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2026 Spring Bible Conference Message (1 of 4)
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Sunday Message recorded 22 March 2026
by Dr. Don Whitt
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Opening Remarks and Personal Stories
00:00:06
Speaker
Thank you again for allowing me to get to be here with you all this week again. And this is, i don't have many years now. I believe when I first started, I had a head full of hair and I was skinny.
00:00:20
Speaker
But the goods are good to be with you. Just to share with you a little bit of, I've got me a stool up here. I just got back a few weeks ago from Israel. We just got out in time.
00:00:34
Speaker
Y'all know what i mean? And I was with Dr. Shakur there with him and came back with an infection and got a shot.
00:00:46
Speaker
And the nurse put the needle in the wrong place. And so she hit my sciatic nerve. And so I've got a knot on my sciatic nerve.
00:00:57
Speaker
And so that's what's going on with me. and they said it'd be two or three months before it would leave. So my left leg is going all the way down. So pain. So that sort lets you know what's going on with me. So I never, I don't know if I can sit on the stool and preach, but if I have to, i will do
Upcoming Church Events and Tributes
00:01:15
Speaker
it. So I'll just let you be aware of that. That's what's going on me.
00:01:19
Speaker
We've been preaching every week since we got back. And so... Just let you be aware of that. i want to just encourage you to do everything you can to be here. of course, tonight and then tomorrow night, the Dr. Aubrey Fenton will be preaching.
00:01:36
Speaker
ah You're going to be blessed by him. he is the pastor of the Abundant Life Fellowship in Trenton, New Jersey. Great, great church. They run about 3,000. God's hand on him.
00:01:49
Speaker
god's hand is on him And you're going to really be blessed by him. We've been there now, what, the last couple of years, Luzita? And just a great, great church.
00:02:02
Speaker
And has been going to Ethiopia with us and also Uganda with us doing the teaching with the pastors and the preachers.
00:02:14
Speaker
While we're there. And so you're going to be blessed by him. And then, the course, on Tuesday night, Dr. Joshua Coor, who's the pastor of the
00:02:28
Speaker
Tabernacle Baptist Church in Wilson, North Carolina. I don't know if you get there from here. But it's over on the east coast of North Carolina.
00:02:40
Speaker
And y'all remember him from last year. How many of y'all remember him from last year? Okay, many of you did. Great preacher. You're going to be blessed by him. And we look forward to him being here with us. So I want encourage you.
00:02:52
Speaker
Do everything you can to be here with that. And then also, just on a little personal note. One of our closest, closest friends and also my pastor for the last 25 plus years, Dr. Steve Gaines, passed away.
00:03:12
Speaker
And they'd be having his funeral tonight at the Bellevue Church. And your pastor actually served on staff with him while he was in seminary.
00:03:23
Speaker
think you were his minister of view youth, youth pastor. that's when you had dark hair.
00:03:34
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And amen. So pray for pray for them. He has had a tough, tough last couple of years and passed away just last week with with cancer.
00:03:45
Speaker
And so a lot of things going on.
Sermon on Jeremiah 18: The Potter's House
00:03:48
Speaker
Take your Bibles now and open them to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18, and that's in the white pages.
00:04:02
Speaker
That's those pages that you normally don't turn to a great deal. And the deacons, that's in the Old Testament.
00:04:11
Speaker
And if you've got the right kind of Bible, that's on page 875. Now that's about all the help that I could give you. Jeremiah chapter 18, want to preach you on the subject, a message for cracked pots.
00:04:26
Speaker
A message for cracked pots. Jeremiah chapter 18. If you're ready for the word of God, say amen. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house.
00:04:40
Speaker
There will I cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house. And behold, he brought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.
00:04:55
Speaker
So he made it again another vessel, and it seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, said the Lord.
00:05:10
Speaker
Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Father, Thank you now for your goodness, your blessings, your grace that you give to us.
00:05:26
Speaker
I thank you now for the time of worship that we've had How your name has been lifted up and magnified. God, I do pray now for that person who is in this room that's near us to hell.
00:05:40
Speaker
I pray today they'll come to Christ and be saved. And also, so Lord, I pray for we who are saved that we will leave here today more in love with Jesus than we've ever been in our entire life.
