Well, let me second what Brother
Fred said. It is a privilege to be here. I tell you, the more I come to
understand this thing of preaching, the more I begin to feel that
weight of responsibility involved in it. And the more I see His
grace in ordaining the means of it, and the more I see what
a privilege it is to hear. For me too. For me too. I'd like for you to turn with
me this evening to Romans chapter 9, I want to talk to you a little
while this evening about the potter's vessels. The epistle of Romans was written
by a man named Paul. He always tells us that name
when he starts his epistle. And it was written by this man
called Paul. And Paul, who now held, he always
identifies himself as the Apostle Paul, or Paul the Apostle. And
Paul, who now held the highest office in the church, and by
whose hand, most people are ignorant of this, but by whose hand nearly
half of the New Testament was written, had his beginning not as Paul,
but as Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus
was a devout Jew. He was born of religious parents. He was circumcised, the scripture
says, on the eighth day according to the letter of the law. He
was of the tribe of Benjamin, a true son of Abraham. He was
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, this by his own mouth. I was a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, meaning that he was not average. He was not
your average Jew, but that he excelled above all his brethren. Touching the law, he was a Pharisee. He was a lawyer. This man was
a doctor of the law. He was a master theologian. What a contradiction in terms.
A master theologian. And the Pharisees, they were
the strictest sect of the Jews. A separatist from the world. And his zeal was manifested in
his public persecution of any and all who set themselves in
opposition to his way of religion. Most folks are hypocrites who
practice religion. And Paul was, you and I are.
But Paul was no hypocrite when it come to persecution. He believed
in his religion. He believed in his theology.
He was strong in it. And as far as outward obedience
to the law was concerned, he said, I was blameless. Blameless. Saul of Tarsus was a champion
of religion. He was on his way to becoming
the Billy Graham of the Jews. He was a great man. He was recognized
as a great man. In the midst of his religious
heyday, on his way to the top, God brought this proud, arrogant,
self-made man down to the dust. Unhorsed him off that white charger
and put his face in the dirt. He made him to know that he was
nothing before God. He made him to see that all his
righteousnesses were as filthy rags. He made him to see that
all he called zeal was just a disguise for his rebellion. He made him
to know that his theology was idolatry and his worship blasphemy. He made this man Saul of Tarsus
to know that his relationship to Benjamin and Abraham meant
nothing to God. That he was at his best state
altogether, altogether vanity, vanity. That he had a nature
of sin which plagued his heart and mind, a nature of sin as
confining as any prison. Like chains of darkness, they
bound him and held him and sin was not just an evil influence
around Paul anymore, it was a nature reigning within him, controlling
him, causing him to have such thoughts as he had, causing him
to reason the way he reasoned. And this man, this proud, religious,
Man, this man who stood head and shoulders above all the Jews
cried, old wretched man that I used to be. That's not what
he said. Old wretched man that I am. In his own words, He said, when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, to
reveal His Son in me, and He called me by His grace. Do you
know anything about that? Huh? Salvation is of the Lord. Oh, how quickly we forget. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is not making up your
mind to do better. That's not salvation. It's not quitting some bad habits
and changing your lifestyle. It's not turning over a new leaf.
It's God laying the axe to the root. If you have a new leaf, it's
because you're of God's planting. You got a whole new tree. That's the only way you can turn
over a new leaf. Every plant that my Heavenly Father has not
planted is going to be rooted up. Isn't that what they say? Salvation is a resurrection from
the dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead. dead in trespasses and sins.
Salvation is receiving the power of God to become sons of God. Salvation is a divine revelation
that opens the heart and mind to see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ, the Lord. It's to see Him as the one mediator
between God and men. It's to see Him as God's appointed
high priest entering into heaven itself by His own blood and obtaining
eternal redemption for us. It's to see Him as the substitute
of God's elect, bearing their sins in His own body on the tree.
It's to see Him and to see Him alone as the way. We don't know
the way. We don't know where you're going.
