You turn back to second Corinthians
chapter four. I'd like to read verses seven
through nine together. But we have this treasure. in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair, persecuted, but not forsaken. cast down, but not
destroyed. I'd like to read the amplified
version of verse 7. It reads, However, we possess
this precious treasure, the divine light of the gospel, in frail human vessels of earth,
that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be
shown to be of God, and not from ourselves. The NIV reads verse
7 like this, We have this treasure in jars of clay. I've entitled this message, Jars
of Clay. We have a jars of clay. We have this treasure. We possess this treasure. It's ours. What is this treasure? Well, in the context of verse
six, it's the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now, what a treasure that is.
Now, believer, here's where your significance is. You have this
treasure. You have this treasure. What a treasure to possess the
light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. You see in that face, that visage
that was marred more than the sons of men, that face with blood
coming down from the thorns pressed upon his head, you see how God
can save you through his face. You see the glory of God. What a treasure we possess. Now, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. jars of clay. And because we're
jars of clay. And Paul is only speaking in
honesty. I love the honesty of Paul in
this passage of Scripture. This is not the way a religious
person would speak. They'd be trying to cover up
what's really going on on the inside. But Paul says, because
we have this treasure in jars of clay, we're troubled. We're
troubled on every side. I mean, there isn't anything
that doesn't trouble us. about myself, about you, about the
world. We're troubled on every side. That's just honesty, isn't it?
And he says we're perplexed. We're perplexed. We don't know.
We stand in doubt of many things. We can't give an answer. That's
what the word means. We can't give an answer. We're
perplexed. We're persecuted. And we're cast
down. We're thrown down like a wrestler
being thrown down to the ground and being defeated. That is how
we feel because we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We're troubled on every side.
We're perplexed. We're persecuted. And we're cast
down. And that's not the way you hear
the average religious person talk, is it? I mean, it's kind
of this up, you know, everything's great and rosy and so on. But
Paul is expressing what it is to be an earthen vessel. But because we have this treasure,
we're not distressed. We're not in despair, we're not
without hope. We're not forsaken. And we're
not destroyed. We have this treasure in this fragile jar
of clay. Now who is the we when Paul says
we have this treasure in earthen vessels? Do I have the right
to take this to myself? We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Does he mean every son of Adam?
Does everyone have this treasure? No. This is speaking of the believer. This is speaking of those for
whom Christ died. This is speaking of the elect
of God. This is speaking of the general
assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.
This is the heritage of every believer without exception. The
we is the same way we that Paul spoke of when he said, we know
that all things work together for good to love God. Now, they
may not, but we do. We know this is all of God's
people. This is something every believer
understands and enters into. We have this treasure. And, oh, we have it. It's in our possession. It's
not something that we might have or that we hope to have one day,
but we have. We possess in our hearts. In us. What's a vessel? A vessel
is something you put something in, isn't it? We have in us. this treasure in our possession. And what a
treasure it is. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, we're vessels. Earthen vessels. Vessels have
something put in them. This treasure is in us. Christ
in you. The hope of glory. And you think
of the treasure of the gospel. I mean, I could talk the rest
of the time about this. Think about the treasure of the
forgiveness of sins. Your sins, which are many, are
forgiven. Isn't that a great treasure?
The treasure of justification. I'm without guilt before God.
I'm without sin before God. The treasure of righteousness,
having the righteousness of Christ. The treasure of knowing that
everything is working together for my good and for his glory.
The treasure of heaven awaiting me in the great inheritance that
I have. Oh, what a treasure is the gospel,
the treasure of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. I was on vacation. We were in Malta, as you know,
and we stayed at the It was called the Bay of St. Paul, where evidently
Paul landed when he shipwrecked in Acts chapter 28. And I was
looking at that and I was thinking of God. I was looking up at the
moon, the same moon I look at at home. Is there the same thing? I was thinking of just God being
everywhere at once. There's nowhere where God's not.
And I was thinking, I know him and he knows me. What a treasure to be known by
the living God. and for me to know Him, for Jesus
Christ to be mine. What a treasure it is, as Colossians
2, 9 and 10 says, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete. I'm saying this to every believer,
you're complete. You don't need anything else. You can't get
any more saved than you are. You can't get any more loved
than you are. You can't get any more accepted than you are right
now in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made that into us. wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Is that a treasure
or what? You have the treasure of knowing
that it's God's for you. Listen to this scripture. If
God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Talk about all God's
people. How shall he not freely give
us all things? There's nothing that can prevent
God from giving you everything you need. There's nothing you
can do to mess it up. That's what that means. There's nothing
you can do to mess it up. Isn't that glorious? Is that
treasure? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
There's nothing to prosecute you for. You're justified. Who is he that can condemn? There's
nothing to condemn you for. It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God. Oh,
the treasure of the gospel. Now, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Jars of clay, weak and frail,
easily shattered. A jar of clay. Dirt. Completely dependent upon the
potter. Flesh is what this is referring
to. We have this glorious treasure
in this sinful body. This flesh, this weakness, this
powerlessness. Completely dependent upon the
potter, who of the same love is able to make one vessel into
honor and another into dishonor. And that's the language of scripture.
