VESSELS

E.Palmer

Proverbs 25: 1, 4; Romans 9: 22-24; 2 Timothy 2: 20, 21

There is a word in the Old Testament where a woman says "Bring me yet a vessel", 2 Kings 4: 6. It is this impression, beloved, that I would seek to convey, as to how such may be brought and become available to the blessed God at the present time. "Bring me yet a vessel". We might say, What are we to understand by this? We are the vessels. Indeed, our bodies are spoken of as vessels, and the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4: 4 exhorts us that they are to be held in sanctification; that is, to be held in a holy way for God in what is essentially practical.

I thought that this section in Proverbs has peculiar application to our own day, because Hezekiah's time is analogous to the time in which we are, in that it was a day of recovery. There were certain men who were evidently governed by the desire of the king to have things right according to God, who diligently set to work to transcribe some of these proverbs of Solomon. We may be sure that the Spirit of God was selective and directed what was transcribed, and moreover has put them on record for us. I select one because it touches the matter that is in mind; "Bring me yet a vessel". The word is "Take away the dross from the silver, and there cometh forth a vessel for the refiner". 'Vain things of earth', we sung (hymn 172); 'Vain things of earth but dross'. It is not exactly wicked things (of course, those are too) but the kind of things that are not compatible with the work of God that He has secured for Himself on the basis of redemption - the silver. The Refiner is at work, and I believe that He might even be at work at this hour so that we might understand that He is operating in relation to persons in whom His own work is, that we might become the more available to Him in a way that suits Him. So it says "Take away the dross from the silver". There is no affinity between them. But the result is not to discover what the dross is. I suppose we all know what hinders us most; "the heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy", Prov 14: 10. Yes, "the heart knoweth its own bitterness" but the Refiner is not at work to discover the dross but to bring to light a vessel for Himself. So this would greatly encourage us, beloved. There is not a saint who is brought to God save in relation to exercise of heart and soul, and the thing is to take full account of it and to get the greatest gain from it, because there is a vessel that is required, another vessel required that shall be suitable for the Refiner. "And there cometh forth a vessel for the refiner". I believe the Spirit would help us to answer to this word in the Scriptures and to see the immense honour that it is to be available to the One to whom the silver belongs. It has been powerfully pointed out in past ministry that redemption is for God; He has in mind to have for Himself, set free from every encumbrance, that which is the result of His own work, and to have it not only for His pleasure, He desires that, but for His service. I just leave this scripture with us because it has a positive end in mind, a vessel for the Refiner.

When we come to Romans a matter is touched on that, I suppose, reaches into the moral beings of us all, that is God's mercy. The setting in this chapter is that God can do what He will with whom He will and how He will and move in His own sovereignty because He is God. The wonder is, beloved brethren, that you and I are vessels of His mercy. Why should He have moved in relation to me? Why should He have moved in relation to you and exercised His mercy? That matter belongs to Him. How thankful we are that He has done it! The alternative is vessels of wrath. I would not like to attempt to describe, even if I had any real knowledge of what it was, what the wrath of God is. All I know is that there was one Man who underwent it; in the marvel of divine grace He endured the wrath of God when God made Him to be sin for us. Who can tell what it meant for Him? It brought out the cry that reaches into the heart every time we read it or speak of it; "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?", Matt 27: 46. A real Man endured the wrath of God and on that account we, beloved, are vessels of mercy. The passage in Romans says, "that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory, us". "Us". I cannot but think that this glory stands related to the glory of sonship . I believe that there is a distinction about the glory of sonship that is brought to us in the words of Jesus Himself when speaking to the Father; He says "the glory which thou hast given me I have given them", John 17: 22. I believe that to be the glory of sonship. "The riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory, us, whom he has also called, not only from amongst the Jews, but also from amongst the nations". I suppose everybody here says, Yes, that is us. That is us. These things are brought very near to us, beloved. It is not a question of teaching, or of the fact that it is in the Bible; it is in the Bible but the power of it is in the hearts and the moral beings of the saints who have had to do with God and have proved His mercy and understand something of the great end He has in exercising it. It is very interesting that in chapter 2 of the epistle to the Ephesians it says that we "were children, by nature, of wrath" (v 3), but immediately it says "But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us". O, I say, What a wonder it is! What glory it is! What a privilege to be here to link on with one another on this fundamental basis of God's mercy and to understand something of the glory that is in mind in His taking us up in this way! Would it not give impetus to our being faithful in relation to the condition of things publicly at the present time? I believe it would create in our souls a desire to honour God and honour the Lord Jesus at all costs.

What I read in 2 Timothy is a kind of counterpart to the word in Hezekiah's day; there is the need for practical purification from every vessel that is dishonouring to the Lord. This is a word to every believer. "Let every one who names the name of the Lord"; that is, for everybody that says, I am a believer in the Lord Jesus, there is a word - for all of us - "withdraw from iniquity" . The putting of that into practice is not only because it is a moral necessity but because it is a practical one too. Separating himself from vessels to dishonour is a requirement in order that "he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified", set apart in a holy way, "serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work". I believe it means that such persons are available; not that they are doing the Master's work in any specific manner all the time but they are available to do it all the time. O, to be available to be taken up by the Master at any time and at any place and in any situation! But such who desire to be available must of necessity be marked by what is practically separate, not only from a world that has no place for Christ, but from a religious order of things that takes His name and identifies it with what is really dishonouring. These are solemn things, they are wonderful things, they are proved things and we want to prove them still, beloved. And the word is, Is there yet a vessel? I would like to respond to that, I expect everybody here would, and I trust these scriptures may encourage us to do so, for Christ's sake.

LONDON

17 August 1976