In the Potter’s Hands
A Sermon preached from Romans 9:19–33 by Ps Phil Hunt
Click here to listen to the sermon
Good morning. It is good to see each one of you here this morning. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Romans — Romans chapter nine.
It is such a delight to have every one of you here today. Those of you who are visiting, I want to add my warm welcome to Kitwe Church. If you are within the Kitwe area, we pray that you will come back again and be with us.
I want to encourage those of you who are new and returning alike: service begins at nine. Let me encourage us to organize our Sunday mornings. Sometimes things happen — we all understand that — but let us try to organize ourselves and be here for the very opening prayer, so that we can enjoy all of God’s worship together.
Romans chapter nine. I want to speak to you this morning on this subject: In the Potter’s Hands.
The Arrogance Before the Disaster
On the night of April 14th to 15th, 1912, the RMS Titanic — the largest and most luxurious ocean liner ever built to that time — struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank in three hours. The sinking of the Titanic took 1,517 people to their death in the icy waters. But what makes the Titanic more than just a maritime tragedy is the staggering arrogance that preceded the disaster.
The White Star Line had built a ship in which they were so confident of its unsinkability that they provided only twenty lifeboats — enough for roughly half the passengers aboard. A naval architect by the name of Alexander Carlyle had originally proposed forty-eight lifeboats, but he was overruled. More lifeboats, management reasoned, would clutter the deck and signal to passengers that the ship was not safe. The Titanic was so well engineered, they believed, that lifeboats were little more than a formality.
Philip Franklin, the White Star Line’s vice president in New York, was so certain of the ship’s invulnerability that when he first received word of the sinking, he flatly refused to believe it. He told reporters on the morning of April 15th: “There is no danger that Titanic will sink” — that the boat was unsinkable. And yet within hours, he stood before those same reporters with tears running down his face.
Captain Edward Smith was one of the most experienced commanders on the Atlantic. He pressed the ship to near maximum speed through waters where multiple ice warnings had been received that day. At least six iceberg warnings came in on April 14th, including one from the SS Californian warning of a large ice field directly in the path of the Titanic. These warnings were noted — but ignored. The ship’s own promotional materials had declared her to be practically unsinkable. Passengers and crew alike boarded with confidence that human engineering had finally conquered the sea.
At 11:40 p.m., the iceberg disagreed.
And that is precisely the posture Paul is addressing in our text in Romans chapter nine.
The Clay Interrogating the Potter
The creature, confident enough in his own construction to ignore every warning — this is exactly what Paul has been dismantling in the first eighteen verses of this chapter. He has just declared that God shows mercy on whom he wills and hardens whom he wills. And immediately, an objector rises with the question that drips with human arrogance: “Well, if that is true, then why does God still find fault with man? Who can resist his will?”
It is the voice of the creature reasoning, pushing back against the Creator. The clay interrogating the potter.
Like the architects of the Titanic, the Jewish people of Paul’s day had constructed a theology of self-sufficiency. After all, they had the law, they had circumcision, they had the covenants, they had the prophets. They had the finest spiritual engineering that the world had ever seen. And they were, by their own reckoning, unsinkable.
They were fine. They were in good standing with God. And yet, they stumbled. Paul tells us this in verse thirty-two: they stumbled because they pursued righteousness not by faith but, as it were, based on their own works. The iceberg of grace was in their path all along — the stumbling stone, Paul calls it. The rock of offense. Their confidence in their own heritage and their own merit kept them from seeing it until it was too late.
You see, the Titanic’s real enemy was not the iceberg. It was the pride that saw the iceberg coming and did not slow down.
Setting the Context: Romans 9:1–18
Romans chapter nine, verses one through eighteen, set the context for what we are looking at this morning. Paul has already confronted the troubling question of whether God’s covenant word given to Israel had failed. The very people to whom God had given his promises — the law, the patriarchs, and ultimately the Messiah — had by and large rejected Jesus. In fact, they had only recently crucified him. So had God failed? Had his word to Israel failed?
