And if you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 18 from verse 1 through verse 12.
What we've seen in the book of Jeremiah is that he is prophesying to Jerusalem and Judea.
And he has bad news for the people. The Babylonians are coming and you need to repent.
And today what we're going to see is that Jeremiah uses a unique image, not unique at that time,
but probably for us today of who God is and what we need to do in response to who God is.
He's the God who is the pot, one of the most well-known passages in the book of Jeremiah.
So let's give attention to what God's word says this morning.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.
Go down to the potter's house and there I will give you my message.
So I went down to the potter's house and I saw him working at the wheel and the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands.
So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seen best to him.
Then the word of the Lord came to me.
He said, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does, declares the Lord?
I play in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand Israel.
And if any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on a disaster I had planned.
And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says.
Look, I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you.
So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.
But they will reply, it's no use.
We will continue with our plans.
We will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.
Let's pray and ask God to tell us what His word is saying to us today.
Our Lord Jesus, help us to understand these words which seem strange to us,
describing you as a potter, about a people who you are going to bring disaster upon,
but also help us to see your grace in this passage.
Be with your people now, amen.
In my aunt's house you had two cabinets.
One was in the dining room, the other was in the kitchen.
And in the dining room all of the good China was there.
And you also had silver vessels.
Now back at one time I think people gave silver as gifts a lot.
I don't think we do that anymore.
But all the expensive eating utensils and serving utensils were in that one cabinet.
And guess how many times a year all that was brought out?
Twice.
Basically thanksgiving and Christmas.
Now the silver was brought out because there was the yearly cleaning of the silver.
But that's the only time those utensils ever came out.
Now you go in the kitchen, there's another cabinet.
It also has dishes, but they're made of plastic.
You probably got them back then at Haymark.
No one cared if they were scratched up, beaten up, not treated with a lot of respect.
But two different cabinets, two different types of utensils.
One cheap for common usage, one for special usage.
When we think of the kingdom of God, it's like that.
God has made a distinction.
It is between that which is holy and that which is unholy.
He makes distinctions between sinners and saints, sheep and goats.
And all that he has created is formed by his hand.
And the passage we just read, God is described as a potter,
creating different types of utensils for different types of usage.
Now I'll admit when you first hear that God is a potter and he's making distinctions,
that goes beyond our comprehension as Americans where we think we all have our rights
and we're all good enough, it seems like it's bad news.
God is determining things too much.
Well, we're not the only group in the world that believes there is a lot of determinism going on.
Certain psychological schools will tell you there is no free choice, there is no free will,
everything's been determined.
Behaviorism basically says that.
There's no good news with that viewpoint.
But with God as a potter, there is some good news.
It may be hard to see in these words after all that God has said about a coming disaster
and God's displeasure with sin, but believe me, it's there if we look close enough.
God is a potter.
Let's start with the view of Jeremiah about God.
And you are probably familiar with pottery.
For example, if you go to a place like Colonial Williamsburg,
you will see the recreations of the potter and pottery and all that goes into that.
And usually there are two wheels that are horizontal, there is one below,
where the potter can kick the wheel so the upper wheel spins
and then the potter has his hands on the clay that is wet and he molds it any way that he wants to.
And if you have not seen that, you may remember in shop class,
if you had shop class, making clay pots.
Now I did that when I was in junior high school and I thought it was a lot of fun having that clay,
which was all wet in your hands and you could do all sorts of things to it.
I may have made a pot for my mom or something, but it is a lot of fun.
And usually the potter makes things that are very useful for the average person.
You need a cup to drink out of, the potter can make it.
You need a bowl, you need something to be a storage canister or something,
the potter can make that. Very useful stuff.
And if the potter is very good, he can make those instruments very beautiful or very plain.
It is up to the skill of the potter who can take clay and shape it into vessels that can be used.
And do you know what this passage is telling us?
God is a sovereign creator. You can see that right here because he makes an analogy.
God is a potter. He tells Jeremiah go to the potter's house.
So Jeremiah goes and he sees the activity.
And then a little later on he said in verse 6, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does?
Who takes the clay of the earth and forms it?
And of course the answer is yes.
And we can go all the way back to Genesis chapter 1 where God formed man out of the dust of the earth.
Isaiah the prophet says, he who created the heavens is a God who has fashioned and made the earth.
He founded it. Do you see the wording there? He fashioned it like a potter.
In the Psalms it says this, does he who implanted the ear not hear and does he who formed the eye?
Not see? Forming. Creating.
That's what God of the Bible does.
And he is the one who creates the world.
He is the one who creates humans. He is the one who created Israel.
Our God is like a potter who creates and we confess it with the apostles' creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty who created heavens and this earth.
And when we see that we've got to start asking ourselves some questions.
How powerful is your God?
Is he powerful enough to create the world?
Is he powerful enough to create nations and establish them?
To bring them up and to bring them down and he's a powerful enough and sovereign enough to create you
from the dust of the earth to fashion you like clay.
And he does this all for his glory.
Right away there can be some problems with that for you and I
because we may not like it. It makes us too much like puppets.
We may not like it because we would rather have chance.
Let me ask you this.
Does chance give you any hope for your life?
Does luck give you any hope for your life?
Do the blind forces of nature give you any hope for your life?
No. I would rather have a sovereign God in control of everything
than to have chance or powers that have no personality running this world.
It may seem unscientific what we believe but is a far better option than mere chance.
