Marred, But I Will Make It | Jeremiah 18:1-3

Amen. The children of God said amen. The children of God said amen again. Let us give God a hand clap of praise, if you will. We thank God for his goodness. We thank God for his glory. And we thank God for another chance to be in his house on this morning. Give yourself a hand this morning for coming to give God worship. Is that what you came to do today? Amen, amen, amen. To Dr. Mason, to all the officers and members, uh, visiting friends, we just thank God for life, and we thank God for life more abundantly. I want to congratulate you because y'all stood on time today. So y'all was able to stand for a while and sing the hymn of preparation, if you will. And so I made y'all stand a little while longer so I have to sing the chorus again because y'all got it right today. So I wanted to enjoy that moment. So that's why I wanted y'all to sing the chorus one more time. Give yourself a hand for that, if you will. There is an extra invitation I want to extend to you. I pray that you accept. You've been invited to fellowship with me in the major prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter number 18. Feel like I'm forgetting to say something, but hopefully if it's important, God will bring it to my remembrance. Jeremiah chapter number 18. Y'all gonna help me preach today? Jeremiah chapter number 18. You want to begin reading? And verse number 3, word of God says, 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 was marred, messed up, spoiled. In the hand of the potter. So he made it again, another vessel. Here it is, as it seemed good for the potter to make.

You may be seated.

God told Jeremiah, I want to show you something. Took him down to the potter's house, and he saw Potter doing the work on some clay, and the clay became marred in the potter's hand. But instead of Potter quitting, he got that clay again. Bible says, and it seemed good for the potter. For the time that I was this morning Sweet children of God, I want to preach from the subject 'Marred, but I'm gonna make it.' 'Marred, but I'm gonna make it.' Lord, pour your oil on me. This noted Italian sculpture The David, which was sculpted by Michelangelo, 1504, is now noted as one of the greatest works of art sculpted by Michelangelo in Florence, Italy.

Called the David.

It's a noted piece of work. People come from all over to see the David because of its beauty, its historical significance.

It was sculpted in 1504, finalized in 1504 by Michelangelo. But the story of this famous sculpture is that Michelangelo was not the original artist or sculptor who worked on this famous David. Others started on the David, but they quit because there was problems with the marble. The marble was difficult to work on. The marble had cracks in it, so other people aborted the mission because there were problems with the marble. But Michelangelo took over, received the contract, and he says that I saw the beauty in the marble and I carved until it became a reality. Michelangelo said that before I sculpted David, I saw David. And since I saw David before I started sculpting David, I just start sculpting and I set David free. Come with me to Jeremiah chapter 18 where this parable is about the children of Israel. God's problem children. God's chosen children who had problems. We find here in Jeremiah chapter 18, they are up to their old ways of committing idolatry, and they worship idol gods. And God said that they were on the brink of destruction. But Jeremiah, I want you to give them a word. I want to take you down to the Potter's House. And when God took Jeremiah to the Potter's House, he saw a potter who symbolizes God working with a piece of clay. The piece of clay which symbolizes Israel, was in the hand of God. But while in the hand of God, there were some problems with the clay. And God miraculously said that, clay, I see your cracks. Clay, I see your problems. Clay, I see that you ain't got it all together. But what I will do for you Since you belong to me— I'm getting too excited— since I got my name on you, since I called you in your mother's womb, since I knew the story that I had for your life, I'm not gonna throw you away. But what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna put you back in my hands and I'm gonna continue to mold you and make you Now I'm not talking about Michelangelo, I ain't talking about no clay, but I am talking about you. God knew exactly what he had planned for your life. God knew exactly what he wanted to do in your life, but you took a few turns every now and then. You have a few problems in your life right now, but the reason you're able to come to the house of God this morning is because God says that even though you got some flaws, even though you got some issues, even though everything ain't wrong in your life, I'mma put you right back in my hands. Because God's word to us today is that you are in your right now, but God is already in your future.

And I wish there was somebody who wasn't too cold in the house today to be able to understand that God, the only reason that I've made it this far is not because I ain't never been marred before, it's not because I've never made a mistake, it's not because I've never had no bills I couldn't pay, it's not because I've never had sickness in my body, but the only reason I'm able to testify of your goodness is because when you had other options, when you could have let me fall off, when you could let me go too far away, you put me back in your hands and gave me another chance. And your future is contingent upon the fact that God sees the beauty in you. God sees the future in you. He sees what he has for you down the road. And if somebody can give God a praise for your future that you hadn't walked into yet, because God got his hand on you, he and just keep on living and tell God, I'm thanking you in advance because I'm gonna make it through this. God, I'm thanking you in advance because I won't end right here.

