Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-6
He was 21 years old. By all appearances he was living life to the fullest. Parties, drinking, living it up. He was young and full of live. He had a bright future ahead of him. Although this was the appearance to many, inside a war was going on. The parties were no longer satisfying, the alcohol no longer enough, the friends were there when he would buy their drinks, and his family-well he hadn’t seen his mother since he was a young boy and his father was not much of one. He was only 21, but inside of his exterior confidence an interior battle was being fought. He began to feel hopeless. He had no reason to live. Why should he go on. There is nothing in this life for me. So one day he had had enough. He could no longer bear the emptiness that he felt on the inside. So he went to his lonely apartment room, and set on the edge of his bed. He pulled out his 22 revolver pointed it at his chest and pulled the trigger.
Have you ever felt like a complete failure? Do you ever wonder what you are alive for? Has life seemingly passed you by? Do you lie awake at night and wonder why your life has turned out the way it has?
Maybe at one point in your life you had big dreams. You were going to go places. You wanted a big house, a nice job, the perfect husband or wife, and a bunch of chubby little kids who were all little angels. Instead, you got a shack for a house, your marriage is a wreck, and you can’t work because you have too many little brats to take care of. So now, you lay awake and wonder why? Why live? Why fight this battle anymore? Maybe its not even what I’ve talked about so far . . . whatever it may be, it doesn’t really matter. It all adds up to the same conclusion-hopelessness.
In our world today many feel like there existence means nothing. Many are simply empty shells of brokeness. Oh, they paste a smile on their faces, and laugh there way through life, or maybe they become depressed and withdraw from it all. Suicides occur everyday at unprecedented rates. From the front page of the newspaper to the deep, hidden corners of the human heart a cry is going up. It’s the searching, longing cry of a culture and, in fact, a world in crisis. Where is the hope? Where is the peace? Where is the purpose and meaning for life here in the real world?
Many you feel like you have messed up too many times. God would never forgive me now. I’ve gone too far. Waited too long. Perhaps the Potter of your life has thrown the clay away. Have you ever wondered if maybe the clay of your life has been thrown away? Well I have good news, God has not thrown the clay of your life away. God has come to make your vessel all that it was intended to be, and today he wants to
1. Redeem the Vessel.
Redeem means to buy back. God desires to buy back the broken pieces of your life. It doesn’t matter how broken up your life may be. It doesn’t matter what you have done, or where you have been. God wants to buy you back. The Master of all potter’s wants to redeem you vessel. He has provided the redemption plan for your life. He doesn’t care what you’ve done, or the mess you’ve made. He wants to buy you back.
Jesus Christ paid the debt that was necessary for our salvation. There was once a Russian officer having become hopelessly involved in debt, sat down in desperation and wrote out a list of his indebtedness. Summing up the whole, he wrote in despair at the bottom, "Who can pay such a debt as this?" That night the emperor passed through the barracks in disguise and seeing the paper beside the sleeping man, read it, and wrote at the end of the question the one word Nicholas! In the morning the officer wondered who had done it, but all doubts vanished when at ten o’clock the emperor sent the cash necessary for the heavy payment. Unsaved people, you are in debt also. Think of your sins, how much you owe your Lord, and when in despair you say, "Who can pay such a debt?" then whisper the name of Jesus. He can pay it. He has paid it. Jesus paid it all, Yes, all the debt you owe!
Martin Luther said this, “God, then, is more earnest for me to be saved than I am to be saved! "He so loved the world that He gave His Son" (see John 3:16). He loved not saints, not penitents, not the religious, not those who love Him; but "the world," secular men, profane men, hardened rebels, hopeless wanderers and sinners! He gave not a mere promise, not an angel to teach us, not a world to ransom us, but His Son--His only begotten! So much did God love the world, sinners, me! I believe this. I must believe it; I believe on Him who says it. How can I, then, do otherwise than rejoice?”
You may not think you are worth a thing. You may feel like you could just drop off of the face of the earth and no one would miss you. But I know someone who cares. I know someone who loved you enough that he provided the plan to redeem your broken vessel. He gave of His own Son to buy back the broken pieces of your life. He loved you enough that he gave of his own blood to redeem your vessel.
2. Repair you Vessel.
Not only does the Lord desire to redeem your vessel, but he wants to repair it. He doesn’t throw the clay away. He repairs it. When everyone else says you are worth nothing. Your life’s a failure. God says he wants to repair your vessel into something worthwhile.
