1339. The Great House And The Vessels In It

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, April 8, 1877, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. *7/15/2012

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay; and some for honour and some for dishonour. If a man therefore purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel for honour, sanctified, and fit for the master’s use, and prepared for every good work. [2Ti 2:20,21]

1. One of the most serious calamities which can befall a church is to have her own ministers teaching heresy: yet this is no new thing, it has happened from the beginning. Paul and Peter and James and John in their epistles had to speak of seducers in the churches, even in those primitive days, and ever since then there have arisen in the very midst of the house of God those who have subverted the faith of many, and led them away from the fundamental truths into errors of their own inventing. The apostle compares this to a gangrene, which is one of the most dangerous and deadly mischiefs which can occur to the body. It is within the body, it eats into the flesh deeper and deeper, festering and putrefying, and if it is not stopped it will continue its ravages until life is extinguished by “black mortification.” False doctrine and an unchristian spirit in the midst of the church itself must be regarded as such a gangrene, a silent wolf ravenously gnawing at the heart, the vulture of Prometheus [a] devouring the vitals: no external opposition is one half so much to be dreaded. Yet here is our comfort when distressed about the evils of the present age, among which this is one of the chief, that the truth remains for ever the same, “The foundation of God stands sure.” There is no moving that. Whether ten thousand oppose it or promulgate it, the truth is still the same in every jot and tittle; even as the sun always shines, as well when clouds conceal its brightness as when from a clear sky it pours out a flood of glory. The lovers of profane and vain babblings have not taken away from us, nor can they take from us, the eternal verities: the Lord lives, though they have said, “There is no God.” The precious blood of Jesus has not lost its efficacy, though divines have obscured the atonement; the Spirit of God is no less mighty to quicken and to console though men have denied his personality; the resurrection is as certain as if Hymenaeus and Philetus had never said that it is already passed; and the eternal covenant of grace endures for ever unbroken though Pharisees and Sadducees unite to revile it. The foundation of God stands sure, and moreover the foundation of the church remains sure also, for, blessed be God, “the Lord knows those who are his.” All that God has built upon the foundation which he himself has laid keeps its place, not one living stone that he ever laid upon the foundation has been lifted from its resting-place. Earthquakes of error may test the stability of the building and cause great searching of heart, but sooner shall the mountains which are all around Jerusalem fall from their seats than the work or word of the Lord be frustrated. The things which cannot be shaken remain unaltered in the very worst of times.

2. “After all,” says the apostle in effect, though in fewer words, “it is not such a very great wonder that there should be people in the church who are not of the sterling metal of sincerity, nor of the gold and silver of truth, which endures the fire. You must not look at Hymenaeus and Philetus as if they were prodigies, there have been many like them and there will be many more; these bad weeds grow abundantly, in all ages they multiply and increase.” Where, dear brethren, beneath the skies shall we find absolute purity in any community? The very first family had a Cain in it, and there was a wicked Ham even in the select few within the ark. In the household of the father of the faithful there was an Ishmael; Isaac, with all his quiet walk with God, must be troubled with an Esau, and you know how in the house of Jacob there were many sons that did not walk as they should. When the church of God was in the wilderness and had a barrier of desert between it and the outer world, yet you know how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were there, besides many other troubler makers in Israel; yes, even amidst the most select part of the visible church of God, in the priesthood, there were found those who dishonoured it. Nadab and Abihu were killed with fire before the Lord; and Hophni and Phinehas died in battle, because they had made themselves vile, though they were God’s anointed priests. Even when our divine Master had formed for himself

