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In the text
God sends
the Prophet Jeremiah
down to the
potter’s house. There
Jeremiah observes the
potter produce a
work on the
wheels. As this
potter was making
a vessel on
that wheel, it
became marred in
his hands. In
other words the
vessel that he
was making didn’t
turn out right.
It ended up
with a flaw or a
defect. He intended
for it to be one
thing but it
turned out to
be another. So
then being the
skilled craftsman, he
took great pride
in his craft and could
not be satisfied with any
flaws or defects
in his work. So he
decided to Make It
Over. Then the Word
of the Lord came
and said to
Jeremiah; say to
Israel can’t I do
to you as this potter
has done to
his clay? As
the clay is
in the potter’s hand, so
are you in my
hand O house of Israel.
Israel here is
the Old Testament
version of today’s
Church.
To better understand
this, we need
to get a definition of
the word Church.
There is a
word in the
Greek language Ekklesia
which means is an
assembly, which has
been called. In
the Old Testament
the Nation of
Israel is the
assembly called to
represent God in the
earth. Then there’s
another Greek word
is Skene the word
used for Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle was
a tent, which
was sometimes referred
to as the convertible Church.
Convertible because as
Israel wandered in
the wilderness, they
were guided by
a pillar of
cloud by day
and a pillar of fire
by night. When
they were being
led they would
carry the Tabernacle
with them. And
when the pillar
of cloud or
fire would stop,
they would assemble
the Tabernacle and
it became the
place where the
assembly would congregate
for worship. This
was where the
Old Testament Church
worshipped until the
Temple was built
during the reign
of King Solomon.
Now in the
New Testament assembly
has also been
called. Through the
preaching of the
Gospel, God invites the
sinner to accept
the Salvation of Jesus
Christ. The
Holy Ghost then
baptizes the believer
into one body,
the body of Christ. The body of Christ
is the Church. They assemble
themselves together in
a building called
the Church. Every
Sunday the Church
comes to Church
to have Church.
Just because the Scripture is
in the Old Testament, doesn’t
mean it does
not impact the
New Testament. The
works of Jesus are
revealed all through
the Old Testament
and can be
found in every
book. In Genesis, He is
our Creator. In Exodus He is
our Passover Lamb.
In Leviticus He
is our Sacrifice for sin.
In Numbers He
is our Lifted up one
In Deuteronomy He’s
our True Prophet.
In Joshua He’s
the Captain of
our Salvation. In
the book of Judges He’s our
deliverer. In Ruth, our
Kinsman Redeemer and
in I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, and I & II Chronicles, He is
our King. In Ezra and Nehemiah He’s
our Restorer. In Esther our Advocate, in Job, our Redeemer, in Psalms, He is
our All in
All. In Proverbs, our
Wisdom, in Ecclesiastes, the
End of All Living, and
in the Song of
Solomon, He’s
the Lover of
Our Souls. In Isaiah He’s the Messiah. In Jeremiah and Lamentations, He’s the
Righteous Branch. In Ezekiel, He is
the Son of
Man. In Daniel, He is
the Smiting Stone.
In Hosea the Healer
of the Backslider, in Joel, The
Restorer, and in Amos, He is
The Husbandman. In Obadiah, Our
Savior, in Jonah Our Resurrection and Life,
and in Micah, He’s Our
Witness. In Nahum, a
Stronghold in the
Day of Trouble, in Habakkuk Jesus is
the God of Our
Salvation, and in Zephaniah, He’s a
Jealous Lord. In Haggai, the
Desire of All Nations, in Zechariah the
Righteous Branch, and
in Malachi, He
is the Sun of Righteousness.
Throughout the New
Testament He is all
of these and
more. He is Jesus the Christ,
Son of the
living God. He is
the Bread of
Life. He is the
Way, the Truth,
and the Life.
He is the Door.
He is the Good
Shepherd. He is the
Light of the
World. He’s the Eternal
one. He’s Lord and
Master. He is the
True Vine. He’s Alpha
and Omega. He’s the
First and He is
the Last. He’s the Word
that was made
flesh. The same
Word that
was in the beginning. Everywhere
you look in
the Bible be
it Old or New Testament
The Word of the Lord
offers Salvation and
judges sin.
So then here
in the text, the Word of
the Lord came to
Jeremiah saying go
tell My Church that
I Am still a
savior, and that
I haven’t
forgotten how to
judge their sins.
Jeremiah was well
prepared to deliver
the Word of God to
the Church. God had
put His Word in Jeremiah’s
mouth. So the
Sermon was well
prepared. It excelled
in its exegesis. Its homiletical
ideas were homogenized
with hermeneutics. It’s
contents; accommodated Apologetics
and characterized Christian
Ethics. Its doctrine
was sound; purposed
with philosophy and
psychology while at
the same time saturated
with Soteriology. I
tell you the
preacher was ready
to preach the Word.
He had already been told
not to fear the people’s
face.
So he stood
up took his
text from the
book of Jeremiah 18: 3-6. The subject he
was to speak on was Make
it Over. The excellent
thing that God offers
besides Salvation is
grace. He does offer
His Salvation to everybody.
