Our Bibles again this evening
to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and
the title of the message this evening is the treasure in earthen
vessels. Notice that in verse number seven. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God
and not of us. This is a passage of scripture
that every pastor, every preacher should read quite often. There
are several passages of this nature. I think of the one in
2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, where the apostle wrote
to this preacher, but thou has fully known my doctrine, manner
of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions,
afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch. What persecutions I endured,
but out of them all the Lord delivered me." There are several
passages of Scripture that especially, I think, Every pastor should
read quite often, but no scripture is of any private interpretation. So this passage doesn't just
speak to preachers, but to every child of God. Now, I want us
tonight to look at these verses, beginning with verse 7 through
the end of the chapter, by considering the answers to three questions. The first question, what is the
treasure that Paul speaks of in this passage? What is the
treasure? But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. What is this treasure? Well,
without any question, it is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the treasure. I don't know how many of you
tonight have a King James translation of the scripture, but if you
do, and it has a dedication to King James in the front, most
of the Bibles, I believe, have this printed in it. But if you'll
turn back here just a moment, thinking of the gospel as a treasure,
as a treasure, John Gill said, that the gospel is so styled
a treasure because it contains rich truths and an abundance
of them. But here in this dedication to
King James, after the first paragraph where they were thanking the
Lord that he had become King of England, but notice if you
have the second paragraph, they wrote, but among all our joys,
There was no one that more filled our hearts than the blessed continuance
of the preaching of God's sacred word among us, which is that
inestimable treasure, a treasure, which excelleth all the riches
of the earth, because the fruit thereof extendeth itself not
only to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth
and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is above in heaven."
We see right at the very beginning of this dedication, these men,
they recognize the treasure of the gospel, the preaching of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only to help us as
we go through this life, this transitory life, but to prepare
us for eternity. In Romans 1, when we think about
the gospel as a treasure, I thought, how now can we illustrate this? Well, think about this. In Romans
chapter 1, you're familiar with this verse. Paul said, the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. Think of the gospel as a treasure. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. And then to the Thessalonians,
the Apostle Paul wrote, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Now, whereunto he called you
by our gospel. The gospel is a treasure because
it is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth
And also it is by the gospel that God calls His people. Now treasure, we usually think
of a treasure as being worth a great deal. We think of money
and gold and silver and things like that. But it is impossible,
it is impossible to put any kind of monetary value on this treasure,
on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to show that, I thought
of the Lord's words when He said, for what shall it profit a man
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? In other
words, that your soul is of much more value than everything in
this world. Your soul is of more value than
everything in this world. And apart from And without believing
the gospel, a man will lose his soul. A woman will lose her soul. Apart from hearing and believing
the gospel, a person will lose their soul. So doesn't that illustrate
to us just what a treasure the gospel is? Your soul is of more
value than the whole world. All the gold, silver, diamonds,
money, whatever is counted to be of value in this world. It does not even compare to the
worth of your soul. And the only way a person is
going to be saved is by hearing and believing the gospel. Doesn't
that give us some idea of what a treasure What a treasure the
gospel really is. And I asked myself this question
and I ask you the same question tonight. Do we think, do we think
as often as we should about this gospel? About the fact that it
is a treasure that God has revealed unto you if you know him tonight
as your Lord and Savior. Do we think about this treasure?
You know, many times people think that the people that are blessed,
the people that are happy, are the rich people in this world,
the famous people in this world. But that's not what God says.
That's not what God says. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Here's a blessed man. Here's
a happy man. The man whose sins have been
put away by the blood of Jesus Christ. He's not only, she's
not only happy for time, but happy for eternity. Do we thank
him? Do we think about this gospel,
the treasure that it is, as often as we should, and do we thank
Him as we should for giving unto us this treasure, this treasure,
the gospel. While many people in this world
go groping, that word just, you know, look, groping, groping
in the dark, to you, if you're one of God's children, He has
revealed the gospel. He has given unto you this treasure. Many men and women are in this
world, groping in the dark as far as eternity is concerned. So that's the first question.
What is the treasure that Paul speaks of in this passage? It
is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second question is, what
is meant by earthen vessels in which the treasure is placed?
What is meant by earthen vessels in which the treasure is placed? Well the treasure is committed
to man that God puts into the gospel ministry. Now the term
earthen vessels I've heard translated clay pots. I like that translation
a lot, don't you? Clay pots. For we have, as the
Apostle said, but we have this treasure in clay pots, earthen
vessels, clay pots. God could have put this treasure
in a gold pot. He could have. He put the manna,
remember in the wilderness, God commanded them to take some of
the manna and put in a gold pot and put it beside the Ark of
the Testimony in the Holy of Holies. He could have put this
treasure, the gospel, in a gold pot. But he didn't. He put this
treasure in a clay pot, in an earthen vessel. You say, well,
preacher, what do you mean by a gold pot? Well, I'm thinking
of an angel. I'm thinking of an angel, an
unfallen angel. And this scripture in Psalm 103
in verse 20, David writes, Bless the Lord, ye his angels that
excel in strength. The angels excel in strength. We've got just the opposite here.
