10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
What
We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Chapter Thirty Five
Broken Things
Part II
INTRODUCTION: TEXT: Psalm 51:17
III. AS A RESULT OF HIS DESIRE FOR OUR SUBMISSION, GOD CONSTANTLY WORKS IN OUR LIVES TO BREAK OUR SELF-WILL AND ITS CONSEQUENT POCKETS OF EVIL ATTITUDES, CONVERSATION AND CONDUCT.
A. It is only then that His spirit and power within us can show.
1. Remember that once we are saved, the spirit of God comes to live within us. (I Corinthians 3:16, Romans 8:9) It is then that God begins to work His power within our lives. It is of His power that Ephesians 3:20 speaks, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Philippians 2:13 mentions that "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and do of his good pleasure." God has freely "given unto us his holy spirit," (I Thessalonians 4:8), and thus it can be said in truth, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (I John 4:4) We can also say with Paul in II Timothy 1:7, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
2. But, the mighty power of God in us by His spirit, not an innate good and power in human nature, can be bottled up on the inside by our will, to allow the old flesh and its natural inclinations to reign supreme. That is one of the reasons Paul pointed out in II Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." The earthen vessel, our old flesh and its nature, can be like a bushel over our candle. (Matthew 5:15) It actually quenches the spirit within us. (I Thessalonians 5:19)
3. So God works to break that fleshly, self-will so that His power might work through us. He will allow this to be accomplished by our own voluntary obedience and submission to His word, or He will bring pressure to bear upon us designed to break the arm lock of the flesh. He tells us to "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5. See also Romans 9:13.) And, besides what we can do, He unilaterally works to make us what He wants. Romans 8:28 declares, "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." Job also shows God's pressure being applied by saying, "He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)
4. Notice how beautifully the truth of the broken outer vessel that the inner light may show is illustrated in Judges 7. This is the occasion where God's judge, Gideon, was sent by God to fight with 300 soldiers, (verse 7), against a huge Midianite and Amalekite army of thousands. (verses 1,12) Gideon and his 300 were armed only with trumpets and lamps covered with earthen pitchers. (verse 16) At the precise moment, these men "blew the trumpets and brake the pitchers that were in their hands." (verse 19) When this happened, the Lord turned the tide, and the thousands of enemy soldiers were totally defeated and God's people won a great victory and freedom. You see, it was only when the outer, earthen pitchers were broken that each soldier's light shined. And, nothing has changed in that regard. With God's people His Christian soldiers of today. It is only when the old outer fleshly will is broken that our inner light of the spirit of God can show.
5. A comprehension of this truth makes it a lot easier to understand hardships and adversities as a child of God. They are often designed to purge away the remnants and inclinations of the old flesh, which are hampering the light of God from shining through us. The apostle Paul said, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (I Peter 1:6-7) This same great apostle, who himself had been there, also said in I Peter 4:12-14, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." Along the same lines, Paul the apostle wrote, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (II Corinthians 12:9-10)
6. Therefore, we can say with the apostle Paul in Hebrews 12:5, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him" for we know it is always "for our profit." (Hebrews 12:10)
B. Our God has many ways to break our stubborn wills, but He is very patient and merciful in His dealings with us.
1. As to His patience and mercy, Peter declared, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9) A breaking for our rebelliousness does not always come "speedily," (Ecclesiastes 8:11), and as a result we sometimes become very complacent, apathetic and unconcerned about it. We even sometimes fail to admit to ourselves, others or God, that there is a problem.