He will judge all
those who refuse
this Salvation. But
thank God for His grace,
for His grace is
the only thing
strong enough to
hold back judgement.
And the Irony
of it all is that
grace does not
save us. But
I read in Ephesians 2:8,
for by grace are ye
saved. True that’s
what the verse
says, but the
Bible also declares
Salvation is in
no other save
Jesus. For
there is no
other name under
heaven given among
men whereby we
must be saved.
Grace refers to
undeserved favor.
It also serves
to remind us
that God does not
do things for
us because we
deserve them. He lets
the sunshine on
the just as
well as the
unjust. The verse
does say, for
by grace are
ye saved, but
it means because
of grace you
have a chance to be
saved. Even though
you don’t merit
it, it is still a
gift from God and
the Church will
be a demonstration of grace
to the sinner. The school
motto at Reed
Christian College is
to teach the
untaught, bring the
unbrought, and seek
the unsought. It
is a motto for believers
everywhere to bring
somebody to Church
to hear the Word.
And since we
don’t know what
effect the Word will
have on others,
if it’s good
enough for you,
then it ought
to be good enough for
everybody. So then
this preacher Jeremiah
was ready to
preach the Word. He
had prepared himself
through study, God had
put his words
into his mouth
and he was ready to
preach the Word to
the Church.
Now this Church
was not much
different from the
Church today. In
Jeremiah’s days people
came to Church
not necessarily because
they love the
Church, but because
they want people
to think that
they do. They
don’t mind the
preaching as long
as it doesn’t address the
way they are
living with the
way they should
be living. There
was a story of the
little old lady
who went to
Church who chewed
tobacco and dipped
snuff. As long
as the preacher was preaching
against Adultery and
fornication, this little
old lady with
her jaw full
of tobacco, would
get with the
preacher, “Pweach it
Weverend, you know
you pweachin this
morning”. When the
preacher started preaching
about the women
who wear their
dresses with those
splits all the
way up to kingdom come.
The little old
lady would again
say, “Pweach it
Weverend you know
you pweachin the Word
this morning”. When the
preacher started preaching
about how husbands
and wives used
to fight about whose lipstick it
was on his shirt collar,
but now they’re
fighting about who
has whose ear
ring in their
ear, that little
old lady would
say, “Pweach it
Weverend you know you
pweachin this morning”.
Then the preacher started preaching about
those folks who
dip snuff and
chew tobacco, that’s
when this same
little old lady
said, “now you
done stopped Pweachin
Weverend and gone
to meddling”. So
not everybody who
comes to Church
comes because they
love the Church,
they come because
they want people
to think they
do.
God had
done so much
for His people Israel.
He brought them out
of Egypt with
a mighty hand.
He guided them through
the Wilderness in
a pillar of
cloud by day
and a pillar of fire
by night.. He gave
them the Promised Land. He destroyed
their enemies. He did
all that He could
do to make a
perfect vessel. Even
though that vessel
was in God’s hands,
it didn’t turn
out like He wanted..
There are other
hands that the
vessel could have
been in. It
could have been
in the hands of Nature.
When nature becomes
disturbed storms of
life will start
raging. The storms
of life have
no compassion and
surely they have
no mercy. The
hands of nature
are not good
hands to be
in. Then the
vessel could have
been in the
hands of man.
But man gets
angry too easily
and his moods
are controlled by
conditions. If conditions
are good his
mood is good.
If conditions are
not so good so is
his mood. Some
people have not
spoken to their
own brothers or
sisters in years
because of a
condition.. The hands
of man are not good
hands to be
in.
Then the vessel
could have been
in the hands of
Satan. Satan’s hands
are destructive and
dangerous hands. His
hand will drop
you like a
bad habit, then
pick you up
to drop you
again, pick you
up, drop you,
pick you up
drop you, pick
you up drop you until
he shatters your
life into pieces.
No wonder so
many people are
looking for a
way to pick up the
broken pieces of
their lives. The
hands of Satan
are not good
hands to be
in. But the
vessel was in God’s
hands.
His hands
are extraordinary hands.
His hands scooped out
the seas, meted
out heaven with
a span and comprehended the
dust of the
earth in a
measure. His hands weighed
the mountains in
scales, and the
hills in balance.
God’s hands
are safe hands. His
hands are secure
hands. His hands are
strong hands.
His hands are
powerful hands. God’s hands
are gentile hands. His hands
are loving hands.
His hands are kind
and compassionate hands.
His hands made this
vessel, and His hands
can Make it Over. He can create in
you a clean heart and
renew in you
a right Spirit.
The Word of God came
and said to
the prophet Jeremiah
as the clay is in
the potters hand,
so are you in My
hands. God put
His Word in
the prophet’s mouth.
The Word of
God offers us
Salvation, and judges
our sins. The
Word of God
will not go
forth and return
void.
The Word
of God will save and
sanctify you wholly.
The Word of
God must be
preached to the
Four Corners of the
earth. The Word
of God is reliable, it
is fruitful, it
is truthful, it
is written down
as Scriptures, it
is inspired, but
most important it
has come in
human flesh. His
name is Jesus.