Open your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 25 through 29. This is returning to our series, the Word of God. As you remember, we were doing two series, the Pastoral Epistles and then also the Word of God. This will be the second to last sermon in the Word of God series. The title of today's message is, The Power of the Word. Jeremiah 23, verses 25 through 29. This is God's holy and inspired word, and it reads this way, God speaking, I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed I have dreamed. How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream. But let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. Amen? What has straw in common with wheat, declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? This is God's holy and inspired word. Father, speak to us through the preaching of your word. All the preparation has been done. All the prayer has been offered. All the desire of the heart to honor you has been given to you, Father. But Lord, if we speak now, and your Holy Spirit does not apply it into our lives, This is just vanity. So speak to us, O Lord. Use this time. Guide us and show us the power of your word, both in the life of the converted and the unconverted, those who will come and those who will not. For we pray these things, Lord, in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen and amen. Over the last couple of months, we have spent much time discussing the Word of God, as you remember. Specifically, we have preached the following sermons. The beauty of the Word, the sufficiency of the Word, the perfection of the Word, and the necessity of the Word. And if you have missed any of those, you can go to sermonaudio.com, look for our Church of God's Garden, and you'll find it there. It has been my prayer that this small series has had an indelible impact upon your Christian walk. We have seen through these sermons that the Christian is to have the highest view of the Word of God. In our sermon entitled, The Beauty of the Word, we experienced the miracle of a people coming back to the Lord through the preaching of his word. The priest Ezra read the scriptures and the immediate impact upon the spiritual lives of the returning captive was a blessed grace. We saw people openly crying, if you remember, openly weeping because for the first time they understood the beauty and the majesty of God through his word. And then we saw people so anxious to learn more that they kept coming back day after day because they wanted to live biblically. And it stirred our hearts hopefully, if you remember that sermon to say that's what I want. I want to read the Word of God as if it were new every day. I want it to have that impact on my life. I'm weeping openly before God when I read it. where I hunger for it so much that I keep coming back over and over again. And I pray that that has happened in your life. In our sermon entitled, The Sufficiency of the Word, we saw Christ both rebuke and teach the Sadducees in regards to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. We understood that the Bible is sufficient and is all that we need in order to know and love Christ correctly. Jesus taught that the Bible is sufficient down to the very verb tense, if you remember. When he says to the Sadducees, you err in that you do not know the word of God. For God says, in regards to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he is still their God even after they're gone. God says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not I was, but I am. Even though they had passed from this earth, they're still very much alive there in his presence. So that there is a resurrection of the dead. If you remember what a powerful thought that was, that Jesus demonstrated this great doctrine by going to one verb tense in scripture. He didn't go through massive portions of scripture to teach him. He went through one verb tense. And that told us something about the Word of God, right? Down to the very verb tense, it is inspired by whom? By God Himself. We were challenged to come to the Word then and acknowledge its truth in all subject matter. In our sermon entitled, The Perfection of the Word, we saw that the Word of God is so sure and perfect that it must be kept wholeheartedly. Christ was not interested, and is not interested in a mere outward keeping of rules and traditions like the Pharisees, but in an inward fulfilling of the Word of God through transformed hearts. We were blessed to see that Christ kept and fulfilled the very law that we could not in our own converted state. He says, I do not think I came to undo the law, but I came to what? Fulfill. And we thank God for that, because if He didn't fulfill it, no one would. And if there was no fulfillment on His behalf, so that His perfect obedience could be put in our account, none of us would be going to heaven. So we thank God that He said, I did not come to abolish, but to what? Fulfill. And we thank God that He did. That the Son of God fulfilled the law because it is His fulfillment that now is our righteousness before our God. Thank God for that. We realized that we are now law keepers in that we rely on Christ's righteous keeping of the law on our behalf. It is the Christian that can now fulfill the law of God by keeping the commandments that have been summarized in two. We must love God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength, and we must love one another. Jesus says if we keep those, we have kept the entirety of the law. So beloved, I challenge you to walk in this way. And finally, in our sermon entitled, The Necessity of the Word, we learn that we are in desperate need of God's Word in order to navigate the perils of