Jeremiah 18 verse 1, the word
which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down
to the potter's house and there I will cause thee to hear my
words. Now if we're ever gonna hear,
it's gonna be the Lord causing us to hear. It's gonna take a
divine intervention and a divine revelation. Then I went down
to the potter's house, and the Lord's word's always effectual,
isn't it? I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again,
another vessel, as seen good to the potter to make it. Then
the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel,
cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. For the most part, I suppose
everyone here this morning has heard some of the ridiculous
religious statements that have been made concerning salvation.
Being raised in religion, and I use that term on purpose, religion,
not under the truth, but under false religion, I've heard these
ridiculous statements all of my life. And sadly, it was statements
like these that caused me to stop going to church altogether
for many years. God Almighty was presented to
me as being anything but almighty. If God was God and I was dead
in trespasses and sin, these statements made both of those
things untrue. I heard the question asked time
and time again, Won't you make Jesus Lord? I thought Jesus was
Lord. How could I make Him so? I heard
preachers ask again and again, won't you let Jesus have His
way in your life? Well, I was under the impression,
and now see that I'm right, that Jesus has always had His way.
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the way. And no sinner comes
to God but by Him. Again and again I heard sinners
ask, won't you give Jesus your heart? Why would God want our
hearts? Every imagination of our heart
is only evil continually. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. That word wicked there means
frail and incurably sick. How about this statement? Why
don't you let go and let God? And if I can let God, then I
am God. Did you hear me? You better get
ready to deal with me if I can let God do something. But I can't
let God. The Bible says that God's in
the heavens and He's done whatsoever He hath pleased. Someone recently
left a religious track, a religious brochure at the barbershop where
I go that was titled, Five Bible Verses to Help You Let Go and
Let God. I mention this only because I
was flabbergasted to discover that all five of the verses that
they had in that brochure proved just the opposite. I want to
quickly give them to you. The first one was Proverbs 16,
9, which says, A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord
directs his steps. The second one was Isaiah 26.3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace. Who does? Who keeps us in perfect
peace? The Lord does. Whose mind is stayed on thee,
because he trusteth in thee. The next one was really surprising. Psalm 115.3. But our God's in
the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Is
that me letting go and letting God? Romans 8.28, you know it before
I read it. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. God works all things after the
counsel of His own will. And God works all those things
for the good of His people. And then the fifth one was Ephesians
3.20. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly, exceeding abundantly above all that we could think
or ask according to the power that worketh in us. The five
Bible verses that they say will help us to let go and let God
are the five of the most glorious verses that prove just the opposite. God does what He will. how He
wills, to whom He wills. And none can stay His hand, and
none can question Him by saying, God, what are You doing? So it
was very obvious to me that whosoever it was that reconciled these
verses with letting go and letting God, God had let them go and
let them believe a lie. All five of those verses prove
that we don't let go of anything especially our sin. And we can't
let God who directs our steps and keeps us in perfect peace
and does whatsoever He pleases in heaven and earth, we can't
let God who works all things after the counsel and all things
together for His people's good and does exceeding abundantly
above all that we can think or ask, we can't let Him do anything. Whoever wrote that tract should
have added this sixth verse, Psalm 135, six, whatsoever the
Lord pleased that did he. And he did it in heaven and in
earth and in the seas and in all deep places. Let go and let
God. No, we've let ourselves go, and
by nature, our fallen will will not let or allow Christ to rule
over us. So with that said, I want you
to turn with me to Romans chapter nine, and let me say immediately,
no, this is not another sermon on election, predestination,
and divine providence. This is the preaching of the
gospel. The preaching of Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the
foundation of the world. And God's election and God's
predestination and God's divine providence is proof that God
saved His people apart from their way, their work and their will. The Gospel is a message of grace.
The Gospel is a message of mercy. The Gospel is a message about
Jesus Christ in whom grace and the mercy of God alone is found. And God simply teaches us in
the Scripture that salvation in Christ is by His electing,
His choosing. And that salvation is according
to predestination, His determining afore. And by His divine providence,
Him bringing to pass what He purposed. And my text here is
found in chapter 9, verses 21 through 23, but let's begin reading
in verse 15. Romans chapter 9, verse 15. For He, God, saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, we must conclude, so
then, It's not of Him that will it, nor of Him that run it, but
of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is of God that has
mercy on whom He will. Salvation is of God who shows
compassion on whom He wills. Salvation cannot be of man's
will. It cannot be of man's work. It's
not of man's will. It's not of Him that run it,
that do it. It can only be by the mercy of
God in Christ. Verse 17, for the Scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.
