Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Romans chapter 9. Again, as I mentioned earlier,
that we've been doing our study in the book of Acts and looking
at the book of Acts and seeing God's sovereign hand at work
and moving. It's been absolutely amazing.
I've been talking to several people about it and just how
incredible it is to see our Lord at work within the within his
elect's lives and as a whole, personally and as a whole with
the church, and moving and watching over us. So Romans chapter 9
will be the first portion we'll look at. The name of the message
is called The Potter. The Potter. You know where I'm
going, brother. The Potter. Let's read from verses
15 to 25 in Romans chapter 9. Oh my. We will see God's sovereignty
here in salvation and also God's sovereignty over his people.
This is absolutely incredible. Romans chapter 9 starting in
verse 15. For he said to Moses, this is
God speaking to Moses back With Moses, Moses wanted to have a
view of God, and he said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have
mercy. Look at this. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Beloved of God, aren't you thankful you're one of the ones included
in the I will have mercy on them? And not one of the ones just
left where we were? Oh my. So then it is not of him
that willeth. See, man's will, people get this
mixed up all the time. I did before when I was in religion.
Man's will is tied to his nature. I was having a talk with a fellow
today and we were talking about Abraham. And he believed that
the Holy Spirit come upon people and left them, come upon them
and left them in the Old Testament. And we were getting down talking
about the Holy Spirit, and I said, how did Abraham believe? And
he said, well, he had faith in him. I said, how did he get that
faith? He said, well, God gave it to
him. And I said, but how did he get
it? And I said, you must be born again. He had the same faith we have,
beloved. All the Old Testament saints had the same faith we
have, the same spirit we have. Because there's one spirit, right?
One faith, one baptism, isn't there? There's not multiples.
And he's the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He only has
one Savior. That's the Son. So they were
looking to the Messiah. We look back to the Messiah.
They were looking forward to the Messiah. We look back to
the Messiah, who is Christ. Both parties looking back to
him. Right? We're looking to Him. One looking
forward to Him, the other looking back to Him. And by faith, by
God-given faith, and only because we're born again, right? We believe. So then it's not of Him that
will us. That's not based upon our will. He kept trying to say,
well, but, you know, they believe because God gave them the will,
but they believe. It was their, I said, not what
they're doing. God gave them the faith to believe, just like
he gave us the faith to believe. You must be born again. That's
a nail I'm going to just keep hammering, because that's what
our master said. It's so vital. So right here
we see, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that wretheth.
It's not your works. So it's not our will, and it's
not our works. But of God, look at this, saying
we're saved because God showed us mercy, brother. And that's
what the scriptures say, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, here we go, even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up. Who raised them up? Who raised
Pharaoh up? God. Who raises presidents up? God.
Who raises prime ministers up? God. Who puts people in authority? God. Right? Look at this. He was raised up,
Pharaoh, for this, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. We still speak
about this great delivery, don't we? From the hand of Pharaoh,
and from the Egyptians, of the Israelites. My, oh my. Look what it says. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. How does
somebody get hardened? God just leaves them in their
sin. That's all he's got to do. If he had left you and I, beloved,
in our sin, we'd be just as hard as feral, if not harder. That's humbling, isn't it? But
it's true. My. Look at this. 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?
Someone says, well, that's not fair. Who are we to reply against
God? Paul's basically saying, who
are you to reply against God? Do not reply against God. He's
God. He can crush us like a bug. Oh
my. Who art thou that replyest against
God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Oh my, hath not the potter power
over the clay, Dumas over the clay, dynamite over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor? Does not God have power to do
whatever he pleases? Right? He has the power to do
that. What if God, look at this, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?