this world. We saw in the life of Joshua, if you remember, how God commanded Joshua in regards to becoming the new leader of Israel. Moses had died. Joshua is up next. He's afraid. He's overwhelmed at the prospect of having to lead a nation of millions of people into the promised land and conquer it. He had always assumed until Moses sinned that it would be Moses that would lead them in. And Moses would guide them. And now this job falls into his lap. He is now the new leader. And God told him, you will lead, but you have to have one singular authority. Do you remember that? He said, this book of the law. shall be what guides you. This and only this. There is no other source for you to go to, to find out truth. You can't go to Oprah. You can't go to Dr. Phil. You can't go to those self-help books. This book of the law. This word. And we talked about that he didn't have the full extent of God's word. He only had the five books. But we talked about all the incredible doctrines that are necessary to be a Christian are found in those five books. The promise of Jesus coming. The fall of man. The promise of a future kingdom. All of it. Resurrection from the dead. All of it is found in the first five books. Because God's Word is complete. Amen? Notice that God commanded him to pay attention to only the Word of God. God told him that the Word of God should not depart from his mouth. In other words, he was to continuously speak about the Word of God. He was to think deeply about the Word of God. The Bible says, but you shall meditate on it. And that meditation was to be extensive. It was to be day and night. And he needed to obey, the Bible says, so that you may be careful to do according And he needed to be under the submission to the entirety of the Word of God, when God says, to all that is written. Not to some, but to what? All. All My Word is what guides us. And if Joshua did these things, then he would be a successful leader. His leadership wouldn't be judged by how much he led the people, how much wealth they accumulated, how much land they garnered. He would be known as a successful leader if he gave himself over to the Word of God. That's why the Word of God says, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. It was in those things, in keeping God's Word, that God marked his success. When we learn that in order to live rightly, the Word of God must be at the core of our Christian life. So beloved, I've walked you through our entire series because it's been a while since we were able to, and I think it's important that we remember those things that we've learned. First Peter says, for me it's not a terrible thing to remind you of the things you already know, but it's needful. And so, this is why we walk through it. So by today, by God's grace, we're going to study the power of the Word of God as it does its work, both in the life of those who will believe and those that will not. The setting for our passage, the setting of the stage is simple. Jeremiah, the prophet, finds himself ministering to an ever increasingly sinful people. I don't know if you're familiar with the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. And if you ever read through the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations, you'll see why. He was treated horrifically by the people that he loved, and he kept ministering to. He kept calling them to God, but they refused. He called them to repentance, but they refused. And ultimately he says, okay, since you have refused, now the judgment of God is upon you, submit to it. And they refused. And so Jeremiah keeps calling this people to God, but they refuse. He calls them to repent and believe the gospel, but the people are convinced that they are safe people by virtue of their ethnicity. In other words, the false prophet had convinced a majority of them that they were God's people, simply because they were Jews. We're Jews. God will never discipline us. We're Jews. God's special people. He will never judge us. We're fine. We're all born Jews. It's those people out there that need to worry about God. We're fine by the fact that we're God's people. We're Jews. If you ever read the book of Jeremiah, you see that Jeremiah, at one point, when he begins his ministry, stands up in the very temple of God, and he starts to prophesy, and he says to them, do you think that you can come to this place, which is called my name? God speaking through him. Meaning the temple. And you think you can come to this place which is called by my name and say we are delivered. All the time where you're murdering, killing and fornicating and doing all the things that you're not supposed to be doing. Do you think you can come to this place and say because we have the temple we are delivered? He says not so. That's not the way it works. Beloved, there is a lot of that in Christianity today. People they think because they go to church they can live however they want. And it's not so according to the Word of God. He calls them to repent, but the false prophets were telling the people that they were fine. They pointed, we have the temple. We have the priesthood. We have the Ark of the Covenant. We're fine. God loves us. We're good. No matter how we live and no matter what we do, God will never judge His people. But which message is easier to listen to? I'll ask you. Which message would you want to listen to? Honestly, if you think about it, in your flesh. Jeremiah reminds them repeatedly that true religion is one of the heart. A heart converted by insensitive to the Word of God. This is what the New Testament tells us too. The Apostle says, it is not a Jew, one who is outwardly, but one who is what? A Jew inwardly. It's not a