Sermons
March 22nd, 2010 by Pastor Solley031410AM The Vessels of God.
Sub. History of the vessels of God.
Theme: Spiritual application for the Christian.
Text: Ezra 1:5-8; 2 Tim 2:19-21
“The Vessels of God” Ezra 1:5-8; 2 Tim 2:19-21
IntroductionI would like to bring a message this morning looking at the vessels of God. The words vessel and vessels are very common ones in the Bible being found 200 times between them. But I wold like to look at some very uncommon vessels today, I would like to look at the vessels of God.
I. In our Scripture text for this morning we find the vessels of God in both the Old and New testaments:
Ezra 1:5-8; 2 Tim 2:19-21 In Ezra we see the literal vessels of God used in the Tabernacle and Temple and in 2 Tim 2 we see vessels in reference to the born again believer in Jesus Christ.
A. And these vessels of God are linked together: The vessels of God in the Old testament and the vessels of God in the New Testament are linked together by Scripture.
1. The first link between the two is found in the phrase great house or house of the Lord: 2 Tim 2:20; Ezra 1:5 In Ezra the reference is to the Temple, in 2 Timothy the reference is to the church, the body of Christ.
a. Both refer to the dwelling place of God. In the Old Testament the Tabernacle and Temple housed the presence of God, in the New Testament the church does the same. It was the promise of Jesus Christ that His presence is in the church.
b. And in both of those hoses we find vessels of service. Ezra 1:6-7; 2 Tim 2:20-21
2. The second link between the vessels is that they were special and set apart: 2 Tim 2:21; Ezra 1:7-8
B. Because they are linked by Scripture we can study them as one: That is not tp say we are the literal vessels of the Temple or that they were the literal body of Christ. But we can study them both as one in relation to service and position.
II. This morning I would like to look at the history of the vessels of God as seen in the Old Testament: And in doing so we will make a spiritual application to the vessels of God today. For sure those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. What can we earn about ourselves by looking at the vessels of God in the Old Testament?
Prop: There are lessons we can all learn as we look at the history of the vessels of God. TS. Because of the Scriptural link between those vessels of God and the born again believer today.
Body
I. God took great care in the making of the vessels of God: Ex 25:31-40; Ex 27:1-8; Ex 31:1-5 Nothing in the Tabernacle was found in its natural state. There were three pieces of furniture within the Tabernacle, an altar and a laver in the courtyard, and the Ark and Mercy Seat within the most Holy Place. There were then vessels of service for all of these. But nothing in the Tabernacle was found in its natural state. So God gave specific instruction as to how and of what things were to be made.
A. And everything was carried out to the exact specifications of God, all was done exactly as God wanted: Ex 37:17-24 And if it were not done exactly as God said then God could not use it. Remember nothing was in its natural state in the Tabernacle.
1. The gold had to be melted and then beaten to purify and change it: Ex 37:17 It would be molded and shaped, beaten and rebeaten, molded and shaped to it became exactly what God said it should be. The same with all the vessels of God.
2. Man had nothing at all to say in this process: They followed the specific instructions of God.
a. Man did not determine the size of shape of the vessels of God.
b. Man did not determine the materials that would be used to make the many vessels.
c. Man had nothing to do with what was made, what it was made of, or how it would be used. All of this was of God.
3. God even provided those who would do the work: Ex 31:1-6; Ex 36:1 Not everyone who wished could step up to do the work, only those of God’s choosing.
4. These vessels then would be used to provide a way for man to approach God: That is why God had to have everything in it and man nothing. All had to be done according to the specific instructions of God. Man had nothing in it.
B. There is a striking parallel then when one considers the vessels of God today: When you consider the making of the vessels of God today, the believer in Christ, there is a striking parallel between them and the vessels of God in the Old Testament.
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1. In our natural state there is nothing that is useful to God: Eph 2:1-3 When we are in our natural state there is nothing within us that God can use. When we are in our natural state we are apart from God. – Mark 7:21-23 In our natural state there is nothing useful to God.
2. So one needs to be broken, molded and remade: John 3:1-3 Nicodemus in his natural state was useless to Christ. He was religious, he was a good man, but in his natural state he was useless to God. He needed to be broken, molded, remade.
a. No matter how hard this man may have tried he could not change himself.
b. No matter how sincere he was he could not make himself useful to God.
c. This man like all of us needed to be changed from his natural state.
3. So God provided specific instruction as to how this change would take place: John 3:3-7 By a new birth.
a. By a conviction os sin, righteousness and judgment.
b. By the shedding blood that would wash away sin and change man into that which God could use.
4. And God provided the workman that would bring about this change in man: John 14:6; Rom 5:6-9; Acts 4:12
5. And today everything needs to be done according to the specific instructions of God: When man tries to change himself he is still left in his natural state. He is still useless to God.