00:05:54
Speaker
I do pray now with invitations extended in a few moments that there'll be a freedom for people respond to your call, that your perfect will be accomplished. But in the name of Jesus, be honored.
00:06:07
Speaker
In Christ's name I pray. And all of God's people say, amen. Amen. Now, the Bible speaks here of the potter's house. What was the potter's house? Well, it's a place where a man called a potter made pottery.
00:06:24
Speaker
He would make there dishes and bowls and plates, and he would make it out of clay. And in my study, I discovered that the art of pottery is one of the oldest arts that there is, and it remains almost unchanged.
00:06:44
Speaker
to this very day. Now how did he make that pottery? How did he make that vessel? Well what he would do, he would take a lump of clay he would beat it and he would twist it and cut it he would make it until finally he would get all of the bubbles, all the impurities out of it.
00:07:08
Speaker
And just when he was right, He would place it on a thing called a wheel. The Bible speaks of the wheel here in verse 3.
00:07:19
Speaker
Now the wheel was a a big disc about the size of a a big pizza. And we all know how ah big a big pizza is. I mean the good ones.
00:07:32
Speaker
I mean the big ones, not the little thin ones. I mean the big thick gooey ones. Amen. Amen. And so was he would have that disc and he would die he would sit there ah upon that ah platform and he would have a paddle that would go like that and sort of like the old time uh sewing machines the ladies that uh you used to have of y'all recognize that know the ladies you had the sewing machine how many of y'all recognize that okay all the old people i mean uh and it would paddle and finally the disc would go around and around and around and just at the right time
00:08:20
Speaker
he would place that lump of clay on that disc and he would take his talented hands and begin to smooth it out from the inside and from the outside.
00:08:34
Speaker
and from that unlovely, unlikely lump of clay, he would make a beautiful vessel. Now, God told Jeremiah, The weeping prophet.
00:08:46
Speaker
The prophet that was brokenhearted over the sins of Israel. He said, now you go down there to the potter's house and you pay close attention to what's taking place there.
00:08:58
Speaker
And from there, you're going be given the word of God. Now, in this message on a message for crackpots, I want you to see four things.
00:09:09
Speaker
Number one, the pot made. Number two, the pot marred. Number three, the pot mended. And then number four, the pot mutilated. Let's look at them.
00:09:20
Speaker
Number one, the pot made. Now, who was the potter? And what was the clay? Well, we don't have to guess about that.
00:09:32
Speaker
Notice verse 6. The Bible says, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, o house of Israel.
00:09:47
Speaker
Now God is the potter. He is the master potter. And man is the clay. And God can take that unlikely lump of clay and make something beautiful of it.
00:10:05
Speaker
Now... Man is the clay. This is true physically. The Bible says in Job 10 verse 9, that thou hast made me as the clay.
00:10:19
Speaker
We came from the dust of the earth. I heard about a little boy that said to his mama, Mama, is it true that we came from the dust of the earth and we shall return back to the dust of the earth?
00:10:32
Speaker
And she said, well, that's that's correct. But said, why do you ask? He said, well, it's either someone either coming or going under my bed. Well, is as the clay.
00:10:46
Speaker
That is true physically, but also it is true spiritually. I mean, just as that unclean, unlovely lump of clay was able to do anything itself,
00:11:02
Speaker
spiritually, we are unclean, unlovely, and we're unable to do anything about our condition by ourself. But just as that potter could take that unlovely, unlike clay and make something beautiful out of it, God can do the same thing with your life.
00:11:26
Speaker
You see, God has a plan for every life. Now, don't know exactly what God's plan is for your life, but this much I do know. It is God's plan for every person to be saved.
00:11:39
Speaker
John 3, 16, let's say it together. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. 1 Timothy 2, 4, the Bible says, He will have all men,
00:12:00
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Not a few, not a select group, but God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
00:12:13
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This much i know, it's God's will for every person here today to be saved. I can look at every person over here and say, it's God's will for you to be saved.
00:12:26
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I can look at every person over here and say, it's God's will for you to be saved. As we go there into the jungles of Africa here in a few weeks, in Ethiopia again, i can look at every person there in that jungle and say, it's God's will you to be saved, amen?
