A Message the Lord gave me this week I hope to preach on a Sunday Morning or a Wed. night.

A SURE FOUNDATION
II Timothy 2: 19-21
I want to say that without excuse I am saved and glad to know it. Aug, 17 1998 I got gloriously saved.
And I am sure of my Salvation.
And as our Scripture reading says it is a sure foundation. Turn to ! 1 Peter 2:6

1 Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
That word Confounded means that there is no shame in serving God, and that there i no disgrace in whom you believe in.
I can shout to the highest heaven that I love Jesus. There is no shame in telling others of your love for God. I am Honoured to be a child of God

To be a Christian is my goal in Life. It is not just a title but a goal.
To be a Christian is to be Christ like.
To walk like Him, To talk like Him.
I owe God to much for me to be lukewarm in my daily living here in this earth.

It is a sure thing this foundation scripture says; That word sure in our text means:

It is strong and stead fast it is both literally and figuratively,

Turn to Psalm 18, This Psalm is a thanksgiving psalm to God for delivering Him of his enemies, Listen to what it is said here in our Scofield Study Bible.

Ps 18:1
¶ To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
Ps 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

David here says figuratively you are my unmovable rock, ((There are rocks on this earth me and you cant lift and David likens God to this, an unmovable rock, A fortress that is impregnable A fortied fortress. No breaches to it defense against its enemies, the deliverer of sorrows,

Aren't you Glad one day there will be no more sorrow, pain, and death, One day in Heaven.

You got to remember that the God of David is our God today. Just as sure as David was in His God so should we.

Can you like David say," Lord thank you that you delivered me through my trials and endured temptation, and Lord I can gladly say,"I will love thee O Lord, My strength."

It is By His strength that I can stand today, Grace has abounded in my life.

And we are sealed by this truth: That He knoweth them that are His.

You that are saved, He knows you. I can rejoice in this for awhile. If this is all the Bible said I could be comforted with that truth. He knows me,

And the greatest demonstration of this love is found in Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

While yet I was a sinner He died for me, John the drunkard, the liar, foulmouthed, the hater of all thing good, He still loved me enough to die for me.

While He was on the cross I was on his Mind, I was unworthy was I, but yet the Love of the Father saw through that and said there is hope. If you don't know Jesus as savior you can know this, He loves you even though you are a sinner and undone he died for you.

And now that I am saved, he knows me.

John 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

[[....Elaborate on the Shepherds dutys....]]

And as we continual in our scripture we see that at salvation through repentance we flee iniquity,

But you see even as Christians God is careful to help the child of God in his walk with Him.

David knew that he to could fall into sin again, You might say what do you mean, well remember Bathsheba, and the sin there, not only did he not be were he should be, but took her knowing she was married (II Samuel 11:3), then found out he impregnated her, tried to hide it by bringing back Uriah to be with her and when that didn't work had him set up to be killed.

David knew he could sin again. Listen to what he said," Psalms 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Don't think that you are spiritual enough not to fall, If the one who was said, he seeked after Gods own heart, prayed this way, what makes you better.

God so beautifully puts it in this way in our text,

2 Timothy 2:20 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 honour, and some to dishonour.

I like what the old puritan writer John Gill once said about this verse,

and some to honour; who are designed for honourable service, and behave honourably, and are worthy of honour in the church; are honourable officers, or members in it; and are to the honour of Christ, and the Gospel; and shall at last enjoy honour, glory, immortality, and eternal life.
And some to dishonour; who are to the disreputation of the church, the dishonour of religion, and scandal of the Gospel; by them God is dishonoured, his ways evil spoken of, his doctrines blasphemed, and his name reproached; and who are themselves dishonourable among men now, and will be covered with shame and everlasting contempt hereafter.

In contrast, there are some things in our lives that will bring Glory to God, and there are things we hold on to that will not please our Lord.

You may hide your sin to your wife, husband, family, friends and church but to God all things are seen.

Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

Numbers 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.

What is that you are holding on too that holds you in Bondage?

What Numbers 32:23 ought to grip you as you study the word of God.

Ye have sinned against the Lord,

This is what you do continually, when you and I sin, We do it against the Lord, I f you are saved,

For the Christian there is a sin unto death.

Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

There is no escape when it comes to the hand of God!

But there is hope through true repentance, God said in I John 1:9 that through Confession we have forgiveness,

Sometimes we don't get to this until after we are chastened by the Lord,

Chastisement is meant for the child of God to get back in His will, Though some go further into sin due to disobedience it is for correction.

Just as a parent chastens a child for reproof.

God Loves us enough that He will do anything it takes for us to get right.

Listen to what God says about the situation.

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

And though some don't flee from sin God will deal with them. Even to the effect of the Sin Unto Death. Some will say, Is there really a sin that Christians commit that carries a death penalty?

1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

Lets turn to Amos 4:6-12 and we will see how ungrateful a Christian can get.

What is the beging of this sin? I believe it is found in this one thought the Lord gave me.

You get your eyes off of God. In other words, you start loving the blessings more than the one blessing you.

And once your eyes are off of God you start looking to other things of this world.

Sin will take you further than you want to go.

Backsliding is an awful thing for the child of God.

((( Elaborate on the young boy who backslid on God and though they pleaded with him he crossed Gods deadline and died )))

In closing on this point i will Quote 1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

You see we have to forsake sin. Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

You as a child of God are to Shun Evil.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Psalms 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

1 Peter 3:11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

To Ensue is to literally pursue or follow this daily in your life as a Christian.

And to what is the result? To get to that answer we turn to we look at the last verse in our text.

To purge is to cleanse, Those few short words; He Shall Be, Means that it will be or should come to pass, The result is a Vessel, literally meaning to be contributing or to be useful,

Can you imagine the thought, being useful in the will of God. Useful in His ministry, useful in the church, useful in soul winning, useful in the workplace, useful to leading your family to the Lord, Field almost hard to reach.

To be used of God. That word Meet in this verse is to say in the Greek, Easily Used, or profitable

Can you say you are a prepared vessel this morning?

If a man therefore purge himself from these - He that takes heed to his ways and to his doctrines, and walks with God, will separate himself, not only from all false doctrine, but from all wicked men, and thus be sanctified and proper to be employed by the Master in every good word and work.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary2Ti 2:21 Put it like this
21. If a man . . . purge himself from these--The Greek expresses "If one (for example, thou, Timothy) purify himself (so as to separate) from among these" (vessels unto dishonor). sanctified--set apart as wholly consecrated to the Lord. and meet--Some oldest manuscripts omit "and." the master's--the Lord's. Paul himself was such a vessel: once one among those of earth, but afterwards he became by grace one of gold. prepared unto every good work-- (2Ti 3:17; Tit 3:1)

Are you willing today to #one Praise God for your salvation, having confidence in God And sure of Gods Promise.

Depart from iniquity, in other words forsaking those weights that easily besets us, or to ware down. Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

purging your self from those things that dishonour God.

Coming to this old fashioned alter and seeking the Lords face in your life.

IS it worth it. Look at your children and answer that question, look at your grandchildren and answer that.

Is ever body you are accountable given the opportunity to accept the Lord or reject Him. Are you living so that others see Jesus in you.

Are you saved this morning, Do you know Jesus or do you Know of a Jesus.