He Didn't Throw The Clay Away

JER.18:1-6 “HE DIDN’T THROW THE CLAY AWAY”

A) God is revealed to us in the Bible in many different figures!

* Supremely of course, God is the loving Heavenly Father ... He is also Creator of the worlds .......

* The Lord Of Hosts who leads the armies of Heaven, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

* Here, God is pictured as the Potter! * Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house .......

* And there he saw the way God deals with His own children. * Notice again v.5-6.

B) Repeat v.4! * You and I are the clay, God is the Potter!

* As we yield to His skillful hands, He molds us just the way He wants us to be.

* It isn’t the task of the clay to think up the pattern ... That’s the task of the potter!

* God has a perfect plan for each life. * All that the clay has to do is simply yield by faith into

the hands of the Potter and the Potter will do the rest!

(1) AS JEREMIAH WATCHED THE POTTER, HE NOTICED THAT THE VESSEL

WAS MARRED!

* Marred means: decayed, ruined, corrupt, spoiled, disfigured, wasted.

* This was not the fault of the potter, it was the fault of the clay, for the clay would not yield!

A) Now, if you were the potter and the clay refused to yield to your will, what would you do?

* I suppose most of us would throw the half completed vessel on the trash heap and start with

a new lump of clay! * But that’s not what the potter did!

B) He kept the wheel turning and He patiently worked with the clay!

* “He made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

* I like those four words, “He made it again!”

C) I think of Abraham, that great man of faith, who one day disobeyed God and left the

Promise Land for Egypt. * While in Egypt, he fell into sin and lied about his wife.

* In fact, because of his disobedience, he almost lost his wife.

* What did God do with Abraham? * Did God reject him and throw him on the trash heap?

* NO! He made him again! * He gave Abraham another chance!

* And as a result, Abraham became a great servant and was known as the friend of God!

D) I think of Peter, that great man of courage!

* Peter said to Jesus, “Though all others forsake You, I will never forsake You.”

* Yet, Peter denied the Lord three times!

* What did God do with Peter? * He made him again!

* Jesus forgave Peter and restored him to discipleship, and Peter became one of the greatest

soul-winners of all time to the glory of God!

E) I think of David, a man after God’s own heart, committed adultery, lied, and killed!

* What did God do with David? * He made him again!

F) Perhaps today, you are living under a dark cloud of defeat and despair!

* Perhaps you have disobeyed the Lord and have sinned against Him!

* Satan is accusing you and saying, “God is finished with you.”

* Listen my friend, God will forgive your sins and make you again!

* God isn’t through with you! * No need to despair!

* Get up, lift up your head, He will make you again, if you will surrender to His will!

G) There are many people who are living under the shadow of despair because they think

God is through with them! * Somewhere along the line, they have sinned.

* They have failed to yield to the Lord, and now they are convinced that this is the end!

* They would like to get back to church, or go back to serving the Lord again .......

* But they feel it is impossible, it’s all over, and they’re sure that God is through with them!

H) Now please, don’t get the idea that God minimizes sin, because He doesn’t!

* Rom.6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that ...? God forbid. How shall ...”

* You know and I know that God does chasten His children if they continue to disobey Him!

* There is no place for rebels in God’s family! * If one of His children refuses to obey and

persists in deliberate sin, God does chasten and use the rod – Heb.12:5-11!

* But there is a second thing to note here in our text, and that is:

(2) THE POTTER IS PATIENT WITH THE CLAY! * “So he made it again another .......”

* Ps.103:14 “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”