Paul answered with a resounding no. It has not failed. Because God’s redemptive purposes have never been determined by ethnic descent, human will, or personal merit — but entirely upon his own sovereign mercy. Through the Old Testament precedents of Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Pharaoh’s hardening, Paul established that God is free to show mercy on whom he will and to harden whom he will, and that both serve his glory.
That raises an inevitable and uncomfortable question that we find in our text this morning: if God sovereignly chooses and sovereignly hardens, how can he then hold anyone accountable? That is the tension of the text — between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
That is where Paul takes us in verses nineteen through thirty-two. From this text, I want us to see that God, as the Potter, has power over the clay — and yet each vessel of wrath is judged for their own rejection of Jesus Christ. I want to make three statements and show them to you in the text.
Point One: You Are the Clay, He Is the Potter — Stop Talking Back (vv. 19–21)
Look at verses nineteen and twenty:
“You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? Who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?'”
The clay has no right to interrogate the potter. That is Paul’s first statement: who are you to answer back to God? Will the created shake their fist in the face of God?
Psalm two, verses one through three, the psalmist asks: “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?” Do we really think that with our finite minds we are capable of fully understanding the mind of God?
The prophet Isaiah said in chapter fifty-five, verses eight and nine: “My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts.” God has the absolute right as the Creator and Owner of all things to do as he pleases with that which is his. And not only does God have the absolute right, but he has the sovereign right as Creator to create whatever he wills from the clay that he molds — as Isaiah speaks of in chapter forty-five, verse nine.
This question being proposed is really a question of human arrogance — as old as the fall itself. Back in Genesis chapter three, the serpent’s temptation to Eve and ultimately to Adam was the opportunity to be like God. “If you eat this fruit,” he said, “God is holding out on you. If you just partake of this fruit, you will be like God.” That is the arrogance: that you as the created can assume the position of the Creator. That you have the right to elevate yourself over the one who made you — to shake your little fist in his face and begin to interrogate him as to why he has done whatever it is you are facing.
And Paul is saying: who do you think you are, that you should rise up against God to begin to question him? “God, how could you do this? God, you are not fair. God, you are not right.” He says: “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?”
Solomon in Proverbs 16:5 writes: “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured, he will not go unpunished.” And in 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
In the New Testament, James writes in chapter four, verse six — addressing believers — that God opposes the proud. That word “oppose” literally pictures a general assembling an army and marching it against an enemy. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Micah 6:8 asks: “What does God require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God?” Why humility? Because all mankind is in a state of unrighteousness.
Paul has already laid this out in chapter three, verses ten through twelve, quoting Psalm fourteen: there is none that does good — no, not one. Not even one of us has done good. That is the condition of every person in this room.
Romans 3:23 says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory — the perfection, the righteous standard — of God.” All of us have fallen short. Romans 1:21–23 tells us that when we, as God’s creatures, knew God, we did not glorify him as God, but our foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, substituting created things for the Creator, who alone is worthy of worship.
And Romans 6:23 reminds us that the outcome of sinful rebellion is death. “The wages of sin is death.”
This is what the people of Israel were seeking — righteousness. But they mistook the means by which that righteousness is attained, and thus they missed it altogether. We will see that very clearly in just a moment.
Point Two: The Potter Shapes the Clay as He Pleases, and Both Shapes Serve His Purposes (vv. 21–29)
Look at verse twenty-one:
“Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”
Does not the potter, as he sits at the wheel with his lump of clay and begins to spin it, have the right to make whatever vessel he wants for his purposes? According to verse twenty-one, some are created as vessels of honor, others for dishonor — but both serve the pleasure and purpose of the potter.
If you have ever been to a pottery house, it is fascinating to watch. The potter spins the wheel and begins to shape the clay into a vessel. One container is designed to hold beautiful roses as a centerpiece on the king’s table — a beautiful vase. Another is shaped to store dried meat in the pantry. In the ancient world, it was common for the wealthy to keep a chamber pot in their bedroom at night so that they could relieve themselves without going outside. The potter takes the same clay and chooses whether to make a beautiful vase for the king’s table or a chamber pot for the bedroom. It is his choice. That is what Paul is saying.