We've got something that is a clay pot, something that's weak. The
thing most prominent about an earthen vessel is its weakness. How it may be easily broken. A clay pot you just drop and
it's broken. It's shattered into many pieces. Angels. Angels excel in strength. Men. Clay pots. But yet God put
the gospel, this treasure, into clay pots. And a good example
of this, I'm sure you've already thought of it, is in Acts chapter
10. Here we have Cornelius, this
Roman centurion. And he's praying and he's been
good to the nation of Israel. And God sent an angel to him. But God did not send an angel
with the gospel. Isn't this amazing? God sent
an angel to tell him to send to another town, Joppa, and to
call for a clay pot over there. by the name of Simon, whose surname
was Peter, and he will tell you what you must do." That�s amazing. God doesn�t use angels. There
is no redemption for fallen angels, and unfallen angels have never
experienced the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So God uses
men and he uses men who are compared to clay pots. As John Gill said,
men are clay pots in their own esteem and in the esteem of others. There's no value in the pot.
The pot is just a clay pot. The value, the treasure is in
the pot. The gospel that God has committed
to men to preach his gospel. Here's the third question. What
is God's purpose in putting the treasure in clay pots? Well,
he tells us, doesn't he? That the excellency of power
may be of God and not of us. What is the treasure? The gospel. What is the clay pot in which
the treasure is placed? The preacher. And why would God
do that? That the excellency of power
may be of God and not of the preacher, not of us. The preaching
of the gospel is for the salvation of sinners and building up of
those who are saved. And we know that the Apostle
Paul was a man who was greatly used of God In preaching the
gospel, God called many to salvation through his ministry. Many churches
were founded. He magnified his office. He never spoke disparagingly
of his office, though he was an apostle to the Gentiles. He
magnified his office as an apostle and a preacher, but yet in himself
he was a poor, weak, persecuted, downtrodden man in himself. He was a clay pot. From here to the end of the chapter,
what Paul says is true of all ministers. But I believe that
as we read, we will see that he has special reference to himself. He begins to contrast his trials
and his deliverances, which manifest, this is the whole point, which
manifest the excellency of the power of God. One thing about
a clay pot, I've already said this, is that it may be easily
broken. So the question is, how is it
that a man like Paul, just a weak man like all of us, how is it
after going through all he went through, after suffering all
that he suffered, how is it that he was not broken? Just a clay
pot. that the excellency of the power
might be of God, that it might be manifested to everyone in
that day and even unto us today, that it was God's power and only
God's power that held him up and kept him faithful in the
ministry. Let's read through these last
verses. Verses 8 and 9. We are troubled. Now, we see those two first words
have been added. And they're added because of
what he said, we have. And we might say, we have trouble.
We have distress. We have perplexity. And we have
despair. But the translators added those
two words, we are. 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. Now what Paul is saying here,
as you look at this confession, is that in every place, not in
most places, in every place, at every time, This was what
he meant, and that was trouble. Trouble, perplexity, persecution,
and being cast down. The word which is translated
distressed is used of a combatant, and I think maybe in the wrestling
matches, And being distressed, what Paul is saying here, and
you've seen wrestling matches, I know, Don, you were a wrestler,
that you'll see him, the man throws him down, tries to pin
him down, tries to pin both shoulders down, I believe it is, and then
he moves. And what Paul is saying here
is that though distressed, distressed many times, But he always, he
said, he always found a way to move. Every time, not most of
the time, but every time when it looked like he was just about
to be pinned down, he always was able to move. There was always room to move. And then when he says he was
perplexed, he often, he didn't know which way to turn. He didn't
know what to say. But he always found that there
was a way open to him and a word given to him. And I can testify here of my
experience as a pastor. How many times have I told the
Lord in prayer, Lord, these are the sheep of your pasture. It's
your responsibility to feed them. You've got to give me a word.
And you know, after preaching all these years, I still get
anxious when it's getting close to time to stand up here and
preach. But God has never failed me.
He's never failed me. I don't believe He ever will.
And that's what Paul is saying here. Perplexed many times. I
didn't know which way to go. I didn't know what to say. But
always, always, God has delivered me. And then he was persecuted. God allowed this. But at the
same time, God never deserted him. Never deserted him. And he was never destroyed. His persecutors, they thought
they got the best of Him. And He was cast down to the ground. We know of that one time, at
least, in the book of Acts when they carried Him out of the city
and the believers made a circle around Him and He was on the
ground. He was cast down. Literally cast down. But He was
not destroyed. He was delivered. Verses 10 and
11. 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. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Paul is telling
us here that his life His life was like the life that the Lord
Jesus Christ lived here in the flesh in the sense of being despised,
defamed, constantly exposed to thirst and to hunger and to weariness. That was his life. The way Paul was used in preaching
the gospel and suffering what he did, he was a mirror of the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, the life that He lived here in
the flesh. But He was never destroyed. And
every time He is rehearsing these things, telling us these things,
that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. How is it that He wasn't cast
down and destroyed? How is it that He did not faint?