Experiencing Abundant Life and Overcoming Sin
00:12:50
Speaker
That much I know. But then also as a Christian, I don't know exactly what God's plan is, but this much I do know. John 10, 10, Jesus said, I've come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly.
00:13:09
Speaker
God's will is as a Christian, For you to have the abundant life. The abundant life is the best life. You see, the best life is not found in alcohol.
00:13:23
Speaker
The best life is not found in drugs. The best life is not found in immorality. The best life is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Amen?
00:13:36
Speaker
God wants you to experience the abundant life. The best life. You see, that's God's will for your life.
00:13:47
Speaker
The old Gaither song, something beautiful, something good. All my confusion, he understood. All I had offer him was brokenness and strife. But he made something beautiful out of my life.
00:14:02
Speaker
And so number one the pot made. Number two, The pot marred. Notice there in verse of four, the Bible says, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter.
00:14:18
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Now whose fault was it that it was marred? I mean, was it that the potter didn't have enough talent? Was it that the potter did not have enough skill?
00:14:29
Speaker
Was it that the potter did not know what he was doing? No, that'd be impossible. Because what God does, God knows exactly what he's up to. ah Amen? So the problem is not with the potter.
00:14:42
Speaker
And so what's the problem? The problem is the clay. And we don't want have to guess about that. Either there was some inward impurities that marred the clay, or there was some outward stiffness.
00:15:00
Speaker
It may be that there's that inward impurities. I mean, the bubbles that was on the inside of the clay that would mar the clay. It may be in your life today.
00:15:13
Speaker
There's that the that hidden sin. That inward impurity. I mean, you think your husband doesn't know about it. Your wife doesn't know about it.
00:15:26
Speaker
Mom and daddy don't know about Preachers sure don't know about it. I mean, you think nobody knows about it. Oh, listen, God knows. You cannot hide your sin from God.
00:15:41
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God knows about that beer in your refrigerator.
00:15:45
Speaker
God knows about the pornography that you've been involved in on the internet. God
00:15:55
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I mean, God knows about if you're cheating on your husband. God knows if you're cheating on your wife. I mean, God knows about that secret sin that you think nobody knows about. mean, he knows about the jealousy.
00:16:12
Speaker
He knows about the hatred. He knows about the grudges that you've got in your life. Years ago, When I was in the seminary in Fort Worth, I pastored in Mahea. How many of y'all know where Mahea, Texas is?
00:16:31
Speaker
Mexico?
00:16:34
Speaker
Well, I pastored outside Mahea at the First Baptist Church in Point Enterprise. And we had a lady there, one of the widows, by the name of Mrs. Enderman.
00:16:47
Speaker
And every Sunday, I'd be standing at the back of the church, you know, when service was over, and and I wanted to encourage her, you know. She's a little short lady, and she'd walk out, I'd say, beautiful day today.
00:17:00
Speaker
Don't see anything beautiful about it. Next week, I'd try to say something else. I'd say, boy, it's good to know Jesus, isn't it? Don't know so much about that being good. I mean, no matter what you said, she was on the negative, dark side.
00:17:17
Speaker
And so we started in revival services on a Sunday morning. On Sunday night, when the invitation was extended, Mrs. Edelman came forward.
00:17:29
Speaker
And she said to me, here's her words, I need to get right out God. That was her words. And I said to I said, well, do you know Christ? Do you know for certain that you've been saved? Oh, yes.
00:17:42
Speaker
I need to get right out God. And so I said, okay, let let me pray with you. So I prayed with her that God would just deal with her and get things right in her heart, you know, as much as I knew how to pray. And finally she looked up at and she said, i believe I got it.
00:18:00
Speaker
And so she went back to sit down. Monday night, the invitation extended again. Here she came again. She said, I thought I got it last time. I don't believe I got it.
00:18:14
Speaker
She said, I just need to get right God. And so Victor, I thought, well, okay, let me just pray louder.