   A little garden, walled around,
   Chosen, and made peculiar ground,

in which there were only twelve choice trees, yet one of them bore evil fruit. “I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a demon.” In the great field which Christ has sown, tares will spring up among the wheat, for the enemy takes great pains to sow them; neither is it possible for us to uproot them. Briars will grow in the King’s garden; the most sacred soil will yield to us thorns also and thistles. Even the lilies of Christ grow among thorns. You cannot keep the best of churches altogether pure, for though the Lord himself has prepared a vineyard, and made a wine-press and built a wall around it, still the foxes come and spoil the vines; and though our great Lord has an orchard which yields rare fruit, yet when he comes to visit it he finds a barren fig tree, cultivated and fertilized it is true, but still barren. Look at Christ’s fold on earth, and behold there are wolves in sheep’s clothing there; look at the net which his servants draw to shore, and there are both good and bad fish in it. Yes, lift your eyes even to the skies, and though there are myriads of stars, yet you shall notice wandering stars among them, and meteors which are and are not, and are quenched in the blackness of darkness for ever. Until we shall come to the heaven of the Most High we must expect to find chaff mixed with the wheat, dross with the gold, goats with the sheep, and dead flies with the ointment; only let us see to it that we are not of that bad character, but are precious in the sight of the Lord.

3. Coming to the text, the apostle suggests the encouragement I have already given, under a certain metaphor. He says that in a great house there will naturally be varieties of furniture, and there will be vessels and utensils of many kinds; some of them will be of wood, and of clay, for more common purposes; and others of gold and silver, for state occasions, when the honour and glory of the great proprietor are to be displayed. There are vessels of precious metal in a great house, and these are its honour, decking the tables on high festivals when the Master is at home; but there are others of more common material kept in the background, never displayed at times of rejoicing, but meant for common drudgery. There are cups and flagons of solid silver prized as perpetual heirlooms of the family, which are carefully preserved, and plates and pots which are soon worn out and are only of temporary use, many sets of them being broken in the lifetime of a family. The same is true in the church of God, which being in the world has its common side and its common vessels, but being also a heavenly house has also its nobler furniture, far more precious than gold which perishes though it is tested with fire.

4. For our instruction, may the Holy Spirit help us while we look first at the great house; secondly, at the more common vessels, peeping into the scullery; thirdly, at the nobler vessels, going into the plate room to look at the silver and gold; and then, fourthly, before we leave the house, let us ask for an interview with the Master himself.

5. I. First, let us consider THE GREAT HOUSE.

6. The apostle compares the church to a great house. We feel sure he is not speaking of the world; it did not occur to him to speak about the world, and it would have been altogether superfluous to tell us that in the world there are all kinds of people, — everyone knows that. The church is a great house belonging to a great personage, for the church is the house of God, according to the promise — “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” The church is the temple in which the Lord is worshipped, the palace in which he rules; it is his castle, and place of defence for his truth, the armoury out of which he supplies his people with weapons. The church is God’s mansion house in which he lives — “This is my rest for ever, here I will dwell for I have desired it.” There it is that he rests in his love, and in infinite condescension reveals himself as he does not do to the world. King Solomon built for himself a house in the forest of Lebanon, and behold, the Lord has built for himself of living stones a far more glorious house where he may abide. It is a great house because it is the house of the great God. Who can be so great as he is?

7. It is a great house because it is planned and designed upon a great scale. I fear that some who live in the house have no idea how great it is. They have a very vague notion of its length and breadth. The great thoughts of God are far beyond their most elevated conception, so that he might say to them as he has said to others, “ ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,’ says the Lord.” The palace of the King of kings is “exceedingly magnificent,” and for spaciousness far excels all the palaces of earthly princes. We read about the golden palace of Nero, that it reached from hill to hill, and enclosed lakes and streams and gardens beneath its wondrous roof; but behold, the Lord has stretched the line of his electing grace over nations and kindreds even to the ends of the earth: his house takes in a mighty sweep of humanity. Many are the rooms in the house, and there are dwellers in one room who have never yet seen any part of the great house except the little room in which they were born, never walked through the marvellous corridors, or moved in the vast halls which God has built with cedar pillars and cedar beams, and carved work of heavenly workmanship. Some good men hardly care to see the long rows of polished columns, quarried by grace from the rough mass of nature, which now shine resplendent as monuments of divine love and wisdom. Colossal is the plan of the Eternal, the church of God is worthy of the infinite mind. Angels and principalities delight to study the stupendous plan, and well they may: as the great Architect unrolls his drawings piece by piece to let them see the various sections of the completed design, they are struck with admiration, and exclaim, “Oh the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God.” The church is no narrow cottage where a few may luxuriate in bigotry, but it is a great house, worthy of the infinite heart of Jehovah, worthy of the blood of Jesus, the incarnate God, and worthy of the power of the ever-blessed Spirit.

