Want to open your Bibles to Jeremiah
chapter 18 my text will be verses 8 1 through 11 Jeremiah chapter
18 The title of my message this morning is the potter's clay
Jeremiah 18 1 through 11 the potter's clay God's prophet Isaiah
describes the whole human race as the potter's clay. Though
men think themselves wise and despise God, the fact is you
and I are just the potter's clay. That's all. The potter's clay. The sooner we learn that, the
better. Our dependence upon God arises from a sense of our nothingness,
our utter, complete inability before him. We will never seek
his mercy in Christ until we recognize that we are nothing
in ourselves and can do nothing. We're just the potter's clay. Oh, Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay, and thou our
potter, and we all are the work of thy hand. We'll never seek
to be molded by his hand until we're made to understand that
we're nothing but clay in the potter's hand. Look here in Jeremiah
chapter 18. Let's read the first four verses
first. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter's house. There will I cause thee to hear
my words. Then I went down to the potter's
house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it another
vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it. God said to
Jeremiah, you go down to the potter's house and there you
will learn by observation and by inspiration my words and my
ways. So Jeremiah goes down to the
potter's house and he sees a potter working with clay, fashioning
a vessel with great ease. It's no difficulty for the potter.
He's skilled, the clay is soft and moist, and the potter makes
it exactly as he will. And then the potter marred the
vessel in his hands. Now notice the vessel was marred
in the potter's hands. There was nothing in the vessel,
nothing in the clay, no outside influence, nothing that caused
the potter to mar the vessel. The vessel was marred in the
potter's hand and he made it again another vessel as seemed
good to the potter. Well, Brother Don, if that's
the picture, God's Word and God's ways, it certainly appears that
man has no control over God and God has all control over man
and that God does with man exactly what he will. It sure looks like
that, doesn't it? That's the intent of the picture
of the Potter's house. The clay is in the potter's house
and the clay is the potter's clay. He can make it and mar
it and make it again as he will. You and I are clay. God is the potter. We're the
potter's clay. He can make the clay, mar it,
and make it again as he will. The marring of the vessel was
not by accident, but according to the will of the potter. The
marring of the vessel was not by accident, but according to
the will of the potter. Now, I don't know all that's
involved in what I'm about to say, but Adam's fall and the
marring of the human race was not an accident that took God
by surprise. It was exactly according to the
will of the potter. God made the human race and the
race was marred by the sin and fall of our father Adam and God
made it again according to his will. And all that race fallen
in our father Adam, he made vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. Vessels of mercy afore prepared
to glory and vessels of wrath fitted for destruction That's
according to the will of the Potter He comes by his almighty
grace and takes you and I clay dug from the human race and he
makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus and Others he leaves to
themselves and they justly bring upon themselves the wrath of
God. And so the picture given here
is a message clear and sound by which God would have us to
know himself and his ways, particularly his ways of grace. All right. Now, let's read the message.
Jeremiah learned verse five. Then the word of the Lord came
to me saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what
instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom
to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. 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." What? God repent? I had a letter from
a young man yesterday when I got to the office asking me this
very thing. How is it that God, who is immutable and cannot change,
repents? And the answer is obvious. The
scriptures clearly declare The scriptures clearly declare, I
am the Lord, I change not. That's a plain declaration of
scripture. So with regard to God, we know
he changes not. Well, what does it mean then
that he repents? It appears to us that he repents
because he changes his course of action. He changes his work
in the midst of providence so that there appears to be a change
in God, though the change was itself according to God's purpose
from eternity. All right, read on. Verse 18.
If that nation against whom I pronounced turn from their evil, I will
repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 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 repent of the good wherewith
I said I would benefit them. Later on this same prophet, if
you want to turn there, in Lamentations chapter 4 verse 2, describes
God's elect as the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,
the work of the potter, the work of the hands of the potter. So
that you and I are the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine
gold. The work of the hands of the
potter. He made us the sons of God. He made us precious as fine gold
before Him, giving us the perfect righteousness of His Son. And
our salvation, our union with Christ, our everlasting blessedness
in this new creation of grace is the work of the potter's hands. in the midst of the dangers,
difficulties, and discouragements of life in this world, especially
with regard to the gospel and the service of our God, nothing
in the world is so comforting as the assured knowledge of God's
absolute sovereignty. how good it is to know that God
rules, that God has his way everywhere, that he performs his will all
the time, that nothing comes to pass except by his decree
for the saving of his elect according to the work of the potter, according
to his sovereign dispositions of grace. Sooner or later, we
will learn this and the sooner the better. God says, is it not
lawful for me to do with mine own what I will? We get upset when the government
tells us what we got to do with our property. Every man does
because it's my property. I worked for it. I bought it.