person of God who is circumcised on the outward flesh, but one who is circumcised in the heart. The problem in Israel at the time was that the nation was filled with deceptive, competing voices from the false prophets. In the midst of this, it would have been easy for Jeremiah to lose heart, and yet God would not allow it. And Jeremiah did lose heart there for a second. He even blames God. He says to God at one point, you lied to me. Imagine saying that to God. Thou hast deceived me. You told me when we first started this little mission, Then my head, my forehead would be a forehead of iron. In other words, that I could withstand it. They will war against you Jeremiah, but you shall win. You shall over... And you know what? I'm crumbling. So says Jeremiah to God at one point, and at a low point he says, I will never speak of your word again. Can you imagine? He was devastated. And I love that the Bible shows us that. Because ministry is hard. There have been times where every minister says, God, I can't do this anymore. I'm done. But God will not allow it. God will not allow it. If Jeremiah is to be the only true teacher in a sea of false and terrible ministers, Jeremiah ministry would have the divine effect intended by God. Praise God for this. God's Word has power. God's Word has the power to convert those whom God has elected unto salvation And God's Word has the power to condemn those that refuse God entirely. To some, we are the aroma of death. To some, we are the perfume of life. We'll be speaking more about this in a little bit. Who is sufficient, says the Apostle Paul, for these things. So giving you that backdrop, let us look at verse 25 through 27 where we see the evil of the false ministers. I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesied lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesied lies, and who prophesied the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams, that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. So in verse 25, The Word of God begins with a stark statement. God has heard the false prophets. As they minister lies instead of truth. God has taken notice. God has recorded their evil. Their evil will not go unpunished. To that I say praise God. Amen. Notice what he says in verse 25. I have heard. It's a terrifying thought. That God says, I have heard. I see what you're doing. You false teachers. And don't think you're going to get away with it. Beloved, nothing escapes the attention of God. Amen? Oh, that we would learn this truth. That we would live according to this truth. That nothing escapes the what? The attention of God. We sometimes think that we are that two-year-old that hides his face and says, you can't see me. You ever seen that little kid? You can't see me. He thinks because he hides his face that no one else can see him. God says, I see you. And I know what you've done. This is an incredibly reassuring word for me as a minister, and hopefully for you today. Because like Jeremiah, it seems that many deceivers have infiltrated the Church of God, like in Jeremiah's time. But we are to take note that God has heard. And one day God will judge these false ministers with incredible severity. He promises to do so. Read the book of Jude, for example. Beloved, one day purity will reign. Amen? What a wonderful thought. No more lies. No more sin. One day, in the presence of God, all will be made right. We long for that. In verse 26, God poses then the question, how long will these deliverers continue to lie and claim that God has sent them? In other words, how long will they dare act the way that they're acting? Thinking they're getting away with what they're thinking they're getting away with. We find that their message does not come from God, but instead, according to verse 26, from their own hearts, evil hearts, at that. As we have learned in our study through Timothy, they prophesy in order to seek ungodly gain. The reason they do what they do is because they want power, prominence, position, prestige, money. They're really feeding themselves, as we read in our Ezekiel passage, right? Instead of feeding the sheep, they're feeding them what? Themselves. And beloved, this is not something new to our generation. It happened in the New Testament. We just read through it in Timothy. So it was happening in Paul's time, when the apostles were here. The apostles were dealing with false ministers. Can you imagine? And it happened all throughout the Bible. So if you would open your Bibles to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings chapter 22 verses 6 through 8. I know you're going to be shocked at what I'm about to say. This is one of my favorite portions of scripture. And I know that you hear that quite often, but it is. Let me give you the backdrop for 1st King 22. King Ahab, the king of Israel North. This was divided into two kingdoms by this time. The South and the North. The South has the covenant. The South has the temple. The South has the line of David. The one true line of kingliness. And the South at some point or another had actually godly kings. The North never had another godly king once they split. And here before us is King Ahab probably up to this point the worst king ever spiritually destroyed Israel North. He was a horrible evil man if you know anything about scripture. Ahab is not a good king. And so Ahab has invited the king of the south, normally they're enemies, Israel south, but Jehoshaphat was a godly king. He's the king of the south. But he had made a terrible mistake. He had aligned himself to the house of Ahab through marriage. His son married Ahab's daughter. And this was a horrible mistake that God will rebuke Jehoshaphat for later, quite severely by the way, for. And so Jehoshaphat is visiting, His child's in-laws are trying to unite the kingdoms through marriage. And Ahab says, I want to go against my enemies. Will you come with me and join me in battle? And Jehoshaphat responds, of course I will. We're trying to have this unity, of course I will go with you. And we pick up the story. Before we pick up the story, Jehoshaphat said, of course I will, but first do me a favor, consult the Lord. Consult the Lord. Let us know that God is with us in this endeavor. And then I will go. And Ahab said, absolutely. And now we pick up the story. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men. These were paid employees of the king, who ate from his table, and lived really, really well because of the king. These are false prophets. Men who will say whatever they need to say in order to keep their place, power, prestige, and position. You see, it's nothing new. Amen? It's nothing new. There's nothing... Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun. And to a certain extent, it's correct. This isn't new. So, notice how many false prophets he hasn't employed. 400 of them. And it was the job of the false prophet to tell the king exactly what he wanted to hear. That's a false minister, isn't it? And so he gathered the four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And they said, Go up! For the LORD will give it into the hand of the king. Notice they mention God. But God never sent them. That's exactly what a false prophet does. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here another prophet who actually belongs to the LORD, of whom we may inquire? Jehoshaphat knew the difference. He says, okay, that's wonderful that these 400 prophets tell you what you want to hear. But is there really not left in all of Israel North at least one man of God that will say things the way it is? Whether they agree with these men or not. I want to hear actually a real prophet. You see the difference? How many of you see the difference? Right? And notice what the king says. And the king of Israel said to Joseph, there is yet one man. I would underline that in scripture. 400 at his table, 400 eating, 400 doing well. And he says, well, there's still one guy left. Notice that true ministers of God are far and few in between. Amen? People who will lovingly tell you what you need to hear, and sometimes even wound you with the Word of God because you need it, they are very few and hard to find. Amen? People who will love you rightly and feed you. Notice he says, there is yet one man. That breaks my heart. There's nothing new, isn't there? There's nothing new. By whom we may inquire of the LORD. Micah, I am the son of Imlah. Notice this, but I hate him. Why do you think he hated him? I can tell you right off, he never told them what he wanted to hear. He told them what he needed to hear, but not what he wanted to hear. And those are two separate things sometimes. Many times. For he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil. He always tells me something bad is going to happen because of my decisions. So I hate him. He's never on my side. His real argument was not against Micahiah, but against God. You see, he was the most wicked king ever. And he did everything wrong. And so Micahiah's job was to come and tell him, look, you're doing everything wrong. And it's not going to go well with you if you continue down this road. And he goes, I hate him, because he has it in for me, is really what he's saying. He's playing the victim card. But it wasn't that Micaiah had it in for him, he was just telling him what he needed to hear. Micaiah couldn't stroke his ego, because this was an ungodly man doing ungodly things, and plunging himself in ruin, and the nation in ruin. I hate him. Notice Jehopheth said, let not the king say so. Don't even speak that way. I'll leave the story for you. Hopefully, I whetted your appetite. You want to go figure out how this thing ends. I'm going to play the spoiler. I won't give you all the details, but the king does not listen to Maikaʻaia, even though Maikaʻaia shares incredible truth with him. The king decides to go into battle, which Maikaʻaia warns him against, and even commits Maikaʻaia to prison to be tortured for not telling him what he wanted to hear. And because the king would not listen to the voice of the one prophet of God, he goes into battle and he dies. Praise be God. Beloved, I want you to notice, God poses the question, how long will these deceivers continue to lie? There's going to be many of them. Timothy, eventually, is going to speak about it as well to us. For the time will come, says the Word of God, where what? Men will not endure some doctrine, but with itching ears accumulate, heap up for themselves. Teachers will tell them what they want to hear. You're so wonderful. You're so good. God's always for you. Yeah, you know what? We won't call those sins. We'll call them oopsies. And everybody makes them. And you hear what you want to hear. I love my pastor. He's so nice. Yeah, but he's not leading you in the way of heaven. He's not showing you the things you need. We always talk about social justice. We talk about these things. We talk about that. Yeah, but do you ever talk about Jesus Christ and your need for him? He tells me I'm a winner. I'm a champion within. Everybody, you know who I'm talking about now, that Joel Osteen character. Discover the champion within. Except for the Bible says that you're a messed up sinner who needs Jesus Christ. There is no champion within. If there was a champion within you, God would never have sent His Son to die for you. The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Not