But both vessels serve God’s purpose. The beautiful vase with flowers on the king’s table — that is honorable. The chamber pot is something we tuck in the corner and do not speak of. But when you need it, you need it. The potter has the right to create one vessel for honorable use and another for what we might consider dishonorable use — and yet both serve the purposes and the pleasure of the potter, and he has the right to do with that vessel whatever pleases him.
We have no more right or authority to question God than a lump of clay has to question the potter as to why he made what he made. We are all clay. He is the Potter. We are the work of his hand.
Jeremiah eighteen, verse five: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done, declares the Lord? Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” He is making the direct application of the potter to the people: Am I not the one who created you? Do I not then have the right to shape you and mold you and use you in whatever way pleases me?
These people are raising their fists and saying, “God, why have you done this? Why have you brought this to my life? Why did you make me like this? I wanted to be tall and slim. I wanted a deep radio-baritone voice that people would marvel at when I spoke. Why couldn’t you make me like him? Why couldn’t you make me like her?” And Paul begins his response by reminding us: you are the clay, he is the Potter. Stop talking back.
God Wastes Nothing — Not Judgment, Not Mercy, Not History (vv. 22–29)
Look at verse twenty-two:
“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”
Even vessels of wrath serve the glory of the Potter. Wicked, evil men who hate God, defy God, curse God, and invent all kinds of wickedness — they do not bend, change, or thwart the plan of God by even one iota. In all of their rage — “Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things?” — the raging of the heathen has no effect on God fulfilling his plans and purposes.
God actively prepares vessels of mercy. But vessels of wrath are prepared by their own sin and rebellion. They display his wrath — verse twenty-two — which is the just anger of a holy God and righteous judge against sin. Their rejection of God and their continued rebellion against him prepared them for destruction. Yet even in this, God patiently endured their rebellion and did not immediately destroy them. He was long-suffering, giving them opportunity after opportunity to repent and believe in Jesus.
I have been reading through the Bible this year. I just finished Joshua and am now in Judges. Just this last week I read the story of Jericho. God pours out his wrath upon the wicked people of Jericho — but he spares a prostitute named Rahab who believed in him. Even in God’s wrath, mercy shines through.
The Jewish leaders in John chapter eight, verse thirty-three responded to Jesus: “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.” They were using their Jewish heritage as a shield against the need for grace. This is exactly the argument Paul is dismantling in Romans chapter nine.
These vessels of wrath not only display his wrath, verse twenty-two tells us, but also his power — that he will move in power to execute judgment on those who deserve judgment. We saw this in the last passage: Pharaoh was judged for his rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel became like an animal eating grass behind the palace for seven years. The Assyrians in Isaiah chapter ten were arrogant, but God sent them as his instrument of judgment on Israel — and then turned around and judged the wicked arrogance of the Assyrian king. Even vessels of wrath display God’s justice and his power, serving the glory of the Potter.
But now notice the vessels of mercy. Look at verse twenty-three:
“…in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory — even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles.”
These vessels of mercy were prepared to make known the riches of God’s glory — to Jews and to Gentiles alike. God allowed sin in the world to demonstrate his grace upon vessels of mercy.
Ephesians two, verses six and seven says: “He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Sinners were prepared by God to receive his forgiveness and grace. God effectually calls sinners — Jewish sinners and Gentile sinners alike. They hear his call, they humble themselves, and they receive his mercy.
Beloved, the primary purpose of salvation is to bring honor upon the one who has saved us — not primarily for what we ourselves benefit. Did you hear that? The primary purpose of salvation is to bring honor upon the one who saves us, not primarily for our own benefit.
Notice the difference between the vessels. Vessels of wrath are prepared for destruction by their own rebellion and sin. But for vessels of mercy, it is different. They are preserved by God as recipients of his mercy — even though, if left to themselves, they would have gladly continued in sin and rebellion. If God had not demonstrated his mercy, if God had not come to rescue us, we would have been perfectly content to continue on in our sin. But God intervened. In God’s perfect wisdom, righteousness, and grace, he has destined some for salvation and has left others to continue on their way in sin and unbelief.