00:18:23
Speaker
And so I began to pray, oh God, you know, do what you have to, Mrs. Zinnerman's heart, and get things right with her. And finally she looked back at me again. She said, believe I got
00:18:38
Speaker
Tuesday night, invitation extended. Here she came again. thought, oh Lord, what do I do? And she said to me again, she said, thought I got it last night, but didn't get I said, well, just just be seated out on the front pew.
00:18:57
Speaker
And I'd heard, you know, the old timers talk about having prayer meetings like this. And I said to her, I said, Mrs. Enderman, I said, when the service is over tonight,
00:19:09
Speaker
I said, I'm going to some of our deacons and their wives, and we're going to come over to your house. And we're just going to pray. We're going to pray until you get this thing right with God.
00:19:23
Speaker
and don't know what would have happened if we'd probably still be there praying. And so we went there, and I looked at her before we started in the prayer time. And I said, you know, lu the Bible says about King David that that he said, Lord, restore to me the joy of thy salvation.
00:19:43
Speaker
I said, he had not lost his salvation, but he lost the joy of his salvation because of sin in his life. And I said, somewhere, someplace in your life, you've got some hidden sin.
00:20:01
Speaker
You've got something you're holding on to. And I said, now, we're going to pray until you get this thing right with God. And so on I said, we're going to do it this way. I said, we're all just going to kneel here on the floor and we're all going to pray out loud.
00:20:20
Speaker
And we're going to pray until you get this thing right with God. And so we just started praying, praying. And then finally I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked up.
00:20:34
Speaker
And that was Mrs. Interman. She was looking down at me. And she said, Pastor, she said, ever since you've been here, I've had a grudge against you.
00:20:46
Speaker
And she said, I hadn't liked you. But she said, I want ask you to forgive me tonight. And I stood up and I gave her a great big hug.
00:20:57
Speaker
I said, bless your heart. I do forgive you. Now I know she got it. I know she got it right. The next morning, nine o'clock,
00:21:11
Speaker
I went to the door. And there Mrs. Edmund stood with a big smile on her face, and she had a chocolate pie.
00:21:22
Speaker
And she said, I just got to thinking, you like chocolate pie. And may I say, I still like chocolate pie. But whenever you try to hide that sin from God, that inward impurities, it will mar God's plan. It will mar the clay.
00:21:44
Speaker
But if it's not that inward impurities, it may be that outward stiffness. I mean that stiffness that will not allow the clay to be molded and shaped as it should be.
00:22:00
Speaker
It may be that
Financial Obedience and Second Chances
00:22:01
Speaker
outward rebellion, that stiffness that's in your life. God says, go to your neighbor and tell him about Jesus.
00:22:12
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And you say, no.
00:22:15
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The pot's marred. God tells you that you need to tithe.
00:22:23
Speaker
Wait minute. Let me just pull over here, okay? Time out. Time out.
00:22:32
Speaker
The Bible says, will a man rob God? Where have you robbed me? Come on, help me. Tithes and offerings. A tithe is 10%.
00:22:43
Speaker
A tithe is one dime out of every dollar. Brother Victor, have you ever had someone come and say, well, I tithe 5%.
00:22:57
Speaker
No, you don't. A tithe is 10%. That's what the word tithe means. It's one-tenth. Amen? Have you ever had someone say this?
00:23:10
Speaker
Well, Pastor, I just have a hard time figuring out my tithe. You liar. You hypocrite. Listen, somebody owed you a dime.
00:23:23
Speaker
You wrote it down somewhere. Amen?
00:23:28
Speaker
Listen, folks, I ain't finished yet. Just hold on.
00:23:33
Speaker
You say, well, that time business, that's for those Jews back to under the law. Let me help you with it.
00:23:41
Speaker
For a Christian under grace to allow a Jew under law to give more than we do under grace is a disgrace to grace. You want me say that again?
00:23:55
Speaker
Y'all need help? For a Christian undergrace <unk>la you under to to give more than we do under grace is a disgrace to grace.
00:24:08
Speaker
And all God's people say, amen. And by the way, the tithe is to be brought to your local church.
00:24:18
Speaker
First Corinthians 16, the Bible teaches storehouse tithing. Amen. Amen. You don't send your tithe to some radio preacher.
