Earthen Vessels

Q: What does the Bible say about preaching Christ?

The Bible emphasizes that we preach Christ Jesus and not ourselves, focusing on His glory rather than our own. In 2 Corinthians 4:5, the Apostle Paul clearly states, 'For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.' This conveys that the core of Christian preaching is centered on Christ and His redemptive work. The reason is that our faith should not rest on human wisdom but rather in God's power. This perspective humbles the preacher and elevates Christ, ensuring that the message of salvation remains focused on God's glory. Therefore, to preach Christ is to direct all attention away from human effort and towards the grace and power of God in Christ.

Q: Why is the concept of being an earthen vessel important for Christians?

Being an earthen vessel highlights our weaknesses while showcasing the treasure of God's grace within us. The metaphor of earthen vessels, as discussed in 2 Corinthians 4:7, serves to contrast our frailty with the divine treasure we hold. Paul explains that we have 'this treasure in earthen vessels,' emphasizing that the infinite value of God's grace is contained in our flawed and fragile lives. This illustrates that it's not the vessel that carries the glory, but rather, it's the treasure itself—God's light and knowledge in the face of Jesus Christ—that is of utmost importance. Understanding this allows Christians to embrace their limitations while experiencing the profound strength and glory of God working through their weaknesses.

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient during trials?

We know God's grace is sufficient because His power is made perfect in our weakness. In times of trials and tribulations, Christians can lean on the assurance that God's grace is sufficient for them. The Apostle Paul describes being 'troubled on every side' yet not distressed, as he acknowledges the sustaining power of God's grace (2 Corinthians 4:8). This affliction serves to deepen our reliance on Christ. It is through our weaknesses and troubles that the life of Jesus is manifested in our lives, affirming that God's power is perfected in our frailty. This truth assures believers that they are not alone and that God's grace will empower them to endure and overcome their challenges.

Q: Why is the glory of God important to understand?

Understanding God's glory is crucial because it reveals His character and His ultimate plan for redemption. The glory of God is fundamentally tied to His goodness and redemptive work through Christ. As illustrated in Exodus 33, Moses sought to see God's glory, and God's response was to declare His name and attributes. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, it is stated that God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of His glory. This glory is not merely in miraculous events, but in God's grace, mercy, and salvation offered through Jesus Christ. Understanding God's glory shapes the believer's worship and informs their lives, as they recognize the immense weight of God's love and the purpose of their calling in revealing that glory to others.