I paid for it. I cleared the land. You got no
right to tell me what to do with my own. Well, the fact is it
was there before you got there. But you weren't here before God
got here. And God owns you. Lock, stock, and barrel. He owns
the universe. Lock, stock, and barrel. And
it's right for God to do with his own what he will. That includes
you and me. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker, that the pot should strive with the potsherds of
the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what
makest thou? Are thy work he hath no hands? Nay, but, O man, we read in Romans
9, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing
form, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?
Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor? Nothing
but pride, nothing but proud unbelief in a rebel's heart causes
anyone to object to God's absolute sovereignty. Men have countless
schemes of philosophy and theology formed specifically to deny the
free grace of God, to darken the counsel of God and turn men
away from the righteousness of God in Christ to their own righteousness
or in some way to limit the power of the Almighty. Mortal sinful
man dares lift his fist to heaven and say to God, hitherto shalt
thou go and no further. All right, God, you can have
control here, but this is my realm. You can do what you will
over there, but this belongs to me. What man dares so speak
to God. God owns you and he will do with
you as he will. Here's the solace of our souls
for this present world. Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, So are ye in mine hand. And here's the solace of
our souls with regard to all things future. Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand. Now, let's go to the potter's
house with Jeremiah and let me show you four things that just
jump out at you. Four things that you can't avoid
seeing. First, we'll look a little bit
at the clay, and then at the wheels, and then at the potter,
and then the message declared from the things that Jeremiah
saw in the potter's house. First, the clay Jeremiah saw
represented Israel. We're told that in verse 6, represented
the whole house of Israel. Israel had been dug from Egypt
like clay from the pit. God brought them up into the
land of Canaan, where he gently shaped them and molded them.
But they were a stiff, hard, rebellious people, their hearts
unyielding, their souls unbending. A heart of stone was in them.
And so the Lord God, who had promised to do them good if they
would obey his voice, marred the vessel. in his hand. God
sent judgment upon them and God cast them out. So that when our
Lord Jesus rose again, the apostle declares to us, God has cast
them away. God sent blindness to Israel. God hardened their hearts. God
deafened their ears so that he might send the gospel into all
the universe, all the world, proclaiming the gospel universally
to the Jew and the Gentile, declaring his mercy to his elect wherever
they're found. And so the clay, Paul tells us
in Romans 9, represents not just the physical house of Israel,
but all the human race. And the potter has power over
the clay and makes of the same lump one vessel to honor and
another to dishonor. The vessels of wrath are fitted
for destruction. Fitted for destruction by their
rebellion and sin and unbelief. The vessels of mercy are aforeprepared
unto glory. prepared by the decree and the
will of God and the work of God finished from the foundation
of the world, prepared in time by the work of God in them and
for them in Christ Jesus the Lord. Clay is raw material. Infertile mud. Infertile mud. Something less
than manure. Nothing grows in clay. Clay is
useless. It's useless. Nothing can be
done with the clay except by the hand of another. And so the
Lord God compares us to clay in the hands of the potter. That's
what you and I are. Useless clods of red earth, sons
and daughters of Adam. God dug us from the pit of fallen
humanity by the hand of omnipotent mercy. He filled us with his
grace and fashioned us into the image of his son by his grace. God's elect sinners chosen to
eternal life are vessels of mercy prepared by God for glory made
meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. How can
that be? How can Don Renari be fit for
glory right now by God's work through the blood and righteousness
of God's Son, through Christ coming into you, being made partaker
of the divine nature, complete in him, now fit for glory, aforeprepared
to glory? All who believe on the Lord Jesus
are vessels of mercy. Oh sinner, trust the Savior where
you sit right now. Believe on the Son of God. Come
to Christ and your faith in Him declares you to be a vessel of
mercy aforeprepared to glory. Your faith in Him doesn't make
you a vessel of mercy. It declares you to be a vessel
of mercy. Your faith in Him doesn't make
you fit for glory. It declares yourself fit for
glory in Christ the sinner's substitute. But there are some
who are vessels of wrath. I can talk more about this another
time, maybe in just a few minutes, a little bit more. But you can
fuss about it, squawk about it, fight about it all you want.