Human nature is too bad to be improved, too dilapidated to be repaired. Here is a cracked bell. How can it be restored? By one of two methods. The first is to repair the bell, to surround it with bands. Nevertheless, you can easily tell that there is a crack in the bell by the crack of the sound. The only effective way to repair the bell is to remelt , amd recast it, and make it all new; then it will ring clear. And human nature is a bell, suspended high up in the steeple of creation, to ring forth the praises of the Creator. But in the fall in Eden the bell cracked. How can it be restored? By one of two ways. One is to surround it with outward laws and regulations, as with steel hoops. This is the method adopted by philosophy, and without doubt there is a marked improvement in the sound. Nevertheless, the crack in the metal shows itself in the crack of the tone. The best way is to remelt it, recast it, remold it; and this is God’s method in the Gospel. He remelts our being, refashions us, makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus, zealous unto good works; and by and by we shall sound forth His praises in a nobler, sweeter strain than ever we did before. Heaven’s high arches will be made to echo our anthems of praise.
Do you feel like a cracked bell? A broken piece of pottery? God has come to repair you vessel. When everyone else says that you are worthless, God says you are worth everything. He wants to take the broken pieces of your life and remake them into something new. He can take the worst of homes, and make them peaceful. He can take the worst of addicts, clean. He can take a wrecked marriage and put it back together again. What makes you think he can’t remake your life?
A psychiatrist who visited a rescue mission listened intently to the testimonies of many converts. The superintendent asked him if he would like to say a word. This is what he said: "Tonight I have been given an opportunity to observe something I did not know existed anywhere. It has been my privilege to listen to the testimony of men who were glad to witness to what Christ had done for them. I know nothing about that, but I confess I cannot otherwise explain what has taken place in their lives. A few of these men I recognize. As drunkards, even as dope addicts, some of them have come under my observation at the hospital. But here they are, alive, well-dressed, delivered, and in their right minds. I do not know how the miracle has been wrought, but of one thing I am confident--nothing in science can account for this change in them. That kind of gospel is worth preaching to anyone, anywhere."
Friends, Jesus Christ is still in the life changing business. He can still make people into new creatures in Christ Jesus! If your life is a mess this morning, and you don’t know where to turn. Jesus Christ is the answer! He wants to redeem your vessel, and he wants to repair it today.
3. Refill your vessel.
Not only does God want to redeem and refill your vessel. But God wants to refill your vessel. That emptiness that you have felt, God desires to fill. The lonely worthlessness, he wants to fill. God desires to come inside your heart and fill it with what has been missing. He doesn’t just want to buy your vessel and repair it and have a nice keepsake to sit around, but he wants to fill you up with his spirit in order to be used of him. A king who wished to express his affection for a private soldier of his army gave him a richly jeweled cup, his own cup. The soldier, stepping forth to receive the gift, exclaimed shamefacedly, "This is too great a gift for me to receive." "It is not too great for me to give," the king replied. So Christ offers us this infinite gift of the Holy Spirit to cleanse and fill our hearts and to abide with us. Think then how much He must have cared that we receive it.
You know, I don’t understand this kind of love for me. I am not worthy. My love was a mess of broken pieces. I was raised in a Christian home. I always wanted to be a Christian. Yet my life was broken. I felt useless, hopeless, I didn’t think God would ever want me. Yet he did. God took the broken pieces of my life. He bought them back with his blood shed on a old rugged cross. He has repaired my broken vessel. And he has filled me with his holy Spirit. Today he desires to do the same for you.
Your life can be made over again. He can take you and remake you into something useful. Your life may be in shambles, your hope may be gone. But Jesus Christ wants to refill your soul with hope. He doesn’t throw the clay away on anyone. There is hope for you this morning!
Conclusion:
His hope was gone as he pulled the trigger. As the world around him dimmed for what he thought was the last time, he wondered if had done the right thing, but he woke up. He thought he was dead at first, but the then he realized he was still alive. It was not too long after this that my Father realized that it was only through God that he could find hope. My Dad still wears that bullet that he shot into his own body that day. Yet, God in his mercy saw fit to give him another chance. My Dad was saved not too long after that. He became a preacher, got married, and had 5 kids (I am #4). God had mercy on him. He redeemed, remade, and refilled the vessel of my Father’s life. If it would not have been for God’s mercy my Dad would have never lived, and I would have never been your pastor.
It is only through God and his mercy that some of you are here today. We don’t know the number of times that God has protected us. We don’t know how many times we should have be in eternity but He spared us.
Some of here today fell like there is no hope. You are broken . . . but God wants to buy you back today.
You may feel beyond hope of anyone. But did you know there are a few things that God cannot do? God can’t leave you. God can’t forsake you. God can’t stop loving you. God can’t forget about you. God can’t neglect his children. God can’t be given a job he can’t handle. God can’t make a loser. God can’t make a mistake. God can’t lose. God can’t be unforgiving to those who ask for forgiveness. God can’t stop thinking about you. God can’t fail!!! Mark it down. It will never happen. You may think you gone to far, done to much. But God wants to give you hope this morning. He wants to give you peace. He sent his Son to die for your sins. Why don’t you just accept his sacrifice for you this morning. He didn’t throw the clay away to your life this morning. Why don’t you come and take a part in his love today. He wants to Redeem you, Remake you, and Refill you today!
