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And so this morning we're continuing on with our series entitled analogies of the scripture, analogies of the scripture, and if you recall a few weeks ago when we started this, we looked at the fact that the Bible is likened unto a mirror, and again the series is just about going through the word of God and looking at the different ways in which the Bible likens itself unto different things. We looked at the fact that it was likened unto a mirror when we started. We saw also that it was likened unto a scene, and we saw last week, of course, that God's word was likened unto a lamp that shines upon the pathway that God wants us to walk in, and it's our duty to do that. And this morning we're going to get, you might have caught it there where he says in verse 29, it's not my word, like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. And we're going to get to that, but I think we need to understand the context of which that verse is being used. Why is God saying this? Why is God likening his word as unto a fire and as unto a hammer? We're going to look specifically at the analogy of a hammer this morning. And I think there's a couple things that we can get out of it, but the first thing we need to understand is that in Jeremiah chapter 23, the Lord is very angry. You know, if you were paying attention and it was being read, God is very upset, and it upsets a light way of putting it, in fact. He's very upset, in fact, at what's taking place, and what's taking place is that there's all these false prophets, all these false teachers, these preachers that are going out and saying things in the name of the Lord that he has not said. And that's something that we could take heed to even in our day. We see a lot of that taking place, people going out and saying, oh, God said this and God said that, and this is what God's mind is on this subject or that matter, and that's not at all what God said. In fact, often it's the opposite is what's being taught in a lot today, and I don't want to go into all that. But make no doubt about it, the Lord is very upset. You'll notice there in verse 39, he says, therefore, behold, even I will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you. And remember, he's talking to the children of Israel, a people that he had brought out and built through Abraham and so on and so forth, God's chosen people at that time. And he's saying, I'm ready to forget you, I'm ready to forsake you, and that city that I gave you and your fathers and cast you out of my presence. So for God to get to this point, because we know that God is very long suffering, that God is very merciful, and that God is willing to forgive iniquity, to him to get to this point where he's saying, I'm ready to forget you, I'm ready to forget this city, and utterly forsake you. God is very upset. And he says, I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten. So not only is God going to forsake them, he's actually going to bring a reproach upon them and a perpetual shame, he said, which shall not be forgotten. And if we know the story, that's what happens. Eventually, the Babylonians come, take them away captive, and they are made a byword among the nations. But he says there in verse 29, or excuse me, before I get ahead of myself here, why is he so upset? As I said earlier, well, it's because people are speaking falsely in his name. You see there in verse 16, he says, thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, don't listen to these guys. I mean, the Babylonians are coming, the Syrians have come and gone, judgment's coming, and the prophets are getting up, and they are saying, oh, peace, peace, everything's going to be fine. But don't listen to them, because it's not going to be fine. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. Now that's important, and we'll see why here, why that is so important, why it's important that when a prophet gets up, he doesn't just speak out of his own heart, but he speaks the things that God has spoken, that he speaks not the vision of their own heart, but the things that God has told them to speak. It says in verse 17, they say still unto them that despise me, the Lord hath said, so these prophets that are getting up and prophesying falsely, they're saying, the Lord hath said. They're trying to give themselves credence, they're trying to give themselves, you know, validity through the fact that they're saying, oh, I'm speaking in the Lord's name, and they're not speaking in the Lord's name. And what are they saying? Ye shall have peace. And they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you. It's this positive only message that we see today. God's not angry, God's not upset, God just wants your best life now. But God is a God, yes, a God of love, but he's also a God of wrath and vengeance and chastening and all that. And they're getting up and saying, oh, no evil shall come upon you, to a group of people that God says that they are walking after the imagination of their own heart. They're not following the commandments of God, they're not living for the Lord, and they have these false prophets, and this is what's really making God upset, is that these false prophets are getting up and saying, oh, no evil is going to come to you. That's a complete lie. Look, if you walk after the imagination of your own heart, evil will come to you. God will get upset, God will judge, God will chase him. It's a lie. Verse 21, he says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. So what's making God so upset, Jeremiah 23, is not just the sin of the Israelites, of Judah, but it's also the fact that these false prophets are getting up and saying, everything's fine, everything's going to be okay. And here's the lesson they need to learn from this, is that it upsets God when the people do not