No. 56 - THE POTTER’S CLAY By: John J. Blanchard Wednesday, October 06, 2004 p.m. service The Last Great Day The title of today’s sermon is “The Potter’s Clay”. In the first part of this sermon entitled “Dirt, Water and Air” we established some basic Biblical facts. First of all man is composed of the dust of the ground or dirt, plus the addition of water and air. He is mostly, that is about 90 percent, water, but the minerals of the ground make up the bulk of the rest of the physical body. Man is, therefore, in a sense living stone, living dirt. He is a living stone that God wants to work with and fashion something very special. To that admixture of dirt, water and air, he adds a couple of spiritual ingredients when He calls an individual. He adds to that mixture a spiritual mix of spiritual water and air as well. We are going to talk about that a little bit today. First I want to review a couple of scriptures that we used in the first part. Please turn to Genesis chapter 2:7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Then go to Genesis chapter 3:19. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” This dust in the Hebrew is powdered clay or powdered stone. All mankind is basically from the same stock, the dirt of the ground. It is a physical, living stone. It is a combination of minerals, like we said, water and air. Into this special admixture God breathes the breath of life to bring those beings to life, and He started with Adam. This mixture is unique in the sense that it carries the character, the personality and the traits of a human being that is separate, unique and special to God. Every human being that has ever existed is unique to God and to themselves! Each is a special being, and it is remarkable that God could create such diversity and such difference. Each one is their own special admixture of character traits and personality traits inside that physical living body (the living stone). It is to this character mix and physical mix that God injects to those He calls the Holy Spirit, which is viewed in the Bible both as water and as air. ADDING THE HOLY SPIRIT Turn, if you would, to John 3. Read verses 1-12. Obviously He is talking about something that goes beyond the physical human being into the spiritual realm, but it is something that has to be done within physical human beings. It is the begettal of the Holy Spirit and carrying around of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of Jesus Christ is a spiritual phenomenon, a spiritual miracle, that takes place inside a physical living stone. LIVING WATER If you would, turn now to John 4. Read verses 1-14. This was an exchange between Jesus Christ and a Samaritan in which Christ very firmly told her there is physical water. That is the water that you draw from the well. But there is spiritual water available as well. It sounds like if this woman had asked Christ for it, He would have given it to her. She could have been called at that point! It was an interesting exchange because this living water, which makes us never thirst again, leads up to springs of water to everlasting life. Obviously this is a reference to a special spiritual water than can be given to an individual and form springs of water within them. This is water we cannot see. It is another admixture that goes into the physical human being to form a special begotten son of God. Turn, if you would, to John 7:37. “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” On the very day that we are observing right now, nearly 2,000 years ago Christ proclaimed that soon there would be living waters available. Those living waters would form springs in them of living water, and they should never have to perish from that point. There would be rivers of living water flowing out of their heart. Obviously, nobody who has been called or begotten of God has ever exhibited physical water pouring out of their heart, so this is spiritual water, but it is very, very real. We have to consider it as real and consider it part of the mixture we want in our lives in abundance. We do not want a dried up little creek, a dry river bed or an empty vessel. We want it full of this living water. We cannot see this water, as I said, because it is spiritual, but we want to possess it. We need to carry it within our vessel. Our vessel is the living stone, the potter’s vessel. He forms us into something that can carry this water. Carnal man cannot hold this water. It has to be a begotten child of God to carry this water, because this is the Holy Spirit. It is a miracle. If you would, turn to Isaiah chapter 64:8. “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look, we all are Your people!” Here we see the word of God saying we are the clay that belongs to God. Now that is somewhat different than powdered dust. Powdered dust is useless. You have to have the admixture. You have to have the water and the air to make a living person, and to make a spiritually begotten son of God, we must also add the Holy Spirit. This is what we are being told here. VESSELS FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT We are the clay, and God is the potter. When He mixes the water with that clay, He can form a vessel to His use. He can form a vessel that can hold the Holy Spirit. Our vessel is, of course, our body, our mind and our heart. It cannot hold the Holy Spirit unless this miracle takes place and God makes a vessel out of it. He is the potter, and we are the clay. Turn please to Romans chapter 9:20. “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” God has the prerogative to form His clay, His human instruments, into vessels of honor or dishonor to varying uses that He deems fit for that vessel. He knows what that vessel can be used for. He will mold it and fashion it to make it come out the best that it could possibly be used