Or some of you may be struggling this morning because you are saying to yourself,
well if God is like a potter, I don't like the way he's made me.
I don't like what he's doing in my life and this may be a uniquely Christian problem
because some of you would rather be a serving dish than the soup bowl.
Have you ever felt that way?
God, you're the sovereign creator.
I don't like the way you built me. I don't like the way you made me.
I don't like what you've done in my life and my career.
God, I got a problem with you.
That can happen.
And you may feel that way but we've got to keep in mind that this God of ours
is using you for his glory in some way and for your good that you may not fully understand yet.
That is the God we worship.
But keep in mind something else that we find in this passage about the clay that he is using
which may say something to you as well.
But it's said that this clay is like, it's ruined.
It may say something else in some of your other translations, marred, spoiled, corrupt.
And in the Bible that particular word is often used for moral corruption.
It is used in Deuteronomy 416. So do not become corrupt Israel
and make for yourself an idol in the image or of any shape.
The clay has a flaw just like Israel.
The flaw was that they have sought sin rather than the holiness of God.
And in verse 6, God says, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does, declares the Lord.
Like clay in the hand of the potter so are you in my hand Israel.
If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed
and if that nation I warned repents of it's evil then I will relent to not inflict on it a disaster I'd plan.
You have sinned Israel, you have committed idolatrous acts, you have turned away from me,
you have put on a false front of façade.
And God says in verse 11 you can repent Israel, you can turn your life around.
But look what Israel says.
It's no use because they're happy being a sinful, marred piece of clay.
We will follow the stubbornness of our own heart.
They want to be marred. They want to be marked as ruined and they like it.
They were supposed to represent the holiness of God to the world.
They were supposed to be uniquely Israel.
But they are acting like the rest of the nations corrupt, full of bloodshed.
Today it would be like if you're a Dallas Cowboy fan, you are wearing a Kansas City Chief's Jersey and listening to Taylor Swift songs.
You just don't do that.
Or it's being, you work for Ford but you're driving the Toyota.
Well that's what these people here are doing.
They are acting like the other side.
That's the problem with Israel.
We may think, well God you're against them because you're the potter.
No, no, no. The clay is marred.
The clay has a problem.
And keep in mind the situation not only for Israel but for all of us.
You have offended not only a personal God but also a sovereign God who can break you down like a pop on the potter's wheel.
Notice he says, I'll bring you down.
If you don't repent, if you keep it up, this is what's going to happen to you.
I'm going to take you and break you apart and it may seem so harsh.
And it is.
But you have offended God.
And what is it the world doesn't want to hear today?
They're offensive to God.
God is offensive to them but they don't think about how offensive they are.
That they are what? Marred, ruined, spoiled, corrupt.
That's exactly what God says about Israel and about us as well.
He gives us an option.
A lot of people don't care about that option.
And even Christians, let's remember, there is a bit of corruption that is in every one of us.
We will not be perfect till we get to heaven.
And as Martin Luther said, the very first of his 95 thesis,
repentance from sin should be an everyday activity of God.
Too often there is the facade of faith.
We have forgotten the Michael W. Smith song, has that cross of gold gone to your soul.
And if somehow we think by putting on the facade of faith, we're going to escape the judgment of God.
If we think we can come to church and yet our lives are still following after the world, we can escape.
No, you will not escape.
God is the potter and you are the clay.
Now I'll admit at this point it all seems harsh, biting, cutting.
But don't miss the grace of God here.
That very same God can also remake you.
Notice here that he doesn't get rid of the clay.
He doesn't just take it and throw it away.
What does he do in verse four?
He takes hold of it and reshapes it.
So that it becomes something else.
He holds out repentance as well.
And this reminds me of what second Timothy two says in verse 20 and 21.
In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wooden clay.
Some are for special purposes and some for common use.
Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes made holy, useful to the master, prepared to do any good work.
And all is saying here, if you repent of your sins and you are a Christian, God can take you, remold you, remake you, so that you are no longer marred,
but you are someone who is very useful to his kingdom.
You go from being flawed to flawless.
You go from being a sinner to a saint.
You go from being broken to beautiful in the kingdom of God.
The cup or the chalice that is tossed out into the street can become the cup of blessing at the Lord's table.
Think of what happens to scrap steel.
It may come from a rusting ship, a rusting locomotive, but then it is refined, it is reused, and it can become part of a skyscraper or a cruise ship.
God is really in the business of remaking people.
He reshapes them.
We can write people off and think there's no hope for them, but God is the potter and we're the clay.
And in His grace and mercy, for those who repent, God can reshape people into something that is different.
And sometimes we don't like that idea of God being sovereign and controlled like a potter over the clay, but what's the good news?
God, in His sovereignty, can remake you into something that is new and different.
He can take that which is an instrument of death and decay and make it glorious.
And some who need that are sinners, but there are others in this life who are in one way or another deformed by what has happened to them in life.
And let's remember one day, God will remake them into something that is more beautiful and more glorious than we can ever imagine today.
Look at that person who's next to you.
They may not seem like much to you, but in the hands of the potter, they become the beautiful instruments and vessels in the household of God.
Let's pray.
Our Heavenly Father, we ask now that you will show us the greatness of your redemption.
May we look to you as the potter who can remold us.
Help us to see you, our God, as the one who takes the dust of this world
and changes it into something that is delightful.
Hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.