May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 45, and reading verse nine. The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter
45, and verse nine. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioneth it, what makest thou, all thy work? He hath no hands. The prophecy, the prophet rather,
Isaiah, is reminding us here of the greatness of God and the
perfect right that he has to control our lives and to make
us conform to his great plan for each one of us. And sometimes
it's good to recognize the greatness of God and the smallness of ourselves
and unworthiness of ourselves and many notice from Almighty
God and to acknowledge the kindness of God in dealing with us and
taking notice of us and conforming us unto his image. It is an amazing blessing to
think that Almighty God, who is Almighty, who has created
all things as we read together in this chapter on two occasions. He says, I have made the earth
and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. So this is the greatness of God,
and it's good to be reminded of these things, that we do have,
we do stand before the one who created all things, and perhaps
that gives us a little idea of the might and power and greatness
of God, and then to consider ourselves, consider how small
we are, and how poor we are, and how unworthy we are of any
notice from Almighty God, and then to therefore consider, well,
how dare we really complain? How dare we really disagree with
God's plan for us? because that God who's planned
all things, who's planned the whole history of the world, and
we incorporated in that vast plan how humbling it is. And why should we then doubt
the plan of Almighty God? Sometimes we tend to think, well,
perhaps God's made a mistake, or why can't things be a little
better, or why can't things go along in a different way? Well,
we should recognize that we individually are just a very very small part
in the great plan of God but nonetheless an important part
and God is molding us to be part of that great plan and he's molding
us in that right way which shall bring honor and glory to his
great and holy name and it's good you know if you and I just
sometimes come aside as it were. Remember David, he came and he
sat before the Lord when things weren't going very smoothly for
him. It's a good time sometimes if we come and sit before the
Lord and commit our way unto the Lord, to submit ourselves
unto his way, believing that what he's arranged for us, what
he's ordained for us will be the right and good way. it's necessary for us sometimes
to be taught and to be reminded of the greatness of God and our
smallness and insignificance and to make us come and to cast
all our care upon our God. It's very easy to become lukewarm,
very easy to just assume that well everything's running on
and I'm just part and there we go, Sometimes the Lord brings
us up. Sometimes the Lord reminds us.
Well, we are part of God's great plan. And therefore we need to
recognize that when the Lord brings certain situations into
our life, it's for his honor and glory and our eternal good. Now, it doesn't mean to say that
the path will be easy and the path will be smooth. In actual
fact, the very opposite is true. And we should be very aware of
that, I'm sure. If we read the history of the saints of God,
it's very clear, is it not, none of them had an easy path. None of them had anything but
difficulties and disappointments and hardships and afflictions
and warfare. It was a battle. And life is
not easy. And that's why the Apostle tells
us in the Ephesians, he says, finally, my brethren, take unto
you the whole armor of God. And that was spoken by a gracious
man, a man who knew something of the warfare. And therefore
he was told, he tells us, he told the Ephesians, my friends,
the word of God tells us today to do that finally, to take unto
us the whole armor of God, which are needed. the battle of life
and my friends you know we have that adversary of the devil who
goes about seeking whom he may devour yes he's on the outlook
and you know when sometimes things don't go smoothly and he thinks
perhaps he's gained in the upper hand and sometimes it may appear
so in our lives things may not appear to be going smoothly we
may think perhaps we made a big mistake You know, there may be
occasions when, as it were, the brook dries up. You know, it
did, didn't it, in Elijah's day. Elijah was told to go to that
brook Cherith, and he was told the ravens would feed him, and
there was the water. But you see, in time, it dried up. But God had another provision
for him. Elijah might have thought that was gonna be his provision.
for all time as it were but no there was a time it was provided
for a time and then there was an alternative position that
God had arranged for Elijah and my friends bless God we may not
be perhaps as well known as Elijah but be sure of this God takes
notice of us as much as he did of Elijah And that, of course, is a wonderful
consideration, isn't it? To think that that great God
who we read of, dealing so wonderfully with Elijah, still, my friends,
deals wonderfully with you and me in our little lives. Yes,
wonderful to think, isn't it, that we have such a God. And
a God who does not vary. He's never asleep, he's never
tired, and he watches over us, and he knows what he's doing
with us, knows the direction we're going in and sometimes
we have to be taught and sometimes the Lord brings us into those
situations which are designed to make us conformable unto his
image. Now you know what the image of
the Saviour was as he was on this earth don't we? We know
what it was, we know he went about doing good, we know he
never complained, we know he did his father's will, It was
all gracious and wonderful example for us today. And you see, sometimes
we need a bit of training. Sometimes we need a bit of help
and direction. And the Lord does that in his
divine way. And to the church of God, this
word is so true. As for God, his way is perfect.
