The prophet Jeremiah has been
called by many the weeping prophet, and that with good reason. This
man, Jeremiah, was a faithful pastor, a faithful preacher of
the gospel. He loved God and loved his people,
and he faithfully proclaimed the word of the Lord to those
who stood before him. But those to whom he preached,
for the most part, not all, but for the most part, refused to
hear the word of the Lord. They hardened their hearts and
stiffened their necks and would not bow to the word of God. Those whose souls he served considered
God's prophet to be their enemy. Those for whom he labored, whose
salvation he sought, considered Jeremiah to be an unfaithful.
deceitful, self-serving, untrustworthy man. Actually, their rebellion
was not against Jeremiah. Their contempt was not for Jeremiah. Their rebellion was against the
Lord God. Their contempt was for God himself
and for the word that his prophet proclaimed. In the 17th chapter
of Jeremiah, which we read earlier, This faithful prophet faithfully
exposed the sins of his people. A faithful man will do that for
you. He will ask for grace and wisdom
from God to pointedly, deliberately, painfully expose your sin so
you'll know what you are. A doctor who's faithful will
let you know if you've got trouble. He'll let you know if the thing
you've got on your face is just a little mole or if it's a cancer.
And if it's a mole, he won't treat it like cancer. If it's
a cancer, he won't treat it like a mole, if he's faithful. And the pastor
who's faithful will expose the plague of your heart to you. Now, unless God gives you grace,
you won't much like him for it. Oh, but if God gives you grace,
You'll be thankful for that ministry. Jeremiah exposed the sins of
his people. He warned them of judgment. He
warned them, except they repent, they would perish. He warned
them that if they would not bow to the word of God, to the gospel
of God's grace, to God's darling son, if they would not be washed
in the blood of Christ and robed in his righteousness, then they'd
eat the fruit of their own ways, and God's fire of wrath would
be kindled against them, incensed and burned forever. But they
wouldn't hear. The scripture tells us in verse
23, they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made
their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. Still he called them to repentance.
Still, he urged them to believe God, but they continued on in
their obstinate unbelief and rebellion. And then the Lord
God told his prophet, he said, Jeremiah, go down to the potter's
house, and I want to teach you some things. And this man, who's
seen the rebellion of the people he loves, who's seen the stiff
neck, obstinate unbelief of the people whose good he sought,
in frustration, feeling failure, defeat, feeling like nothing's
done, nothing's being accomplished, nobody's paying any attention
to me. He says, now Jeremiah, time for you to learn some things.
Go down to the prophet's house. Now the title of my message today
is a message from the prophet's house, and I want us to go with
Jeremiah down to the potter's house. and learn the ways of
our God. Look at chapter 18, verse 1. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words. I'm often asked by young fellows
and old Where do you think I ought to go to school, train for the
ministry? Go to the potter's house. First place to go, to
the potter's house. Not to go get you some degree
in ivory palaces or do you no good, do no good for the folks
to whom you preach. Go to the potter's house. Then
I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work
on the wheel. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred, now look at it, underscore it, marred in
the hand of the potter. So he made it again another vessel,
as seen good to the potter to make it. God sent his prophet
down to the potter's house so that by observation He might
receive God's message, and by inspiration be given a message
to deliver to the people. The potter, when Jeremiah walked
in, was working as potters do in the potter's house with their
wheels and their clay, and he had on a wheel a lump of clay,
moist clay, that he was shaping. The wheel's turning as he pumps
that thing with his foot, and he's shaping the wheel. But there's
something not quite right in the clay. Maybe a little stiffness,
maybe a little pebble, maybe too much grain, something not
right in the clay. And the potter just, no frustration,
no antsiness, no sense of defeat. He just takes the clay, puts it back on the wheel, starts
making it again. The vessel that he made of clay
was marred in the hand of the potter, so he made it another
vessel, as seen good to the potter. I emphasize and want you to notice
the marring of the vessel was not an accident, but rather was
deliberate. The vessel was marred in the
hand of the potter. You see, if the clay is not used
for one purpose, it will be used for another. If it is not molded
to be a vessel of honor, it will be molded into a vessel of dishonor.
