2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and
verse 7. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We spoke last week about the
glory of the Gospel and the high esteem in which the Apostle Paul
held it. And we hoped that like him, we
might never lose our sense of awe and wonder at the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We noted Paul's use of the phrase,
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. And then a little
bit later he said, the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And these are delightful, they're
powerful expressions Which again, flowing from the pen of the apostle,
reveal the respect and the admiration that Paul had for this gospel
that had been committed into his care. And we do well to remind
ourselves that Saul of Tarsus, Paul as was, had been a Pharisee
of the Pharisees, a man steeped in Old Testament wisdom and in
religious philosophy and dogma. But this message of God's gospel
in Jesus Christ thrilled the Apostle beyond all else. and it humbled him as well, it
humbled him also. It's therefore noticeable, I
think, when we move into the seventh verse to see how this
servant of the Lord describes himself and his contribution
to the work of gospel preaching. He begins our verse today by
talking about this treasure by which he means the glorious gospel. The glorious gospel that we've
just mentioned. And it is a treasure. It's a
treasure which is valuable. It's costly. It's rare. And yes, it's desirable. It's
a revelation. It's ancient wisdom. and it contains exceeding great
and precious promises that are free, that are absolute, and
that are unconditional, that flow to God's people entirely
from his goodness and by grace. There are promises of salvation
in this treasure, of justification, of a perfect righteousness and
holiness, freely granted, of eternal life and heavenly peace
as the prospect that is laid up before us. And men can spend
their whole lives searching for treasures that fade away and
corrupts and here right in our hands is a treasure that endureth
forever. I hope that we never diminish
its worth by what we say or do or lessen its value by how we
treat it. Let me just insert something
here if I may. All who preach a free will gospel
and all who preach a hybrid gospel of grace and works, a diluted
gospel, are diminishing and lessening its value. No end. They're selling us a stone wrapped
in tinfoil. They call it the gospel, but
it really is no gospel at all. Our friend George has just finished
another book about counterfeit gospels, and we've had a couple
of chapters in recent editions of New Focus magazine. But a
counterfeited article may look attractive. It may superficially
look like the real thing, but it isn't the real thing. It's
fool's gold. It isn't gospel treasure. But
the Apostle Paul says, we have this treasure. We have the gospel
of Christ by faith in Christ. But he says, we have it in earthen
vessels. And here's another delightful
phrase from the pen of the Apostle, earthen vessels. How descriptive
is that? It's beautiful. The Gospel is a glorious shining
light but in us it is hidden because we are earthen vessels. Just like Gideon's lamps, the
lamps of his 300, his army, were hidden in the army's pots and
pitchers. An earthen vessel is made of
clay, the dust of the ground, the dust from which our bodies
originally came and to which our flesh shall return. Gospel
preachers like the apostle and indeed believers in general are
only mean receptacles of the glory that is the gospel. We
have no glory of ourselves, but all glory must be God's alone. I want to draw two or three quick
lessons here from the little phrase Earthen Vessel. We continue
to repeat the phrase Salvation is of the Lord and we do repeat
it, don't we? Sometimes we say it even mantra-like. But I think we shall spend our
whole lives discovering endless ways in which that little phrase,
salvation is of the Lord, is in fact true. Even the great
apostle who spent his life travelling and ministering and preaching
the truth knew that far from in any way enhancing the message
He actually inhibited it from being seen. And we should not
lose that insight. Believers do not and cannot improve
upon this Gospel. Not even a great apostle like
Paul. He looked odd, he sounded odd, he was an unattractive individual
in many ways. He provoked opposition wherever
he went and in so many ways he repressed the effectiveness of
the gospel simply by being a man, simply by being a sinner and
a fallen creature. It isn't eloquence or intellect
or charisma that makes a preacher effective. That might make an
inspirational speaker, and people can be distracted by inspirational
speakers, but it doesn't make a preacher of the gospel. If
a sinner is savingly touched by the gospel, it is despite
the channel, despite the preacher, not because of him. Salvation
is of the Lord. And that is such a wise act by
the Lord to use earthen vessels to carry and convey the glorious
shining gospel of Christ. It is such a wise way of dealing
with it. He chooses to employ sinners
like us to witness to one another and to preach to one another
But he does not allow us to take any glory for the gospel achievements
and successes. Any success is the work of God
the Holy Spirit in the soul of the sinner. Any good at all is
in spite of the man who is only an earthen vessel, tending rather
to hide than show the glorious gospel. But there's something
else here that we shouldn't miss. The light that shines in the
earthen vessel shines down at our own feet. Think about that
in your mind's eye for a moment. Think about Gideon's men as they
marched once again. They walked unseen right up to
the edge of the Midianite camp. But they didn't stumble and they
didn't fall in the darkness. Each man of their 300 had their
own footlight and this glorious gospel lightens our paths one
step at a time. Maybe you feel it would be better
if the Lord showed you a bit more of what the future holds,
a little bit more information or a little bit more control
That would just make us proud. And again, there's no room for
pride in Christ or in the Christian life. When we see only one step
ahead, it comforts us in the moment, but it also causes us
to trust Christ for the future. Nevertheless, we can see one
step We follow the Lord one step at a time as he gives us light
to do so. And finally, here's the last
point. There's another image I think which will encourage
and comfort us. This gospel, like many other
treasures, is not immediately discoverable. The gospel is like
diamonds or gold in the earth that have to be dug up and have
to be dug out, or the fruit of the harvest that has to be worked
for and gathered in, or a pearl in an oyster that has to be sought
out in the depths of the sea and is covered, is shielded and
unseen because of a common shell, an earthen vessel. And yet all
of these are very valuable, though they are initially hidden and
unseen. And if we have the gospel treasure
in our hearts, it may not be immediately obvious, it may not
be seen by those around about us to any great extent, but we
are, we are despite appearances, the most precious. Precious to
the Lord, precious to the angels, precious to our brothers and
sisters in the church, and we should acknowledge that we are
so. Next week, we're going to spend
a little bit of time thinking about all the trouble that the
Apostle Paul encountered for the cause of the gospel. But
let us be aware that the Apostle knew how blessed he was to be
a possessor of such a wonderful gift. We may not have lands,
we may not have titles, we may not have honour in this world,
but the elect of God are the richest, most privileged people
in the face of this earth. That lump of dirt don't look
much, but inside is a flawless diamond, a vein of pure gold
and a pearl of great price. And I tell you this, this little
Zoom room might not seem much to the world, but angels stand
in awe of us. Devils tremble and the Lord himself
smiles upon his beautiful bride and his prized possession. Amen.