If you will, let's open our Bibles
tonight to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 18. Jeremiah, chapter 18. I want
you to notice, first of all, that this chapter begins with
God sending his prophet to a particular place. The Scripture says, The
word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and
go down to the potter's house. God sends men to preach. God calls men, God gifts men,
and God sends men to preach the gospel. Apostle Paul in Romans
chapter 10 makes this statement, and then he asks four questions.
The statement is, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. What is it to be saved? The angel told Joseph, Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. To be saved is to be saved from
our sins. That is, the power of sin, the
penalty of sin, and one day the presence of sin. Jesus Christ
is the Savior. He is the Lord, and whosoever
shall call upon his name shall be saved." Then Paul asks these
four questions. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? So God calls men and God sends
men to preach the gospel. And we see here God sending one
of his prophets, that is Jeremiah, to a particular place. Arise
and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to
hear my words. He is directed to go to this
man's house, the potter's house. And as he observes this man working,
God will speak to him and God will give him his message that
he is to give to the people, to the nation of Israel, the
house of Israel. Now I want you to follow with
me and see what Jeremiah noticed here in the house of the potter.
Let's see what he saw. First of all, the potter worked. That's the first thing that he
saw. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels. Now I want you to notice, he
didn't say, I saw that he had worked, or that sometimes he
worked, or that in the future he would work. But what Jeremiah
saw was that this potter was working. This is present progressive. He wrought a work. He is working. And contrary to what most people
believe today, God is working in this world. God is working. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
Matthew, in John chapter 5, hitherto hath my Father worked, and I
work. God is working in this world. And we hear people speaking about
nature, the laws of nature, mother nature, but very seldom does
anyone admit and confess and acknowledge and live like we
understand the truth that is revealed in God's Word that God
is working. He continues to work. Some people
think that the world is something like a clock. these big clocks
that we used to have, these wind-up clocks. And God has somehow wound
the clock up, and now he's just set it aside. Some even think
he's put it under his pillow and gone to sleep. And the clock
is just continuing to tick, the world's continuing to move, and
everything is working according to established laws that he put
into into form in the beginning, but somehow he's divorced himself,
somehow he has withdrawn himself from his creation. But that's
not true. That's not what the Word of God
teaches. You know, when Elijah met those
false prophets on Mount Carmel, he mocked them, he taunted them
with this concerning their God, that is, the God they called
Baal. He said, cry aloud, for he is
a God. Either he is talking, or he is
pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and
must be awaked. Most people think the God of
the Bible is something like that. That he is asleep, or he's on
a journey. Many people believe that somehow,
whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, that at that time,
God once again is going to begin to take the reins of government,
and He's going to begin to work in this world. But that's not
true. That's not what the Scriptures
teach about God. He's not a spectator on the sidelines,
just watching. And some people have a God that
they present like He's almost just wringing His hands, hoping.
that everything is going to work out all right, that everything
is going to turn out all right. He's not really sure. Many people
speak as if Satan himself had just as much power as God, and
there's some kind of contest going on all throughout the world,
all throughout the ages between Satan and God, and who knows
how this is all going to work out. That's not true. He's not a spectator. I've told
this story before, but when one of our grandsons was about three
years old, we carried him out to the baseball game, professional
baseball game. And, you know, it's hard to interest
a three-year-old, but he was interested when we talked to
him about going to see the Astros play and going to the baseball
game, and he was excited about going. He was excited when we
went in, went through the turnstile, found our place there to sit.
He was excited until he realized that going to a baseball game
is not playing baseball. It's being a spectator on the
sidelines. And it wasn't much fun, and his
interest was soon lost. And many people have a God that's
sort of sitting back and just looking and observing what things
are going on. But that's not the God of the
Bible. And what Jeremiah saw and what God intended for him
to see that day by sending him there to the house of the potter
is that the potter was working. That God is working in this world. And there's not an atom of dust.
If the lighting was just right in this building tonight, in
this auditorium, we could see there's thousands, yea, millions
of particles of dust floating around here in the air. We can't
see them, but they're here. But I'm saying unto you tonight,
according to the Word of God, that there's not a particle of
dust in God's universe that is outside of His control. that
is going anywhere in any direction at any time, except where God
Almighty determines that it should go. He's working. Now, some work God has finished.
For instance, the work of creation. For we read in Genesis chapter
2 and verse 2, on the seventh day, God ended His work which
He had made. And he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. He ended his work of
creation. In six days, God created all
things that are created. Matter is not eternal. God alone is eternal, and everything
that is, is the product of his creating power. There was a time,
if we can use that word in reference to God, when He alone existed,
and there was nothing. There was not darkness, there
was not light, there was not anything other than God Himself,
and God was content and satisfied and perfect and happy in that
condition. He needed nothing outside of
himself to complete himself. He is a perfect being. And that's the reason in the
Psalms he said, there is none that may be likened unto me. He's different, isn't he? He's
in a class all by himself, the eternal one. And in six days,
just like the Scripture says, In Genesis chapter 1 and chapter
2, in six days God created the heavens and the earth and all
things therein. And then He rested. In other
words, creating was finished. The work of creation was finished.