Why? That I might show my power in
him, in thee. Speaking to Pharaoh. And that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, he
hath mercy on whom he'll have mercy, and on whom he will, he
hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?"
This is why folks have a problem with these great truths. They
don't think that it's right. They don't think that it's lawful
for God to do what He will with His own. Their argument is, if God is
sovereign, if none can resist His will, then how and why does
He find fault? To do so is not fair. Does Paul
here find the need to defend God? Does God find the need to
defend Himself? Absolutely not. Look at verse
20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast
thou made me thus? And then God, through the Apostle
Paul, gives us the reason why man does not have the right to
argue about God's power and right to do what he wills. So let's
again go down to the potter's house. We start with a very important
question here. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Does he? The entirety of God's
Word says that He does. We just read that in Jeremiah
18. After all, what is clay? You
know, the English dictionary defines clay as stiff, sticky,
fine-grained earth, typically yellow, red, or bluish-gray in
color, often forming an impenetrable, closed and resistant layer in
the soil, As I read that dictionary by Webster, I thought, that's
a very good definition of us by nature. Clay, we're stiff,
we're unbendable, unchanging in our ways, we're sticky, everything
we touch we leave our sinful mark upon, or everything we touch
we endeavor to keep for ourselves, however you want to look at it.
We are every color of clay. We're yellow, cowardly and unbelief. We're red, we're quick to wrath
and anger. And we're bluish-gray, dead in
trespasses and sin. When clay is wet, given the water
of life, it can be molded and formed and fashioned. But when
dry, without Christ, the water of life, it's hardened and it's good for
nothing. Boy, isn't that a picture of
us? Hath not the potter power? That word power means rights. It denotes rights. Does God not
have the right? Hath the potter not the right? The divine potter has the right
over the clay. I heard Brother Mahan say one
time that he has the crown rights. He purchased the crown, the power,
the rights by his own righteous work. That is so true. Christ is Lord by death, by decree,
design, privilege, and authority. And whatever He purposes, it
comes to pass. Every purpose of the Lord is
done in wisdom. Now, many men today have authority,
but they do unwise things. God's authority is always consistent
with wisdom. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He's too powerful to fail. He's
too wise to be wrong. He does all things well. He cannot
do wrong. The Lord not only does with His
own what He wills, the Lord does with His own what is best. And
that's where we find great comfort and rest and peace of soul. He
does that which best serves his glory, that which is good for
his people. Yes, the potter has the power
over the clay. And again, verse 21, the divine
and sovereign potter can of the same lump, I've said this before,
that's a good definition of us, lumps. Big lump, I've been called
that a lot. But doesn't he have, the divine
potter, doesn't he have the power, the right of the same lump to
make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor? Now we'll
talk more about that in a moment, but here in Romans chapter 9,
we immediately see a two-fold purpose of God. First, He purposes
to show His power, His right as God. Secondly, He does so
that His name might be declared throughout all the earth. that
it might be glorified, what that's speaking of. Look up again to
verse 17. We see these two things very
clearly. This is why God raised Pharaoh
up. Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all earth. There it is, right in front of
us. Now, verse 22. What if, what if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? Long-suffering. You know, that's
a word that we don't know much about. Israel, God's chosen people,
they were in bondage in Egypt, in slavery to Egypt for over
400 years. God endured Egypt with great
long-suffering. But in the end, God destroyed
them. You know the story. And He did so to make His power
known. God suffered long with them,
but when it was all said and done, when He destroyed Egypt,
He did so to glorify His own great name throughout the earth.
When Israel finally got to Canaan, everyone there, Rahab, the Gibeonites,
and all the other enemies of the Lord, it says their hearts
did melt because of Israel's great God. Oh, His power had
been declared. throughout all the earth, they
heard and they were afraid." Long-suffering. Patience in spite
of trouble. God's long-suffering is tolerance,
forbearance, fortitude, restraint, self-control against those who
hate Him without a cause. The wheels of God may turn slowly,
but they turn. Peter wrote, Beloved, be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Now man's days
on earth are short, and if he does not accomplish, if God,
but not God's, and if man doesn't accomplish his purposes in a
very brief time, he never will. But that's not so with God. He
always lives. If he's pleased to accomplish
something in one day, he can do it. And if he chooses to defer
the executing of his purpose for a thousand years, he still
has the power to carry out his will and his purpose even then. The wicked will not escape their
punishment if it's just because it's delayed. They may think
they've gotten away with something, but they haven't. The righteous
will not be denied their divine promises because a thousand years
passed. God will fulfill His promise. He's faithful to promise. And
Peter continued and he said, the Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward. Not willing that any And that's
speaking of His chosen people. That's who Peter's writing to
in that epistle. He's not writing to the whole
world. He's writing to believers. And he said he's not willing
that any of you believers should perish, any of His elect people,
but that all, every one of them, should come to repentance. And
you know what? Whether it's one day or whether
it's in a thousand years, all of them will. Every single one. And also will every transgression
and disobedience, along with those who committed them, will
receive a just recompense of reward. Be not deceived, friends,
God's not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, he shall
also reap. So Paul asks, if God is willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
Verse 23, that He might make known the riches of His glory
on the vessels of mercy, which He had aforeprepared unto glory. And there we have the second
thing, God making His glory to be known. How does He do so? By bestowing the riches of His
grace on vessels of mercy, which He had aforeprepared unto glory.