Red Forest, 2 Corinthians 4.
Now, you'll be privileged to hear Brother Tom preach this
Wednesday night at 7.30. I'm going down to Crossville,
Tennessee, and preach with Brother Todd Nivert and Paul Mahan Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. We'll be back here Friday,
and Tom will be speaking this Wednesday. And you will hear
a very blessed message, I know. The title of this message is
Earthen Vessels. Earthen Vessels. And I want to
begin with verse 5 of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And the Apostle Paul says, we
preach, for we preach not ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus the Lord. I think you've been made aware
of that, haven't you? Christ is my message. It's not
our honor and glory that we seek. It's His. It is not that you
should know us, but that you should know Him. It is not that
you should follow us, but follow Him. It is not that you should
praise us, but praise Him. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And Jesus Christ
is the wisdom and power of God. So we don't preach ourselves.
I'm not seeking followers. Yes, I take that back. I'm seeking
men to follow Christ. his followers. And what's this
next line? And ourselves, your servants,
for Jesus' sake. Now, how is it, I just, when
I got to that line there, that statement, I just stopped. How
is it that the Apostle Paul, who emphatically tells us, and
I preached on this recently, be ye not the servants of men. You know what he said? Don't
you be the servants of men? And again, he said, if I seek
to please men, I'm not the servant of Christ. If I seek the favor
of men, I'm not the servant of Christ. Then how is it, he said,
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. Well, let me give this illustration.
I think I know what he means. Recently, Doris and I were down
in Mexico, down in the most southern part
of Mexico, not too far from the Guatemalan border, and we were
guests on a ranch 4,000 feet up in the mountains, a coffee
plantation. where I was preaching with Brother
Walter and Brother Milton Howard. The husband and wife who owned
this coffee plantation, this ranch, had two male servants
there at the ranch the whole time that we were there. Two
young men who were their servants. And they had six or eight female
servants. Darch looked in the kitchen one
day when we were having a meal and there were six women in that
kitchen working. So while we were guests in that
home, the guests of Roberto and Carmelita, these servants saw
to our every need. Every need was provided. Our
rooms were cleaned when we came out in the morning. Those young
men were there with coffee and cookies and other breakfast things. When we'd come out in the afternoon,
they'd bring Coca-Cola's and ice and things. These servants
literally saw to our every need. They were not my servants. I
didn't even know them. First time I'd ever seen them.
They were her servants. But while I was a guest in her
home, they were my servants. See what I'm saying? While I
was in her home, while I was a guest in her home, her servants
were my servants. And to do her will and please
her, they did their best to please me. They were afraid that they
would not satisfy me, because that would upset her. As long
as I was a guest in her home, they were my servants. So, what
Paul is saying here, we are your servants because we're his servants
and you're in his house. You're in his household. You're
in his family. And being his servant, I want
to please him. So the best way I can please
him is to comfort his people. That's what he said. Comfort
ye my people. When he said to Peter, Peter
was his servant, he said, Peter, you love me? Yea, Lord, you know
I love you. Then you feed my lambs. You serve
my people. If you love me, you serve my
people. You love me, you know I love you. You know all things,
you know I love you. Then you feed my sheep. So that's
what Paul means there. He said, I'm not preaching myself,
I'm preaching Christ. But when I preach Christ and
love Christ and serve Christ, I'm the servant of everybody
in His house and everybody of His family. I'm your servant
for His sake. Okay? That's what that's saying.
And those young men and those ladies up there, they were so
anxious to please us because they kept looking at their mistress,
you know, knowing that she loved us. And in serving us, they were
pleasing her. Then in the next verse, he says,
for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. What's
he talking about there? Well, in the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. And the earth became without
form and void and darkness. Can you imagine such darkness?
No sun, no moon, no star. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the waters, and God said, Let there be light. Let there be light. And the burning,
piercing, darkness-chasing illumination of God Almighty's S-U-M, sun,
bathed the earth in sunlight. That's what happened. He said,
Let there be light. who commanded at his word, he
commanded the light to shine out of darkness and drive it
away, literally had shined in our hearts. And I'll tell you
this, when we were born, David said, I was conceived in sin
and shapen in iniquity, formed in evil and brought forth speaking
lies. from the womb, estranged from
God, in darkness, deadness, and depravity. And that same God,
by that same power, His Word, whose spake and light, sunlight,
bathed this earth, hath shined in my heart and your heart, our
darkened hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God. What is this glory of God? Well, a lot of people seem to
think that healing arthritis and causing the deaf to hear and
the lame to walk and performing all sorts of miracles is the
glory of God. But you know Moses, Moses, One
time was on a mountain and he saw a bush that burned and it
didn't burn up. It wasn't consumed. And he went
closer to see this strange sight and God spoke to him. God said,