the champions. The ungodly. In verse 27 then, exposes the outcome of the ministry of these false teachers. All false teachers will lead you always away from God's gospel and from God himself. They will cause you through their lies and their false life example to forget the true God and give yourselves over to idolatry. This is what God says like your fathers, like they did to your fathers turning their hearts to Baal. This is why we must guard our hearts and listen to the only true voice of our Savior. If we are His, we are to follow Him and Him alone. John 10, 27-28 says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. Praise God for that statement. My sheep will never perish. Can you say amen to that? That's a good reason for you to come to Jesus Christ. Amen? He promises you, you will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Not only will they not die, but I cannot lose them. And no one can steal them away from me. Why? Because they're my sheep. And they hear my voice. Beloved, hear the voice of the shepherd. In the midst of a cacophony of musical symphony of false teachers. Listen to the one true voice. It is brilliant and it is beautiful. And follow Him. Well, having looked at the false teachers, now let us look at verse 28. Because verse 28 tells us that God allows us to compare the false with the true. Have you ever wondered and asked the question, God, well if there's so many false teachers and they're perverting the way and they're destroying so many people, why do you allow it? Anybody ever think that thought? I know I have. Because I know that God could just say they're done and each one of them can drop dead. I wonder why God doesn't just strike them all dead for profaning and blaspheming His name. I've wondered that. Well God gives us the answer to that in verse 28. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream and let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has strong common with we declares the Lord. God's solution to the pandemic of false teaching is clearly laid before us. God allows them to continue their false ministry. He allows them to continue their work because God's truth will ultimately win. Praise God. Amen. Beloved, rejoice with me with what I just said. God's truth will ultimately win. The true word of God always and definitively wins. We might be in the minority today. We might seem to be losing ground to the false. But beloved, we will win because God's word will never pass. God's word will never fail. Praise be His holy name. That's what God says. Let them speak their lies as long as the man of God stands up and speaks my truth faithfully. Notice that God allows the false so that we can compare it then alongside the true. Let the false prophet speak his lies, but let the man of God that has God's holy word speak God's holy word faithfully. Beloved, this is you and I. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, if you are truly God's people, you have his word. Speak it faithfully. Talk about Jesus to your neighbor. Talk about Jesus with your friends. Talk about Jesus at work. Talk about Jesus in the supermarket. Talk about Jesus wherever you go. Why? Because let the world see truth alongside the darkness and those whom God has ordained will come to the light. In the midst of this crazy world with so much false teaching, let us faithfully preach God's truth. Isn't that what God is saying? Let us faithfully preach God's truth. Let us preach the gospel. Let us preach the need for Jesus Christ. Let us tell people that Jesus Christ came into this world as the second part of the Trinity. Became one of us. Became a human being. Lived the perfect life of obedience to God that you and I have never lived. Kept the commandments of God. Lived in perfection. And because He was in perfection, not imperfect, but in perfection, He willingly substituted Himself on our behalf, begged the Father to punish Him for our sins. The Father, in His anger and hatred toward sin, poured all His wrath upon the Son for those who would believe in God, punished Him for their sins. so that His obedient keeping of the law, which you and I cannot keep, can be put upon their account. Then He rose again on the third day, glory be to God, proving that He is who He said He is. He ascended into heaven and He's promising that one day He's going to return. This, beloved, in a nutshell, is the Gospel. Let us preach it. Let us live it and let us preach it before a world. There is a cacophony of voices, all preaching darkness, all preaching evil, all preaching lies, false ministers, wrapped up in sheep's clothing, devouring and eating the sheep. So says God, let Jeremiah stand up in the midst of all these false teachers and let him be the beacon of light for those who will be saved. And beloved Israel, as a nation was destroyed, But Israel, the true Israel of God, God saved people through Jeremiah's ministry. Not as many as perish. But we know that the road that leads to heaven is narrow and few find it. Amen? And what if Jeremiah hadn't preached? You see, the power of God's Word will convert those whom God is destined to convert. So we preach it. So what is the outcome then of all this? Quite simply, to those that God is pleased to save, the Word will shine in its brilliance. Amen? That's the beauty of God's Word. I don't have to dress it up. I don't have to give it a modern remake. God's Word does God's work. Praise God for that. And that's what this means when God says, what has straw in common with wheat? He's comparing both using a metaphor. He says, what is straw? What has straw, excuse me, in common with wheat? False teaching according to God is straw. It cannot satisfy nor feed the desperate