In Touch with Dr Charles Stanley

SPEAKER 01 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 3rd. Sometimes believers struggle with God's will for their lives. Today, you'll be assured that you can always trust God's plan to craft us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:18

Do you know what God is up to in your life? Well, you can know. Now, you may respond, well, why do you think you can tell me what God is up to in my life? Simply because in His Word, He tells us what He's up to in every one of our lives, with no exception. God is up to something in everybody's life. And so as you think about what's happening in your life and what's going on, the things that are good, bad, or indifferent, you may be in a trial, some tribulation, some heartache, or things may be going just the way you want them. What is He up to? God is certainly not a distant God. He is a personal Father. And that's what I want to talk about in this message entitled, Molded by the Master. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Jeremiah chapter 18. Something happens here in Jeremiah that is a perfect setting for what I want to share with you about what God is up to in all of our lives. Jeremiah chapter 18, he says in verse 1, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down to the potter's house. The potter's house is where they make a pottery of all sorts. And there I shall announce my words to you. Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does? declares the Lord, behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Now, God would use the most common things throughout the scriptures to teach some of his most profound lessons. And that is certainly an example here as he sends Jeremiah down to the pottery, where the potter is making something on the wheel. And in the process of him watching this potter mold something out of the clay, God gave to Jeremiah a very, very important lesson to the nation of Israel. Because what he said is, Jeremiah, I am working in the life of the nation of Israel. And they oftentimes are like this piece of clay that's having to be reshaped and remade and remolded. I believe one of the most profound lessons in all the Scripture, and one that I think all of us need to understand clearly, is right here in this particular passage. And that is simply this. I want to say two things in essence. And that is, first of all, God the Master Potter, listen, God the Master Potter has a purpose for every lump of human clay. God has made every single one of us and is in the process of making us. He has a definite purpose in all of our lives. And therefore, what we have to discover is what that purpose is. There's some things he says he keeps only for himself, but certainly what he wants to do with your life and my life, he does not intend to keep that a secret. He doesn't always show us exactly when we'd like to know it. But He doesn't keep secrets. He wants us to know His purpose for our life, His plan, His will, what He has in mind. And so God doesn't make something for the purpose of nothing. You were born into this world. God allowed you to be born for a purpose, for a specific purpose that He has. Now, when the potter places the clay on the potter's wheel, He has a specific design in mind. You see, in his mind, he already knows what's going to happen. So he's not looking at clay. He's not looking at mud. He is looking at it and threw it into it. And what he is doing is simply bringing forth from it what he has already preconceived in his mind. And so when you think about your life and mine, God has already foreseen, predetermined what he's going to do in our life. So when you and I were saved, we were sort of like that glob of clay. Nothing attractive about that. It's just sort of a formless, shapeless kind of glob of mud. And spiritually, that's the way we were when we were saved. There was nothing beautiful about us spiritually. We were living in sin, disobeying God, transgressing the law of God, falling short, going our way, doing our own thing. Then God began to work in our life. Because He had purpose for saving us. And He had a design in mind, and you'll recall He says in Romans chapter 8, that God has predestined all of us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Does that mean that we're going to look like Him? Not necessarily. No, it doesn't. But it means that in character, God is shaping and working in your life and mine so that we will indeed be like His Son. One of the things we make a mistake about is we look around and we say, well, you know, if I could just be like him and if I could be like her, or if I had the gifts and talents that she has or he has, no, God, nowhere in the Scripture even intimates that he's ever made two vessels alike, no two fingerprints alike, no two persons exactly alike. And if you can think about how absolutely infinite God must be in his creative power that no two persons are the same, So, when we look to see how God is working in our life and His purpose and plan for us, we can see that there is a design behind what He does because He has a different work for us. And so, God has designed all of us for a specific purpose. What is that purpose? It is not my purpose or your purpose, but His purpose. And so, the issue is not whether God is working in our life or not. The issue is, am I in agreement with what God is trying to do in my life? And if I am in agreement, it doesn't make any difference what he makes out of me. If I'm in agreement, it doesn't make any difference whether he uses me over here in a small way, in a larger way, with a few people, with a lot of people, it doesn't make any difference. The issue is, what did God have in mind when... He put this old blob of clay on the wheel and it began to turn and it had your name on it. And he began to work in your life. You see, he'd already pre-designed what he wanted to do. And so he put his loving divine hands on the clay and he brought out of that clay what he had in mind. You see, he's not looking at the clay. He's looking at the finished product and he sees it in his mind. He's designed for each one of us to fulfill his purpose in our life. Now, When the potter looks at