Now would you open your Bibles
with me to Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. Now as you
know from our bulletin and the announcements that tonight we're
going to recognize three young people, our high school graduates,
and give them our prayers and our encouragement as they go
on with their lives and whatever path that that is ordained for
them and and in this sense as they choose and I always like
to bring a message for our young people on these occasions and
I was telling somebody last week is you know we've been going
through the book of Jeremiah and And here we are at chapter
18. It just so happened to fall that
way. And I can't think of a better
passage of scripture to talk to not only our young people
but to all of us concerning a lesson here on the issue of the potter
and the clay. This is a lesson, I believe,
that the sooner we learn it, the more we'll be inspired by
God to seek the Lord. And to find Him according to
His purpose and will. We know God is a God of purpose.
No accidents with God. This is a message on the sovereignty
of God. It's not an easy subject. It's
clear in the scripture. There's no argument about that.
But I say it's not an easy subject because man is totally inadequate
to answer it or to explain it. He cannot get his mind around
it. And man by nature in his sinful state, it's all of us
by nature, will not accept and receive the biblical answers.
In fact, if you really want to see the biblical answer to what
man sees as the dilemma It's really no dilemma
at all but as man sees as the dilemma between what we call
the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man And both
things are true It would be in that portion of scripture that
I read in the opening of the Service tonight Romans 11. Oh
the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God How
unsearchable are his judgments? and his ways past finding out.
And then he says, who hath known the mind of the Lord? Do you
know the mind of the Lord? I'll tell you what we know of
the mind of the Lord. We know what God lets us in on,
don't we? We know what he tells us, what
he reveals to us. That's why we love his word.
That's why one of our greatest desires for you young people
is that you will be given a love for, a value for the Word of
God. The psalmist asked, wherewith
shall a young man cleanse his way? That is, by taking heed
to the Word of God. Well, who hath known the mind
of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor, his advisor? I hear some of these preachers
sometimes, and they act like they're God's advisor. They don't
advise God. They don't even know God. Then
he says this, or who hath first given to him and it shall be
recompensed unto him again. God doesn't obligate himself
to us in any way, shape, form or fashion. Then it says here's
the answer, everything. For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Now that's
the biblical answer. We'll see that in other passages
of scripture. But Jeremiah was taught this lesson, he knew it.
But look here at Jeremiah 18. It says, The word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, this is God's word, Arise
and go down to the potter's house, a person who makes pottery. That
was a big business back then. And there I will cause thee to
hear my words, that is at the potter's house. And then I went
down to the potter's house, Jeremiah responded in obedience. And behold,
he wrought or he worked a work on the wheels. That's the potter's
wheel. And it says in verse 4, And the
vessel that the potter was making, that he made of clay, was marred
in the hand of the potter. Now do you notice that? 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? Now this tells you who the potter
and who the clay is. Potter is God Almighty. You see,
this is what he's talking about. The clay here, this lump of clay
represents the house of Israel. a sinful people. They're marred
in the potter's hand. That's what that's talking about.
In other words, it wasn't outside the realm of the potter that
this marring took place or that it happened. It wasn't an accident.
This was for the purpose of the potter's clay and making this
clay. So he says, cannot I do with
you as this potter? He says, saith the Lord, behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in mine hand,
O house of Israel. It's one of the greatest lessons
that any sinful fallen human being can learn is that God is
everything and we are nothing. And when we learn this as taught
by the Spirit of God, we'll seek the Lord and find him. And we'll
find our destiny and our purpose in His glory revealed in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 7. He says, at
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom
to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. See, this
is all the purpose of God. This is all the sovereignty of
God. Now he says in verse 8, if that nation against whom I
have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil
that I thought to do unto them. Now this is not God changing
his mind, it's just showing the responsibility of man to obey
God. That word repent is relent. And
these people were under that conditional covenant, we know
that. And anytime a covenant with God,
covenant blessing, salvation is conditioned on the sinner,
then that covenant is a failure. That's in the purpose of God
too. We'll see that in just a moment. Verse 9, he says, and at what
instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom
to build and to plant it. If it do evil in my sight, that
it obey not my voice, then I will relent, repent of the good wherewith
I said I would benefit them. And of course we know the history
of Israel. They did not repent. That's man by nature. We will
not repent. Now you say, but I will. Well,
you're better than them. Why don't you just say it that
way? Wear your sign on your shirt. Say, I'm better than them. You
know better than that. You know that's not the case.