try the prophets. If these people had been smart, they would have said, wait a minute, we know that we're not living for the Lord. And these guys saying, in the name of the Lord, that everything's going to be okay? What they should have done is tried the prophets and not just believed every word. And that's what we need to learn to do today. There's going to be a lot of people that stand up and open up a Bible and pray in the name of the Lord and say, I'm going to preach the Bible. And we need to be, and they're going to speak lies. They're going to preach falsehoods. And the only way we're going to know it is if we ourselves try the spirits of the prophets that the Bible tells us to do. Look at verse 37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, what half the Lord answered thee? He's saying, you need to try these guys out. You need to go to that prophet and say, what hath the Lord answered thee? And what hath the Lord spoken? But since ye say the burden of the Lord, therefore thus saith the Lord, because he say this word, the burden of the Lord, I have sent unto you saying, ye shall not say the burden of the Lord. Therefore, behold, I, even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you. He's saying, you should have questioned him and say, what hath the Lord spoken? What hath the Lord answered thee? But you get up and you say, oh, it's the burden of the Lord. This is the word of God. God isn't mad at me. God does want my best life now, or whatever other, you know, positive only message. And I'm not against the positive message. There's positive in the book. Don't get me wrong. But when it's only positive all the time, when we know things aren't right, and we get up and say, well, whatever the preacher says, that's the burden of the Lord, that makes God upset. We should be a people who try the spirits. We should question the prophets according to the word of God. That's what these people failed to do. And they said, well, the burden of the Lord. And I have sinned unto you saying, ye shall not say the burden of the Lord. He's saying, these guys aren't preaching you the burden of the Lord. Therefore, behold, I, even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you. What's making God so mad to the point where he's saying, I'm going to forget you and I'm going to forsake you, is that people are not trying the spirits of the prophets. They're listening to a false prophet. They're listening to lies. And saying, oh, what that preacher's saying is right. And that's what we see today, don't we? We see so many people lifting up some false prophet, some guy who's just speaking lies, just speaking a positive only message, everything's okay. And he's just lying to them and all the people, they'll go there and they just, oh, we love that. But then you have a man of God who actually gets up and tells it like it is, who actually opens up the book in the King James Bible and preaches every line of it. And they say, oh, he's wrong. He's bad. That's completely backwards today. And that's what's making God so upset. It's not just the fact that they walked after the imagination of their own heart. That's human nature. We're sinners by nature. We go astray from the womb speaking lies. That's going to happen. What makes God especially upset to the point where now he's not just mad at your sin, but he's going to utterly forsake you, is when you're starting to give credence to some false prophet and then you're trying to, don't look at that other preacher who's actually preaching the truth. Forget about him. That's what made God upset. The Bible says in 1 John 4, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be, whether they are of God. So God's commanding us here. We see an example of people failing to do this, of trying the spirits. And then we get in the New Testament and God says, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits of God. He's telling, we need to try it. Why doesn't that happen? I'll tell you why. Because it's work. Because you actually have to know what the book says. Because you actually have to open it up and actually listen to what's being spoken and then compare it to what's actually written. It takes diligence. It takes effort. It takes a spirituality that, quite frankly, a lot of people just don't want to have in their life anymore. And you know what? They're going to suffer for it. Not only are they going to suffer themselves for not knowing what the Bible says and being led astray, but it's actually going to make God upset. That's what's going on here in Jeremiah. He says, you need to do this. You need to try it. Why? Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. This is in John's day. Already in John's day. Before the apostles have passed off the scene, he's saying, many false prophets are gone out into the world already. Let me ask you something. Do you think there's more or less of those today? There's more. There's more false prophets today than there are even in John's day. We see them everywhere. If we're being honest. If we look. If we actually open up the book and we compare this person and what they're saying to what the Bible actually says, you know what we'll start to recognize? False prophet. I'm going to try that spirit. False prophet. False prophet. False prophet. They're everywhere. And it's our duty as Christians to take the word of God and try the spirits, lest we upset the Lord. The Bible says in Acts 17, these were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind. That's the attitude you had to come to church with. I'm here to receive the word with all readiness of mind. I'm here to hear what the Bible has to say this morning with the readiness of mind and search the scriptures daily. Emphasis on daily. We need to be found daily in the word of God, daily searching these things, whether these things were so, not to