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The Perfect Potter & The Imperfect Clay

Dr. Allen Mabra. Sunday July 16th, 2017. The Perfect Potter And The Imperfect ClayThe Perfect Potter And The Imperfect Clay Isa 29:15Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”Isa 29:16You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? Isa 45:5I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,Isa 45:6so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. Rom 9:20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”Rom 9:21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? 1. Idolatry v2 (even sacrificing their own children – Jer. 19:5) 2. Wealth and materialism v3 3. Self-centeredness v5   Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?   Jeremiah 18:1-6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2"Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. I. THE POTTER’S PURPOSE. (18:1-3) Jeremiah 18:1-6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2"Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message." 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. The great Divine Potter also has a purpose for the lives He has created. Jer 1:18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. Jer 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.   God wanted to bless the world through Israel. a. God worked hard on His people to bring them to the place they worshipped Him properly. b. God’s presence was with the people of Israel.   God wants to bless the world through the church today. a. God surely has to work hard on His people, the church, today to bring them to a place of proper worship. b. God’s presence will be with the church when it obeys Him.   2Co 4:6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.2Co 4:7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 2Co 4:8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;2Co 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed 2Co 4:10always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.2Co 4:11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal 1Ti 5:17Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.1Ti 5:18For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”Tools specific to 1Ti 5:191Ti 5:19Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. II. THE POTTER’S PROBLEM (18: 4-7)   4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Jer 18:7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,Jer 18:8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. Eph 4:16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.Eph 4:17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. Eph 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Eph 4:19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.Eph 4:20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned Eph 4:21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.Eph 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;Eph 4:23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; III. THE POTTER’S PATIENCE (18: 8-17) especially v.8   Jer 18:7If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed,Jer 18:8but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.Jer 18:9And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, Jer 18:10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.Jer 18:11 “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”Jer 18:12 But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.” Jer 18:13So this is what the LORD says: “Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,even among the pagan nations?My virgin daughter Israelhas done something terrible!Jer 18:14Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon?Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry? But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me;they burn incense to worthless idols.They have stumbled off the ancient highwaysand walk in muddy paths.TJer 18:16Therefore, their land will become desolate,a monument to their stupidity.All who pass by will be astonishedand will shake their heads in amazement. Jer 18:17 I will scatter my people before their enemiesas the east wind scatters dust.And in all their trouble I will turn my back on themand refuse to notice their distress.”Jer 18:18 Then the people said, “Come on, let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah. We have plenty of priests and wise men and prophets. We don’t need him to teach the word and give us advice and prophecies. Let’s spread rumors about him and ignore what he says.” A. He did not throw the clay away; he worked with it some more. 1. He crushed it; then began a new work in it. 2. He worked with it again, to make it into something else. B. God, the Master Potter, does not throw us away; he works us over. 1. He may have to destroy what has been made with us before but He can remake us into a new or better vessel. 2. He does have the patience to work with us until we develop into what He has planed for us.   IV. THE POTTER’S PROCLAMATION (19:4-13)   A. Defeat by enemies v. 7 B. Death by enemies v.7 C. Plagues v.8 D. Famine v.9 E. Shattering v.10-12 V. THE POTTER’S PERSISTENCE (18:6)
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