But if you do, your fight is with God and His Word, not with
me. If you don't like it, it's not
a matter of not liking this preacher, it's a matter of not liking God.
If you don't like it, it's not a matter of not liking our doctrine,
it's a matter of not liking God. If you don't like it, it's not
a matter of not liking our religious creed, it's a matter of not liking
God or His Word. What are you talking about, pastor?
Some people in this world Vessels of mercy and others are vessels
of wrath Now it's just plain and those on your face, let's
see if we make good on it turn to first Peter chapter 2 first
Peter chapter 2 Verse 7 Now we remember we're reading
God's Word This is just God's Word. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. But for them it's a stone of
stumbling, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Even to
them, now watch this, which stumble at the word, Now are you paying
attention? Are you looking at the book?
Being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Wow. What? Being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. The passage that Peter quotes
from the book of Isaiah declares that our Lord Jesus, who is the
sure foundation stone on which God's elect are built, is a stone
of stumbling over which these, in their disobedience, were appointed,
and stone of stumbling over which they trip up and go to hell.
Jude, verse 3. Look at Jude, verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares," now watch it, Ron,
we're reading the book, who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation. ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, no comment, no explanation. That's just fact. That's just
fact. There are in this world, there
is in the human race, there is in this generation, perhaps in
this room, some who are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
and others who are vessels of mercy aforeprepared unto glory. All right, here's the second
thing, the wheels. Now, notice the word is plural. I found that a little strange.
You look at the potter's house and the potter is making a vessel
on wheels. I've never seen that before.
I've seen, I've seen potters work on wheels. My sister is
a potter and she works on wheels, but she never makes one vessel
on two wheels. I've never, I've never seen that
of you. Well, how could this be? God's showing us a picture
on purpose. This potter is making a vessel
on wheels. These wheels represent the purpose
and promises, providence, and power of God. Well, how do you
know, Brother Don? Ezekiel chapters 1 and 2 tell
us so. Wheels. These wheels are all
things working together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. All the circumstances,
experiences, and events of our lives in this world are wheels
by which God molds his people into the image of Christ according
to his will. Wheels of providence and grace
move according to God's will, his eternal purpose of grace
and predestination. So that everything that comes
to pass in time The Providence is just mooring his vessel on
the wheels with ease, with ease. It's it's no trouble for him. It's no, no labor for it. It's
no difficulty for me. It doesn't involve a strain.
He rules the world with the ease of absolute, irresistible sovereignty. And then Jeremiah speaks of the
potter himself. This is the Lord God, our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You and I are clay in the hands
of God. And he says, cannot I do with
you as this potter? Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, verse six, so are you in mine hand. Larry Brown, God Almighty is
not in your hands. You're in his hands. You got
that? God is not ruled by your will. You're ruled by God's will. You
and I are in God's hands, like clay in the potter's hand. And
he has the right and the power to do with you and with me. exactly as he will. Now, here's
the message of the potter's house. We read verses 6 through 10,
in which God declares the message. It is twofold. Two things. One, the Lord God says, I'm absolutely
sovereign. And the second is, he declares
I am just in all I do. Those two things. God's sovereign
and God's just. absolutely sovereign, irresistibly,
uncontrollably, universally sovereign. Throughout the Bible, God identifies
himself as that one who exercises total rule of the universe. His will, his purpose, his plans,
his works, his power are irresistible. Irresistible. I don't mean by
that that men don't try to resist, that hell doesn't try to resist.
