Address—Henry Sikora
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It's time for the young.
Peoples meeting can we begin with?
Singing 340.
#340.
Father, we command our sins.
Let's open to the Second Corinthians.
Chapter 4.
I've spent.
More time than I usually do in reading through this the beginning of this book very recently, and I'd like to share.
I trust with profit that which I've enjoyed, that which the Lord has made good to my own soul.
Let's begin by reading a couple verses in the 4th chapter.
Beginning with verse 5.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
And ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
Hath shined in our hearts to give the light.
Of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure.
In earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
I'd like to talk this afternoon just a little bit.
About vessels.
We have introduced here.
The thought of an earthen vessel.
An earthen vessel.
I believe we all know what it's talking about.
This earthen vessel.
We don't always look at that it that way. Just an earthen vessel. Reminds me of what the Lord said.
Back in the book of Genesis.
Dost thou art?
And unto dusk shalt thou return.
Oh, we don't tend to look at ourselves that way. I I look around, I look at myself. We dress ourselves up, we try to look good. There's nothing wrong with that.
But it's good to remember that.
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What we have is simply what we are living in, is simply an earthen vessel. Everything in the world around us tends us to, tends to build us up as if we were something.
Something important in ourselves.
God's word tells it like it is.
Anderson Vessel.
We.
We'd like to be commended.
We like to be spoken well off.
There was a man of God. His name was John the Baptist.
And he came preaching.
And he was asked some questions long ago.
They asked him.
Who art thou?
Who are you?
You know, a, a an opportunity to build oneself up.
Who are you? They were wondering if he was the Christ.
He said very simply, I am not the Christ. Oh, they asked them some other questions.
You said are you Elias? He said. I am not.
Are you that profit? The profit that was probably prophesied about in the book of Deuteronomy?
No.
He says his answers got shorter and shorter. He didn't make much of himself. There was.
A brother in the Lord about 500 years ago was reading these words, and here's what he wrote.
About John's response and it tells us.
A little bit about how we should look at ourselves.
He wrote. I am not.
O words unwelcome to the lips of men.
I am not.
Oh, words that lead us back to God again.
Words of heaven from wise men hidden unto children taught.
Few the words of that great lesson. Only I am not.
We're nothing in ourselves.
Just simply.
An earthen vessel.
I would like to bring before us this evening by looking at a few scriptures and we've had this subject before us in the meetings.
What God has done to the earth in vessel, in his sovereign will. We've had that in the book of Ephesians.
What he has done according to the good pleasure of his will.
And what is our responsibility with regards to this earthen vessel?
As far as what God has done, look at the 5th chapter.
Perhaps I should?
Save this.
Perhaps we'll just wait on that bit.
It says we have this treasure. It's speaking about the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
Yes, it may be an earthen vessel.
God has put a treasure.
Into the earthen vessel.
There's a sister that.
Wrote about this. I wrote down her words in case I wouldn't remember them.
Because the treasure really has nothing to do with us. Exactly. Listen to the way she put it.
God in heaven hath a treasure.
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Rich's none may counter tell. Hath a deep eternal pleasure.
Christ, the Son, he loveth well. God hath here on earth the treasure.
None that he its price may know. Deep, unfathomable pleasure.
Christ revealed in Saints below.
God's treasure. God has a treasure. We sang about it this morning.
I believe the first him given out at the breaking of bread.
We sang these words, and by the one chief treasure thy bosom freely gave.
God gave his chief treasure.
To be sent into this world, our Lord Jesus Christ.
His chief treasurer. I've heard a brother express it this way, he said. God emptied heaven.
And sent his treasure into this world. Maybe not. That's not a correct thought 100%, but it's precious to me. God sent his treasure into this world. And before he came.
Before he came, Mary was told, That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Oh, God had looked over this world for 40 centuries.
To see if there were any that understood or sought after God or did that which was pleasing.
And.
What does he have to say? No, not one.
And he sent his beloved Son, that holy thing, into this world, and the Lord and Jesus.
Walk through this world for 30 years.
That holy thing.
What did God have to say about Him before He began His ministry? And we read these words this morning as well.
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, and whom is my delight, His treasure, his pleasure, his delight. And as he went through this scene, we have more than once the father appearing and telling us about the treasure of his dear son and the pleasure, the delight that he brought to him.
