The Five Vessels

In this lesson, we will be looking at what the Bible calls, "The Five Vessels of God," and what they mean according to scripture, so that we have a better understanding of what these vessels are all about.

There are statements in the Bible which apparently seem contradictory, and to avoid confusion, one must follow the rules in dividing the truth. Not only must truth be divided into dispensations, but it must be divided into scriptures and the same dispensation.

EXAMPLE: Compare Luke 9:3 and Matt. 10:9, 10 with Luke 22:36. the rule applies to this - "BUT NOW" makes the difference.

This same thing goes with anything you are studying in the scriptures, for everything in the scriptures are found divided into scriptures, and dispensation, we should learn to study them as such. Also we must remember to never put a question mark where God has put a period.

In this lesson are:

  I. VESSEL OF HONOR................................(II Tim. 2:21)

 II. VESSELS OF MERCY.............................(Rom. 9:23)

III. CHOSEN VESSELS OF GOD................(Acts 9:15)

IV. VESSELS OF RESTORATION..............(Isa. 66:20; Jer. 51:34)

 V. VESSELS OF DISHONOR......................(II Tim. 2:20)

I.) VESSELS OF HONOR.                                                            (II Tim. 2:21)

(V.21) 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.

In our study on the first vessel, we see that it is a vessel of honor and we need to find out what one needs to do to become a "vessel of honor," but first lets find out what not to do.

Our verse tells us to, "therefore purge" yourself from these, so we will look at what we are to purge ourselves from.

As I stated before, every scripture must be rightly divided and this verse is found to be the most important scripture as we see, that God looks for a vessel that can be used and God must have a vessel He can use, or, that vessel becomes good for nothing to Him, if it is not able to be used.

Therefore purge yourselves from:

(1) Youthful lusts (V.22),

(2) Foolish and unlearned question (V.23),

(3) The snare of the devil (V.26)

(4) Profane and vain babblings (V.16),

(5) Iniquity (V.19).

Purging yourself from these can assure one of becoming a "Vessel unto Honor," as we look at these five steps one must not do, lets also see what they mean, that they will not manifest in our life.

As we look at "Youthful lusts," we can understand why one must purge himself from this, for we find that it has been man's failure for many years, it was man's first and his last failure.

In the book of Genesis, we see lust taking its first steps into the heart of man (Gen. 3:6), where the woman that God had given man had been talking with the serpent and now, she is thinking it over and "Lust" steps in to lend a hand and give her a help, notice:

(1) She looks at the tree, [sin always start with the eyes, it would seem clear to understand why sin attacks the eyes first for they are the windows to the soul.],

(2) Then she notice it is good for food, [every sin starts also with greed],

(3) Now she takes pleasure in what she sees, [the better a thing looks the more that thing is wanted],

(4) And taking pleasure she now has a desire for it, [pleasure always produces desire].

(5) So from the desire she takes from the tree and eat, [never will desire not be follow by the act of taking].

If you were to go through the scriptures, you would find that just about every time the people of God failed to serve God "Lust" was rooted in it, therefore God said, "that His people would not hearken to His voice so He gave them up unto their own hearts lust:" and they walked in their own counsel (Psalm 81:10-12).

Also we see that we are to purge ourselves from, "Foolish and unlearned questions," for these are some of the things which the people tried to do to Jesus. Such as the Sabbath Day, the Pharisees tried to see what Jesus had to say about the Sabbath, but Jesus knowing their hearts told them, about how David hungered and entered the house of God and did eat showbread that was not lawful for him to eat and how that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:1-8), we find that the Pharisees were often asking "foolish and unlearned questions." Just as in the days of Jesus people are still asking the same kind of questions, their only reason for asking these questions is to see if you can be made out of a liar, or to see how much you know about the word of God, or just to make you look dumb when they catch you where you can't answer the question, there is nothing gained behind these kinds of questions other then to destroy the word of God, or your creditability to speak on behalf of the word of God, these kind avoid.

These "foolish and unlearned questions" are just a few ways that the snares of the devil (V.26) brings most of us down, we loose confidence in ourselves, we are shamed, we feel bad, then we don't speak the word as much as we should, but Peter said in (I Peter 3:15), "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" and by doing this, we will avoid the other questions which are grounded in evil intentions, that the devil will try to snare you with which covers our next verse (V.26).

Now, lets look at (V.16), "Profane and vain babblings," but if you will notice this falls back to, foolish and unlearned questions (V.23), and this is the way that the devil gets you snared (V. 26), but we must keep everything in their right places:

Foolish and unlearned questions are directed at you but Profane and vain babblings are what you direct at someone else, so in other words Profane and vain babblings is something "YOU" do.