You know if it's not for the sovereign grace of God and salvation
through the Lord Jesus Christ, none of us would be saved. None
of us would be blessed eternally. Well, look at verse, and then
this clay, the house of Israel, this potter, God Almighty, the
wheels represent that turning is God's purpose and plan revealed
in His providence, all the circumstances and experiences human beings
go through as God works all things after the counsel of His own
will. Let me ask you a question. Who determined that you would
be born who you are, what you are, where you are, under the
parents you have? Who determined that? Was that
your choice? No. God did that. That's the
potter. You're the clay. God is absolutely
sovereign over all people, all things, all events. He has declared
the end from the beginning. And I've always told you about
that now. When you read that scripture, we'll read it in just
a moment, that He declares the end from the beginning, that's
an amazing thing. You can't do that. I can't do
that. Now, I can declare the beginning
from the end. I can see and proclaim the beginning
from the end. I know how today started. I don't
know how today's going to end up. But God declares the end
from the beginning. That's what that means. Why?
Because He's determinate. It's all by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. You know where I got those words
I just said? I got them from the Bible. I didn't get them
from philosophy. Didn't get them from a round
table discussion or what do they call those things? A think tank
or something. No, it came from God's Word.
God's Word. Absolutely sovereign. We are
in God's hands to do with us whatever He sees fit, whatever
He sees good and whatever He sees fair and just and wise.
And everything He does is fit, good, fair, just and wise. You
say, well, I don't believe that. Well, you don't believe the Bible.
You don't believe in the God of this book. Look over at Romans
chapter 9. Now, Jeremiah is dealing with
his nation in his day. And as I've told you, Jeremiah,
he prophesied somewhere around 500 years, maybe a little more
than that, before the coming of Christ into the world. And
he was preaching as God's prophet to a rebellious, sinful, unbelieving,
idolatrous nation. That nation is a picture of man
by nature, all of us by nature. And he preached to them the gospel,
the coming of the Messiah. God, who purposed it from the
very beginning, would carry it out. He would save his people
from their sins. through Christ whom Jeremiah
identifies in various ways and one of the main ways is Jehovah
Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness. Because it was clear from the
old covenant law that in order for a sinner to be saved, righteousness
must be established. In order for you or me to be
saved, we must have righteousness. We don't have it by nature. We
don't have it by practice. We don't have it in ourselves.
It's just not there. And that includes the best of
us as well as the worst of us. Now, we can easily see by nature
that the worst of us don't have righteousness. But what about
the best of us? What about Christ standing on
the mount, preaching that sermon saying, unless your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall
in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, where are we
going to find one if they don't have it? They don't have it. Where are we going to find it?
They were the most dedicated, religious, moral people on earth.
They studied the scriptures. They worshipped. They did more
than anybody was required to do. And they didn't make it. Well, where are we going to find
it? Well, Jeremiah told them, only in Christ. But so, Jeremiah
is talking to his generation, and as I said, the potter is
God Almighty, the clay is Israel, but Paul takes the same thought
from Jeremiah, and he expands it to the whole human race, in
Romans 9. And he's talking about the sovereign
God of election. He first talks about here, about
Jacob and Esau. And he says in verse 10, Look
at verse 10 of Romans 9. Not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the
children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil. Now this dispels the idea that God looked down through
a telescope of time and foresaw what they would do, because it
says before they'd done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. God's sovereign electing grace.
He said, It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Both Jacob and Esau were sinners now. Both deserved and earned
God's hatred, but God singled out Jacob for mercy. Now why
didn't He single out Esau? Don't know. That's God's purpose.
Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Who's been his, all right,
you advise God who he should choose. Well, you don't know
any better. Why should he choose any of us? The only answer the
Bible gives is what Christ said in Matthew chapter 11. He said,
for so father, it seemed good in thy sight. But look at verse
14. He says, what shall we say then?
Now, how are we going to answer this thing? I had a lady send
me a book. by a fella who claims to be a
Christian. He's a noted, he's what they
call a noted Christian scholar. And his whole book was refuting
exactly what I'm preaching to you tonight. And it was uncanny
because I just thought, well, I'll look at it. I used to be
into that. The way I discovered that it
was biblical truth was going into the Bible trying to prove
it wrong. That's the way I found it. And so I said, well, I'll
just look at the book. It almost reads like the objections
that Paul the apostle anticipates right here in this chapter. Because
the questions that the man was struggling with was the same
questions that Paul anticipated here. Listen to verse 14. What shall we say then? Well,
man has basically three ways of dealing with God's sovereignty
and man's responsibility. The first way is the most popular
way. He just simply denies God's sovereignty
and exalts man. They call that free willism or
whatever. And it's what he does. That's
a denial of the God of this book. Just deny God's sovereignty and
exalt man's free will. Exalt man's good. He's got a
spark of good. We just gotta fan it. That's
the most popular way. That's an unbiblical way. The
second way is that he exalts God's sovereignty, and I'll say
you can't do that enough, but he denies man's responsibility.