8. It is a great house because it has been erected at great cost, and with great labour. The cost of this mansion who can tell? It is a price beyond price, for God has given his only-begotten Son — he had only one, and heaven could not match him — so that he might redeem for himself a people who should be his dwelling-place for ever. Solomon’s temple, now that they have excavated a part of the foundations, even though it is in utter ruin, astonishes all beholders, as they observe the enormous size and accurate adjustment of the stones; what must it have been in its glory? What cost was lavished on that glorious house! But think of the labour and the skill, the divine art and engineering with which Jehovah has hewn out of the rock of sinful nature the stones with which he builds up his spiritual house. What energy has the Holy Spirit displayed! What resurrection power! We were harder than any granite by nature, yet he has cut us away from the rock of which we formed a part, and fashioned and squared us, and made us to be built together for a habitation of God, through the Spirit. Tell it to the praise of the glory of his grace, that the Lord’s omnipotent power and boundless wealth of love are revealed in his church. When our eyes shall see the church of God at last in all her beauty descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light just like a most precious stone, even like a jasper stone; when we shall see that the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal; when we shall see its deep foundations laid in the eternal purpose, and its walls built up with lofty pinnacles of glory, high as the divine person of her Lord; and when we shall see its wondrous size, broad enough to hold the glory and honour of the nations, — then we shall shout for joy as we behold the riches and the power and the splendour of the great King of kings, who has built for himself this great house.

9. It is a great house, again, because its household arrangements are conducted on a grand scale. You know the country people, when there is some rich lord living in the village, always speak of his mansion as “the great house.” It is the great house for which those young bulls are being fattened, and those sheep and lambs will be consumed at the great house, for there are many in the family, and no one is allowed to lack. Solomon kept a great house. When you read the account of the daily provision for his table you see that it was a great house indeed, a vast and truly royal establishment. Indeed, but neither for quality nor quantity could Solomon’s palace match with the great house of God in its plenty. Speak of fine flour — behold, he has given us angels’ food: speak of royal dainties — behold, the Lord has given us rich things full of marrow, wines on the lees well refined. What a perpetual feast the Lord Jesus keeps up for all his followers. If any of them are hungry it is not because their rations are stinted; if there is any complaining it is not because the Master’s oxen and fatlings are not freely provided. Ah, no; to every man there is a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine dealt out, even as David dealt it out in the day when he moved the ark to the hill of Zion. Glory be to God, he has said, “Eat, oh friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, oh beloved.” In this mountain the hand of the Lord shall rest, and he will make for all nations a feast of rich things. Behold, his oxen and fatlings are killed, all things are ready. It is a great house, where great sinners are fed on great dainties, and filled with the great goodness of the Lord.

10. It is a great house for the number of its inhabitants. How many have lived beneath that roof for ages. “Lord,” they say like a great host, “you have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.” God is the home of his people, and his church is the home of God; and what multitudes are living there now. Not only the companies that we know about, with whom it is our delight to meet for solemn worship, but all over the world the Lord has a people who dwell in the midst of his church; and, though men have disfigured their Master’s house by chalking up odd signs over some of the rooms, and calling them by other names than those of the owner, yet the Lord’s people are all one church, and to whatever part or party they may seem to belong, if Christ is in them they belong to him of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, and they make up only one spiritual house. What a swarm there is of the Lord’s children, and yet not one of the family remains unfed. The church is a great house where thousands dwell, yes, a number that no man can number.

