GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #404
JUST EARTHEN VESSELS
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
We
must all face the fact that flesh is flesh. Though all who believe are saved by
the grace of God, washed in the blood, and clothed in the righteousness of
Christ, so long as we are in this world, we are JUST EARTHEN VESSELS. When Paul talks about that salvation which
brings into our hearts “the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” he reminds us
that “we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2
Cor. 4:6-7).
The
more we think of the utter weakness of our flesh, the more thankful we are that
our security and preservation in Christ is not dependent upon our own weak
nature, but upon God’s constant power and sustaining grace. We are so feeble
that if the matter were left in our hands, we would all fall and perish very
soon. Many cannot endure the teachings of Holy Scripture regarding this matter
of our security and preservation in Christ, because it makes the whole of
salvation a work of divine grace from beginning to end. It allows no room for
human merit and works.
We do
not pretend to live above sin. Sin is a sadly common fact of life.You will
never find one of those men who lived and walked with God in the Bible bragging
about his righteousness or his perfection. In fact, they all struggled with sin
in their flesh. All of God’s people are like Paul. We have two natures within
us, two principles struggling for supremacy; the one is good, the other evil;
the one is righteousness, the other sin; the one is spirit, the other flesh. If
we could avoid it, we would never sin. We abhor our sin as an infinitely evil
thing! We long for the day when we shall be totally free from sin. But, for
now, we have the treasure of God’s saving grace in these earthen vessels, so
that the excellency, the greatness, the power, and the glory of our salvation
may be attributed to God and not to us.
Does
this mean that God’s people are no different from the unbelieving of this
world? Certainly not! The believer is like a man climbing up a hill.
Occasionally, he slips down, but his face is always set toward the summit. The
unregenerate man is always going down, because his face is set in that
direction. The believer is like a man on a ship. He may slip and fall many
times on the deck, but he never jumps over board. Our judgments may at times be
wrong, like the bewitched Galatians (3:1). Our affections may cool like the
church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:4). Grace may at times seem to be lost to a child of
God, but it never is really lost. The people of God, like the church in the
Song of Solomon, may become slothful and negligent; but their hearts awake
(5:2). The sun is sometimes eclipsed; but it regains its splendor. The trees
lose all their fruit and leaves in the winter; but they have fresh buds in the
spring. Israel may flee before her enemies at times; but she enters the land of
promise triumphantly when her journey is over. So, too, the true believer falls
many times; but the Lord raises him up, and he shall finally enter into heaven
triumphantly through the blood, the righteousness, and the grace of Christ. It
is utterly unthinkable that one of God’s elect should fail to enter into
eternal glory. Like Jonah, we all may at times flee from the will of God; but
grace will pursue us, preserve us, and cause our hearts to return to him who
loved us and gave himself for us.
I am
like you, a man struggling with sin. At times, my sinful thoughts and my sinful
deeds almost cause me to despair. But I am reminded by the gospel and by the
Spirit of God that his grace is sufficient even for me. My salvation and my
acceptance with God is not in myself, but in my Substitute. Like you, I am just
an earthen vessel; but Christ is the Lord our Righteousness. He is all my
Salvation, all my Desire, and all my Assurance. I hang all my hope upon him. Do
you?