And there's a few who do that. But the third way is the only
biblical way. And that is to recognize that
God's word teaches both. We can't explain it, don't need
to. We just bow down and say, oh
Lord, Be merciful to me, the sinner. Now that's the biblical
way. That's the way it's in this book.
So what are we going to say? How are we going to answer these
things? Well, the first objection, is there unrighteousness with
God? Well, is God unjust? Is he not? Well, he says, God
forbid. God, there is no unrighteousness
with God. He saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. That's what he's telling Jeremiah.
He says, Jeremiah, have not I, have not I the right as the potter
to do with this clay as I see fit and just and right and good
for my glory? Does God have that right? Well,
how many times have you heard me say, take your next breath.
That's a gift from God. Now, does he have that right?
You bet he does. He says in verse 16, now here's
the conclusion, so then it's not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, salvations
of the Lord in Christ. And then he says verse 17, for
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this purpose, 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. That's why Pharaoh
was Pharaoh. That's why he was raised up.
God did not inject into Pharaoh's heart a principle or desire for
evil. He just simply left him to himself.
But it was for the purpose of God that God might be glorified
in the redemption of his people out of that bondage. And so verse
18, he says, therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have
mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Verse 19, thou wilt say then
unto me, why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his
will? This is God's sovereign will, his sovereign purpose that
cannot be resisted. So here's the next objection.
Well, how can he find fault? How can he hold me accountable
then? Well, here's the answer. Here's the biblical answer, verse
20. Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Bill
read it in Isaiah 45. Woe to them that strive with
their maker. Who art thou to reply against
God? Who do you think you are? That's what the Holy Spirit is
indicating here. 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, that's
a key thing. We all come from the same lump.
Sinful, fallen, ruined man. But God Almighty has the power
over that clay to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. That's His power. That's His
prerogative. That's God. And he says in verse
22, What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power
known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted made
up to destruction? Now people object to that, but
I'm just reading the scripture to you. And then he says in 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. See now, this is not just about
Israel. But he says, but also of the Gentiles. God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. We'll look back at Jeremiah 18.
Now Israel was unrepentant. But look at verse 11. He says,
now therefore go to, this is telling Jeremiah, now here's
what you do. You've seen this lesson of the
potter and the clay. God's in control. Now therefore
go to, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against
you. Now the evil there is talking
about God's wrath upon them. It's not an evil act in that
sense. It's like what you read there
in Isaiah 45 when God said, I create evil. That's not talking about
sin. That's talking about the evil things that befall men as
God's judgment against sin. And he says, I frame evil against
you and devise a device against you. Return ye now everyone from
his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. Now, I
dealt a little bit with this this morning. He said, make your
ways and your doings good. Now, how is that possible? Jeremiah
had already said over here in Jeremiah 13 and verse 23, he
said, can the Ethiopian change his skin? No, he's made that
way. That's what he is by nature. Could the leopard change his
spots? No, he's made that way. He's that by nature. What are
we? He says, then may you also do good that are accustomed to
do evil. We're born in sin. We're born
dead in trespass. How can we do any good that is
according to God's standard of goodness? And listen to me. We
need to learn what God's standard of goodness is, not man's. Man's
standard is way lower than what God's standard is. So he says, make your ways and
your doings good. Well, how could these people,
how could sinners make our ways and our doings good? How is that
possible? Well, that whole covenant that
they were under gives them the answer. The Ten Commandments
given to expose their sin and their depravity and the impossibility
of salvation or being justified before God based on their best
efforts to keep the law can't happen. By deeds of law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But then Jeremiah kept talking
about the throne of the Lord. Back over in chapter 17 and verse
12, he spoke of a glorious high throne. From the beginning is
the place of our sanctuary. He speaks of the sanctuary quite
often. He speaks of the Lord as the
hope of Israel. What's he referring to? He's
referring to that mercy seat in the temple where the blood
of the lamb was brought by the high priest and sprinkled, which
is a type and a picture of salvation, of blessedness, of justification,
of sanctification, of forgiveness, of righteousness by one person,
God in human flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other
way. He is, how do I make, my ways
are evil ways by nature. My ways are ways that exalt me,
you see, and glorify me. That's not God's ways. That's
an evil way. That's a way of unbelief. What's God's way? Christ
said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. You want to see the goodness
of God coming? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. You say, well, now God's sovereign.
