Israel, Clay In The Potter's Hands Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

A lump of clay has no clue what its potter intends to make out of it. Jeremiah chapter 18 tells how God views Israel as clay on His wheel, today getting a right view of ourselves and a right view of God. Then life can begin to make sense. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Today we continue a series on the church in Babylon. Pastor Lutzer, many of us may not be happy about being lumps of clay. Well Dave, you're absolutely right, because clay does not have a will, it does not have consciousness.

We as humans are very different from clay. But at the same time, God was trying to make a very pointed lesson for Israel and for all of us. He's the potter, He's in charge. Now that can either be very comforting for those who believe, but also very terrifying for those who don't believe.

But isn't it wonderful to know that our potter has our best interests in mind? I've written a book entitled The Church in Babylon. I wrote this book because as I looked into the Old Testament, I said, what are some of the parallels between Israel in Babylon and what we are facing today? The result is the book The Church in Babylon, dealing with the kinds of issues that we have to deal with as a minority in a majority increasingly pagan culture. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours.

Simply go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now let us listen carefully as we continue our study of the clay and the potter. God is even more mysterious to me in many ways, the older I get than when I was younger when I thought I had Him figured out. I have officially given up trying to figure God out. Because you see, of the mystery, I mean, why do young people die and good people die and the evil live long lives?

I mean, there's so many things about God we don't understand. But he says, trust me, I'll put you in the furnace and I will make you into the vessel that I desire. And when the kiln had done its work, when the furnace had done its work, the other vessel was exactly, exactly what the potter wanted. And so there is the remade vessel. Now what are the lessons that should be transforming for us individually, first of all as a nation, and then even as us as individuals?

Let me give you two at least. Number one, what this passage teaches is that God is sovereign, not just in your life and mine as he makes us into the vessel that he desires, not just that, but he's sovereign over nations. Let me read it to you again. Verse seven, if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will I relent of the good that I had intended to do it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and your deeds. And how does the nation respond? I think it responds like much of America's responding today, but they say it is vain. We will follow our own plans and everyone will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.

Thank you very much, God. But we are going to resist the potter at every opportunity and we will say we will reshape ourselves into the vision individually and collectively as a nation. We will reshape ourselves into the kind of people and nation we want to be. And we will not listen to the voice of the Lord. Now, there may not be a whole lot that we can do as a result of what's happening in our nation, though this coming week, I'm going to be meeting with about 50 or 60 religious leaders and we're going to be talking about what we should be doing, how we should be living, what information needs to be communicated in light of all that is happening around us.

But I'm going to talk to you now as an individual. But first of all, another word about God's sovereignty over nations. You know, the Bible says that God is the God of kingdoms. And the thing that almost is surprising, I mean, here, God says, I'm devising evil against you. That doesn't mean that God does evil. But when he wants to judge a nation, for example, as the prophet Habakkuk outlined, God says, I'm the one who's bringing the Babylonians.

God says, I am the one who is bringing people from the north for the folks here at Judah that we're going to discuss in the next message and see how the Babylonians came and decimated the city and there was famine and there was children dying. God says, I'm the one doing it. Now, along concurrently with that, of course, there's human responsibility. That's one of the great mysteries in the Bible, God's sovereignty and human responsibility. And that's a topic that we could talk about for a long time.

But the point is this. God is sovereign over our country. And yes, God might be devising evil even for us because we are losing our way and we're doing it very rapidly. God's sovereignty over nations.

Now, if that's a little bit terrifying, I said it that you might be encouraged. It's not as if God watches the news every day to say, what in the world are they doing in Washington now? You know that God never learns anything.

It says it has dawned on you that nothing has ever dawned on God. And so God sees it. But the fact that God is in charge, whether it's America, whether it's Egypt, whether it's the Sudan, that ultimately, though men do what men do, God rules over the nations of the earth.

Remember that when you become discouraged. It is, after all, in God's sovereign hand. So the first thing is a great lesson in the sovereignty of God over nations. But secondly, second lesson is God loves to remake marred vessels.

God says, I will take your life and I will remake it and reshape it. Now, yesterday also when we arrived home, there was a letter waiting for us that was such a great encouragement to me as a pastor. I thought to myself, you know, it's because of this that the ministry is made worthwhile. It was a woman who wrote to us from the congregation here who talked about the fact that she came to Moody Church with such a sense of shame and loss and so much hurt from other Christians in a different context and how this was a time of healing and help and restoration. Some of you may be here. And the reason that you are here is you are just healing from past experiences. If that's your experience, I hope that you've come to the right place, that we might be able to speak hard things but speak hard things with huge doses of grace and restoration. That's really our desire here at the Moody Church.