Which in this case are empty sounds and Paul tells us to give a distinction in the sounds we make (I Cor. 14:7), this is what (I Peter 3:15) is talking about, putting a distinction to the sounds we make so that others may hear what it is being sounded (I Cor. 14:8).

Now as we come to "Iniquity" in (V.19), we must understand that we were shapen in iniquity (Ps. 51:5), and once we know this we can see ourselves as God sees us and turn to God to pardon our iniquities (Ps. 25:11).

This first vessel is of one who loves the Lord in such a way, that they are faithful unto death and the Lord has promised them a crown of life (Rev. 2:10), for these must be:

(1) Departed from iniquity (V.19),

(2) Prepared unto every good work (V.21),

(3) Follow righteousness (V.22),

(4) Faith (V.22),

(5) Charity (V.22),

(6) Peace (V.22),

(7) A pure heart (V.22),

(8) Gentleness (V.24),

(9) Apt to teach (V.24),

(10) Patient (V.24).

If we will notice, that all of the things mentioned here it takes to be a vessel of honor, is that they must have the fruit of the Spirit, which is (Love), for love worketh all these things, Paul said in (Phil. 4:8), to think on these things:

WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE -

TRUE, HONEST, JUST, PURE, LOVELY, OF GOOD REPORT, OF VIRTUE, OF PRAISE,

THINK ON THESE THINGS AND THE GOD OF PEACE SHALL BE WITH YOU," this is a vessel of honor.

These vessels of honor are of -

GOLD, SILVER, and PRECIOUS STONES.

REFERENCES: I Sam. 2:30; Ps. 15:4-5; Pr. 3:9; 13:18; Isa. 58:13; John 5:23; I Pet. 2:17.

II. VESSELS OF MERCY.                                                            (Rom. 9:23)

(V.23) And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.


The vessels of mercy is a vessel prepared unto glory, that the riches of God's glory might be made known.


Now this really tells us all we need to know about this vessel, but lets find out what the scripture reveal about becoming a "vessel of mercy."

This vessel, is a vessel as we said, prepared unto glory and not all can make it to be a vessel of mercy, these are specially called vessels, for we see as it was with "Rebecca," that she was carrying two children and Rom. 9:11 tells us, (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) also (V.26) lets us know that this vessel is called, the children of the "Living God," as we read (Hosea 2:23) we see that the Lord said, "AND I WILL SOW HER UNTO ME IN THE EARTH; AND I WILL HAVE MERCY UPON HER THAT HAD NOT OBTAINED MERCY; AND I WILL SAY TO THEM (VESSELS OF MERCY) WHICH WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, THOU ART MY PEOPLE; AND THEY SHALL SAY, THOU ART MY GOD."

This vessel is a vessel of :

( GLORY ).

This vessel will receive the "Crown of Glory" which God will give to Pastors, Evangelist, Teachers, Ministers, Deacons, Elders, as with all leaders of the Church.

REFERENCES: Ex. 34:7; Psa. 18:25; 37:26; 67:1-7; 103:8, 11; Prov. 11:17; Isa. 57:1-2; Jer. 3:12; Matt. 5:7; Psa. 41:1-13; Matt. 6:14; Mark 11:25; Heb. 6:10; James 2:13.

III. THE CHOSEN VESSELS OF GOD.                                                 (Acts 9:15)

(V.15) But the Lord said unto him, go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and Kings, and the Children of Israel:

This is a personal vessel unto the Lord, and has a personal calling from the Lord Himself, one can say, this is the Apostle calling, such as that of the twelve disciples, Jesus hand picked each one of them, they were all called to do the work of the Lord, in service to man, this vessel has not been chosen since Paul, but it does have a little more meaning then just this.

As we look at this vessel, let us keep in mind what the Lord said to Saul, "ARISE, AND GO INTO THE CITY, AND IT SHALL BE TOLD THEE WHAT THOU MUST DO." If you will notice, this is a personal calling made to Saul and the thing for him to do now, was to obey, also not everyone receives this calling, for it is a special call by name calling, in other words the Lord hand picks this person for special work.

Obedience is very important, but one that lets himself be led of the Spirit, will obey anyway, for the Holy Spirit will keep them in remembrance of this and their calling (Acts 13:2), a chosen vessel is bound by an obedience that separates them from all other believers (I Cor. 15:10), such as the call of Moses, Abraham, each who had a special work to do that no one else was given, they were set apart from all people, and their words became God's words so much so that they were able to speak things that God had not commanded and God honored it because they were looking out for God's best interest.