The only one.
Who had ever.
Brought pleasure and delight to him.
The only one who could answer the question of sin and be a sacrifice for sin. And he went to the cross of Calvary, and we remember him in his death this morning.
Precious blood was shed there, the only one.
Who could shed precious blood that put away our sins? And I look at your faces.
And we just love to repeat those words, that we have not been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
He died. He was buried.
And his father raised him from the dead.
And God caught him up. He was taken up 40 days later into heaven.
And that's why the sister wrote those words. God in heaven hath a treasure.
He's back with the father.
He's there.
But.
There's a wonderful thing that has happened.
As the sister wrote.
God hath here on earth a treasure, none but He its price may know deep unfathomable pleasure. Christ revealed in Saints below. 3. That verse in first and 2nd 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
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Because God has done a wonderful thing.
Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature or there is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Isn't that wonderful? A new creation? I like to read it that way because what it does is bring to my mind the original creation.
We've all noticed how God took note. We read about each day during the original creation. And what does it say that God said it says?
When the when the dry land appeared, it says at the end of the day God saw that it was good.
And we read again in the 12Th verse of the first chapter of Genesis, and God saw that it was good. And we read this again in the 18th verse, And God saw that it was good. And he worked some more. And it says God saw that it was good. And when he came to the end of the work that he had done.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
Very good. He delighted in that creation.
But there was a problem. Sin came in.
And in Christ Jesus.
If any man be in Christ, when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as our Savior, God did a wonderful work.
He gave you and me a new life, he says. There's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And if he took delight in that first creation and said it was very good.
A creation that was committed to man and man has failed in every way but this one. This creation is based on the work of his dear son, and it will never fail.
And God has given you and me and put this treasure in an earthen vessel. This is the work that God did. We've been reading about it in Ephesians. It's been commented on over and over again, the work of God. It is His sovereign will that has done this.
But we need to know it. This is what God has placed into these earthen vessels.
Well, there's something else that God has done, and there's a story in the Old Testament that.
Perhaps brings this out?
In Second Kings.
Chapter 4.
Here we're going to read about oil. Oil often in in the Word of God is a picture of the Spirit of God.
So you wanna keep that in mind as we read through this little story and try to glean something from it?
Now they're crying to certain women of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant, my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor has come to take him, to take unto him my two sons, to be bondsman.
And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil?
Then he said, Go borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels. Borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shall pour out into all these vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
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So she went from him.
And shut the door upon her, and upon her sons, and brought the vessels to her, and she poured out.
And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her, Son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her.
There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children.
On the rest.
You know, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're told in the book of Ephesians.
After ye believed ye were sealed.
With the Holy Spirit.
That's something else that God has done.
It's his work.
It's his work and this little story where would just make a little app, take a little application from it tells us a little bit about that and it's a wonderful work that God has done with His Holy Spirit if we were to go back to just read a verse.
Again.
In Second Corinthians.
The first chapter.
It tells us a little bit about this.
And this was read by our brother yesterday. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And it tells us here a little bit about the value, the operation of the Spirit of God.
We are.
Anointed, anointed with the Spirit. Well, that's one of the operations of the Spirit of God. And in John's epistle, we write, we read about that and he's he's writing to the children and they're anointed with the Spirit to give discernment, to give power that's needed in the pathway.
There's the ceiling of the spirit for our assurance, and our brother spoke about that a little bit and for those who are young.
One little analogy that has done me a lot of good. The ceiling of the Spirit.
Out West, where cattle roam freely.
They go out annually and they gather the cattle in.
And the ones that belong to a certain rancher, they bring them into a corral.
And they heat an iron.
And they make it red hot and they press it into the cows. It burns the hair, leaves a scar, and they're branded. That's a little bit like the ceiling.
And and wonderful and don't you enjoy it? Not all Christians do.
That were sealed with the Spirit. It's for our assurance. God is saying you're mine.
And he puts his brand on us, and He will never let us go. He will never forget us. We're his and His forever. What a wonderful truth to lay hold of from the Word of God. But there's also the earnest of the Spirit.
That's for our enjoyment, isn't it?