But she talked about this. And in the very same way, you see, God remakes vessels. First of all, he goes and he finds some clay. That's our conversion story. He may be found clay in your part of the world, in your home, wherever, and God says, I'm going to make this vessel into something.

And then after our conversion, what God does is he begins to remake it. Years ago, Rebecca and I had lunch with a couple that's rather famous. I won't mention their name, but the wife. And she wrote a book about this, so this isn't any great secret, that she had five abortions, was a street woman, actually, and then came into a shelter in Los Angeles and was gloriously converted, memorized 400 verses of scripture. And she became the woman that she is today. God says, here's a marred vessel, not just with lumps, but with undoubtedly dirt mixed into the clay. God says, I'm going to clean her up, so to speak, spiritually speaking, and then I'm going to remake her and reshape her into a vessel that honors me. No matter who you are today, God can do that.

He is in the business of making vessels that are honorable. I'll show that to you in the New Testament in just one minute. Now, the point I'm trying to make today is, don't you try to remold yourself. Don't you resist the potter. Don't you say, God, if that's the way in which you're going to treat me, I'm going to harden my heart against you.

Don't say that. Rather say, God, I don't understand your ways. Your ways are mysterious, and Lord, it hurts. But make me into the vessel that you desire me to be. Don't resist the potter. We can resist the potter even as believers, and we can resist the potter as unbelievers. I'm thinking, for example, of Judas. You remember how Judas resisted Jesus, and he never really became the vessel at all?

He ended up being that clay that was thrown off to the side that became hard and unusable, because Judas, in the presence of Jesus, mind you, for three years, takes your breath away, so hardened his heart that he became a vessel unto dishonor and will be that for all eternity. I pour my heart out to you today. The potter has good designs toward you. The potter's way is best. Don't remold yourself, but submit to the potter's hand. The Apostle Paul, in the book of Timothy, said this, Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if any man cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Become a vessel that God can use. He's after something. He doesn't work helter-skelter, as I mentioned.

It's not kids playing around with Play-Doh. He is trying to mold you and me so that our character pleases him. God is in the people molding character-building work, and he uses injustice. He uses everything, and the clay can never say to the potter, You can't use that. The potter says, Will you remember you're the clay?

I'm the potter. I can use whatever I want to shape you into what I want you to be. You know, when pulses cleanse yourself, obviously he's not saying, Okay, cleanse yourself. In context, of course, what he means is, Let God cleanse you.

Let God cleanse you. That's the beginning point. The beginning point for those of you who don't know Christ as Savior is to say, I want to submit to Jesus Christ, to receive him as my Savior so that God might begin the work in me of molding me and making me.

But after he's done that, God says, I have some much wonderful agenda for you. Now I want you to submit to me every day of your life because I want you to be a vessel for honorable use in the Master's hand. Are we willing to do that? Are you willing to receive Christ as Savior if you've never believed on him? Are you willing to submit to him if you have believed on him? Say, Okay, God, I fought you tooth and nail, but today I submit to the Potter's hand.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you today that you are sovereign. We thank you today that we have no right to be able to tell you what you can use, what you can't use. And so, Father, we say this hesitantly because we know that the implications are huge, but by your grace, use whatever you like, that we might become vessels fit for the Master's use.

Mold us, make us, come to us, shape us. For those who have never trusted Christ as Savior, may they right now say, Okay, I believe in Jesus. I trust his work on my behalf. We pray in his blessed name. Amen. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer.

Let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of God's will? Are you afraid of submitting yourself to God because you're thinking that if you do, he's going to ask you to do something that you don't want to do? Many of us, when we were younger, struggled with that question. But long ago, I decided, and I trust you have also, that God's will is always best, and he who calls us is the one also who does it. Well, we're living at a time in which the Church of Jesus Christ oftentimes is confused about various issues. As we see new laws, as we see the encroachment of the state upon our civil liberties, the question is how do we respond? One of the chapters in my book entitled The Church in Babylon, Chapter 4 says, When the state becomes God, how do we stand strong while others bow?

