God's Sovereignty In My Life
Jeremiah 18:1-17, 19:1-2, 10-14
Alter Your Course
The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw
faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a
message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return
message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."
The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So,
he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the
captain!" Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10
degrees north--I am a seaman third class Jones."
Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the
fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a
battleship." Then the reply came: "Alter your course 10 degrees
north--I am a lighthouse."
Sometimes people can be like that captain when it comes to dealing
with God. Proud in their rights, autonomy, choices but really just sailing on a
sea of delusion, until they collide with an unyielding, unaltering, unstoppable
force called the sovereignty of God..
Background
These events probably occurred during the reign of
Jehoiakim, the king who burned Jeremiah’s prophetic scrolls. Unlike his father
King Josiah, the last good king of Israel, Jehoiakim hated Jeremiah, the word
that Jeremiah received from God and like that captain in our introduction was about
to wreck himself and Jerusalem into the God’s judgment by the nation of Babylon
and their King Nebuchadnezzar.
To warn Israel and the king, God sends Jeremiah to a potter’s
house to observe the potter as he works clay into a pot. It is close to one of
the last warning God will send. After Jeremiah preaches this message, using the
potter and then later a fired hardened pot, he would be beaten by the High
priest, placed in stocks and finally arrested and locked in a house as
prisoner. Shortly after that Jerusalem is taken by the invading Babylonians,
the walls are breached, the gates are burned, the Temple is looted and the king
who ruled in Jerusalem after Jehoiakim and his son, Zedekiah is captured and is
forced to watch as all his sons are slain and then his eyes are put out and he
is led away in chains.
That is yet in the future right now, Jeremiah is still
warning the people who live in Jerusalem, that God has sent Babylon to punish
the nation for its sins and their only hope is to surrender and turn to God for
mercy in the midst of the punishment. Today in our text Jeremiah is sent to
watch as a potter turns clay into a vessel.
Sovereign Design - Jeremiah 18:1-7
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 thee to hear
my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a
work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the
hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the
potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of
Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7At
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to
pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
God’s Power Over Israel
The potter Jeremiah is watching is a symbol. God is the
potter and Israel is the vessel. As Jeremiah watched the potter work, the pot
he was throwing on the wheels was marred, something got out of balance, or collapsed,
or a fault was found in the clay. When that happened, the potter started over
and remade the pot. He would beat it back down to a lump and then begin again
to build it up into the vessel he desired it to become.
God then give Jeremiah this message to Israel in s 8-11, Jeremiah
18:8-10 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I
will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I
shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to
plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will
repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
In this living sermon, we see the sovereignty of God over
the Israel and all the nations of the world. God, the Bible tells, us is sovereign.
That means that God will exercise His absolute right to do all things according
to his own good pleasure.
Daniel the prophet in Babylon tells Nebuchadnezzar the King he
will be struck mad and live as an animal by the hand of God so that he might
learn who truly is the ruler of all. In Daniel 4:35 we read the understanding
of the King after God returns his sanity, “and all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of
heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or
say unto him, What doest thou?
God does what He wills, but His will is always just,
benevolent and wise. God’s will is always what is best for us and all creation because
He is just and loving, our Creator.
Paul says in Romans 11:33-36 O the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his
ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath
been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be
recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all
things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Shaped by Our Sovereign God
God is Sovereign over the nations and kingdoms of the world
and He is also Sovereign over us. God is our omnipotent, omniscient Creator. He
made us in His image and when sin entered into the world at Adam’s sin that
image was marred. God through Jesus’s substitutionary death upon the cross
redeemed us and remade us spiritually. That remaking, that process is called
sanctification, it begins at our salvation and it continues throughout our
lives and one day it will end with our homegoing to heaven. In the meantime, in
our lifetime, the process of God reworking and remaking us, like the potter,
goes on. And it is our choice whether God must use harsh and gentle means to shape
us into a vessel fit for His service and blessings.
The Shaping by God’s Hands
Shattered - Before the clay can be made into a useful vessel
it is just hard dry rock. It must be beaten fine with a hammer so that it can
be used. Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like
a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces.
God’s hammer is His Word, our Holy Bible and He uses it to shatter
our hard hearts. He shatters our ideas, our plans, our will and turns our
rights into dust. He does this to bring us to a place where our lives can then
be worked by His gentle, powerful and loving hands.
Sprinkled - The potter then takes that pulverized, dry clay
and kneades into it pure, clean water. The water is what brings the clay to life,
enabling it to be worked by the potter, made into a vessel of his design.
In us, God takes our old dry life, that has been shattered by
His word and then with the water of the Holy Spirit, He brings us to eternal
life. John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life. Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit
upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
Shaped - As the potter spins the pot upon the wheel, his
hands are constantly working the clay.
Feeling for hard spots, dry spots or foreign material that has no place
in the pot. If he finds it he either
applies more water to get rid of the dry spots or he removes the hard, dry
areas they have no place in the pot and he
remove them from the clay. Sometimes the flaw is only on the surface, sometimes
it requires probing down into the very core of the clay. Sometimes it requires the pot to be
completely remade in order to be rid of the flaw.