After he believed he were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest is connected with our inheritance. He gives us the joy of what is to come and there's a sister wrote in one of the hymns in this little flock and I enjoy just those sweet lines that say and dwell with God through Jesus blood within the veil of heaven.
He's given us, we're his.
He's here.
Not only are we His, but He wants us to enjoy that day by day. He wants us to enjoy what's coming well.
This poor widow had a problem.
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She was in debt and Elisha asks her a question. She says what do you have in the house?
She acted as if she didn't have any resources. Do you ever feel that way? Like you're alone, like there's no resources?
God has given you a new life. Look what she says.
She said.
Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. In other words, all I have is a pot of oil, as if it was nothing.
Do we despise the Spirit of God that God has given to us? Do we value it? Do we understand?
How the Spirit of God has been given to us.
To comfort us.
To guide us into truth.
What a wonder that is. And so there's a solution given, he says. Go gather pots.
Go borrow these vessels abroad. Even empty vessels borrow not a few.
You know what this says to me? There's an endless resource on the part of God in the Spirit that He has imparted to you and to me. Lord Jesus said this. Out of his belly shall flow rivers.
Not a river, but rivers of living water. This fake he of the Spirit.
A hymn writer.
Wrote Within us dwells that well from heaven, the Spirit.
Of our God, what a tremendous resource that we have and she poured out.
She shut the door upon her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her first. She shut the door, you know.
The Spirit of God isn't going to work in the hustle and bustle of this world.
The Spirit of God is not going to work when you're involved with sports, when you're involved in. We get so tied up with business activity. I know I've been there and you come to the end of the day and there's just so much that presses in upon us, whether it be at work, at the dear wives at home, the children at school.
There's so much that presses on us and I've come to the end of many day and.
I don't know if it's that much that I thought about the Lord.
Just busy, busy.
Set aside time to shut the door.
Shut the door and let the Spirit of God make known to you.
What He wants to, what you've taken in from His Word, what you've enjoyed of Christ.
She had to shut the door.
Just in the quiet.
That's what Elisha experienced.
Wasn't a fire, wasn't an earthquake, wasn't anything tremendous that happened there on Mount Horeb. It was a still, small voice.
Do you have quiet time to listen to the still small voice?
To draw from that well from heaven the Spirit of our God.
She said to her son. She poured out. She said to her son. Bring me a vessel.
He said there's not a vessel more in the oil state. There's enough to satisfy every need. God has imparted to us everything that we need.
She came and told the man of God, and he said, Sell the oil and pay thy debt, and live thou my children of the rest.
All through our life.
We have the spirit of our God to depend on.
But that's not the end.
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Because when the Lord spoke about the Spirit.
She said this, and he shall abide with you.
Forever.
Forever.
To minister to our joys in the coming day.
He'll quicken these bodies by His spirit that's within us. He'll meet our needs not only for time, but for eternity. Let's look at John.
Chapter 2 And these things that I'd like to speak about now have to do with our responsibility.
Let's try to mention a couple things that maybe for our profit.
This is a story that's familiar to all of us.
Beginning with the first verse and the third day there was a marriage in cane of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And his mother saith unto the servants.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And they were set 6 water pots of stone or stone water vessels.
After the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece, Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim.
And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bear it.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was.
But the servants?
Which drew the water knew of it.
The governor of the feast called the bridegroom and.
Commended them for saving the good wine for last.
Often in Scripture, water brings before us the Word of God.
You get that in the book of Ephesians as well, The washing of water by the Word.
The word of God.
This is something that you and I need in our vessels.
These vessels, where there should have been wine, there should have been joy, there wasn't. What was the problem?
The vessels were empty.
They hadn't been filled. They had to be filled with water. And Jesus gives instruction, he says.
Fill the water pots with water.
Are you filling your water pot with water?
The water of the Word of God.
Do you take time to read it every day?
Every day the servants were faithful.
They not only filled the water pots.
There's another note made.
And they filled them up to the brim.
Isn't that wonderful?
You know it's.
Not merely enough to sit down and.
And say, well, you know, mom and dad have told me I should read the Bible and I guess I'll read my chapter today. And now I'm done.
Is there a love for the Word of God?
Are you filling it up to the brim? When something is filled to the brim, there's not room for anything else.