Romans 11:7: “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.”
2 Peter 2:12: “But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction.”
The Prophets Saw It Coming: Mercy Always Leaves a Remnant (vv. 25–29)
Look at verse twenty-five, where Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet Hosea:
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”
If you go back to the book of Hosea, the third child of Hosea and Gomer was named Lo-ammi — and Lo-ammi means “not my people.” God came to the prophet Hosea in chapter one and said: “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So Hosea obeyed. He went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and bore him sons and a daughter. The third child — Lo-ammi — his name literally means “not my people.”
Do you see what Paul is saying? These who were “not my people” — Lo-ammi — God will call “my people.” Her who was “not beloved” he will call “beloved.”
Hosea married Gomer and they had three children. But by the time you reach the end of chapter two, Gomer has left her husband and returned to her former life of prostitution. She abandoned her family — abandoned Hosea with three small children — and went back to the world. We can assume years passed. Meanwhile, Hosea faithfully raised those children in his home as a single father, faithfully ministering the truth as a prophet, warning the people of their unrighteousness — and they would not listen.
Then in chapter three, the Lord comes to Hosea again and says that he went and bought her back for fifteen shekels of silver — the price of a slave. That is the same price Judas was paid when he betrayed Jesus. Hosea goes down to the slave market. The years of that lifestyle have taken their toll on Gomer — her youth is spent, her appeal is gone. Now someone would buy her only to be a house servant. And yet Hosea goes down, pays the price, puts his robe around her, draws her close, and says: no more of this life. You will be mine and mine alone. I will love you and be a husband to you, and you will be a wife to me. I am going to take care of you, feed you, clothe you, and we are going to be together.
That is what Paul is referring to in this text — a direct quotation from Hosea, chapter two, verse twenty-three, and chapter one, verse ten. Hosea and Gomer were living prophecy to Israel. The same mercy that could reclaim unfaithful Israel can reach beyond the borders of Israel to welcome Gentiles as the people of God.
Then Paul quotes Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah chapter ten, verses twenty-two and twenty-three: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.” A faithful few amidst covenant unfaithfulness. Israel as a nation would reject their Messiah — but there would be those Jews who believed in that Messiah. And God would show mercy on them, and they would become his bride.
If God had not intervened, there would not be any godly offspring among the nation of Israel. They would all have justly been subjected to fiery destruction — the same kind of destruction and justice that every one of us deserves.
Look at verse twenty-nine:
“And as Isaiah predicted, ‘If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.'”
We all know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. The fire of God fell upon them. Lot escaped by the skin of his teeth with his wife and two daughters, and God rained down fire and brimstone upon those cities and absolutely destroyed everyone in them. Paul is saying: if it were not for God’s mercy, that is exactly where you would be headed. God’s wrath would have fallen upon you in fiery justice and indignation. But God in his mercy has come down to the slave market of sin and thrown his robe around you and said: you are now my child, you are my daughter, you are my son, you are my bride. No more of this sinfulness. I will pour out my mercy and forgiveness. I will make you pure. I will restore you. And I will give you life eternally.
Point Three: The Chasers Missed It; the Finders Were Not Even Looking (vv. 30–33)
How does someone obtain that forgiveness, that mercy? Look at verses thirty through thirty-three:
“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'”
Those who were chasing righteousness missed it entirely. And those who found it were not even looking for it. Israel pursued righteousness and missed it because they chose works over faith.
And some of you are just like Israel. You have been religious, perhaps raised in a Christian home somewhere. You find yourself here in Kitwe, or you were raised in a home where they took you to church, or made you go as a child. And you still believe that by your own merit, by your own goodness, you will achieve a righteousness that is acceptable in the eyes of God. That was the Jews. They wanted to be righteous, but they believed that if they just kept the law enough — if they just did enough good things — they would gain righteousness through their own efforts. And they missed it entirely.