The Chosen Vessel is a vessel of GRACE.

The Chosen Vessel will receive the "Crown of Rejoicing" (I Thess. 2:19-20). The crown of rejoicing is the soul winner's crown, the greatest work you are privileged to do for the Lord is to bring others to a knowledge of Christ as personal savior, the degree of your joy in heaven will be determined by the souls you have had part in bringing to Christ. Paul said to the Thessalonian believers that they are his hope or joy, or crown of rejoicing now and when Jesus comes.

REFERENCES: Acts 9:6, 11, 15, 16; 13:2; 22:21; 26:17; Rom. 1:1; I Cor. 15:10; Gal. 1:15; Eph. 3:7; I Tim. 2:7; II Tim. 1:11.

IV. VESSELS OF RESTORATION.                             (Isa. 66:20; Jer. 51:34).

(V.20) And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

 This vessel, is one of a copy of the real one, such as the case of Adam in his first state, unfallen, clean, or as Jeremiah put it a "empty vessel" (Jer. 51:34), but when Adam became fallen, the whole human race became fallen - but in the last Adam (Jesus), we can be reinstated as the first Adam before his fall.

NOTE: We do not become the First Adam, or the last Adam, we only become a representation of the original form. This is the case of an unbeliever becoming a believer - THE ACT OF RESTORING, OR THE STATE, OR, FACT OF BEING RESTORED. noticed closely the picture below how the steps of restoration takes place in the person and the way God sees him:

In this vessel you will notice from this picture that the first state is clear, or, clean, this is the state of Adam before the fall, after which Adam had sinned his state changed and not so clear, or, clean any more, it is a blurred view of what he was, after Jesus came and died for our sins, we see a small change in the picture after the cross, for our sins have been place on Jesus and therefore they are not on us, but still there is more to be done, as with salvation it doesn't just stop at the cross, there is something we must do as well, Jesus said, "Unless a man is born of the water and of the spirit, he shall in no wise enter heaven." we can not think to be clean, or clear until we have done all that we are commanded to do, therefore after the Holy Ghost has come on you, now you can be clear enough to be a witness unto the Lord, (Acts 1:8), it is said, that this vessel is the "vessel of a new beginning," the vessel of restoration is a "renewed vessel."

This vessel will receive the "Crown of Righteousness" (II Tim. 4:5-8) the crown of righteousness is a reward, and it is not to be confused with the righteousness of God, which the believer receives when he becomes a Christian: for at that time, the believer is made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor. 5:21) reads like this (For he hath made him to be sin for us who knows no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.) This saying righteousness is a gift to be accepted by the lost, the crown of righteousness is a reward to be earned by the saved. If the believer looks for and loves the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. It will affect his whole life, look at the dynamic impact this truth had on the life of the Apostle Paul in (II Tim. 4:7) also (I Cor. 15:32).

REFERENCES: Lev. 10:10; II Kings 5:12; Job 17:9; Psa. 24:4-5; 51:10; Prov. 16:2; 20:9; Isa. 1:16; 52:11; Matt. 8:2-3; 23:26; John 13:10, 11; 15:3; Rev. 19:8.

V. VESSELS OF DISHONOR                                                           (II Tim. 2:20).

(V.20) But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor.

This vessel, is one of shame, when one magnifies himself as if he can do everything, without help from God, or anyone else (Ps. 35:26).

This is a vessel of, pride, selfishness, ego, ungodliness, erred in the truth, unpure hearts, foolish - (II Tim. 2:16-25) - lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, and others - (II Tim. 3:2-9).

Therefore the vessel of dishonor is a self-appointed vessel.

This vessel is building with:

WOOD, HAY, and STUBBLE.

This vessel, is unworthy of a reward or crown if you are looking for a vessel to become, be sure you choose one that builds with the right materials, GOLD, SILVER, and PRECIOUS STONES so that when you are tried in the fire, you will come out without lose, pure, and ready to be used by the Lord, Paul said, "If it shall make you free, than rather use it."

REFERENCES: Ps. 35:26; 69:19; Prov. 6:33; Rom. 9:21; I Cor. 15:43; II Cor. 6:8.

Which vessel do you think you are, are you a vessel that can be used by the Lord, or do you need to be restored, if you are reading this lesson then you can't be a vessel of dishonor because you are not so stubborn that you couldn't read this, so restoration is possible for you, take a moment and ask Jesus to come in your heart, admit that you are a sinner and you need Jesus to clean you and bring you back to being a vessel unto honor, ask this in Jesus name and know that you are saved, you are now a vessel that can be used.