And that, according to the will of the potter. Once Jeremiah
saw this, the Lord God gave his message to his prophet. Then
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, verse 6, O house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as with this potter. Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand." The first, foremost, preeminent
message revealed to God's prophet is the fact of God's glorious
sovereignty. You see, in the midst of trouble,
distress, discouragement, disappointment, pain, trial, and heartache, especially
with regard to the work of the gospel, nothing in all the world
is more comforting, more satisfying to our souls, more encouraging
to our hearts. than the absolute sovereignty,
the total universal sovereignty of our God, being assured that
our God is on the throne. We can go on. If we give way
to carnal reason, if we give way to our unbelief, we're quickly
baffled in the face of these things. How we need to learn
the lesson that God taught Jeremiah in the potter's house. As the
potter has the absolute right and absolute power to do with
the clay what he will, so the Lord God Almighty, are you listening
to me, has the absolute right and the absolute power to do
with you and with me what he will and he does. The sooner we learn this the
better. Our Lord said, Is it not lawful
for me to do what I will with my own? He says, Woe unto him
that striveth with his maker! Let the patriots of the earth
strive with the patriots of the earth! You want to fight with
somebody? Fight with somebody like you!
Don't dare fight with God! Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why have you made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lot to make one vessel
unto honor and another to dishonor? Now here's my reason for bringing
this message. Before I'm done, I want every
heart here. I want every heart here. You
who know our God and you who yet Live with your fist shoved
in his face. I want every heart here to bow
to the sovereign God of glory. As the prophet speaks in Isaiah,
now, O Lord, thou art our father. We're the clay, and thou our
potter, and we're the work of thy hands. Lord, You're my father. I'm the clay, you're the potter.
I'm the work of your hands. You do what seems you good. Do
what seems you good. Nothing but pride and our own
heart's unbelief keeps us from the realization of this fact.
Nothing but pride and our own heart's unbelief keeps us from
finding complete satisfaction in this fact. He's the potter,
we're the clay, he does what he will, and that's right. He's
the potter, we're the clay, he molds and makes, mars and destroys,
exactly as he will. I realize men have countless
schemes of theology and philosophy which have been deliberately
formed to deny the grace of God, to darken the counsel of God,
to turn men away from the righteousness of God in Christ to their own
righteousness, and to limit the power of the Almighty. mortal
sinful man, dares lift his defiant fist to the sovereign Lord God,
and says, Now, O God, hither to shalt thou come, and no further.
It's all right for you to be God down in the church house.
It's all right for you to be God by my boys going to kindergarten
or going to school. It's all right for you to be
God up yonder in heaven. It's all right for you to be
God in the clouds. All right for you to be God in sickness,
but don't you dare interfere with my life. Hitherto shalt
thou come in no further. He's the potter with the clay. And he's going to interfere with
your life. You can bank on it. He's going to interfere with
your will. You can bank on it. He's going to mold you and make
you as he will. You can bank on it. Sooner or
later you're going to find out. God Almighty sits on his throne
unmoved. Our great God appoints and overrules
all things in glorious, absolute sovereignty according to the
purpose of his own will, and he declares to men everywhere
as he did to the house of Israel, Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand. This is our security. for the present and for the future,
for time and for eternity, God's sovereign. Here's the solace
for our souls, children of God, in this present evil world. Behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hands. This we know. The judge of all
the earth will do right. Our God, someone said, is too
wise to err, too good to do wrong, too strong to fail. If anything appears to contradict
that fact, it's because of the darkness, ignorance, and unbelief
of our hearts. That's it, isn't it? Now, in
every study of science, Whenever you begin to study any science,
doesn't matter what it is, you run across some things that appear
to be totally contradictory. They appear to be altogether
beyond the bounds of the laws of that given science. And you
look at them and say, these things just cannot be. They cannot be. But as you mature in the study,
as you acquire more knowledge, that which to the beginner seemed
to be a horrible difficulty, He looks at it and kind of laughs
at himself. I can't imagine I was ever that stupid. Well, I can't
imagine. I didn't see that from the beginning.
As he acquires knowledge, as he matures in this field of study,
he sees that these things that seem to be totally impossible,
impossible according to the laws of this particular study, those
things are just as obvious as nose on your face. In the things of God, in the
things of God, as we begin in this world, and I'm going to tell you something,
but I'm just beginning to begin. As we begin, as we begin in this
walk of faith, we see things that We know God's on the throne. God does right. He can't do wrong. He won't do wrong. He reigns
everywhere and everybody. He's holy, righteous, just, and
good. Well, how on this earth then
can you explain this? Well, I can't. I can't. I won't make any attempt to.
I won't make any effort to. But I know this, our inability
to see how that everything is ruled by God for the good of
his people and the glory of his name does not mean that it's
not so. It just simply means we're blind
and ignorant and babes. As we grow in grace, some things
become more apparent. You look at them and say, I can't
believe I didn't see that from the start. I can't believe that
ever gave me any trouble. And some things, Bill, we're
not going to know until the end. That's just all there is to it.
