Wheel of Grace

Well if you will, take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 18. This is a wonderful, wonderful book. Before we get going, just as a, what comes to mind when you think about a field trip?

What comes to mind when you think about a field trip? I know as adults it's hard to remember those days because they were many years ago, but you know, oftentimes we think of observations. We get to see things that we've learned.

So there's usually a teacher present and a pupil present. And we get to go as an object lesson to kind of give a greater emphasis that we can be taught something. And I remember as a child, we went to Dawson Trails, which is close to our hometown, and they had snakes and insects.

And they were like, who would be willing to come up and touch the snake? And I thought I was being brave. And I raised my hand and I run up and they throw the snake over my shoulders and it used the bathroom all on me.

So I thought I was the cool kid, but it was kind of funny. But the snake. But nevertheless, this morning what we have here is we have a prophet, Jeremiah. A lot of times, a lot of people know this book as the weeping prophet.

But do we know more about that?

Or do we just stop there? Do we want to press in? Why is this man weeping? What causes you to weep? What causes this man to weep? Because it's something that's not manufactured. This is from an overflow of a great broken heart.

So this is a broken book by a broken apostle, broken prophet. And what I've always struck me is that he is encouraging faithfulness and devotion to God in the midst of announcing judgment. So that's what's been always encouraging to me about Jeremiah, that he was so faithful to God because he's announcing judgment to a nation and he's announcing judgment to his church.

That's hard.

That's a hard, hard task. So basically, in layman's terms, Jeremiah doesn't delight in giving bad news. He doesn't delight. And really, when I've studied this more and more, he's like the epitome of Psalm 119, 136.

It says, when people break your laws, tears flow down my face. He's the epitome of that verse. He's the epitome of that verse. So let's look into, God takes him now to a second field trip. The first one was in chapter 5, where he took him to the Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was on a hill. So he said, go to the gate and tell the people. And that's what the last chapter in chapter 17 was, to observe the Sabbath. That God will bless you if you take one day and observe it.

That it would be like grace on steroids. It would strengthen you and encourage you. So here's the second field trip and God says, go down. So let's hear from the word of God here. And chapter 18 is loaded.

And I just, I pray that this message will be a blessing. So now hear the word of God. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise, go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again into another vessel.

And it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? Says the Lord, look at the clay is in the potter's hands, and so are you in my hand.

O house of Israel. The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it. And if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.

And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. If he does evil in my sight, that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good which I said I would benefit.

Now therefore speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, Thus says the Lord, behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good.

And they said, that is hopeless. So we will walk according to our own plans. And we will everyone obey the dictates of his evil heart. Therefore says the Lord, ask now among the Gentiles, who has heard such things?

The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. Will a man lead the snow of water of Lebanon, which comes from the rock of the field? Would the cold flowing waters be forsaken for the strange waters?

Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways. From the ancient past to walk in the past, not on the highway, to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing.

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. Then they said, come, let us devise a plan against Jeremiah.

For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us attack him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words. Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

Shall evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. Therefore, deliver up their children to famine.

And pour out their blood by the force of the sword. And let their wives become widows bereaved of their children. And let their men be put to death, their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly upon them.

For they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, you know all their counsel, which is against me to slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight.

But let them be overthrown before you. Deal thus with them in the time of your anger.". Wow. Okay. You would say, well, what's going on here? First of all, this is a weary prophet in the midst of a generation that's just like our generation, that's right in their own eyes.

A lot of times we see this and it can be misunderstood, but it is a good thing if you're in the hands and there's been peace with God. Because the first thing to justification, the fruit of our justification, the first fruit of that is peace with God.

So, first of all, I want you to understand that this is clay in the hands of an angry God. This is clay in the hands of an angry God. So God calls His prophet, and I want to give a little background. This prophet was a preacher's son.

His father was a priest. He served and suffered through three kings, Josiah the Reformer, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, which some call the puppet. He was born in a small village and he was a prophet for over 40 years.

He was the last prophet of Judah before Israel was taken into captivity. So, to understand this, we need to look back with me. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 1 and this will really give some clarification of what's going on here.