Again, what does God have to do for a man to go to hell? Just
leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Were we
not all dead in trespasses and sins? And the only one that made
us to differ from those who are perishing in hell is God? in
his mercy and his grace? My, and the believer still lives
a life in awe, God saved me? He saved me? Me, who's deserving of hell? Yeah. Oh my, and that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which
he had afore prepared unto glory? even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith
in Osi, I will call them my people, which were not my people. We
were his people. We're Gentile dogs, beloved. My. Now we were children of heirs,
but we didn't know it, we didn't act it. We've always been his
sheep, but we didn't know it. No one else knew it either. Mine. Look what it says. I will call
them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which
was not beloved. Look at that. Zane, God calls
us his people, brother. Oh, my. Now let's go over to
Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 18. And again,
this just brings forth God's providence and sovereignty. It's just magnified and brought
forth in these portions of scriptures. Jeremiah is going to go visit
the potter's house. Look at Jeremiah 18, 1 to 6. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, arise, go down to the father's house
and I will cause thee to hear my words. Now look at that. Look
at that. Look at that. Zane, if God didn't cause us
to hear his words, we wouldn't hear nothing, would we? Isn't
that amazing? Look at that. I will cause you
to hear my words, says Jeremiah. Jeremiah is just like us. Oh, my. Oh, then I went down. He obeyed, right? He obeyed him.
Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought
a work on the wheels. So he goes to this potter's house,
and he's watching this potter, and he's working with clay. Clay mixed with sand and with
water makes it moldable, pliable. Oh my, you know when we're born
again we become pliable in the father's hands? Oh my, we're hard as granite
before that with our old heart, but we're given a new heart,
aren't we? And a new spirit. Oh my, that hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. Now look at this. The potter
just didn't put the clay on there and spin it and say, OK, you
need to become a candlestick. Or put the clay on there and
go, OK, I want you to become a pot. Go ahead and make yourself a
pot. That would be nonsensical, wouldn't
it? Look at this. 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 the clay was marred in the hand
of the potter. So he made it again. So he was
making something, and it became marred. Maybe his finger went
through the clay. Maybe it just broke down. We
don't know. But we see here it's marred.
It's marred. So he made it again, another
vessel. Look at that. He just lumped
the clay back together and made something else. Why? He's got power over that clay,
doesn't he? He can do whatever he wants. Do you know we were
hewn out of the same quarry of humanity, saved and lost, we're
hewn out of the same quarry of humanity, the same clay. God
just chooses to make one a vessel of honor and one a vessel of
dishonor. And we can't, as the things being act upon, we can't
say, well, man, why did you make me thus? No, what do we do, Zane? We go, oh my gosh. Look what
the Lord did. We were marred, weren't we? Yeah,
we were, brother. He made us new creatures in Christ,
didn't he? That's right, he made us new
creatures in Christ. We were lame from a fall. My
oh my. Look at this. And the vessel
that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter,
so he made it again, another vessel. So, seemed good to the
potter to make it. He made a new vessel because
it pleased him to do so. Sounds like what we read over
there in Romans, doesn't it? Sounds very similar. My. Then the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter? Can God not do with the clay
of humanity whatever he chooses to do? And who are we to reply
against God? Now, we don't understand it,
do we? I don't think we understand it.
We believe it because God says it, but it, you know, there's
nothing in us that God, nothing God saw in us to make us a vessel
of honor, was there? It's just because he, as we see
in the text here, just pleased him to make us that way. Why am I saved and my whole family's
lost back in Canada? Because it pleased God to do
so. I pray for them all the time that God would save them. But he can do whatever he wills. Not long ago I was talking to
someone about election and they mentioned that when you believe
then you're elected. But that's not what the scripture
says, is it? The scripture says that we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. In Ephesians chapter one, verse
four, it says this, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Now, the Greek word there for
chosen is this, to pick out. To pick out, to choose. or choose
out for oneself, we are chosen out for God's service and for
God's glory. The only reason we're saved is
to give God glory in Christ Jesus our Lord. Isn't that wonderful?
And we're in awe that he chose us, aren't we? We're in absolute
awe that he chose us. We can't totally grasp the wondrous
fact, but it's true because the scripture says it. And what a
blessed doctrine it is for the believer because we know that
we would never have chosen Christ. People say, well, you just have
to choose Christ. Well, the Bible says there's none that seek it
after God. But, but, If you're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, he'll give you faith. What do you do?
Oh, you run. You run to Christ. You're made
well. Your will says, I want Christ.