Moses, God spoke to this man. Take off your shoes. You're on
holy ground. God talked to him. Told him I'd
deliver Israel out of Egypt. Moses went down there and think
of what he saw there. The shepherd's rod turned to
a serpent. He saw the plague of lice and
flies and frogs and the river turned to blood and the hail
and the darkness and all these things. And then the death of
the firstborn and the deliverance of the people of Israel by the
blood on the door and coming out. He saw God literally reach
down and scoop up the waters of the Red Sea and stack them
up on each side and blow his breath on that seafloor that
had been soaked with water for a humpteen years and make it
dry as bone, desert, and he saw a nation walk across, two million
people walk across on dry land. That's pretty exciting. Kind of thrilled me when I saw
it in the Ten Commandments on a movie screen. But Moses was
there. And then he saw that water close
over an army. And then he smote a rock and
enough water came out to feed, To quench the thirst and to wash
and bathe and serve for cooking purposes for two million people.
I tell you, he saw some things, but you know in Exodus 33, after
witnessing all of that, he stood one day before God and he said,
Lord, I have three requests. Exodus 33. He said, number one,
show me your way. Here's a man. over 80 years of
age, a prophet of God, asking God to show him the way. Secondly,
he said, and if you don't go with me, don't send me. But he
said the third request is this, I'd like to see your glory. Mike, he'd seen about everything.
He'd seen enough to give him preaching material for a lifetime.
But he knew he had not seen the real true glory of God. See, God, this is not the chief
glory of God creating the world, raising a dead man, making blind. He who made the eye, can he make
it see? He who made the ear, he can make
it hear. He who made the legs can give
them strength to walk. There's nothing to that. But God said, all right Moses,
you get over there in the cleft of the rock and I'm going to
pass by you and I'm going to show you my glory. My glory is
my goodness. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. I will declare the name of the
Lord. You know what God's chief and
greatest glory is? Raising dead sinners. Giving
sight to blind eyes so that they can see things that are not seen. And hear things that are not
heard by the natural ear. And have a hope of eternal life.
And lifting the beggar from the downhill and making him a prince
and a king and a priest. That's God's glory. God's covenant
mercy, God's grace in Christ Jesus, Christ's righteousness,
perfect holiness and righteousness, covering a guilty sinner, Christ's
atonement, putting away our transgressions, Christ's intercession, Christ
taking us to glory. That's God's cheap blow. And he who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. It's not in a hallelujah crutch
breaking meeting with hands waving. The glory of God is in the face
of Christ. That's where it is, in the face
of Christ. And his face, his face turned toward you, his countenance
looking upon you is his acceptance of you. If you ever look into
him, you remember when David said of Absalom, his face, my
face he shall not see. And he didn't see the king's
face for what, two or three years? Disapproval. But one day he said,
Bring the young man face to face. You know what that meant? It
meant you're forgiven. You're forgiven. Yeah, you know, you can buy your
stature and put it over there in the corner on a white doily
and put candles on each side and put your picture of Jesus
up there and go kneel to your knees, hardened up with arthritis
and rheumatism, and you're not seeing God's glory. I tell you
when you see God's glory is when He in the person of His Son turns
His face towards you and shows you His glory. His mercy, His
compassion, His love, His grace in Christ Jesus. That's God's
glory that He should love folks like you and me. He revealed
His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. the glory of His love
and mercy. And we know something about it.
Think about that. He said, God Almighty, on purpose, according
to His divine will, not by accident, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in these hearts. You see, it's
a heart business. It's a heart business. It's not
mental acceptance of a few religious facts. It's a heart conversion. Repentance is a heart work. Faith
is a heart work. Conviction is a heart work. Love
for Christ is a heart work. With a heart, men believe it.
And that light of the knowledge of the glory of God, shined in
our hearts, is in the face of Christ. But, look at verse 7,
but, we have this treasure. What treasure? This knowledge
of the glory of God. this understanding of the grace
of God in Christ. We have this treasure, these
riches, the riches of His grace toward us, this very nature of
God, this life of God. We have this treasure, this untold,
unspeakable, incomprehensible, infinite treasure. What a treasure
to know God in Christ. to be accepted of God in Christ,
to have a hope of eternal glory in Christ Jesus. We have this
treasure. Where? In an earthen vessel.
Think about it. Think what God wrapped it in.
This treasure, to know Christ, to love Christ, to believe Christ,
is in here. This glorious treasure is not
in a vessel of gold. purified and made perfect. Don't
look for perfection in me and I don't look for it in you, because
it's not that. This glorious treasure is not
in a vessel of steel, hard and strong and unmarked by text. It can be wounded. It can be
hurt. It feels the pain, bears the
scars. It's not a vessel of steel. And
this treasure, these riches of God's grace, this knowledge of
the living God and his glory is not in a vessel of fine wood
carved to be admired of men and held up for acclaim. God's not going to let the vessel
get the glory. He's not going to do it. So he