So, look at Jeremiah chapter 1 and verses 7 through 10. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am youth, for you shall go to all to whom I send you. And whatever I command you to speak, do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root up, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant.

So God is using His prophet here as an instrument, as a vessel Himself. So if you will, as an outline of this text, I've got a lot of Ps if you will remember this. So we have a potter, a pupil, a prophecy, punishment, plot, and a prayer.

So the first in verses 1 through 4, we have a potter and a pupil. So let's look at that. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, I rise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.

Notice that.

You know, we live in a world that's so busy, sometimes can we even hear God's voice?

That's the question.

To hear God's word, we need to be still and know that He's God. We need to always have Him before us. So the question is, will He obey Him? He doesn't have to go. This prophet can be like, who was the one that went to Nineveh?

Jonah.

He disobeyed God. He went the opposite way. But the word of God which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise, go down to the potter's house. And if you notice this, He obeys immediately. He goes down for a field trip to the potter's house.

And God's going to give him a first-hand sermon by observing the potter. He says, there I will cause you to hear my words. So through obedience, you will hear His words. So you notice there was obedience first, and then He will hear God's word.

So that's key. Oftentimes we're so busy, we want God to hear us. But my question is, do we hear God's word through obedience? Do as I say, and then we can draw nearer in communion. Because the Lord has said, if you regard iniquity in your heart, I won't hear you.

So then He went down. You notice it says He went down. So as I said, Jerusalem was up on a hill. So He's going down into a village. And He knew exactly where this potter's house is.

And that's key.

My question is today, do we know where God is?

He's enthroned.

He's on the throne.

And He reigns. So He went down to the potter's house, and there He was making something at the wheel. So if you will, let's think about this for a second. What is going on in this field trip? So what would a potter need in his workshop?

Philip King said in order to do his craft, he would need the following items. A workshop, a potter's wheel, a kiln, a cistern, something that would hold water, and a dump for the discards. So if you just think about that, picture that workshop.

And there comes the prophet. And he walks in, and he's observing the potter touching the clay. So the question is, where does this clay come from? Just out of the blue?

No.

If you will, let's flip back a couple pages and look at Isaiah 40.

Sorry.

Psalm 40. Psalm 40.

It is back.

Just keep going back a little bit further. So on Psalm 40, many of you, this is probably your favorite psalm. So look at where this psalm comes from. And look at the first verse. I waited patient for the Lord, and He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He brought me up out of a miry pit. Out of a horrible pit. Out of the miry clay. And set my feet upon a rock, and He established my steps, and He has put a new song in my heart. Praise to our God. Many will see it and fear it, and will trust in the Lord.

If you look at that, He brought me up.

That's resurrection.

You didn't bring yourself up. The Lord brought you up out of that pit. You couldn't bring yourself up.

He had to do it.

And notice, and out of that miry clay, where did He set you?

Upon a rock.

And that rock is Christ. And notice what He did. He established my steps. What is your steps? Your two feet.

Faith and hope. Faith and hope.

That's what carries you along.

So the Lord brought you up out of that miry pit, because we're all made out of the same lump. Just dirt from the beginning in Genesis. We were made from the dust of this world, and God breathed in us.

So if you will, look at this.

In verse 4,.

And the vessel that He made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. Notice this wasn't... If you look at that word marred, it's really interesting. That word means ruined.

Ruined.

So God in His goodness has taken a lump of clay and put it on a potter's wheel and sets it in motion. So God in His goodness, He doesn't do it just whimsically. He has a plan before the foundation of this world to make us either vessels of honor or vessels of dishonor.

So if you notice this, it 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. As you read that, don't you sense that the hands of God as He continuously to mold you.

So sometimes it says the clay is hard. The clay has a rock in it. And sometimes as He started to form it, it just crumbled. So what He did, He took it again and flipped it over and turned it and made it into something else.

So where sin has marred us, that same word, sin has marred us. He takes it and turns it over. That's called transformation. Not reformation, transformation. And that's God's hands upon you, touching you.

So if you look at this just from outside, notice He puts that lump of clay on there and the wheel. And notice time is in His hands, not ours. And what He does, you start to see the outline of this vessel.