As God works in our life, sin, weakness, fear, stubbornness,
jealousy, and all manner of other flaws and weakness will become apparent. God again
applies His word and His Holy Spirit as the potter would apply tools and water
to soften and work the clay. If in His working of us He finds those things
which should not be in us, he removes them. If he finds sinful habits, anger,
bitterness, harshness, immorality, laziness, unfaithfulness or anything else
that should not be in a vessel fit for God’s service, He begins to work in that
area of our life. That flaw or sin, may be near the surface and easily dealt
with or it may be deep with our character, but God never stops probing trying
to rid His vessels of those things which could make them unfit for Him to use.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to
honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use,
and prepared unto every good work.
Sovereign Design - As the potter works upon the wheel, he
has in mind what he will make of the clay of the shapeless worthless clay. It may be a vase, or cup, or a bowl, only the
potter knows how he will make the shapeless clay into a vessel or worth and
beauty.
As God works in our lives, He also has a plan in mind. Some
are being fashioned for one task and some for others. Some are being prepared
to go to the furthest ends of the earth, others for service right here. Some
are being prepared to lead churches, others to lead families, others to lead
friends to Christ, but all are being formed by God’s hands with His purpose in
mind.
Ephesians 1:11-12 In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the
praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13 And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ
To be what God wants us to be, to be fit for His service, to
be used of Him and be blessed by Him, then we must be willing to let God work,
and shape us as He sees fit, knowing that He is made us, loved us, saved us and
prepared an eternal home for us. He is working out His design for us and it is
the best thing I can be.
In God’s word we see God shaping of nations, of history and
of his servants. Peter, Andrew, James, and John shaped by God’s from the clay
of simple fishermen to His apostles that changed the world by their preaching
of the Gospel. Saul the Pharisee and persecutor of the Lord’s church is
transformed into Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles.
We see this in modern times as well. Charles Spurgeon was a
nominal Congregational church member when he heard the Gospel and God shaped
him into one of the most influential Baptist preachers of all time. DL Moody
was a successful manufacturer of boots and shoes when God touched his heart and
made him into the great evangelist of the 1800s. W A Criswell was a country
boy, the son of a cowboy / barber. Saved at 10, he became the pastor of 1st
Baptist Church in Dallas and long before Dallas was called America’s team, WA
Criswell was America’s pastor.
In God’s sovereign design we have people like Fanny J.
Crosby the poverty ridden, blind hymn writer. We have the depressed and
suicidal William Cowper who God used to write some of the most touching hymns
we still sing. Hymns like “There is a fountain filled with blood” and even helping
John Newton a former slaver trader to write “Amazing Grace.” God’s hands were
on Oswald Chambers the Baptist preacher and writer who died as a chaplain in
WWI. Only his 30s of the flu, he left behind his wife and young daughter. God’s
hands were on his wife, Biddy, who took all her notes of her husband’s lessons
and sermons and typed them into the devotional book “My Utmost For His
Highest.”
Oswald in his writings said this about God’s working and
shaping us, “The tendency is strong to say, "O God won't be so stern as to
expect me to give up that!" but he will; "He won't expect me to walk
in the light so that I have nothing to hide," but he will; "He won't
expect me to draw on his grace for everything," but he will. - Oswald
Chambers (1874-1917)
Our Creator has a design for the nations, kingdoms and for
us and it is the best for all, but included in God’s will is man’s free will.
God does not make puppets or robots. He made man in His image and that image
included and still includes the ability to choose even against the good and benevolent
will of God.
What happens when man chooses to reject the working of God
in his life? We read of it in vss 12-17
Sinful Desire - Jeremiah 18:12-17
And they said, There
is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will everyone do the
imagination of his evil heart.
Israel’s Choice
God’s message through Jeremiah is given but Israel, the self-willed,
rebellious vessel chooses to ignore the One who made her and go their own way. They
give excuses, they say there is no hope. It is too late. Judgment is coming so
we might as well sin as much as we can. What difference does it make now?
God’s response is to ask if even the heathen, who never
believed in Him, have heard of such a thing. Their rebellion is not only wrong,
it is stupidly, foolishly, wickedly wrong. Even the Gentiles would know better.
He asks the question, Jeremiah 18:13-14 Ask ye now among the
heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very
horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the
rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another
place be forsaken?
He reveals the reason why they would be so foolish, worthless
idol instead of living God. Jeremiah 18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me,
they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in
their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up
He tells the result. Jeremiah 18:16-17 To make their land
desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be
astonished, and wag his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind
before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of
their calamity.
Israel chosen by God, shaped and formed into a people, then made
a nation by the hand of God, have now chosen His wrath instead of His blessing.
