Jeremiah chapter 18. The second hour, I want to speak
about the man Jeremiah as a person, as a prophet and what the book
throughout the book of Jeremiah, what it speaks of. But this first
hour, I want to look in chapter 18. I've titled the message,
the potter and the clay. Now, every gospel message must
begin, whether literally or whether it's implied and noted, but In
the beginning, God is how every message should begin one way
or another, because God is the one that must do something in
order for salvation to be possible. And we know that in the beginning,
God elected a people, as I've already mentioned, his son came
as a man and redeemed those people. And in time, the spirit regenerates
those people. This was done as far as God was
concerned, this was done before time. It was all by his will
and by his purpose, according to his good pleasure. And it
was exacted by his power. The triune God that we worship
and we served predetermined then before time ever began to elect
a people and to save them. Then in time, God formed man
out of the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils
and man became a living soul. He breathed into man's nostrils
and he became a living soul. But we know that Adam died in
the garden because of his unbelief, because of the sin. Adam was
given one law, just one. This is a good reminder to you
and I that we can't keep one of God's laws, can we? We can't
keep one thing the Lord has said. Adam couldn't do it, Eve couldn't
do it, and we certainly can't. And in Adam, we died. By one
man's disobedience, all were made sinners. So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. After the curse, God declares
unto Adam, for dust thou art and dust thou shall return. Dust thou art and dust thou shall
return. So what is our hope in this,
in the curse that was given and the dust that we are? Our hope
is the Redeemer, isn't it? Our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our hope that his water washes away the dust that we are, that
we are his clay and he is the potter. That's exactly how you
get clay, isn't it? You mix dust with water. And
so this morning I want to speak on him, the potter, and us as
the clay. And look with me in Jeremiah
18, verse one, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
The reason we started this by saying in the beginning, God
is because Jeremiah left to himself would have never heard the word
of God, is it? God chose to do something here. And it says the
word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord chose to give his word.
What mercy it is that the Lord would speak to creatures of dust.
What mercy it is that the Lord himself became a creature of
dust for his people. He says, the word which came
to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise, go down to the potter's
house and there I will 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 vessels that he made of clay were marred
in the hand of the potter. So he made it again another vessel. That seemed good to the potter
to make it. 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 my hand, O house of Israel. We see the picture of the potter
molding this clay. Clay is stubborn. I mentioned
this to us Wednesday, but the colder clay gets, the more stubborn
it is. And the potter has to work with
the clay in order to soften it. The potter has to work with the
clay in order to not make it as stubborn. It has to be warmed
up. Sometimes it gets dry. As soon as clay touches the air
at any time, it begins to dry immediately. And so the picture
here is the Lord molding and making on a wheel that you and
I, we have no knowledge of whatsoever. We weren't even in existence
whenever this began to take place. This is God's salvation that's
being described here. It's by his own wheel he begat
us. I love that the translation of the word wheel here also means
the stool that a midwife sits on. A midwife is one that brings
forth children into the world by the mother. You know that.
What a picture of the Lord bringing forth his people by his own work,
by his own hand, taking us who are dead and trespasses and in
sin, being cold and indifferent and stubborn, having a heart
of stone against him, just being dirt, being filth. And yet him
having mercy, birthing us into the family of God by his own
work, by his own will and his own blood. This is the picture
here. Adam was marred in That word
marred literally means to be destroyed or to be ruined or
corrupted. Adam was the one that was corrupted.
He was the one that was marred on the potter's wheel. And yet
it says the Lord made another vessel on the wheel, didn't he?
And the Lord was pleased with that. When he says, as it seemed
good unto him, we know there's only one good and it's God, isn't
it? The Lord was pleased with Jesus Christ, his vessel of honor. God used his hands and became
a man for his people. Then he molds us and he conforms
his people to the image of Jesus Christ. How did he do that? Well,
when he died, we died in him, didn't we? When he sees the vessel,
he doesn't see me anymore. He doesn't see the stubborn clay
that I am. He sees a vessel of honor because of what Christ
has done for his people. I was thinking, and I want to
ask us this question, how valuable is dust to us? How valuable is
dust? I know. Uh, it was ironic that
yesterday my wife made a cleaning list and she was cracking the
whip. If you will, we needed to get
the house cleaned up. It had got a little bit disarray. We'd
been busy with everything. And one of the items on the list
was to dust the shelves. Well, I can do that. That's no
problem. I got the rag and I started dusting and I'm like, man, There's
dust everywhere. And as you try to move it, if
the rag wasn't wet enough, it would just fly in the air. And
I started sneezing and I'm like, this dust is useless. It's just,
we spend our entire life trying to get rid of it, don't we? We
try to sweep it up. We try to get it out of our house. We don't like dust. It's dirty.