This is so wonderful. God could have left me to myself. You too. He would have been no
less holy, righteous, or just if He had done so. He would have
been no less God had He done so. That's what all of us deserved. Anything short of eternal wrath,
judgment, anything short of eternal condemnation is the result of
God's long-suffering to vessels of mercy. I could and should
have been a vessel of wrath. And if God had left me to myself,
that's what I would have been. That's exactly what I deserved
to be, a vessel of wrath. But I didn't get what I deserved.
I got what I didn't deserve. Mercy! Therefore, I'm a vessel
of mercy. Glory to God, that's what a vessel
of mercy is. Now let's make a few quick observations
about these vessels of mercy. First, vessels of mercy are made
out of the same lump as vessels of wrath. Look back to the hole from which
you and I were dug. Look back at the mare clay from
which we were drawn. There lies nothing in us that
differs us from any other. Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have you didn't receive? And if you received it, why do
you glory in it? That's exactly right. There's
nothing in you and I that merited mercy. Believers are miracles
of God's love and distinguishing grace. Nothing more. If God had
left us to ourselves, if God had left us Christless, we would
have been eternally damned. We're all from the loins of Adam.
We all share the same mother as Cain the murderer. Demas,
who forsook the Lord Jesus, and Judas, who betrayed the Lord
for thirty pieces of silver, had the same first parents that
you and I did. We're all from the same lump. Secondly, from our text, we see
that these vessels of mercy are entirely in the potter's hands. Had the potter willed to leave
the lump of clay alone and untouched by His gracious hand, it would
have been a vessel of wrath. There's no power in the lump
of clay itself. that could have made itself fit
for honor, only dishonor. And every child of God agrees
with this. I see some of you shaking your head yes right now,
that's true. Clay vessels apart from the divine
potter fit themselves for destruction. Only grace can prepare a soul
for glory. No vessel of clay will be saved
apart from the distinguishing grace of the divine potter and
his work upon the wheel. The salvation of every vessel
of clay is in the hands of the potter, God Himself. We all lie in God's hand. If any be saved, it will be by
mercy. It will be by grace. Pure grace. Pure mercy. Sovereign
grace. Sovereign mercy. There is no
other kind. And then thirdly, our text speaks of God's chosen
ones being vessels. Have you ever thought about that?
A vessel is nothing but a receiver. A vessel is not a fountain. A
vessel is not a creator of water. A vessel can only hold what is
poured into it. A vessel can't pour into itself.
I've never set a pitcher or my glass under the faucet and said,
OK, I'm waiting. No. I'd turn on the faucet. The divine potter's got to pour
into it. Vessels. At one time these vessels
of mercy were full of themselves, but grace emptied them. God made
them empty vessels and then He filled them to the brim. Oh, I'm so glad He filled us
to the brim, aren't you? He filled us with mercy. And
we became vessels of mercy. Isn't that good news? The amazing
thing is that God had to give them the power to receive the
mercy. We can't take credit for receiving
what God gave to us. God had to make us willing in
the day of His power to receive the mercy that He freely bestows
upon us. That's just how dead we are by
nature. He did so in the day of His power. We can only work out what God's
worked in. We're only receivers. Only that
which is poured into a vessel can be poured out of it. And we sing, nothing in my hand
I bring, simply to thy cross, Christ's cross we cling. Fourthly,
this is why we're vessels of mercy. The sovereign potter made
us so. He formed us and he fashioned
us to be vessels of honor. Only he could. The only qualification
to be a vessel of mercy is need. In order to be clothed, you have
to be naked and in need of a covering. In order to be made completely
clean, we must see that we are entirely filthy and in need of
cleansing. Only Christ's perfect righteousness
can clothe us and only Christ's precious blood can cleanse us
And we're not vessels of merit. We're vessels of mercy. Sinful
men and women in need of a perfect covering of righteousness. Where
are you going to get it? By a work of righteousness you
do? Our work is filthy rags. Our righteousness is filthy rags.