for, because He always looks for the best and the finest. But some vessels turn out to be more for dishonor, in other words, less useful and less capable than others. Turn, if you would, to I Thessalonians chapter 4:1. “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God…” He says we want you to abound and exhibit more of the qualities and characteristics of the Holy Spirit (the fruits of the Spirit). Continuing in verse 2: “…for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God...” We can see here once a person is called and becomes a vessel of God, that person’s responsibility is to use that vessel in a sanctified, holy manner. He needs to be keeping that vessel as clean as possible so it can be filled as much as possible with the Holy Spirit. Turn, if you would, to II Timothy 2. This is speaking of the two individuals mentioned before, Hymenaeus and Philetus who were like a cancer in the Church. Their message was spread like cancer. II Timothy 2:18. “…who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.” We know the resurrections are yet to come, and that is not an argument with us. But the point here goes on to be made in verse 19. “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’” That is all iniquity. We must leave all sins behind. Verse 20: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.” So we see the distinction in the house of God some vessels being of gold and silver and some being of lesser materials and less useful. Continuing in verse 21: “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” You see, a gold and silver vessel, one of extremely good character, one that has conquered sin, is far more useful to the potter. Continuing in II Timothy 2:22. “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” Even within the household of God, we have vessels of honor and dishonor, but we also have people ensnared by sin. They are ensnared by sin, having a difficult time escaping from it. We need to, in humility, help them escape from their sin so that they can come to a full knowledge and a full usefulness of the truth. Our vessel is part of the house of God. We know from Hebrews 3 we are part of the household of God. Ephesians 2 says the same thing. We are the household of God. Our vessels of clay have a spiritual admixture to allow them to be a dwelling place for Jesus Christ, that is His Holy Spirit, the body of Christ. I brought what we will call Exhibit A. For those not in this room, it is simply an earthenware mug. You can say this was fashioned by a potter. It may have been a machine with today’s technology, but this had to be fashioned and molded out of wetted clay. Then it had to be baked in a fire to give it the hardness. With that cup, as long as it is not shattered or cracked, I can pour water into it like this. Now the cup is full of water. If that is the Holy Spirit, that is the water that leads to an absolute lack of ever getting thirsty again. It is a river of flowing water out of our heart if our heart does not obstruct the flow with sin. We must have a capacity to hold the water to make it a gushing, flowing river. We can quench the Holy Spirit, we are told. We can stop that flow of water, and we can slow it down greatly, which we must avoid at all cost by conquering sin. Therefore, I want to take a moment now and look at some scriptures that will help us see just how serious this is and what God is going to do to help us. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. Of course, we all know this is the ten virgins. Read Matthew 25:1-13. There are vessels available to all ten virgins to hold the oil. Once we have been called and receive the Holy Spirit, our vessel (our body) can hold oil. This is another symbol of the Holy spirit. It can hold that oil and that water that we need so desperately. One makes our light burn so others can see us. The other forms a stream of living water that we can share with others if we have a pure heart. VESSELS FOR DISHONOR Turn, if you would now, a few pages over to Matthew chapter 23, where an important admonition is given here to the Pharisees that we can learn from. Matthew 23, verse 25: “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.’” Uncleanness is sin, hypocrisy. I am going to hold up this cup for you to look at again. It is clean on the outside. But what if I poured water in it and looked inside it and it was filthy. I would not want to drink that water and neither would you. This is the analogy that Christ is giving the Pharisees. We can walk around and look very good on the outside, but inside our heart can be filthy. If it is filthy, the water we pour into it is unpalatable. It is not good. We can quench it for usefulness, hence it is a vessel for dishonor. Maybe it cannot be used for a vessel at all. This is a very serious admonition from Jesus Christ that was useful for them, and it is very useful for us because for us we are talking about spiritual cleanliness. We are talking about spiritual cleanliness for those who have been called and given the Holy Spirit. At least the Pharisees have the excuse they did not have the Holy Spirit yet. We do not have that excuse to fall back on. We are the potter’s spiritual vessels, the potter’s living physical stones. The bride’s job is to remove every spot and blemish, every sin, so that our cups are clean both on the outside and on the inside. We have to be appealing to the world physically, dressing in such a manner that people can recognize goodness and good moral character. We should be having good manners so that people are not upset sitting next to us or watching us. More importantly, inside we have to have a clean inward man. The inner parts are important. There is a problem that the Church has today, and there is also a cure. We want to look at that briefly. Turn if you would to Daniel chapter 2. We