11. Once more, it is a great house, because of its importance. People speak of “the great house” in our more remote counties because it bears a special relationship to the whole neighbourhood, being connected with some of its most vital interests: county politics and police, dignity and wealth find their centre at “the great house.” The church is a great house because it is God’s hospice, where he distributes bread and wine to refresh the weary, and entertains wayfarers who otherwise would have been lost in the storm. It is God’s hospital, into which he takes the sick, and there he nourishes them until they renew their youth like the eagle’s. It is God’s great Pharos [b] with its lantern blazing out a directing ray so that wanderers far away may be directed to the haven of peace. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone.” It is the seat of God’s power, for there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Behold, the Lord has set his King upon his holy hill of Zion, and from there the power of his sceptre shall go forth to the ends of the earth. The great house of the church is the university for teaching all nations, the library where the sacred oracles are preserved, the treasury where the truth is deposited, and the registry of new-born heirs of heaven. It is important to heaven as well as to earth, for its topmost towers reach into glory, and there is in it a ladder the foot of which rests on earth, but its top reaches to heaven, up and down which the angels come and go continually. Did I not well say that the apostle had wisely chosen the metaphor when he called the church a great house?

12. II. We will now go inside the great house, and we at once observe that it is well furnished. Our text, however, invites us to notice that it contains a number of MORE COMMON VESSELS, articles of the simpler kind for ordinary and common uses.

13. Here are platters and wooden trays, and pitchers and pots and various vessels of rough pottery. Some have thought that this metaphor of vessels of dishonour relates to Christians of a lower grade, people of little grace and of less sanctified conversation. Now, although believers may from some points of view be comparable to clay vessels, yet I dare not look upon any child of God, however low in grace, as a vessel of dishonour. Moreover, the word “these” refers to the clay and wooden vessels, and surely they cannot represent saints, or we should never be told to purge ourselves from them. If a man is God’s child, into whatever state and condition he may fall, it is our business to look after him and endeavour to restore him, remembering ourselves also, lest we also are tempted; but it cannot be right to purge ourselves from even the least of our believing brethren. Besides, that is not the intent of the chapter at all. The real meaning is that in the church of God there are unworthy people serving inferior and temporary purposes, who are vessels of dishonour. They are in the church, but they are like vessels of wood and vessels of clay, they are not the treasure of the mansion, they are not brought out on state occasions, and are not highly valued, for they are not “precious in the sight of the Lord.” The apostle does not tell us how they came to be there, for it was not his intent to do so, and no parable or metaphor could teach everything; neither will I pause to describe how some professors have come into the church of God, some by distinct falsehood and by making professions which they knew were untrue, others through ignorance, and others again by being self-deceived, and carried away with excitement. The parable does not say how they got there, but there they are, and yet they are only vessels of wood and vessels of clay. It is no credit to them that they are where they are, for they are not vessels of honour though in an honourable place. It is no honour for any man to be a member of a Christian church if he is in himself intrinsically worthless though they make a minister of him, or elect him as a deacon, it is no honour for him to be in an office if the metal he is made of does not suit him for so honourable a purpose. He is an intruder in an honourable position, and it is a dishonour for him to be where he is. It is no honour for a weed to grow in the best part of the garden, no honour for a barren fig tree to encumber the finest ground in the vineyard. Ah, dear friend, if you are in the church of God, but not truly one of the Lord’s people, it is a dishonourable thing for you to have come there, and it is equally dishonourable for you to remain there without fulfilling that great prerequisite which is demanded of every one who names the name of Jesus, that he departs from all iniquity.

14. The vessels in the great house are, however, of some use, even though they are made of wood and clay; and so there are people in the church of God whom the Lord Jesus will not acknowledge as his treasure, but he nevertheless uses them for some temporary purpose. Some are useful as the scaffold to a house, or the dogshores [c] to a ship, or the hedges to a field. I believe that some unworthy members of the church are useful in the way of watchdogs to keep others awake, or lancets to let blood, or burdens to try strength. Some quarrelsome members of the church help to scour the other vessels, lest they should rust through by being peaceful. The church is made up of men who are still in the body, and it has to deal with the outside world, and sometimes the worldly men who are in her serve some purpose in connection with her lowest need. Judas made a good treasurer, for his economy saved more than he stole. Joab was a good warrior for David, though he was by no means a saint. False professors do not make the gospel untrue, and sometimes when they have spoken it God has blessed it. You may see, if you go down the Kennington Park Road today, a row of young trees planted by the road: how are they kept upright while they are still so young? Why, small posts of dead timber hold them up; and even so a dead Sunday School teacher may yet be useful to a really Christian child, and a dead deacon may be the financial support of a living church. Indeed, and there are dead preachers, too, who nevertheless serve to fill up a space, but what vessels of dishonour they are. It is a dreadful thing, however, for those who are like the posts I just now mentioned, because the quicker the young tree grows the sooner will the post be taken away, being no participant in the life which it helped to support. You see, then, that the base professors who get into the church are made of some use by our great Master; the servants of the great house can use the wooden ware and the earthenware for a while for rough everyday purposes, even as mere formalists can be employed in some scullery work or another.