God, I thank you in advance because I do have a future, I do have a promise, I do have a reason to wake up.

This is not my end. God, thank you that I'm gonna make it. Lord, I feel like preaching already today because you almost gave up on yourself. You thought that this was your end, but God said it's not about you, it's about him. And because he's an ultimate sculptor, since he's the great Potter, then you as a piece of clay, everything's gonna be all right.

And I throw down 167 with my cruise control set on 70 miles per hour. And I came down here to tell you today that it's everything that's right about the potter that makes the pottery worth anything. You better preach with your cute self this morning, Gavin. It's everything to write about the Potter that makes you and I as the pottery worth anything.

Translated: ain't me who's doing this, it's God. And while you jealous of me, don't blame me, blame the Potter. Don't get mad at me because I'm gonna be blessed, but take that up with God. Because if it was left to me, I would have forfeited everything But by his grace and by his mercy, my blessings have not been forfeited, and I still have something to live forward to.

That's my luggage. If y'all give me a few minutes to unpack this homiletical luggage and tell you what is it about the Potter that makes us as the clay or pottery worth anything. I'm gonna head back up 167. This time I'm having cruise control set on 69. Is that all right?

This text—

I know it ain't— teaches us firstly about the potter's diligence. I shouted already in the text when I read this. He went down to the potter's house and saw the potter wrought a work. In other words, when he went to the potter's house He didn't just see clay spinning, but he saw the Potter doing a work. Y'all don't know why I'm happy.

That's why y'all got me here paying me the big bucks.

That word wrote in the text means almost to create. Meaning it's not just putting something together, but he's taking something that was not and making it something.

And let me tell you the truth about yourself. What you are today started as nothing, but God looked at nothing and was able to see something, and he took that nothing and spoke to nothing. And now look at you today. Is there anybody in the house today who knows that everything I got today didn't come easy? But God took the nothing that I had, and I gave God nothing, and I gave God nothing to work with, but God took my nothing and created something out of it.

And what shouts me in the text is that when he went to the Potter's House, he didn't just see God sit still, but the Potter, while he was at the Potter's House, was doing a great work.

And child of God, Can I give you a secret?

You may not know it, but you need to be thanking God right now, because while you're in here, God is working out there. But I know what discourages you, because it's what we don't see in the text That's very disturbing. God the Potter is working but not talking. So the clay is on the wheel and God is working on the clay, but the clay don't hear nothing. Have you ever been there where you in your life but it seems like you don't hear nothing? Have you ever been there in your life when it seems like life is just spinning you around but you don't see a word or a sign?

But it seems like God has forgotten you on the wheel and you wish God would say something. You wish God would do something. You wish God will move right now. But let me lift up your head that even when God is silent, God is still successful.

Preach in here with your big-headed self, boy. Wow. The Potter is silent in the text. The Potter is still successful. Can I tell y'all He says he brought a work. That word work in the Hebrew text means that it's really some type of business or some type of investment. So can I say it again? I went down to the Potter's House. I saw the Potter creating something that was going to produce something else. In other words, the Potter ain't just making something out of nothing that's just gonna sit on the shelf.

But God is gonna take nothing, make it into something, and that something can make something else. Who am I talking to, child of God? You think that you ain't worth nothing, you think that your life is idle, but God told me to tell you today that not only is he making you, but he's making you to make something else. In other words, God says that when you live in my word, that things can come out of you that you won't even know how it started. Things and businesses can come out of you because God has made you to be able to produce more fruit than you would have been able to produce in the get-go.

And you wonder how you able to outwork everybody. It's because he's doing a work on you that when you show up, things happen that other people can't do.

When God has his hand on you, you're able to get a response in places that other people can't get no response. You're able to produce more fruit than other people because it's a work that's happening on the inside of you.

Y'all don't like it. So can I teach you something? There's this concept in horticulture called grafting. Please ask me, what is grafting?

Which y'all knows itself.

In grafting, you have a plant that's not producing So a good gardener does not get rid of the plant. Y'all know what the gardener does? He takes some of that plant that ain't producing and he hooks it up with the roots of another plant that is producing.

And the plant that couldn't make nothing can now make something because it's connected to something that's stronger than it. Y'all missed all of that. It ain't you who's doing the work, but God took a limb from you and put it in his root system. And now since you're connected to him, things are able to come out of you. And that's the way you're able to love the unlovable is because you connected to a stronger source. That's the way you're able to grow in wisdom, because you connected to another source. And my prayer for you today is that God will connect you with him and fruit can come out of you.