put it in a vessel of mud. That's what that is. Earth, what's
earth? It's dirt, it's mud, it's clay. David said, help me to know how
frail I am. This glorious treasure, you know,
we have a tendency when a fellow knows something or accomplishes
something or has a gift, we start elevating him and get him up
on a pedestal as if the vessel had anything to do with the gift.
It doesn't at all. Not at all. Who maketh thee to
differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
Now if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive
it? You have a treasure. You have these riches, but I
tell you where they are, they're in an old mud pot. That's where
they are. Think of it. God has shined in
our hearts. given us a knowledge of God in
this mud pot. Listen, that the excellency of
the power and the glory might be of God and not of you. I like Christmas. I'm not fighting
Christmas. I know a lot of people do, but
I gave up a long time ago trying to put Santa Claus out of business.
I couldn't do it. Just couldn't get the job done.
Said if you can't lick them, join them, you know. Well, I
don't make Christmas to be anything of any spiritual significance,
but I kind of enjoy it. I like to get presents. I like
to give them. I like the fun of Christmas.
I like all these things, you know. Just try to ignore the
cantatas and all the rest of it. But we get the family together
on one night during Christmas, all the children and the son-in-law
daughters-in-law and the grandchildren and we all get around in a circle
and we got a tree and presents under the tree. One of the first
things I do when they start, they're going to open all those
presents. There's going to be paper and ribbons and boxes and
junk all over that room. And I don't like a mess. And
so I get a great big container and put it over in the corner.
Great big drums I got in the basement. four feet tall and
about that big around. I put one over the corner and
I say now, when we open our presents, take that junk and put it in
that box over there. Get it out of the, out from under
the foot. Get, do it so the children sit
there and they'll, they'll have a present and they'll open it. Everybody will ooh and ah and
hug and talk and all. And you know where the box goes?
Over in the corner. They'll open one and over in
the corner. And I watch those boxes, you know. Nobody pays
any attention to them. They pay attention to the treasure,
don't they? Well, let me tell you something. This treasure,
what I've got, what I'm giving you tonight, is just as, it's
the richest, but this container, this box, is headed for the corner. That's right, Jim. It ain't worth
nothing. Going to the junk heap, going
to the garbage can, that's right. But the treasure, that's what's
important, isn't it? Christ and His glory. So don't
put any emphasis on this mud pot or that out there either,
because it just don't amount to nothing. It's a tent, it's
a tabernacle that's passing away. It's headed, and I know a lot
of folks are fighting to keep it looking good, but you lost
that battle too. Just might as well forget it.
Might as well forget it, because you're fighting a losing battle,
boy. A losing battle. It's a mud pot. A mud pot. That's all it is. The treasure's
in here, Colin. That's where it is. Alright,
watch this. So, he said in verse 7, we're troubled. Who's troubled? The mud pot's in trouble. We're
troubled on every side. Trouble. trials and disappointments
that greatly affect this vessel. But he said, I'm not distressed,
I'm not defeated, I'm not going to surrender. Old Tom said, we're
not going to quit, we're not going to resign. This life, this
vessel, is just going to have to pass through the deep waters
and the sea of trouble. Our Lord said, in this world
you're going to have tribulation and distress and trouble. It's
just part of life. And I know some of you are going
through some deep waters and some troubled waters. You're
troubled on every side, but you're not going to quit, are you? Not
going to quit. It says this, we're perplexed.
What does that word mean, perplexed? It means confused. I'm sometimes so confused by
the providence of God, I don't know why God does what He does.
I just know He does it. I know he's got a reason, I know
he's got a purpose, but I'm confused, I'm perplexed. Sometimes I'm
embarrassed because I can't answer questions people ask. I just
don't know. I just don't know. God moves
in mysterious ways. He has wonders to perform. He
plants his footstep on the sea and rides on the storm. But he said, I'm not in despair. I'm not in despair. I know this.
God has a reason. Whatever news I get tonight,
be it good or bad, I don't understand it. I'm perplexed. I'm confused. I don't know. But I'm not in
despair because he's my father. My father. planned it all. Look here, he
says, I'm persecuted. You know I'm hated by people
who don't even know me. And you are too, harassed by
people whose motives are evil. Sometimes deserted by family
and friends. I'm persecuted, but I'm not forsaken. David said, my mother and father
might forsake me, but God will take me up. I'm not forsaken. I'm cast down, I fall down, I'm
weak and weary. I had a preacher say to me recently,
did you ever feel like just quitting? Oh, haven't you? Why certainly. I'm cast down,
but I'm not destroyed. I say sometimes with the psalmist,
Lord, how long, how long will the heavens be bright? Will you
not hear? Will you forsake your child forever? No. I'm not destroyed. I want you to watch these next
verses now. Paul, he says, talking about himself now, this is a
little personal here, talking to the church, he said, I'm always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. That
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
But we which live are always delivered unto death. He's talking
about the apostles. He's talking about those disciples