And I'm sure of this. living church have got to look
back in their lives. As they journey on year by year they look back
and they see God's movement and wonderful leading and directing.
And although perhaps at the moment in the situation they're in they
can't see the future, but God can. And God knows the end from
the beginning. He knows the beginning in your
life and my life and he knows the end. He knows everything
in between. Nothing is hidden. The Lord knows
it all. You know they're wonderful words,
aren't they? In the 15th chapter of the Gospel
of John, where the Lord says, you have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you. The Lord's ordained us that
you should go and bring forth much fruit and that your fruit
should remain. Yes, it's not something which
is passing. That would be good fruit. That
would be fruit which is brought about by Almighty God. And you
see, to bring that about, you and I have to be conformable
to God's plan. We have to be made willing. Sometimes
it's like this, to be made willing in the day of his power. Yes, God is all-powerful, my
friends. He has all things at his his command. Sometimes we
seem to doubt it. The Lord knows what he's doing
for you and me. Those words of the Lord Jesus
are so true. He knew what he would do and
he does for every one of us. And so we have this account here
in Isaiah and the prophet comes down and he warns us, he warns
us, woe unto him that striveth with his Maker." To strive with
God. You may think, well, that's a
big statement, isn't it? Well, it is. But you see, left
to ourselves, that's what we do. We strive with God because
we try to God work to our plan. We really say in our mind sometimes,
well, I've got a plan and I want God to work to it. The truth
is, God's got a plan. And he will make us work to his
plan. It's very different. Sometimes we might think that
our plan's a good plan. But you see, we don't know the
end. We don't know what the Lord has
planned for us. We don't know what we need. We
don't know what training we need. We don't know what scenes we
need to come into so that we're befitted and prepared for a certain
situation which may develop in our lives for the honour and
glory of God. Again, what a blessing it is
if your eyes and my eyes view it in that way, that our lives
are for the glory of God. Oh, what a blessing that is.
You know, sometimes then we're be willing to be humbled under
the mighty hand of God that we may be exalted in due time. You
know, to be humbled is not very easy because by nature we're
all very proud all very proud. That's our nature. But bless
God, if he comes to us and deals with us and humbles us. And if he humbles us, what is
it? To make us conformable to himself.
The Lord sets before us a glorious example, doesn't he? Yes, of
humbleness in his life as he walks through this world. And
so we need to ponder such a statement as this, woe unto him that striveth
with his maker. Well, just as it were, stop,
just consider, just ponder, woe, are we striving with almighty
God? Really it means, are we fighting
God? Are we fighting against God? I'll be trying to produce
what we think is God's plan. And the effect is that we're
really fighting against God. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. It's a statement of warning for
every one of us. So be very careful in our lives.
The word tells us The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. One of the great elements in
that is pride. And the devil will very quickly
come and try and bolster up our pride by making us do things
and say things which are not in accordance with his will.
