When we think of the fact that sin is running rampant in our country, we cannot restrain a feeling of distress. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet said regarding Judah, “For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right” (Jeremiah 23:10).
When we consider the divided state of the religious world and see error being promoted and find indifference to and prejudice against the unadulterated Word of God, we have difficulty preventing discouragement added to our distress. Jeremiah felt these emotions when he wrote, “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets….I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah” (Jeremiah 23:9,14).
So, in Jeremiah’s day, as in our day, there were religious leaders who strengthened the hands of evildoers by their disregard for the Word of the Lord. Then, for Jeremiah’s encouragement (and for ours), God said, “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?” (Jeremiah 23:28,29).
In other words, His Word once received, would burn out any impurities and break up the hardened heart. It would not return to Him void or empty (Isaiah 55:10-11); it would fulfill God’s purpose and desired end.
No one can estimate the ultimate good accomplished when God’s word is faithfully proclaimed and taught. Like a fire burning chaff, it will destroy the false doctrines of men; and like the hammer breaking rock, it will break the hard heart into repentance. The apostle Paul understood its power when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation….” (Romans 1:16).
Beloved, let us faithfully proclaim the powerful gospel message of Christ to those who are lost, motivating them to render obedience to His word (Matthew 7:21; James 1:22,25).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
When we consider the divided state of the religious world and see error being promoted and find indifference to and prejudice against the unadulterated Word of God, we have difficulty preventing discouragement added to our distress. Jeremiah felt these emotions when he wrote, “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets….I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah” (Jeremiah 23:9,14).
In other words, His Word once received, would burn out any impurities and break up the hardened heart. It would not return to Him void or empty (Isaiah 55:10-11); it would fulfill God’s purpose and desired end.
No one can estimate the ultimate good accomplished when God’s word is faithfully proclaimed and taught. Like a fire burning chaff, it will destroy the false doctrines of men; and like the hammer breaking rock, it will break the hard heart into repentance. The apostle Paul understood its power when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation….” (Romans 1:16).
Beloved, let us faithfully proclaim the powerful gospel message of Christ to those who are lost, motivating them to render obedience to His word (Matthew 7:21; James 1:22,25).
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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