That's just all there is to it. I wrote a friend this week. I had a daughter much like Bill
and Vicki's son Tony. She died 31 years old. And this
particular girl had been institutionalized all her life, just about. And I wrote to him concerning
God's goodness. God's goodness? Oh yeah, God's
goodness. What would you give? What would
you give, you who know God, to have just one child that you
knew without question is God's? Oh yeah, God's goodness. God's
goodness. How do you explain this? Why?
I don't know, but one of these days I'm going to. One of these
days. How God rules, do you understand
that? And our inability to see his goodness in that which looks
to us to be evil is because of our inability, not his. This is our solace with regard
to the future as well. The clay is in the potter's hands,
and so we are in God's hands. Our great and glorious God is
going to take care of everything just right. Just right. Sometimes we get
the notion, oh, what arrogance, what foolishness, what pride. Sometimes, Bobby, we get the
notion we'd make a better God than he does. Sometimes we get the notion that
we know better how to do things than he does. Sometimes we get
the notion that we've got a better grasp of things than he does.
Sometimes we get the notion that we have a better handle on reality
than God Almighty. We say, well, Preacher, I've
never heard anybody talk like that. Every time you question God's providence,
you talk like that. Every time you stand in doubt
of God's goodness, you talk like that. Every time you dare sit
in judgment over what God Almighty has brought to pass, you talk
like that. Let us bow to Him. The other
day, while I was in West Virginia, Shelby called. She had Audra
Grace here. We were chatting a little bit and Audra Grace
got on the phone and said, do you remember verse 4? The Lord is
my shepherd, I shall not walk. And she said it again. We talked
a little bit and Shelby got back on the phone. That's a lot for
a two-year-old to learn. I said, that's a lot for me to
learn. The Lord is my shepherd. That
means, my brother, I shall not want ever. That means goodness
and mercy, nothing but goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life. That's what's nipping at my heels
all the time. Sometimes it feels like a rabid
dog nipping at my heels, but it's goodness and mercy. Sometimes
it feels like hell itself is nipping at my heels, but it's
goodness and mercy. Sometimes it feels like nothing
but evil is nipping at my heels, but it's goodness and mercy.
And therefore, I stand convinced, I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever, because he's my shepherd. Now in this text,
the clay is us. I know it's described here
as the house of Israel, and it was certainly in Jeremiah's day
exactly what was intended. But the Apostle Paul, writing
by divine inspiration in Romans chapter 9, tells us that there
was more intended than just the house of Israel. He tells us
that the clay is all mankind. You and I are just clay. God's people in this world, as
well as those who are not God's people, are clay in the hands
of God. God's elect. Sinners chosen to
eternal life are vessels of mercy made and prepared by God to be
filled with mercy. All who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ are vessels of mercy. Nothing comes to God's elect
but mercy. Nothing but mercy. Vessels of
mercy. Vessels of mercy. A forth prepared
to glory. Vessels of mercy. If I should
distinctly call this a vessel of water, that means every time you look
in it, what do you expect to see? Water. There's water. Don't expect to
see anything else. This has been set aside just
for water. Will you listen to me? Rex Bartley, you've been set
aside from eternity for just mercy. Just mercy. And as you look into
this vessel, don't look for anything but mercy. That's all that's
there. But there are some men and women
in this world who are vessels of wrath. Now I can't spend much time talking
about it now, I might come back to it in a week or two. You can
fuss and squawk about this all you want to, but your fight's
with God and his word, not with me. If you ever learn that, you
can quit fighting the folks over it. But there are those who are
vessels of wrath. The Apostle Peter speaks of some
stumbling and finding Christ to be a rock of offense, even
to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. Job speaks of ungodly men who
crept in unawares, who were before or for ordained to this condemnation. The clay is us. That's us. The wheels. Here's the clay on the wheel. Those wheels, I found it interesting,
went back and read the chapter three or four times, and I couldn't
make wheel out of wheels. It said wheels. Now if you see
a potter generally working, that fellow's just working on one
wheel with one piece of clay at a time. But here in our text,
Jeremiah goes down to the potter's house and sees this potter with
clay working on wheels. Plural. Are those wheels the
same thing he saw in chapter 1? They're God's providence. His purposes, His decrees, His
works, His intentions, His designs, all that comes to pass, these
wheels represent the purposes, promises, providence and power
of our God. All circumstances, all experiences,