I don't apologize for it. That's who God is. And we are
jars of clay. Sinful and weak clay. What can grow in clay? Nothing. It doesn't have any organic matter
in it. There's no life in it. No life can come from clay. That's
why Paul said, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence, no confidence
in the flesh. It's nothing but a jar of clay,
jars of clay. And here's how we ought to see
ourselves. Jars of clay, vessels made of dirt, dust thou art and
to dust thou shalt return. Paul said, if a man thinks himself
to be something when he's nothing, He deceives himself. Let no man think of himself more
highly than he ought to think. Now, why? Does the Lord just
want us to feel bad about ourselves? Is this what this is about? Just
having a poor self-image? You tell me I'm nothing but a
jar of clay, a lump of dirt? If you have any understanding
of what sin is and who you are, this is how you'll see yourself.
And if you don't see yourself this way, it's because you've
never seen the gospel. You've never seen Christ. If
you ever see who the Lord Jesus Christ is, you'll see yourself
as a jar of clay. You know, Paul himself, I mean,
Paul is my hero. I love Paul, humanly speaking. But you know, when Paul was first
saved, he said, I'm the least of the apostles. And then in
the middle of his life as an apostle, he said, I'm less than
the least of all the saints. And right before he died, he
said this about himself. He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm nothing more than a jar of clay. He understood this. You
know, an earthen vessel. Just a clay pot. Not very pretty,
is it? Gold is prettier. Now, why? Why are we clay pots. God could have instantly made
us sinless when he saved us. He could have. He could have
instantly made us perfect, poised, and powerful, but he didn't.
Why? Why am I still a sinner the way
I am? God could have prevented it.
He could have caused me to not be that way. He could have taken
away all my weaknesses and my inconsistencies and my sinfulness
and my contradiction and made me right now, in my personal
experience, just like the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet, here I
am, a miserable jar of clay. Now, I have this treasure. If
all I was was a jar of clay, that would indeed be miserable.
But I have this treasure. There's my significance. There's
my comfort. There's my encouragement. I have
this treasure in Christ. But still, I am a jar of clay. Why? Paul tells us in verse 7, but
we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. God has an agenda. And let me say this, I want you
to understand this, I want you to hear this, God's agenda is
not about you. It's really not. It's about his
glory. And the reason he saves is for
his own glory. Now, if you want to display the
beauty of a diamond, what do you use for the background? Something
that's going to compete with that beauty? No. You use a background that's going
to show the beauty of that diamond. If you're going to show the beauty
of gold, what do you use? You use a gold background. No,
you use something that's going to show off the beauty of that
gold. Now, God has an agenda. It's
his own glory. And I know this. Me being a jar
of clay right now, weak. Fragile, sinful. It makes me know that I'm totally
dependent upon the grace of God. I'm totally dependent upon the
Lord Jesus Christ right now. And you know, that's a good place
to be. That's the best place to be. Now, this treasure is
placed in jars of clay for this purpose, that the excellency
of the power will be clearly, be clearly seen to be of God. and not of earth. An earthen
vessel is just that, an earthen vessel. That the excellency of
the power. Now listen, let's talk about
this for a moment. We possess this treasure in earthen vessels
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now what is he talking about
when he's talking about the excellency of the power? And this is what
God is going to manifest, His own power. You and I talk this way. God's
got an agenda, his own glory. He's going to make known his
own power. Somebody thinks, well, God's awful egocentrical, isn't
he? I mean, is that all he cares about? Yeah. He's holy. Now, if you and I
have a problem with it, we've got a problem with God. No doubt
about that. Got a problem with God. I'm the one with the problem,
not God. My sinfulness is the problem,
not His person. Whatever He does is right. So
may God give us the grace to bow to the fact that His agenda
is His own glory. Are you glad it's that way? Would
you want it to be any other way? Let me ask you this. In your
personal salvation, if you're saved, who's going to get the
glory in it? I know who's going to get the glory in my salvation.
All the glory and none goes to me. And beloved, I love it that
way. That the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. Now, this power is speaking of
the power of God, which is omnipotence. What does omnipotence mean? It
means all power. The psalmist said, power belongeth
unto the Lord. The Lord said, right before his
ascension back into glory, all power is given to me in heaven
and in earth. When Sarah laughed when she heard
that she was going to have a baby after going, she had already
gone through menopause. Now, you know, it's impossible
for somebody to have a baby that has already gone through menopause.