You know why? Because now you have a new nature.
And the will is governed by the nature. We would never deny that
man has a will. Of course man has a will. It's
just not free until you're saved. Do you know A.W. Pink said that?
He said, a man's will's not free until he's saved. I understand what he's saying.
Do you understand, Brother Zane? Oh yeah, now we fight against
our flesh, don't we? Oh my. But see, in our natural
state, our will's in bondage to our dead nature, and all we
desire is sin. Now, the new nature, And our
will too, our desire, now sometimes the flesh wins out, but our desire
is to never sin again. But we know we can't do that
until we get the glory. But do you grieve over your sin?
That's why. That's why we grieve over our
sin now, beloved, because we have a new nature now. And our
will is guided by that nature, but oh, the flesh, the flesh,
the flesh, right? The Canaanite, brother, remember?
When Israel went into that land, the Canaanites were still there.
Canaanite part of our, it'll raise its ugly head, won't it?
It'll be with us till the day we die. But when we get home
to heaven, there won't be any sin, sin at all. So one cannot
escape the truth of election. It's in the Bible and predestination.
They're biblical truths. Either one believes in the absolute
sovereignty of God or one doesn't. Either God's absolutely sovereign
or he's not. Now, do we know all that when
the Lord first saves us? No, we don't know all that. But
we grow to learn and to accept that, don't we? Usually when
the Lord saves us, we're just so ecstatic that he saved our
soul. But just like a little baby, right? We come to church, we feast on
the Word of God, and God, who gives the increase, brother?
God gives the increase, doesn't he? He gives the increase. And
the knowledge that we know about Christ, and I'm so thankful, brother, that
I'm not alone, that we're going to struggle till the day we die,
aren't we? Trying to just rest in Christ. Trust and rest in
Christ. But praise God, praise God we struggle. We're not where
we were. He didn't leave us where we were. Oh my, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. I don't know
why God chose me, but I know he did. Because he saved my soul. And He saved me. I do know why
He chose me. It's because it pleased Him to
do so, because there ain't nothing in me, nothing in me at all,
even now, that would even give Him anything to say, oh, I'm
not good at all. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm telling other sinners. I'm here to tell other sinners.
The Lord saved everyone who comes to Him. People get all tied up
in the elect in vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. You
know who come to Christ? The elect come to Christ. Because
they're born again in the Holy Spirit of God. Oh my. Honestly, people argue
and fight about all that stuff. Just focus on Christ. He's the issue. He's the issue. Are you in Christ or are you
out of Christ? We learn these things later on
as we grow in grace. We learn, my gosh, Lord. You, you are the one. You made
me a vessel of honor and I didn't even know it. My oh my. And we learn that our
life is in the hands of our sovereign almighty God. Oh my. Our God is glorious, beloved. And then in Isaiah 64, it says
this. But now, O Lord, thou art our
father. We are the clay, and thou art
potter. And we all are the work of thy
hand. So in Jeremiah, we see God's
sovereign over the nation. Right? Chose Israel out of all
the other nations, right? And we know not all Israel were
Israel, we know that. We know that those who were born
again were the true Israel of God. But God, out of all the other
nations of the world, that was the nation he chose. And then in Isaiah it says, but
now, O Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay, and thou art
our potter. We are all the work of thy hand.
Well, that shows us his sovereignty over our personal affairs. And then Romans 9 brings forth
the sovereignty over our salvation. I will have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. He's telling us, I'll save whom
I will. And who are we? Who are we to reply against God?