It's filthy. And what is the value of dust?
Well, it'd be less than nothing, wouldn't it? It would be, you
wouldn't pay for dust, would you? But do you know that The
value of the Lord's dust, his people, that's what we're called
is dust. And we're called his people. It's the price of the
blood of the lamb. Think about that. That's the
value of the Lord's people to him as his blood, us as dust
to him is the value of the blood of the lamb. We stand in awe. when we think of those things,
don't we? It's too high, we can't attain to it, that the dust that
we are Christ Jesus became for his people to put away our sin
by his own blood. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
64. Isaiah is the book right before Jeremiah, Isaiah 64. Not only is dust not valuable,
but dust can produce nothing. Dust begets dust, or dust just
is. It doesn't produce anything good,
does it? The more dust you get, you're
not getting anything better. It's getting worse. Dust can't
produce anything valuable. And God demands righteousness,
doesn't he? He demands perfection. So we
need a substitute, and Christ Jesus is that substitute. We
see ourself here in Isaiah chapter 64, in verse four, he tells us,
our righteousness is filthy rags. Let's read this. For since the
beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the
ear, neither have I seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared
for him that waited for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness. those that remember thee in thy
ways. Behold, thou art wroth, for we have sinned in those in
continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do
all fade as a leaf, and our iniquity is like the wind, have taken
us away. There is none that calleth upon
thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. For thou
hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our
iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father. We are the
clay, and thou art our potter, and we all are the work of thy
hands. He tells us, being dust, that
none have stirred themselves up. He literally said that. None
have stirred themselves up to seek the Lord's face, to take
hold of the Lord. Well, if you stirred up dust,
it wouldn't do any good anyways, would it? even if we could try
to do that. He tells us none. It's impossible
to hear because he won't let us hear unless he causes us to.
He says none have heard. None have even listened. They're
not even interested in listening. They have no ears. He says none
have seen or understood. And we know why, don't we? Because our righteousness is
as filthy rags. We are unclean in his eyes. We are dead in trespasses and
in sin. We are filthy. We're unfit. We're dust. We're
dust. thanks be to God, he became dust
for his people. He himself robed himself in sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. That's the gospel,
isn't it? That he would condescend to such a low estate to redeem
a couple of, a bunch of sinners, his people, his sinners, to redeem
them from the law, them that were under the law. Dust is dirty. Dust must be clean. Dust is messy. You and I spend our entire life
physically trying to get rid of dust in our home. You and
I will try to keep our cars clean. We'll try to vacuum the dust
that collects in the car, in the house or whatever. We're
always trying to get rid of dust, but when it comes to this salvation,
that's all that we can produce is dust and we can't rid it ourselves.
We're unclean in everything and everything we produce is unclean.
We need to be cleansed. And I have good news for us this
morning. David tells us in Psalm 103, the Lord knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but
dust. See, this is a design by mercy
for you and I to have no righteousness in ourself. It's a design by
grace so that you and I don't see ourself as anything but filthy,
but only the Lord can reveal what we are and only the Lord
can reveal who Christ is. And thanks be to God when he
does, David said, he raises up the poor out of the dust. lifteth
the needy out of the dunghill. We only see ourself as dust when
he causes us to. We only see ourself as the sinner
and what we produce is filthy rags when he causes us to because
he's made us poor and he's made us needy and he washes our dusty
heart. with pure water, the washing
of water by the word in his own blood. He washes us clean and
white as snow, doesn't he? This is our hope. We are his
clay and he is the potter. He has the power to make a vessel
of honor and a vessel of dishonor. Something I've realized this
week, Donnie Bell wrote an article and maybe it'll be in the bulletin
next Sunday, but he made a statement and said that The only way that
the Lord shows grace is first showing a sinner hell. Hell is
our deserving home. And it's so true. You and I,
the reason we beg out, we cry for mercy and we cry for grace
is because of trouble, is it not? So troubles in and of themselves
are mercy and their grace. Without them, we would not cry
out. It is our Thorns in the flesh that drive us to Christ.
It is our grief over our sin that drives us to Christ. It's
the burden of our loved ones. This is what drives us unto the
Lord. No other way would we cry out
for mercy or cry out for grace. It's all by his design. That's
the only way we could see that we're unfit. The only way that
we could see that we're but dust. Thanks be to God, he pulled us
out of the mire, didn't he? He pulled us out of the dust,
he says. He pulls the poor out of the dust, lifted the needy,
out of the dunghill. David cried out and said, wash
me, and I shall be white as snow. I see my dirt. I see my filth. I see my heart. I see the sin
that doth so easily beset me. Lord, wash me. Give me a new
heart. Cleanse me thoroughly. Purge
me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. This was David's prayer.
