Like Fire . . and Like a Hammer, Jeremiah 23:29-32, 34

JER 23:29-32, 34 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like
a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I
am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from
me. Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own
tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’

Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD.
“They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I
did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the
least,” declares the LORD. If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims,
‘This is the oracle of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household.

When the Lord spoke by His servant, Jeremiah, His Word was “like fire.”
There was something burning about it: human nature did not like it, but
human nature was made to feel its force and power. When the false prophets
spoke, they would bow and genuflect to the people, and say all kinds of
soft and pleasing things; but when Jeremiah spoke, in the name of Jehovah,
every word seemed to bring conviction to his hearers. It was the same as
when the mighty man lifts up a sledge-hammer, and brings it down with all
his force on the stone that he wants to break. The message did not comfort
the ungodly, but it broke their hearts, for the prophet was seeking, if
possible, to separate them from their sins.

“The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger;” and we are not so
foolish that we don’t know what truth it is that cheers and comforts our
heart, and what kind of teaching it is that makes us glad in the midst of
our discontent. There is way too much teaching, nowadays, that will not
comfort a mouse. You could hear it for all of eternity, and never be
relieved of a single ounce of life’s burdens. You might come to church,
and you might say, “Yes, it is a highly polished sermon; but what is that
to a man who has the burdens of life to carry, and the daily battles to
fight?” But when you hear the glorious gospel of the blessed God, it lifts
you up out of your discouragements, and makes you say, after all, “It is
worth while to live, it is worth while to suffer, it is worth while to
press forward; for we see the great love the Lord has towards us, and what
good things He has laid up in store for those who love Him.” The Word of
the Lord is like a fire, for it warms and comforts the hearts of His
people.

But God’s Word is like “a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.” I
shouldn’t think that it would be any great education to learn how to use a
hammer; I don’t know, maybe it does; but it seems that in order to use a
hammer right, one has nothing to do but to strike with it. A person who is
trying to break up a pile of rocks, only has to hit them as hard as he can,
and to keep on hitting until they are all broken. Brethren, when you
preach, take the gospel hammer, and strike as hard as you can with it.
“Oh, but I must try to improve the way my hammer looks; it must have a
mahogany handle!” Never mind about the mahogany handle; use your hammer
for striking, for hammers are not for decoration, they are meant to be used
for real hard work. And when you come to use the gospel as it ought to be
used, the result is wonderful; it is a rock-breaking thing.

“Oh!” you cry, “there is a very hard-hearted man there!” Strike at him
with the gospel. “Oh, but he ridicules and scoffs at the truth!” Never
mind if he does, keep on striking him with the gospel. “Oh, but in a
certain town, I have wielded this hammer against the rock for years,
and nothing has come of it!” Still go on wielding it, for this is a hammer
that has never failed yet. Only continue to use it; everything is not
accomplished with one stroke; nor with twenty strokes. The rock that does
not yield the first time, nor the second time, nor the third time, nor the
twentieth time, will yield at last. There is a process of disintegration
taking place with every stroke; the great mass is inwardly moving even when
you cannot see that it is doing so; and there will come at last one blow of
the hammer which will seem to do the deed, but all the previous strokes
contributed to it, and brought the rock into the right state for breaking
it up at last. Hammer away, then, with nothing but the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The heart that is struck may not yield even year after year, but
it will yield at last.

Now, put the two together–the fire and the hammer–and you will see how
God makes His servants who are to be instruments for His use. He puts us
into the fire of the Word; He melts, He softens, He subdues. Then He takes
us out of the fire, and hammers us together into a single, compact whole,
with strokes that only He can give, till He has made us fit instruments for
His use; and He goes forward to His sacred work of conquering the
multitudes, having in His hands the polished instrument that He has forged
with the fire and the hammer of His Word.

How often have we seen men, who have not been moved even by the law of God,
as last won to Christ by the gospel–the gospel of free grace and dying
love, full forgiveness for the greatest sinners; immediate, irreversible
pardon given in a moment to every sinner who believes in Christ! Oh, how
this gospel has acted like a fire, and burned up all the sinner’s
opposition! How this gospel has also been like a hammer to break down
human stubbornness! The gospel of redemption through the precious blood of
Jesus, the gospel which tells of full atonement made, the gospel which
proclaims that the last penny of the ransom price has been paid, and that,
therefore, whoever believes in Jesus is free from the law, and free from
guilt, and free from hell–the preaching of the gospel has made men’s
hearts burn within them, and has destroyed the control of sin, and made men
joyfully flee to Christ.

So, preach the gospel then, the gospel of justification by faith, the
gospel of new birth by the Holy Spirit, the gospel of final perseverance
through the unchanging love of God. Preach the whole of the glorious
gospel of the blessed God, as it is revealed in the promise of grace, and
you will be doing fire-and-hammer work that will be of the highest quality.

“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”