00:24:31
Speaker
You don't send your tithe to some television evangelist. And as much as I love him and I respect him, you don't s send your tithe to Franklin Graham.
00:24:45
Speaker
You don't give your tithe this week to Don Whit. I do not want the tithe. Y'all understand me? Your time is to be given to your local church.
00:24:59
Speaker
if y'all don't shout amen right there, I'll preach until the sun comes up tomorrow. Amen?
00:25:07
Speaker
But when you refuse, I told you it was going to get good. Hold on, I ain't finished yet.
00:25:13
Speaker
But when you refuse to obey God in regards to tithing, it mars the vessel. God tells you, you need to go and confess this sin.
00:25:26
Speaker
And you refuse to do it. The pot's marred. God says, you need to go to apologize to this person. And your pride blows up, puffs you up.
00:25:38
Speaker
And you refuse to do it. The pot's marred. Number one, the pot made. Number two, the pot marred. And then number three, the pot mended.
00:25:52
Speaker
Notice again there in verse four. The Bible says, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. Now notice this. So he made it again another vessel and seemed good to the potter to make it.
00:26:08
Speaker
Listen, that's a good word. I don't care who you are, there's still hope. There's still hope. As long as that clay is still soft and in the hand of the potter, there's still hope.
00:26:29
Speaker
Amen? Now, the original application was to the nation of Israel. And thank God, God is the God of the second chance.
00:26:42
Speaker
Amen? Notice verse 6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter said the Lord? Behold, as
National Repentance and Redemption Stories
00:26:50
Speaker
the clay is the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
00:26:55
Speaker
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and destroy it. If that nation against whom have pronounced turn from their evil, notice, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto it.
00:27:16
Speaker
Now the original application here was to the nation of Israel. And God is saying to Israel, I will give you another chance.
00:27:28
Speaker
I believe a America was meant to be a vessel in the hand of God. Amen. I believe America was meant to be a place where the gospel could be sent out to a lost world.
00:27:49
Speaker
But America has marred God's plan. And I believe America is ripe for the judgment of God.
00:28:01
Speaker
But I do believe if America would repent and turn back to God, that God would give her another chance, amen?
00:28:14
Speaker
One of the amazing things, one of the men, wealthy man that we're working with now in Ethiopia is, I can't say his whole big long name.
00:28:26
Speaker
I call him Giza. Great man of God. He is an Ethiopian senator. He is the chairman of the infrastructure committee of all of Ethiopia.
00:28:39
Speaker
He's the man that we work with now in Ethiopia. and one of the most godly men I've ever been around in him, Rosina, unreal. He came here to America last year and I saw online that he was meeting in Washington with senators and with congressmen of all parties and then he came over to our house and We had supper together at our house and I think, Rosita, you were the one that asked him.
00:29:15
Speaker
I said to him, said, ah what what if why why were you doing in in Washington? You know, we sort of had the idea that he was he was there with his hand out wanting money. He said, no.
00:29:27
Speaker
He said, I came to Washington to tell them about Jesus. Isn't it amazing? I mean, we had ah man from Africa coming to America ah tell American leaders about Jesus. Amen?
00:29:44
Speaker
But I believe that God's will is that America to be that place to go share the gospel. But not only is it true about a nation, but also it's true about an individual.
00:30:00
Speaker
You may be here today and you're a backslider. You're not walking with God. God will give you another chance. I mean, just look at the Bible. ah result There was old Jonah.
00:30:15
Speaker
I mean, God told Jonah, Jonah, you go to Nineveh. But instead, he turned and went in the opposite direction. But after a night on the foam blubber mattress,
00:30:28
Speaker
I mean, he hit the road running. And the thing I love about it is this. The Bible says that the word the Lord came again the second time to Jonah. There was no Simon Peter.
00:30:45
Speaker
I mean, he denied Jesus. He cursed in front of a teenage girl. Can't you imagine the gossips at the church?
00:30:57
Speaker
I'm finished with old Peter. I never need to have any confidence in old Reverend Simon Peter. don't want anything to do with him anymore. Well, thank God that God would finish with him. Amen?