The excellency of the power is of God and not of us. That power that was given to
him by his living head, the Lord Jesus Christ, it was manifested
in him. Then verse 12, So then death
worketh in us, but life in you. The fact that Paul was supported
in all of his trials, and God blessed his preaching, was for
the benefit of those to whom he ministered. You know, in another
place, I believe it's in 1 Corinthians, he told the believers there,
he said, Paul, Apollos, Peter, all things are yours. All things
are yours. And that's what he's saying here,
in effect. Death worketh in us, in us preachers. This is what we're going through,
but life in you. The end is that you might know
Christ, that you might be saved. And then in verse 13, the apostle
quotes from the psalmist in Psalm 116. It says, we having the same spirit
of faith. That is, myself and other ministers
with him, we have the same spirit of faith that David had. When
David in that psalm, he said this about his experience. He
said, the sorrows of death compassed me. The pains of hell got hold
of me. But he did not despair. He called upon the Lord and the
Lord helped him. The Lord delivered him from death,
his eyes from tears, and his feet from falling. And that's
what Paul is saying. He said we have the same spirit. We have in the same spirit of
faith according as it is written. The same spirit of faith that
David had. and therefore have I spoken.
We also believe and therefore we speak." David's faith did
not fail him. He believed in God in the midst
of his difficulties, in the midst of his trials. He proclaimed
his confidence in the goodness of God. And Paul, in the midst
of his afflictions, he said, we believe God and called upon
Him. Despite his sufferings, Paul
continued to preach with the assurance that what he was preaching
was the truth. And some people might reason,
well, if you've got the gospel, Paul, if you're preaching the
gospel, why are you suffering all these things? If God is your
God and Christ is your Savior, why in the world are you going
through all these things you're going through? that the excellency
of the power might be of God and not of us. Paul said he never
doubted the truth of his message because of what he was suffering,
what he experienced by his afflictions. Verse 14, knowing that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and
shall present us with you. For Paul, the gospel ministry,
it meant suffering, there's no doubt about it. But Paul was
sure that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ assured
his resurrection. He knew Christ was risen and
that told him, I too am going to rise. I too am going to be
raised. Because he is raised, I'm going
to be raised. He did not doubt that however
he might be persecuted in this life that there is a glorious
day coming. A resurrection day is coming
in which the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven and will
raise up every believer's body that lies in the grave and will
present all of his redeemed before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. You know, the scripture says
that Christ is going to present His bride to Himself as well
as present His church to His Father, and both with exceeding
joy. Verse 15, for all things are
for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many abound. or read down, rather, to the
glory of God. Paul knew that all things are
for the sake of his people, that is, God's people. John Gill said
this is a large and a comprehensive statement. All things of Christ,
as well as his ministers, all for your sakes, for your salvation
and your establishment in the faith. Verse 16, For which cause
we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward
man is renewed day by day. Paul did not faint, and he was
not overcome by all his troubles which he met because of the excellency
of the power of God. His outward man suffered, yes. His outward man weakened. day
by day, until one day it would be laid in the grave. But all
the time that the outward man grew weaker, the inward man,
that new man of the heart, was renewed day by day. And the last two verses, verses
17 and 18, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternal. Paul looked at his sufferings
as light affliction. Now they were light, they were
heavy. When we think about them, when we read about them, They
were heavy, no doubt about it. The afflictions, the persecutions
that he went through. But in the light of eternity,
Paul said, our light affliction. One day, the scripture says,
is like a thousand years with the Lord. Or a thousand years,
rather, is like one day with the Lord. And the days of Paul's
life were less than a century. less than a century, that's a
tenth of a thousand years, right? These are light afflictions,
he said. He could only say that looking
at them in the light of eternity. For a few short days, for a few
short years, suffering in this world. But at the same time,
he mentions the fact that he looked on things which are not
seen. The things which are seen, and
I know for myself it's so difficult to learn this lesson, but everything
you see is temple. I mean everything. Everything
you have is temple. It's only going to last for a
very short time. The things that endure, the things
that are eternal, are all important, and we need to keep our eyes
on those things. That verse of scripture we looked
at last Sunday morning, for as much as you are risen with him,
seek those things which are above, and set your affection on things
above and not on things of the earth. Well, I pray that God
would bless this word to all of us here this evening, give
us the grace to set our affections on things above and not on things
of the earth. Let us sing a hymn and be dismissed
in prayer.