that clay, it's pure clay. In other words, that's just a pure lump of clay. If he sees in that clay a stick of wood, or if he sees leaves, or if he sees gravel or some kind of rocks, he has to deal with that because, you see, in order for him to mold that and to make it the kind of vessel, beautiful vessel that he wants it to be, it must be smooth. The clay must be pure. Or when he put his hands upon it, he would quickly begin to realize there are foreign elements in that clay that don't belong there. That's why God, in working in your life and my life, he has to remove those things that are hindrances to his purpose. That is, anything that would hinder him when he puts his loving divine hands upon our life to mold us and make us into what he wants us to be, those things have to go. God is a master at taking broken things and crushing them and smashing them and beginning to mold and throw them back on the wheel and to remake. My friend, you could never sin so much that you out-sin the grace of God. nor can you be so broken over your past. And no matter what you've done, God in His loving care will take you in His loving hands, begin to mold and begin to shape and make something beautiful and something good out of your life. He is the master potter. So first of all, I simply say that God has a purpose for every single lump of human clay. Now, the second thing I want to say is this, that God has a plan. Listen, God has a plan for by which to fulfill his purpose for these lumps of clay, these old human lumps of clay. He has a plan by which to make it a reality. For example, when the potter takes his lump of clay and he knows in his mind what he wants to do. He wants to create a beautiful vase or a bowl or a pitcher of some sort or some utensil. Remember that he already knows, and here's what he does. He takes that lump of clay and he throws it on the wheel. And he begins to turn. One very important thing I want you to remember. The only way the potter can form this piece of clay into something beautiful is he has to get it in the center of the wheel. And as I watched at the pottery house the other day, those people who were working, I remember watching this. And this young lady said, I have to get this right in the center of the wheel because if I don't, I can't mold it. And so she kept working until she got it right in the center. One of the reasons God is not able to mold us and make us in the persons he wants us to be is because we insist on doing things our way. And what do we do? We get off center. When we get off center... And we get out of the will of God, out of the center of his will, wanting to do our thing. We want to be over here on this side. God says, I want you in the center. It is my purpose, my plan. It is my goal. I have the best for you. Now, if you insist on doing it your way, this isn't going to work. And so what does he do? He puts it in the center of the wheel. Now, one of the things that Potter does is he dips his hands in water. And the reason he dips his hands in the water is because he wants to lessen the friction as much as he can. Now, as it begins to turn, he places his hands on the clay. What happens is the pressure that he places on it begins to show. And what happens is the rough places begin little by little to smooth out. Little by little, that shapeless form takes on the most beautiful form. And you can watch it happen right before your eyes. And the more skilled the potter... the more beautiful the vessel that comes out. Now, when I walked into this class, there was not a sound except the whir of the wheel. Not anybody even looked up when I walked in. They had their mind exact in what they were doing because you see, they knew what they intended to draw out of that blob of clay. And I stayed long enough to watch them do just that. Now, As I watched that happen and sat there and thought about how God works in your life and my life and watching how he purposes to bring something out of our lives, and we look at ourselves and think, God, what could you do in my life? And, you know, as I thought about how many people that I have known in history and have read about who came from a situation maybe that was very, very negative and Or maybe had absolutely nothing. And we talk about today dysfunctional families. If you look around, everybody's got a dysfunctional family. I mean, we have tags we put on everything. And everybody's either addicted to something or come from a dysfunctional family. Some kind of psychological term we put on everything. Nobody came out of a perfect family. Some people were more blessed than others. But it doesn't make any difference where you came from. It's what God's up to, you see. It isn't where you came from. It's what God is up to and what you're willing to allow Him to do in your life. And so, as I thought about watching this take place, right in front of my eyes, I could not help but to see here what God was saying to Jeremiah. He said to him, The potter is making something on the wheel. He's not down there just playing with clay. He's making something on the wheel. And so, as he saw him, he said, as he was making the clay, the clay was spoiled. That is, it didn't turn out exactly like he intended for it to be. So, he says he remade it as it pleased the potter to make. Now, sometimes we rebel against God. Go, if you will, to Romans chapter nine. In Romans chapter nine, Paul referring to this very thing, speaking of being molded and made. Listen to what he says. He says in verse 20, on the contrary, who are you, old man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it? That is, think of the clay saying to the potter, what are you doing making me like this? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make the same lump out of one vessel for honor, for honorable use, and another for common use? He says now, who are we to say to God, God, I don't like you making me what I am. Once in a while I'll hear somebody say, I don't want the gift of service. I want the gift of prophecy. I want the gift of exhortation. I want the gift of giving. Lots of folks want that gift. Want the gift of giving. Well, does not God know what is best for your life and my life? And so what happens? So the potter's it turns. He puts a little pressure here and a little there and keep dipping his hands in the water. And as he does, what happens? Something begins to smooth out and things begin to look a little better and begins to take on some form and some shape. And I think, hey, that's not Lord. You are working in my life. And so what I want you to notice is this. that in the potter's hand, he puts his hands in water to lessen the friction. You know what God does? Once he gets us in the center of his will on his wheel, and he begins to turn your life and mine, and he begins to allow the pressure, you know what he dips his hands in? Pure love. You see, it is a loving potter who takes the glob and makes it into something like his son. Now, I think it's important for you and me to know something about the potter, and I want you to jot down about six words. Because as I sat there and watched these potters and thinking about what was going on and thinking about how God works in your life and my life and the fact that he is daily molding, allowing those circumstances and situations in our life, I thought about this. There are six words I want you to jot down about the potter. First of all is power. Because you see, the potter down at the potter's house... He has power over that lump of clay. He can do with it what he chooses because, you see, this lump of clay has no mind and no will of its own. And so he has the power to mold it. The truth is that God has power in your life and my life because he's omnipotent. You and I could evaporate in a split second if he chose to do it. But he recognizes because he gave us a will of our own. And so when somebody says, is there any such thing as absolute free will? You better believe there is not. God is in ultimate, absolute control over all things. He gives us free reign up to a certain point. the father, the master potter has absolute power over the clay. The second word is purpose. As we spoke about in the first part of the message, he has a specific purpose in mind for this human clay, just as the potter does. The third word is plan. He has a plan and his plan is a plan of molding, working daily throughout our whole life to conform us to the likeness of his son. The fourth word is patience. God does not get in a hurry. It was interesting as I watched these potters work, nobody was in a hurry. Nobody was pumping a wheel or speeding up the pottery wheel to say, I've got to hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, rush, rush, rush. That is because you see spiritual maturity is not something you rush. Sometimes I think the pressure gets worse the older I get. And I think, God, what are you up to? And anytime I ask him what he's up to, he says, same thing I've been up to. That is making you what I want you to become. I can't rush him. You can't hurry up and learn it because it's a lifetime process of learning the ways of God. The next word is perseverance. And I want you to remember something extremely important here, perseverance. That is, you know, when the potter's clay does not work out exactly like he wants it to or she wants it to, they just take it up and throw it back on there again and begin to reshape and remake and remold. One thing he doesn't do is throw it away. Now, listen to me carefully. Listen and say amen. God never discards human clay. My friend, He'll never throw you away. He'll never say, well, you're hopeless. That's the end of you. Forget that. You won't work. He never says that because, listen, the omnipotent loving hands of a loving Father, when He places His loving hands into your life, He has the power to make you what He wants to make you. And you know what He does? As I think about it and you think about it in your own life, you know how many times you've disobeyed God and confessed and repented and gotten right with God and moved on in your Christian life and you're growing. Then you stumble, you fall, and you get up and you go on. And we do that all throughout our lifetime. What's he doing? He's patiently making and working and molding. And what's he doing? He's persevering. He's not giving up on us. And then the last word is personal. And I think this is so very important because as I watched the potters leaning over their clay and working, I could just see them putting themselves into it, leaning into it and backing off and looking gently and sometimes with pressure. They were just putting themselves into that. And I thought about, God, that's the way you do us. You're just so personal and so intimate in our life. You're not some distant God who's up yonder in heaven working on us, but you are in the process of molding and shaping us step by step, one by one. And you see, God doesn't put all human clay in one big lump. And he's not, listen, he isn't forming the human race. He is molding you and you and you and me, all of us individually. The Father doesn't. You say, well, how can He do that? Because He's infinite in power and infinite in wisdom and infinite in knowledge. He knows exactly what He's got in mind for each one of us. Listen carefully. Do you know why you may not be where you want to be in life at this point? Maybe it's because when the Father put His loving hands upon you, you said, no, I'll do it my way. Or you may have, in a very sophisticated way, just sort of tightened up and said, no. You can rebel in the most comfortable fashions, in the most deceitful kind of way, but rebellion's rebellion. What God wants is to make something beautiful out of your life. And you don't have to ask Him to do it. All He wants is a yielded heart so that when He places His hands in your life, you say, yes, Father. Yes, Father. To the pressure, yes, Father. To the light touch, yes, Father. You may understand what He's doing or you may not, but this you'll know, that a loving Father who has your best interest at heart, who is all-wise and all-powerful, will always make a view, listen to this, will always make a view the maximum of everything you can become, being what you are in the hands of God.

SPEAKER 01 : 19:33

Thank you for listening to Molded by the Master. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.