And then God in Christ finished the work of redemption. When He cried on Calvary, it
is finished. When he prayed and said, I have
finished the work which the Father gave me to do, it's finished. That's the message that we have
to preach, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he has finished that
work. And our salvation, the salvation
of a sinner, the salvation that is revealed in this book, it
rests upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
all of these Various religions are running around telling people,
do this, do this, do this, do that, do the other. And what
we are saying and what the scripture says, it's already done. It's already finished. Someone
might say, well, he does continue to intercede for us in heaven. Yes, we are saved by his life. His life of intercession. But
his intercession, according to John chapter 17, is based upon
his finished work on the cross. He intercedes for us just by
being there. His wounds, the marks in his
flesh, his hands, his feet, his side plead for us, for his people. But God continues to work in
this world. He's finished his work of creation.
God in Christ has finished the work of salvation upon the cross,
but God continues to work in this world. What is he doing? He's calling out a bride for
his son. He's saving his people. He's
finding his sheep. And the apostle Paul said, for
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Yes, he continues
to work. to the believers in the church
at Ephesus, Paul said, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. So that's the first thing this
prophet saw in the house of the potter. He saw that the Father
was working. And that's the first thing we
need to see about God as ministers, as preachers of the gospel, that
God is working. I would hate to think tonight
that I was up here by myself. I would hate to think that any
preacher would ever go forth to preach the gospel by himself. God is working. God has chosen
to use by the by this means, by the foolishness of preaching,
to save his people, to call out his people. Don't you pray, don't you hope,
don't you desire that maybe this week in these special services
that God will call someone? Maybe someone here tonight that
God would call that irresistible call, that effectual call, that
call that gets the job done, that call that brings a sinner
out of his depravity and deadness in sin to trust in Jesus Christ
as his Lord and Savior, to be saved. Well, the second thing
that Jeremiah observed in the house of the potter, the vessel
of clay that the potter made was marred. Notice that in verse
four. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter. When I see that word
marred, I'm reminded that this is what happened in the fall.
Now everyone is running around here saying that God created
man in his image. And they are saying that because
that's what the Scripture says. But then they just skip over
what happened in Genesis chapter 3. And that mild image of God
in which we were created, it was marred. It was marred when
Adam disobeyed God, when he fell into sin. Someone might ask,
well, how marred, how marred is the image of God in man? after
the fall? Well, let me answer like this.
Until, until this image of God in which man was created, until
that image was marred in the fall, there was no need of a
mediator. There was no need of a mediator.
Because as Adam came from the hands of his creator, from He
had communion with God, he had peace with God, he had fellowship
with God, and it indicates that they could walk and talk in the
garden there, and there was nothing, there was no disruption, there
was peace, there was everything that could be needed. could be desired between God
and man. But just as soon, just as soon
as Adam disobeyed God, what did he do? First of all, he was afraid. He'd never been afraid before.
Never been afraid before, but now he was afraid. And then he
went to hide. He tried to hide from God. He needed a mediator. Because
that image in which he had been created was marred. Oh, man still
has power over the animals. Yes, man still controls the animals. But my friends, that image, that
moral image of God in which Adam was created was ruined in the
Father. Ruined. The Apostle Paul said, now, a
mediator is not a mediator of one. The work of a mediator is
always between two, always between two. Until this image was marred,
there was no need for a mediator, but just as soon as it We have
these two parties, if I can use that term, that is God and man,
and this disruption of fellowship and communion between the two.