Beloved, it's very important to understand this as Romans 9 says, can the clay say something back to the potter? What are you making me? But notice this, what He does, you start to see the outline of something He's making.

But then to make it something, beloved, always remember this, a vessel is a receiver.

That's key.

A vessel is a receiver, not a fountain, but a receiver. And watch this, until He puts His hands down in it, then it starts to form. But those hands have to be plunged down inside and then it starts to form where it can be received.

So religion is where it works its outside in and relationship is inside out, where He puts His hands inside and then it goes out. So religion is always trying to go outside in where true and undefiled religion, that's of God that begins the good work with His hands, He touches it and forms it from the inside out.

Remember He says, work out your salvation with fear and triviality. That's the working out where His hands has transformed from the inside out. So if you will, let us continue. So as Jeremiah is there observing this, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, and here's the prophecy.

O house of Israel, can I do with you as this potter, says the Lord? Look as the clay is in the potter's hands, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, and the instant I speak concerning a nation concerning to build and to plant it, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good which I said I would benefit it.

Now therefore speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying,.

Thus says the Lord,.

Behold, I'm fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. If you look at this prophecy, so my question is, sometimes the modern church, evangelical church today is running headlong into a godless abyss.

Everyone is right in their own eyes, they're lovers of selves.

And what it's saying here,.

The doctrine here that's so important is the sovereignty of God.

And to the believer, that's our greatest comfort.

But to a whirling, that's your worst nightmare because you're going to have to stand before Him.

You're going to have to stand before Him.

So right here, I would ask the question, is doctrine important? Yes, yes, yes, yes. You see this, beloved, I want to set something straight. It's like there's no more prophets, but there's pastors, teachers, and elders.

But prophets spoke for God. And in Hebrews 1 tells us, now we have the fullness of that in Christ. And Christ, He's the great prophet. He's the fulfillment of all the prophets. So when you see these things of people, and the biggest problem today in the church today is that we have no discernment.

There's no discernment. And there's an absence of discerning truth from error. And this all starts with not having a right understanding of God,.

Of who He is.

So the higher we have a view of God, the greater view we'll have of ourselves. So when there's an absence of truth, it's like dying of spiritual AIDS. It's like dying of a thousand heresies. It's just because you have no moral compass anymore because we don't understand the person and character of God.

So God is sovereign. So in this prophecy, if you look at this,.

You see right here,.

We're talking about the sovereignty of God. God is telling this rebellious nation, and beloved nations are made of people. But God deals with nations. As He turns the hearts of kings as rivers of water, so He does the peasants that are made up of a nation.

So if you look at this, you see here, the question is, have we learned about our depravity? Have we learned about our depravity? And you see, God gives an invitation in verse 11. It says, return now everyone from his evil way.

That is an invitation of repentance, a return to God. And that's going to quench the fire of God through repentance. It's trusting in His Son, which is the only way we can find peace with God. So the invitation is given out, and the question is, what's the verdict?

Will they receive the invitation? Because the only way to RSVP back is through repentance and faith. That's the only way to respond back to God. What are the qualifications? Know that you're sinful and be sorrowful of your sin.

So this morning,.

We see this vessel that is a receiver. Always remember that a vessel is a receiver. He gives power to receive. So you see sometimes even coming into the Savannah port, you'll see large cargo ships. They're carrying large containers.

But what's the difference of another boat is a speed boat, and it has no room for anything else but itself. And what it does, it speeds across life so fast, never having any debt, never carrying any goods to feed anybody else but self.

So what is the divine mark of this? Is knowing that, how do we know that we're called? Have you been called from light to darkness?

This is God's divine mark,.

Is understanding that you've been called. So here's God's warning, if you will. And looking at verse 12, this is considered the punishment. And they said, this is how they responded. And they said, that is hopeless.

So we will walk according to our own plans. And we, everyone will obey the dictates of their evil heart. That is so hardcore, stubborn, rebellious.

This is a hardened heart.

So I give a warning this morning, if you've grown up in the church and heard the word of God, this should really hit home because you've been given greater light. You have been given greater light just as Israel has been given greater light.