say, oh, the preacher said that. It must be right. After all, he's behind the pulpit. He must know what he's talking about. There's plenty of guys that are filling pulpits today that have no idea what they're talking about, simply out of ignorance or out of a wicked heart that actually wants to lead people astray. And it's our job as God's people to know what this book says and to try the spirits and not just listen to every false prophet that comes along and say, it's the burden of the Lord. Because the Lord says, I have not sent them. I have not put my word of mouth and yet they have spoken and it makes God upset. I say, well, how am I going to know? Well, you know, I've got a little rhyme for you because rhymes help us remember, right? What's the proof? Or how do I know the truth? The truth is in the proof. You like that? The truth is in the proof. Okay? I want to say the proof is in the pudding, but we all know how to play that. It's you guys, then you start thinking about food and I'm going to lose half you, right? I might even get distracted. A little butterscotch, those little, anyway. But the proof of the truth is the truth, right? The truth is in the proof. What am I saying? It's in the results. It's in the results. And this is what I'm getting. This is where we're going with God being like, his word being like a hammer, okay? Look at verse 28, Jeremiah. Keep something in Jeremiah. We're going to be there until the end this morning. He said, verse 28, the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. I need that half my word, let him speak my word faithfully. He's saying, let that false prophet who says he has a dream get up and talk. Go ahead and let him, because again, it's not that, if we're doing our job, we'll know the difference. If we as God's people are trying the spirits and searching the scriptures daily to see whether these things be so, we will know the difference. So God says, you know what? As long as my people are doing what they're supposed to be doing, let the false prophet get up and talk. Let him that hath a dream tell his dream. And let him that speak my word faithfully, let him speak. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. And then you know what he says? And then why don't you just go ahead and compare the two and see who's right. That's why he ends this verse saying, what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord. Chaff is that useless, good for nothing, leftover. You know what he's liking that unto? The prophet that hath a dream. Oh, he's saying, I'm speaking the name of the Lord. He's not. He hasn't been sent. He says, the real thing, my word, that's the wheat. That's the nutrition. That's the sustenance that's going to feed you spiritually. That chaff isn't going to get you anywhere. It's good for nothing. Maybe you can lay down and it can get comfortable, but that's about it. So the proof is in the truth. It's in the results or the lack thereof. When God's word is preached, it makes an impact like a hammer, doesn't it? It makes an impact. It makes an impression. And we'll see how and what ways it does that. So God is upset here because his word, it's not that it's not being preached. It's that it's not being tried. People are getting up. You've got the chaff getting up, thus saith the Lord. And then you have men like Jeremiah. They're the wheat. They're bringing the wheat. They've got that nine grain bread that they're feeding these people or whatever it is, right? That thick crunchy stuff that none of the kids like to eat, right? Then you've got the false prophet over. He's just that wonder bread that you can just pull the whole thing into a little ball, right? He's saying, go ahead. Let him compare them. What's making God as upset is that they're not being compared. That people are saying, shut up, Jeremiah. We don't want to hear that. We want to hear this because this is nice and smooth. And what makes God upset about that is that when people have that attitude, when they fail to compare and contrast and find out which message is right, when they fail to do that, they do not receive the correction that they need. That's what's making God so upset because when God's word is preached, it has an impact like a hammer. And part of that impact is that there's correction that comes out. The Bible tells us that all scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for what? Reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, right? So part of that is reproof and correction. Look at verse 20. It says, the anger of the Lord shall not return until he had executed, until he had performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days, he shall consider it perfectly. He said, oh, you'll figure it out when I'm done with him. Then you'll get it right. I have not sent these prophets yet there. I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, here it is. Here's that impact that the true preaching of God's word brings. If these guys had actually been standing in the counsel of God and actually been preaching God's words, then they, the people that they're preaching to, would have turned from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. So like when God's word is preached, when the real thing is preached, it makes an impact. Lives are changed. How do you know if you're hearing the truth this morning? Does it make an impact? How do I know if I'm going to a church where the truth is being preached, does it make an impact? Are lives being changed? Are people getting rid of sin? Are people getting right with God? Because that's a promise in the word of God, isn't it? That if God's word is preached, it will make an impact. People will get right with God. God's word, when preached, makes an impact. That's why he says in verse 29, is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. If you