He saw himself as dirt. He saw himself as dust. He saw
himself as a frailty, didn't he? The Lord uses his living water
and places us upon the wheel, the rock. He's pulled us out
of the mire, put our feet upon a solid rock and establish our
going. That's the wheel, isn't it? That's
the rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he places
us in and on. We're conformed to the image
of his son, conformed to the image of his son by his own hand,
by his own will. This is how he brings salvation
to his people. Men will not admit that they're
dust because it renders us powerless. Did you know that? Admitting
that you're dust, what can you produce at that time that would
be pleasing to God? It's by mercy and by grace that
we see ourself as dust. When we see ourself as dust,
we realize we're completely powerless. And what does that cause us to
do? Have mercy on me, the sinner, the chief of sinners. Lord, Paul
described it. He said, to begin with, I'm not
worthy to be a count of the brethren. He said, I'm the least of all
the saints. He said, I'm not worthy to be
counted of the brethren. The last thing you hear Paul say is I'm the chief of
sinners. saw himself as getting more and more dirty, didn't he?
The more that he saw the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord's righteousness,
we see ourself as so impure. The stars are not even pure in
his sight. Lord, you're gonna have to wash me. You're gonna
have to pull me out of this miry clay. You're gonna have to save
me by your grace and put me upon the wheel. If I'm gonna be a
vessel of honor, it's gonna have to be through and by your hand
alone. You're the potter and you have all the power. This
is the heart that the Lord gives his people. This is what we cry
out for, is this mercy. Now, it blows my mind, if I can
put it that way. It takes me back. I can't even describe what awesomeness
there is in the fact that the Lord became a man. God chose
to become a man. He chose to become dust. He chose
to do that for his people. We can't fathom the because our
brains can't comprehend his awesomeness, who he is, his glory, his power,
his holiness, because we're other than him in every way. And yet
he chose to become a man to redeem his people. Isn't that glorious? The Lord Jesus Christ had to
become a man. Turn with me to Romans chapter nine. Men will not look to Christ as
their substitute, because it means they have to admit that
they're dust. They will not admit that they need a substitute. But the Lord's people do. They've
been made to. Romans chapter 9 verse 18 tells
us, therefore, he hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and
whom he will he hardeneth. Well, there's a picture of clay
there, isn't it? There's a picture of clay there. Whom he will,
he'll harden us. The only thing the Lord has to do in order for
a man to go to hell is leave him to himself. And the man will
be blowed on by his own sin and by the world and the air around
him. It'll cause him just to become hard, won't it? Hard to
the things of God, not interested in God. So what is our hope?
That the Lord would wash us with his water and soften us and make
us tender, that he would have mercy. Verse 19, he says, 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? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
into honor and another into dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and to make his power known, endure with much long suffering
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, even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. We are made
to confess. The question he asks here is,
who art thou, O man? That's what he asks us, isn't
it? That's what he asks every man. Every knee's gonna bow and
every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, either
here or there. And mercy is that he would do
it here, that he didn't allow us to become hardened against
him. And he asks us, who art thou, O man? What did we hear
about Wednesday night? Lord, I'm a dog. Truth, Lord. Lord, I'm dust. Truth. Whatever
you say, Lord, is truth. I need a substitute. I need a
savior. Who am I? I'm nothing. I'm a
nobody. But Lord, you can make me a vessel of honor. You have
if I'm yours, by mercy and by grace alone. It's by your hand
and your work. If I'm going to be saved, you
are going to have to do all the work. We know that if the Lord
leaves one thing undone for you and I to do, hell will be our
eternal home. We know that, don't we? There
can't be one thing that I produce because he will not be pleased
with anything I produce because of what we are. Because of what
we are, we are nothing but sin in his eyes. Thanks be to God,
he came to save sinners. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. Who's his people? A bunch of
sinners. That's his people. Christ Jesus is the perfect vessel
that saved his people. He endeared the wrath of his
father upon the cross of Calvary. I'm reminded that clay vessels
are placed into a fiery furnace, are they not? That's how they're
cured. And that's exactly what happened
on the cross. The Lord had to endure that wrath. And the good
news is, is we were in him as he was in that fire. That's our
hope, isn't it? So that when he died, we died.