He said, I am the way. You know the way. Oh my soul, he is the way, the
truth, and the life. It's to see him as the fulfillment
of every Old Testament type, the end of the law for righteousness,
who is the firstborn of many brethren. Salvation is of the Lord, of
the Lord. Nowhere in the scriptures is
God's sovereignty declared clearer than in Romans chapter 9. And
nowhere in the scripture is a man's burden for lost sinners poured
out as it is in Romans chapter 9. This man whom God saved, this
old proud Pharisee, that God took and stuck his face in the
dust, who now knows God as the sovereign God. Hear this man speak of his brethren. I wish that myself were accursed
for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Oh, what
a burden this man had. Well, I thought Sovereign Grace
preachers, I thought they was hard and cold. That's not Sovereign
Grace. That's not Sovereign Grace. Sovereign
Grace melts the heart of stone, turns it to liquid. Oh, I had a heart hard as plant. God turned that heart to jello. The potter's vessels. The Lord
God in this chapter is likened unto a great potter. A great
potter. Get the picture. Get the picture. This is God. This is the sovereign
God. And here he likens him unto a
great potter. And this potter takes some clay
into his hands and he puts it upon the wheel and he begins
to make some vessels. He's not spinning this wheel
at random. He don't just spin the wheel
to see what turns out. He doesn't spin his wheel at
random. He's not spinning his wheel without
purpose or goal. He's the potter. He's the potter. And what he has upon his wheel
is of no value unless he puts his hands upon it. What he has upon his wheel has
no purpose unless he gives it one. What he has upon his wheel
has no future, if he don't promise it once. And what he has upon
his wheel has no glory about it, unless he afore prepares
it unto glory. God is the potter, we are the
clay. When God formed man, he took
of the dust of the ground, and he formed man. And he breathed
into him the breath of life. Who did that? God did that. I'm a self-made man. Let me tell
you what you are. You're a liar. That's what you
are. God took the dust. Ain't much
in that dust to glory in, is there? He took the dregs. He
took the dust. And he formed the highest of
the living mammals on this earth out of dust. And he breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. So then let this be
established first. God's the potter. Now you take
time. I can't read this whole chapter
to you. I'm preaching on the first 26 verses here. And I'll
just give you an assignment. You go home tonight and read
this chapter through. And Paul the apostle, he goes
way back here and he starts right where God found him as a Jew. And he tells you that the hope
of these Jews, He said, this doesn't make the
word of God without effect. If that's what you think, because
I was a Jew and because they're Jews and they rejected Christ.
No, he said, this is all in the purpose of God. And he goes down
and begins to show you that God's Jews are spiritual Jews. There's
an Israel, a spiritual Israel. And then he goes on to tell you
that God, here's twin boys, they hadn't done any good or any evil
that the purpose of God according to election might stand. He said
to the one, the elder is gonna serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. This is God we're talking about.
This is God we're talking about. And they gloried in Moses, and
Paul said, well, when Moses asked God to declare his glory to him,
the God of glory said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
I'll have compassion on whom I'm God. I'm the potter, you're
the vessel. And if I wanna make a chamber
pot out of one, it'd be all right, it'd be all right. And if I want
to make a Ming vase out of one and set him on a mantle, that'd
be all right too. I'm the potter. I'm the potter. So let that be established first.
God is the potter and he, and he alone, are you listening to
me, has power over the clay. Let me tell you what I can do
with clay. Nothing. Nothing. You wouldn't want the
best of life spin on my wheel. I can't do anything with clay.
Clay is just clay. It just lays there. And I can
shape it, and I can mold it, and I can pull it, and it don't
look like anything. The potter, he and he alone has power
over the clay. The clay is but a lump in the
potter's hands. And then secondly, the potter
makes some vessels. Romans 9.21, look at this. He said in the second part of
this verse, of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor. Now I'm gonna tell you something. There's not a man among us that
fully understands what this verse says. There's not a theologian
I ever read that could fully enter into what he's telling
us in this verse. But all his elect know it so. You have to read it and say amen,
don't you? He says of these vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction, Back in the Old Testament, he said, surely
your turning of things upside down. He's talking about vessels
of wrath now. Surely your turning of things
upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. Did not they turn things upside
down when they crucified Christ? Well, how are we to take that?
They did what God's hand and God's counsel determined before
to be done. We esteem that as the potter's
clay. Do we not? What if, Romans 9.22, what if,
what if God, and we're not talking about preachers anymore, now
we're talking about the living God, What if God, willing to
show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? Endured man's fall? Endured man's rebellion? Endured
false religion? Endured satanic influence? to
demonstrate his wrath against sin, to make his power known,
power to restrain it, power to control it, and power to put
it away. What if God endured some vessels,
vessels of dishonor? Let me see if I can help you
here a little bit. This one lump is Adam. God only formed one
man, Adam. That one lump's talking about
Adam. Out of his body, God made the woman. And out of his loins,
all men owe their existence. And by this one man, he said,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. I hope I'm not robbing
your text. That's Romans 5, 12. In verse
18, he said, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men under condemnation. Adam is the lump out of which
all these vessels of dishonor were made. In Adam, all die. There's no hope in Adam. No hope in his race. There's
no potential in men. I hear preachers, big Hollywood
evangelists up there talking about that little bit of goodness
that's there, that little bit of burning coal, and if you blow
on it enough, you can fan it and get it. You know what the
Lord said? I gave you beauty for ashes.