would, go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter number 4. Again, keep something in Jeremiah, 2 Corinthians 4, excuse me, 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10. When you get there, you might want to keep something, you can if you'd like, keep something in Corinthians. We'll be back at 1 Corinthians later. God's word is like a hammer, and we need to be a place where that hammer is being swung. We can find a lot of other churches today where the hammer's not being swung, but they've got like a little feather where you can come in and it'll just tickle your sides. Does that feel nice? They have a little back scratcher for you, or one of those ones, whoever saw the head massager? Yeah? Okay, good. Right? I'm not making this up. That little wire, it's got to be a joke. We never got one, but you know. There's plenty of that out there. There's plenty of preachers going to get up, and they're not going to pick up the hammer of God's word. You know, they're going to pick up the little feather and go, Gucci, Gucci, goo. Make you smile, make you laugh, and look, I'm all for, you know, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. I get that. I get that with a little bit of humor, but ultimately, the duty of the preacher is to preach the word of God because that's what makes the impact, like a hammer. And a hammer can be used to either build things or tear things down, can't it? I mean, I, you know, came up doing a lot of manual labor, you know, and I've swung a lot of different hammers in my day. I remember when I first got a job, you know, doing poured walls. The first day on the job, I don't know if I've told the story, I apologize if I have, but they said, you need to show up tomorrow and have a hammer. So me being the young guy kind of didn't really know what from what. I went home and I went through my mom's, got in her sink and I found her pink toolbox and I opened it up and I pulled out this little plastic hammer. I think it was yellow and it's just this little guy. And I showed up with all these roughnecks, you know, ready to pour concrete, these belts and you know, you know, just all leathered from the sun and everything. And I've got, and they all looked at me and I kid you not, they said, is that a Betty Crocker hammer? They said, where'd you get that? It's the guy from my mom's kitchen. Oh, you got Betty Crocker hammer. And I was, oh, I was so offended, you know, so I got rid of that hammer and right after work I went down to Sears, got me the biggest 32-ounce craftsman I could find. I showed up the next day, you know, I got this bad boy right here. What I didn't know is that when you have the, I got to stop, but you know the hammers that are flat, when you swing a hammer like that, you don't see it, but it vibrates. And from that, swinging that thing and hitting those panels and it vibrating my hand, I would wake up in the morning, had to pry my hand open and this thing would click. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the story, but different hammers for different things. Hey, did my mom's little Betty Crocker hammer serve a purpose? Sure it did. You could hang a little picture with it. You couldn't beat hardened concrete off of an aluminum panel with it. And you know, who's ever swung a sledgehammer, right? Are you going to use a sledgehammer to hang a picture? I got that, honey. Just hold it right there. Steady. No. You're going to use it to break things down, aren't you? You're going to use it to punch a hole through a wall, to punch a hole through a casting, to bust up something that needs to get removed and turned down. That's how God's word works. It can work either way though. We'll see that here in a minute. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, look at verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Now, is a hammer, can a hammer be a weapon? Oh yeah, the war hammer, right? But mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imagination. See when God's word is preached, that's what it does. It pulls down the stronghold. God's word is like that sledgehammer that just gets swung and just starts taking things out right at the base, busting up foundations and breaking up old habits, old ways of thinking, things that have been ingrained in us, things that have been built up in us. God's word has that power to just break it all down, to cast it down. That's why God gets so upset when people don't find the real thing and they don't find where God's word is being swung like a hammer. Because when God's word is swung, it makes an impact, it makes a change. Part of that change is tearing things down, isn't it? And so because God's word, like a hammer, makes an impact, God is angry when it is not preached because that's what changes people's lives. It might not make them feel good all the time, you know, it's not, I'm sure it doesn't feel good to hit somebody with a sledgehammer, but spiritually sometimes that's what we need. That's what we need, a swift kick, right? So here's the thing, if God's word makes that impact, isn't it the preacher's job to swing that hammer? If it's not my own imagination, if I'm not just going to, look, I could get up and just preach a motivational sermon or whatever, I could just close the book and not even use a single verse and just, you know, tell you how to develop good habits, whatever. I mean, motivational speakers go out there and talk about all manner of things, don't they? They bring them into these big Fortune 500 companies to motivate their employees and it works. There's a grain of truth, you know what I've often found is a lot of times in those type of areas, those type of speakers, whether they know it or not, a lot of the things they teach are actually biblical principles. But my job as a preacher and any man of God is going to get up and preach the word of God. His job is to swing