Donald Campbell – Visiting Worker – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Convention – 2019

II Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and met for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” The question I would ask myself is how would it be possible that a piece of clay would have been made into a vessel of honour?

I don’t know a lot of you people here, and there is one thing I do not know, and that is how much it cost you to be here, to be here again. How many suffered in silence, and just hung on? Another thing that you don’t know, and how much it cost me to be here. When things were going wrong and you kept it to yourself. Being in a divided home and just hanging on. I will never know how much it cost you folk to be here. But we do know that someday we will be glad for what it has cost us, just to hang on and stay in our place.

Maybe there are some people here not walking in the way of God yet. When we go preaching the gospel, I am glad for one thing. The message that God gave us, is a God-given message. When he calls us, we are not here because we want to be, but because we were called and we just said, “Yes.” God gave us a message that was before this world began, and that was the beginning. When this message began and it began way out there in eternity, when He decided to send His Son with this wonderful message. That was the real beginning. I am very glad as we go out and preach the Gospel, and the message that we take is not a message of condemnation. It would be the saddest thing if the message we preach to the sinner, would be a message of condemnation. Our joy as we go preaching the gospel, and we can tell the people this is a message of hope, and if there is anyone in this meeting that is still not in the fold, we would like them to know that the gospel is not a message of condemnation. The gospel never came to destroy us, it came to save us from the thing that would destroy us and can destroy us.

I was glad when I was a young person, and I had committed many sins, and I knew that sooner or later there was something that was going to destroy me. It was not going to be anyone else, it was going to be me. I knew I had no power over that. I needed someone that was stronger than me, and someone that cared about me. We can get to the stage where we can think, “No one cares about me.” There is one that is stronger. When I was a young person, I realised I needed someone stronger than myself to help me overcome that which was going to destroy me sooner or later.

I was thinking about being a vessel of honour in the house. How can a piece of clay like we are ever get to that? Sometimes, you look in the mirror. What do we see, but a piece of clay? Something in a few years that will go back to where it came from, and be just a little bit of dust. Through the gospel, we have received the hope that someday we could become a vessel of honour. Humanly, we are a vessel of dishonour. When we look in the mirror, we think, “Oh, just a piece of clay,” and that is a good thing. Sometimes, we dress ourselves up and we may look pretty good but in the end, it is only clay. I am very thankful for the times when the Lord reminds me I am only clay. At the same time, the Lord reminds me there is hope for that piece of clay.

We know the story about Jeremiah being sent down to the potter’s house, and what he saw. He saw the potter working with a piece of clay. We can say, “What will become of that piece, as there is clay everywhere?” Clay is only dirt mixed with water after all. That is all we are.

This potter took a piece of clay and he began to work, and worked with the piece of clay that it would be amongst a vessel of honour. We read that the vessel was marred in his hands. It was on the wheel, but it was marred in the potter’s hand. We heard about this matter of forgiveness, something that has marred the work in my life is the fact I have not been willing to forgive. It would be a great thing when the Lord takes this piece of clay that it would cleanse us from anything, that would mar or hinder that work so that someday that we don’t find ourselves outside.

Carelessness is another thing, our human nature gets careless. We can become careless with the things that will mar the work of the potter. Just be the piece of clay in the hand of the potter.

When the potter gets a piece of clay in his hand, he has a plan in his mind. The great potter has a plan for our lives, also. The plan is to be made like Jesus himself, so when we go to Jesus, we will be like Him. So much like Him that the Lord would be able to say, “You are one of Ours.” Satan has a plan also as he puts people on his wheel and they go round and round. It is an awful thing to think that the world has got a wheel, also. It is not good to see people who put their lives in the hands of one who wants to make them like himself, and that is vessels of dishonour.

It says it was marred in his hands. I like also it says he took the same piece, the same piece of clay and he began again. Even though we feel we are marred in the hand of the potter, he wants to take the same piece of clay and make it again. He could have thrown it to one side and got a better piece of clay. If he had done that, what would have happened? That piece of clay would have dried up, and turned into dust and been blown away forever. The potter will not do that. If he ever did leave us, we would be like the rest and we would be lost forever and no hope.

I was thinking of David, and David got a man killed and took his wife. He was condemned, and he knew himself he was, and that he was worthy of death. When he repented, the Lord took the same piece of clay and made it again into a useful vessel. That is what the potter wants to do for us. He could have disregarded David and looked for a better man, but he took the same piece of clay and began again. That is our hope after these meetings or during those meetings and the Lord will be able to work with this piece of clay again and make it into a vessel of honour.

