Well now may God be pleased to
bless us this morning as we consider his word together. Let's turn
to the prophecy of Jeremiah chapter 23 and we'll read verse 29. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 29. Is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? As we read through this prophecy
of Jeremiah, which is a very wonderful prophecy, it's a long
prophecy and it was very necessary at the time it was written because
Israel were in a very low state and it wasn't long before The
prophecy would come to pass and they would be taken captive and
Jerusalem would be besieged the temple broken down the walls
broken down and most of the inhabitants taken into Babylon and as we
read the reason the situation which existed then surely It's
not dissimilar to the day and age in which we live today Because
there is indeed it is a very dark day today and there are
many false prophets. And we've been reading in this
chapter about false pastors and false prophets and false priests. And surely it's very evident
today. We only have to look around and perhaps limit it to our nation.
And we can see there today there are many people who would classify
themselves as so-called Christians, but they do not really walk in
accordance with the Word of God. They walk in accordance with
that which pleases themselves. It's a sad day, isn't it, when
you think that most people today in religious circles do not really
keep the Lord's Day as it is set forth in the Word of God.
Many people discount it and decide to do what they want to do. They
might come and have a worship service on a Lord's Day morning
And they think that's enough, and then they carry on with their
life in a normal way. Well, the Word of God is very
clear, right from creation, with regards to the Lord's Day, when
the Lord arrested the seventh day and sanctified it. It is
a sanctified day. It's not a day when we should
occupy ourselves with all the things of this world. And the
Ten Commandments, of course, also very clearly sets before
us, in the fourth command, the importance of keeping the Lord's
Day. Then also in Jeremiah's day,
which of course was not dissimilar to Jeremiah's day, he speaks
about this situation. In the 58th chapter of Isaiah,
the last two verses, we have a very succinct statement, and
this is it. If thou turn away thy foot from
the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable, and shall
honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride
upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it." Well, that's very clear, isn't it? And those words haven't
passed away. And we should therefore remember
that for ourselves. And that's one of the reasons
why the nation surely today is in a state of a rapid decline
because people are ignoring keeping the Lord's Day as a holy day. They want to just carry on with
their sinful pleasures. So it was really in the times
of Jeremiah when he prophesied. And therefore he speaks about
those who were in charge, the pastors and the priests, etc,
who really weren't being faithful. They weren't being truthful.
And they were letting the people just carry on in their own way. Well, the Lord is not a person
that you and I can ignore. We cannot trifle with Almighty
God. I believe because we don't see
God physically, perhaps that's one of the reasons why there
is not that fear of the Lord, and therefore people think somehow
that God is not looking at them, that God isn't understanding
them. Well, God knows every thought, my friends, let us not forget
that. You young people, don't think you can hide from God.
God's in every place. beholding the evil and the good. You cannot escape from the sight
of God from the moment you're born to the moment you die. There is no escape and therefore
it's good if we think perhaps of those words which Hagar said,
thou God seest me. If you're tempted do something
wrong. Just ponder those words. Thou
God seest me. Yes, he sees you in the darkness,
he sees you in the light, he sees you in every situation. Well, may I be blessed with a
personal revelation and realisation of the truth of these words and
therefore be concerned to walk our life in accordance with the
Word of God. That's really what the Prophet
was homing in on, to direct the nation to the Word of God. And we've read it together this
morning and these verses perhaps surrounding this verse that I
read, speak to us about these things. Can any hide himself
in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth,
saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophet
said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed,
I have dreamed. You see, people make up things
sometimes, and people rely upon what they think perhaps has been
a dream which they've got to express. Well, if it doesn't
agree 100% with the Word of God, ignore it. Because the Word of
God is that which directs us. The Lord does sometimes appear
in dreams, but it has to occur and it has to comply with the
Word of God. It's no new revelation, it's
no new vision. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart. And usually it's just to elevate
themselves, to say, well I've had this vision, I've had this
dream. No, my friends, let us be humble and let us look at
the word of God. The prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell a dream. But then he comes on and says,
and he that hath any word let him speak my word faithfully
what is the chaff to the wheat saith the lord is not my word
like as a fire saith the lord and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces so although we read the 29th verse this morning
just for a moment let's refer to the 28th verse which speaks
to us like this, what is the chaff to the wheat? Well, we know, I'm sure, if you
look at a grain of wheat, and as it's harvested and grows in
the field, there's chaff around it, which has really no value
or no benefit. It just is surrounding it. And
in order for the true wheat to be of any benefit, the chaff
has to be removed, has to be beaten away, has to be blown
away. It's of no real benefit. And that is just the case with
regards to the truth of God's word. People may try and put
things around it to make it look perhaps more impressive. My friends,
we need to rely upon the simple truth of God's word. And not to have it just built
up with man's image, man's visions, man's thoughts to try and impress.
