Like Fire and Like a Hammer by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock into 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 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.

Jeremiah. Chapter 23, verse 29 to 32, and verse 34.

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, the very words seemed to bring conviction to his listeners.

It is the same as when a mighty man lifts up a sledgehammer 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 will cheer and comfort our hearts, and what kind of teaching will make 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, this 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 worthwhile to live. It is worthwhile to suffer. It is worthwhile 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 also like a hammer that breaks rocks into pieces. I wouldn't think that it would take a great amount of teaching 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 them until they're all broken.

Brethren, when you preach, take the gospel hammer and strike as hard as you can with it. Oh, someone says, but I must try to improve the way my hammer looks. It must have a mahogany handle. Nevermind about the mahogany handle. Use your hammer for striking. For hammers are not 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 out. There's a very hard-hearted man over there. Well, then 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 someday yield. 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, finally, 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 that right state for breaking it up in the end.

Hammer away then with nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ. The heart that is struck may not yield even year after year, but someday it will finally yield.

Now put the two together, the fire and the hammer, and you will see how God makes his servants who are to be his 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 to a single compact whole with strokes only that 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 the word.

How often we have seen men who have not been moved even by the law of God, finally 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. 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.

God's word is like a fire and like a hammer. And if we have used it on ourselves, then let us try to use it on others. I have an opinion that there are a great many persons in this world whom we have given up as hopeless, who never had really been tried and tested with the gospel in all of their lives. I am afraid that there are persons of whom we say are unlikely to be converted, who have never been fully brought under the influence of the fire of God's word or beneath the fall of the hammer of the gospel.

I brought one such person to church, someone says. I am glad you have. But have you ever faithfully spoken to that person about his soul? Well, I don't know that I have. I have said a little to him. Have you ever plainly put the gospel before him? Well, I don't think he is the kind of person that you speak to about the gospel directly. Ah, I see that you thought you were going to burn him without using fire and to break that rock without lifting the hammer. The fact is you believe that something better than the gospel fire was needed in his case or that something gentler than the gospel hammer was needed. Won't you try that old-fashioned hammer on him? Won't you try that old-fashioned fire on him?

I have heard of churches where men have said, there is no good to be done here. No one will change. And I have wondered if they were to try preaching one of the old-fashioned sort of gospel sermons, if they could get Whitefield to preach or have someone to preach the same truth as Whitefield preached, what results would follow? When I am told that the hearts of the people are not affected by the preaching in any place, I ask, but was the gospel preached to them? Was it the very word of God that was preached? Our words are like paper pellets thrown against the wall. They affect nothing. But God's word is like a shot fired from the world's largest cannon. When it hits, it crushes through every obstacle and destroys everything that is opposed to it.

Why don't we always set the whole truth before those whom we seek to save? I believe that, sometimes, even in Sunday schools, children are taught to love gentle Jesus, and so on, as if that were the way of salvation. Why not tell them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why is love to take the place of faith? Let it be the same gospel for the children that you give to the adults. Try them with the same gospel and see what will come of it, and let this work be attempted everywhere.

But, says someone, there are certain places where you can't do any good if you try to preach the gospel. You must play music to the people and drum softly to them, and then you must have concerts and other entertainment for them. Very well. Convert sinners that way if you can. I do not object to any method that results in the winning of souls. Stand on your head if that will save the people. But still, it seems to me that if God's word is like a fire, then there is nothing like it for burning. And if God's word is like a hammer, then there can be nothing like that word for hammering down everything that stands in the way of Jesus Christ. Why then shouldn't we continually try the gospel and nothing but the gospel? Well, says one, but the poor people are dirty. We must clean them up and fix the places where they are living. Of course we must. Go on with them as fast as you can. The more of such things, the better. There is nothing like soap suds and new paint for dirty people in dirty places. But you may paint and wash them as much as you like. Yet that will not save their souls without the gospel of Christ. You may go to them and plead the fact that they shouldn't get drunk, and I hope that you will. The more of it, the better. Make them all give up drinking if you can, or it will be a great blessing to them. But still, you have not really done anything permanent if you stop there. Try the gospel. Try the gospel. Try the gospel. When the gospel was tried against the world in the days of Paul, when the power of the great empire of Rome had crushed out liberty, and when lust of the most abominable kind made the world reek in the nostrils of God, nothing was done but preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And when the common people heard of Jesus Christ, they were made glad in their hearts and believed in Him. And very soon, down went the false gods, down went the brutal lust of the Roman Empire, and a great part of the world was permeated with the gospel. And it will have to be done again, and it must be done again. But remember that it is only to be done by the same word of the Lord which did it the first time. And the sooner we get back to that word, the better. And the more we throw away everything else but the simple telling out of that word, the more speedily will be the victory and the more swift and sure will be the triumph for our God and for his Christ. Amen.