15. There is one thing noticeable, that is, that the wooden and clay vessels are not for the Master’s use. When he holds high festival his cups are all of precious metal. “All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold.” Would you have the King of kings set a clay pot upon his royal table? Shall the guests at his table eat from wooden bowls? So false professors are only useful for the servants, not for the Master; they serve more common purposes, and are not to be seen on those great days when he reveals his glory. The Great Master overrules all things, being the master of the servants, and so far what answers the purpose of his servants is serviceable to him, but personally between the King at his table and the wooden vessel there is no congruity: it would be an insult to hand him wine in anything except a sumptuous cup of precious metal, or to bring him butter in anything except a lordly dish. How sad it is that many professing Christians are useful for the church in various ways, but as for personal service rendered to the Lord Jesus Christ himself, in that they have no share whatever and never can have until grace changes them from wood to silver, or from clay to gold.

16. Notice that in these vessels of which the apostle speaks the substance is common. They are wood, or they are clay, nothing more. So are we all by nature of common material, and grace must make us into silver or into golden vessels, or the Master himself cannot use us, nor can our use in the church ever be for honour. The wooden vessels in the church are very easily hacked and carved and spoiled; if a man is inclined to mischief he can put his knife into them and can cut great notches in them, ruin their character, and render them worthless. Cunning teachers can soon take away from merely nominal Christians what they professed to believe, for they are very readily cut and hacked by those who play at such games. As for the clay vessels, how soon they are broken. Outside of any great house there are the remains of many broken pots, which fell on the floor and went to pieces; and, I am sorry to say, we also can find enough of such relics to sadden us all. There were some in this house once who were fair to look upon, but there came a temptation and knocked them off the table, and they were shattered in a moment. Others of precious metal have endured far more shocks and tests of a more severe kind, but these being only made of clay were broken at once. Heaps of crockery accumulate outside every great house, and certainly outside the great house of Christ.

17. These vessels of dishonour, though used for some purpose, require a great deal of care on the part of the servants. When our forefathers used to eat from wooden plates, the time the good wives used to spend in scalding and cleaning to keep them at all pure enough to eat from was something terrible, and there are members of the church who take a world of time from pastors and elders to keep them at all decent: we are continually trying to set them right, or keep them right, in the common relationships of life. There are quarrels in their families which must be settled lest they become scandals, and these occupy the careful thought of their fellow Christians who have to watch out for their good; or they get lax in their doctrines, or foolish in their habits, or loose in their business transactions, and we have to be scouring and cleaning them times without number. You have to be very careful in handling certain kinds of clay vessels. Like eggshell china, you may hardly look at them. Thank God I do not have many in this church, perhaps none of that kind, as far as my handling is concerned, but other people’s touches, though quite as wise, are not so welcome. Certain clay vessels get dreadfully chipped unless they have dainty handling. If a brother does not take his hat off to them in a very lowly way, and behave very reverently, they are ready to take offence. They feel themselves hurt and slighted when no such thing was intended; they stand upon their dignity and expect the fullest recognition of it. These are real clay pots, very apt to be chipped, perhaps a little cracked already, and needing a great deal of care and trouble on the part of the Lord’s servants, lest they should go to pieces and spill everything that is put into them.