all the events of life, not just mine, not just yours,
Oscar, all the circumstances and all the events of all history
are necessary for the molding of these vessels according to
the will of the potter. He's working the wheels, molding his vessels, Indeed,
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm deep in
unfathomable minds of never-failing skill. He treasures up his bright
designs and works his sovereign will. That's God's providence,
Bob. The potter is God himself. Yes, you and I are clay in the
hands of God. He made us, he owns us, and he
disposes of us as he will. He uses us and makes an end of
us exactly as he will. Well, Pastor, what's the message
from the potter's house? I'll give it to you in two statements,
and I'll wrap this up in a hurry. First, the Lord, our God, is irresistibly sovereign. Look at verse 6. 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 you in my hands. God Almighty has the incontestable
right and irresistible power of absolute sovereignty. That
means that he makes, governs, uses, rules, and disposes of
all things according to his own sovereign will. In particular,
you and I, you who hear my voice understand this. You and I are
clay in the hands of God. We belong to God. We're his. You see, the God of the Bible,
the one true and living God, the God we worship and serve,
is totally, absolutely, irresistibly, uncontrollably sovereign everywhere. There's nothing in heaven, earth,
or hell that moves or wiggles without God Almighty having control. Absolute control. God rules everything. Now this is what I mean. God
is incontestably sovereign over all his creatures. Number two,
God exercises sovereignty with great ease. Oh my, my, my. Ron, he rules
the world with greater ease than a potter molds wet clay. Nothing bothers him. Nothing
shakes him. Nothing disturbs him. Nothing
hinders him. Nothing stands in his way. Nothing
slows him down. He rules absolutely. One turn of the potter's head,
one spin of the potter's wheel, completely alters the shape of
the clay. And so it is with us. are in God's hands. Number three,
God will be glorified in all his works. God formed us out of the clay,
Job said, and we're just clay in the hands of the Almighty
God. Clay. Boy, that's not much of an honor
to man, is it? Clay is infertile and it's useless. It's just mud. It's just mud. You kids get out
and play in the mud, you don't dare come in and walk on mama's
white carpet. It's just mud. What do you do with the mud?
You shake it off, wash it off, get rid of it. It's useless.
Except in the potter's hands. And we, as a race of men, are
just infertile, useless mud. Except in the hands of God. God has the same power over the
race of mankind and over all the universe as the potter has
over the clay. And we ought to willingly submit
ourselves to his dominion. Oh, what wisdom it would be to
gladly, willingly, constantly bow to God and say to him, You're
our father, we're clay, you're the potter, do what you will. That's the safest course of action,
the most peaceful course of action, the wisest course of action,
and that's exactly what's going to happen anyhow. And yet God's glorious sovereignty
is most clearly revealed in his works of grace. I have a friend
who's a potter. I met him up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
when I was up there recently and I've seen some of his work. He makes different things. He
sent Shelby a beautiful blue flower vase and up there I guess
they call it a vase but it's one of those things you stick
flowers in. Beautiful thing, beautiful thing. And I've seen
some of his other works, some more impressive than others,
but not by accident. Some were intended to be large
centerpieces, catching your eye, causing your attention to be
drawn to them, causing your mind to be focused upon them, causing
you to look at the detail of the work. were designed to sit
on a shelf and sort of be accents. Nothing but that. Let me tell
you something. All God's creatures are going
to honor him. But he has some vessels of honor
designed to be his centerpieces. Designed to catch the attention
of the world. Designed to cause all eyes immediately
to be focused upon them. Designed to cause men to look
into them and see the intricate detail of the work. And God's
great glory is revealed in His grace to chosen sinners in Jesus
Christ the Lord. He intends in eternity to show
forth the riches of the glory of His grace and His manifold
wisdom in us, vessels of mercy. He chose us. He didn't just choose
to save somebody. He chose whom He would save.
He chose the kind and the means of their salvation. He found
a way by the sacrifice of His darling Son to put away our sins
and save us by His grace. And at the time appointed, he
called us and made us his own, giving us life and faith in Christ. But there's another lesson to
be learned from the potter's house. And you need to learn this one
too. Oh yes, God is sovereign. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy. He has compassion on whom he
will have compassion, and whom he will, he hardeneth. But God
Almighty never acts arbitrarily in the exercise of His sovereignty. Did you hear that? God never
acts arbitrarily, without reason, in the exercise of His sovereignty.