I'd be like somebody having a baby who's had a hysterectomy. It
would be impossible for someone to have a baby who's had a hysterectomy. So she listened to that and she
laughed. And the Lord said, why did Sarah
laugh? And then Sarah laughed. I didn't
laugh. He said, you did too. And then he said, is anything
too hard for the Lord? Is there anything beyond his
power? If a woman's gone through menopause
or if a woman's had a hysterectomy, is God able to make her bear
a child? The answer is yes, because God
is all powerful. With God, all things are possible,
and with God, nothing shall be impossible. The Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. That's the language of scripture. Thou hast taken to thee great
power and reign. Now, this is what we're talking
about when we're talking about the excellency of the power, God's omnipotence. What would God's sovereignty
be without his power? It'd be meaningless. If he doesn't
have the power to execute his will, his promises and his threats
would be empty without his power. Salvation would be no more than
an unfulfilled desire without his power. You know, people speak
of powerful men and women. And men covet power. Let me tell
you something about power, man. I love this scripture. It's one
of my favorite scriptures. I've got a lot of them, but this is one of them.
Pilate. He comes up to the Lord, he said, speak a sound not to
me. Don't you know that I have power to crucify you and I have
power to release you? He really believed he had that
power. And the Lord looked at him and said, thou canst have
no power at all over me, except it be given thee from above. You know how much power man has? When they came to arrest the
Lord, oh, they came with a bunch of men, a bunch of clubs and
torches, and they're going to arrest Him. Oh, they thought
they had Him. They come up to Him, and the
Lord looks at them and says, Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus
of Nazareth. He said, I am. And they were
knocked backwards by omnipotence. I mean, they fell to the ground,
scared. You know, the Lord's letting
them know at this time, you don't have any power. I'm not a victim
here. The only reason you're all taking
me is because I'm letting it happen. You know, even when he
died, death couldn't take him until he gave it permission.
He yielded up the ghost. No one else has ever done that.
He has all power. And when he saves, his salvation
is for this reason, that the excellency of the power may be
of God and not of us. Now, we have this treasure in
jars of clay. that the excellency of the power
may be clearly seen to be of God." Now, God's omnipotence. Let's think about God's omnipotence. First creation. Only God could
create something from nothing. No man can do that. It can't
be done in a laboratory. Man can't replicate this. He
may change something, and that's only when God gives him the power
to do it, but he can't create something from nothing. Only
God can bring something into existence that was not there
before. That's what he did when he created
the universe. There was nothing but God. God said, let there
be, and life was. God said, let there be land,
or whatever, all the different things he said, you know, let
there be water, all the, whatever it was he said, that's what happened.
That's what happened. He brought matter into existence
that was not there before. Only the power of God could do
that. The power of God is seen in the giving of life. Here's
something that can't be duplicated. It can't be replicated. A man
can't create life. They tried to. It can't be done. You know, when Moses, when God
was doing those Plagues in Egypt in Exodus chapters 3 through
10, they were all taking place in 3 through 12. He would turn
the water into blood and the Egyptians could do it too. And
they replicated everything Moses did. But you know the first thing
that they couldn't replicate? When the dust was turned into
life, and it was turned into life. They couldn't replicate
that miracle. They did the other ones, but
they couldn't do that, which only God can do, which is give
life. His mighty power. Turn with me to Psalm 106 for
a second. Psalm 106. I love this confession in verse
six. It says we have sinned with our
fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. I wonder if anybody in here can
make that confession honestly, not just saying it because you
know it's what you're supposed to say, but I mean, really believe that
this is your confession. He says in verse seven, our fathers.
The ones we sinned with, they understood not thy wonders in
Egypt. They were spiritually stupid people. They remembered
not the multitude of thy mercies. They were an ungrateful people.
But they provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. They
were provoking people. Nothing could be said that would
be good about them. Nevertheless, He saved them. Why? For His namesake. that He might make His mighty
power to be known. That's why God says that He might
make His mighty power to be known. Now, turn to 1 Corinthians 1.
Verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ be made of none effect. For the preaching of
the cross, the naked truth of what Christ accomplished on Calvary's
tree, is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which
are saved, it is what? The power of God. For it's written,
I'll destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I'll bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. Now, under the Jews, this is
a stumbling block, and under the Greeks, foolishness. But
under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Now, I'm a jar of clay. And I have
this treasure. Now, why am I still a jar of
clay? Why am I not perfect? I will be one of these days.