Who are we to even question God? We live in awe that he saved
us. And again, it's not of him that
runneth. It's not your works. No amount
of works that you do for God will ever make you acceptable
to God. And it's not our will, because
our will and our natural state, what do we want to do? We want
to run and be a gone Jesse, don't we? And get us far away from
God. And then, when he makes us well
and when we're born again, we want to run to Christ as fast
as possible. What changed? Who made us to
differ? God and God alone, by his almighty
power. You must be born again. You must be. And that's a work
of God the Holy Spirit. He must work in us. Oh my. Oh my. Now the work that was before
us there in Jeremiah, it says, in the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again,
another vessel. So it seemed good to the potter
to make. He had total control over that,
didn't he? The clay is inanimate. It can't do anything. It can't
form itself into a candlestick. Just like we can't make ourselves
born again by supposedly praying a prayer or doing this deed or
doing whatever this preacher tells you to do. We can never,
never regenerate ourselves. God must do that. Just like he
has the power over the clay to form it into whatever he wants,
a vessel of honor, a vessel of dishonor. He can do whatever
he wants with that for his glory and for his honor and for his
praise. He can do it all. The clay is
dead. It's lifeless. It can't form
itself into anything. It's just clay. And think of
this, the potter. I used to, in grade eight, I
got the opportunity to make a candlestick for my mom. Now, it was the funniest
looking candlestick. But to my mom, she loved it.
And I could never understand that. But now I do. Because she loved
it, because I made it for her. Isn't that amazing? And I'll
tell you what, it did not look like a candlestick. I've seen
it years later. Well, it had a little hole for
the candlestick. At least it had that. And it was a little
tall. But not much else would identify it as a candlestick.
But she had it all the time that I was down here in Oregon. And
when I went to her home after she died, it was still there.
Never got rid of it. Isn't that amazing? My oh my. And we who are God's
people, we rejoice that the potter has power over the clay. Because we had no way to make
ourselves into anything acceptable to him. And he's made us acceptable
in Christ. In Christ. I love where it says,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And look at Romans
9.22, what if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his
power known, did with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction. And then look at this in verse 23, in that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he hath before prepared unto glory. This is absolutely magnificent. The potter has absolute sovereignty
over the clay. To do whatever he wants with
it. To do whatever he wants. Romans 9.21, hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? In our text in Jeremiah there,
it was marred. He had the power to make it into
another vessel if he chooses, and he did. God can do whatever he wants.
We're his creation. Sister Diane, you said that one
time, and I loved it. You said, you know, Satan is
just a created being. He can't do anything outside
of God's permissive will. He's a created being. So are
we. We're created. The angels are just created beings.
God is over all. Satan's great sin was a narcissistic
sin. I will, I will, I will, I will,
I will. I will exalt myself over God.
He's a created being. You said, I'm gonna do this.
No, you're not. Oh, see, the Lord made all the
angels, didn't he? And here Lucifer thinks, oh,
I'm going to usurp God. No, you're not. No, you're not. God is absolutely
sovereign. He can do whatever he will. And
he's using here an example that was, back in biblical times,
they made everything with clay and the pots. They're still finding
stuff, the broken shards and stuff here, but how strong that
was. And used for thousands of years. So the clay is dead and lifeless,
and God must mold it into whatever he wants it to be. Otherwise
it will remain cold, dead clay. Right? And he has to give life. Like that message that we looked
at a while back where I said I couldn't name the message,
the God who kills people, because he's the giver of life and he's
the taker of life. He gives breath to saved and
unsaved, and he takes breath. Right? And everyone dies at God's
appointed time. And not a second later, and not
a second earlier. And we bow our knee to that as
believers. We don't always understand it,
but we bow our knee to it. But look at verse 21 of Romans
chapter 9. Hath not a potter power over
the clay? Who has the power? We're the clay, obviously. Who has the power? Amen, brother. God's got the power. He's the
potter. He can do whatever he pleases with the clay. It's dead and lifeless. He can
make it whatever. He can make one a vessel of honor. He can
make one a vessel of dishonor. He can do whatever he wants. Oh, my. And this brings forth his sovereignty.
This brings forth his sovereignty in salvation. This brings forth
his sovereignty over all things. Look at further on there. Let's
read again. Let's go back to Romans chapter
9. I want us to look at verse 15 and we'll read a couple here.
Look at this. Well, let's go a little further
up there. For this is the word, verse 9,
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 hath conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, they're in the womb, they're
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election, again, that means to pick out,
to choose, to choose for oneself, no matter what people think.
It's in the Bible, it's a Greek word. People can kick and say,
I don't believe it. Well, you're arguing with God.
