A Clean Vessel

King David was a great man and a great king and a great repenter. The Bible, 1st Samuel:16, says that David was the least in his own family because he was the youngest and tended the sheep (vs 11). And yet, when God told the prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel, the Lord prompted Samuel to choose David (vs 12). After anointing, the Spirit of God " came Upon David from that day forward". As David matured, his personal characteristics became apparent to those in society. When the Spirit of the Lord left King Saul (Israel's first king), he wanted a harp player to calm his agitation (vs 16,17). One of Saul's servants had seen David and told Saul that David " is cunning in playing, and a mighty Valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him" (vs 18).

When Spirit of God came on to David, he became a " chosen vessel" to be used by Yeweh. What is a vessel? Theologically, the British dictionary defines a vessel as " a person regarded as an agent or vehicle for some purpose or quality: Such as" she was a vessel of the Lord".

What is the purpose of a vessel? A vessel usually has three main purposes: (1) to contain a product or material, (2) to preserve something perishable or (3) to carry or move something. It is interesting that apostle Paul used the word vessel to his protege in 2 Timothy chapter 2 to encourage certain virtues or ideals in those that Timothy would be teaching and leading.

 After salvation every person who has given their life by faith to Jesus is sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). That is why Paul could say "The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2Tim2:19). We are now vessels (containers) of the Holy Spirit of God and can enjoy all of the benefits of the ministry of the Spirit.

As vessels of the Lord we now have something to carry. When we became justified with God through the Lord Jesus, someone had carried the gospel of salvation to us (Eph.13,14). Now it is our turn to carry the gospel to the next person. This was also the mandate of the Lord Jesus to his disciples after His resurrection (Mark 16:15,16).

The third purpose of a container is for preservation. In order for the container to preserve perishable items, it must be clean and sterilized. As a vessel of the Lord, in spiritual rebirth, we were made clean by the "washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5: 26) and "that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph5:27). The problem that we experience as mortals is that we are still exposed to sin and the filth of this world. Therefore, we will still need a continuous spiritual cleaning and purging in order to be useful by the Lord Jesus (2Tim 2:21-26).

Therefore, there are two purposes for repentance. The first purpose is to become justified with God by realizing that we are sinners (Rom 3:23), we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Eph2:1), and that the only way to the Lord God is through Jesus the Christ (John 14:6). Repentance, by faith in Jesus, brings us to a right condition (Rom 8:1--" no condemnation") to the Lord God. We have been saved from the wrath of God by His grace and through faith in Jesus (Eph.2:8,9). This is eternal life.

The second purpose of repentance is to keep us continually clean as vessels of the Lord while still alive in this physical world of temptation and sin. The stain of sin constantly bombards us daily as Satan attempts to discredit us before God as he did with Job (Job 1:6-11) and before people, has happened to King David (2Sam. 12:14). The apostle Paul also cautioned the Corinthian Church in his second letter to them;" giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed (2Cor. 6:3).

Concerning this issue in the first of his three letters.  Becoming a vessel useful for the Lord God is the normal response and a desire of a person as we learn more about about what he has done for us. Gladly, all of this can be found in one place; the Holy Bible. After our spiritual regeneration, we enter the time of sanctification for the rest of our natural lives until we are finally glorified in Heaven.

Just as we now have the Holy Spirit of God joined with our spirit in us, Who will lead us,comfort us, speak to us and seal us as one of God's own people; we also have a spiritual enemy who will attempt to discourage us, discredit us and destroy our efforts to tell other people about the love and hope that can be found in God through Jesus (1 Peter 5:8).

This enemy has a name; his name is Satan! He is also known as Lucifer, the serpent, the evil one and the prince of the power of the air. Satan, as an angel created by God, became filled with pride and determined to usurp the throne of God (Isaiah 14:13,14), but failed and was cast out of heaven. Jesus attested this in Luke's gospel (chap 10 vs 18). Ultimately,Satan and those who follow him by rejecting Jesus, will be sentenced to eternal death in Hell (Isaiah 14:9-24). Satan's future is already decided and now his goal is to take as many people with him as possible and to soil the testimony of anyone who professes faith in Jesus by tempting us with sin.

What exactly is sin? The Bible says in 1John 5:17 "that all unrighteousness is sin".

Dr. Wendell Calder (Word of Life Ministries) describes sin as "any thought or action that

does not conform to the character of God". Therein lies the problem. Try as we might, even though we make effort to live a justified life pleasing to God, we are still under attack by our spiritual enemy relentless. Eventually, he will find a crack in our armor and deceive us into sin. So, what is the correct course of action when we fail?

Apostle John speaks to us directly concerning this issue in the first of his three letters. First, we must recognize the sin (1John 1:6,7). Holy Spirit will bring conviction to us when we begin to walk in darkness separated from Jesus.

Second, we repent of sin by confessing to Him that we have strayed from His way and determine to return to the path send by confessing to him that we have strayed from his way and determine to return to the path that he has put us on. Then, He can freely forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness(1 John 1:9). We are now again a clean vessel fit for His use.

Third, we must remove the sin in our life if at all possible. Sin has consequences! Some consequences are minor and hardly leave a mark. Some consequences are devastating to your own self or someone else. The effect of sin is like driving a nail into a board with a hammer. You can use the hammer of your free will to drive a nail of sin into a person or a situation (the board) without remorse. Perhaps later you may regret this action, pull out the nail and apologize. However, whether small or large, there is still a hole in the board!

As mentioned at the beginning, King David was also a great repenter. After becoming king, he became powerful, wealthy, important and famous. However, David was tempted and gave in to all three major categories of sin; lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life (1 John 2:15,16). When confronted by Nathan, a prophet of God, David confessed his sins and was forgiven by God (2 Samuel chapter 12). Even though forgiven, because his sins were so grievous, the consequences would haunt him the rest of his life. His kingdom and his own family would suffer also. King David went on to write many of the Psalms referring to the mercy of God, the blessings of His forgiveness and his own prayer for remission of sin (Psalms 51).