You know what ashes mean? The fire went out. That's what
that means. Oh, my soul. in Adam all die. Listen to what Paul's saying
here, verse 22. What if God, willing to show
his wrath and make his power known, endured 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 afore prepared unto glory? What if God made a man
in his own image? A wise man, an honest man, a
good man, a righteous man, an upright man. And God put this
man on a conditional footing. Put him in a place where he could
stand or fall on his own worthiness. His own obedience. And his nature
was pure and his mind was clear, his affection strong. Here's
a man with a free will. And this man, by his own choice,
by his own will, by his own reasoning, chose to rebel against God. He chose to do what God forbid
him to do. Adam is a vessel of dishonor,
and so is everyone born of him. Now hear me out, I'm not done
yet. Adam is also a vessel of honor. of the same lump. Isn't that
what that says? Of the same lump. God turned
in some vessels, Mike. And here's a man who's a vessel
of dishonor. He got nobody to blame for it
but himself. He can't bring an accusation.
Listen to what Paul tells these I can't use that kind of language
here. What these idiot religious men say toward God, there's unrighteousness
with God. Why does he yet find fault? Who
has resisted his will? He's the potter. Listen to what
he tells them. Nay, but old man, who art thou? Are you sitting up here on the
throne somewhere overlooking what God's doing, overlooking
what the potter's doing? No. You're the lump. You're the lump. Who art thou
that replies against God? Have you got that kind of wisdom
to bring God into judgment? You that familiar with the word
of God as to call him out on the carpet? This was laughable
to pot. Who art thou, O man that hath
not to potter power over the clay? Adam's a vessel of dishonor,
but he's also a vessel of honor of the same lump. The potter
made one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor. But how
can that be? He can't be both. God said he
can. Men say, he's got to be one or
the other. No, he can be both. Having a vessel of honor, God
did not immediately destroy the vessel of dishonor, did he? In our study of Genesis, I saw
something that I never saw before. It talks about this river, and
it came from east of Eden. Now the garden was in Eden, right?
But this river didn't begin in the garden. It came from east
of Eden. And I challenge you, go through
the scriptures, and God is always said to be in the where? The
east. Look at the tabernacle, which
way it faced, the temple and so on, always in the east. This
river came from the east and it flowed through the garden. Oh, but that's where man fell.
That's what I'm trying to tell you. But it didn't stop there. The
river didn't stop. It flowed through the garden.
It flowed through Eden. And it went out and encompassed
the whole world and everything in it was made to drink of that
river. You know what that river is?
That's the purpose of God. That's what that river is. That's
the purpose. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Does God not have something in
mind if he scoops the clay up and puts it on his wheel? Does
he not have a purpose? Well, sure he has a purpose. Having a vessel of honor, he
did not immediately destroy the vessels of dishonor, but endured
with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. And he did so in order to make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Some of these vessels of dishonor
were shown mercy. Vessels of honor, they didn't
escape the fall. You don't find that doctrine
in the scriptures. They were vessels of dishonor
And now they're vessels of honor. Now they're vessels of honor.
In order to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. Even us, whom he
hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
My friend, God has a people he chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Before Adam was ever formed,
God the Father chose to Himself a people out of Adam's doomed
race to save for the glory of His name through the redemption
of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. If you take time to read
and study the first several verses of this chapter, you'll learn
that they're not all Israel who are of Israel. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. Isaac was a seed of promise.
He was born when both Abraham and Sarah were long past the
point of making children. And that blessed seed through
whom the promises were given is Christ. Listen to the Scriptures. Galatians chapter 3 verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed. Boy, those Jews gloried in that.
