I appreciate your coming tonight. If you didn't come, I wouldn't have an audience, and your presence is greatly appreciated. Not quite the number that we had last night, but a good turnout tonight, and we appreciate your coming on this so-called holy week. It's refreshing and always a blessing to take time out and give just a little more time to the Lord in prayer and study of the Word. and draw closer to God. Good parts. Couldn't have a week like this every week. You have so many other things to do. Someone asked a great evangelist what lasting benefits he thought would accrue from his evangelistic crusade in a certain city. Well, he said, I don't know. He said, I always look upon a stepped-up conference or crusade The way I looked upon my Saturday night bath, I said, when I was a boy, he said, I just hated to take a bath, dreaded to take a bath. And Mother used to have to pressure me every Saturday night into taking a bath. And he used to say, Mama, why do I have to take a bath? I don't need one. And she'd say, well, son, there are two reasons why you ought to take a bath. Number one, you'll feel better. And she said, and then second, If you keep clean, it'll help to prevent disease. Why do we have a stepped-up conference like this? Why do we set aside a week and come every night? Well, you feel better, don't you? Huh? And then, second, if we get some of the Word of God in our hearts, it'll help prevent some spiritual sickness. So it's good to take time out and come apart. Somebody said, if the Lord Jesus said, come apart and rest a while, Lance Hadler said, and if you don't come apart and rest a while, you'll just come apart. He's a hillbilly preacher. If there's one book that I would like to urge upon folks to get in their home, it's a rather recent book. Older boy, who's now 36 years of age, was seven years old. We came home from church one Sunday night, and he said, Daddy, what is God like? I did my best to tell my seven-year-old boy what God was like, but I knew I wasn't getting everything across to him that I knew. He wasn't able to comprehend it. I said to him, Son, someday Daddy's going to write a book, explain what God is like. And he was seven then. He's 36 now. I was in my son's study. He's a pastor in Alabama. And I said, Bud, do you remember when you were a little boy and you came to me one time and said, Daddy, what is God like? He said, no, Dad, I don't remember that. Well, I said, you did. One Sunday night you came to me and said, Daddy, what is God like? And I said, someday I'm going to write a book. And I said, I want you to read. page one of this book, and he started to read. A feeling of awe well nigh staggers me as I lift my pen to write this book. The most difficult question ever asked of me was propounded by my eldest son when he was still a lad. It happened one day after we returned from the preaching service. Richard was only seven at that time. Now he's a father instructing his own children, but his question continues to engage all of my thinking powers. Little did he know how profound his question was when he asked me what God was like. My son, we call him Bud, he read that and I could see a tear come down from each eye. He said, Dad, I'd forgotten about that and sort of perked him up a little bit. And this book is the result of that question. I'd like to have every young person have a copy of that. I think it might help strengthen them a little bit. Now, when the girls were singing tonight, come in, Pastor, we're just delighted to have you. We were hoping you'd be here for the preaching. Well, that's all right, that's all right. We don't mind you skipping out for the offering, but we want you here for the preaching. The girls were singing tonight, I wonder, have I given my best, is it, or done my best? I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus? And as they were singing, I was answering the question in my own heart for myself. And the question was an emphatic no. I'm just wondering how I could go back and pick up the lost pieces. I can't do it. It's all water under the bridge. Every one of us tonight, if we examined our lives honestly, would have to say, I haven't been the Christian that I ought to have been and could have been. A lot of failures represented by the people in this church tonight. A lot of them. You've messed up a lot of years of your life, and so have I. And I'm sure there could be some discouragements tonight because of our past failures. But I have some good news this evening, and I was directed to this message when you girls were singing. And I thank you for singing it because I think the Lord used it to sort of tell me what to talk about tonight. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles to the 18th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah. The 18th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah. First, let us pray. Loving Father, we thank Thee tonight. for sending the Lord Jesus into this world to deliver us from the guilt and penalty of our sins. And we thank Thee tonight that we have not received what we deserve. But grace and mercy have been extended to us, and now Thou hast made it possible for us to come to Thee. Once we were excluded, now we have access in the place of exclusion. paid it all. Accept our thanks for him. We thank thee for thy holy word, the Bible. Bless it to our hearts, Lord, and grant that we shall receive tonight from thyself food for our souls. If anyone came who isn't saved, God help that one to come to Christ tonight. And for all who are believers, may this be a time in which a little contribution will be made to our spiritual growth. May we all be better because we gathered tonight. We ask this in our Savior's worthy name. Amen. Tonight I want to take this story of the potter in Jeremiah chapter 18, better known as the potter in the clay, and seek with God's help to draw some lessons for our edification. I want to give you a simple outline of the story and then apply some of the important lessons. In the 18th chapter and verse 18, I want you to note the peril of the preacher in this story. The peril of the preacher. Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." Now, Jeremiah was not a hard-boiled preacher. He was a tender man. Those of you who know your Bibles know that he had the reputation of being the weeping prophet. When he preached to his people, he wept, not because he was weak, not because his tear bag hung low, but he wept because he was a man of great compassion. His heart was extended to the people. Now, I want you to note the peril of this dear man of God. The people heard him preach, and they said, let us devise devices against him. They said, we'll smite him with the tongue. We'll give him a good tongue lashing. When we go home this morning, we'll have roast preacher for dinner. We'll let him have it. Then they said, and let us not give heed to any of his words. If he thinks he's going to change us, he has another thought coming. We won't even pay any attention to him. We'll go and sit. We ought to be there to save face. People will wonder where we are. But what he says will go in one ear and out the other. Now they schemed this. This is what the verse is saying. But because he preached the truth, and remember now, he preached it in love. Because he preached the truth, they took more serious action against him. turned to chapter 19. Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the Lord's house, and said to all the people, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. Now remember, verse 15 says, he said, Thus saith the Lord. Jeremiah was merely preaching what God told him to preach. Now Pasher, the son of Emer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied or preached these things. Then Pasher smote Jeremiah the prophet. He struck him. He hit him. and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. They cooked up a scheme whereby they were able to put that preacher in prison for preaching the word of the Lord. Now that's a preacher in grave peril. He paid a price to get his message across. Now many preachers today who preach the truth of God are in grave peril simply because the truth, and you know that this is an old proverb, the truth hurts. And many of us don't like the truth. We like to be buttered up. We like folks to tell us how wonderful we are. We want people to feed our ego. Don't tell me the truth about myself. Don't tell me the truth. Make me feel good. Don't tramp on my toes like in a church I served in Detroit. Had a man who always came to church. He was faithful. And after a Sunday morning service, he met me and said, Pastor, he said, I'd like to see you preach more to the sinners and let us Christians alone. Preach more to the sinners and let us Christians alone. And I said, my dear brother, the only way I could help you and solve that problem is for you not to come to church anymore, because I preach the Word of God. And I just have to tell it like it is. So if you don't want to hear the truth, you're in the wrong church. What else could you tell a man? He says, leave us Christians alone. What in the world did he come for? If he didn't come to improve his spiritual life and be a better man, he certainly didn't belong in the house of God. Preachers are in great peril today. And this is quite obvious. I suppose, and I'm not apologizing for my office. It's the highest office in the world. minister of God's Word and be the President of the United States if God hadn't called me. I wouldn't want to be, but I'd rather do what I'm doing than anything else. It's an honor to minister the Word of God. I'm honored to be God's representative and the minister of God's Word. But you know, people go to church and pay for the privilege of going. You didn't have to come here tonight. Nobody could make you come here. You came because you chose to come. And then the offering plates were passed and you paid for the privileges. That's Christianity. But you know, there are always a few people I meet as I travel around. They feel that because they chose to come and pay, they're going to have their say. They're going to have their say. And they're going to spout off sometime. After all, I pay my dues in that church. I'm going to have my say." And somebody gets clobbered. Somebody gets clobbered. In this instance, it was the preacher, the peril of the preacher in this story. You can see how serious it was. Now, I want to move from that point in the story to another important lesson, the predicament of the people. If you think the preacher was in grave peril, I want you to see the predicament in which those stupid people found themselves when they failed to listen to that dear man of God's message. Let's look at the predicament of the people. Go back to the 18th chapter, please, and I want to read, beginning with verse 1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay," now watch this next statement, "...was marred in the hand of the potter." The vessel was marred in the hand of the potter. Now remember that as I read on. So he made it again, another vessel. has seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying," he said, "'Now, Jeremiah, I'm going to tell you what this is all about.' He told Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house, and Jeremiah saw a piece of clay. The potter was trying to make something out of it, a utensil, a vessel, but it was marred. It was a marred vessel. It wouldn't respond to the potter's touch. He couldn't get out of that