I mean by that they can't succeed in resisting. God always does
His will. Nothing stands before Him. Nothing pushes against Him. Nothing
resists Him. He's God. He's God. To deny absolute sovereignty. I'm talking about God controlling,
asking you to just reach and put on that shirt. God controls
that. He ordained it. He functions
in this world controlling every movement of your brain and of
your body. Every movement. You mean God
controls minute little things? If he didn't, he couldn't control
the big things. You've got to control the small
to control the big. God Almighty rules everywhere
all the time. Nothing comes to pass but by
his will the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord like
rivers of water He turneth it with us whoever he will now We
read that in our translation rivers of water actually is talking
about irrigation streams Mother Oscar Takes his irrigation
system out there. It puts it in the field waters
this section Well, that's not fair. These folks over here,
this grain over here, not getting any water. Didn't intend for
it to. I wanted to water this section. Well, you can't do that. I can if I want to. It's my water
and it's my corn and it's my grain. Just step out of the way
and I'll show you. You understand that? The king's
heart is in the hands of the Lord. And like you take your
garden hose and water that plant, he turns it whithersoever he
will. You mean God controls the thoughts
and the works and the words and the deeds of all men universally
with that much ease? With more ease than that? Sometimes
I have to sweat at watering plants. It's just hard work when it's
hot outside to get the hose and drag it around and water plants.
Not for God. Not for God. He doesn't rule
by the might of his arm. That's only an anthropomorphic
term so we can get some idea of what he's talking about. He
rules, Bob, by the might of his will. God controls the universe by
the might of his will. You're just clay in his hands.
You and I, clay in the potter's hands. And he says, cannot I
do with you as I will. Thank God for his absolute sovereignty. Thank God he makes us as it pleases
him. Changes us as it pleases him. Uses us as it pleases him. And disposes of us as it pleases
him. We can't resist him. He's the
potter, we're the clay. He increaseth the nations and
destroyeth them. He enlargeth the nations and
straighteneth them again. who so is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. He formed us out of clay. We're just clay in his hands.
He has the same power over us as the potter has over the clay. And we ought to willingly bow
to him. Oh God, take away my stubbornness. Take away my bucking against
you. Take away my determination to
have my way. Cause me willingly to bow to
you. But willingly or no, we shall
bow to him. We shall bow to him in all things. And we shall be made at last
to see that his will is best in all things. I rejoice in God's
sovereignty, but I rejoice in this most, God who is sovereign
over all flesh, heaven, earth, and hell. Sovereign over all
the elements of the universe. It rains when he says rain it
dries up when he says dry up the wind blows when he says blow
It's perfectly still when he says still God rules all the
elements of the universe a dog can't bark except by God's decree
understand that He governs all the affairs of men so that he
sends peace and he sends war He sends feast and he sends famine. It's not the work of the Democrats
or the Republicans. It's God's work It's not the
work of demons and devils. It's God's work. It's not the
work of men. It's God's work. He just uses
Democrats and Republicans and demons and devils and men to
do it. It's God's work. Sooner you get
a hold of that, more comfortable you'll be. But the most comforting,
delightful thing of all is God's sovereignty and grace. He has
mercy on whom he will have mercy. And Sam Wall, he never finds
a reason in the vessels of mercy for his mercy. If he'd been looking
for a reason in you, he wouldn't have found it. Why me? Why you? Because he would, that's
all. Because he says, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated. That makes nothing out of us,
doesn't it though? Well, that means that nothing
I have is really gotten by my own hand, doesn't it though? Some are prettier than others.
Some are smarter than others. Some have more than others. Some
are stronger than others, and we, oh, we like to brag on those
things. Every teenage boy gets to be
about 13, 14 years old, till he's about 25, and he likes to
wear muscle shirts and flex his muscles. And then he gets a little stronger
as he gets older, but other stuff go with it, so he puts on shirts
that are a little more blousy. But he still likes to show off.