2. But the fact is that God, in His own good time and way, always sets froth to break stubbornness, and any and all vestiges of human will in His people. As we've indicated, on way is through His word. Hebrews 12:5 speaks of His "rebuke." His word speaks to the heart, (Acts 7:54), and it is sharper and more cutting than any knife ever made. Hebrews 4:12 declares, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." It is the word of truth, (I Thessalonians 1:13), and as Job said, "How forcible are right words." (Job 6:25)
3. But not everyone responds to God's effort through His Word to break the stubborn will and stony heart. Some need stronger medicine, which God is capable and prepared to administer. Hebrews 12:6 not only mentions His "rebuke" it also mentions His "chastening" and His "scourgings." King David could have given you a first hand dissertation for hours on how God can do that. You will remember in Psalm 51:8 that he mentioned "the bones which thou hast broken." He once hardened his heart against God and let the flesh prevail. (II Samuel 11) As a result, God killed his baby, (II Samuel 12:14-15,19), drove him off his throne by his own son, (II Samuel 15:14), had his daughter raped by her half brother, (II Samuel 13:11-14), had ten of his concubines publicly raped by his own son, (II Samuel 16:21-22), had his favorite son stabbed through the heart by his chief military officer, (II Samuel 18:9-15), plus plenty more. Yes, David knew something personally about how God breaks stubbornness, disobedience and a rebellious heart. Time will not permit us to speak at length about how God broke Joseph, Job, Simon Peter, Daniel, the three Hebrew children and many other, in order that their lights might shine brighter. He used famine, financial collapse, oppressing nations, betrayals by close friends, sickness, injury, persecution and other ways. For Jonah, He prepared a whale, a storm, a gourd and a worm to reach him. One thing is sure, God is not limited in the ways by which He can break stubborn wills, pride, unconcern, greed, hatred, and sin of any kind. He can still use sickness and disease (in ourselves or others), finances, injury, foreign nations, hostile enemies, and a million other humiliating experiences to do it.
4. He wants repentance and restitution. Romans 2:4 clearly states, "that the goodness of God leadeth to repentance." Exodus 22:1-13 is an excellent passage dealing with restitution, and lest anyone think that restitution is only applicable for Old Testament people, Jesus reaffirmed the principle with Zaccheaeus in Luke 19:1-8.
C. If we continue to harden our wills and refuse to be broken by God, He will eventually put us in the scrap pile.
1. The apostle Paul said, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (I Corinthians 9:27) If you never are broken, you are never of any use to God, and if you are of no use to Him, then He puts you aside in favor of someone who is of use to Him. He may take you to an early grave as suggested in Ecclesiastes 7:17, Psalm 118:18 and I John 5:16. He can also reduce you to a position of poor health or shame, to the point that you are no longer capable of serving Him as you once could have.
2. In Bible days, a potter's house was a quite common business establishment. The potter took earth, usually clay, and with his potter's wheel, furnace and other equipment, made earthen vessels: pots, dishes, platters, etc. As long as the clay was wet and soft he could work and shape it to his own suiting. If he made a vessel and there was a flaw or need for change, he could break it down, put it back to the potter's wheel and rework and reshape it many times over. He could put the pressure and color wherever the flaw or weakness was.
However, once the clay got dry and hard, and bore the heat of the furnace, the potter could no longer reshape and remold it. If there was a crack or flaw, then the vessel was simply broken and cast aside on the junk pile or dump heap. That junk pile was called "the potter's field," and it was where the broken bits and pieces lay. These no-good remnants were called "potsherds," and it was with one of these that Job scraped his corrupt sores in Job 2:8. When Judas Iscariot took back the betrayal blood money for Jesus, the chief priests bought a potter's field with it. (Matthew 27:3-10)
There is no happy association with the potter's field. It was a place of failure, of those who didn't make the grade. Judas made it a place of reproach.
I tell you, dear Christian, if you do not stay soft and moldable, willing to let God, the divine potter, mold you, break you and remold you as many times as He needs in order to make you just what He wants, you too may end up on the potter's field: broken, useless and a reproach to yourself and your God. As God taught through His prophet Jeremiah, He is the potter and we are the clay. (Jeremiah 18:1-6) Let us never so harden ourselves as to cause Him to deem us no longer useful and ready for the potter's field. Let us never forget that God delights in broken things, and that He will only delight in us so long as we are willing to allow Him to break and reshape us into what we ought to be.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"