You're calling God a liar then, because His word says right there,
it says right there, that before the children were even born,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, remember we saw earlier, not of the will, not of he who
runneth, that's works, not of works, but of him that calleth. Ah, it is said unto her, the
elder shall serve the younger. As is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we then say? Now people
right away, is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. People
say right away, well that's not fair. How could God love Jacob
and hate Esau? I'll tell you what, when you
figure out how God could love Jacob, You're on to something there. They're cut from the same portion
of humanity, aren't they? Oh, it's because God chose Jacob. Because he was a vessel of honor. And see, a lot of people like
to read the portion that we're reading tonight without reading
that portion up there. It all ties in, beloved. What
Paul is masterfully putting forth here, actually the Holy Spirit
is masterfully putting forth here, is that God chooses a people.
And that He has absolute sovereignty to do what He wills. And we are
receivers as believers of that blessed mercy, that blessed sovereign
mercy in Christ Jesus our Lord, who was sent to die and bleed
for our sins. He's absolutely sinless. He's
the perfect spotless lamb of God. He was sent to die for our
sins. And look what it says here. For
he said to Moses, I love this, I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. Praise God. Hallelujah, that's in scripture.
Hallelujah that he has mercy on some. And that weren't a part of that
number? Then he says I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. Mercy and compassion intertwined. Oh, he has mercy on us, doesn't
he? And it's with compassion. I have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and I have compassion on whom I have
compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that what? Showeth
mercy. We've received mercy. That's what we've received, beloved.
We've received mercy. God is showing us mercy. What
does it say about Noah? Noah found what? Grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Noah found mercy in the eyes
of the Lord, didn't he? Noah was no different than any
of the others, except God chose him. But all those who perished
in the, he's just as much of a sinner as all those who perished
in the flood. Now he was a righteous man because
he was in Christ from before the foundation of the world. But oh my, Lot. Hebrews 11 says
Lot was a righteous man. But he's in Sodom and Gomorrah
and all this stuff going on. He's right in the midst of it
all. How's sinful lot a righteous
man? Just as the same as how sinful
Wayne and sinful Zane are righteous men, right? By the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and not alone. Nothing else. Nothing else. Oh my. So we see God's sovereignty over
all things, especially our salvation. He can do whatever he wills,
beloved. In ancient Palestine, too, making
pottery was quite sophisticated with a wheel and a permanent
kilns. They have kilns to heat up and bake the pottery. And
the Old Testament word for potter is yaster, which means to mold
into form, the one who forms. See, it's God who took that lifeless
clay and formed us into a vessel of mercy. And in some he formed
into vessels of dishonor. And why? Because it pleased him
to do so. Does that not magnify the God
of our salvation? And that fact that he showed
us mercy? Mercy. Oh my. What a merciful God. And after the clay was extracted
from the ground, it was brought to the potter's shop where it
was prepared. Foreign objects would be taken
out of it, right? Stones and sticks, because that
clay would be full of stuff, wouldn't it? Little pieces of
sticks, little pieces of clay, and the potter takes all those
things out before he even works on the clay. He's taking all
these, oh, there's a jagged stone in there. Takes that, throws
it over there. Big old stick. Takes the stick out, throws it
over there. Preparing the clay. Remember, what did the seed fall
on when the sower, what did the one, the one was called what?
Good ground, brother, amen. That means prepared ground. Oh my. You're taking all them
sticks and stones out and all that stuff. My oh my. They were all removed and usually
water was added to soften the clay. It's a tempering agent
such as sand was then added to make the clay more workable,
more pliable. They could use different sands
to give it different desires that they wanted the clay to
come out with and everything. Oh, it's just amazing. It was
like a science to it. It was incredible. And depending on what he was
going to form the clay into, he would use various things. Think of that in light of God
giving us gifts. forms us into whom he wants us
to be and gives us gifts as he pleases. Every believer's got
gifts. Every believer's got gifts. Oh
my. Oh my. He gave some apostles
and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. Who makes a preacher
a preacher? God does. Who makes an evangelist
an evangelist? God does. Who makes a teacher
a teacher? God does. He does all that for
the edifying of the body of the church. And I'm talking about
within the church here. And again, the potter is absolutely sovereign
over the clay. I can't stress that enough. Well, he's pulling out all these
imperfections and things and rocks and stuff and molding it
into what he wants to mold it into. He's absolutely sovereign
over that, right to the very end. He may even put it in the kiln
and burn it in the kiln and it might come out and he goes, nah,
it's not what I wanted. And he even has the power to
destroy that pottery. You can do whatever you want.