And what the problem is, we are striving with our maker. And so God comes and says, woe
unto him. Now, clearly these words are
written because there are times when we do strive with our Maker. Perhaps we don't always realise
it. And it's good then if God comes alongside and points us
to his word. And the reason why it's recorded,
so we might examine ourselves. Very often we examine other people,
don't we? We examine other people. should
examine ourselves under the powerful light of God's word and to see
whether such a statement as this actually applies to us. We may
have ignored it, we may have thought well I'm all right, it
doesn't apply to me. If that's the view then probably it does
apply to us very much so and we need to be very aware of such
words which are written in the word of God to instruct us, they're
not there to just forget about and to pass away, they're there
for our benefit and our teaching. Woe unto thee that striveth with
his maker. And then we read, let the potsherds
strive with the potsherds of the earth. That really means
to let people strive among themselves. If they're gonna strive, let
them strive among themselves. Let them not bring God into the
position. Let them strive among themselves. And so he says here, let the
potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. And then he comes
on to this very important consideration where he uses the illustration
of a piece of clay. I'm sure we're all familiar with
what a piece of clay looks like. And here he says, shall the clay
say to him that fashioneth it? what makest thou or thy work
he hath no hands. Well we know what a piece of
clay is don't we and how it can be molded as long as it's not
dry and hard but if it comes from the earth and if you if
you dug down in the earth it's normally moist and a piece of
clay can be taken and a piece of clay can be molded. You know
Jeremiah was told in his life to go down to the potter's house. Go down to the potter's house
and see what the potter was doing for instruction. And of course
we don't necessarily have to go down to the potter's house
to have the instruction because God gives it to us in his word. And the word came to Jeremiah
from the Lord and he was told to arise and go down to the potter's
house and there I will cause thee to hear my words. So, obedient Jeremiah went down
to the potter's house. And what did he saw? He saw a
potter who wrought a work on the wheels. You know I'm sure
that a wheel goes round and a pot's put on it and it goes round fast
and the potter moulds it with his hands, uses some water onto
the clay and moulds it to whatever shape he determines. He has complete
power over that lump of clay. lump of clay can't suddenly produce
itself into a wonderful pot. It's just inert. It cannot do
anything at all. And so Jeremiah saw, and the
vessel that he made of clay was marred. That means it didn't
come out in a good state. The potter made a mistake in
what he was doing. So he made it again, another
vessel, and it seemed good to the potter to make it. Apostle
is able to make whatever shape he wants to he's got this piece
of clay and he can mold it exactly as he wants to so therefore Jeremiah
is told to go and look at that and understand that position
and Then the Lord speaks to him and says then the word of the
Lord came to hit me saying Oh house of Israel cannot I do with
you as this Potter and saith the Lord, Behold, as the clay
is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel."
Well, the message is very clear, isn't it? And the message is
very simple for us to understand. We have a great God who is, we
might say, the heavenly potter. And he takes us and he molds
us in accordance with His will for you and me. And my friends,
all of us here tonight, we might sow different pots. God's molded
us each in a different way. He has a different work for each
one of us to do. And therefore, that needs molding. That needs God's Spirit to come
upon us and to shape us. so that we are then useful to
do that which is right and good for almighty God. See, pots have
various uses. Sometimes they need a big opening,
sometimes a small opening, sometimes a high shape, sometimes a low
shape. There are various uses for different
pots. And so it is in the life of God's
people. God causes his work come upon
his people so that they might then be useful in his great,
divine, wonderful plan. And it's good for us to remember
that when perhaps we say, well, why am I passing through this
path? We're just a lump of clay and
the Lord's moulding us. And what a blessing it is, the
Lord is moulding us for his honour and for his glory, so that we
might be useful in our life. It may not be that which is just
thrown away. O House of Israel, cannot I do
with you as this potter? Well, the illustration is simple.