A great chasm now between them. And there must be a mediator,
and he must be one who can satisfy God. He's got to do something
for God, first of all. He's got to do something for
God in order for God to show mercy and to forgive and to be
reconciled, the sinner reconciled unto God. This mediator has to
do something toward God. He must do that which satisfies
God's justice. God's justice demands satisfaction. You've heard this before. I'm
sure your pastors used it. You've heard it from these other
preachers, but it seems like we are allowed to present God
in this light, as here we have His justice and His holiness
and His truth declaring, the soul that sinneth, it shall surely
die. And God will by no means clear
the guilty. And then we've got His love and
His mercy and His grace, and it's almost like there's I know
there's not, but there's almost like a tension between God who
would show mercy and grace, but God's truth and justice and His
holiness must be satisfied. And so wisdom, His infinite wisdom,
brings forth a solution. And that solution is the mediator,
Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. who is able to do that
which satisfies God, and yet he is able to reconcile men unto
him. And I cannot help but notice
that this vessel that Jeremiah, as he observed that potter working
on the wheels, and that vessel was marred, it was marred, notice
this, in the hand of the potter. In other words, God, when Adam
fell, that did not take God by surprise. God permitted Adam to fall. And when we use that word permitted,
we know that includes his ordination. But I'll tell you something,
folks, according to the Word of God, God cannot sin And he
cannot be tempted with sin. And what Adam did, he did because
he desired to do it. And he is responsible for his
actions. And the sin of Adam cannot be
laid at the feet of God Almighty. He was marred, and he was marred
in the hand of God. You say, well, why would God
allow that? Why would God permit that? Why
would God ordain that? evidently because he's going
to bring greater glory to himself by permitting the fall. In this
way, all of his attributes are going to be manifested, and his
glory is going to be shown forth in the redemption that he has
provided. Now, notice the third thing that
Jeremiah saw He was in the house of the potter. So he made it
again another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it.
The potter made of the marred vessel a vessel that seemed good
to him. Now, you know the Apostle Paul
used this verse, if you will, in Romans chapter 9. He used
this passage of Scripture. in Romans chapter 9, to answer
objections that he knew men would raise. As he has stated, that
God's purpose to save, purpose according to the election of
grace, that men would raise objections to that. Well, that's not right. That's not fair. I had a young
lady just a few weeks ago tell me this. She had been raised
in a fairly large church, a works church, a free will church, and
she had never heard anything like scriptures teach concerning
God's sovereign grace. And she heard a man preach, and
she heard him several times preach about God electing a people,
choosing a people from before the foundation of the world.
And she said, in my mind at first, I said, that's not fair. Well,
that's exactly what Paul knew people would say. That's not
fair. And this is what this young lady
said to me. She said, well, after a while I heard that. And she
said, I thought, well, maybe it is fair. I said, it's not
about being fair. It's about God's grace. That's
what it's about. It's about God's grace. His purpose
of grace. Of His sovereign will in showing
mercy to whom He will show mercy. That's what Paul says here in
Romans chapter 9 and verse 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hearkened. God's
sovereign right to show mercy upon whom he will show mercy,
to have compassion upon whom he will have compassion, and
to pass by those that he doesn't show mercy to, and to do those
people no harm. God has that right. And Paul knew that men would
object, and we still hear these things today. Verse 19, 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 replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Can you imagine
a man there moving that wheel and putting his clay on it. He
makes a vessel, and he makes one that has a long neck and
a big wide mouth on it. And he sets it over there. He's
going to put it in the oven in just a few minutes. And then
he makes another vessel, and he makes this one with a very
sharp neck and a very small opening. Sets it over there, and that
one with a small neck saying, You didn't make me like this
other clay pot here. That's not fair. That's not right. Don't I have the right? Isn't that one of my rights,
to be made the same as this other pot? Does man have that right? And yet I dare say, I may be
wrong, I hope I am, but I dare say, that every one of us in
this building at one time maybe did not say that with our lips,
but we thought it in our heart. We thought that we were so, so
big and so important that we could bring God down to our bar,
to our tribunal, and question him and demand of him, why, why
have you done this? Why do you do this? And Paul
answers that, doesn't he? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? What right? We are his creatures,
aren't we? It is he who hath made us. Hath
not the potter fire over the clay of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What, if God willing
to show his wrath to 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 aforeprepared unto glory, even
us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of
the Gentiles." God is working. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
they were called. and whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified." God
has predestinated some unto eternal life, and he's working in this
world, just like this potter was working that Jeremiah saw.
So God is working in this world, in his creation, and he is making
some into vessels of mercy. He's going to be glorified in
both the vessels of wrath and the vessels of mercy. He will be glorified either by
them or upon them. They will either be monuments
of his mercy or monuments of his justice. When I say they,
I say we. And I'm just persuaded that heaven
is a place where all of his trophies of grace are going to be gathered
one day. Have you ever gone into a high
school and noticed all of those trophy cases they have in the
halls? They go back over the years as long as the school's
been in existence and they've got trophies for different sports
and different academic achievements and all of that. You know, heaven
is just a trophy case, isn't it? Where the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to assemble all of his trophies of grace. Scripture says, Lord hath made
all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of
evil. That which moves God to save
his people is found in him and not in them. That's what we believe. That's what the Scriptures teach.
That's what we preach. And the sooner that we understand
that, the sooner that we are brought to see that and believe
that, the sooner we will have peace and assurance. Most people are looking for something
in themselves. Why would God save me? You'll
never find a reason in yourself. Paul said, you see your calling,
brethren, not many wise after the flesh, not many noble, not
many mightier call. God has never saved a sinner
for anything that he saw in that sinner. He doesn't save us for
what we are. He saves us in spite of what
we are. He saves us by His grace. Why
do we believe this? Why do we preach this? Why do
we make an issue of this? Because, first of all, it's true.
