Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29 ESV)
It’s been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. What that means is that words can be powerful. Words can be weapons. A careless, harsh word can cut a person like a knife. Words can also be helpful tools. Wise words spoken at the right time can prevent tragedy. A kind word can also provide comfort and consolation to someone who’s hurting.
Words are powerful. This certainly pertains to the greatest words of all – God’s Word. God’s Word is like no other. It is infallible and all-sufficient. And God’s Word affects people in unimaginable ways.
TWO THINGS ABOUT GOD'S WORD...
1) The Word Of God Is Like A Hammer - It Tears Down and Rebuilds
One of the first things we’d use a hammer for would be pounding, or even breaking. That’s the picture God paints concerning his holy Word. It functions like a sledge hammer – shattering and breaking down. That’s exactly how Jeremiah understood God’s Word to be used. The situation in Jeremiah’s day was not unlike our day. In this chapter God gives one of the most scathing indictments against false prophets who were scattering His sheep. There had been a controversy between Jeremiah and the false prophets over the simple question, Will God punish sin, yes or no?
There was a war being waged in Judah against the faithfulness of God’s Word. These false prophets were placing false hopes in their own imaginations. “I have dreamed!” they cried. They thought they could make all the others lose sight of God.
What was their dream? Their big hope was that they could dupe the rest of the people into a false sense of security. They wanted everybody to believe their lies, so that they could be popular.
The sad thing is that they didn’t care if they undermined God’s Word or not. In fact, it was essential for people to doubt God in order for to believe the lies. Just think what they said about God. God even questions their falsehood: “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD. By those very questions we can see what kind of lies these false teachers were spreading about God. They’re saying that God can’t see us. He can’t hear us. He’s far away from us. He really doesn’t care about us.
That message contradicts everything Jeremiah had said, and became a stumbling block. Any falsehood against God’s truth is a stumbling block. The same stony lies that were spoken against Jeremiah are still prevalent today. Even in our day and age, there are so many people who claim that God isn’t who he claims to be. They contradict what God has said about Himself.
We might think we can contradict his Word, in order to find freedom and happiness. In the end we find ourselves playing with lies. The Lord smashes down our defenses, breaking our strong lies and crushing our self-reliant hearts. At the same time he uses his powerful Word to build up hearts. God breaks down the stubborn casing to get to the heart of the issue – rotten, sin-infested hearts. He reveals all weakness and frailty, so that he can replace it.
That’s how God deals with our hearts. The Holy Spirit smashes down our stubborn hearts, rips out all that is rotten and replaces it with good. He reminds us that God hammered his own Son in our place. He hammered him to the cross. Christ Jesus suffered for our stubbornness, doubt and worry. He was nailed to the cross for our hard hearts that are so slow to trust. The wonder is that God left all our sins nailed to the cross. There is forgiveness and hope.
2) The Word Of God Is Like A Fire -It Consumes and Refines.
What God tears down, he rebuilds. God tears down our pride and arrogance. He tears down our tendency to believe the false dreams of the world. And he replaces it with the goodness of his Son, Jesus Christ. He rebuilds us according to his love and faithfulness. And everything God rebuilds, he refines.
Jeremiah brings this point out in our text: “Is not my word like a fire? declares the LORD.” What first comes to mind is a fire out of control. If left unchecked a fire will consume everything in its path. All one has to do is see the devastation of a house fire and the point is obvious.
The Word of God is like fire. It consumes. The Lord God is in control, and he will not allow lies to be pronounced in his name. He will ultimately consume all lies, and along with it, the liar. All hearts will be subject to the flames of God. His Word aims to consume and expose our hearts. Any mistrust or doubt will be burned away. Any selfishness or pride will be consumed.
People in ranch country have also been taught from an early age that the only way to escape from a range fire is to start a backfire. Burn a place out in the grass where you can stand as the range fire passes by. When the heat of God’s judgment and condemnation burn against us, we can be sure that we have a safe place to stand, a place where God has already poured out his white-hot anger over our sin, and that place is the cross of Jesus Christ our Savior. Our Savior has already paid the punishment we deserve. The Gospel of Christ is our backfire. It has burned out a place of safety among the flames of the sin.
God has burned away our sins by placing them on his own Son and subjecting him to the flames of judgment. We, who stand with Christ, stand in safety. The fire of God’s wrath will pass by.
It is so important that we spend daily time in God's Word allowing it to breath on us and break ever false lie down with His Hammer. It's so important that we allow the fire of God to burn away any chaff that we have attached to our lives and then allow the fire of God to melt us and remold us into His image. May God strengthen your desire to spend time with Him and to allow His word to shape every part of your being each and every day.
Sermon Inspired by Edward Frey
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