This is the problem with us. There's just so many other things that come in and take the place of the good word of God that we need. We need our.
Vessels filled to the brim with the Word of God read the Word of God.
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When I was young.
Go to the library and come home with books.
They weren't Bibles. They weren't ministry.
They were interesting books.
There's nothing bad about them.
My mom would pass by and she would say this, Henry.
Read the Word of God.
It's the only thing that's important.
And I'd hear that again.
And again, and I'll tell it to you, read the Word of God. I'm ashamed that when I was young I didn't read it as much as I should have. I should be able to stand here and quote verses by chapter and verse. I can't do that very well. Of course, I'm not really very good with numbers and remembering those sort of things, but I should know the Word of God better than I should read the Word of God. Read it.
Till it finds its way down into your heart and your understanding.
Think in the language of Scripture. It's what you need.
Fill your vessel to the brim. And then one other thing.
Just a portion of verse five when you read it.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
When you read, get instruction from the word of God, Do it. It's the only way you're going to be satisfied and find joy.
Let's look at the Book of Numbers.
Chapter 19.
We have some more instruction about a vessel.
Verse 15.
And every vessel which hath no covering bound upon it.
Is unclean.
What is this talking about?
What kind of instruction is this? I think a sister or whoever wrote the little hymn.
Got it right.
It was written Take my life and let it be closed.
To everything but thee.
Our vessel needs a covering on it.
If it's completely open to everything in this world.
There's a lot of uncleanliness out there. This world is a filthy place. I remember my brother referring to this world when I was a young teenager. I thought it was strong language, he says. This world is a cesspool of iniquity.
It is. I found that out.
And your vessel needs a covering.
It needs to be covered. When I was growing up, I remember the brethren talking about TV. We didn't have one in our house.
Never did.
And how the world was advertising, they said. Bring the world into your home.
Bring the world into your home.
And a brother put a word, a little saying, up on the bulletin board of the meeting room. T the Christian TV turned thine eyes away from beholding vanity.
Well, there's things that are far more influential than TV that have come into our lives, isn't there?
And.
We have our computers and Facebook and iPads and all these things, and there are things that we see and things that we hear. Let this be a warning when you see something and when I see something.
You can't black it out anymore. You've seen it.
It's impressed upon your mind you can't get rid of it.
And what you hear.
Once it finds its way into your ears, you can't get rid of it. You've heard it, it's there, and the music that you listen to and that you learn to love. That may not be godly Christian music.
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You will not forget it.
It will come back to you.
These things find a lodging place in our hearts and the vessel.
Every open vessel with no covering bound which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
Is an unclean vessel fit for God's use?
What happened to the unclean leper? He was put outside the camp, far away from God and his people, and he went around crying, unclean, unclean, lest anyone should come near him.
Completely unfit.
You know, there's more than just what the world has to offer because.
We have a warning in Second Timothy. There's.
Even in Christendom, that which?
Names the name of Christ.
There's that from which we have to purge ourselves.
There's vessels.
Of wood and of earth.
Of gold and silver, some to honor, some to dishonor. And it says, If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor. Fit for the master's use. Do you want to be fit for the master's use?
You can't be an open vessel.
There has Care must be taken notice, it says.
Half no covering.
Bound upon it.
Takes up for, takes up for.
It takes steadfastness.
It's not just the covering placed upon it.
Saying perhaps, well, today I'll be careful, tomorrow be careful, this week I'll be careful, but a covering bound upon it.
A decision that we're gonna be a vessel that's fit.
For the master's, use and there's another scripture in.
The Song of Solomon. This to me is very precious.
Because there's a very happy side to this.
Song of Solomon chapter 4 I'll read the 12 verse. A gardening clothes is my sister my spouse.
A spring shut up, a frou, a fountain sealed. And then it talks about the fragrance that flows out from this garden. A fountain of gardens, a well of living water streams and streams from Lebanon. This talks about the delight.
When we're close to everything but the Lord.
And we can appreciate his company.
And walk with him.
It's for his delight.
About 600 years ago there was a sister in the Lord.
She was sitting in a.
A garden, probably a convent garden, but she loved the Lord and she was meditating on the Word and she said.
He told me of the River Bright that flowed from him to me, that I might be for his delight.