When he lived, we live. If our life be hid, it's hid
with Christ and God. Our hope is that when he, everything
that he did is our righteousness. That's our hope. Not what we
do, not what we produce. What he produced, his righteousness
alone. He calls his people vessels of
mercy, prepared unto glory. I love that. That's our destination
if we're his, glory with him forever. Listen to what Jeremiah chapter
50 says, the work of the Lord, what he did on the cross of Calvary.
We're in Jeremiah and I came across this verse and I thought
it was so fitting. Listen to what the Lord did for his people.
Jeremiah 50 verse 20, in those days, And in that time, saith
the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. In those
days and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for and there shall be none. There shall be
none. In the sin of Judah, they shall
not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserved. Do you know what he's saying
here? God charged his son with our iniquity. God charged his
son with our sin. Christ Jesus became the sinner
substitute. Christ Jesus took our sin and
therefore God will not charge our sin to us ever again. Why? Because it's not there.
It's been put away. That's what Jeremiah is saying.
You're gonna look for their iniquity, but it's not gonna be there.
You're gonna look for their sin and they shall not be found because
I've pardoned them. I've put them away. I became
the vessel that they could not be, and they were in me when
I died. That's what the Lord's saying. And everything that they
are, I became so that they could become everything I am. We are
made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is our
hope, that when he sees us, he sees the blood. When he sees
us, he sees Christ. He sees his son. He sees the
righteousness of the Lord. And in closing, I want to turn
to three places. Two of them are found in Jeremiah.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23 in verse five says,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. And if you have a margin in the
center, you'll see that that says, Jehovah, sit can you. We
preached a few weeks ago on Psalm 23, and literally the name of
the Lord, like there's seven of his names, but that's one
of them, isn't it? The Lord, our righteousness is his name. It is his birthright. It is his
character. It's his nature. It's everything
different than you and I are. We are nothing but dirt. We're
nothing but dust. We are in the miry clay of sin
by birth, and the Lord must do the work. He must pull us out
of the mire and put us upon his rock, his wheel. and mold us
into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did that before
the foundation of the world was ever laid, because he is the
Lord our righteousness. I like the word remnant that
the Lord uses. The Lord leaves a remnant, and
that's his vessels of honor saved for his glory. It's reserved
for his purpose. It's just mercy that he would
reserve some. There's nothing good in us that
the Lord would look upon us and think, okay, well, I'm gonna
save this man or this woman because of something in them. It was all by grace, the Lord's
salvation. It was all by mercy in the Lord's
salvation. This is our hope. Our hope is by his mercy and
grace, he hath made us acceptable in his sight. For by one man,
by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. In the glorious moment, When
the Lord said, it is finished, all of the Lord's people were
redeemed back to the Father. It was done in time, and it was
done from the, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. We believe in eternal justification here. This means
that there's never been a time where the Lord has not seen his
people outside of Christ. See, the Lord can't change, he's
immutable. He's always seen his people in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is our hope, because if I was out of Christ, then there's
a way I can, if I was out, then I was in, there's a way I could
get back out, right? I mean, think about it. But the Lord doesn't
change. We've always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath
forever sanctified his people, made them perfect. He's made
holy vessels of honor fit for the master's use. Not one blot,
not one blemish, completely washed in the blood of the lamb. But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. So what does the Lord say
about you and I? What is his confession of you
and I? What does he call us? We'll turn
to Jeremiah chapter 33. Jeremiah 33, 15. You and I see that we're nothing
but dust. You and I see that we're nothing but clay on the
potter's wheel. You and I see that we have no good thing within
us, but what does the Lord say about us? What does the Lord
see? Because how God sees it is how it is. Is that not true?
However God sees it is exactly how it is. He's truth. So how
he sees it is truth. Jeremiah 33, 15 says, in those
days and at that time will I cause a branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called. Jehovah, sit in you, the Lord,
our righteousness. Whenever a couple gets married
by law, the wife traditionally takes the husband's name. And
the man stands, the preacher, the officiator stands and declares,
I now pronounce unto you, Mr. And Mrs. When I got married,
it was Mr. And Mrs. Caleb Hickman. Is that
not how it went for you, most of you all? That's how it's done.
And that's how the Lord ordained it to be. When the Lord declares
our name, it is said, I now pronounce unto you, Mr. And Mrs. Jehovah
Sitkinu. The Lord has given us his name. He sees his people. as his righteousness,
in his righteousness. He sees his people just as righteous
as he is, just as holy as he is. Now I don't see it and you
don't see it, but that's how God sees it because of what he
done. He doesn't see dust and he doesn't see cracked marred
clay anymore. He sees a perfect vessel of honor
for his use, for his purpose, all for his glory, because he's
the one that did it by the work of his own hand. This is our
hope. We now have boldness. Somebody
told me recently, well, whenever you preach, you better preach
with boldness. What they meant by that was, is you better rear
back and let them have it. That's what he meant by that.