18. There are such in all great houses, and in the Master’s great house there are I fear not a few. They are useful up to a certain point, but they bring no honour to the house, because there are plenty as good as they in other houses, every cottage can have common clay pitchers in it. They are vessels in which is no pleasure, they are not unique, or precious; no one ever sounds abroad the Master’s fame because he has so many thousands of wooden bowls or clay pots. No, the king’s honour comes from the plate, the gold and silver vessels, the particular treasure of kings. People speak about these rich goods and say, “You should see the sideboards loaded down with the massive services of gold and silver; you should see how the tables groan beneath the splendour of the royal feast when the king brings out his treasures.” True Christians are the glory of Christ, but false professors at their very best are for dishonour. Better the smallest silver vessel than the largest clay one; better the least of all the saints than the greatest of vain professors. So much upon the vessels of dishonour.

19. III. We are now going into the treasury, or plate room, and will think of THE NOBLER VESSELS.

20. These are, first of all, of solid metal, vessels of silver and vessels of gold. They are not all equally valuable, but they are all precious. Here is weight for you; here is something that is worth treasuring, something which will last for ages, and at any time will endure the fire. Now, in real Christians, those who really love the Lord, there is something substantial and weighty, and when you get hold of them you know the difference between them and the wooden professor. Even those who do not like them — for it is a strange taste that does not appreciate silver and gold — are nevertheless compelled to say, “That is a genuine article, worth a great deal, weighty and substantial.” Now, none of us shall ever be vessels of silver and gold unless the Lord makes us so by divine grace. Vessels of clay are things of nature, any potter can make them; vessels of wood are common enough, the craftsman soon produces a pail; but a vessel of silver or of gold is a rarer thing; it costs mining and searching, furnace work and fashioning, toil and skill. On each vessel of honour Jesus himself has put his hand to mould and fashion it, and to cause it to be “prepared for glory.” Did you ever hear how vessels come to be golden? Listen to this, and you shall know. One very dear to me has put the story into rhythm.

   Oh that I were a cup, a golden cup
   Meet for the Master’s use!
   Brimming and trembling with that draught of joy
   (The love of his belov’d and purchas’d ones)
   Which fills his heart with gladness.
   * * *
   So spake a poor, vile, broken, earthy thing,
   A worthless castaway.
   The Master heard, and when he passed that way
   He stoop’d and touch’d it with his wounded hand — 
   When lo! its baseness vanish’d, and instead
   There stood a golden chalice wondrous fair,
   And overflowing with deep love for him.
   He raised it to his gracious lips, and quaffed
   The wine that maketh glad the heart of God,
   Then took the cup to heaven.

21. On the vessels of honour you can see the hallmark. What is the hallmark which denotes the purity of the Lord’s golden vessels? Well, he has only one stamp for everything. When he laid the foundation what was the seal he put upon it? “The Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from all iniquity.” That was God’s seal, the impress of the great King upon the foundation stone. Do we find it here? Yes, we do. “If a man, therefore, purges himself from these he shall be a vessel of honour.” You see that the man who is the golden or silver vessel, departs from all iniquity, and that is the sign of his genuine character. The man who is truly the Lord’s seeks to be cleansed not only from the open sin of the world, but from the common sin of professing Christians; he labours to be purged from what the wooden vessel and the clay vessel would delight in; he wants to be pure within and without, he desires perfection, he labours daily to conquer every sin, and strives with all his might to serve his Lord. He is not content to have a fair appearance, as wood and clay may have — he wishes to be solid substantial metal, purged and purified to the utmost possible degree, and fit for the highest purposes. Now, this seeking after purity is the hallmark of the King’s vessels of gold and silver.

22. Notice, however, that they are purged, for the Lord will not use filthy vessels no matter what they may be. He will only use those who are clean, and he would have his true people purged, as I have said before, not only from gross sin, but from doctrinal error, and from association with the perverse minded. We are to be purged from Hymenaeus and Philetus, and from the vain babblings of which the apostle has been speaking in the previous part of the chapter. I fear that Christian men do a great deal of mischief by their complicity with those who are teaching what is downright falsehood. If we are to serve the Lord in the matter of advancing his truth we must be true to truth ourselves; but if we join hand in hand with others, and so form a confederacy when the very pillars of the temple are being pulled down by rude hands, it may be we shall be partakers of other men’s sin. We must be clean handed in this matter.