A fair and fruitful tree.
It's a beautiful little poem. She was enjoying the presence of her Lord and her Savior. What a wonderful thing this is. Oh, it's not a hard thing to have a vessel that's closed up. It's not a hard thing. It's for his delight, and it's for yours too.
The happiest times I've spent are in the presence of my savior, reading His word, hearing His voice, simply walking with him.
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Well, a few minutes that are left, let's go back to.
2nd Corinthians chapter.
4.
And verse seven, we have we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
That the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. And he talked in the previous verse about the shining out.
Let's just read that. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
That the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. And this brings to mind we don't have time to look at it the story of.
Gideon.
They had pictures. They were earthen vessels.
They had a light.
In their earthen vessel.
They were going to meet the enemy.
Something had to happen to that earthen vessel.
In order for there to be a victory, something has to happen to these earthen vessels.
That we have that there will be a victory.
The vessel in Gideon's time had to be broken and the light shine out.
And that's what has to be happen, has to happen in our lives. You know, it's simply the way God works.
It's not just in these the story of Gideon and what we have here where this truth is brought out. Think of the way God has worked in the lives of so many of his people. Think of dear Abraham and Sarah. God could have fulfilled his promise to him and given him a child when he was a young man, but it wasn't until he was 100 years old and his wife.
90 years old.
When it was a seemingly impossible situation that God came in and fulfilled His promise, why?
Why? Because the Excellency of the power must be from God. It has to be evident that it's God that's doing the work. It's not us, we are nothing. It's the treasure that we have in earthen vessels. And this is the way that God works. And think of how that helped dear Abraham when the time came. And God said to him, go offer your son.
Upon the altar.
He had learned to trust God.
And there's further encouragement to Israel. And you read these words in the book of Isaiah. God says, look, look at your father Abraham. Look at the pit.
From which you have been digged.
He was alone, he was one, there was no hope. And from that God multiplied the nation. And we understand that God always keeps His promises, but He puts us through impossible situations, difficult situations, so we will trust Him. When the children of Israel came in, out of the land of Egypt, they took their journey. They could have gone right into the land of Canaan. No, God took them South.
He took them by the way of the Red Sea. It says specifically that they turned. They came face to face with the Red Sea. Sparrow was behind them.
Humanly speaking, you say no hope.
What was God's response? Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
An impossible situation in the case of Gideon. He blew the trumpet. The children of Israel came 32,000 of them.
God says no, this is not good.
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Let those that are afraid go home. There were 20,000 left.
God says no, The Excellency of the power.
Man, there's something in us that loves to build ourselves up.
These earthen vessels that are nothing, he whittled them down to 300 That the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. It is His work. He has put a treasure within us.
The previous chapter.
The last verse of the previous chapter. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.
Are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It's not something that we do.
It's something that he does.
It's his work. He has saved us, He was given us his spirit. He has placed the treasure in these vessels.
It says we are troubled on every side. You know, many of us.
I'm getting older and the vessel is breaking down. It's.
Not like it used to be. Oh, I do very well.
For my age but things are not the same and as I look around and I see the older ones.
God is passing us.
Each one through difficulties, the vessel is breaking down.
And we don't have anything to glory in of ourselves.
And God does that. It's part of his work.
That Christ may shine out. But you notice when we talk about Gideon, and I address this mostly to the young people, those of you who are young in the vigor of life.
Those men.
Took their sword and they broke the picture.
They didn't wait for it to break down.
They broke the picture. It's something that they did.
You know it takes real.
Grace from the Lord, and I look at the faces of the young to break the pitcher, to be nothing, to be humble before God.
The word here.
R changed.
I understand it's it could be say are transformed. There's a metamorphosis that takes place. You're familiar with that term, those of you that go to school.
A metamorphosis.
The Caterpillar spins a cocoon.
And it comes out a butterfly.
There's a change that takes place.
It's a work that God has done.
It's a work that's precious to him. The life of his son was precious to him.
He delighted in every step that he took. God delighted in every word that he spoke.
He's gone back to the Father. Jesus is with the Father.
But you and I are down here. We have this treasure.
In earthen vessels.
What are we doing with that treasure? Is Christ shining out?
Oh, that it may be. So let's pray.