The truth is clear. Of course the Lord can do with
you and me just what he pleases. And what a blessing it is if
we come to that position and recognise it is the work of God
in moulding us And as I said before, it is to make us really
in our lives, in one way or another, conformable to his image, to
make us more Christ-like. Now you see, some of us, in order
to achieve that, need a moulding in this way, some in that way. It's different. The Lord knows
what is needed in our lives. And we don't know. We sometimes
think we do, but God knows. My friends, God will mould his
people in that right way, which is a vessel which were made for
his honour and for his glory. So it's a blessing, is it not,
to recognise God's hand upon us. And perhaps then, as he shines
into our heart and gives us his grace to understand a situation
which may have come upon us, we may have initially rebelled
and thought, well, how hard this is then to realise, no, it's
the loving hand of God upon me. The loving hand of God, he's
dealing with me, he's moulding me for my good and for his honour
and glory. And I believe when you and I
have a view of that, it puts things in a right perspective
and it then makes us willing to submit ourselves into and
under the hand of God. See, the word of God tells us
to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exhort us in due time, casting all our care upon him. God has
a mighty hand, my friends, and God doesn't make mistakes in
his moulding. The potter might. The potter
might have to throw a piece away. My friends, God doesn't make
any mistakes in his moulding. He moulds us up in that perfect
form so that we are then meat for the Master's use. And then
he brings us to that place where we are ready to go into glory. The Lord is moulding us in accordance
with his will, and remember, making us conformable to his
image. And let's not forget the image
of the Saviour, despised, and crucified man, despised and crucified
man. It's not easy is it to assimilate
that and think well there's my example, there's the blessed
Lord gone before me and he did his father's will. My friends
you and I are directed to do the Lord's will in our lives
and it means bowing down, doesn't it? It means giving up, perhaps,
our preconceptions and falling down before Almighty God. They use this description of
a potter and clay is used a number of times in the Word of God. Isaiah uses it in the 64th chapter
in the 8th verse. He says, But now, O Lord, Thou
art our Father. We are the clay. And thou art
Potter, and we are all the work of thy hand." Well, do we hope
and trust and believe that we have a father in heaven? I hope
we do. A great and glorious father who
is dealing with us as his children. And so here we have this statement,
thou art our father. And the confession, we are the
clay. And thou, our potter, and we
are all the work of thy hand. Well, that's so true, isn't it?
You see, it's God's work in our lives, isn't it? It's his work. It's not our work. It's that
which he's done for us. It's his work. It's his work
which is revealed in us, which brings forth glory to his name. And that work which shows us
our true condition, opposition to bring us down as we see how
bad we are, not how good we are, how bad we are. And so that we
can't be proud of our situation, but we have to be shown. And
God does that. He's moulding us when he brings
us down and reveals to us something of the iniquity and the evil
which is within us. God's moulding us. That's not
always a pleasant thing, is it? And sometimes, when the potter
starts, he has a lump of clay and the first start is quite
hard to actually form it at all. It's just a lump and he's got
to press it here and press it there to make any sensible movement,
any sensible shape. And it's really like that in
a spiritual sense. Initially, you see, we're just a lump. the
Lord comes and puts his hands upon us and develops us a little
so that we see something of the evil of our heart, the exceeding
wickedness, the exceeding sinfulness of sin which we never saw before. And then you see he then deals
with us perhaps more gently and moulds us up in accordance with
his will and in accordance with His purpose. And so to be able
to come and say, Thou and Thou our Potter, do we really believe
that tonight? The Lord our Father is our Potter. He has a perfect right, a perfect
right to form us as His will, to deal with us as He will, not
as we want, but as He will. and to bring us that position
where he shows us what we are and then directs us to the glory
of the Saviour in his saving ability, in that wonderful work
of directing us to himself. And what is that then? Well,
it's a growth, isn't it? It's a spiritual growth. We grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. So it is important that we understand
that we are just like that, just a lump of clay. You remember
that the Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Romans in that ninth
chapter, and he speaks there really about the greatness of
God, and he speaks in this way. He says, therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy. Well, my friends tonight, if
we're being molded by God, it's because he's had mercy upon us. We haven't been left to carry
on. God has taken us in hand and
it's because of his mercy. And so we, We read, therefore,
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he would
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 replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Naturally, we sometimes allow
ourselves to make statements like that, don't we? Why am I
walking this path? Why have I got to do this? Why
couldn't I be different perhaps? We might say, why couldn't I
be cleverer? Why couldn't I have been able to do this and do that? We have to fall down before God. And the great blessing is to
know if the Lord is moulding us And so he says, hath not the
pot of power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honour and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing
to show his wrath, to make his power known, endure with much
longsuffering 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 before prepared unto glory? the great wonder of electing
love, the foreknowledge of God, taking us, as it were, as a brand
plucked from the burning, even us, whom he hath called, not
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. And so to rejoice
tonight, if God has called us out of the darkness of nature,
he's called us There we were dead in trespasses and in sins. There we had no hearing until
the Lord called. And he called us with that voice,
perhaps that still small voice, and it penetrated into our heart. And that voice said, live. The
Lord passed by and he saw us in our blood and he said, live. Oh, what an amazing favour to
know that the Lord has called us. My friends, if he's called
us, he hasn't left us as dead things, he's called us and made
us living, possessing the new birth, then surely that same
God has a perfect right, a perfect right to mould us in accordance
with his divine will and purpose for his honour and for his glory. You see, we live on this earth.