who preach the gospel for Jesus' sake. We're always delivered
unto death. When he was in prison, he said, I'm the prisoner of
Jesus Christ. That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh while death worketh in us. While I suffer
persecution and harassment and conflict, God uses it. to bring
you to Christ. Death working in me, but life
in you. See what he's saying? What's
the next line? We, having the same spirit of
faith, according as it is written by David, I believe, therefore
have I spoken. I say this, Paul said, I believe
and therefore I speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord
Jesus Christ will raise us up also by Jesus Christ and present
us with you. Do you know what he's saying?
He's saying this, he's saying whatever I go through, prison,
stoning, scourging, death, God is using that to bring you the
gospel. These apostles, He's using that
to bring you the gospel. My suffering and even death results
in your coming to know Christ because I endure these things
for the elect's sake. And he said, one of these days,
now watch this, leave that last line, he shall raise us up also
by Jesus and present us with you. Is that worded a little
different from the way we might word it? I think the average
preacher would word it this way. He would say, I've come to you preaching the
gospel, and I've prepared, gone through some conflict over the
grace of God, and I've worked, I've labored, I've witnessed
to you, and prayed for you, and you've come to know Christ under
my ministry and under the gospel. And one of these days, the Lord's
going to present you with me." But that's not what Paul said.
You notice the difference? Here he is, the greatest apostle
that ever lived. Here is a man who met Christ
on the road to Damascus. Here is a man who was taken to
the third heaven, whether in the body or out of the body,
he said, I don't know. Here's a man who wrote 14 of the 27
books in the New Testament. Here's a man who died for Christ,
writing to the church at Corinth, and boy, they had some doozers
in there, didn't they? But they had some people, like
you said, who knew the gospel. They were messing up the Lord's
table, but some of them knew the gospel. And Paul said, when
God, when Christ comes, and I'm raised, my mortal body is raised
out of the grave and taken to glory, He's going to present
me with you. I'm going to be there with you.
Oh, I tell you, that's like Peter said that, I believe it was Peter,
one of the apostles said back to Gentiles, Paul said that.
He said, we believe that we'll be saved like they are. Remember? He didn't say, they're going
to be saved like us Jews. He said, we're going to be saved
like they are. And here this humble, gracious,
God-sent man, and that's the only way a true God-sent man
will talk, he's going to present us with the year. He that's first will be last. He that's last will be first,
in order that he might get all the glory. Don't talk to me about
yo-yos in heaven. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anybody talking
about degrees of glory. There's no such thing in the
grace of God. Christ gets all the glory, and
the crowns are not going to be on your head. They're going to
be at His feet. That's exactly right. Verse 15,
watch this. For all things are for your sakes. What's all this about? What's all this about? What's
this calling disciples and sending disciples and the warfare of
Satan and the conflict and Paul and Cephas and Apollos and our
Lord Jesus and His righteousness and His death and God preserving
the world? What's all this about? It's for
the sake of the elect. It's for your sake. All things
are for your sake. Our Lord, now you listen to me,
our Lord has a people whom he chose, whom he'll save, for whom
Christ came and died, and he'll do everything necessary to call
them, to reveal the gospel to them, to bring them to genuine
repentance and faith. He'll do all things for their
sakes. That's what this is saying. Everything's
for your sake. Verse 15, for all these things
are for your sake, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many, a number which no man can number, redound to the glory
of God. You're going to glorify God someday
with your voice and tongue and heart. And all this is for your
sake. Let me show you a scripture.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Did you ever notice this scripture?
1 Corinthians 3, verse 21. 1 Corinthians 3, 21. Look at it,
learn it. 1 Corinthians 3, 21. Therefore let no man glory in
men, for all things are yours. What did I read over there? All
things are for your sakes. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come, all of it's yours. And you're Christ. And Christ
is God's. And all this is for your sake. Alright, verse 16. Now watch
this. And for this cause, and for this cause, and you know
what he's saying? He's saying, I've gone, I bear in my body
the scars and marks, I've gone to prison, scourging, shipwreck,
enemies, gone through all this, that you might hear the gospel
for the elect's sake. I know one of these days God's
going to raise me, take me to glory and present me with you.
For all these things are for your sakes, that you might come
to the knowledge of Christ. And I know that. So verse 16,
so for this cause, for which cause, I don't quit. When you go preach the gospel
of God's grace, brother man, what are you looking for? I'm
looking for his sheep. That's exactly right. He has
a sheep. He said, they're going to hear
my voice. And we endure what we endure. I don't dare compromise
the gospel. I'm going to read it and preach
it like it is. I'm not going to take the edge
off of it. I'm not going to try to make it easier for people
to listen to it. I'm just going to preach it like
it is because I know His elect will hear it and they'll believe
it. For this cause, I don't quit.
We're not going to quit. We're not going to faint. Verse
