Hello and welcome to the program. We're in lesson number 7 in 2 Timothy. This is what we call God's Church Manual because it tells us how things ought to be done. Chapter 1, what to think, and in this chapter we're looking at what to be. We left off in verse 19, and one thing positive, regardless of all the apostasy and so on that we're facing today, It talks about the sure foundation. It says, nevertheless, in spite of the situation, the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now, Peter put it this way. He said we also have a more sure word of prophecy. Now Peter is at the end of his life. He's going to say his last few words. He's going to say them to Christians. And to the Christian, he says, ye do well that ye take heed. It's all about the condition of the heart. You know, we call ourselves fundamentalists. We call ourselves fundamental independent Baptists. You call yourself whatever you want. You do well that you take heed to the Word of God. Not a lot of people are these days. If you study 2 Peter, it's his final message, and he gives us a warning about corrupt leaders and exposes false doctrine, and those are the final words that he has for us. Very, very important. Now, we have a sure foundation, but What about our foundation? We need to make sure we get it right. Foundations are very important. There are 54 verses in the Bible that mention the word foundation and another 33 verses that has the word foundations plural. It says in Psalm 11 3, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? So earthly foundations can be destroyed and that creates a serious dilemma for anybody in the building program. Paul had just mentioned how the infiltrators were able to overthrow the faith of some. I was reading about this house that fell down. One day it looked great and the next day it looked like this. What was the problem? The problem was the foundation. And Paul is using this as an analogy. It says in Ephesians 2.20, it refers to the Church as built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Now, this is a picture of what he's talking about here. We'll say a little bit more about that in a minute. Paul said in 1st Corinthians, according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He said I'm a wise master builder. Now, that'd be a whole lot of pride unless he put the first part of that sentence in there. He said, by the grace of God I am what I am, according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder. The grace, as we previously mentioned, is the desire and the ability to do God's will. Colossians 1 to Paul said grace me unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ anyone who has the desire and the ability to do God's will has gotten it from God now it takes this grace to do it right Psalm 37 says he shall give thee the desires of the heart it gets a gift of God and Any ability we have to do God's will comes from Him. He said in 1 Corinthians 15, By the grace of God I am what I am, and by His grace which was restored upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me. With this God-given grace, Paul had already laid the foundation. Timothy was the one at that point who was another that built it thereon. Now notice the two foundations, one that Paul laid and one that no man can lay, which is Jesus Christ. Paul was using the analogy of a seal with an inscription that was put on a cornerstone of a building at that time that inscribed the name of the builder and the character and the design of the builder. Now, in this case, he's talking about Christ being the cornerstone. The church is built by the hand of God. The foundation is firm. The name of the builder is Christ. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Paul encouraged Timothy by saying, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. He continued, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let every one that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity this is in red because it's extremely important the entire focus of first and second dimothy is on keeping the church pure rather than compromising to keep it full i will say it again the entire focus the entire focus of first and second dimothy which tells us as pastors how to get the job done, is on keeping the Church pure rather than compromising to keep it full. Big time, big time flood of apostasy coming in today because we think it's important to keep it full. While all Christians should be actively involved in winning lost people, and getting them into the local church, the pastor's responsibility is not filling the pews with people, but filling the people with the Word of God. To the pastor named Peter, Jesus said, you love me? He said, yeah. He said, well, then feed my lambs and feed my sheep. Every Christian, as we said, should be concerned about reaching the lost. And as a Christian, so should the pastor. However, the pastor's main responsibility as a pastor is to feed the lambs and to feed the sheep. Paul continued, 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. Some to honor. Well, we have that in chapter 2 and verse 20. Some to dishonor? We've been through this list before. The word some is in all of these verses. Some went after false doctrine, some to main jangling, shipwreck, some departed from the faith, and so the list goes on here. And he said in verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, from that list, he shall be a vessel in the honor, sanctified in meat for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. a vessel unto honor. If we are going to do what it says here in chapter 2, this is what I want you to be. He said, if any man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor. But it's simply making a choice. Now, if you go back to Matthew 7, verse 13 and 14, Jesus was talking to his disciples. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is the whole story of the Sermon on the Mount. He went with his disciples only. The Bible is very clear about that. To his disciples, he said, to these Christians, minus Judas, to these Christians, he said, enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate, Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it that word destruction has been translated waste For some reason we've got it in our heads that this is talking about getting saved or not getting saved It has absolutely nothing to do with that He is talking when he was set. It says his disciples came unto him and he opened his mouth and he taught them and And one of the things he taught them was, enter ye in at the straight gate. He went on here also, it said, flee also youthful lusts, but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. With who? With them that he talks about, those few, those that are vessels to honor. He goes on to say in verse 23, but foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender stripe. Unlearned questions. They're unlearned because they're unteachable. In Psalm 25, 4, David said, Show me thy way, O Lord, teach me thy path. Lead me in thy truth and teach me. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path. Teach me thy way, O Lord, I will walk in thy truth. Teach me to do thy will. What we need to do today is to get off our high horses and say, Lord, teach me we think we know it all when it comes to all of these issues that we look at today what the secret to us getting back and seeing the power of god in our churches is for us as pastors and people as well to have this attitude that says show me thy way oh lord teach me thy path all the issues of today we need to just simply pray and say teach me thy way and i will walk in thy truth. Well, we'll be looking at chapter three in our next lesson. Be sure and tune in. This chapter three talks about what we need to know.