Uh-huh. Because if it was just for me, I can't produce nothing. I can't make nothing happen. I ain't worth nothing, and you ain't worth nothing either.

Why y'all looking at me like that? But here's what God says I'm gonna do. I'm gonna let you connect with me, and I'm gonna tell you to go and represent me. I'm gonna let you connect with me, and I'm gonna let you say, go get the job. I'm gonna let you connect with me, and I'm gonna say, let you go in ministry. Because if you connect with me, then I give you more power.

I'm so glad that we see that the Potter is diligent. But fellas, do y'all mind if I go a little bit further? Can I also show y'all the Potter's devotion? Potter said something that really hurts you with your sanctified imagination. Because many of us have grown too churchy to understand what I'm about to say. Don't it upset you that the clay became marred in the potter's hand. I can see if the potter left the clay and that's what caused the clay to become marred, but this text says that the clay became marred while the potter was still there. And the problem, children of God, is that we, while we have the presence of God, can still get marred every now and then. You getting marred in your mind, getting marred in that mouth of yours. You getting marred in these old attitudes we got.

We getting marred in these old bodies.

And here's the thing, we get marred but God keeps his hand on us. Can I just walk through this for a second? The question is, if the potter's hand is still on the clay, then Dr. Mason, why does the clay become more? It's gonna bless you if you listen to it, because God is saying through this that just because I'm present doesn't stop clay from being clay. I'm God and I got my hand on you, but don't you forget that you still clay. And I want to know if there's somebody here today who you know that God got his hand on you, but if somebody push you right, you gonna say some French words that are not real good to say. You got some clay desires. And here's the thing, You were still clay after you got saved.

And I want to stop us from thinking that just because we sitting here on a Sunday morning and it's cold outside, that that all of a sudden makes us think that we're no longer clay.

And don't you dare look down on some clay that ain't in here and think that because you in here, you better than clay out there. Because just like clay out there can have issues, clay in here can have issues.

Because the common denominator is that the presence of God does not stop you from being clay.

And you better hope that when I have my Clay moments, that God, you will stay devoted to the Clay that you've called me to be.

Because if not, I can't stay out there like I've been.

So I know what y'all think. Well, if I'm gonna be clay anyway, what's the point of being on the wheel? You asking the right questions. Here it is. It humbles us to be clay, but here is what gives us hope. Is that just because I'm clay, when I get marred, God is still willing to touch me. Because it's risky for a potter to touch some clay with his name on the line, because it's possible that working with marred clay can make the potter look bad.

But here it is, that God can take the worst of clay and get some beauty out the worst of clay. Who in here today can help me preach and say, ain't been no pretty clay all my life, but he knows how to touch some ugly clay and turn that ugly clay into something something beautiful.

It's a lesson of influence because God in his omnipotence does not let the clay run him. But God know how to control even the worst of clay. So while I can't control the potter, the potter can still control the clay.

Anybody in here been influenced by the potter? If you as a piece of clay would have had your way, you wouldn't be here today because life has had its way with you. Life has disappointed you. You are comfortable being clay, but the hand of God took those hard spots and made those hard spots soft. And he know he still gotta work on you. He know he's still working on that tongue. He know he's still working on his mind. He know he's still working on anxiety, and he just keeps on rubbing those hard spots. And I say, I know you're clay right now, down, but I got a basic I'm making you to be because my hand gonna make you what I want you to be.

He just keeps on even when I'm clay.

He say, I'm gonna get the good out of you. I ain't gonna take my hand off you. I know you want to go and do your own thing, but my hand gonna stay with you. And when you go through your whole thing, I'm gonna bring you back because my hand gonna be right there with you. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Is there anybody who's been followed today? Been followed to the club, been following places you ain't have no business being, following you when you were places that you didn't want people to see you, because he follows you everywhere you go. And even when I ain't devoted to him He devoted to me, and even when I give up on him, he don't give up on me. Even when I leave him, he don't leave me. He walks with me, he talks with me, he tells me that I am his own. And the reason I'm preaching today is because he follows me.

Thank you for your hand.

Then when I failed you, God, you kept on feeling on me.

When I left you, you didn't leave me.

He stays the bone, I tell you. He stays right there with you, I tell you. You can't get out of his presence. When his name is on you, his favor follows you.

In your places of clay, he keeps his hand on you.

You may be broke sometimes, you may be broken sometimes, but he ain't gonna throw that clay away.

He'll pick it right back up. There's this Japanese technique, it's called kintsugi. I don't speak Japanese, I'm bad at speaking English, but there's this thing called kintsugi. It's a pottery technique. They make pottery over in Japan, but just like anything that's not God, it's subject to break. Lord, help me preach this today. But the thing about the pottery, under kintsuki, that when it breaks, the potter takes those broken pieces And y'all know how he puts it back together. He puts not just any metal on it, but he patches it up with gold.