soul. It is useless for human consumption. And those that eat straw will what? Die. Amen? Please don't put this to the test by eating straw to see what will happen. You will die. It has no nutritional value for you. It'll fill your stomach and you'll feel full, but you have no nutritional value coming to your body. You will die. Amen? God equates false teaching to straw that fills the stomach, and it feels like it's doing something, but it has no value whatsoever. No vitamins, no minerals, it has no sustaining power. It will not help you in the least. But then God compares His true teaching to wheat. And what is wheat? It's bread! Amen? It's what you used back then to make bread. It nourishes. It is the bread that sustains us. It is essential for preserving life. It is the building block of life. Those that eat bread, that eat wheat, will live. And so God is comparing His Word with the dreams of the false teachers who prophesy evil from their own heart. God never said that. He says, what they're giving is straw. He says, but what I'm giving you is what? Wheat! Compare both and see the infinite wisdom of rejecting the one to get what is actually needed for you, the other. Why does God allow it? So that those who are called by God will one day see, absolutely see, the value of His Word. Beloved, this is our message to the world, isn't it? This is our message to the world. Come and eat God's wheat and live, or eat the world's straw and die. Amen? Isn't that what we preach? Eat God's wheat, and what? Live. Or eat the world's straw, what they're feeding you, and what? Die. Believe the lies of the world, what a woman is supposed to be. and die what a man is supposed to be and die. Go over to the world and try to satisfy yourself in the world and what the world offers and the pleasures and the vices and what? Die or be satisfied in God. We pray that you are listening. Beloved, compare both, examine both. Those that have been made hungry by God will choose the wheat. And I want to share a couple of scriptures with you. Psalm 81 10. Psalm 81.10. I found this psalm to be very insightful for me. The Bible says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Listen, open your mouth wide and I will fill it. What a wonderful portion of scripture. What is God saying? I will feed you if you open your mouth. And He's not going to feed you straw. He's going to feed you the bread that sustains. Do you see it? God says, open your what? Your mouth wide. Not just open. But I mean, open it as wide as you can, that I'm going to fill it. I'm going to feed you. What a wonderful God we serve, amen? Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verses 1 through 2. You've heard this portion before. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by and eat. An invitation to come by and eat. You have no money, you cannot buy the thing you need. You have to come and ask. And God promises He will give. God is good. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. And I love verse 2. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? Why are you eating straw? That's really the thought, right? If we compare. And your labor for that which does not satisfy, listen diligently to me and eat what is good. Eat the wheat of God's word and delight yourself in rich food. Why are you eating straw? Why are you eating mire and muck? Instead of eating the bread that I've said before you and the delicacies from my table. Come, says God, eat what's good for you. I've prepared a table. Compare what you're eating to what I'm serving and see that it's infinitely better. And those whom God is pleased to open their hearts will see it and run. Praise God. In John 6, 33 through 35, For the bread of God is He, Jesus speaking, who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And the people said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. I am the bread. When you preach the Word of God, when you preach the Gospel, when you set wheat before people, and the people come and they start feeding on the wheat instead of straw, they're really feeding on whom? On Jesus Christ. What does all Scripture point to? Who does all Scripture point to? Is it not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? What is the entire message of Genesis through Revelation? Is it not the kingdom, the great kingdom of our King Jesus? So as you preach the Gospel, you're preaching whom? Jesus. As you set out the food, you're setting the bread of life before people. And Jesus says, Come! I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never hunger. Praise God for that. I will satisfy them completely. Well beloved, because we got to compare both. We got to see the Word of God is wheat instead of straw. And it has that work of wheat in the life of those who God will save. It will sustain them. It sustains us. Amen? But let us look in the power of God's Word to destroy wickedness. For us it is wheat. For the world it is straw. And unfortunately for those who refuse God, It is fire and a hammer. It is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. What an incredible thought that is. In this third verse, God uses two similes. And in case you haven't been in school for a while and don't remember what a simile is, it's figurative language in which we compare two things using the word like or as. You could say of me, my pastor is as, speaking about my athletic power, my pastor is as fast as a turtle. Or my pastor runs like a turtle, meaning, what are you really saying about me? I'm slow, right? So you're comparing me with a turtle using the word, like grass. This is what the Word of God is doing here. It's not my word, like fire. The Word of God is compared to a fire. And