WWUTT 687 Flee Youthful Passions?

Try as you may, you cannot cleanse yourself from your sins. Only one can do that, and that is

Jesus Christ. And we must regularly come to Him and ask to have our minds renewed when we understand the text.

You are listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 2 Timothy 2.

I'll begin reading in verse 20 again today and read through to the end of the chapter.

The Apostle Paul writes, Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the

Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.

You know that they breed quarrels, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

So this is coming off of what we looked at yesterday in verses 20 and 21, where Paul said that in a great house, there's vessels of gold and silver, and there's also vessels of wood and clay.

Which of those vessels are going to last longer? Obviously, it's going to be the vessels that are made of precious metals, gold and silver.

And not only will they endure longer, because they're made of substances that will last a long time, but they're also more valuable to the master of the house.

He's got greater works and tasks for those vessels that are able to endure hard labors, whereas vessels of wood and clay are quickly broken and then cast away.

They are thrown into the fire, and they are destroyed. These are the vessels for dishonorable use.

And we read yesterday in Romans 9 that God even has a purpose for those dishonorable vessels.

In Romans 9, 21 has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another vessel for dishonorable use.

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has likewise prepared beforehand?

But he's prepared those, the vessels for honorable use, for glory.

God is going to show his glory through you. It is either going to be by showing you mercy and delivering you into his eternal kingdom, or it's going to be showing his glory through his wrath by destroying you and casting you into hell forever.

One way or another, God is going to show his power and his glory through every single person.

God has absolutely predestined you for glory. And I can say that without any hesitation.

God's predestined you for glory. He may not have predestined you for salvation, but he has absolutely predestined you for glory.

He's predestined every single person for glory. God will be glorified in the end by those whom he will save and also through those whom he is going to destroy.

So how is it that we can be certain that we would be a vessel for honorable use, a recipient of his mercy, rather than a vessel for dishonorable use and therefore a recipient of his wrath?

And that's what Paul is teaching Timothy here in 2 Timothy 2, verses 20 and 21.

If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use.

Now, yesterday I mentioned this in relation to sin. So you're no longer sinning, you're no longer pursuing the passions of your flesh, but you are rather pursuing the righteousness of God.

Jesus saying in Matthew chapter six, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

If this is you, then you are a vessel for honorable use.

But it's more than just that. It's more than just turning from the sinful things that we do in our bodies.

It's also what we apply our minds to. So you are turning away from false teaching.

You're turning away from the lies of this world. You're turning yourself away from deceptive philosophies.

You are fleeing from those things that sound like they're right, but they actually lead a person to destruction.

You're turning away from false teaching. You're turning away from those things that lead to godlessness rather than godliness.

Because ultimately the way that we behave in our bodies, whether that's in a godly way or an ungodly way, is going to be the result of the teaching that we follow.

Are you following the sound words of the Lord Jesus Christ, or are you following the lies of Satan?

And if you're following the words of Christ, then what that produces in you is godliness. As you grow in your knowledge of the word of Christ, you grow more and more in godliness.

If you are following the words of the devil, the prince of the power of the air, as he is described in Ephesians chapter 2, the one that we all once followed in the passions of our flesh before we came to Christ.

If you're following after Satan, then what is produced in you is not godliness. It's ungodliness.

Even if you are displaying something that might look like godliness, you love your neighbor, you maybe even attend church every once in a while, you can quote some key

Bible verses, but in your heart you are empty. You do not love God.

You acknowledge him with your lips, but your heart is far from God. And so this religious practice that you display is really just something superficial.

It can be seen on the outside, but in the inside you are empty. You are formless and void.

You are a dishonorable vessel that is filled with dishonorable things.

And the apparent godliness that you seem to display is really not godliness at all.

It's godlessness, because it is self -righteousness. You believe that by doing these things you are saved, but you are not saved by your works.

You are saved by Jesus Christ, who has shown mercy to you and has cleansed you from all unrighteousness and has made you a vessel for honorable use so that you might do the good works of God, that you would be ready for every good work that he calls you to.

And the works that you do are not superficial. They're not just something that can be seen from the outside, but they are absolutely a display of the changed man or woman that you are.

Christ having changed you from the inside out, and what is coming out of you is a result of those things that have been changed on the inside.

So if you're filled with honorable things, what comes out of you is the honor and glory of God.

If you're filled with dishonorable things, then what comes out of you are blasphemies against God.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, and he said to them, you hypocrites, you wash the outside of the cup, but the inside is still filthy.

When you need to wash the inside of the cup and then the outside will also be clean. He called them whitewashed sepulchers, full of dead men's bones, whitewashed tombs.

They look nice on the outside, but on the inside they're full of dead corpses. So these are people that look like they had some form of godliness on the outside.

These teachers of the law, these Pharisees, but inside their hearts were far from God and they were leading other people astray as well.

So to be sure that we are going to be vessels made for honorable use and not those for dishonor that are going to be cast into the fire.

Let us be cleansed from every dishonorable thing. So again, it's that cleansing that happens from the inside out, not just washing the outside, making ourselves look good to everyone else on the outside, but we are actually washing ourselves from the inside.

We are being cleansed by Christ, by the washing of water through the word, as is talked about in Ephesians chapter 5 and also in Titus chapter 3, which is where we're going to go as soon as we finish with 2nd

Timothy, when we go to the book of Titus. We read in Titus chapter 3 verse 5, that God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit. Verse 6, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our

Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So pray and ask God that he would cleanse you from the inside out.

And by the way, even if you have prayed and asked God to wash you before, ask him again that he would cleanse you.