What if He didn't choose me? That's not your business. And
I'll tell you something. There's a verse, you mark this
down. I've got it marked in my Bible. This is a verse that when
I was, when I was striving with my Maker in an unbelieving, unregenerate
state, when I was trying to prove God wrong, I thought I was trying
to prove a man wrong, but I was really trying to prove God wrong.
This verse came and hit me right between the eyes. It's Deuteronomy
29.29. And what's happening here is
Moses is reading the law of God to the people of Israel before
they go over into the promised land, and he shows them the reality
of God's sovereignty and God's purpose, God's will. And he concludes
his reading, or part of his reading, with verse 29 of Deuteronomy
29. And here's what he says. Now you listen to this very well.
You young people, this would be a good rule for you to live
by. I know, and here's what I'm saying. I believe that everything
that happens is by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. I cannot explain that to you. I cannot reason with you
on that, and I'm not even going to try. But I know that God has
let us in on some things, and here's what He says. He says
the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Now those are
the things that God hasn't told us. The things that God hasn't
revealed to us. The secret things. They belong
unto the Lord. They don't belong to you. You're trying to figure
them out, but you see the problem is the reason you can't figure
them out and the reason I can't figure them out, they don't belong
to us. Your mind can't get into those
things. They don't belong to you. Paul
said in 1 Corinthians 2 this way, the spirit of a man knows
what's in a man because that's what he is. And the only way
you are going to know anything about God is the Spirit of God
reveals Him. And the natural man won't receive
the things of the Spirit of God. He has to be born again. He has
to be given a new heart, a new mind. But the secret things belong
to God. They don't belong to you. They
don't belong to me. I know right now that nothing that happens
tomorrow will take God by surprise. Do you believe that? And I've told you this, God is
no chess player. He's not up there making his
counter moves when you make your move. Changing his plan. And salvation is not God's plan
B. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. This salvation by God's sovereign
grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
You say, well how do you reconcile? I don't reconcile at all. That's
not my business. The secret things belong unto
the Lord. Now look at the rest of the verse. He says, but those
things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever
that we may do also the words of this law. Now that's the revealed
thing. Those are the revealed commandments
of God. The revealed truth of God that
he's led us in on. You say, well I don't know if
I'm one of God's elect or not. That's not your business. You
know what your business is? Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. That's what he
says. Now let me show you that. Look
back here at Jeremiah 18. Verse 11, he says, Now therefore
go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against
you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now every one
from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. That
means to seek the Lord in Christ. That means, that's believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's talking about.
That's the only way we're going to find good, is to find it in
Christ. Isn't that right? The only way
I'm going to be forgiven and washed clean from all my sins
is by the blood of Christ. The only way I'm going to find
goodness and righteousness and holiness and perfection is in
Christ. Nowhere else can it be found
in God's sight on this earth. Nowhere else. Alright? Verse 12. And they said, well
there's no hope. But we'll walk after our own
devices and we'll everyone Do the imagination of his evil heart.
Now there's the natural reasoning of man in light of the sovereignty
of God. How many times have you all had
people say, well, if that's true, then it doesn't matter what I
do. I'm just going to go out here and live it up. I don't
have to go to church. I don't have to hear the gospel.
I don't have to seek knowledge. There's no hope. That's the way
man reasons, you see. That's the sinful reasoning of
the natural man. in light of the sovereignty of
God. So he says in verse 13, Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Ask you now among the heathen, Who hath heard such things? The
virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. God's chaste
people have committed spiritual adultery and gone after idols.