I saw on, I think it was Instagram, where they're bringing up food to two little children. And it's like the Jews, and it says the Gentiles, and it shows the kid and he goes, and the other one's over here going, and God just bypasses him and goes right to the open mouth.

Because he's hungry. He's hungry.

And that's what God's saying to us.

Are we hungry to hear him?

He will feed us. He says in Psalm 81 10, open your mouth wide and I will fill it. First he said, I'm the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I bought you and purchased you for myself from slavery.

He's going to take us out of Egypt. Then he's got to take Egypt out of Israel, which is the part of sanctification. And that's our lifelong process. And that's the dash on your grave when you're born again.

So I pray, as John McAulthorne has said, I pray that'll be an honorable obsession for everyone in this room,.

That we will be so obsessed.

With becoming more and more like Christ, that we'll have a greater devotion to love God. So you see this, ask now among the Gentiles in verse 13, who has heard of such a things? Who has heard of such a thing?

That's what I mean,.

Really that's in the context. The virgin of Israel that should have been pure and chaste is acting like it's turning its back on me, divorcing me. The virgin of Israel has done a horrible thing. Will a man lead the snow waters of Lebanon, which comes from the rock of the field?

Will the flowing waters forsaken stranger? Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters? What is going on there? So saying as a pilgrim is walking on a journey, will you forsake that for polluted areas?

No, you will not.

It's the clear, it's the pure water that's going to quench your thirst. And God is saying nothing else will quench your thirst. You'll be polluted and defiled. If you turn from those ways, if you turn from the ancient paths, and if you look at this, those strange waters are very polluted and dirty.

You know, as you read in, I think it's the Proverbs, where the woman says, hidden, this water is sweet.

That's polluted.

It's poisonous. So here's the two acquisitions that is given from God to Israel here, and this is to you and I as well, because my people have forgotten me. And they have burned incense to worthless idols.

And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths to walk in the pathways and not on a highway, to make their land desolate and perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by will be astonished, shake his head.

So if you look at this, they forgot God. They forgot God. So what did they forget? What does this include? How do we forget God? We forget He's all-powerful.

He's all-present.

He's all-knowing.

We forget His justice. We forget His goodness. We forget His mercy, His benefits,.

His word,.

His great salvation. Beloved, this is national amnesia. Amnesia is where you forget. And if you keep going down that road,.

It gets hardened.

Amnesia leads to enmity. I'm going to say that one more time. Amnesia leads to enmity. It causes you to hate God. Second thing, they worship idols.

Idolatry.

Pastor just read it. Corinthians tells us, Paul, the Apostle Paul tells us, flee from idolatry. Flee from the idolatry. Beloved, as I studied this, this is the worst of all sins. And you go, well, how can you say that?

Let's pause for a second. What did the first three commandments of the Ten Commandments all have to do with? Love, you shall have no other God before me. You shall not create a carved image, and you shall not use the Lord's name in vain.

What does that have to do with?

God's character.

The character of God. Idolatry is basically assassination on the character of God. And this makes me tremble, because once we attack the character of God, you've taken a moral compass in your journey, and you've thrown it.

You've thrown it.

It's like you're walking in a...

Like I had a friend one time,.

I was a ranger,.

And he said they had to do a compass, and they dropped him off in the middle of nowhere, and the only way they could get back was by a compass and a map. And they had to map through the topography of the land.

Same way.

How are you going to get home? How are we going to get to the eternal shores?

By the map of this book.

And by the Holy Spirit leading you, guiding you, teaching you. So, beloved, when we don't have a right understanding of who God is, and the benefits that we forsake by forgetting Him,.

Basically...

Let's go a little bit further.

Let's dig into this. If this is the worst of all sins, we need to spend a little time on this. So let's just... I mean, we could spend all day, I mean... But let's just skip a rock real quick over idolatry.

And let's ask. Idolatry is not just bowing down to a golden calf, or a fat Buddha. This is not just idolatry. We're more civilized over here now.

We're more civilized.

We fashion it into money. Do we trust in the government?

Let's go a little bit further.

Do we talk irreverently as Jesus is our buddy-buddy? You'll see a lot of times in the charismatic mood, everybody's, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And in a way, they flippantly have no reverence of truly that name.