We need to remember the truth of the simple word of God. Wheat
is very necessary, isn't it, for our life. The bread of life,
without wheat, we wouldn't live very well, would we? We're thankful
for wheat, and we think of that in a spiritual way. the pure
wheat. We need the pure Word of God. We don't want to be detracted
from it because the pure Word of God directs us to two things. It directs us to ourselves and
it directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. We read together those
beautiful words, really, in this chapter. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch,
and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. Well, who is that? It is, of
course, the Lord Jesus Christ, which was raised up. What a wonderful
prophecy it is here. In his days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Well, that's
the other point. that the Lord may direct us then
as we come to his word, to himself as the Lord our righteousness. And if the Lord is working in
our hearts, that which will be displayed to us very clearly
will be that our righteousness is of no value. Indeed, all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They are of no benefit. They won't do us any good at
all, but we need to know that the Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness and that we are complete in him. This is the
true wheat. This is the true food. This is
that will really benefit us in our eternal life. And that's
the real necessity to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour,
as the Lord our Righteousness, to be built up and to feed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. How needful it is today to be
spiritually fed. How needful it is today to be
spiritually alive and not just follow some vain course, not
follow some worldly axiom. about to be found following the
Word of God, which means following the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here we have these words
then. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? You see, the Lord's asking the
question, and you and I need to be able to answer that question.
And as we look at ourselves to see whether we've just got chaff
or whether we are feeding upon wheat, yes that which will feed
our souls that we may grow and that we may prosper, we may bear
fruit, we may not be barren but that we may indeed be blessed
indeed. And so then The prophet comes
on and speaks, is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord,
and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? So we have
two questions that the Lord poses to us today. The word of God,
his word. He asked the question, is it
like a fire? And secondly, is it like a hammer? that breaks the rock in pieces. Well, first of all, the Word
of God is indeed as a fire because it burns up that which is false. And what a wonderful thing it
is to know that to be true. Right back in Deuteronomy, when
Moses wrote to the children of Israel shortly before he was
to die, And he spoke about his word, he spoke about his law. This is what he said. The Lord
came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth
from Paran and he came with ten thousands of his saints. From
his right hand went a fiery law for them. God's law is a fiery
law. You might ask, why is it a fiery
law? Because it's a righteous law
and anything which is outside of that law is needed to be burnt
up. Because anything which is outside
of that holy law of God is of the flesh. It is of the world
and it needs to be removed. And what a blessing, therefore,
for you and me today to know that the Word of God has been
like that to us. It's tested the reality of our
religion. And it's burnt up, perhaps, and
by that I mean it's made us aware of the worldliness, perhaps,
which was or perhaps which is in our lives. You know, worldliness
won't stand you in any good stead when you come to die. All those
things which you've longed after and gone after and sought after,
they won't do you any good when you stand on the banks of Jordan.
When you're about to cross that river, the river of death, it
won't stand you in any good stead then. And therefore, what a favour
it is If God has come and burnt up that which perhaps has been
a hindrance to you, has hindered you in your path, your Christian
walk, it's stopped you, it's caused stagnation in your life,
there hasn't been any spiritual growth. It's because of worldliness. It's because of lustfulness and
the things of this poor, perishing world. Well, the Word of God
very clearly directs us to those things which are right and to
those things that are wrong. And thankfully, God has blessed
us with a conscience also. a conscience which is directed
by the Word of God, to appreciate those things which are right
and those things which are wrong, and how necessary it is in this
lukewarm day in which we live to be concerned about seeking
after those spiritual situations which profit our soul. It's a
good question, isn't it? As we may be faced with something
and we wonder, well, am I allowed to do that? Well, the question
is, will it profit the soul? That's a very succinct statement,
isn't it? It's a very important question.
