Beloved this evening I want to express my concern for the people that feel as if there is no hope for them in the will of God. People have been lied to due to the failures that were placed in their past as excuses of Christ not moving in their lives but this evening beloved I want to voice the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to voice out that Christ is in to redeeming the broken and using the pieces of our lives as master piece of great price. A master piece of sure miracle a master piece of true change and priceless value, that master piece beloved is you and I.
Many of us here this evening have felt the sting of our failures and have used this as a source of great distressing attitude, and have seen our lives as wasted or maybe even tainted and have seen no hope in our lives after this process has taken place in our minds, but God is into restoring the broken and I pray that this evening you can catch the master potter’s vision as He who is Great is shaping you even right now.
Some people will change when they see the light. Others change only when they feel the heat.
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. We need the hand of the Master Potter who beloved is Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (New King James Version)
The Potter and the Clay
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
As we have read our scripture beloved God has sent His servant to the potters house, not to preach a sermon but to receive and prepare one for God’s people, God told Jeremiah to go and observe what I want to do and how I will used and mold my people O’ Israel. As the servant of God has set his heart on receiving from God, God says there I will whisper silently into your heart a message for my people. Beloved this evening God has a word for His people and has a special message for you to take to heart, take home and rejoice off of today. Jesus wants you to know something about this pottery that He speaks of.
Sometimes beloved as the potter is starting to mold and shape this clay it can become marred as the bible says in our scripture that the clay became marred.
Mar-red (mär)
1. To inflict damage, especially disfiguring damage, on.
2. To impair the soundness, perfection, or integrity of; spoil. A disfiguring mark; a blemish.
The clay becomes uncooperative and thus leaving the clay to be imperfect and blemished, not manageable, I wonder if this sounds familiar, the master potter still works on this clay as the bible tells us this evening. While Jeremiah looks intently and carefully as God darts into His mind these two great truths which he must preach to the people of Israel. This has been my people God says, I want you and I to look at this in the respect of us this evening we have been uncooperative. We have somewhere in our lives became unmanageable thus leaving us blemished and marred. But Pastor I am not clay.
Now beloved let us work this in to our lives as the bible says that man was made of the dust of the earth and formed by the hand of God, as we live our lives we are in the hands of the Master Potter, but sometimes beloved we can be difficult, we can become marred, blemished imperfect and thus leaving us to believe that we cannot be used at all for God’s purpose. Some of you know exactly what I mean, this can come from the new convert to the older saint that is still dealing with their short comings as if I am tall enough to see it.
But the wonderful thought of hope that our bible gives you and I is the hope that the potter can always use our imperfections for the glory of His own as it pleases Him.
It is a very easy thing with God to make what use He pleases with us. One turn of the hand, one turn of the wheel, alters the shape of the clay as God does with our lives as He wants to shape and mold our hearts with His holy hand. If the potters vessel is marred for one use it shall be serve for another; beloved those that will not be monuments of God’s mercy shall be monuments of God’s justice.
Matthew Henry.
Beloved just as Peter in the denying of Jesus He was marred and blemished by fear and hopelessness as are many people are today not only in this city not only in our nation but possibly in our hearts, Peter denying Christ with cursing and swearing and rejecting His wonderful name, this beloved has done damage that only the Master Potter can repair. Who has not been Peter? Who has not rejected the very one that has died for our very souls this evening? We can all fit in this category.
Matthew 26:69-75 (New King James Version)
69 Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”
70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.”
71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!”
73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”
74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.
This beloved is a picture of marred clay, clay that was blemished and tainted seemed un-useful, seemed un-redeemable, but as our pilot scripture reads God says I will use the clay as I will.
Jeremiah 18:4
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
Now comes the redemption of God upon man, He made it again into another vessel as it seemed good to Him. We are a New creation in Christ Jesus.
John 21:14-18 (New King James Version)
14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.
15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,[a] do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[b] do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[c] do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. 18 Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”
Beloved I want us to look at the miraculous work that took place after this restoration that Christ handed to Peter, I want you and I to see how wonderful God is and how He who is the Lord of lords and the King of kings can be toward His people, merciful, gracious, and compassionate to you and I this morning.
Acts 2:40-42 (New King James Version)
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
When a potter is shaping a portion of clay and the clay becomes marred the potter then breaks the clay into pieces and places them in a jar not dry but filled with water, the clay then becomes soft and pliable for another use for His purpose.
He doesn’t give up on the broken pieces but places them together for a use that only by His grace and mercy can create a wonderful master piece, this is what Christ does with you and I.
Look at what Christ builds in men and women that were redeemed, those that follow Jesus Christ; every moment is packed with eternal significance even the smallest details of life as their lives, our lives are lived in His presence. Those that find the master potters house develop a deep intimacy with the master potter in which the work begins and a priceless master piece is created. Beloved that master piece is you this morning. Let Jesus finish what He started in your life. Amen!
