Brother Jim Sunday School 7/5/15

Brother Jim Sunday School 7/5/15

A vessel to honor: we had a lesson on clay, where it was dug from and its attributes last week. 

(There are readings that I have shortened and paraphrased in my notes of the lesson that are from LESSONS FROM THE POTTER’S HOUSE http://www.sermonnotebook.org/old%20testament/Jer%2018_1-6.htm )

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

God uses many images to describe his relationship between Him and His people.  He speaks of the sheep and their Shepherd, of a husband and wife, and of a father and his children.  These lessons are wonderful.  We are provided like sheep with a shepherd, as a wife with a husband, and as a child with a father’s loving care.

Jesus didn’t save us from sin just to save us from hell, He saved us so that we could be His servants and do His will.  We cannot do it on our own.  We need His help and direction.  This is our purpose. 

It grieves our heart to see people whose lives are out of control.  Jesus made a way and a sacrifice so that we could be redeemed and brought back to the image that Adam was created in.

Jer 18:1  The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Jer 18:2  Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Jer 18:3  Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

The picture of the potter and the clay is one of these pictures.  We want to consider and learn the lessons from the potter.

1Co 4:13  Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

He takes the offscouring and makes it into a vessel that He can use.  Jesus saves the sinner by His grace and then begins the process of changing the vile sinner into a vessel that will bring honor to His name.  He takes the worst that He can find and changes it into something that can be used and go to heaven.

The clay that is found in the ground is not suitable to use to make a vessel.  It is taken from the ground and then put into the water.  The slip is drawn off, prepared with the feet, and then let to stand during which time the quality, especially the placidity, is improved. 

To transform it into a usable state, it takes time and energy on the part of the potter.  We are useless to the potter when we are lost in sin.  He digs us out, washes us, cleans us, and dries us up.  This is the Work of God. 

The Lord doesn’t have a whole lot to work with when He finds us.  We are all made of the same clay. 

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

He came to break that power of sin.  Praise the Lord for the change He works in us. 

Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

This may be where you are right now.  Please come to Him.  It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.

The potter must pop every air bubble.  If he doesn’t it will create a weak spot that will make the pottery unusable.  He uses a mallet to pound on the container to cause all the bubbles to escape the clay.  Horses are like this.  Some are easy to work with and others are not. 

Life is used to refine us into a vessel that He can use.  The refiner wants to see His image in the silver.  This is Jesus’ purpose.  He wants His own image to shine out of us. 

We may not like the pounding of the mallet, but the sole purpose is to get the bubbles out and make us more like Jesus.

2Co 4:17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

We are not sure what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, He sought different times to have it removed.  Jesus told him, “My grace is sufficient.”

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

We know this.  Sometimes it seems hard to know at the moment that it is working for our good. 

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

The potter’s wheel:  There is a large bottom wheel and an upright shaft coming out of the center of the lower wheel that supports a smaller wheel.  The potter uses his feet to turn the larger wheel and forms the clay on the upper wheel as it turns. 

As the clay turns the potter places his hands upon it and shapes it according to his will.  These are like the circumstances that life brings us.  It may leave us confused and burdened, but remember that the potter only moves the wheel at the speed that He chooses. 

Regardless what you face in life, all things will eventually work out for your good. 

If we stay on the potter’s wheel we won’t get dizzy.  Sometimes life gets going too fast, we get pushing the pedals of everything that needs doing and it about makes us dizzy.  This eternal God sits down at the potter’s wheel and He controls just the speed as it goes around and around. 

If the potter were to take his hand off of the clay, it would fly off and be destroyed.  The clay is never out of contact with the potters hands. 

If we get out of His hands that is when we get in trouble.  He will never remove His hands.

He moves the clay along until it is what He desires it to be.  He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that we will ever be his children. 

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

If there is any forsaking, it is on our part. 

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

I am not given to much change, but it is a changing world that we live in.  The only thing that is stable and unchanging is His Word.  Even the foundations of the world are out of course.  We have that promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Even in the potter’s hands things can go wrong.  It is not the potter’s fault, but the clay.  Every turn of the wheel makes the blemish more visible.  It soon becomes evident that God cannot use us as we are.  There are many that started out well, but along the road they became weak and unbalanced. 

Jer 18:4  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.

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

We want the end result.  It is not fun to be corrected, but the Master corrects us so that we can be used.

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

No man can take you out of His hand.  If there is any forsaking, it will be on our part.  We are in the hollow of His hand and He protects us. 

We all enjoyed the tie-plant.  Then we were thrown to the four winds when it burned down.  It seemed I was alone as I worked on the railroad.  God took care of me there.