Will it profit our soul? Or put it another way, will it
bring you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ or will it take
you farther away? I can tell you this. The Lord
has said, if ye walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to
you. Be sure of God's word speaking
truth. And don't think that you and
I can walk contrary to God and expect his favor and expect his
blessing. Because the two do not go together.
They are contrary, the one to the other. And therefore how
important for us to realize that you and I have to deal with an
almighty God, not just another human being, but my friends,
with an almighty God, that one who created all things. That's the God we have to deal
with and how important for us today to be concerned that we
are found serving the Lord and not serving ourselves. And so
we should be thankful if the Spirit of God has come and has
burnt up, perhaps, some of our toys. You know, perhaps we think
of children with toys, don't we? But you know, grown-ups have
toys as well. Toys that they play with. Toys
which don't profit them. Toys which take them away from
the things of God. And it's a blessing. If God comes
and burns those things up now, you and I may not be very happy
about it. We may be quite rebellious about it. The Lord may take things
away so that we're not able to indulge our lusts in certain
things. We wonder why that's occurred. Well, praise God. Because if
you and I are his children, he's dealing with us in love to our
souls. That's a mercy, isn't it? He's
dealing with us as our father. He's looking upon us. He's watching
over us. He's not leaving us to just wander
on in this wilderness, but he's grabbed hold of us. And my friends,
when God takes hold of us, it's a tight hold. You might kick
and struggle, We have the illustration, don't we, in the Bible, as an
ox who is unaccustomed to the yoke. You know, that means when
a yoke has to plough, it's had freedom so far, and then the
farmer comes and puts a yoke upon it, and it can't then do
what it used to do, and it kicks and it struggles. Gradually,
it comes to realise there's no point in struggling, there's
no point in fighting, because the animal is not going to prevail.
The farmer or the master is going to prevail. And that's the same
really for you and me today. Sometimes when God puts his hand
upon us, and as it were, claps us down,
we might kick and struggle, but eventually we realise it won't
be any good. And then we perhaps understand
the blessing of those words, to submit ourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that we may be exalted in due time, casting
all our care upon him, for he careth for you. What a blessing
it is to know that we have such a kind and gracious God, and
therefore it may be that he's burning up those things which
we set our hearts upon, but really do not profit, do not benefit,
do us no real good. And it's a wonderful mercy, it's
a wonderful favour. What love God has if he takes
us in hand and deals with us therefore as his children, and
doesn't leave us to wander away, but pulls us back, just like
that animal unaccustomed to the yoke. Well eventually you see
we fall in line, And then we realise it's much easier and
much more blessed to walk in line with God's plan than it
is to try and walk in accordance with our plan. And so how important
it is for us to realise this morning a statement like this,
that God's Word is a fire. Sometimes you may read the Word
of God and you may turn away from it quickly because you know
It's speaking to you. You don't want it to speak to
you. No, it's painful. It's cutting. It's like a sword. The Word of God speaks to us
as being a sword, which penetrates right inside, into our heart,
the deepest recesses. God knows what's deep down in
your heart. Sometimes He allows and places
that sword right deep down in your heart, things that perhaps
you were nourishing there and you were hoping you could keep
there, that the Lord would not permit it. Bless God that if
His fire comes like this and roots it out. So we read, is
not my word like as a fire? Well this morning, how do you
answer that? How do you answer that this morning?
Can you say, well, I do realise it has been a fire to me. It
has had an effect. It has burnt up things in my
life. And what's the result this morning?