00:31:09
Speaker
I mean, he became that great Pentecostal preacher on the day of Pentecost. It may be that you're here today. And there was a time when your heart was on fire for Jesus.
00:31:24
Speaker
I mean, you couldn't wait to get to church. I mean, you couldn't wait to get here to sing and to worship. I mean, you couldn't wait to get here to hear your pastor stand up and to preach the word of God.
00:31:37
Speaker
But some way, somehow, you slid back. I mean, you go back to the old water holes. I mean, you begin to curse and use language you should not use.
00:31:53
Speaker
You're not walking with God anymore. I want to say to you, if you'll turn back to God and repent, he'll give you another chance.
00:32:05
Speaker
Amen? I mean, if you'll cry out and say, oh God of Jonah, oh God of Simon Peter, oh God of second chance, make me over again, will.
00:32:19
Speaker
You may be here today and you're lost. You've never been saved. And you think, well, I'm so far down in sin that God can't do anything for me anymore.
00:32:31
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Oh, listen, God's grace is sufficient. Amen.
00:32:37
Speaker
Therefore, for any man being Christ, he's a new creature. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are becoming new. I don't care who you are. I don't care what you've been involved in.
00:32:50
Speaker
I mean, you may be involved in drunkenness. You may be involved in drugs. You may be living in life of immorality. I don't care how far down you are There's still hope.
00:33:02
Speaker
There's still hope. Let me give you an example out of my personal life. My father deserted my mother and I when I was just a child.
00:33:14
Speaker
Older, really older child. And, uh, He left us. And I was raised most of my life by my grandparents.
00:33:26
Speaker
And my father was what I call a functional alcoholic. Y'all know what I mean when I say that. He was a functional alcoholic. He owned his own business.
00:33:38
Speaker
He employed about 150 people. He was sober every day during the day. He'd be drunk every night. And on Friday night, he would leave.
00:33:53
Speaker
Said he was going fishing. Not quite. And we wouldn't see him until Sunday night or in the Monday morning, every week. And so he left and lived that lifestyle for years and actually was married five times.
00:34:13
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That was his life.
00:34:18
Speaker
When he was 60 years old, he went to an old-fashioned, independent Baptist revival. And God saved him.
00:34:29
Speaker
Literally. I mean, revolutionized his life. And I'd say, he went to AA at the altar.
00:34:40
Speaker
No more alcohol. No more lifestyle the way he was living. He became a brand new person, totally. In fact, he went back to my home church over in East Tennessee, Mountain Church.
00:35:00
Speaker
It was a church where actually my mother and all of her family had attended. My mother had already left and remarried. But my aunts, who was my mother's sisters and all of my cousins,
00:35:16
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<unk> saw such a difference in my father that they embraced him back into the family. Y'all know what I mean? They'd say, Glenn, we're going out to eat.
00:35:30
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You want to go with us? i mean, they saw such a difference. I mean, he would be in a man that you would say there's no hope for. But I want to say to you today, there's still hope.
00:35:41
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Amen? Amen. As long as you will put your hand, your life in the hands of the master potter and you're still pliable, there's still hope.
The Dangers of Persistent Sin
00:35:53
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Number one, the pot made. Number two, the pot marred. Number three, the pot mended. And then number four, the pot mutilated. So often we stop too early in this passage.
00:36:06
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Look on down in chapter 19 of Jeremiah and notice there verse one, The Bible says, thus said the Lord, go and get a potter's earthed vessel and take of the ancients of the people and the ancients of the priest. He said, now, you go down there to the potter's house and get some of the leaders together and you point your finger to them and say in verse 10, then shall thou break the bottle and the side of the men that go with thee. In other words, you get some of the leaders go with you.
00:36:43
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You get that bottle, that vessel, and it's set up hard now. And then you say to them, in verse 11, and shall say to them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, even so will I break this people and this city as one breaketh a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again.
00:37:07
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And they shall bury them in Tobin, till there be no place to bury. He said, now you get the leaders and you bring them there. You take that bottle and you throw it to the ground.
00:37:22
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and it shatters on the ground. it's like all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put it back together again. And there is no hope.
00:37:35
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You know, there comes a time when you can cross God's deadline. Amen. I mean, you could continue on and on in your sin, and you become so hard that there's no hope.