I know that's what he meant. I know the man. That's not what boldness
is, brethren. Boldness is complete confidence
in Christ. Boldness is resting all the hope
of your salvation in the finished work of Christ alone. That's
boldness. It's confidence in what Christ did, not ourself.
It's not condescending language with fire behind it. We preach
Christ in love with boldness that His work is our only hope
for salvation. And we have been given boldness
to enter into the holiest of God by His blood. When the Lord
sees his people, he sees them washed in the blood and we can
now approach the throne of God, the creator of this universe.
We can make our petitions known before him. We can come begging
for mercy and begging for grace. And he hears us when we pray
because of the blood of Christ. As being clay and as being dust,
We groan and we long for the day that we will see him face
to face because the glory of him will be revealed in us. That's
our hope. That when we die, when we die
and we shed off this robe of dead bones, this corpse, this
dead man that we're carrying around, this is going back to
dust from which it came. Sometimes I examine my hands
and I think, you know, these ain't really my hands. This is
just a borrowed A borrowed bag of bones, isn't it? But one of
these days, the Lord says that we're going to die and awake
in his likeness. The glory that Christ has given
us will be revealed in all of his people in eternity. He tells
us, for we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we grow earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon. with our house, which is from
heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked."
We groan to see that we are clothed in his righteousness, don't we?
We groan to see that we are conformed to his image. We desire to see
him face to face. Somebody recently told me, they
say, I don't have a death wish, but I sure am excited to die.
And I said, I understand exactly what you're saying. Even so,
come Lord Jesus, come for your people, bring us to yourself.
This is the believers heart. The older we get, and I know
that I'm young. You don't have to remind me of
that. The older we get and the more that we endure in this life,
the more that we see, we're nothing but dead men walking. Nothing
we can produce is dust. We cry out, Lord have mercy.
Reveal Christ in us, our hope. Lord, cause us to be found in
his likeness. The scripture says we will. We'll
be made like him for we shall see him as he is. perfect vessels
of honor. The last place I want to turn
is 1 Corinthians 15. Somebody told me the other day
that there's rumors of war. different times. I said, well,
that's biblical. The scripture says at the end
times, there'll be rumors of war. That's how it's going to
be. And somebody asked me, well, what if this happens or what
if that happens? They were concerned. And I said, everything that's
going to happen is ordained before the foundation of the world.
The Lord's purposed all of it. But if all of that does happen,
and this is the last day we have on earth, wouldn't it be glorious
to be sitting at the Lamb's Supper, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb,
not taking these elements that we have over here, but actually
feasting on the Lamb? I can't imagine what that's going
to be like because we're in the flesh, but that's our hope, isn't
it? That's our hope. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50 says,
This I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom
of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold,
I show you a mystery. And that's what I was just describing
to us, a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump, for the trump of God shall sound. The trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, And this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which give us us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord." What a glorious thought that we shall be changed
in the moment, the twinkling of an eye. And this corruptible
will fall down, going back to the dust from whence it was.
But because of what the potter has done, to the clay, because
of what he done on his wheel, his work for his people, we will
be changed into incorruption forever. We will be made like
him. Paul called it, it's a mystery to us, isn't it? We don't understand
it, but we believe it. He just said it. We believe,
and that's our only hope is that whenever we die, we will see
him face to face being made like him, just like him. He is the
vessel of honor that his people are conformed to by the potter's
hand. You and I can't see the perfect
vessel that's on the inside, the new man. We can only see
the dust that we are, don't we? We can only see the sin that
we produce. But when we stand face to face
with him, having nothing but the righteousness of Christ as
our plea, do you know what he says to his people at that time?
Enter in thou good and faithful servant. I've been faithful over
a few things. I'll make you ruler over many.
Lord, have I been faithful over a few things? I've been faithful.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. See, he don't
see us anymore. He doesn't see the sin that we
are, the dust that we are. He sees his precious son, our
substitute. This is our hope. Potter put
away the sin for his people and made us a vessel of honor. I'm
so glad he's the Potter and we're the clay, aren't you? If I was
the Potter, I would definitely mess it up. I know I would, but
he's the Potter. I had no part in the molding.
in the conforming, in the making, in salvation. He did it all.
He did it all and he gets all the glory. I like being his clay,
don't you? I like being his dust. That's
where we are, purchased by his own blood for the Lord's people.