Our Choice
What is explicitly stated as God’s sovereignty in the
affairs of this world and Israel, is also applicable on a smaller scale to us. Now,
we are not Israel, nor is the church Israel, but God is sovereign in His will even
the affairs and choices of our own life.
We can choose our own way. We can choose the rebellion and
sin of this world. We can choose to ignore our Creator. That same creator some
try to ignore is the One who gave us the ability to make such a foolish, even
dangerous choice. Yes, even to the face of God we can say, "I know what's
best for me, I will set my own path, I will not listen or care what God may say."
There is a famous poem by William Ernest Henly titled
Invictus and it is the rebellious cry of a man against God, his creator.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit
from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my
unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not
winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is
bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the
Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall
find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with
punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain
of my soul.
Yes, he was the captain of his soul while he lived but after
he died to his utter shock he found out that he was not the master of his fate.
God was sovereign over William Ernest Henley and his poem, shaking a fist in
the face of God, didn’t even sound a whisper in flames of hell.
The book of Proverbs 4:12, says, “There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Unless he
repented William Henly and all those like him realized the full truth of that
verse.
Israel found out, King Jehoiakim and his descendants found
out, even the mighty King Nebuchadnezzar found out. God is the ruler of all, he
only is sovereign, and we can heed His warning and be blessed or we can ignore
His word and suffer punishment. No, we are not the masters of our eternal fate,
the sovereign God of the universe is.
Sovereign Destruction
- Jeremiah 19:1-2, 10-12
Jeremiah 19:1-2 Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's
earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of
the priests; 2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by
the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell
thee,
Jeremiah 19:10-12 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the
sight of the men that go with thee, 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this
people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made
whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to
bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants
thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
God Shatters Defiant Israel
Jeremiah again goes to the potter’s house but this time
there is a difference. The difference between this trip to the potters house
and the first one was the condition of the vessel. In the first trip to the
potters house the clay of the clay was soft, pliable, and workable but now it is
hardened and will not yield to the potter’s hand. It is beyond shaping, or
correcting and God tells Jeremiah, “Break the pot. Shatter it so that it cannot
be reassembled.
Then the Lord said, “I break this people and this city, as
one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall
bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this
place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city
as Tophet.”
The valley of Tophet was a place of horrific child sacrifices
to the pagan god Moloch. Today he would be the god of Planned Parenthood.
Josiah the last good King had destroyed Tophet and then defiled it by digging
up and burning the bones of the priests of Moloch.
The valley of Tophet was also called Hinnom and later that became
Gehenna during the time of Jesus, it was where the filth and dead animals of
the city were cast out and burned. When Jesus warned of the eternal flames of
Hell, he used the word Gehenna, the defiled always burning place that marked
the worst sin of Israel.
Hard hearts or soft souls?
In our own lives, we need to understand the God the potter
never destroys a vessel until it has become too hardened. As long as it is still
soft He can continue to rework, reshape and remake it.
The application for us from this passage is that we should examine
ourselves and see if we are becoming too hard for God to reshaped us and
instead must break us in pieces.
Hardening of a heart
can happen by indifference to God’s leading, by tragedy in this sinful world, or
by neglect of God’s Word and God’s house and God’s people.
This morning I’m glad that people are people and not pots. Though
some people might fit what my Grandma Minefee used to call crackpots but that
is a different illustration and sermon. No, we are not pots, cracked, hardened
or otherwise, we are people who have hearts, minds and souls and the Bible
tells us that at any time we hear God’s word we can repent and let Him rework
our mishappen, broken or hard hearts. Under the touch of God’s grace, the
quickening of His word the hardest heart can become soft and yielding again.
It begins with the simplest act of repentance. Listen to Isaiah,
1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
In fact Psalms 136 has the undeniable message of mercy over
and over. In its 26 verses, 26 times at the end of each verse, the Psalmist
shouts out more intensely and emphatically, "His mercy endureth
forever."
Psalms 136:1-3 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for
his mercy endureth for ever. 2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his
mercy endureth for ever. 3 O give thanks
to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Conclusion: Will you Yield to God's Will?
God has a plan, a design for you. It is found right here in
His Word. Just listen as He tells you His purpose for you. It is the purpose
for which we were created. He desires to forgive us, bless us, and spend
eternity in the glory, the wonder, the joy and the peace of heaven. He has a
design for you to be a growing, loving servant following His call.
It's not too late, God’s mercy endures forever, and He still
calls, still reaches out to us. Let us always respond to Him by praying,
"God soften my heart, let me feel your Spirit, let me hear your Word, let
me grow in your fellowship. Lord, remake me at Your will. Shape me to be what you want me to be. A
vessel that will brings honor and glory to You."
Have Thine Own Way Lord
Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907. Pollard believed the Lord wanted
her in Africa as a missionary, but she was unable to raise funds to go. In an
uncertain state of mind, she attended a prayer meeting, where she heard an
elderly woman pray, “It’s all right, Lord. It doesn’t matter what You bring
into our lives, just have Your own way with us.” At home that night, she wrote
this hymn.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