That means that after it was broken, when he put it back together with gold, it looks better after it was broken. Than what it looked before it was broken. Who am I talking to in Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church? That when you went through your season of being broken, God didn't just put you back together, but it put you back together and made you look better than what you started. That's my testimony, that's my prophecy, that when God puts you back together, that you're gonna look better than what you looked before.

I'm talking too loud. I apologize because I'm talking too loud. I'm about to go take me a nap. I want to cut some of this off and just flat from right here, but let me just give you this one last thing. In this text, he tells us about the potter's discretion. He tells us why he decided to do it. Typically, God just do something and don't have to tell us what he doing, nor does he tell us why. But I guess God was feeling pretty good today, said, Jeremiah, I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna do this. This clay messed up.

I can form—

I can let this clay go, or I can form it into something that's bad. But what I'm gonna do, not choose more clay, I would take the same clay and make it again. And I will tell you what, because Christian Standard Bible says it seemed right to who? The pop. It's right there. He did it, in other words, because it seemed right to the pop. Y'all ain't getting it. It didn't seem right to the clay. It didn't seem right to Jeremiah, but it seemed right to the potter. In other words, the potter just took the clay again. You know why? Because he felt like it. And it's not that the potter couldn't get more clay, but the potter says, I knew the clay was gonna be marred before I picked it up.

But before the clay could mess up, I had a plan of redemption for the clay already. So I wasn't surprised by the clay being marred. So since I wasn't surprised, I'm already prepared. And God said, I'm gonna pick you up again because your sin didn't catch me by surprise. Your problem didn't catch me by surprise, but I'm gonna pick you up again just because I feel like it.

Don't you let other claim make you feel like listing clay. You just tell some other clay, he feel like putting me back together. And if you give your heart to him, he may feel like putting you back together.

So why are you mad at me? Why are you in my business? Why you think I don't deserve to be a piece in his hand? God said it don't matter what you think because I feel like doing it anyway.

It's the potter's discretion, and the potter did it, and the clay didn't even ask for it. And don't you know, clay, that you're walking in blessings that you ain't asked for? God just felt like it. I'm actually Through free. That's all I got. But me and Jesus having a conversation, Jesus said, hey man, even when you're in the Old Testament, don't you look for me in the text? I said, Jesus, I typically do, but I'm gonna need you to help me with this one because I see you You obviously gotta be the Potter because you picked it back up again. Said, you're right, God, you're right, because I do pick stuff up and make it new again. But you gonna get your haircut, Gavin, and while you sitting in Fresh's chair, I'ma show you where else I am. In the text. It's easy to see me as the Potter, but Gavin, look a little bit closer, because if you look at the text again, you'll see that I'm not only the Potter, but I'm also the clay. Because the clay became marred because of sin.

And I know what you're thinking, Gavin, you were not born in sin like I was. He said, you're right, Gavin, but I did become marred because one Friday on the hill called Calvary, I put your sin on me. And it wasn't my sin that marred me, but it was your sin that marred me. And God the Father touched God the clay on that Sunday morning and restored that marred clay. Now look at me now, on the right hand of the Father, interceding for you, interceding for me. And I'm thankful to God today that he was Christ enough to be the Potter, but he was also Christ enough to be the clay. And now, even though I go through issues I know it's not the end because if Christ the Clay got up, I can get up too. If Christ the Clay got up, I know my life ain't over. If Christ the Clay got up, then I got a better tomorrow. If Christ the Clay got up, then I know that all my sins are forgiven. If Christ the Clay got up, I can go to work in the morning. If Christ the Clay got up, I can be healed when I go back to the doctor. And I'm thankful today that Christ the Clay got up.

Thank you, Christ, because I ain't see that. But by the time Fresh got through lighting me up, I almost ran out that barbershop because I saw Christ in that clay.

I got some more in me.

But I better put this pepper in my mouth. You may be marred, but you gonna make it. You may be marred, but he's offered you a chance to repent, put your heart towards him, and put your clay self in his hand. And don't you think it's strange where the marred clay you see today will be the miracle clay you see tomorrow? Oh, okay, you let what people say about you discourage you, but let me give you a secret: they clay too.

The next time somebody got something to say about you, say, 'Hush your mouth, Clay. With all due respect, I know I'm Clay, but I got my hand in his hand and he's still working on me, and I'm gonna look better after my brokenness.' And he became clean.

For me, we offer Jesus to you this morning.