Why? Because the righteousness of God can never be achieved by keeping the commandments. Because you cannot keep the commandments. There is no one in this auditorium — beginning with the chief of sinners on this platform — who has kept the law of God. The law of God was given to sinners for one reason: to show you that you cannot do it. You are not righteous. That is what the law does. The law condemns. That is all it has the ability to do. It cannot make you right. It can only point out that you are not right, and that you are condemned.
And yet some of you still insist on turning over a new leaf, doing better, trying harder — certain that God will someday accept your efforts if he sees your sincerity. This is what the Jews believed. Paul is saying they sought righteousness but sought it in the wrong place.
And then these Gentiles — who were not even looking for righteousness. They did not even know the God who created them. They came to hear about the sacrifice, the love of God in sending his own Son — the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross, who shed his own blood as the penalty for our sins — and they simply believed. And they received righteousness by faith.
I know what some of you are thinking: “That is not fair. That man is a real sinner. There is no way he should go to heaven. And yet Sister So-and-so has been such a pillar of the community, helped the orphans, done so many good things — you mean to tell me she is going to hell and he is going to heaven?” That is exactly what Paul is saying.
The Gentiles obtained righteous standing before God by faith alone. Israel, on the other hand, pursued righteousness by works and was not successful. The law cannot make you righteous before God — it only confirms and reveals your guilt. Only faith in the righteous One can make you righteous before God.
So Israel pursued righteousness and missed it. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith but as if it were based on works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. The stone God laid for their foundation became the rock they tripped over. The Jews stumbled over Jesus. They wanted to come to God on their own merit, through their own position, because of their own accomplishments and good deeds. And so when Jesus the Messiah came, they rejected him and rejected his message of righteousness by faith alone. To those who refuse Jesus, he becomes a rock of offense. They were offended by him. They were scandalized by his message. And they stumbled over the very means of righteousness.
The Jews had the law, the covenants, the prophets — everything going for them. But they stumbled over Jesus, because he did not fit their preconceived ideas. And he became their rock of offense.
The Application: Build on the Rock or Be Crushed by It
So what is the point? Israel pursued righteousness and missed it because they refused to receive it by faith. Do not make their mistake. The cross is finished. Your striving is not the answer. Faith in Christ is. Build on the rock, or be crushed by it. Those are your options.
God is sovereign over salvation. And he holds you responsible for your response to Jesus. You may not be able to fully reconcile those two truths in your mind — but you do not have to. All you have to do is bow before both.
How should you respond this morning?
First — submit to the potter. If you have been shaking your fist at God, if you have been questioning whether he has the right to do as he pleases, stop. You are the clay; he is the Potter. Bring yourself under his sovereign rule before his patience runs out.
Second — stop building your case before God on your own effort, your own record, your own religion. Israel tried that and stumbled. The only righteousness that will stand before God is the righteousness of Christ, received by faith, not earned by works. Trust Jesus alone this morning to save you. Trust him today. Lay down your arrogance, your questioning, your defiance, and believe in Jesus — and he will save you today.
Third — go. God has called not only Jews but Gentiles, people from every nation, into his mercy. And if you know Jesus as your Savior, you are the evidence of that mercy. Take the message of the stone of stumbling to a world that is tripping over its own pride, and tell them that the rock they are stumbling over is the only foundation that will hold them now and through eternity.
Submit to the Potter. Trust him to save you. And go tell everyone about Jesus.
Closing Prayer
Father, as we contemplate such a rich and deep and thick passage, we are reminded that you are the Potter and we are the clay. And that the reason the people of the covenant promise, as a nation, missed their Messiah is that they were trying to achieve the righteousness of God by their own standing and their own efforts, instead of putting their faith and trust in Jesus alone.
For those who are like that here this morning — God, would you speak to them? Would you convince them? Would you humble them, that they might come to you in simple, childlike faith, believing in Jesus as their Savior and putting no confidence in their own efforts?
We thank you that in every people you have a remnant. You have vessels of mercy. Oh, that we might live with a singular focus of reflecting your glory among the nations — reflecting your glory in the homes we live in and in the community of Kitwe. God, may we not be filled with pride, but fill our hearts with humility, mercy, grace, and power. Use us, Lord. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.