piece of clay what he wanted, and it was just a spoiled, marred vessel. Now the Lord said, "'Jeremiah, I'm going to tell you why I told you to go down there.' O house of Israel, verse 6, 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. Now the application of the story is clear. The clay represents the people of God of that time, Israel, and the potter is the Lord Himself. Notice, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? I as the potter, God said, I as the potter. As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand. I'd rather be a minister and take the criticism of people than to be a marred vessel in the hand of an angry God. I am a coward by nature. You ever get me trapped Catch me off guard, you'll find that that's true. But don't try it, you might scare me half to death. I am a coward by nature, but I believe that I can say, when I have my equilibrium, I fear no man, but I fear God. I'd rather stand up against 1,000 angry men. than to have to be in the hands of an angry God. That would be my choice. If you think this preacher was in peril, these people were in a predicament that I'd never want to be in. A vessel marred in the hands of a disappointed and angry God. And God gets angry. God gets angry. Now, I want you to think for just a few moments of this marred vessel. I want to take the word vessel for a little while and see how it's used in the Bible. You will remember when Saul of Tarsus was converted, and the story is found in the ninth chapter of the book of the Acts, just turn over there for a moment, the Lord said to Ananias concerning Saul, he said in verse 15, For he, Acts 9, 15, he, Saul, is a chosen vessel unto me." A chosen vessel unto me. You see, one of the uses of the word vessel in the Bible is to refer to a person. He said, that man is a chosen vessel unto me. Now turn to one of the epistles that Paul wrote later. In fact, it was the last one that he wrote, namely 2 Timothy. And when you found the second book of Timothy, note chapter 2, beginning with verse 19. 2 Timothy 2, 19. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Say, I'm so glad he does. Sometimes folks will say, is so-and-so saved? And I have to say, I don't know. I don't know. I have news for you tonight. You don't know if I'm saved. I don't know if your pastor's saved. He knows if he's saved. He better be. I know if I'm saved. He doesn't know if I'm saved. He may believe I'm saved. I believe he's saved, but I don't know. I know for myself. Don't you ever pass judgment on the destiny of any person's soul. You don't have that right, nor do I. The Lord knoweth them that are His. And if I weren't saved, I would not be the first imposter to stand behind a pulpit and preach from a Bible." He picked up an evangelist getting off a plane from Mexico. All he had in his hand was a Bible. That's all he had in his hand. And the FBI were waiting for him. And they followed him. He went to the baggage claim department. When the bag came in, he presented his check from his ticket and picked up his bag and started out. The FBI stopped and said, who are you? He said, I'm an evangelist. Here's my Bible. They said, we're not interested in what's in the Bible. We're interested in what is in that suitcase. You know what was in the suitcase? $500,000 worth of marijuana. Now, he really wasn't an evangelist. He was posing as one. He was an imposter. You see, I could stand with an open Bible and be an imposter, and it has been done. The Lord knoweth them that are his. Now, I didn't intend to say all that. I want to get on to something here. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house, and the house here is the church, in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Here is the church, or the professing church. A strange mixture is in the professing church. There are vessels of honor and vessels unto dishonor. I'm just pointing out how the word vessel is used here. Now go back to the story in Jeremiah. You see, we have here a vessel marred in the potter's hand, marred. And God said, you, my people, are represented in the story by this vessel. Now we move from the peril of the preacher and the predicament of the people to a third lesson in the story, namely the plan of the potter, the plan of the potter. Now, though the vessel was marred, there was a place where it was finished, a completed vessel, and I'll tell you where that was. It was in the mine of the potter. He knew exactly what he wanted to do with that piece of clay. Before a woman puts the scissors to the silk, she has a pattern. Before the contractor puts the shovel in the earth, he has a plan. I was showing the folks in the home where I was a guest this evening for dinner, or whatever you call it here, supper. I don't know what you call it, dinner or supper. It doesn't make any difference. And I was wearing a sweater. And someone looked at the sweater, and I said, my wife knitted that sweater. Now, before she knitted that sweater, she had a book there and had a picture of it. all the plans, how to go about it. She didn't begin to knit until she knew where she was going. In her mind there was a finished product. Now there was a place where this vessel was completed, fit, meet for the master's use. It was in the mind of the potter. And the potter's hands were attempting to produce his thoughts. God was trying to work out in the lives of his people his own plan. He said, you are represented by this clay, but this vessel will not respond. You're marred in my hand. I do not know whether amidst the archives of heaven God is going to allow me to look back and see all of his perfect plan for my life. But my dear people, I know tonight that God has a plan for my life. I know that. And I know God has a plan for your life. And if you haven't found it yet, you better start asking and ask the right person. James 1, 5, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. They were singing, I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus? I hung my head and said, O God, I know I haven't done my best. And the most important thing in this life, my dear friends, is for us to find and follow and finish the will of God. There is nothing as important as this. God has a plan for every life here tonight. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." God before ordained, before the foundation of the world, God had a plan for our lives, a pathway he wanted us to walk. Jesus was concerned about the plan of the Father. He prayed in Gethsemane's garden. O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Ephesians 1, 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. Ephesians 5, 17, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 1 John 2, 15, 16, and 17, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but of the world. The world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service? And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." God has a plan for every life, the will of God. You know, my dear friends, that the most important thing in all of life is to find and follow the will of God. And it's an awful thing to mess up your life and fail in the will of God before you finish the journey. I told you a few times that God gave me two sons. I am reasonably certain at this stage that I will never be able to leave my children any money, reasonably certain. There are two things I'm sure of. One thing I'm sure of leaving them, and the other I'm earnestly praying about. I have felt for many years that our Christian homes were weak in Christian literature, and I worked and sacrificed to build a good Christian library, and I have a library of some 5,000 books. My two sons, who were both in the ministry, now have that library and they have access to it. But the second thing I want to leave my boys, parents, the second thing I want to leave my By God's grace, I want my boys to be able to say, if Jesus doesn't come after I'm dead and buried, if my boys can only say, my daddy practiced what he preached, brother, that's all I want. But I'll tell you, it'd be an awful thing for my boys to have to go through life and have people look back and say, Lamestown, yeah, he was all right while he stayed in the will of God, but he sure messed up before he died, didn't he? It is not impossible for any one of us in this room to step outside the bounds of God's holy will and mess up our lives. Find it! Follow it and pray, God, that we shall ever finish it! The potter's plan. Israel had failed in God's plan for their lives. Now let's look at the story again, go back to the 18th chapter, and I want you to note now a fourth lesson to be learned And that is the potter's procedure, the potter's procedure. How did the potter proceed to develop this piece of play into a vessel that would be useful? I want you to note as I read the story again. He said, verse 3, I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. Now, a potter's vessel had a foot treadle. And by pushing that, pumping that treadle, a wheel would go around. And as the wheel would go around, the potter would work with his fingers, what was in his mind, trying to produce that vessel from that piece of clay. I'm not interpreting this verse. I'm applying a lesson, merely. Would you, for just a moment, allow that wheel to suggest something, the round and routine of everyday life? just by application. And this, my dear friends, is where many a good person has gone wrong in the round and routine of daily life. He wrought a work on the wheels, and that wheelman monotonously went around and around and around and around. It's in the round and routine of life where we go wrong. May I say a word first to you, dear women? I sympathize with you because I've seen a lot of heartbroken women. in the years of my pastor. You know, you dear women can become very easily discouraged. Some of you are pretty much house bound. You have children, a home to keep clean, and your mind gets playing tricks with you every once in a while. You begin to say, oh me, what a deal I'm in here. Get up in the morning, get my husband's breakfast ready, the eggs are too hard or too soft, the coffee's too strong or too weak, too hot or too cold, the toast is too light or too dark. I get him off, and then the children scream, hurry up, you'll be late for school. And I begin to wash diapers and do dishes and make beds and clean the house. By that time, the children are home from school, and they have to be getting after them. Then my husband comes in. He's tired. He wants his slippers. He's disagreeable. The boss has been breathing down his neck. I want a little attention, he's too tired, and this is an old me. Watch it, ladies. You're in for trouble. You're in for trouble. I'll tell you why. If your lot is to be a Christian wife and mother, instead of allowing yourself to become discouraged by the round and routine of life, why don't you get on your knees and ask God to help you to be the best Christian wife and mother on the face of God's earth. You see, by allowing yourself to become discouraged with your round and routine of life, you create a vacuum. And you're going to fill up that vacuum with something. In one of these days, you're going to seek something else. And you'll step outside the will of God when you do. Now, we men are no better. We're no better. The man comes home. He begins to gripe. Ah, he said, I got a dozen guys breathing down my back for my job, and the boss, he's pouncing on me all the time. And he said, there's one big round after another. He