23. And then notice that these gold and silver vessels are reserved as well as purged. They are made fit for the Master’s use. No one is to drink out of them except the King himself. This is the blessedness of the child of God when he comes to be what he should be, so that he can sing as we did just now,

   I am thine, and thine alone,
   This I gladly, fully own;
   And, in all my works and ways,
   Only now would seek thy praise.

Just as Joseph had a cup out of which he alone drank, so the Lord takes his people to be his particular treasure, vessels for his personal use. Brethren, I consider it an honour to be useful to the lowliest child of God, but I confess that the honour lies mainly in the fact that I am serving the Master himself by it. Oh, to be used by God! This is to answer the purpose of our being. If you can feel that God has used you then you may rejoice indeed. There are some Christians whom the Lord cannot use much because, first of all, they are not cleansed from selfishness, they have an eye for their own honour or aggrandizement. The Lord will not be in complicity with selfish purposes. Some men are self-confident: there is too much of the “I” about them, and the Master will not use them. He will have our weakness, but not our strength, and if we are great somebodies he will pass us by and take some little nobody and make use of him. The Lord cannot use some men because they are too apt to be proud; if he were to give them a little success it would be dangerous to their Christian existence; their poor brain would begin to swim, and they would think the Lord could hardly do without them; indeed, when they have a little encouragement they swell into such wonderful people that they expect everyone to fall down and worship them. God will not use them, neither will he set upon his table vessels which are in any way defiled. There must be purity, and a man may work his heart out in the ministry or the Sunday School, but if he is practising some secret sin he cannot prosper; it is not possible that God should honour him. There may be a measure of apparent success for a time, and divine sovereignty may use the truth itself despite the man, but the man himself will not be useful to the Master. Littleness of grace and contentedness with that spiritual poverty also sets many a man aside. We must be full if God is to pour out of us to the thirsty, we must be full of his light if we are to illuminate the darkness of others: we cannot reveal to the world what the Lord has not revealed to us.

24. Oh, for a holy character and holy communion with God; then we shall be golden vessels fit for the Master’s use, and so, according to the text, we shall be ready for every good work, ready for the work when it comes, and ready doing the work when it has come, because completely consecrated to God and subject to his hand. In this readiness for whatever comes we shall be honoured. Men may despise us, as they will, but what does it matter if God honours us? This height of grace may cost us a sharp experience, but must not gold be tested with fire? As thieves are most anxious to steal, not the pots and wooden vessels, but the gold and the silver, so we may expect to be exposed to greater temptations and greater persecutions than others. More grace involves more trials, but then we shall have the delight of glorifying God more. Oh, to be vessels of honour! Beloved members of this church, do aspire to this. You have given in your names as Christians, you have been baptized into the sacred name of the divine Trinity, you have borne so far a consistent moral character, but oh, see to it that the inner substance is the real metal, the gold and silver. Do see to it that you are reserved for the Lord’s own special use. Be as consecrated to him as the bowls before the altar were. Never let the world drink out of you, as Belshazzar did out of the vessels taken from Jerusalem. May the Lord grant that you may never be defiled, but may be kept by his grace pure and consecrated to him.

25. IV. Fourthly, for a moment we must speak about THE MASTER.

26. He is introduced here, you see, as having certain vessels fit for his use, and this shows that he is in the house. There would be no need to reserve vessels for his use if he were not there, but he is in the midst of his church by his indwelling Spirit. How this ought to make us wish to be purged, sanctified, and ready for him. Your Master is not far away. His presence in the church is promised: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” What manner of people, therefore, ought you to be?

27. Secondly, the Master knows all about the house, and knows the quality of all the vessels. There is no deceiving him with the wooden plate, he knows it is not gold: and as for that clay cup, though it may be gilt all over, he knows it is not gold. He reads the heart of everyone present here; wood or clay, silver or gold, the Master understands us.