00:37:52
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As a backslider, there's that possibility of committing what the Bible calls the sin and the death. 1 John 5, 16. If any man see his brother.
00:38:07
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Now, the only way a person can be your brother is to be saved. Amen? Spiritually. Spiritually. If any man see his brother, sin of sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask.
00:38:17
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And he shall give him life for them that sin not unto the death. Now notice this next statement. There is a sin unto death. I did not say that he should pray for it. There is a sin, actually the tense there is, there is a sin that is moving toward death.
00:38:35
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It's not saying that you're just one sin. But there's a sin that's moving toward death. Death. And then the picture is this.
00:38:48
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Here's a Christian. And they continue on in their backsliding. I mean, God has convicted them of their sin. Listen, one of the best ways you'd know you're saved is this.
00:38:59
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You cannot get by with your sin. Amen? That's one of the best ways you'd know you're saved. You can't get by with your sin. God will convict you when you sin.
00:39:11
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But if you continue on in your sin, even after you're convicted, and then God will chasten you. Hebrews 12 says, if any be that you are bastards, you're illegitimate, and not sons.
00:39:29
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How many of you have ever been spanked by God? Boy, I have. And God will get your attention. Now, why does He do that? Because He loves us. Amen? Amen. to get our attention.
00:39:42
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But if you continue even after you've been convicted and even after you've been chastened, there may come that time when God will say, that's enough. And God will sign your death warrant and he'll take you on to heaven. Oh yes, if you're saved, you're going to heaven, amen?
00:40:02
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It's not talking about losing your salvation. But God will sign that death warrant and he'll take you on to heaven to keep you from breaking any more shame upon his name here.
00:40:19
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You you ever seen that happen? believe have.
00:40:24
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Years ago when I pastored over in East Tennessee, the shallow Baptist church, one Saturday morning, one of my men came to me Never will forget it.
00:40:38
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He looked at me and he said, preacher, God killed daddy last night. I said, say what? God killed daddy last night.
00:40:50
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I'd been with him at his father's house. He was a deacon in that church, his father was. And very active in the church.
00:41:07
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but he had a secret life on the side. Every Friday night, he'd go coon hunting. Y'all, this mountain country. Y'all know what i mean? He'd go coon hunting, but he wasn't coon hunting.
00:41:22
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For year after year after year after year, he was meeting up with a woman every Friday night in an affair. And that's what this man said.
00:41:35
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God killed Danny last night. Right in the middle, in the midst of that sinful life. Listen, if I were here today and I was saved, but I wasn't living for God, I wouldn't wait for the invitation to be extended.
00:41:51
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I'd be making my way to this altar right now. I'd be falling on my face right now, crying out for God to have mercy upon me. God will forgive you. Amen? But then you may be here and you're lost.
00:42:08
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And you can continue and continue and continue to turn your back on God. And the Bible says in Romans 1.24, and God gave them up.
00:42:19
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Romans 1.26, and God gave them up. Romans 1.28, and God gave them over to a reprobate mind. I mean, you can continue on and on and on until there's no hope.
00:42:32
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Notice there again in verse 11 of Jeremiah 19. The Bible says, Now why did he say that? look down in as one breaketh upon his vessel that cannot be made whole again and why did he say that but look down in verse fifteen he tells us 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 it. Now notice, because they have hardened necks that they might not hear my word. The hardened neck.
00:43:18
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The hardened heart. Jesus said there'll come a time when people have eyes but they'll not see. They'll have ears, but they will not hear. Have you ever been in a good red hot revival?
00:43:33
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How many of you ever been a real good red hot revival? Hey man, I mean, y'all know what I mean? I mean, God was moving so real I mean, people getting saved, people getting right with God.
00:43:46
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and it was almost like it used reach out and grab God. You ever been there? How of you ever been there? Amen. You get in a service like that. i mean, God's just moving in our midst.
00:43:57
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And then you walk outside the church and there'll be someone who will say, just don't see it. I can't understand why y'all get so excited about all of that.
00:44:09
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Listen, they don't see it
00:44:12
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They don't hear it.
