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And if you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 18 from verse 1 through verse 12.

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What we've seen in the book of Jeremiah is that he is prophesying to Jerusalem and Judea.

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And he has bad news for the people. The Babylonians are coming and you need to repent.

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And today what we're going to see is that Jeremiah uses a unique image, not unique at that time,

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but probably for us today of who God is and what we need to do in response to who God is.

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He's the God who is the pot, one of the most well-known passages in the book of Jeremiah.

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So let's give attention to what God's word says this morning.

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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

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Go down to the potter's house and there I will give you my message.

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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.

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So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seen best to him.

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Then the word of the Lord came to me.

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He said, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does, declares the Lord?

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I play in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hand Israel.

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And if any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,

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and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on a disaster I had planned.

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And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

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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.

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Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says.

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Look, I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you.

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So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.

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But they will reply, it's no use.

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We will continue with our plans.

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We will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.

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Let's pray and ask God to tell us what His word is saying to us today.

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Our Lord Jesus, help us to understand these words which seem strange to us,

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describing you as a potter, about a people who you are going to bring disaster upon,

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but also help us to see your grace in this passage.

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Be with your people now, amen.

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In my aunt's house you had two cabinets.

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One was in the dining room, the other was in the kitchen.

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And in the dining room all of the good China was there.

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And you also had silver vessels.

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Now back at one time I think people gave silver as gifts a lot.

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I don't think we do that anymore.

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But all the expensive eating utensils and serving utensils were in that one cabinet.

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And guess how many times a year all that was brought out?

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Twice.

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Basically thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Now the silver was brought out because there was the yearly cleaning of the silver.

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But that's the only time those utensils ever came out.

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Now you go in the kitchen, there's another cabinet.

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It also has dishes, but they're made of plastic.

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You probably got them back then at Haymark.

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No one cared if they were scratched up, beaten up, not treated with a lot of respect.

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But two different cabinets, two different types of utensils.

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One cheap for common usage, one for special usage.

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When we think of the kingdom of God, it's like that.

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God has made a distinction.

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It is between that which is holy and that which is unholy.

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He makes distinctions between sinners and saints, sheep and goats.

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And all that he has created is formed by his hand.

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And the passage we just read, God is described as a potter,

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creating different types of utensils for different types of usage.

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Now I'll admit when you first hear that God is a potter and he's making distinctions,

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that goes beyond our comprehension as Americans where we think we all have our rights

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and we're all good enough, it seems like it's bad news.

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God is determining things too much.

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Well, we're not the only group in the world that believes there is a lot of determinism going on.

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Certain psychological schools will tell you there is no free choice, there is no free will,

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everything's been determined.

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Behaviorism basically says that.

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There's no good news with that viewpoint.

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But with God as a potter, there is some good news.

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It may be hard to see in these words after all that God has said about a coming disaster

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and God's displeasure with sin, but believe me, it's there if we look close enough.

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God is a potter.

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Let's start with the view of Jeremiah about God.

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And you are probably familiar with pottery.

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For example, if you go to a place like Colonial Williamsburg,

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you will see the recreations of the potter and pottery and all that goes into that.

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And usually there are two wheels that are horizontal, there is one below,

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where the potter can kick the wheel so the upper wheel spins

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and then the potter has his hands on the clay that is wet and he molds it any way that he wants to.

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And if you have not seen that, you may remember in shop class,

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if you had shop class, making clay pots.

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Now I did that when I was in junior high school and I thought it was a lot of fun having that clay,

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which was all wet in your hands and you could do all sorts of things to it.

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I may have made a pot for my mom or something, but it is a lot of fun.

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And usually the potter makes things that are very useful for the average person.

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You need a cup to drink out of, the potter can make it.

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You need a bowl, you need something to be a storage canister or something,

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the potter can make that. Very useful stuff.

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And if the potter is very good, he can make those instruments very beautiful or very plain.

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It is up to the skill of the potter who can take clay and shape it into vessels that can be used.

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And do you know what this passage is telling us?

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God is a sovereign creator. You can see that right here because he makes an analogy.

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God is a potter. He tells Jeremiah go to the potter's house.

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So Jeremiah goes and he sees the activity.

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And then a little later on he said in verse 6, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does?

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Who takes the clay of the earth and forms it?

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And of course the answer is yes.

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And we can go all the way back to Genesis chapter 1 where God formed man out of the dust of the earth.

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Isaiah the prophet says, he who created the heavens is a God who has fashioned and made the earth.

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He founded it. Do you see the wording there? He fashioned it like a potter.

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In the Psalms it says this, does he who implanted the ear not hear and does he who formed the eye?

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Not see? Forming. Creating.

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That's what God of the Bible does.

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And he is the one who creates the world.

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He is the one who creates humans. He is the one who created Israel.

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Our God is like a potter who creates and we confess it with the apostles' creed.

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I believe in God the Father Almighty who created heavens and this earth.

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And when we see that we've got to start asking ourselves some questions.

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How powerful is your God?

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Is he powerful enough to create the world?

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Is he powerful enough to create nations and establish them?

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To bring them up and to bring them down and he's a powerful enough and sovereign enough to create you

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from the dust of the earth to fashion you like clay.

