Well, this evening, as God may be with us and bless us, I hope to speak to you about the heavenly potter, who, of course, is none less than the Lord himself. And I want to read from the New Testament and also from the Old Testament.

So first of all, I'll read a longer piece from the New Testament, which is in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. and it's the 9th chapter and verses 9 to 26. So Romans chapter 9 and reading from verse 9 to verse 26.

For this is the word of promise. At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son, and not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceded by one even by our father Isaac. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he 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, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 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 the earth.

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?

What is God willing to show his wrath? and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Osea, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.

So we'll leave that reading there in the New Testament. Now we'll go to the Old Testament, and in the prophecy of Jeremiah, and chapter 18, we'll read the first six verses. So Jeremiah chapter 18, and reading from verse one to verse six.

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.' Then 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 seemed 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.

And then just one last reference in Isaiah chapter 64 in verse eight.

But now, O Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay and thou our potter. And we all are the work of thy hand. It's very wonderful that God selects simple illustrations for us to understand. And although probably we don't see a potter at work very much in the day and age in which we live, some of us may have done, I definitely have. When I was younger in some of the seaside places, I used to have demonstrations of a potter making things from clay. And it's important to observe that the potter just takes a lump of clay, just any lump really, as long as it can be moulded, and puts it on a wheel, spins the wheel, and then with his fingers, he gradually forms that lump of clay into whatever kind of vessel he desires. And so we can understand that the potter has power over that lump of clay to do just what he wants to and make just what he wants.

Well, the scriptures here are showing us that we have a great God. And we are virtually as a lump of clay. And God takes that lump of clay, takes you and me, and he moulds it in accordance with his will to do as he thinks fit. And of course, that which will be for his honour and glory.

So we've had these two accounts, or three accounts really, But this one in the Romans, and of course the Apostle Paul wrote it, and he wrote it from a deep knowledge of the Scriptures, and he was able to therefore confirm, more clever? Well the apostle says therefore, why hast thou made me thus? And he gives the answer, hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? So that's a very clear picture for us isn't it? We can understand what it shows to us and it shows to us that God is in complete control of your life and my life.

And just one other scriptural reference to confirm that, you may remember Jacob, and he's referred to in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses wrote, and he tells us about him. And this is what he says in Deuteronomy 32. He found him. Jacob in a desert land and in a waste howling wilderness. What did he do? He led him about. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. And as we already read in that chapter in Romans, we read about Esau as well, that Jacob had he loved and Esau had he hated. It's God's prerogative. People may complain, and people may think it's not fair, but God is in control of everything. God created everything, and God is in control of you and me.

And in thinking of that, it's really very humbling to realize that this great God is the one that causes us to turn from our evil ways and to listen to his voice and to hear his voice. And what do we see in that? We see the grace of God. Grace is the great favour, the unmerited favour of God. sometimes we refer to it as sovereign grace and the reason we do that is because of course sovereign refers to a king and almighty god is of course the king of kings and therefore sovereign grace belongs to him and how wonderful it is if that grace has come into your heart and come into my heart, not because we deserved it. Jacob never deserved it. God looked upon him and was gracious to him. And we know the Apostle Paul tells us he never deserved it. And yet God looked upon him and called him, and he'd been against God, totally against the Lord Jesus. but God had mercy upon him and God blessed him.

So in our little lives today, we must always realise that Almighty God is in control. He's in complete control of your life and my life, from our first breath till our last breath. God is in control, and that should be an encouragement to us, and a comfort to us to realise we have a God who is merciful, a God who is compassionate, a God who hears and answers prayer, and although we are sinners and have offended God, yet there has been that great and glorious way made of bringing us back to God through the merits of our gracious Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, when we see what he did in order to save us all, in order to redeem us all, not because there was anything of any merit in ourselves, but it was because of his great and glorious sovereign grace.

So we're thankful indeed that God has given us the testimonies in his word to encourage us. And therefore, if things sometimes don't appear to be going as we wanted them to go, we might get a bit upset. We must realize God's in control and we have no right to object to what God is doing with us. He's doing with us just like a potter takes a piece of clay and makes it into whatever form he fancies. Well, we can say it's not quite up with God because God has ordained what he will do. And it's wonderful to think what he will do to each one of us.

And as we mentioned on Lord's Day, that's picked up so very beautifully. in the first chapter in the Ephesians in the fourth verse where he tells us that before the foundation of the world God knew what was going to happen to you and me it's worth pondering to think that all the millions of people indeed all the billions of people that have been on the earth since it was created and will continue until time shall be no more Everything, everything in each one's little life was ordained and agreed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit before the foundation of the earth.

Now that gives us some little clue as to the greatness of our God. What a God we have, my friends. and how humbling it should be to realise that that great God has taken us in hand and is dealing with us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. We should have great cause, if that is so, if you and I have the evidence of it in our heart, to truly come and thank God and praise Him for His mercy which endures forever.

May these few remarks be a comfort and encouragement and to instruct us in the greatness of our God and how everything is planned out for you and me in our little life and therefore to make us always submissive to His will.

The reason, God's way is perfect. God's way is perfect. He knows what He will do for his honour and for his glory. So let's rejoice together in the great truth and word of God and understand what he said.

Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why'st thou made me thus? hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour.

Well, we'll leave a few remarks there. May God bless his word.