6. But when God changes man through the blood of Christ he does become new: 2 Cor 5:17 Now we are vessels.
C. God took great care in the making of the vessels of God:
II. Hezekiah then showed off the vessels of God: 2 Kings 20:12-13 Hezekiah was one of the few good kings of the divided kingdom and he did many good things in the name of the Lord. In time he became sick to the point of death and in answer to prayer God added fifteen years to his life. That is where we are at in this passage.
A. But something happened to Hezekiah after his illness: Perhaps in part because of the miracle of healing in his life, perhaps because his kingdom prospered and be became a military power, perhaps because he was so popular. Whatever the reason Hezekiah became proud. Proud of the nation, proud of the military, proud of his riches, Hezekiah became proud in himself.
1. When he put the vessels of God in display it was done in pride: 2 Kings 20:12-13 I say that because you do not see God in this at all. Hezekiah is showing his precious things, his gold, his silver, his kingdom. God is not in this at all.
2. Hezekiah is like Nebuchadnezzar years later looking out over Babylon which he claimed he built: This is all about Hezekiah and none about God.
3. Yet Hezekiah didn’t have anything that God did not give him: Before the illness he knew that but pride entered in.
4. And God did not like it: 2 Kings 20:14-18 This in turn led to a spiritual fall in Hezekiah which is seen in the kingdom after he dies and in his son who followed him to the throne.
B. Pride is something God still hates and still leads to a fall: Prov 6:16-17; 8:13; 16:5,18; 21:4 Whenever you see a Christian falter pride is often at the root of it.
1. When Moses struck the rock there was a measure of pride behind it: Must we fetch you water?
2. When David sinned there was a measure of pride behind it: He no longer had to go out with the people in battle.
3. When Peter denied there was a measure of pride behind it: He could stand even if no one else would.
4. Pride does not make one stronger, it makes one weaker: And we fall in weakened conditions.
C. And pride is a problem for Christians today, not for some but for all: A bigger problem for some than others but a problem for all of us. Far too many Christians follow the pattern of Hezekiah. God has done so many great things for us that tend to think more highly of ourselves than we should.
1. Many became like the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray: Luke 18:10-12 We see ourselves so much better than the lost even to the point that we forget what God saved us out of.
2. Many become like Diotrephes among God’s people: 3 John 9 We want everyone to know just how important we are to the Lord, to the church and everyone around us. God just couldn’t get along without us.
3. We like to strut around so all can see just how spiritual we are and how much they lack: All the time sickening God.
4. All the while we think we are getting stronger when in reality we are getting weaker and more useless to God: Pride has a way of fooling a person. Of making them think they are something when they are not. Pride is never a good thing.
D. Hezekiah showed off the vessels of God in pride and it led to a spiritual fall:
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III. Nebuchadnezzar stole away the vessels of God: Dan 1:1-2 It was the custom of a conquering army to take the religious vessels and put them on display in their own temples to show their gods were more powerful. So when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem he took back with him the temple vessels, the vessels of God.
A. One thing to note is that he would not have known about them if Hezekiah had not showed them off: 2 Kings 20:12-13
1. Hezekiah in a prideful act showed off the vessels of God:
2. This left the nation in a weakened state because it left Hezekiah in a weakened state:
3. That is when the enemies of God attacked:
B. Expect nothing less than this today, that when we are in a weakened state Satan will attack: 1 Peter 5:8 If you watch the nature shows and the lions hunting you never see them go after the strongest or fastest of a herd. They always attack the weakest and slowest, the sickly and the young.
ILL. They will separate it from the herd and that creates a problem. They will take turns running it and that creates another problem. And then when it is worn down they have it…
1. Our enemy attacks in the same way: Ever wonder why things just seem to pile up upon you? One thing after another until you are worn down.
2. And then the enemy is upon us:
3. That is the way Satan attacked Job: Job 1:12-21
4. That is the same way Satan will attack you today, and tomorrow, and the day after:
C. The desire of Satan is to steal away the vessels of God: I honestly believe that Stan spends more time and energy on fighting against the Christian than he does trying to keep the lost from Christ. His desire is to steal away the vessels of God.
1. When Nebuchadnezzar stole away the vessels of God Israel could no longer worship: They only way to approach God, to worship God, to serve God was after God’s specific instructions. With the vessels gone that was impossible. So for over 70 years Israel as a nation did not worship God. Satan hindered the plan and purpose of God.
2. If Satan can steal away the vessels of God today he will hinder the plan and purpose of God: God still works through the local church today. You will not find that change in the Bible. God still works through the local church. – Matt 16:18
3. So all of the efforts of Satan today are directed at stealing away the vessels of God: What happens if Satan is able to steal away the vessels of God today?
a. What happens if Satan is able to make the professing Christian indifferent to the church?
b. What happens if Satan can steal away the desire for the professing Christian to be in church?
c. What happens if Satan can steal away the desire to serve?
d. What happens if Satan can steal away the desire to give?