How do we navigate technology, immigration, all kinds of other issues? Now, for a gift of any amount, this book can be yours. We are making this resource available to help you on your spiritual journey so that you can read it, share it with your friends.

For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. I'm going to be repeating this info again, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Running to Win exists to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, but also to help us navigate the culture. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com. Or right now, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thanks in advance for helping us, because together we're making a difference. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Jack listens to us on FM 88.7 in Amarillo, Texas. This is his story and his need for help. I have a horrible addiction to pornography. This addiction has gripped me for decades, and I can't seem to totally get rid of it. I've been to support groups and counseling, been prayed for, and read books on the subject. But in the end, I'm a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the spiritual world. I'm very lost, and I don't believe I even have the right to ask God to forgive me again and again when my desire is to watch this sort of stuff. I don't know how to change my thought patterns. I try to read my Bible, and I get distracted or I fall asleep. I feel like I'm going to hell, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I've talked to my local pastor several times on this issue, and it just gets old. I'm full of shame and deep regret. Can you help me? Jack, I listen to your need very carefully. I want to begin with a couple of things on the positive side. First of all, you admit your need. That's good. There are tens of thousands of addicts out there, both pornography addicts, drug addicts, alcoholics, who are unwilling to admit that they have a need. So you've taken a proper step. You're no longer hiding, and for that I commend you. Also, to commend you, fact is that you are desperate to get rid of this terrible, terrible habit. And that also is good, and I hope that I can point you in the right direction, though I certainly don't have any wisdom that others who have counseled you don't have.

Couple of things, however. You know, when you say that when you read your Bible you fall asleep, this could be either A, because the Bible brings so much peace to your soul, or else B, it could be very demonic. You know, Satan doesn't want us to read the Word of God. There are some people, if you hand them a Bible, they can't read it.

They can read the newspaper, they can read other books, but they can't read their Bible. Clearly, it seems to me that Satan is deeply involved in your addiction, and what we need to do is to recognize that. Now, another thing that you say is that you don't know whether or not you're saved, you feel as if you're going to hell, you feel as if God can't forgive you. I want to speak to that issue, because God can forgive you, God can receive you. I'm not sure that you understand the Gospel properly. The issue is not the greatness of our sin. The issue is the wonder of the righteousness that is freely given to those who believe. You know, there's a song we used to sing that goes something like this, the vilest of sinners who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Seems to me that Satan has made your sins so big that you can't see the beauty and the wonder of the bigness of the cross. Of course, you can be forgiven.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. The fact is that God is able to save wretches, and he can save you. Cry up to him, believe his promises, and you will be saved. And that's, I think, the starting point for you, because you seem to indicate that you have serious doubt regarding your eternal destiny and whether or not you belong to God. God can handle your addiction and your evil. He's gracious and merciful to those who repent. David committed adultery and murder, and God forgave him and restored the joy of his salvation. The next thing is, you have to remember that though this sin is far too big for you, it isn't too big for God.

Perhaps getting rid of pornography in your mind is something like causing a river to flow backwards or the sun to stop shining. It's impossible. But God can do all of that. I want to enlarge your conception of God's ability.

With man, it is not possible, but with God, it is possible. Accountability is huge. Now, apparently, you've already had that, because you've attended support groups and so forth.

But let me say that you need somebody to walk with you through this, someone to whom you are accountable. You also have to cut off the sources of this pornography. If it's television, get rid of it.

If it's the internet, make sure that you have covenant eyes and other systems in place so that you can't go into pornographic areas, or that if you do, one of your friends knows about it. That's huge, because our desires fool us on this point. We think to ourselves, we have to do this. No, you don't. And especially if you're a child of God, you don't have to go there. You need your confidence in the gospel rebuilt. And then, of course, Satan himself, he has to be rebuked. I hope that when you attended these support groups that I really do hope that people prayed for you. I hope that you have people praying not only for you, but with you, rebuking Satan, standing against the onslaught, believing that it doesn't have to be this way, because Jesus died for big sinners. So be encouraged, my friend. Submit yourself to God.

The devil will eventually have to flee, though he'll put up a fight. And I hope that you can walk in victory. Thanks for sharing, and God bless. Some compassionate counsel for Jack from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. That's 1-888-218-9337.

You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. When the cup of iniquity is full, God pours out his wrath. Judah felt that wrath as invading armies looted Jerusalem and took the people into captivity. America may soon feel that same wrath. Next time, lessons we must take from the fall of a nation long ago. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.