said, I get fed up. Well, wait a minute, sir. Just a minute now. We work by the sweat of our face. You say, oh, you don't have my job. No, you don't have mine either. Two-way street. As long as I wrestle one of those trucks around, then I pray God to make you to be the best Christian truck driver in this area. If you're a businessman, ask God to make you the best Christian businessman. Stop your griping. This is your lot in life. This is where psychologically and emotionally many Christians and professing Christians are going astray. Accept your lot and walk in fellowship with God and say, thank you, Lord, for a new day. Go to your work with a spring in your step, asking God to help you to be your human best, filled with the Spirit. I have news for you tonight. I've been living a certain way for six years, and I have news for you. The glamour wore off after the second year. If I had a choice, Pastor Hoover, I'll never choose what I'm doing. I change beds every week. I pack and unpack every week. I haven't put my feet under my own table for six years. I don't have a table to put my feet under. This is not the life I'd choose. I wouldn't choose to be separated from my dear family whom I love. But I'm not complaining. I'm the most contented man in this church tonight, because I know I'm in the will of God, and I've accepted the thing God's called me to do, and my prayer was when I left my motel this evening, God help me to be my human best, filled with the Spirit for that meeting tonight. What kind of a preacher would I be if I griped and complained about my life? I hear a preacher gripe and complain about his life, I say, get out of the ministry, go get a pick and shovel and go to work. You ought to be on your knees thanking God you've been called into the ministry. Can't stand a complaining, griping, grumbling preacher. What an honor to serve God. What an honor to serve God. You should feel the same about your work, my friend. You start to gripe and grumble and I say you're in for trouble. He wrought a work on the wheels. It's in the rounds and routine of life where we get messed up, where we go astray. We are not satisfied with it. That's the potter's procedure. That's his procedure. You say, well, what are your plans? I don't know. God knows. You see, I don't know what tomorrow will bring forth, but I know the one who does know, and that's all I need to know. That's all I need to know. Just day at a time, I know that he knows, because he knows and I know him. That satisfies my heart. That's the potter's procedure. I hope tonight you'll get a new outlook on life and say, well, this is my lot. God help me to be my best. Put your mind at ease. You'll feel better about your whole situation in life. The potter's procedure. Now let's move on and cover a little more of the story. And I want you to note the potter's patience. The potter's patience. In verse 4 it says that the vessel was marred in the hand of the potter, and then it says, so he made it again. Now he could have cast it aside. He could have just scrapped that piece of clay. But it says he made it again. Many of you are acquainted with the story of Abraham. Remember in Genesis chapter 12, the first time he went down into Egypt, he said to his attractive wife, he said, look, you're a pretty woman. He said, tell them you're my sister. Don't tell them you're my wife. Tell them you're my sister. Now, that was a lie. Of course, it was a half-truth, but it was intended to deceive. She was a half-sister, but she was also his wife. But then he did it the second time. You know, if Abraham would have gotten what he deserved when he told that first lie, God could have cast him into hell right then. But he gave him another chance. Do you remember the night David happened to look out and the lady next door was taking a shower and failed to draw the curtain? And David lusted after that woman. And he connived and got around to it and got next to the woman and committed adultery. The baby was born illicitly out of that illicit relationship. You know, if David would have gotten what he deserved, God would have booted him into hell right then and there. But he didn't do it. He made him again, gave him another chance. You see the lesson? Dear people, if every one of us tonight got what we deserve, we wouldn't be in this church. But you see, God has allowed us to come to be face to face with eternal truth once more. And he said, I want you to go out and I'll give you another chance. I'll make you again. This is the God of the second chance. This is for believers. This is not the gospel of the second chance for unbelievers. These are God's people who deal with it. on the mountain and looked out over the plains of Moab in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. And God said, Moses, get a good look. He said, because I'm going to kill you right here. Moses said, I'm not ready to die. The Lord said, that's what you think. You've had it, Moses. You've come to the end of the line. Get a good look. Deuteronomy 32, 32. Get a good look. That's all you're going to see. God put Moses to death right there. If God were to strike any one of us dead tonight, he'd do right. He wouldn't do wrong. None of us would have any recourse. We'd have to admit the Lord did right. Oh, the potter's patience. He made it again. He made it again. See, God gives us another chance. Let's go back to our psalm. I wonder, have I done my best for Jesus? Come on, fess up now. The answer is in a great big emphatic, no, we haven't. And it's a mighty good thing, my dear people, God's not giving us what we deserve tonight. But he says, I'll give you one more chance. We don't want to play fast and loose with this lesson. Don't toy with it. It's a solemn truth. We don't know