Temple Baptist Church - 7-2-2023
Jeremiah 18:1-4
Introduction: Lessons from the Potter’s House.
A. The interpretation of our text is the Nation of Israel. The application can be varied all the way from the individual to our nation, The United States of America.
1. I believe that our nation began in the hands of the Lord as people came to this great land of plenty in the late 1400’s.
2. True that some came for Gold as the spices of the Caribbean Islands and the gold of the America’s drew many.
3. But there were many who came for God. They came to escape the tyranny of the English kings. They came because of the religious persecution that was rampant in the British Isles and Europe.
4. Through it all, “God wrought a work upon the wheels.”
5. Previous to the founding of our great nation, there were only two different kinds of government. Theocracy – Rule by God. Man did not want that so the only other option that worked was a Dictatorship – rule by man or men.
B. Two hundred and forty-seven years, on July 4th, the Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men in the Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA.
1. Thus, the beginning of the first recorded Republic was formed, and the Revolutionary War resulted as Americans severed their relationship from the Dictatorship of England.
2. Here to for, every world power and known nation had either a Theocracy (rule under God in early Israel) or a Dictatorship of some sort. The newly formed Republic (America was never intended to be a democracy) was called “The Great Experiment” by many as there had never been a nation, as far as could be discerned, that had a government ruled by its people.
3. In 1787, the Founding Fathers of the newly formed Republic hammered out the U.S. Constitution in the same Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Afterward, Benjamin Franklin told a woman who inquired about what they had written about, and he said, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
cC Now, in the 2023rd year of our Lord, we see the beginning of the end-result of that experiment. Can sinful man maintain a Republic without God? I fear that the answer is evidently “No!” America, the Potter’s Vessel—the Utopia of the World, the Carrier of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Symbol of Freedom—has become marred in the hand of the Potter! Can God.
D. Jeremiah, called the Weeping Prophet, penned these words under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as he wept over the Nation of Israel’s spiritual condition.
Lamentations 3:48-51 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. (49) Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, (50) Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. (51) Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
E. If “Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord” is right, then “Unhappy is the people, whose God is not the Lord” is also right. America is searching for happiness and fulfillment outside of God and the result is unfulfilled lives, deepening sinfulness, and ultimate implosion.
F. America is unhappy today because she is in Sad Shape because of Sin and Dictatorship! She is both Immoral and Insensitive.
1. Morality is a thing of the past! Sex, sodomy, drugs, drinking, and lawlessness permeate the land.
2. Murder is an accepted form of birth control! Our nation is filled with the killing of the innocents, our posterity!
3. We Can See America’s Sinking into the mire of apathy and despair! Over the past few decades, we have watched the decline of America. The America that we once knew is no more.
a) Families are in a Sad Shape. They are permeated with division and divorce!
b) Homes are out of Order! It’s the Children, Mom, Dad, and God last! God’s order is just the reverse!
c) Churches are in a Sad Shape. (Both Apostasy and Apathy) Pulpits are Compromised, Pews are Cold, and People are Calloused!
4. God has become an Outcast! Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
G. Can God help America? He can but America must be willing! What are we to do?
1. We Need To Intercede for Our Nation. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; (2) For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. (If we do not pray for them, then we have no right to criticize them!)
2. We Need To Be A Light in the Darkness of Our Nation.
a. The Light of a True Conversion. 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (7) But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
b. The Light of a Life Lived. Matthew 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
c. The Light of the Gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
3. We Need to be Proactive in our Politics. Ephesians 6:11-12 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
a. We are to be Vocal. The “far left” are certainly vocal and there is a peer pressure for the “far right” (Ultra-Conservative—that’s is THE Biblical position) to be quiet.
We are to be Voters. God has given to us a Republic to be maintained!
4. We Need to be Hopeful. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Conclusion: Can the Potter make another vessel of America upon His wheel? Yes, God can! The Potter is able to remold the clay! May God bless America, land that I love; stand beside her and guide her; through the night with a light from above!
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