That's what he's talking about. He commanded them not to. Think about Joseph. Remember
the story of Joseph? His brothers with wicked, evil
minds and hearts hated him and sold him into slavery. Do you
know that was determined by God before the foundation of the
world? You say, well, how can that be? Is God the author of
sin? No, he's not. But you know what Joseph said
when he confronted his brothers in the end? You can read about
it in Genesis 49 and 50. He said, don't worry about it. He said, you meant it for evil. You are held accountable. God's
revealed word to you was thou shalt love thy brother. Thou
shalt not steal. Thou shalt love your brother
as yourself. You meant it for evil. But God
meant it for good. To save much people alive. You
say, how do you figure that? I don't figure it at all. That's
God's business. How about you? I look at it now
in a way I've never looked at it before God revealed it to
me and that's what a God we worship. How awesome He is. Oh, the depth
of the riches of His glory and His grace. And that's the same
thing with the death of Christ. Peter told him in Pentecost,
he said, you took him with wicked hands, crucified and slain him,
but you did no more than what God foreordained to be done. Why? For the salvation of his
people. Look at verse 14, will a man
leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field?
Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place
be forsaken? And what he's saying there is
in light of the fact that God is sovereign in creation, sovereign
in providence, sovereign in salvation, sovereign in all things, does
that mean that you don't have a mind to think and to do what
you know is right? Are you going to leave the flowing
waters and come to a place that's forsaken? Are you going to tempt
God? The day and the time of your
death is appointed. Are you going to go out there
and stand in the middle of 13th street and dare the car to hit
you? No. That's stupid. Isn't that right?
No, you're going to act on the things that God has given you
in your mind. And yet you know. that the day
and time of your death is appointed, and you can't do anything about
it. Now that's right. And he goes on, he said, because
my, verse 15, because my people have forgotten me, they have
burned incense to vanity, that's their false worship, they've
caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths,
to walk in paths in a way not cast to make their land desolate
and a perpetual hissing, that is a perpetual point of ridicule,
Everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished and wag his
head, that is, ridicule them. I will scatter them as with the
east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and
not the face in the day of their calamity." They're going to be
held accountable for their sins against God. I want to show you
one more verse and then I'm going to conclude. Look at Isaiah chapter
46. And I want you to look at verse
9. Now here's the perfect example of what I was talking about.
The secret things belong to God. They don't belong to you. They
don't belong to me. The revealed things belong to
us. Look at verse 9. God speaking 700 years before
Christ and through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 46.9, he says,
remember the former things of old, for I'm God and there's
none else. I'm God, there's none like me. He says, declaring the
end from the beginning. That's that verse I mentioned
earlier. That's the sovereignty of God. And from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand.
Now God's counsel is based on his wisdom and knowledge because
of his determination. How do you know? He says, I will
do all my pleasure. I'll do everything I want to
do. Now, I can't say that. But God can. He said, I'll do
everything I want to do. And then he says, calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far
country. I won't go into all that, but
that's a prophecy. And he says, Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Remember old Nebuchadnezzar said
none can stop him and say unto him what did, or even question
him. Now, how should we react to that truth? Well, if that's
true, then let's just go do what we want to do. Don't worry about
it. No, now listen. Look at verse 12. Hearken unto
me, ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. Stout-hearted
means proud. Self-righteous. Far from righteousness. We don't have it. There's none
righteous. No, not one. I bring near my righteousness.
God's righteousness. That's what we need. The righteousness
of God. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Christ here.
The Lord Jesus Christ. It shall not be far off. What
he's saying there is, you see, false religion teaches man to
work for righteousness, to try to establish his own, and that
righteousness is always something down the road or far off. I might
get there. I hope I get there before I go
to be judged. I hope I make it. And some people
think they have made it, but then something happens, and they
lose their temper, and then they lose it all, so they got to go
back again. That's false religion, isn't it? Well, this righteousness
shall not be far off. And my salvation shall not tarry.
This is not anything you have to wait on. In other words, it's
not anything you have to get better to achieve. He says, and
I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Talking
about his spiritual Israel. What's he talking about? This
is Christ. And I want everybody to know from God's word that
he's in control. He's never left his throne. He
didn't wind this thing up and leave and then come back and
see how things are going. He's sovereign in all things.
What should we do? Seek the Lord. Trust Christ for
all salvation. I put a little thing in the bulletin,
and I meant this for the graduates, but it's for everybody, where
it talks about how Enoch walked with God. I thought I put it
in the bulletin. I got it covered up. It says,
the Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God. And this is
for everybody, but for our young people, I'll tell you, it's our
prayer for each one of you that by the grace of God in Christ,
you'll follow Enoch's footsteps, walking with God by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ and in the light of his word of truth.
You can read the rest of that article. But listen, there's
no hope for any of you or any of us apart from God's grace
in Christ. Is that right? Okay.