16, Though our upward man perish, though we take the errors of
harassment and the errors of criticism hours of hatred and
the outward man perish and get old and withered and die, but
I tell you this, that inward man is renewed every day, refreshed
and revived every day. I know whom I have believed.
Don't you? We can take it, can't we? Because
they can't touch the inward man. It's renewed every day. All right,
what's the next line? For our right affliction My soul,
light affliction. Wonder why the apostle would
call our troubles and sorrows and heartaches and conflicts
and afflictions, light afflictions. Why would he call them light
afflictions? Sometimes they get pretty heavy,
don't they? Well, let me give you two or three reasons. Whatever afflictions that God
sends upon me in this life, they are like compared to what I deserve. Isn't that right? I'm not getting what I deserve,
whatever God does to me. He said the Lord had not dealt
with us according to our sins. He had not rewarded us according
to our righteousness, according to our iniquities. I could be
in hell. So if I look at anything that
comes my way in this way, it's light and worthy of notice, isn't
it? Compared to what I deserve. Secondly,
my afflictions are light compared to what many who live now and
have lived are suffering. I haven't resisted unto blood,
have you? I've never really known what it means to be hungry. I complain because I don't see
too well, but some folks don't see at all. I complain because I don't hear
too well, but some folks don't hear at all. Down in Mexico,
I minister to people who don't even have a pair of socks. They cut up an old tire and make
a sandal out of it. And they worked so hard. The
ladies down there, well, we wouldn't survive. There's no way we'd
survive. They don't have a dirt floor
or a hammock cooking outside on the rocks. Brother Shanks, I was down in
Texas last week, and we were trying to decide whether we wanted
to eat chicken or fish. or steak, or where we want to
stop and eat dinner. He said, Henry, can you imagine,
here we are trying to decide what we want to eat, and down
there they're trying to find out if they can get anything
to eat. A few beans and old cardboard tortillas. I'll be ashamed. My afflictions are light compared
to what a lot of God's people are suffering. Thirdly, my afflictions
are light compared to what my Lord suffered for my sins. He
said, is there any sorrow like my sorrow with which the Lord
hath afflicted me? Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize
and sailed through bloody sea? Fourthly, my afflictions alike
compared to the blessings I am enjoying. How many teeth do we have? 27
teeth? 28 teeth don't we? 14 up and
14 down? Did you ever chip one of them?
You ever chip a tooth and lose a filling? What do you do when
that happens? Stick your tongue right in that
old hole, that old jagged hole. And you keep on sticking your
tongue in that old jagged hole while your tongue's bleeding.
And you say, why am I putting my tongue in that old jagged
hole? There's 27 other teeth I could put my tongue on. No,
we just, that's our nature. Go to the trouble. And we can
have so many things. Your children are healthy. Your
husband's got a job. You're getting along fine, got
plenty to eat. You throw away more than they
eat in Mexico. You got a dishwasher, an automatic washer, and a dryer.
You've got a nice air-conditioned car sitting out there. You've
got nice clothes, got a closet full of shoes. You got everything
anybody could want, and we got one problem. One problem. And that's all we cuss about.
That one problem. That's us. Isn't it? Count your
blessing. Name them one by one. It might
surprise you what the Lord's done. I'm telling the truth. You know how I know all this?
You know. Okay. You didn't have to say
so. I know I'm the same way. My afflictions
are nothing compared to my blessings. Nothing! You could have gone
on out of here about two months ago, couldn't you? That's right. So we've got a lot to be thankful
for. Praise His name. Fifthly, our afflictions are
light compared to the blessings that we very enjoy. I tell you,
we've got I'm talking about eternal glory. When all my labors and
trials are over and I'm safe on that beautiful shore, just
to be near the dear Lord I adore will through the ages be glory
for me. We've got sweet prospects. The
old primitive Baptist used to sing about sweet prospects. Precious
memories and sweet prospects. That's good, isn't it? I like
that. Alright, I'll quit. He said, Our light afflictions
are but for a moment, verse 17, working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at things which
are seen. Take your eyes off those things
and look at those things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. And my afflictions, last of all,
are light compared to the object which God has in view. And that's
the glory of his Son and the conversion of his sheep. So whatever
road I have to travel, whatever burden we have to carry, whatever
difficulty we encounter, whatever enemies we may face, always keep
this in mind. The chief objective of the living
Lord is not your present comfort, but your eternal glory, and the glory of his Son, and
the salvation of his sheep.

Earthen Vessels

What does the Bible say about preaching Christ?

Why is the concept of being an earthen vessel important for Christians?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient during trials?

Why is the glory of God important to understand?

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Earthen Vessels

What does the Bible say about preaching Christ?

Why is the concept of being an earthen vessel important for Christians?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient during trials?

Why is the glory of God important to understand?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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