when the last chance will come. We don't know when God will strike us dead as he did with Moses, or as he did to Uzzah, or Nadab and Abihu, or Korah, or Ananias and Sapphira, or those sinning Christians in the church at Corinth of whom Paul said, Because of this, many are weak and sickly among you, and many have already died. You see, there are some promises for a long life in the Bible. God gives promise for long life. Did you know that? Good health and long life. I'm compiling those verses. I hope someday to write a book on the secret of a long and happy life. There are many verses in the scriptures wherein God has promised health and long life when we meet certain conditions. I'm not saying that every time a Christian dies, God's judging that Christian. There are other causes of death, other reasons why God allows death. I'm simply saying, dear friends, that God has oftentimes stepped in and cut people off prematurely. They just took advantage of every chance God gave them and defied God. God said, OK, you've had it. And he backed a hearse up to somebody's door. Bible's full of that. The late Dr. Barnhouse wrote a book years ago. If you ever see the book, buy it. Buy it. It's worth its price in silver if you get the silver. I understand the silver's worth more than the gold, or I don't know. It's getting pretty close. It's called Men Whom God Struck Dead. Have you seen that book? If you ever see it, Pastor, buy it. It's out of print. Men Whom God Struck Dead. When I first read the title, I cringed. And I read the book, and I said, oh, my soul, what a solemn truth. He went through the Bible, and he picked out all the believers, not the unbelievers, all the believers whom God struck dead because They were sinning and wouldn't stop their sinning. Tremendous challenge. He made it again. You see, we have life to live. It's a challenge to go out and fit into the potter's plan. Now, let's come to the closing point, which is the potter's prerogative. Now, at this point in the study, I want you to note a very solemn truth. Here it is. God is absolutely sovereign over the affairs of man. And any decision that God makes, or any disposal that God makes of any one of us in this church tonight, He will do exactly right. If God killed me in the next ten seconds, God would be doing right. Nobody could say God did wrong. No one could say God did wrong. Now we come back to Jeremiah again, and this time I want you to turn with me, please, to the 19th chapter. The 19th chapter. 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, and go forth unto the valley of the son of Enam, which is by the entry of the east gate. and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, and say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem? Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle." God said, when I finish with the judgment on this place, when people tell about it, in days to come their ears will tingle. Then shalt thou break the bottle," that's the bottle in verse 1, the potter's vessel, "...then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, and shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, even so will I break this people." God said, Jeremiah, leave your Bible home this time. I want you to go before your people and just take a piece of pottery. and preach the message with that piece of pottery in your hand, and at the close of the message, I want you to dash the piece of pottery to the ground. And as it shattered in a multitude of pieces, then I want you to say now, this is what God is going to do to you people." That's exactly what he said, verses 10 and 11. And Jeremiah did precisely that. Now would you come with me to a very interesting portion of the Word of God which throws some light on the story. Romans chapter 9, the ninth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. Now remember the thought that I told you to note, that God is sovereign over the affairs of man, and any disposition God makes of any person, God will always do right. Just to read a few verses in this relative to the sovereignty of God, let me read from verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Why? Why does the elder serve the younger? Verse 11, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. God had a purpose. God had a plan. Verse 14, or verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Did you ever hear a preacher try to explain that away? Spiritualize that and say, that doesn't mean that. and try to tell you that it doesn't mean that? Ladies and gentlemen, it means exactly what it says. Mrs. Strauss and I were in a Bible conference in one of the largest Baptist churches in the South, in the state of Georgia. And there were two speakers. The other speaker was trying to explain this verse. And he said, now, that doesn't mean that. In the book of Malachi, in the Hebrew, it says, and there was in the audience a converted rabbi. who knew Hebrew frontwards and backwards. He could have taught that preacher. He forgot more Hebrew than that preacher ever knew. He was raised with a Hebrew Bible. He was a rabbi. At the close of the service, he very graciously took the preacher aside, and he said, I beg your pardon, sir. Well, he said, you led the congregation astray tonight. He said, the word for hate in Malachi, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated, is the strongest word for hate in the Hebrew language. He said, I want to ask you a question. Can God love? The preacher said, yes. He said, will you tell me why God can't hate if he can love? And he said, with a real Hebrew accent, he says, my dear brother. And he rattled off A dozen verses of Scripture which says that God hates. God hates. He said don't ever tell the people that doesn't mean what it says. He said it means exactly what it says. If God can love, God can hate. Now you're in Romans 9. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Don't you ever say that God is not right. Don't you ever charge God with unrighteousness? If God hates, that's God's prerogative and it's holy hatred. It's not the hatred of a human, it's the hatred of a holy God. God hates and judges sin. Thank God for His love, but I'm so sick of hearing a false, unscriptural love. where sin is concerned, God hates. The Bible says so. You see, there's the love of God and the righteousness of God, but there's also the wrath of God. God forbid that anyone should say there's unrighteousness with God. Quickly, verse 21, hath not the potter power over the clay? Doesn't the potter have power over the clay? of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory? My dear friend, we are going to be vessels meet for the Master's use. vessels to glorify God or vessels to bring down the wrath of God. Now, there's one closing verse of Scripture, and I just barely have time to give it to you. It's Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. What a time of the year to ponder this chapter. When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away, delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.' And they said, What's that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the chief priest took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. This is blood money. We can't put this in the Lord's treasury. And they took counsel, now watch this, and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers. What is a potter's field? Come with me to the potter's house. Outside his workshop there is a plot of ground, and you'll see on that plot of ground a heap of old pieces of potter's. clay that refused to yield to the potter's hand. It resisted the potter's touch, and the potter worked with it and worked with it and worked with it to try to bring to pass in that piece of clay the thing that was in his mind. And when the potter's patience was finally exhausted, he said, that clay will not respond, it only resists my touch. He tossed it outside on the scrap heap, and that piece of ground became known as the potter's field. And that was the field that was bought to bury a man in who had denied his Lord. I don't want to end up on that scrap heap. I don't want God to have to say, Laman Strauss, I've been telling you and telling you and telling you. I have given you chance after chance after chance. You've heard sermon after sermon after sermon. You continue on in your unbelief, in your sin, in your stubbornness. You will not yield to my will. God said, I have to cut you off. I have to cut you off. That is the potter's prerogative. If the Lord does not come in my lifetime, I have to die. But be very sure, dear people, that's not the way I want to go. That's not the way I want to go. What about you? Let us bow for prayer. I believe the best kind of a closing tonight, as far as my heart is able to determine and dictate to me at this time, is the kind of closing whereby each of us searches his own heart, her own heart, because God has already put his finger upon that sin in the life. We know it. God's already exposed it to us. As the word was preached, this is the way God works. And I think the best way to conclude our meeting is to have each one Come to God in silent prayer. Say, Lord, I am thy child. I have been out of thy will. Thou hast given me another chance, brought me to this church tonight. I have not done my best for Jesus. But when I leave this church tonight, I leave a dedicated man or woman, as the case might be. I've confessed this sin to thee, Lord. I want to go out of this church and be my best. directed by the Holy Spirit. Each Christian can settle that right now in this closing moment. You came tonight, my friend, and you are not saved. You have not been born again. You might be a church member but lost on your way to hell. I remind you that God loves you. The Lord Jesus died to save you. And if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be saved tonight. Come to Christ. And while our heads are bowed and Christians are searching their own hearts, I wonder if anyone came tonight who up to this point has never confessed Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord. And tonight you will receive Christ as your Savior. Would you lift your hand and let me see it? I just want to pray for you. You came to this church tonight, you're not saved. Maybe you're not sure that you're saved, but you want to make sure. Do I see your uplifted hand? Somewhat? Now, without anyone looking around, how many Christians tonight say, Brother Strauss, I came tonight and God has shown me where I have failed. I've not only not done my best, but I failed. And I'm taking God's second chance tonight. Pray for me. How many of you Christians made that decision? Let me see your hands. Yes, many, many, many. Loving Father, we thank thee for thy holy word. This solemn truth has stirred our thinking tonight afresh. We thank thee for the song that prompted the selection of this subject. We pray that thou wilt seal this truth to our hearts. Lord, I want to be a better Christian. because of this lesson tonight. Grant, Father, that this is what will take place in my own heart and life. And now I pray for these, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to whom thou hast spoken through thy word and by thy spirit. Pray, Lord, that on these three ensuing evenings that will come and go so rapidly, thou will bring us back hungering for more soul food, so that this holy week will result in a holy experience to make us holy people. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.