It won't suffice. It won't work. God requires perfection. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted. Only Christ's righteousness is perfect. And only Christ's
righteousness is accepted by God. That's why we're accepted
in the Beloved. We're filthy wretches in need
of the cleansing of the blood of Christ. So do you have a need
of clothing? Do you have a need of righteousness?
Do you have a need of washing or cleansing? If you answer, with an overwhelming
yes, then you're a vessel of mercy. We've got to be filled with misery
before we can be filled with mercy. We've looked at the vessel now,
so let's just quickly for a few minutes consider the potter and
his work. Now when the potter places the
clay upon the wheel and begins to turn it in fashion, you've
seen potters do that and maybe not in person but on movies and
shows or whatever. He didn't leave that vessel to become what it was. Does he? No. He's got his hand
upon it. He's forming it. He's fashioning
it. He's making it what he desires
to make it. The potter has a purpose in mind.
He knows what kind of vessel he's about to make. And so does
the divine potter. As a mass of clay, he takes the
poor sinner and he puts them on the wheel. As it revolves,
he sees something that he desires to fashion and make. This is
something that only appears to the great Creator's eyes. John
wrote, it doth not yet appear what we shall be and what we
shall be will never appear until we see Christ as He is and we
shall be like Him. But the divine potter knows what
we are to be because he foreknew his people and purposed and predestinated
them to be spotless, perfect vessels of mercy without spot
or blemish or any such thing. to be conformed perfectly to
the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not leave
one sin of theirs unpardoned. Not a one. Every sin will be
dealt with. Only the potter can complete
these vessels. How do I know? Paul said, being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. How
do I know? Paul said in Colossians 2, 9
and 10, for in him, in Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in Him which is
the head of all principality and power." That's our potter
we're talking about. The mark of the divine potter
upon the vessel of mercy. All popular merchandise today
has what's called a trademark. The trademark is particular to
the maker and the manufacturer of the product. You could have
some confidence this morning that being a vessel of mercy
by the Master's mark which is upon you. If you've been called,
those of you that were foreknown, predestined and chosen, it was
divine grace that called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light. You didn't call yourself out.
You didn't just wake up one day and see the light without God
shining the light of the glorious Gospel into your hearts and giving
you eyes to see. There's no question that you
were ordained to eternal life and that your name was written
in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world if
you look to Christ and Him alone. The distinguishing mark of the
divine potter upon his vessels of mercy is his effectual calling. It's certain that no mere man
could put that mark upon you. And you cannot put it upon yourself.
You can't call yourself. Only the divine One can give
dead ears hearing. Zacchaeus, make haste and come
now. And Zacchaeus came down. Calling
was effectual, wasn't it? And some are going to say, well,
Zacchaeus had a will. So he let go and let God. That's
what you're saying? He made a decision to come down.
Well, I don't believe that. What about Lazarus? He's four
days dead. He's stinking dead. So are we
by nature. Does a dead man have a will?
Lazarus come forth and the scripture says, He that was dead. He's not dead anymore. He was
dead. He came forth. He was dead. But
Christ's effectual call gave him life. And that's the mark,
that's the trademark upon a vessel of mercy. God's calling. Effectual calling. He was no
longer dead. Lazarus wasn't and neither are
we after the effectual call. Spiritually speaking, Zacchaeus
was no less dead spiritually as Lazarus was physically. Both
were calls most effectual. This is the believer's divine
trademark. No sinner can be affectionately
called and then perish. The seal of God's calling in
and on the vessel of mercy. That's what it is. There's never
been a sinner called out of darkness by mistake. Never has a sinner repented that
was not found to be a vessel of mercy. Because repentance is of the
Lord. Our Lord said, all that the Father giveth Me shall come
to Me, and him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise, no way,
no fashion cast him out. Safe and secure. Safe in the
shepherd's fold. That's what we are. Called by
grace. Saved by grace. In the Lord Jesus
Christ. Mr. Spurgeon once said, the right
man, woman is called at the right time and at the right place. And they come to Christ to find
out then that it was purposed by God from the foundation of
the world. That's why we don't preach election
and predestination. Election is unto salvation. The
sinner can take no credit They were called to be vessels of
mercy before they ever did any good or evil that the purpose
of God, according to election, God's determining and God's sculpting
might stand. Prove it to be so. It's not of
works, but of Him that what? Calleth. And His calling is always
effectual. Oh, if you're here this morning
and you love Christ, and you're trusting in Christ, and you can't
live without Christ, it's because God called you by His grace,
and He made you a vessel of mercy who forms the clay upon the potter's
wheel. This is the mark found upon vessels
of mercy.