2. 2 Timothy chapter 2, it has been a little while since we've been here. We're going to continue on in our study, picking up with verse 20 today. But let's begin reading in verse one, just to get what he's saying here back in our minds, all right? 2 Timothy 2, verse one. Paul is speaking to Timothy on the subject of pastoring and preaching the gospel. That's what he's talking about. So verse one says, thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be strong in grace. Get rid of man's works and be completely committed to preaching God's grace. That's good, sound advice. Verse two, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. 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. Now we've studied all of that to this point, and I would love to take the time to go over all that again and really enter into what he's saying again. There's just so much in all of that. But to summarize it, to just summarize what he said, it was this, stay on Christ. That's what he was saying. If you get right down to everything he just said, He was saying, keep the message on Christ. Keep the conversation on Christ. Keep the doctrine on Christ. Don't get sidetracked on unnecessary, unimportant, hair-splitting, ridiculous things. Just ridiculous things. People get so hung up on ridiculous things. Paul said, Timothy, as the pastor of Ephesus, stay on Christ. You stay on Christ. Now, remembering that that's the context of what he's saying here, let's finish these verses. Verse 20, he said, 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. Within a congregation, There will always be believers and unbelievers. There will always be sheep and goats. I know that in false religion, it's generally the idea that every soul inside the four walls is saved. You go to church here, you're saved. All you gotta do is go to church and you're saved. That's not the case. Within every congregation, there will be sheep and goats. There will be those who are called the children of God, and there will be those who are the children of the devil. Isn't that what our Lord said? You're of your father, the devil. That's what he said to some Pharisees. And it's so sad, but it's true. It's so sad to me. And this is what I've been thinking about all morning. Lord, reveal Christ to us. Reveal Christ to us. This difference is only made by the grace of God. It's only made by the grace of God. Who maketh any of us to differ but the Lord himself? It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. But some are going to receive eyes to see, I mean eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to believe. And others, sadly, are going to spend their whole lives in the pew, never understanding what the fuss is about. This is the truth. And here's what I have to say about that. If you don't see and understand what the rejoicing is really over, ask God to reveal it to you. If you are a person, and if I am a person starting right here, who's trying to figure all this out, And if I don't have a handle on this and a grasp on this, and if I don't see what everybody's rest and happiness and rejoicing is over, ask God to reveal it to you. Literally, ask God, reveal Christ to me. Reveal the truth to me. Reveal the gospel to me. That's literally what I'm crying. as your pastor, that's what I'm crying. Reveal Christ to me. Reveal the truth of these things, the truth of eternity, even me, let thy blessing fall on me. What we're doing in saying that is without you revealing it, I'm blind, I'm dead, I'm deaf, I'm ignorant, I'm lost. Without you, I'm lost. Reveal these things to me. Hold your place and go over to John 14. John 14 verse 19. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but you see me, because I live, you shall live also. And what a statement that is, if the Lord would just reveal that to us. Because I live, you shall live also. Verse 20, at that day, you shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, it's not talking about Judas Iscariot, that's Jude, the apostle Jude, said unto him, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, his people, and not unto the world? How is it you're gonna manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings. That's how you, they don't believe, they don't He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. Jude said, Lord, you're gonna manifest yourself to us. You're gonna reveal yourself to us and not to the world? And the Lord said, yes, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Those who have had Christ revealed to them, Everybody knows about Jesus. Everybody knows about Jesus. Everybody talks about Jesus. We just finished a holiday season where Jesus, you know, according to everybody, was the reason for the season. Everybody talks about Jesus. If the Lord ever reveals Christ to somebody, If the Lord ever reveals Christ to a person, that person will, by faith, see him for who he truly is. He will go up in people's eyes. He will ascend. If they ever see him for who he truly is, he will go up. He will be high and lifted up, not just by the Father, but by all of God's people. They'll see Him for who He truly is. They will see what He has truly done, finished. I mean finished. And they will believe on Him and they will hope in Him. And those who have not had Christ revealed to them, they're gonna spend their entire lives trying to figure out what the rest of false religion is trying to figure out. What must I do to be saved? Those who have not had Christ revealed to them are going to spend their entire lives trying to figure out what must I do to be saved. It's not what I must do, it's what He has already done. The vessels of mercy, God's people, by believing on Christ, they're going to be fitted for glory by looking to Christ. And the vessels of wrath, those who, as our Lord said, are of their father the devil, they're going to be fitted for destruction. And our Lord said, you just keep preaching Christ and I'll sort it all out in the end. And thank God he said that because it could be that a vessel who we think is a vessel unto dishonor, God may reveal, no, no, no. You just look at Saul of Tarsus, you'd say, boy, that's a vessel of dishonor right there. God said, no, he's a chosen vessel of mercy. God may make it known that a soul is a vessel unto honor, a vessel unto Christ. So he said, you let who you think are the wheat and the tares grow together. And I'll sort it all out in the end. Now go with me back to 2 Timothy 2. Verse 20, 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. Verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, he's talking about these things that he just told him to purge themselves from. Verse 14, he said, words to no profit. Verse 16, he said, profane and vain babblings. Verse 18, he said, false prophecy predictions. Verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, that means set apart, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. What's the good work of a servant of the Lord if a man or a woman is called to be a servant of the Lord? In this, what I'm about to say, if a man is called to be a servant of the Lord, what is the good work? Here it is. Preach Christ. Preach Christ, declare Christ and Christ alone, Christ only, Christ only. That is a servant meet for the master's use and prepared for his good work. Look with me at Galatians 1. Galatians 1 verse 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be cursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be cursed. For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? Or if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Servant of Christ. If I am a servant of Christ, then I've been given one work. Be a marriage counselor. No. Be the referee over every dispute that comes along. No. You know, start soup kitchens. You know, really, honestly, people in religion, in false religion, they think that all of these humanitarian efforts are the work of the ministry. It's not so. If I have been called to be a servant of Christ, I have been given one work. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Go back to 2 Timothy 2. Verse 21 says, 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. Flee also youthful lusts. The youthful lust of pride, you know, he's talking to Timothy about being in the ministry. And sure, flea lust, all those, you know, get rid of sin, try as hard as you can, it's never gonna happen. Not in this flesh, but, you know, should we sin that grace might abound? God forbid. But what he's talking about here is the youthful lust of a youthful man like me preaching. I'm a young, I know you may not believe me based on my gray hair, but I think I'm a young man. And us young men have a problem with pride. We do. You like that illustration of that young man who filled in for the pastor while he, what'd you think of my message? Can't stand it, I gotta hear a little praise. You know, what'd you think of my message? Flee the youthful lust of pride. Flee the youthful lust of self-righteousness, self-glory. Get rid of all that. Verse 22, flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Righteousness is Christ. He is our righteousness. He is made unto us righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness. If we're talking about righteousness, we're talking about a person. Faith is Christ almost. I'm going to use the word almost, but I mean almost every single time in the scripture. When you see the word faith, you can just put the word Christ right there. Thy faith hath saved thee. Your Christ has saved you. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Without Christ, it's impossible to please God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Christ is the substance of things hoped for. We want to know what faith is. We don't go here, we go there. Charity or love. It's Christ. We had a message Wednesday on love, brotherly love, and a sister sent me a text. She was reading in 1 Corinthians 13 and said, that went so well with the message and this and that, and I said, it does. 1 Corinthians 13's all about charity, which means love. Stick the word Christ right there. Oh, if I speak with the tongues of angels and I have all these gifts and all that stuff, but I don't have Christ, I don't have anything. Christ is the one who was not punished. Christ is the one who suffered long. Christ is all these things. Peace. He is our peace. He's the one who made peace. So he's saying flee everything and follow Christ. Verse 23, but foolish And unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender stripes. I'm striving to get to that more and more. When I first became a pastor, I thought I had to have an answer for everything. This is probably my most common answer now. I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know. Everything that's not Christ is just gonna produce debating. Irrelevant debating. We don't have time for that. All we have time for is Christ. Verse 24, and the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all. Men is in italics. Apt to teach, patient, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. Now, this is a rare moment where I have not timed my notes properly, but this is important, okay? So, I think I have five minutes left. Here we go. That's Christ. This is the most important part of the whole study. What we just read, that is the great example of Jesus Christ. Verse 24, he said, this is what the servant of the Lord must be. And this example right here perfectly describes Christ. Very quickly, go with me to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. In my Bible, the heading at the top of the page says, The Office of Christ. That's what this is. And this is God the Father speaking to Christ his son. Verse one, he said, Behold my servant. We're talking about the servant of the Lord this morning. The title of this Bible study. And God the Father said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth, I've put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth. and the aisles shall wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth bread unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles." He said, I'm giving Christ for my covenant to the people, my light to the Gentiles. Verse 7, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness, Out of the prison house, Jesus Christ the Lord was the servant of God the Father, sent to accomplish a work, and he accomplished that work in righteousness and victory. But he accomplished that work in meekness and gentleness and patience and love. And that's what our text is describing to us. It describes Christ and his work. Go back to 2 Timothy 2. This is Christ, verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive. That's what Isaiah 42 just said. He's not gonna cry, he's not gonna lift up, he's not gonna break a bruised reed, he's not gonna quench smoking flax. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient. The long-suffering of the Lord is our salvation. And that's how we as servants of the Lord ought to be because of Christ. We ought to be patient, gentle, kind, as he is, so should we strive to be. Verse 24, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. That's all that our Lord did because that's all he encountered. His very own people being sinners, everything about them opposed themselves. That's all we do is oppose ourselves. But in his goodness, he said in John 6, they're all gonna be taught of God. Verse 25, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. That's what the teaching of God will produce. We're gonna have a moment of silence. I wanna emphasize this. I'm gonna slow down, emphasize this. This is what the teaching of God produces. A changed mind to everything a sinner believed in false religion. That's what it does. That's what the teaching of God produces. It's a changed mind to the acknowledging of the truth. The moment that a sinner becomes taught of God, It's a changed mind from man to God. It's a changed mind from works to grace. It's a changed mind from do to done. And that new enlightened quickened mind is what sets a prisoner to sin and self and Satan and the law free. Our Lord said you're going to know the truth and the truth is going to make you free. So in verse 25, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. Now let's take notice of this. Even though it is the will of the adversary to keep God's people captive. It is not in the ability of the adversary to keep God's people captive. We're not gonna turn to Ephesians 4, but it says our Lord Jesus Christ led captivity captive. He came in when he delivered his people, he didn't just set them free, he led their captor captive. He put a chain on them. He told Eve, your seed is gonna have his heel bruised, on the cross of Calvary by bearing the sin that the adversary brought to God's people. But in that bruising of the cross, the adversary is going to have his head crushed. And that's what he did. He led captivity captive. We're not going to go to John 12 or other places, but that's what our Lord was saying. Now, he said, I'm going to the cross. Now is the prince of this world cast out. If I be lifted up, I'm going to draw my people to myself and I'm going to cast him out. And that's what he did. And Christ is God's servant, thank God. Christ is God's servant, but for his sake. I pray God would teach us to be that kind of servant, servant of him.