I can beat you. I can whip you. Try it with an ox. Well, who would want to wrestle
an ox? That doesn't prove anything. The only thing that makes you
any different from the ox is God. That's exactly right. And the only thing that makes
you any different from another is God. Who maketh thee to differ
from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? And if you've received it, what are your glories if
you've not received it? If there's something that distinguishes
you from somebody else morally, physically, intellectually, God
did it. You didn't do it. How much more
is that true spiritually? You believe. You trust Christ. You're washed in the blood of
Christ. You're robed in his righteousness. You're prepared for glory. And your neighbor can't even
hear. or see, let alone enter into
the Kingdom of God. What's the difference? God gave
you life, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to
believe. God made you His, and leaves another to Himself. Brother Don, I just don't like
that. If God ever makes you His, you will. If you ever experience it, you
will. You will sing and give praise to God for his great goodness
to you, understanding that we all deserve his wrath, but he
has mercy on whom we will have mercy. Salvation is of the Lord. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. But then Jeremiah learned in
the potter's house that God is just Always just I Want you to see this and rejoice
in it in judgment and in mercy God is always just We are accused
by those who oppose the gospel of God's grace, by those who
despise God and despise us for preaching the gospel of God as
it's revealed in this book. We're accused of declaring that
God arbitrarily saves some and arbitrarily damn some. That God
without reason sends men to hell just because he purposed to send
them to hell. Nothing of the kind. His preach
from this pulpit are revealed in this book. Oh no, oh no. Vessels of mercy are aforeprepared
to glory by God. Vessels of wrath, according to
the purpose of God, are fitted for destruction by their own
doings. Let's see what it says. Look
at verse 8 or verse 7. At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation and concerning a quaint kingdom to pluck up
and to pull down, to destroy. 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. Folks say, well, you folks believe
the man wants to be saved. He can't be saved if he wants
to, if he's not chosen. Well, you never heard me say
such a thing. You never heard anybody I know talk like that.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. If there's a want to in you,
God put it in you. But you choose to despise it. You choose your own way and you'll
eat the fruit of your own doings. Look at verse eight. If that
nation against whom I pronounce turn for their evil, I will repent
of the evil that I thought to do unto them. Verse 9, 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 repent of the good wherewith
I said I would benefit them. You sitting here, you've had the privilege of hearing
God's gospel day after day, week after week,
month after month, year after year. And you say, I won't have it. You say, to hell with God, I'll
live my own life. You will eat the fruit of your
own ways. You will go to hell because you
deserve to go to hell. And while our hearts break and
weep at the thought of such now, the day will come when there
will be no weeping and no sorrow. For we will understand clearly
and see clearly that what God has done, God has done justly. Nobody goes to hell who doesn't
choose the path of destruction. Nobody. And God's will is perfectly
accomplished. God's purpose is completely done. God's purpose doesn't depend
on you. Who do you think you are? That God Depends on you. What foolishness. What foolishness. Not only is it true that those
who are damned are damned justly, those to whom God is merciful
experience His mercy justly. God will not save a sinner. He will not be merciful to the
ungodly. He will not be gracious at the
expense of justice and truth. Just as surely as God in justice
cast Israel off. Just as surely as God in justice
took the priesthood from Eli's house. So surely God in justice
has mercy upon his people. How can that be? He found a substitute
of infinite worth. by whom he fulfilled all righteousness,
in whom he fully satisfied his justice when he made his own
darling son to be sin for us who knew no sin, making us the
righteousness of God in him when he in justice slew his son. Killed him, Bobby, because he
deserved to die. He couldn't do it otherwise.
He killed him because he made him sin. And that sacrifice is
of infinite worth. The same young man writing to
me yesterday asked, said, didn't Christ have to suffer hell for
us? And I wrote him back and I said, yes, sir. And he did
it all in three hours. He suffered all the fury of God's
wrath. and drank the cup of damnation
dry. How could that be? Because this
man is God of infinite worth, able by one sacrifice to satisfy
all the justice of God. And now God has mercy on sinners
for Christ's sake. All right, let's look at the
last verse of our text, verse 11. Now, therefore, go to speak to
the men of Judah, 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 everyone from his
evil way and make your ways and your doings Good. What? God's the potter. We're the clay. He makes one lump of vessel of
honor for prepared to glory and another, a vessel of dishonor,
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. And now he tells us to go and
make our ways and our doings good. But we're just helpless clay.
How on earth can you go make your ways and your doings good
with God? I don't get it. How can you make
your ways and your doings, the totality of your life and your
being in this world, good before God? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Trust the Son of God and your
ways and your doings are good in God's eyes because you are
one with Christ, redeemed by his blood, made righteous by
his righteousness, saved by his grace. and your faith is the
evidence of this great goodness of God in salvation. God's the potter, we're the clay.