They're reducing God, thinking He is like you. If you will, let's turn to Psalm 50. And let's look what... When we think that God is like us, this is what God says in these regards. When we bring God down to our level.

And this is how God sets the record straight. And reminds us, because I need to be reminded not to casually, flippantly enter conversations where people are flippantly using God's holy name in vain. If you will, starting in verse 21 of Psalm 50.

These things you have done and I kept silent. You thought I was altogether like you, but I will rebuke you and set them in order before your eyes. Now consider this, you who forget God, at least I tear you into pieces.

And there'd be none to deliver you. And whoever offers praise glorifies me. And to him who orders his conduct to right, I will show the salvation of God.

Do you see that language?

That is strong language. Tear you to pieces is like a lion just ripping his prey back and forth with his strong jaws.

I will rebuke you.

You thought I was altogether like you. So it should make you cringe and grieve your heart when you have people at your job, your family members that are flippantly using God's name as a buddy, buddy, pow, pow.

God is holy.

You might be asking this question, what else is there? Have you ever failed to trust God? Have you ever doubted God?

This is idolatry.

John said in 1 John 5 .10, he that believes not makes God a what?

A liar.

He that believes not makes God a liar. So what does the Bible say about idolatry? 1 Corinthians 10 .14 says to flee. Flee, avoid every appearance of idolatry, covetousness, lust. All of this is a form of idolatry.

Beloved, you know and I know the worst of all is self. Self, self, self. You know man wants God everywhere but on the throne. I'm going to say that one more time. We want God everywhere but on his throne.

He can be in my soccer game, he can be here, but he can't be on the throne. That's a problem. We don't understand authority. And this is the problem today. So the results of idolatry, it defiles you, pollutes you, and it pollutes everyone in your presence.

Because the end goal of that is death. It causes you to forget God. Because then you have an idol. And that's what's the remaining corruption of our hearts is that it's always something. It's always, God is always showing us still that remaining corruption in us.

Like we're not there yet. So don't be discouraged. So we have a liberty and it's not a liberty to see how far we can go to the edge of the world's idolatries. We need to flee from these things. Flee from immorality.

And as John MacArthur said,.

I'm going to continue right here.

And this is where we're going to get to.

So let's continue.

They cause themselves to stumble. They cause themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient past. You know as Jeremiah 6 .16 he says, stand in the way and ask. And they said, we will not go. So to make their land desolate and perpetual hissing, everyone who's passed by it be astonished and shake his head.

And I will scatter them as an east wind before the enemy. And I'll, notice this right here. I will show them the back and not the face of the day of their calamity.

We're there. We're there.

And I hope you can hear me.

We're here. We say, what do you mean by this? Have you read Romans 1 lately?

What does it say?

I turn them over.

That's abandonment.

That's God going, you don't want me? You want to forget me? You don't want to acknowledge me? So I mean, imagine a dollar bill. What does it say on the dollar bill? It says, it's mockery.

It says, in God we trust.

I believe it needs to be changed. It said, in self we trust.

This is the problem.

A dollar bill mocks a holy God. That's blasphemy. So if you look at that, it says, God will be deaf to our prayers. He will not rescue us.

We are undone.

And that's when you hear the voice, depart from me, I never knew you.

You worker of iniquity.

So this is to the one that hardens in his heart, that doesn't take that invitation as a vessel and flee to Christ. Return was the invitation. And this is the consequences of not heeding that invitation.

The day of your calamity, I'll turn my back. That's, I believe that's the word. I mean, I would rather honestly, I mean, that's like a living suicide to be left to your own. So total depravity comes in two different ways.

In extent and in degree. Extent is that we're sick from our head to our toe. But the degree is we're not, God hasn't allowed us to be as worse as we could be by natural, his common grace. So there's two different ways of total depravity, extent and degree.

And it's important to understand this because the more we understand our depravity, the greater we'll see the glory of the cross and how precious it is. The backdrop is so black, but it makes this cross shine.

So if you will, when you do,.

It's a good lesson to learn this.

As preaching the gospel to yourself. And I love this acronym right here.

If you look at this, this is total depravity, unconditional election. I'm just going to put short election,.