I can't give an answer for everything God does. But I know what he
does, he does for his glory, but I know this much about why
I'm a jar of clay, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Now understand this, salvation,
every aspect of salvation is a demonstration of omnipotence. It's a demonstration of the power
of God. Now, let's begin with his election. God's choice of his people. Now
without doubt, the Bible teaches that God chose who would be saved
before time began. Why? Why did he do it this way?
Well, turn to Romans 9. Verse 11, 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. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. That's God speaking. Well, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair in loving Jacob and hating Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up. Why? Why? That I might show my power in
thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Now, all election says is God
has all authority and all power. Tells me that I'm 100% dependent
upon his will for my salvation. That's what it says. And first
Corinthians 118, the cross. is called the power of God into
salvation. The preaching of the cross is
called the power of God into salvation. Now, the cross of
Christ achieved something that only omnipotence could do. Now, you listen real carefully. Here's what the cross of Christ
actually accomplished. When Christ said, It is finished,
I love those words, don't you? If all he meant by it is finished,
that my part's done, now it's up to you to do your part, I'm
in trouble. I'm a jar of clay. But that's
not what he meant. When he said it is finished, this is what
took place. He made me to be what I'm not. What are you? A sinner. Sinful. And when he said it is
finished, God said regarding everybody that he represented,
they're holy. Without sin. Unblameable and
unreprovable in God's sight. Now that's what he did. He made
me to be. Listen, I wasn't born holy. I
was born evil. And I proved that all my life.
But when Christ said it is finished, everybody he died for, God said
they're holy. It's in the scripture, Hebrews
10, 14, by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. That's what he did. That's what
his cross achieved. Not only did he make me to be
what I'm not, he made me to not be what I am. Where's your sin? I don't have
any. But you committed it! It's gone. He washed it away. Now, only
omnipotence could do that. We read in Philippians 3.10 of
the power of His resurrection. And remember when the Lord said,
no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it up. This have I received of my father."
Now, that's power. He had the power to raise himself
from the dead. That blows my mind. He was dead! And he had the power to raise
himself from the dead. Only God could do that. And what
was accomplished in that resurrection? He was delivered from our offenses.
and he was raised again for our justification. His resurrection
is a demonstration of the power of God and what powers exerted
in the new birth. Turn to Ephesians chapter one. Verse 19. And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us were who believe according to
the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when
he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places far above all principalities and powers
and might and dominion and every name that's named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come and has put
all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. The exceeding greatness of power
in us who believe is the same power when He gave you the new
birth, when He regenerated you, when you were born of the Spirit,
the same power was used in that that was used in the resurrection
of Christ from the dead. You were raised from the dead
just as Christ was raised from the dead. What mighty power is
displayed. Our willingness. I can't make you willing to do
anything. I can't do it. You can't make
somebody be willing, can you? You know, if you force somebody
to be willing, it doesn't seem like it's being willing, is it?
But God has such power that he can make people willing. Only
God can do that. Psalm 1103 says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Are you willing to be
saved by Christ? God made you willing. There was
a time when you weren't willing to be saved by Christ. But God
changed your will, didn't He? Only God can make somebody willing. You know, there are people right
now who are listening to this message that are not willing to believe,
but you know, God can change all that. He can make you willing. In 2 Peter 1, 5, we read where
we're kept by the power of God through faith and to salvation.
Now, the fact that I haven't fallen away, what's the reason for that? The fact that I haven't wickedly
fallen away. I know I do it right now. But I'm kept by the power of
God. You know, the fact that I still
believe right now is a miracle of God's mighty power. Kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation. Turn with me
to 2 Corinthians 12. Paul said in verse 7, lest I
should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure for this thing I besought the Lord three times
that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength, my power, is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Now, do I glory in my sin? No.
No, I don't. I don't want to sin anymore. Do I glory in the fact that I'm
nothing but a sinner and that the only way I can be saved is
by the power of God? Yes, I do. I glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. One other scripture,
1 Corinthians 2. Verse 1, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. I didn't come with flowery
rhetoric. For I determined not to know anything among you, saying,
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness,
and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. We have this treasure. And what a treasure it is that
we have. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, knowing how
God can accept me and love me and save me by Christ. Now, isn't
that a glorious treasure? And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. jars of clay, weak even now,
and you know this is so with regard to you, but here's why. That the excellency of the power
may be of God. And let me ask you a question.
This is the way you can understand whether you and I have entered
into this, this question. In your salvation, in your personal
salvation, Does God get all the glory and none goes to you? Now, if that's so, that means
you have this treasure in an earthen vessel that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. The hymn writer said, when I
stand before thy throne, dressed in beauty, not my own, When I
see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, not to then, how much I owe. All hail the
power of Jesus' name. Let angels' prostate fall, bring
forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all. Let's pray together.