Why do we live on this earth? What is the purpose? For God's
people the purpose is this, for his honour and for his glory. And when the Spirit of God directs
us in that thought, it puts everything right. And what has called us to fashion
us to that right shape, the image of Christ, for his honor and
for his glory. And of course, some of us need
a lot more shaping than others. But blessed be God, he does deal
with his children in love to their souls. My friends, all
that forming, all that shaping is in love to our souls. Because
we are his children, He deals with us graciously. He deals
with us in favour. Even us whom he has called. Isn't
it wonderful to think that the Lord calls unworthy sinners,
sinners dead in trespasses and sins, into the glorious light
of the everlasting gospel. Oh, what a call it is. The greatest
call that we can ever hear. That call to life. then to realise
that as we are made alive, God is then moulding us as just clay
in his hand, and he has a perfect right to do that for us that
seems good in his sight. How wonderful it is when we are,
as it were, made willing in the day of his power. Willing in
the day of his power, and it is that power to sanctify these
things for our eternal good, sanctify them so that we are
made meat for the Master's use. Again, the Apostle Peter, he
knew what it was to be moulded, he knew what he needed in his
life, but the Lord was very gracious and dealt with him. And he tells
us, he speaks in the fifth chapter, and he says, likewise ye younger,
submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and to be clothed with humility. For God resisteth
the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you
in due time. And he goes on, casting all your
care upon him for he cares for you. That's very humbling, isn't
it? Yes, he's moulding us because he cares for us. Yes, we can
therefore cast all our care upon him believing that he cares for
us, and therefore he's doing that for us which is for our
good. He tells us then, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary
the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all
grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. This is the end of the road.
This is the eternal blessing. He's called us into his marvellous
light. He's shown us our true situation. He's moulding us and he's directing
us to this view who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. after that you
have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen,
settle you. Yes, you see, the work of God
goes on in his people's lives, in this moulding. And so here
we have it, this, it means you have suffered a while. Yes, there
will be suffering. What would it mean? Usually it
means our pride. That's what it usually means.
The Lord brings us down. our own estimation, our pride
suffers, that doesn't hurt us at all. That makes us a good
disciple, that makes us a good testimony to recognise the humbling
power of God upon us. And so he says then that we might
be made perfect, established, strengthen and settle us. Settle
us then in our spiritual life to recognise that what God is
doing for us is for our eternal good. That's the truth, isn't
it? So the Lord is leading us to
our eternal home. He's doing everything for our
eternal good. And we're very short-sighted
sometimes. When you look just at that which is happening at
the very moment, oh no, it's part of God's blessed plan for
us. It's all part that great and glorious plan which will
then bring us safe at home at last, make conformable unto his
image. And so the Apostle says, to him
be glory and dominion forever and ever. Well that's the wonderful
testimony of the Apostle Peter. And may it be our testimony to
desire that the Lord God might be honoured and glorified. My
friends, he won't be honoured and glorified if you and I run
our own lives. because we'll please ourselves.
But blessed be God, if the Lord moulds us, he will make us like
unto himself, which will be very different, because then we'll
be willing to do his will. And it's a blessed place, my
friends, to be willing to do the will of God. That means willing
to be nothing. That Christ might be all and
in all. Willing to be nothing. brings
you there? The grace of God, nothing else. Bless God then, if he's come
and touched our hearts and made us willing to be a true follower
of a despised and crucified man, looking forward to the end of
the road, when by his grace we shall be gathered together in
glory to view the Saviour and to sing his praises forever and
ever and to rejoice with the whole family of God who've all
been moulded by the good hand of God and be made fit for their
eternal state. Oh, blessed be God. We have such
a kind and gracious God who does not deal with us as our sins
deserve, but deals with us in love to our souls and gives us
faith to believe that as for God, his way is perfect. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherd strive the potchers
of the earth, shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it,
what makest thou? Or to thy work, who hath no hands? Amen.