the hammer of God's word because that's what's going to make a difference. Like a sledgehammer, to destroy, to deconstruct, right? I didn't have you go there, but in Jeremiah chapter 1, go to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 58. The Bible says in Jeremiah 1, verse 9, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. He didn't say, Jeremiah, just go tell them whatever you think's right. Jeremiah, just, you know, whatever you think they need to hear, I'm sure you've got the message. And Jeremiah very well did have the message, but God very specifically says that he put his word in Jeremiah's mouth, not his own word. See I have set thee this day over nations and over kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down. That sounds like destruction. That sounds like when God put his words in Jeremiah's mouth, he knew it was going to make an impact like a hammer. And what was it going to do? It was going to pull down. It was going to root out. It was going to destroy. You say, well, that sounds negative, but sometimes you need the negative. If you want to build something new, you've got to get the old out of the way. Some old dilapidated building, they want to put up some nice new building in its place. They can't just build on top of the other one. Sometimes it's more cost effective to just tear the whole thing out and start over. That's the way it is in our lives spiritually. Sometimes we just need somebody to come along and take the word of God and just clean everything out and break it all down so God can start afresh. But that only happens through what? Through the preaching of God's word. That's why God had to put his word in Jeremiah's mouth. That's why I told him in Isaiah 58 where you are, verse 1, cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Get loud, he said about it. Let these people know what they need to hear. And show my people how great they're doing. No. Show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob, their sins. That's contrary to popular opinion, isn't it? That's not the message. No one likes to get bad news, especially about themselves. No one likes to hear, hey, you messed up. You made a mistake. But how are you ever going to fix what's wrong if no one ever tells you that? If we just blindly go through life thinking, oh, everything I touch turns to gold, I never make any mistakes. You're lying to yourself. We're kidding ourselves. Sometimes we need someone to come along and cry aloud and not spare our feelings and lift up their voice like a trumpet and just show us you are messing up and show us our transgressions and show us our sins because that's what God's word does. When God puts his word in the mouth of a prophet and sends him to swing that word like a hammer, it's a negative. It makes a negative impact, doesn't it, to break down. Go to Isaiah chapter 30, Isaiah chapter 30. I mean, all throughout the Bible, God is telling his prophets, his preachers, to preach a negative message because that's what's going to change lives, to show people their transgressions, to show people their sins, to not spare and not to worry about being popular. And that's the problem with the popular preacher, isn't it? Why is he so popular? Because this is all he does. Oh, just come to church and I'll just grab you right by the earlobes and just make you feel so good about yourself. I won't talk about your sin and we won't talk about in your transgressions and you'll just walk out feeling super spiritual and that everything's okay and you won't have to make any changes. And I'll be sure to not swing that sledgehammer. I'll keep that way over there out of sight. That's why they're popular. I mean, was Isaiah popular for the message he preached? Certainly not. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9, he says, this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, which is another word for it, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. This is what the people are saying. We don't want to hear what's right. Speak unto us smooth things, not rough things. The word of God's rough though, isn't it? I mean, there's some rough spots in the word. Sometimes the word of God, especially if we're not right with the Lord, it'll just go right against the grain. He said, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Look, why is the popular preacher so popular? Because there's people out there that want to be lied to. They want someone to get up and tell them lies. They want someone to get up and just say, only tell me the things I want to hear. I'll put money in the plate. I'll be here every service. Just make sure you lie to me. And look, we could build a big church that way. They do it all over this town, all over this country, all over the world. Massive churches are built on what? Lies. Deceit. Smooth things. He said there in verse 11, they say, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. People don't go into those churches because they want to hear from God. They just want to hear what they want to hear. That's going to make them feel okay in their sin, their transgression. They want the Holy One of Israel to cease. They don't want the sledgehammer of God's word to be swung. But is that what God told his preachers to do? No. Because God's word is a hammer. And because it makes an impact, and a negative one at that, it is the preacher's job to preach it. Whether it's popular or not. That's why he told Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4, preach the word. Preach the word. Not what you came up with, not just some motivational message, not just some whatever. Preach the word, the Bible. Be instant. In season, out of season. What does he mean in season, out of season? When it's popular, when it's not. Preach it. Because that's what's going to make an impact. Reprove, rebuke. Those are negatives. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort, which is a positive, right? Often the exhorting is more, it's negative in the sense it's just trying to get us to do what we're not doing. Whereas reproving and rebuking is trying to get us to quit what we are doing, right? So reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And the Bible warns us, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall be turned away their ears from the truth. What are they doing? Just like in Jeremiah's day, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Prophets to us, deceits. They want to be told lies. They want to turn their ears from the truth. They want to be turned unto fables, but watch thou, he told Tim, in all things endure afflictions. It's not going to be easy to get up and preach God's word. Endure it. Do the work of an evangelist. It's going to be easy to go out there and preach the gospel, but you need to endure it. Make full proof of thy ministry. So he's telling Timothy here, it's your job to rebuke false doctrine. It's your job to get up and reprove sin. It's your job to do what? Preach the word. And that's what the preaching of the word does. It rebukes and it reproves, because God's word is like a hammer. And when it's swung, it tears down. It breaks up. It pulls down the strongholds in our lives. That's why it needs to be swung. That's why these liars aren't doing their people any good when they get up and just prophesy deceits. But they don't care, because they've gone after filthy lucre. That's what they're in it for. They just want to get up and just preach some positive only message. You know how much easier it would be to just get up and preach a positive only message, never have to talk about sin, never have to preach against false doctrine, just say, oh, everything's fine, and just love, love, love every Sunday. It's easy. It'd be easy to do. It gets kind of uncomfortable when you have to preach about sin, doesn't it? But that's what God wants. That's what God commands of the preacher. He told Titus, this witness is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. He told them to rebuke some people sharply. Rebuke, why? Because God's word is a hammer, like a sledgehammer, it tears down. But not only that, you know, we understand that negative aspect, and that's the context in which it's being used in Jeremiah. And if you're there, go back to Jeremiah chapter one, or should I keep there, but Jeremiah chapter one. Not only is God's word like a sledgehammer that can break down and destroy, it is also like that finish hammer. It's like that carpenter's hammer that can build, that can build up, that can put things in place, that can bring things together and hold them there. That's what God's word is a hammer in that way too, which is more positive, isn't it? It's like a carpenter's hammer. Notice that in Jeremiah chapter one verse nine, then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, behold, I put my words in thy mouth, see, I have this day set thee over the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, negative. God's word is like a sledgehammer, but it's also there to build and to plant. What is to build? What is it to plant? What are you going to need if you're going to build something? You're going to need that 32 ounce craftsman, that's what you're going to need, right? You're going to need that air gun. Put those nails in place. That's a positive thing. God's word is both. Often if we're reading it, we'll notice there's quite a bit more negative than positive, but the bit of the positive that's there is so good, it makes up for the rest of it, right? What he's saying here, look, you need to use God's word. It is the job of the preacher to swing the hammer of God's word, not only to tear down, but also to build up, to plant. Go over to Ecclesiastes chapter 12, Ecclesiastes chapter number 12, the Bible says in Proverbs 15, the tongue of the wise, which is what any decent preacher should be, useth knowledge aright. He uses knowledge aright. He takes the knowledge of God's word and he uses it appropriately. He doesn't just go in there and just start swinging. I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, if you had took a carpenter's hammer that was, I mean, a carpenter's hammer is meant to build up, right? Put wood together. Could I do some destruction with a carpenter's hammer? Well, sure I could. I mean, I could put a hole right through a wall. You can destroy things just as easily if you're not using knowledge aright. But the guy who gets up and uses a knowledge aright, he's going to be the type of preacher that can also not only tear down, but also build up with the word of God, because God's word is like a hammer, and often we can liken that onto a carpenter's hammer, one that's made to build. And I believe there's a really good illustration of this in Ecclesiastes chapter 12. In Ecclesiastes chapter 12, it says in verse 11, the words of the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the master of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Say, well, what's the Bible saying here? Well, I think what you have here is two illustrations. I think you have two, this is four, this is two. You have two illustrations, right? You have the illustration of a shepherd, right? If you just look at the verse there and take out, you know, just, you know, the words of the wise are as goads comma, then skip past and then go to the next comma, which are given from one shepherd. So that's one illustration, but then you have this other one in between it as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. I believe you have two illustrations here. And people have different takes on this. Some people want to say it's all referring to the same guy. That's not how I've ever read it. It's not however I've understood it. So that's how