It's true. This is what the Word of God
teaches. And secondly, because this greatly
glorifies His grace to select undeserving individuals like
you and I. And number three, we preach this
because if God found the cause in Himself to come to us, to
begin this work of grace in our hearts, and He never changes,
and He doesn't, that he shall find cause in himself to crown
this work with glory. That which he has begun, he's
going to finish. He's going to finish. It's going
to be unmerited grace that will finish the work which he has
begun. Now, if you will go back here
with me to Jeremiah, just a moment. Jeremiah chapter 18. Now, God's sovereignty is incontestable,
and it's irresistible upon nations, individuals, as it is pictured
here in the potter and the clay. And let me remind you of this,
that vessel of clay, that vessel of clay, if we think of a man
as a vessel of clay. You take that vessel of clay
and throw it down on a rock, and it shatters in a thousand
pieces. And there's not a man, there's
not a potter upon the face of God's earth that can put all
those pieces back together again. But God can. Is there anything
too hard for me? Salvation is of the Lord, isn't
it? put these pieces back together.
I'm telling you, if you'll do this and this will happen, if
you do the other, something else will happen. No. We're telling
you that God, God is able to put all the pieces back together.
Make a man whole again. His sovereignty is incontestable,
it's irresistible, but yet we do not forget that God's throne,
the habitation of his throne is justice and judgment, equity. God would not punish a people
who would turn from their evil when they are warned, and God
will not bless a people that would not obey his voice. And
that's what he tells Jeremiah to tell the house of Israel. O house of Israel, verse 6, cannot
I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. O house
of Israel, at what instant shall I 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. And at what instant I shall speak
concerning the nation and concerning the 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."
Now, this was the message that God told Jeremiah to give to
the house of Israel. Here, the nation of Babylon was
about to come in and destroy Jerusalem, destroy the nation
of Judah, and carry these people off into captivity. And God sent
warning after warning, prophet after prophet unto them, telling
them what was going to come upon them. God commanded that they repent
and turn from their evil ways, and turn unto Him. Now when Jeremiah
preached this message, I want you to notice the response of
these people in verse 12. The most amazing, the most amazing
response here. And they said, there is no hope. There is no hope. What they are
saying here, and you study this out at your leisure, if repentance
is necessary, If we must turn from our idols, from our evil
ways, if we must turn from our wickedness and turn unto the
Lord, turn unto His way, then there's no hope. Why? Because
we're not going to do it. That's what they're saying. And
that's what every man by nature, that's what you say tonight if
you're here without Christ, when the gospel is sweet as it is,
as plain as it is, as clear as it may be preached, and Christ
is set before you evidently crucified, you will say the same thing.
If that's what God requires, there's no hope because I'm not
going to turn. I'm not going to turn. I will
not have this man to rule over me. That's what every man by
nature answers. That's what we all say. And all
of us who preach the gospel, every preacher, if God, now listen,
if God did not continue to work in this world, that's what we
would be saying. Isn't it? That's what we would
be saying, every preacher. And sometimes we even say, Lord,
who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? But if God was not working in
this world, what hope would there be that anyone would be saved?
But thank God, He is working. He said, it's not by might, it's
not by power, but it is by my Spirit. And God the Holy Spirit
is working. And he takes the words of a feeble
person like myself. A clay pot. That's what the Apostle
Paul likens a preacher to. Just a clay pot. So fragile. Not worth much at all, if anything. But inside is a treasure. A treasure. That is the gospel
that he has committed under our trust. And we don't have any
choice in this matter. If we preach, we must preach
this gospel. We must preach Christ and Him
crucified. There is no other hope. But I'm
thankful tonight that I know and believe that He is working.
And He's working here tonight. And when He works, He causes
His Word to come to His people in power. and in demonstration
of the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Much assurance of
what? That that is God's Word. That is the Gospel. That Jesus
Christ, God's Son, came into this world to save sinners. And
men are drawn, men are brought to Him. And we believe in Him. We trust in Him. It's an amazing work, isn't it?
It's a miraculous work, this work of salvation. It's above
and beyond anything that we can do. Thank God God's still working. He's working. And I trust tonight
He's working here in someone, in some heart, and that you too
will be brought to trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
What does that mean, to trust? Rest upon Him. I mean, rest your
soul, your weary soul, upon Him. For all your salvation, for all
your righteousness before God. Let me ask you in closing, is
Jesus Christ enough for you? Is He enough for you? This is all I need. Christ is
all I need. He's all I need. I pray that He is to all of us.
Thank you, Jesus.