This is something that we regularly should come before God and ask for. As Jesus talked about with his disciples in the upper room in the book of John, after he washed their feet, this is

John chapter 13, beginning in verse 10, Jesus said, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And Jesus washed his disciples' feet, signifying that he regularly cleanses us from the filthiness that we kick up as we are walking in this world.

We still inhabit sinful bodies, corrupt flesh, which is wasting away. We're surrounded by temptations all the time, and the toxicity of the world can just be an infection to the mind, which is why we regularly need to go to God.

And we need to ask him to be cleansed from all this filthiness, to have brand new minds, to have brand new hearts that seek after God and love him.

These things must be regular. They are important in the life of a believer, that we regularly go to God and ask to be cleansed from what is dishonorable.

And as Paul says here to Timothy in verse 21, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he'll be a vessel for honorable use.

There's certainly that sense of bathing, of being washed from head to toe once. But then there's that encouragement that we continue to go back to Christ to have our feet washed again, that we may be useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

He's the one who makes us holy and sets us apart as holy for his work.

Paul said in Romans 12, too, that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

And that idea of renewing the mind means that we're regularly renewing our thoughts, that we might take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ, as Paul had instructed to the

Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. So this renewing of the mind is a daily cleansing of the mind, that our thoughts would be renewed, refreshed, focused upon God each and every day, cleansed from dishonorable use, no longer following after the passions of the flesh.

And that's what Paul gets to next in verse 22. So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

And even though Paul is giving Timothy something that he's supposed to be teaching his entire church,

I do believe that what Paul is saying here in verse 22 directly applies to Timothy. Paul is specifically telling

Timothy, who was a young pastor, he was a young minister there at the church in Ephesus, he's saying flee youthful passions.

Do not behave like you see the rest of the young men in Ephesus behaving.

The youthful passions here are not just lust and sexual desire, but it may be those sins that are typically characterized of youth.

It may also be laziness. It may be a tendency to be overzealous about things instead of being more temperate with one's behavior, more self -controlled.

And it may even deal with anger, because as Paul is going to go on to talk about, he says the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind, patiently enduring evil and correcting opponents with gentleness.

So this may directly have to do with controlling one's anger. Or as I talked about yesterday, being able to control one's vessel.

This is the instruction that Paul is giving to Timothy here. But this certainly applies to every single one of us, that we flee youthful passions and we pursue instead the things of God.

Paul instructed the Colossians to get rid of all of their former behaviors and instead fix our eyes heavenward upon Christ and his righteousness, again as Jesus instructed in Matthew chapter 6.

So Colossians chapter 3, starting in verse 1, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. And this could have a double application.

Once again, it's the material things on earth that do not satisfy, so we're not supposed to fix our attention on those things.

They are transient, they are wasting away, but instead we're supposed to fix ourselves on those things that are eternal, those things that are spiritual.

So that's one application. The second way that this could apply would have to do with teaching, especially considering that in both chapter 1 and chapter 2,

Paul had encouraged the Colossians to stay away from those philosophies that sound good but actually lead to destruction.

Do not be led astray by worldly philosophies. But instead, we need to seek after Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

We're not going to be satisfied with the wisdom and knowledge of the world, but we find all good things in Christ Jesus.

So then going on, Colossians 3, 3, For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave -free, but Christ is all and in all.

Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the

Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the

Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him, being thankful to God for the salvation that we have been given in Christ.

The world simply cannot give us anything else that would remotely compare to the promise of eternal glory that we have in Christ Jesus, if we have turned from sin and pursue his righteousness.

Righteousness, faith, love, and peace, as Paul says, once again, 2 Timothy 2 .22.

So he says to Timothy, flee youthful passions, and as we saw there in Colossians 3, when

Paul goes through a list of sins, the first sins that he lists have to do with sexual immorality.

The next list of sins that he lists have to do with anger in the body.

There may also be a tendency among young men to want to chase after those things in the world, to chase after riches and material possessions.

These are among those youthful passions that Timothy needs to put away. Pursue instead righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

And then the next part of verse 22, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart, who would that be?

That would be the saints. And exactly as Paul had talked about there with the Colossians in Colossians 3, that they would gather in the assembly of the saints and they would sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs making melody in your hearts to God, forgiving others just as we have been forgiven, that we would encourage and admonish one another in all wisdom, that the word of Christ would dwell in us richly as we hear it proclaimed and preached to the congregation.

As Paul was encouraging congregational worship there among the saints in Colossae, so Paul is encouraging that of Timothy as well.

You flee from youthful passions, you abstain from sinful behaviors and pursuits, and instead you go after righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

You do this with the saints for they are going to be your accountability. They're going to help you stay away from sin and help you be passionate and desirous of those things of God instead of the things of the world.

We need the church to help us with those things. And so this is Paul's encouragement to Timothy that he would be teaching this also in the church in Ephesus.

And so let the Holy Spirit convict our hearts to the same, that we would flee from sinful desires and that we would instead desire to be with the saints, the people of God, together his church.

And I'm going to pick up there again tomorrow. Let us conclude with prayer. Our wonderful God and Savior, we pray that you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that we would be made right and holy before you, that you would fill us with your

Holy Spirit. Forgive us our sins, God. And as I'm praying for everyone that is listening to this podcast, there may be specific sins that you are laying on the minds and hearts of those who are listening.

And I pray that even after this podcast is ended, they find time to be by themselves with you.

And they confess those sins, that you would seek out the hidden faults, that we would be aware of our sinfulness before God.

So we may rightly repent and you may wash us clean and we would become vessels for honorable use in the great house of God, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house and ready for every good work.

Help us to abstain from the sinful temptations of this world and instead pursue the righteousness of God, seeking first your kingdom and your righteousness.

It is in the name of Christ that we pray, Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.