00:44:16
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Sometimes you hear somebody say, preachers don't preach like they used to Some of us do.
00:44:25
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Amen. You just don't hear like you used to.
00:44:30
Speaker
i mean, you love your sin more than you love Jesus. Have ever been out here in a pine thicket, you know, where you cleared out a pine thicket, then you're going to burn it off.
00:44:41
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You know, the fire will come through and the raw some, you know, coming up out of the the stump and it'll catch on fire and it'll just blaze up so hot, so bright.
00:44:54
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And then the next year. The fire comes through that same pine thicket and comes to that stump, but this time it doesn't burn nearly as bright and nearly as hot.
00:45:07
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And then the next year it comes that old blackened stump and it just sort of jumps over and goes on. Some of you, were you were a little boy or a little girl, you heard a preacher preach, hell hot, heaven sweet,
00:45:26
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Sin black, judgment sure, Jesus saves. I mean, there was that burning in your heart. Y'all know what to mean? I mean, there was that that conviction that was in your heart. It was so real, no doubt about But you said no. And then the next time you heard a preacher preach, but this time not nearly as hot and not nearly as bright.
00:45:53
Speaker
And you sit here today, It's just that little spark that's in your heart. Listen, you better come while there's still that spark.
00:46:06
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Amen?
00:46:09
Speaker
couple years ago, but really more than a couple, probably about 10 years ago now, I was preaching
00:46:20
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Pendleton, South Carolina at the Bishop Branch Baptist Church. in revival. And we actually were going through Sunday night.
00:46:31
Speaker
And on Sunday night, after the service was over, one of the deacons came to me and said, would you be willing to stay over tonight and go with me and the pastor in the morning to witness to my father?
00:46:47
Speaker
He said, he's 91 years old and he's never been saved. And he said, would you be willing to do that? I said, I'll be glad to. But the Jeff Labore was the pastor at that time.
00:47:00
Speaker
And so the next morning, we got together, went over to the father, 91 years old. And when we pulled up to the house, he was up on a stepladder, cleaning out gutters. Can you imagine? 91 years old on a stepladder, cleaning out gutters.
00:47:21
Speaker
And he climbed down and we he got some chairs and we sat down out there in the carport. We had a conversation named Mr. Whitfield.
00:47:33
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And finally I looked over at him and I said, Mr. Whitfield, I said, ah are you a member at Bishop Branch? No. All they're over there is bunch hypocrites. don't want anything to do with it.
00:47:46
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Well, okay. Okay.
00:47:50
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And then I said, let me ask you another question. I said, do you know for sure if you were to die that you'd be with God in heaven?
00:48:02
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He looked back at me and he said, that's just the idea those Jews had. That's what he said. He said, to make them feel good when they die. He said, when a man dies, just like a dog.
00:48:18
Speaker
They're going to a hole out of here they're going to it in that ground. That's all there is to it. And then he looked at me and he made a statement. I never heard it before nor since.
00:48:31
Speaker
He looked at me and he said, I'll never bow my knee to anyone or anything and cry out, mercy, mercy.
00:48:48
Speaker
And before i realized it, before I even realized it, I looked back at him and I said, you crossed God's deadline. And I said, you're going to hell.
00:49:04
Speaker
We got up, walked over, got back in the car. Brother Jeff, the pastor looked at me. He said, you realize what you just said to that man?
00:49:17
Speaker
And I said, I'm afraid of death. Less than two weeks time, he lost his mind, totally lost his mind. And a couple days later, he was dead.
00:49:31
Speaker
Listen, you can continue on and on and cross over that deadline. And there's no hope.
00:49:42
Speaker
Know those are words of a ah the old p song. that we sing.
Final Call to Surrender to God's Will
00:49:50
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Saint of God, say the words of this song and mean
00:49:54
Speaker
Backslider, say the words of this song and mean it Lost friend, say the words of this song and mean it Have thy no way, Lord.
00:50:06
Speaker
Have thy no way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mow me and make me after thy will. while I am waiting, yielded, and still.
00:50:21
Speaker
Amen and amen.
00:50:28
Speaker
is a ministry of first baptist church located at seventeen hundred milam street columbus texas