It's his. The potter owns it. Oh, beloved. God owns everyone. And he can do whatever he wills
with the clay. What a picture we have of God's
absolute sovereignty. And he chose a people in eternity
to make them vessels of honor in Christ. That's the key, in
Christ. There's no vessel of honors outside
of Christ. None at all. And when the clay was properly
prepared, the potter was ready to form the vessels that he did. This he did on a potter's wheel.
In biblical times, I found out that it was called a double wheel
or a kick wheel. When I was using mine where they
had a kick wheel, you go like this with your foot and spun
that, spun the flat portion where you put the clay on and you add
water and all that and it spins around like crazy. But the spinning
speed could be regulated by your foot, a foot pedal. And then they had a flywheel
which turned on a stone bearing many of which they found in ancient
excavations and things, so there's proof of these. It was placed
in a shallow pit in the floor of the potter's workshop and
the shaft was attached to the top of the flywheel. And at the
end of the shaft was a small wooden round platform or stone. When we did it in grade eight,
it was a stone. It was a stone that was there,
and it spun around. And as I said, you regulated
it with your foot. They had water running all the
time. But in these days, they didn't have that. So they'd have
to pour water on it as they're molding the clay into whatever
they wanted to mold it to. And that's what the potter worked
upon. He placed the clay on the platform by turning the platform
by the kick wheel. And that lump of clay on the
platform spun, started to spin. And then he could form or throw
a pot by guiding the clay with his fingers and allowing the
centrifugal force to aid in shaping that into a symmetrical vessel,
whatever he wanted to shape it into. And these guys, these folks,
they were experts at this, masters at doing this. And they added
water as they needed to mold it more, they would add water
to it and they'd be able to mold it even more. My, oh, my. And they would form it into whatever
they wanted, whatever it pleased them to do. What a picture of
how God forms and makes us. And now we
see, in light of the Lord's words, without me you can do nothing.
We're just a lump of clay. We can't do anything. We just sit there and spin on
the wheel, not even do nothing. But when the hands of the master starts to form us, make us into
what he wills, and then he brings this pot off, and it's usually
on a stick, and they break it off from the stick, and they
put it in the kiln. And that kiln, like the trials
of our lives, hardens that pottery. And it comes out a beautiful
vessel. My, what our homecoming will
be like. Lord says, that's mine. He's
mine. She's mine. Oh my, we're God's workmanship,
aren't we? Just like it says in Ephesians.
We're God's workmanship, beloved. The clay can't do nothing. But oh, we are, do you know right
now, we're God's workmanship. He's forming us, do you know
what he's doing? He's conforming us to the image of Christ right
now. Isn't that amazing? He's making us into what he wants
us to be. And there's going to be a day
when he's all done chipping away at us. Remember the stones made
ready? All the stones were formed way
off the temple site. And then when they were brought
to the temple, they fit in perfectly. That's UI. It's wonderful. Oh, my. And once fired in a kiln, the
pottery is virtually indestructible, one commentator said, unless
intentionally ground up. The remains of some of the pottery,
which were made in antiquity, we now find broken. But there's
still pieces of it with us today. And again, the pottery being
hardened, baked in the kiln is just a picture of us going through
trials in this life. Going through trials in this
life. Job says this, Behold, I am according to thy wish, and
God's dead. I also am formed out of the clay.
Isn't that amazing? Brother Zane, we were dead, lifeless
clay. And God formed us into who we
are. We had no idea we were vessels of honor. People might have looked at us
and said, there's no hope for those fellows. I heard someone
say, the other day I heard someone say, they were talking about
someone and they said, well, there's no hope for that guy.