4. This is why Satan attacks the local church as he does today: His desire to steal away the vessels of God.
a. When you hear someone speaking against the local church today that is not of God.
b. When we are indifferent we have been stolen away.
5. And this may very well happen because Satan attacks when we are in a weakened state:
D. Nebuchadnezzar stole away the vessels of God:
IV. Belshazzar desecrated the vessels of God: Dan 5:1-4 Belshazzar is the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar and is ruling in his father’s absence. The vessels of God have been in the temple in Babylon for some time at this point.
A. To celebrate his position as ruler in Babylon Belshazzar hosts a great drunken party: As this goes on and they are running out of new things to do Belshazzar has an idea.
1. He brings the golden vessels of God and begins to use them to toast the false gods of Babylon: Dan 1:3-4 This may have been because his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar elevated the Jews toward the end of his reign.
2. Now they would get back to all that they wanted Babylon to be: Dan 1:4
3. This is the low point in the history of the vessels of God in the Old testament: That which is to be used in the worship and service of the true God is being sed in worship and service to false gods.
B. Satan is never satisfied in stealing away the vessels of God, he then is intent on desecrating them: It wasn’t enough that they were stolen and were not being used for the worship and service of God. Satan would desecrate them. There is a pattern here my friend and we do need to see it.
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1. Satan is never satisfied with stealing away the vessels of God today: He may render the vessels of God, render the child of God useless to the Lord but that is never enough.
2. He then is intent on destroying them: Just consider what happens when one is stolen away by Satan. Things do not begin to get better, they begin to get worse.
3. I have never talked with anyone who has become discourage or bitter over something and has walked away from the Lord and things got better in their life: Things always get worse.
a. And most of the time they can not see it. – 2 Cor 4:4 That verse is speaking about the lost.
b. But there are many Christians with blinded eyes as well.
C. But God will not allow this to go on indefinitely: Dan 5:5-6; 24-28 And Babylon fell that very night. God will not allow this to go on forever. God thought too much of the vessels of God in the Old testament to allow this to go on indefinitely and God thinks too much of the vessels of God today to allow then to sink deeper and deeper in the hands of Satan.
1. God does chasten today as God did then: Heb 12:5-12 God is dealing with sons here, dealing with the Christian. As we begin to be stolen away by Satan God also begins to work in us to bring us back.
2. And as with any wayward child this involves discipline and chastening: We need to be spanked from time to time to get our attention, to get us back on the right track. This isn’t pleasant but it is necessary.
3. I have always found it interesting where the Spirit of God placed this in the Bible: Right after the faith chapter.
a. To me it points out that even the greatest Christian stands in danger of being overcome by Satan.
b. Even the greatest Christian must be chastened from time to time.
E. Belshazzar desecrated the vessels of God:
V. The pattern that has been presented this morning is one that is repeated over and over again today: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat and many do today.
A. The Christian is the vessel of God today:
1. And God has taken great care in the making of the vessel:
2. Too many allow pride to enter in after a time: We get to thinking too much of ourselves.
3. When that happens we have opened the door for Satan to steal us away from being useful to God:
4. And when that happens the enemy takes steps to desecrate the vessel of God:
B. That is a pattern that is repeated over and over again today:
VI. But then Cyrus restored the vessels of God: Ezra 1:1-6 This takes place after what Belshazzar did to the vessels of God.
A. God stirred up the heart of Cyrus to restore the vessels of God: Ezra 1:1,6 They had been stolen, they had been desecrated but God was not finished with them.
1. It was not until God said He was finished with them that their time would be done:
2. And so they were restored to useful service:
3. Jesus said on the cross “it is finished” and not until then was the time of service over for these vessels:
B. And there is restoration for stolen vessels today: In making spiritual application the vessels of God today are just the same as those of the Old Testament.
1. Created by God in Christ to honor, worship and serve Him: Rev 4:11 That is the meaning and purpose of life.
2. Created by God in Christ to be vessels of honor before Him: 2 Tim 2:21
3. But along the ay some may get tarnished: 2 Tim 2:20
4. Some may be stolen away:
5. And some may fall to greater depths than they ever could have imagined:
6. But there can always be restoration:
C. Where are you this morning in relation to the history of the vessels of God?
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Conclusion
Having looked now at the history of the vessels of God this morning what can we say? Where are we today?
I. Are you one that has been made by God a vessel of honor?
II. Are you like Hezekiah thinking too much of yourself today?
III. Have you been stolen away?
IV. Is Satan taking you to depths that you never thought possible?
V. Are you in need of restoration?
Where are you today?