28. And then reflect that the Master will use us all as far as we are fit to be used. We are in God’s house, and if we are wood, he will put us to wooden use. There are many wooden preachers. If we are earth and earthly minded he may put us to earthly uses, as he did Judas, who carried the bag, but had no grace. If you are silver he will give you silver use, and if you are gold he will give you golden service, in which you shall be happy, and honoured, and blessed.

29. What comes of this, then, lastly? Why, brethren, let us bestir ourselves so that we be purged, for the text says, “If a man therefore purges himself.” It throws this business upon each one of us personally, — a man must purge himself from bad company; but when we have confessed the responsibility let us turn to God in prayer, and feel that thorough purging is a work which we cannot achieve, and therefore we cry, “Cleanse me, oh God, sanctify me; make me fit for your service, and prepared for every good work.”

30. Beloved, finish with earnest prayer. Pray God that you may not be hypocrites: beseech the Lord to search you and test you, so that you may not be found to be deceivers, and when you are sure that you are his, then ask him to make you not merely silver, for it is very apt to tarnish, but even the precious gold, which when exposed to the worst influences scarcely shows a trace of dulness. May we be pure unalloyed gold, and then may the Master both in secret and public use us for his own joy. May he refresh himself with our love and faith, yes, may his joy be fulfilled in us, so that our joy may be full. May God grant it may be so, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — 2Ti 2]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Lord’s Day — Sweet Day, So Calm, So Bright” 910]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Desires After Holiness — Holiness Desired” 653]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Dedication To God — Jesus, I Am Thine!” 663]

[a] Prometheus: Greek Mythology. Name of a demigod (son of the Titan Iapetus), who was fabled to have made man out of clay, and to have stolen fire from Olympus, and taught men the use of it and various arts, for which he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus where his liver was preyed upon every day by a vulture. OED.
[b] Pharos: The name of an island off Alexandria, on which stood a famous tower lighthouse, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus. OED.
[c] Dogshore: Each of two blocks of timber used to prevent a ship from starting off the slips while the keel blocks are being removed in preparation for launching. OED.

Public Worship, The Lord’s Day
910 — Sweet Day, So Calm, So Bright
1 Sweet is the task, oh Lord,
      Thy glorious acts to sing,
   To praise thy name, and hear thy word,
      And grateful offerings bring.
2 Sweet at the dawning hour,
      Thy boundless love to tell,
   And when the night wind shuts the flower,
      Still on the theme to dwell.
3 Sweet, on this day of rest,
      To join the heart and voice
   With those who love and serve thee best,
      And in thy name rejoice.
4 To songs of praise and joy
      Be every Sabbath given,
   That such may be our blest employ
      Eternally in heaven.
                     Henry Francis Lyte, 1841.

The Christian, Desires After Holiness
653 — Holiness Desired
1 Lord, I desire to live as one
      Who bears a blood bought name,
   As one who fears but grieving thee,
      And knows no other shame.
2 As one by whom thy walk below
      Should never be forgot;
   As one who fain would keep apart
      From all thou lovest not.
3 I want to live as one who knows
      Thy fellowship of love;
   As one whose eyes can pierce beyond
      The pearl built gates above.
4 As one who daily speaks to thee,
      And hears thy voice divine
   With depth of tenderness declare,
      “Beloved! thou art mine.”
                  Charitie Lees Smith, 1861.

The Christian, Dedication To God
663 — Jesus, I Am Thine! <7s.>
1 Jesus, spotless Lamb of God,
   Thou hast bought me with thy blood,
   I would value nought beside
   Jesus — Jesus crucified.
2 I am thine, and thine alone,
   This I gladly, fully own;
   And, in all my works and ways,
   Only now would seek thy praise.
3 Help me to confess thy name,
   Bear with joy thy cross and shame,
   Only seek to follow thee,
   Though reproach my portion be.
4 When thou shalt in glory come,
   And I reach my heavenly home,
   Louder still my lips shall own
   I am thine, and thine alone.
                  James George Deck, 1837.