are all well aware that the Church of God (the body of Christ) is in dire straits at this time. We want to look at a scripture in relation to this because at the latter days (the end of time) something interesting takes place. We are going to read the interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel gave him. Daniel 2, verse 36: “‘This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. “You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all, you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potters clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.”’” We are talking potter’s clay here. We are going to discuss this a little bit more in a minute. Continue with verse 42: “‘And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.’” We are talking about a mingling of seed here that does not mix. Iron cannot get mixed in with potter’s clay, but somehow at the end of time, it does. Verse 44: “‘And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.’” TEN VESSELS The vessels of God are potter’s clay, and somehow at the end of time there are ten virgins with ten vessels who all go to sleep. Somehow mixed in there is iron. Somehow there is something they cannot mix with the seed of God. It cannot mix with the Holy Spirit but is attempting to. We could go to many places in the Bible and bring in II Thessalonians and such things, but right now I do not want to do that. Suffice it to say that the clay is not pure. The clay is mixed with a foreign element. We know that this has led to a very weak Church. It is a Church that has been overrun with wrong doctrines, a type of the iron, with wrong emphases and bad treatment. It is overrun by sin. Satan conquers the Church by causing its individual members to sin and not be able to overcome it. To dwell in that sin people get weaker and weaker. They do not get fed properly, and so they do not have the strength to fight back. The Church becomes weaker and weaker. If you would turn to Revelation chapter 2, we will start in verse 24. “‘Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations “He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels…”’” We see a situation where the Church was overcome, and you could go read Matthew 24 where it says not one stone will be left upon another in the temple. Our spiritual understanding tells us that the temple of God was almost completely torn down, but God knows His people and their condition. He sees what happened. His vessels were shattered. His Church got shattered. God says as for what happened to My Church, those who hold fast I will raise up. You shall smash the nations, meaning Satan and his powers and principalities. You will smash those powers to pieces. We could look at many scriptures of the rocks that form Satan’s mountains being crushed and falling down. This is what is being spoken of here. God’s vessels have taken it on the chin, and they are going to take it for a little while longer. Eventually those who hold firm and fast to the end, will become part of the rod of iron that rules and destroys those other nations that have harmed the body of Christ. They will bring freedom to the world. If you would now, turn to Isaiah chapter 52. Read verses 7-10. How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim that God will win. He will rescue His Church and then redeem all mankind. That is the message that God wants the world to have. But continuing in verse 11 we see a warning. Verse 11: “Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” In the last eighteen years we have had to flee from place to place. But God has said depart from what you find unclean. When you see it as unclean leave! I will be with you. I will be your rear guard so the abomination of desolation will not catch you! I will be there to protect you if you try to be clean vessels for Me! Depart from the unclean and be clean! Depart from the abomination, and also clean yourselves up from iniquity. If you will do these things and teach your brethren and the world to do these things, you have beautiful feet! It is a wonderful set of scriptures to help us understand that not all is lost. It is very depressing looking at the Church today, but God saw what happened. He is not deserting us. He wants to see who is serious about cleaning their vessel for His use. A PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH Many are going to say a prayer that we are going to read in just a minute. It is a prayer that I think is going to go through the Church. I know it went through this body, and we are all still working on this prayer. This prayer is going to go through the Church, and it is an exciting thing to understand this. Turn with me to Psalm 116 and we are going to read this prayer. We are going to read the entire Psalm. It is not that long. Read Psalm 116:1-19. It may seem as if all is lost and we have nothing good to look forward to. It may seem that we will continue to break up. It may look like Satan will continue to overrun us and afflict us with all manner of sin and make us helpless. But I assure you, that is not going to continue much longer. I want us all to go forward from this Feast of Tabernacles cheered with the words of Christ that He said on this very day a couple of thousand years ago. Soon we will have an abundance of the living water. That water will overwhelm Satan and cleanse all the waters of the earth. All people will be able to imbibe of the water and mix that in with their spirit, so that they can all become living stones with the body of Christ (with Jerusalem). Go forward from here renewed, strengthened and rededicated to the awesome calling that we have. Realize that the potter is not finished working with us individually or as a group. Pray every day that you let the Great God of the universe be the Master Potter and you the willing clay!