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And he does this all for his glory.

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Right away there can be some problems with that for you and I

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because we may not like it. It makes us too much like puppets.

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We may not like it because we would rather have chance.

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Let me ask you this.

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Does chance give you any hope for your life?

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Does luck give you any hope for your life?

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Do the blind forces of nature give you any hope for your life?

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No. I would rather have a sovereign God in control of everything

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than to have chance or powers that have no personality running this world.

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It may seem unscientific what we believe but is a far better option than mere chance.

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Or some of you may be struggling this morning because you are saying to yourself,

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well if God is like a potter, I don't like the way he's made me.

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I don't like what he's doing in my life and this may be a uniquely Christian problem

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because some of you would rather be a serving dish than the soup bowl.

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Have you ever felt that way?

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God, you're the sovereign creator.

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I don't like the way you built me. I don't like the way you made me.

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I don't like what you've done in my life and my career.

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God, I got a problem with you.

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That can happen.

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And you may feel that way but we've got to keep in mind that this God of ours

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is using you for his glory in some way and for your good that you may not fully understand yet.

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That is the God we worship.

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But keep in mind something else that we find in this passage about the clay that he is using

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which may say something to you as well.

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But it's said that this clay is like, it's ruined.

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It may say something else in some of your other translations, marred, spoiled, corrupt.

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And in the Bible that particular word is often used for moral corruption.

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It is used in Deuteronomy 416. So do not become corrupt Israel

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and make for yourself an idol in the image or of any shape.

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The clay has a flaw just like Israel.

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The flaw was that they have sought sin rather than the holiness of God.

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And in verse 6, God says, can I not do with you Israel as this potter does, declares the Lord.

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Like clay in the hand of the potter so are you in my hand Israel.

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If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed

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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.

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You have sinned Israel, you have committed idolatrous acts, you have turned away from me,

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you have put on a false front of façade.

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And God says in verse 11 you can repent Israel, you can turn your life around.

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But look what Israel says.

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It's no use because they're happy being a sinful, marred piece of clay.

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We will follow the stubbornness of our own heart.

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They want to be marred. They want to be marked as ruined and they like it.

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They were supposed to represent the holiness of God to the world.

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They were supposed to be uniquely Israel.

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But they are acting like the rest of the nations corrupt, full of bloodshed.

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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.

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You just don't do that.

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Or it's being, you work for Ford but you're driving the Toyota.

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Well that's what these people here are doing.

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They are acting like the other side.

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That's the problem with Israel.

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We may think, well God you're against them because you're the potter.

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No, no, no. The clay is marred.

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The clay has a problem.

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And keep in mind the situation not only for Israel but for all of us.

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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.

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Notice he says, I'll bring you down.

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If you don't repent, if you keep it up, this is what's going to happen to you.

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I'm going to take you and break you apart and it may seem so harsh.

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And it is.

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But you have offended God.

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And what is it the world doesn't want to hear today?

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They're offensive to God.

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God is offensive to them but they don't think about how offensive they are.

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That they are what? Marred, ruined, spoiled, corrupt.

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That's exactly what God says about Israel and about us as well.

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He gives us an option.

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A lot of people don't care about that option.

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And even Christians, let's remember, there is a bit of corruption that is in every one of us.

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We will not be perfect till we get to heaven.

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And as Martin Luther said, the very first of his 95 thesis,

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repentance from sin should be an everyday activity of God.

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Too often there is the facade of faith.

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We have forgotten the Michael W. Smith song, has that cross of gold gone to your soul.

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And if somehow we think by putting on the facade of faith, we're going to escape the judgment of God.

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If we think we can come to church and yet our lives are still following after the world, we can escape.

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No, you will not escape.

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God is the potter and you are the clay.

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Now I'll admit at this point it all seems harsh, biting, cutting.

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But don't miss the grace of God here.

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That very same God can also remake you.

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Notice here that he doesn't get rid of the clay.

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He doesn't just take it and throw it away.

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What does he do in verse four?

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He takes hold of it and reshapes it.

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So that it becomes something else.

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He holds out repentance as well.

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And this reminds me of what second Timothy two says in verse 20 and 21.

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In a large house, there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wooden clay.

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Some are for special purposes and some for common use.

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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.

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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,

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but you are someone who is very useful to his kingdom.

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You go from being flawed to flawless.

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You go from being a sinner to a saint.

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You go from being broken to beautiful in the kingdom of God.

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The cup or the chalice that is tossed out into the street can become the cup of blessing at the Lord's table.

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Think of what happens to scrap steel.

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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.

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God is really in the business of remaking people.

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He reshapes them.

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We can write people off and think there's no hope for them, but God is the potter and we're the clay.

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And in His grace and mercy, for those who repent, God can reshape people into something that is different.

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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?

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God, in His sovereignty, can remake you into something that is new and different.

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He can take that which is an instrument of death and decay and make it glorious.

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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.

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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.

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Look at that person who's next to you.

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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.

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Let's pray.

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Our Heavenly Father, we ask now that you will show us the greatness of your redemption.

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May we look to you as the potter who can remold us.

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Help us to see you, our God, as the one who takes the dust of this world

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and changes it into something that is delightful.

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Hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.