And I said, well, the Lord saved me and you profess to be saved,
so there's still hope. As long as he's breathing his
breath, there's still hope. And then when someone dies, as
we've talked about before, God will do what's right. We don't
have to worry about it. We don't have to stress about
it. God will do what's right. He'll do what's right. But just be amazed. If you're
one of God's people, if you're redeemed, just be amazed that
you are a vessel of honor. Look at this in Romans 9.21,
it says this, hath not the potter power over the clay, the same
lump to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor.
Now the Greek word for power there is actually the same word
that was used in John 17.2, in our study in John 17, is thou
has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him. The underlying Greek word
is this, power of choice. Power of choice. Look at that. Hath not the father
power of choice over the claim? Wow! That's amazing, isn't it? And then it also means this.
Liberty of doing as one pleases. Liberty of doing as one pleases.
Freedom to do whatever he wants. God is free to do whatever he
wants. My, and this is physical or mental
power, it's both. The ability or strength with
which one is endured with, which he possesses or exercises. So
we could never choose God in our natural state. God makes
us willing in the day of his power. We're born again. We're
given faith to believe. Now we're given the ability to
flee to Christ. Why do people want to rob God
of his glory? Why do people want to say, oh,
it's my free will. It's my will. Why can't we just say what the
Bible says? It's not of him that will. It's
not of him that runneth. But it's God that shows mercy.
because people want something to do. They want something to
brag about. They want to be able to say, I did this. When God's
people, we say, I was just a dead lump of clay. And the only way Abraham believed
and the only way I believed was we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And the only way every one of God's people believe
is we're born again with the Holy Spirit of God, given faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because the father has
power. over the clay to do whatever
he pleases. Oh my. And the power that God
has, remember, is divine power. He's the master potter. He's
the master potter. And he has the ability and he
has the right and he has authority to do whatever he pleases. He's the creator of all things,
isn't he? He spoke the world into existence. Oh. We're God's workmanship. Just
think about that this week. Meditate on that. We're God's
workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus. Where did the Lord find us? We
were dead. We were deaf. We didn't have
eyes to see him. We didn't have ears to hear him.
He caused us to hear, beloved. I said, God, today, he said,
well, God will never violate someone's free will today. So
I said, you know what? I said, did God violate Paul's
free will? Did Paul exercise his free will
and say, look, hold on, God. I know you knocked me off my
horse. But hold on a second. I have
to think about this for a minute. No, Paul said, Lord, Lord. And I said to this fellow,
I said, if God doesn't intervene in your life, you'll never be
saved. It's true. Praise God for his
intervention in our lives. Because we never would have chose
him. We never would have sought him. We would have went on thinking
we were gaining merit and favor with God, and be worshiping the
imaginary God of our imagination that's our beck and call, and
never knowing the one true living God. But praise God, he gave
us ears to hear. We were blind to him and his work.
Now we see, and now we give him reverence, don't we? We were
deaf to his precious, precious word, and now his honey to our
souls. We were blind to the Savior and
his mighty work of redemption. But now we say, Lord, praise
your mighty name for saving my soul, for shedding your precious
blood to redeem my eternal soul. I can't do nothing without you,
Lord. And you did it all. You saved me. And I tell you,
he'll save all who come to God through him. He not turned away
anyone, has he, that's ever come to him. Never. We're living proof
of that, brothers. Sisters, we're living proof of
that. We're living proof that God won't turn away sinners who
come to him. And praise God, we were made willing in the day
of God's power. Praise God, we're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. Oh, isn't it wonderful? Let us rejoice this week. Let
us meditate upon this blessed truth that the potter has all
power over the clay. And we were but dead, lifeless
clay. And he's, I'll tell you one,
he's conforming us now to the image of his son. Oh, we've been
born again. We've been given faith to believe
and rest and trust in the perfect, sin-atoning work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we just say glory to his
name. And saying, one day, One day we're going to see him face
to face, brother. One day we're going to glorify him without
sin. Oh, how glorious that'll be.
Can you close us in prayer, Brother Zane?