital S, Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, yes, but God then commands us to be filled with the Spirit. You see it pictured in the Old Testament. He dwelt in those buildings, and then he would fill those buildings when they prayed to him, when they offered the right sacrifices, when the priests sanctified themselves. Well, guess what? When you do the right things you should be doing here, you're in fellowship with God, you're full of this book, that's the spirit that you get filled up on, Colossians 3 tells us, right? That's the spirit, the words that I speak in, you fill up on this book. You know what happens? He then fills you, even though he dwells in you, he fills you. There is one filling. when you get saved, but many fillings for the Christian. Think about it this way. Would you rather have a little juice in your drill or a full battery when you go to work? You pick up that drill, it's always going to read some kind of charge. There's some kind of electricity in there. But you want that battery on full power if you're going to drive a nail or something into some two by fours, right? And Christian, Holy Spirit's living in you, right? It might be just tucked away behind all your nonsense. He's in there. But don't you want to be full of His Spirit and walking in communion with Him so you can go out there and do a work for God? Look at Ephesians chapter 3. You know God's prayer is that you be filled with all the fullness of God, even though He already lives inside you permanently? Ephesians 3.14, look at Paul's prayer here, which is the Holy Spirit's desire. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Make no mistake, you got all of God when you got saved. But God wants all of you. And when you give more of yourself to Him, He fills you more and more with His Spirit to equip you and enable you to reach a lost and dying world and to bring Him glory. Go to 2 Kings chapter 4. 2 Kings chapter 4. Let's look at a great picture of this. 2 Kings chapter 4. 2 Kings chapter 4. Look at verse 1. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant, my husband, is dead. And thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. So the reap, O man, is coming. They're going to foreclose and take her kids and throw them into indentured servitude. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Now watch this. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and thou shalt pour out all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. What a picture that there's enough oil to fill as many empty vessels you bring to the Lord. You see, the oil's in the house. You just got to fill the vessel up with it. And right there, that woman, whose husband was dead, Great picture of, you know, in a way, the church whose husband has died on the cross and is gone right now. You know, looks like the world is going to foreclose on us, foreclose on her. You know what he says? There's oil in the house. And brother, if you're saved, there's oil in the house. Just get some empty vessels. Empty out your vessels and fill it. Because there's enough oil to fill as many empty vessels as you bring to the Lord. The question is, are you empty enough of self? for the Savior to fill you? Is there any room in your vessel? Because like the bridegroom going forth to meet those virgins, Jesus Christ is coming back. Are you living like there's no God? Living like a fool, with no room for God to fill you. You're so full of the news. You're so full of self. You're so full of pleasure. You're so full of comforts. You're so full of your own ideas. You're so full of social media. You're so full of all the stuff that you fill yourself up with. God doesn't have an inch of space to fill your vessel. You're full of yourself already. You're full of all the gunk. But if you'd be an empty vessel, that pot of oil's in the house to fill it. Just gotta empty yourself out a little bit. Look at Romans chapter one, I got two stops left. Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. You know what happens when you act like a fool? You know what happens when you say in your heart there is no God? You know what happens right here in Romans one? Your foolishness gets you full of filth. Romans 121, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Now look what happens, look what they get full of in verse 28, 29. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit. Malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, Knowing the judgment of God that they which do such things are worthy of death Not only do the same but a pleasure in them that do them It's started by them saying there is no God like those foolish virgins like you who might be living like a fool You've said in their heart there in your heart. There is no God and the end result is you end up getting full of filth When you act like a fool So is there any oil in your vessel Are you empty enough to be filled with the Spirit? Let's finish in 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and then we'll be done. 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 2, look at verse number 19. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I don't know if this ad is still, it took away my March Madness so I couldn't see it. But I don't know if Samuel Jackson still does this commercial campaign, but you know, he was doing that Capital One credit card campaign. And he would end every commercial with this simple question. What's in your wallet? And I would like to end this message with a very simple question. What's in your vessel? You know, Samuel L. Jackson would hold out what's in your wallet, that credit card, implying that that's all you need in your wallet. And brother, the things we talked about today are the only things you really need in your vessel. The word of God, prayer, the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Holy Spirit. That's really all you need to live a victorious Christian life and end up doing well at the judgment seat of Christ. So that would mean I need to purge or get rid of anything that's crowding out the good stuff, or taking the place where the good stuff should be in my vessel. 2 Timothy 2, verse 19 says just that. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity, but in a great house 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. When we started tonight, the Lord told us in 1 Thessalonians, possess your vessel in sanctification and honor. And in 2 Timothy where we end, he says if you get rid of the stuff you don't need, your vessel will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified. You gotta get rid of the stuff that we don't need. You gotta get rid of the stuff that causes dishonor. I don't know what that stuff is. But whatever the Holy Spirit is speaking to you today as we go to prayer, let the Holy Spirit put His finger on the thinking, the behavior, the pastimes, the stuff that's filling you up and filling your life up that is taking away from the Word of God, taking away from prayer, taking away from you being filled with all the fullness of God. And if it's getting in the way, ask God for the grace to purge it, to cleanse it, to get it out of your vessel so more of the good things can be in your vessel. Then we can be that channel God wants us to be. Then we can be that vessel that Mary Maxwell wrote about, that we can truly sing about, how I praise Thee, precious Savior, that Thy love laid hold of me. Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me, that I might Thy channel be. emptied that thou shouldest fill me, a clean vessel in thy hand, with no power but as thou givest, graciously with each command. Channels only, blessed pastor, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour." Let's pray. Father, we thank you and we praise you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for these great reminders from your word, Lord, to make sure the right things are in our vessel. that we possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. Lord, I pray for my own heart, Lord, show me the things I need to get rid of, the pride, the foolishness, the wrong thinking. And I pray for my brethren, Lord, and everyone listening to the sound of my voice, Lord. May you, Holy Spirit, try the reins in the heart, Lord, search them, Lord, see if there'd be a wicked way, show it to them, Lord, and give them the grace to purge themselves that might be a vessel unto honor, sanctified. and meet for the Master's use. Pray you'd bring us together this Sunday again, Lord, if that would be your will. In Jesus' name, amen. Good night, everybody. Lord willing, we'll see you Sunday, and God bless you.