I also think about the prodigal son, and he had plenty in his father’s house, and he looked out the window, and not only looked out the window, but he went out the door. He went into the far country and you know what he got up to. When he came to himself, he came home. His father never shut the door, and he took the same son again, and he opened the same door and he said, “Come in.” That is what Jeremiah saw when he went down to the potter’s house, the same piece of clay being picked up again and he began again. I am glad this is the hope we have. The Lord gives us and puts us on the wheel again and works with us, and saves us from being lost.

In our house where we were brought up, my mother never had a lot, but my mother had a real treasure, and we were not allowed to touch it. It was in the cupboard and we could look at it, and it was a set of china. It was only bought out on special occasions, when the sister workers came and it was a prize set. That set, at one time, was only clay and someone that knew clay and made something of that clay. It was turned into a prized possession and that is a little picture of how it is going to be. Out there in eternity when the work is done, the hand of the potter has finished its work. It will bring Him joy, but we are only a piece of clay, it will be something that is worthwhile. It will be a prize possession in the showcase in eternity.

It is our privilege having heard the gospel, and having put our lives on that wheel, and in spite of the things that have marred our life, and our own disobedience, and He can make something that is very useful. I would not like to despise the hand of the One who had taken my life again and again, it gives me hope that someday that I will be like Him, that is His plan and purpose for us. Out there in eternity there will be nothing else and there will be nothing of the earth, and the happiest ones are the ones that are going to be most like Jesus. God is transforming our lives so we may be like Him and we might have a place for all eternity. It is quite a thing to think we can be transformed, from that little piece of clay to something of eternal value.

Sometimes, it is very hard to know what it has cost others to get on the wheel. I don’t know how many times you people have prayed earnestly like Paul did, “Take that thorn from my flesh and deliver me from it,” and has anyone ever prayed that. He prayed three times and nothing happened. Praying three times is not a lot, I have heard of people praying for something 100 times. We don’t know how much it has cost you to keep on the wheel, but we know the grace of God is sufficient for us if we stay on the wheel.

I have been back to the place where I was born, and there are some that are not on the wheel anymore. I remember a young man and he was at work and they offered him a cigarette. If it was his first and last, it would not have mattered but it was his first and it was not his last. That poor boy was trying to serve God and that marred his life completely. I saw him going out into eternity with nothing. He got involved with something he tried a few times and he could not get rid of it, so he could not get free. He took his life off the wheel and he was never able to get back on.

I would not know how to use a washing machine but where I labour, we wash our clothes by hand. Sometimes our clothes have a spot on them, and sometimes you feel spotted, and we feel we are not as clean as we should be. Sometimes, I wash my clothes and the spot is still there. If we keep our lives on the wheel, even though we can’t overcome the spots today, if we keep ourselves on the wheel, eventually that spot will be gone forever. Some of the things we have worry us, and the reason we go to Sunday morning meetings is that little spots can be cleansed a bit more. Sometimes we are a total mess and we wonder if we can be of any use but if we remain on the wheel, eventually we can become a vessel of honour.

This is a story that I don’t share very often. I was at a convention once and when the speaking list came out, I noticed I was to speak on Sunday morning. I wanted to speak about that time that Jesus was on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I had a friend whom I could not totally forgive and felt I cannot speak on this until this matter is settled. We went to our tent and all my mates were sleeping and I was wide awake. I was out of my mind. I thought, “I cannot speak about that tomorrow and if I am honest, I can’t speak about the One who gave forgiveness.” These things can mar the work of God on the wheel. I thought, “I will forgive the person who has done this to me.” I thought I could go to sleep and that was not enough either, that is not forgiveness. There was no forgiveness until I came to the place where I desired that person could be closer to the great White Throne than myself. That person would have a greater reward than I would have. Then I realised that is forgiveness. That could have marred the work of the potter in my life, and it did too. When I really felt like that, I could then get off my knees and go to sleep. I could get up next morning and tell them about the One who forgave on the cross.

We have this hope even if we do fail and we do fall that God wants to pick us up again and put us on the wheel. Clay is everywhere and it is an awful thing, but when it is taken in the hand of God, and when He begins to work, we can become a very useful vessel. I am very glad there is a potter and He works in our lives. Satan has got a wheel, and he has got a plan, also. Satan wanted to sit on the throne, and that would have been a terrible thing, if he had got what he wanted. He was put out and came down here on this earth. I am so glad that God wants to work in our lives and by keeping our lives on that wheel. I was speaking about the spots when I was washing my clothes but in eternity, there will be no spots on our garments. We will be as clean and pure as the Son of God Himself. It won’t be because of what we have done, it will be what God has done for us. I hope these meetings could let the potter work in our lives, and it doesn’t matter how much it will cost, and just to stay on the wheel. We do know one day we will be a useful and honourable vessel. Amen