I'm going to preach it. Okay. Preach it the way I know it. Okay. But he says the words of the wise are as goads. And that's one illustration. We're not going to focus a lot on it, but that is what the words of the wise, the words of the preacher, right, are as goads. Now what's a goad? Well, you've probably heard of to goad someone. When someone's goading you, what are they doing? They're prodding you, right? They're trying to get you to do something. And that's what often preaching does. Like he told Paul, like the Lord told Saul rather on the road to Damascus, it is hard for thee to what? Kick against the pricks. He wasn't talking about walking up to a cactus and just drop kicking it. He was talking about the fact that the Lord had been working on his heart, that he'd been goading him, that he'd been pricking him. Because that's a tool that they would have to move beasts of burden along. You'd have a long sharp stick that came to a point and it was called a goad. And you could goad that animal on, keep it moving, right? So that is one illustration. The words of the wise are as goads. The wise, the preachers got to get up and goad us to get us to do what we got to do, to corral us, to move us in a certain direction, right? And they're given from one shepherd, the Lord. The one I want to focus on is that second illustration where he says, the words of the wise not only are as goads, but are as nails fastened by the master of assemblies. So the second illustration I believe is that of an assembler, of a builder, of a carpenter, okay? He said, well, I don't know. Where do you get that? Well, it says it's nails fastened by what? The masters of assemblies. You could take it as, oh, he's talking about the preacher is a master of an assembly. Because we are the assembly, right? But another definition for assembly is to build or to construct or to put things together. I did that too in times past. I worked at a furniture store. You know what I did? I assembled a lot of furniture, even as a dad, even as a recently. You know, after this move, I'm assembling the crib after having lost the instructions and torn it apart. I'm assembling, you know, this bed, this bunk bed. I'm assembling this, you know, printer desk. I did a lot of assembling after this move recently. So I believe that's the way in which he's using assembly here, to put things together. And that makes sense, doesn't it? Because he's talking about the fact that it's nails fastened. You know, if you were to build furniture, unless you're really good, you know how to do all the dovetails and everything, you would use nails if you're going to build something. You build a box, you build a bookshelf, you build some kind of useful furniture. A lot of times you use nails, right? They're nails fastened. That's what the words of the wise are. There is nails fastened. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians, according to the grace of God, which is given to me as a what? Wise master builder. Master builder, master of assemblies. I believe this is what it's talking about. We'll say, how is this likened unto God's word being a hammer though? I see the nail, I see the master of assemblies. Well, think of it this way. The sermon, right, that the preacher preaches are the words of the wise, or at least it ought to be, okay? That sermon is that nail, okay? And sermons have a point, right, like a nail. And the preacher's got to get up and he's got to hit the nail on the head, right, and drive things home in our life. Drive things home. He's got to make a point. You know, and this is an illustration that I've tried to, that I've thought a lot about when it comes to preaching. You know, you try to understand how to preach and things like that. I think this is a great example of it, is that your sermon is your nail. You have a one point on a nail, and that's all good preaching makes, really makes one good point. That's the goal of preaching is for people to walk out and remember at least one good thing. And I try to just give people a whole bunch of information, but if you can make it about one thing that people will remember, that's like that nail. That's what the sermon is like. The hammer is God's word, isn't it? So I have this sermon, right, that I've prepared. I went to the nail box, I went to my toolbox, and I said, well, this is the nail I need to drive today, this Sunday. Now I've got God's word and I'm just going to drive it home, just going to drive it home with God's word, because God's word is a hammer that can help tear down, yes, but it can also build this up. And if we're there when it's being swung, and today it's this nail, we're going to put this piece together in our lives, and then we're going to put this piece together in our lives, and we're going to use the truths of God's word to hold them together, and we're going to use the Bible to back it up and drive that thing home. You can start to see how God's word can build up, it can construct, how can it be likened unto a hammer, both to destroy and to assemble or put things together to build things up in our lives. You see, the truths of God's word preached will help us to build, it will help us to construct a profitable Christian life. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4, we know this passage, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers, for what? For their own self-aggrandizement, so they could build some giant edifice and line their pockets. Is that why he gave God gave preachers? No. He gave them for what? For the perfecting of the saints. Perfecting in the Bible means to be complete, to be perfect and whole and entire, wanting nothing. Because for the perfecting of the saints, that's the purpose of the local New Testament church for the believer, is to perfect you, to make you a whole Christian. How do you do that? With the hammer of God's word. By taking that truth out of the Bible and then driving it home with God's word. That's what's going to build us up. That's what's going to edify the body of Christ. And these are probably just thoughts that would apply more to somebody who wants to preach one day. And I don't know that there's anybody in the room that wants to do that. Maybe there will be, or somebody who's listening online. But I will say this. We are all building in other people's lives to some degree. If you're a parent, you can take the hammer of God's word, and you've got some nails of your own that you need to drive and build the lives of your children. We need to construct our families with the hammer of God's word. And driving a nail, anybody who's ever done it knows this. Is that ASEAN, could you check that for me? Somebody? Baby or somebody? Driving a nail requires skill, doesn't it? I mean, I've seen some guy, in fact, I've even done it myself. I've seen some guys bash their thumb pretty bad. Is that burger on the end of your digit there? No, that used to be my thumb. What happened? Well, I was driving a nail, right? It requires skill to drive a nail. You've got to know where to hit and when to hit, right? That requires, you've got to respect boundaries. As a preacher, that's something I have to remind myself. I have certain boundaries. I can't just go metal in every area of people's lives and pry into people. And I don't want to, by the way. But here's the thing. I've known preachers that have been like that. I think it's their business to make everybody else's business their business. But as someone who's here to just drive, swing the hammer of God's word, I need to have pinpoint accuracy. Otherwise, somebody's going to get hurt. I'm going to hit something that doesn't deserve to get hit. You've got to know how much force is needed. Sometimes you get under these preachers, they just turn into brow beaters. They just try to guilt people into everything, and it turns into a brow beating. I don't want to be that kind of preacher. I want to be the type of preacher who knows how to swing God's hammer skillfully. Where to hit. How much force is needed. How to hit the nail on the head, as they say, right? Accuracy. Be correct. Know what you're talking about. And if you don't know it, don't preach it. That's one of the best bits of advice I ever got about preaching. Only preach what you know. If there's something you're unsure of, don't get up and speculate. You don't want to sow doubt, you want to construct. And we can apply these things to whoever else's lives we are building as individuals. Maybe we've taken a younger Christian under our wing, and we're trying to drive some nails into their lives with the hammer of God's word. We're trying to take them aside and say, here's what the Bible says. That's you swinging the hammer. You've got to know what to hit, how far to drive it, and when to stop. When you're hitting a nail, and you're just smacking the wood for no good reason. Because if we don't swing that hammer correctly, we could injure or damage others. Let's close over here in Jeremiah chapter one, if you're still there, Jeremiah chapter one. The Bible says in Jeremiah chapter one, we just read it, the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in my mouth, so ye have I made thee this day over nations and kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant. So in summary, what's the sermon about this morning? Well, the fact that God is anger when his hammer is not being swung. When the hammer of God's word is being neglected, it makes God mad. It makes God even more mad when God's people don't go, that's not a hammer you're swinging. You better get that hammer out, preacher. And that's where we ought to want to be. When God's people are, so I'm just going to go wherever they're swinging, you know, the feather duster. No, we need to be where the hammer is being swung. Because God is upset with his people when that hammer is neglected. Because that's what's going to make an impact to build down, or excuse me, to tear down and to build up. So the question is this, God's word being a hammer this morning that can break down and build up, are we using it in our own lives? Are we using it in the lives of others? Are we doing the tearing down? Are we doing the building up that needs to take place in our own lives and in the lives of others? Are we taking advantage of the hammers being swung here? You know, if I'm doing my job right, and I'm not perfect, but I believe I am, I can say with confidence the hammer's being swung here. This is a church where we swing the hammer. And it makes an impact. It's not going to make us popular, but it's going to make an impact. It's going to make an impact to the people that come here. It's going to make an impact of the souls that we reach. It's being swung here. Are we taking advantage of that? Because a hammer, here's the thing about a hammer, God's word is like a hammer, but a hammer can't build anything until it's picked up and swung. You can go home and take your hammer out and set it on a counter and stare at it all day. It's not going to build anything until you pick it up and grab some nails and roll up your sleeves and start swinging. And that's the truth about God's word, isn't it? God's word isn't going to make an impact in your life until you're where it's being preached and until you're reading it for yourself. God's word is a hammer this morning, and we should be where it's being swung. And you know what? We should pick it up ourselves and swing it too, because that's what's going to tear down and that's what's going to build up in our lives. It's a powerful tool that God has given us to do a lot of tearing down and building up. It's a powerful tool. But are we picking it up? Are we taking advantage of it? That's the question. Let's go ahead and pray.