'Damaged or Dammed?'

"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it." (Jeremiah chp 18 verse 4)

If we had made a trip to the house of the potter in Jeremiah 18 we would have found 2 piles of faulty goods:

A pile of damaged goods (18:4)

The damaged goods were "marred in the hand of the potter", defective perhaps through no fault of their own: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Rom5:12) but these damaged goods were still soft and mailable and waiting ready to be placed again onto the potters wheel. He was able to restore the beauty which had been lost, and to bring both profit and purpose from the problem of the broken pot.

A pile of dammed goods (18:15-17)

Another pile of goods lay in the potters house. A pile not awaiting a return to the potters wheel but which were piled together ready for destruction. Like the unprofitable tares of Matthew 13 the instruction had been given: "Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. " If there was no profit in them and no purpose to them there was no place for them in the potters house!

What made the difference between the damaged goods and the dammed goods? Both had started off faulty. Was it purely due to the arbitrary mind and will of the potter? He is indeed sovereign over His creation. The distinction that is made in Jeremiah 18 over these 2 groups lies in this: their attitude to the potter. The damaged pile of goods remains soft and mailable and ready to return to the potters wheel to be refashioned into a vessel of glory. The dammed goods have set their mind to refuse the fashioning hand of the potter: "And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." (Jer 18:12).

Which pile are we in?
Damaged goods?
Dammed goods?
The distinction lies in our yieldedness to the hand of the potter.

Yours in Christ
Stewart

MP3 downloads of messages preached on many Bible subjects are freely available at:

www.newcumnock.org

“He Called unto Him His Disciples” (Luke 6:13)

In the darkness of the night, upon the elevation of the mountain top and hidden in the mystery of the secret counsels and unrecorded communion between Divine persons, the 12 are chosen (6:12). Such are always the sovereign ways of God:

“And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (Joh 10:16)

“And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” (Joh 6:65)

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (Joh 6:44-45)

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (Joh 15:16)

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” (Act 13:48)

“For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.” (Act 18:10)

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Eph 1:4)

In the matter of salvation and effectual calling, we need not wonder, there is no confusion, the Word of God is clear, Gods eternal purposes are Sovereign! The choice is His and the purposes are in His counsel, not ours. No doubt He does not treat His creatures as mere pawns lacking will, reason or intelligence. For those created in His image and after His likeness, God became man, to suffer a death of torture at the murderous hands of His creature. This He did willingly and with a passion:

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Psa 40:6-8)

Mechanical insincerity is not a charge which will stick against the almighty. His sacrificial death is all sufficient and His offer of saving Grace appeals to the will and to the heart of man (Isa 55:1; John 3:16; Matt 11:28-30).

God has His purposes, He is calling out a people for Himself:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1Pe 2:9-10)

a people to possess a Kingdom:

“And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luk 6:20)

Those whom He has chosen in the secrecy of the night time (Luke 6:12) are called in the day time (6:13), called to inherit a Kingdom!

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:” (Heb 3:7-8)



Yours in Christ
Stewart

MP3 downloads of messages preached on many Bible subjects are freely available at:

www.newcumnock.org

'stretch forth thy hand' (Luke chapter 6 verse 10)

The Lord encounters a man in the synagogue whose right hand is withered. The man and his condition is the focus of Christ's attention. The Lord is able to heal him and restore the withered hand. The man is brought out into the midst of the onlooking crowd of Pharisees and scribes. All eyes are on Christ and on the man with the withered hand. Christ is able and willing to restore that withered hand to fullness of power and function. The right hand noted both for its grip strength and movements of fine precision hangs lifeless and limp by his side. Without a fully functioning right arm this man suffers major disability and incapacity and probably poverty. He cannot work, he cannot labour, he cannot perform a trade and he cannot write. The prospect of full power and function is offered to him, dependant on one simple act of obedience to the word of Christ: "stretch forth thy hand."! But if he could stretch forth his hand he wouldn't need the miracle! How can I obey His voice to undertake and perform that which I cannot do? As soon as this man acts in obedience to the word of Christ, trusts in faith in Him, the power and function is restored to the withered limb!

"And he did so and his hand was restored whole as the other"

Has the Lord given you a task to perform that you simply cannot do? Refuse to take refuge in your inability and rather rest in His ability and raise that withered hand 1 degree at a time and see it "restored whole as the other."

Yours in Christ
Stewart

MP3 downloads of messages preached on many Bible subjects are freely available at:

www.newcumnock.org

'Lord also of the Sabbath' - Luke Chp 6 Verse 5

As the disciples pass through the corn fields on the Sabbath they take some of the ears of corn and rub them for food. The Pharisees immediately find fault: "why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days?" Were the Pharisees right? The reply of the Lord is astounding. The Saviour could have argued:

1. They haven't broken Gods laws - only man's rules - this would be a legal argument but the Saviour does not argue for their liberty on the grounds of legality!
2. David got away with something similar so why shouldn't the disciples? This would be a moral argument and it does hold some weight but the Saviour doesn't leave the mater there!
3. "The Son of man is Lord over the Sabbath" - this is a Divine argument!
   

The Saviour does not draw back nor does He avoid asserting His absolute supremacy in these opening chapters of Luke. The Sabbath day, the day in which God rested from all of His labours and which was sanctified by the Lord for His people is the day over which Christ is Supreme! Only God Himself is Lord over such a day.

Christ is Sovereign not only over those days when He is seen to be working but He is Lord even over those places, peoples and times when His presence and movement is not openly apparent. There is no mention of the name of God in the book of Esther. His people are in captivity and Haman has hatched a plan to exterminate the people of God. Yet in this 'Sabbath' of Gods apparent inactivity He is Sovereign working out His purposes, bringing about a greater liberty for His people by the end of the book than they had at the beginning and leaving Haman hanging on His own gallows.

Christ is Supreme where He is obviously at work. Christ is Lord too where He appears to be at rest.
He is Lord also of the Sabbath.

Yours in Christ
Stewart

MP3 downloads of messages preached on many Bible subjects are freely available at:

www.newcumnock.org