It was an hour of terrible discouragement for
the prophet Isaiah. And remember, he too was
human. Sometimes I think that we forget that
Abraham was human, just as any man today. Moses
was human. Elijah. Oh, we think. of Elijah, that
great spiritual giant, as he stood there challenging
the prophets of Baal. Remember, he was as human
with human weaknesses and failures and moments
of discouragement just like any human being today.
And this was it. terrible hour of discouragement
for the prophet Jeremiah. And he was all down
in the faith. I know, we never think of these
men of God as being weak enough to be down in
the faith. But they were. The people all around
Jeremiah had their lives marred by mistakes and
faults and failures and sins. And because of
it, The prophet's heart was cut to shreds. Then
something happened. Oh, God is so merciful. God
is so understanding. I still contend that God
is altogether different than you and I think
of him as being. I really do. I think of that
a thousand times a week. And I have to believe
it because... I stand and watch him work in human
lives. I see his tenderness. I see his great
compassion. I even contend that he has a sense
of humor. He must have. To put up with some of
us. And watching him work, I understand his personality.
Well, indeed. that moment of discouragement,
instead of rebuking Jeremiah for being down in
the face and for being discouraged, God did something.
And turn with me, if you will, please, to the
18th chapter of Jeremiah. Then the word which
came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise,
get up. Get up, get going. You've got your eyes
on circumstances. You've got your eyes on human
beings. Arise and 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 vessel
that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter. So he made it again, another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it. Oh,
that's thrilling. To me, that's one of the most
precious, one of the most sacred portions of
God's word. and the vessel that he made of clay
was marred in the hand of the potter, and so
he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the potter to make it. Though men sin and
mar God's plan yet to remember, he is merciful,
he is gracious, he is patient, he is loving.
that marred vessel. He doesn't take that whipped
vessel and throw it aside and say, I'm through
with it. I'm disgusted with it. Get out. I am
God. I am God Almighty. What have I to do with
thee? A weakling. A struggling. Get out. No,
beloved. He's merciful. He's patient. He's gracious.
He knows we're human. And he understands you
and he understands me better than we understand
ourselves. Look at David. That young stripling
of a lad. rotting goliath oh how god helped him
what god did through that young lad's body literally
challenging goliath and then later hear that
pitiful cry from david I shall one day perish
at the hand of Saul. One day, a spiritual giant.
The next day, a weakling, weak in the flesh.
Look at Elijah, that great spiritual giant. one
day literally challenging the prophets of Baal,
routing hundreds and hundreds of false prophets
on Mount Carna. And the very next day, not a
week, not six months later, not a year later,
the very next day after that great victory, I
want you to see that spiritual giant. After having
seen the manifestation of God's power, after
knowing the power and the glory of God, one would
have thought in the natural that Elijah never
again would have doubted God. One would have
thought that never again in Elijah's life would
there ever be a weak moment. He would never again
show any weakness to flesh. But the very next
day, He's fleeing at the threats of wicked Jezebel
and wanting to die. Think of the weakness of
the flesh, wanting to die. Look at John the Baptist,
bravely looking in Herod's face. Oh, look at
the courage when he looked him in the face. pointed
a finger at him and said, It is not lawful for
thee to have her. And then in his hour of discouragement,
he sent two men to ask Jesus. He didn't go himself.
He sent two men to ask Jesus the simple question,
Art thou he that should come? Or do we look?
For another. Remember something. And if just
in the simplicity of what I am saying, you'll
remember these few words. Jesus knows the weakness
of the flesh. The Heavenly Father knows the weakness
of the flesh. He knows how weak you are. He knows
how weak I am. Awful common say. I would give
anything in the world, Miss Gorman, if I could
turn all the pages of my life back and start
all over again. There are many things that I
would like to erase. There are parts of my life
I would like to live all over again. I would
live that part so differently. There have been
those with tears streaming down their cheeks,
have confessed their sins, have admitted their
weaknesses, and have said, do you think you fold?