Never. You see, in verse 7 the prophet
hears this, or says this at one instant. Our God says to the
prophet, at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and
concerning a kingdom to pluck up, 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 have thought to do to them. And at what time 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 shall said I would benefit them. God dispenses his favors
sovereignly, unconditionally. Anyone who says otherwise speaks
contrary to the scriptures and to the character of God. But
God does not punish men unconditionally. I know our enemies like to do
what they can to mar the gospel we preach, and the way they do
that is by telling bald-faced lies that they know are not so.
They often will say to folks, well, those folks, you know,
that Fort Nefella, he preaches that God has predestinated some
folks to go to heaven and some folks to go to hell, and folks
couldn't be saved even if they wanted to. It's a bald-faced
lie. You never heard me preach it
or suggest it. Nor have you ever heard anyone with whom I'm associated
preach it or suggest it. You see, salvation is unconditional. Without works, grace is free. But wrath, judgment, and eternal
damnation is what you heard. It's called the wages of sin.
This is what our Lord tells us. Vessels of mercy are prepared
for glory by God. Vessels of wrath are fitted for
destruction by their wicked works. There are degrees of reward in
heaven because heaven and eternal... Are there no degrees of reward
in heaven? Because heaven and eternal life
are the free gifts of grace. There are degrees of torment
in hell. The scriptures make it very clear,
Matthew chapter 11. Well, how can that be? Because hell is
what you are. And you're going to get exactly
what you deserve. If you're saved, forgiven, and heir of eternal
life, if you go to heaven when you die, that's all God's work,
God's fault. He chose you, He redeemed you,
He called you, He keeps you, He'll present you to Himself.
But if you go to hell, if you're lost, if you perish in your sins,
that's all your work and your fault. It's exactly right. When you perish under the wrath
of God, you've heard the gospel. Are you listening to me? I know
you won't pay any attention unless God gives you ears. Hope God
calls you to hear me. You've heard the gospel of God's
free grace, some of you for years. God says, I've called. I've called. He called. God speaks by these
lips of clay, and I call you in Christ's name, in Christ's
name, as God's ambassador! Be ye reconciled to God. And you go on saying to hell
with God, I will like I want to. You snub your nose at him. You
say, no sir. No sir. No sir. God says, alright. You're going to eat the fruit
of your own ways. And that's what hell is. Fruit of your own ways. When God threatens wrath, if
the sinner repents, he declares he will be merciful. You say,
well God must have changed. No, but he looks like it. He
never changes, but he changes his course of action as far as
things look to us. Because God declares that we
deserve wrath, he threatens judgment. But when Nineveh heard the word,
the king of Nineveh said, who can tell? Maybe God will be merciful,
let's repent. And God spared the city. It happened
over and over again in the book of Judges. When the people sinned,
God sent judgment. When they repented, God delivered
them from their enemies. And so it is with you. The Lord
God threatens you with eternal damnation, the wrath of God is
upon you! But if you turn to Christ, if
God by His grace causes you to hear His word, and you turn to
Him and cry, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed! Then I'm
telling you, God Almighty will be merciful to you. And when
God Almighty bestows His blessings upon a people, as he has bestowed his blessings
upon us and upon our households. Oh, how God has blessed us and
our households with the privilege of having his word, his gospel,
having for our table companions, his people, his servants. and you despise his goodness, then that which was a blessing
to you in time will turn to be your eternal torment in hell. Now this is what I mean by that,
Burl. If sitting here, hearing the
gospel of God's grace is made effectual of God to you so you
hear his word, you believe him. Nothing could be more blessed. But you who hear the word, you
who have been favored of God to be raised under the sound
of the gospel, you who've heard the message of grace. If you go to hell as it were,
knocking God out of your way every step of the way, the fact
that you have enjoyed these privileges will be everlastingly the increase
of the torments of hell to your soul. That's just fact. That's just
that. The Lord God Almighty is so holy,
wise, gracious, just, and good that he will never forgive sin,
apart from the sacrifice of his darling son, apart from blood
atonement. And yet, this sovereign, holy
Lord God is so gracious, so merciful. that he delights in mercy. And
it is impossible for any sinner, even me, it's impossible for any sinner
to come to him for mercy and not obtain it. Well preacher, does that mean
God will save me? Oh yeah, that's what it means.
Does that mean God will forgive my sin? Oh yeah, that's what
it means. Does that mean that God will speak peace to my soul? And deliver me from all possibility
of guilt and condemnation forever? You got it, that's what it means.
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. The Lord Jesus bid you come.
And he says he that believeth on me shall never die. Never. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what he says. That's what
he says. Now this is the question. Will you or will you not bow
to him? Thus saith the Lord, return ye
now every one from his evil ways. Heal me, Lord, and I shall be
healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. Amen.