And listen to what Paul says about it. Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises given. He saith not to seeds as of many,
but as of one and unto thy seed, which is Christ. God established his sovereign
grace through the choosing of Jacob over Esau. Is there unrighteousness now
with God? I'll say God forbid, God forbid. For God to choose and make provision
for a people doomed by their own sins, does that make him
unrighteous? For God to bless a people freely
by his grace whose only recourse is hell, does that make God unrighteous? Sovereign grace is how God saves
sinners. And were it not for the potter's
purpose and grace to save sinners, nobody would have been saved. Now here's the last thing, and
I'll try to be brief. How do you know which vessel
you are? Boy, I want to know, don't you? How do you know which vessel
you are? How can you tell one from the other? Listen to this,
Paul said, even us whom he hath called, whom he hath called, whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to become, to be conformed to the image of
his son, and whom he did predestinate them, he also called. He called
him. And whom he called, he justified,
and whom he justified, he glorified. Every vessel God afore prepared
unto glory, every vessel of mercy in which he purposed to show
his glory, he's gonna call. He's gonna call. He calls them, the scripture
said, with a holy calling. It's a holy calling. There's
no unrighteousness with God in His calling. He calls them with
a holy calling, listen, not according to their works, but according
to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. He calls them, how does He call
them? He calls them with His gospel.
with his gospel. I'm so tired of hearing folks
talk about when God gave them a revelation in their closet
when they were nine years old. That makes me want to throw up.
That's ignorance. Somebody gave you a vision, but
it wasn't God. It wasn't God. God has from the
beginning, Paul said, chosen you unto salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto? He called
you by our gospel. Now what Scripture says, that's
what it says in my Bible in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He calls us. Where does He call us from? Out
of darkness. out of darkness. Paul thought
he knew everything. He was a master theologian. Anybody,
even Gamaliel, his teacher, could ask him a question. Boy, he could
fire an answer right back. He thought he knew everything.
He found out he didn't know nothing. He didn't know nothing. God calls
us out of darkness. into His marvelous light. He
calls us. How does He call us? By His grace. Huh? I wandered around for three years
asking myself this question. Why me? Why me? Why would God call me? Oh, I looked at my life, I looked
at my past, I looked at my deeds, I looked at my religion, I had
nothing, it was all worthless junk. Why would God call me? For the glory of His Son. That's why. God called me by
His grace. by His grace, and I tell you,
until you experience it in your heart, you don't know anything
at all about this grace. Grace, sovereign grace, grace
that don't go back a year, it don't go back four or five years,
it goes back to eternity. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. God calls, he calls us. That's how we know which vessel
we are. God calls us. God calls us. How does he call us? He calls
us with an effectual call. Boy, you won't get nowhere with
him. I sure won't. But boy, if God calls him, he's
a goner. You might as well stack the gun
in the corner, the war's over. My mom could holler at me ten
times. Son, get up. It's time for school.
Get up. It was cold up in northern Ohio.
I didn't want to get up. There was snow on the ground.
The stove hadn't been going that long. I was sitting upstairs
under them quilts, warm. Son, get up. I'll be down in
a minute. Then my dad come to the door. You up? Yes, sir. Down the steps
I come. Listen what our Lord says, all
that the Father has given me shall come to me. And you come when He calls. Might
be He hasn't called you. Might be. Might be. But I tell you this,
if He does, let me tell you what's gonna happen. He's gonna send
you a preacher. He's gonna send you a preacher. Will you hear Him? If you don't,
you won't hear from God. You won't hear from God. He sent
those 70 men out to preach, and He told them, He said, He that
heareth you, heareth Me. Now listen, that ain't all that
He said. He that despiseth you, despiseth Me. There's no greater privilege,
I told you at the beginning, there's no greater privilege
on this earth than for God to send you a man to tell you the
truth. Tell you the truth. What will
you do with it? What will you do with it? Well,
all these vessels of honor, they listen. They listen. And you know what happens when
they do? God gives them an understanding. And Paul said, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, shined in my heart. Nobody else
in the room saw it. Nobody else saw it. But He shined
that light in my heart. And He gave the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in His Son. And you know what
Paul said about that? He said, we have this treasure
in what kind of vessel? Old clay pot. You know what makes
that vessel a vessel of honor? God puts his treasure in it.
And if he don't put his treasure in there, It's a vessel of dishonor. A vessel of dishonor. But oh,
if he puts his treasure in there. Man, he'll set that thing on
the mantle. He'll set that thing in heaven
in glory. And the angels will look at it.
The angels are looking right now tonight, looking at this
in wonder. In wonder, will God show mercy
to that bunch of rebel? And he does, and he puts his
treasure in those clay pots and the angels fold their wings in
amazement of the sovereign grace of God. The potter's vessels. Oh, may
God be pleased tonight. to make you one of those vessels.
And I pray that it's a vessel of honor.