Do you really think he can forgive me? My sins
were so awful. The things that I did were so
awful. So unforgivable. Catherine Pullman, do
you think he'll forgive me? I have his word.
his precious word i take you to the potter's
house and there i will cause thee to hear my
words and the vessel that he made of clay was
marred in the hand of the potter so that he made
it again another vessel has seemed good to the
potter to make it. Who is there this very hour
who has not been able to say, mold me again,
oh gracious savior, oh divine potter, master
potter, take the clay, mold it again into a new
vessel. The man, 83 years of age, who came into
the service, I shall never forget, as he stood
there, big and strong and ruddy and rugged and
built, and yet weeping as a child and said, my
life is spent. I've never served God. Do you
think there's hope? Catherine Cooman, do you?
Think, after having wasted my entire life, do
you think, knowing that I'm living in the sunset
hours of my life, that he'll forgive me, that
he'll receive me, that if I confess my sins,
he'll come into my heart? Of course he will.
Of course he will, I promise. I promise you that
he will. God has a perfect plan for every life.
A perfect plan. Before you took your first cry.
Before you ever saw the light of day. I believe
that God held a perfect blueprint. A perfect
plan for your life, for my life. As surely as
he had a plan for the world before he ever spoke
it into existence. As surely as he had a plan
for man's redemption. God is perfect in everything
that he does. He had a perfect plan for Abraham.
He had a perfect plan for Moses. He had a perfect
plan for Paul. A perfect plan for you. For we
were created with free moral agency. It is up
to man to live his life according to God's perfect
blueprint, or you may live your life according
to your own will. Remember, Jesus himself had
a will separate and apart from God the Father.
Jesus himself, when he was here on earth, as
much man as though he were not God, could have
taken himself out of God's plan for man's redemption.
One of the last things that Jesus had to do was
to yield his will to the perfect will of the
Father, and the two wills became as one, the
Father's will. And he followed God's plan. plan
for man's redemption. Are you living according
to God's perfect blueprint? If you are, then
all things will work together for your good and
for the glory of God. Only those who are living
according to God's perfect blueprint and God's
perfect will can claim that wonderful promise.
Remember, we are still human. We all had the
witnesses of the flesh. If you take yourself
out of God's perfect plan, all things do not
add up. All things will not work out. You cannot...
those old fates. Have you sinned? Have you gone
astray? Have you left the fold? Remember, he
has not cast you aside. I promise you that. He's
still there waiting. He's still there loving
you. he's gracious and merciful tenderly dealing
with you in those midnight hours you roll and
you toss do you really want to come back do you
really want to feel his strong arms folding you
close to himself He's there waiting for you.
I'll never forget a story I heard when I was
very young of a young lad, a teenager, who disgraced
the family. Left home. Oh, sure, the world...
Called him the black sheep of the family. But
no mother has a black sheep in her family. No
one had heard from him for years. Oh, here and
there, they had heard that he was a failure.
Just an ordinary bum. One day the mother received
a postal card. And on the card was the handwriting
of her own son. And he said, Mom, tonight at
midnight, when the old freight train comes through
town, I'll be riding it if you still love me.
hang out a bed sheet on the clothesline. I'll
be looking and watching. And that night, at midnight
hour, when the old freight train came rumbling
through the little town, I'd clackety -clack
and a -clickety -click and a -clackety -clack.
and an old bum looked out as he passed the back
yard of the family home and what did he see he
saw every bed sheet that his mother owned hanging
on the old -fashioned clothes line He came to
my desk with trembling lip. The lesson was done.
Dear teacher, I want a new leaf, he said. I spoiled
this one. Please, emplace the leaf so stained
and blotted. I gave him a new one, all unspotted,
and into his eyes I smiled and said, Do better
now, my child. I went to the throne with a...
quivering soul. My old life is almost done, dear
father. Hast thou a new leaf for me? I've spoiled
this one. And he took the old leaf, all stained
and blotted, and he gave me a new one, all unspotted.
And into my sad heart smiled and said, do better
now with this one, my child.