Do you praise God for it? Do you bless God for it? You
will do, if you're his child. Maybe not easy at the time. You may be reluctant to. But
as His hand is upon you to realise, yes, it's God who's dealing with
us, dealing with me as my Father in Heaven. It's because of His
love to my soul that He hasn't left me just to carry on in this
vain world, but He's taken hold of me and He's dealing with me
graciously. He's drawing me to himself. That's the effect. You see, God
never leaves us in a vacuum. No. Because he's provided himself. And he's provided himself as
a refuge. A refuge for sinners. The Gospel makes known. It's
found in the merits of Jesus alone. And that would be a glorious
exchange for worldly cares, worldly things, to be drawn to Christ
and know something of that peace of God which passeth all understanding. And it will be so when the Lord
takes you and leads you to the Lord our righteousness, that
great and glorious Saviour, as you are directed to the cross
at Calvary and you have some little understanding of the cost
of your salvation and the amazing mercy of Almighty God in not
leaving you and not dealing with you as your sins deserve, but
is dealing with you in love to your soul. And that will be very
heartening and it will be very encouraging and it will break
down the opposition. And it will be perhaps like this
in this further illustration. As the Lord says, is not my word
like that which the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Our heart by nature is a stone. It's just like a rock. It's just
unfeeling. It's just impenetrable. What a mercy to have a God here
who shows to us that his word is like a hammer that breaketh
a rock in pieces. A rock may need a lot of hammering
in order for it to be broken in pieces. And my friends, our
hearts may sometimes need a lot of hammering to indeed break
them in pieces. You know, Zachariah in his prophecy
gives us a little picture of this. He says, yea, in the 7th
chapter and the 12th verse, yea, they made their hearts as an
adamant stone. What does adamant mean? It means
unyielding. It means unyielding. Does that
describe us? We are trying to be unyielding
to God, just like an adamant stone. Yea, they made their hearts
as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law and the words
which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former
prophets. Therefore came a great wrath
from the Lord of hosts. The words of the Lord striking
our heart like a hammer And it may be that you realise
that the word has struck you, it's been like a hammer, it's
struck at your heart, and yet there you are unyielding, proud,
boastful. You're not going to submit to
the ways of God. My friends, you know, you and
I can fight against God, but we'll never prevail. Bless God. He will prevail. And that's why we have an illustration
like this. Like a hammer, that breaketh
the rock in pieces. God's word does break down our
hearts. However stubborn, however hard
we might feel to be, The Lord's hammer continues. My friends, the Lord never fails
in his work of salvation. He never fails in that which
his purposes are ordained to complete. You and I may sometimes
think that, well, that was a hammer at my heart and, well, now perhaps
I can carry on and God's forgotten. No, my friends, God doesn't forget. And the word will come back to
strike you again. And it will come back to strike
you again. Until the time when your heart
is broken in pieces. All that rebellion, all that
hardness, all that opposition to the will and purposes of God,
broken down yes and you'll come and then you'll be then like
a little child submissive to the will and purpose of Almighty
God for you and so the question was is not
my word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces You see, when that situation
occurs, what has really occurred is this. The Lord's taken away
the heart of stone and he's given you a new heart. A new heart. Yes, the old rebellious heart
has been taken away and you can indeed thank God for it. The Lord says, a new heart also
will I give you. and a new spirit will I put within
you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh
and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall
keep my judgments and do them and you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I
will be your God. Why is this? Because of God's
love to your soul. Because of God's favour, because
of his mercy. He's looked upon you and he said,
live. And your soul has lived. And
you realise the gracious hand of God upon you, doing that for
you which you could not do for yourselves. Directing you to
see something of yourself and directing you to the blessed
saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see, when the almighty
God directs us to himself, directs us to what he's done, to atone
for our sin, then it is, you see, that the hardness is dissolved
because we recognise God's wonderful favour in being so gracious to
us and blessing us, revealing himself unto us as he does not
unto the world. And you have to say, why me? Oh, blessed God, why such a wretch
as me, who must forever lie in hell, were not salvation free. And you see the Gospel then is
precious and it's glorious and you bless God for his wonderful
plan, for his glorious work and for that mercy which you have
come to receive. And so this morning when we realise
the importance of such words as this that we read together
in Jeremiah in this 23rd chapter. When he says, and he that hath
my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff
to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Well, bless God today if you
understand in a spiritual sense something of this fire of God's
word and the hammering of God's word, which has had a good and
gracious and eternal effect upon your soul to the praise of his
glory. Amen.