it's not my word, like a hammer. which breaks the rocks in pieces. God is comparing, describing the power of His Word to deal with the false teacher and those who follow them. And the first comparison is to fire, beloved. The Word of God is a fire that consumes and devours the false. If the Word is wheat to the spiritually hungry, it also must be a fire that destroys those that will pervert the way and not come to Jesus Christ. Did you hear that? Because I think we view the Word of God only as the message of salvation, but it's also a message of condemnation. There's a part of the Gospel that says, and if you don't believe, right? We always focus on the come to Jesus and belief, but there's a part of the Gospel that says, and if you don't, this is the outcome of your life. Everything you've ever built will be burned up. Everything you ever did will be consumed. And you will be found naked before God on that day. Looking for a place to hide and not being able to hide from His Holy Presence. Do you see it? The Word of God is a fire. For those who are eating, it's wheat. It sustains them. For those who are rejecting, it is straw. Who are eating the world's stuff, they're eating straw. And because they're eating straw, one day the Word of God will be a what? Fire to them, for the false teachers specifically. The second comparison is to a hammer that breaks and tears, that falls into pieces and destroys them completely. It obliterates them. What an incredible thought the Word of God is, right? That it can be all these things to different people. That, beloved, is the power of God's Word. Do you see it there? Do you see it? That is the power of God's Word. That's why the Word of God says that nothing is hidden from its sight. Amen? Praise God for that thought. So if men despise God's Word, the Word of God cannot be deprived of its strength and power to judge them at a later time. If it is not weak to them, it will by necessity be fire. It will be a hammer that utterly consumes and shatters them on the day of judgment. This is the power of God's Word. It saves the elect and convicts the obstinate. Therefore, we must preach this word. It is this word that can save. Amen? We must warn men, and if they will be obstinate and die in their sin, then they have chosen for themselves eternal judgment. So be it. And you, as a minister of God, have to be okay with that. I must say that. You have to be okay that if people reject you, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting whom? God. And if that person rejects the Gospel and walks across the street and gets hit by a bus, the proverbial bus, and dies, and you know they went to hell, you have to be okay with that. It has to, it can break your heart for them, but if they reject God's Word that brings life, then God's Word by necessity will bring judgment. Amen? Romans 10, 17, we need to preach. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of what? Of God, of Christ, This is why we are commanded to preach. Because faith comes by what? Hearing God's Word. Did you hear that? So, should you invite people to church? Absolutely. But more importantly, should you tell them about Jesus? Yes. They'll come to church and they'll hear Jesus here, but you also need to tell them Jesus. Why? Because faith does not come by invitation to come to church. Faith comes by what? Hearing God's Word. So as you have opportunities, preach Jesus. Invite Him to church and preach Jesus. Amen? Because that's what's going to convert people. If God so deems it to be so. Our job is to preach with sincerity and with passion. And I want you to know that I believe this and hopefully you see that in my preaching. That I preach with sincerity and I preach with passion for the lost. 2nd Corinthians 5.20 says, Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. I'm imploring you, get right with God. So here's my passion. If you are not a believer, if you never come to Christ, if you realize that you've been stuffing your gut with the straw of this world, instead of the what? Wheat, the table that God has prepared for you. If this is making sense to you, I'm imploring you on behalf of Christ as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, be reconciled with God today. Beg for His forgiveness, turn your life over to Him, Understand the gospel that He died for you, that He paid for your sins. Accept His righteousness and walk in newness of life. Be reconciled with God. I implore you before it's too late. However, after I make my appeal to you with sincerity and passion, I must warn you, that I will let God's Word do that which God destined it to do. 2 Corinthians 2 15-16 I understand the truth of this portion of Scripture and it's been a guiding principle in my life. Listen to what the Word of God says. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Listen to what he's saying. We are an aroma either way. We are the aroma to those who are God's going to save, and to those who will perish in their sin. We are an aroma. A smell. He didn't say a good smell. He just said we're a smell. The next verse clarifies what he means by that. To one, to one group, we are a fragrance, a perfume, We are a fragrance from death to death. To us, we're a rotten, terrible perfume. We preach to them, Jesus, they don't want anything to do with it. They'd rather choose death. To the other, we are a fragrance, a smell, a perfume, from life to life. To some, when they hear it, they're going to go, I never knew these things. God has convicted me through the word. I need Jesus. Oh, Jesus, forgive me. And they're going to be transformed. Who is sufficient for these things? I often find myself saying the very same thing. Oh Lord, who's sufficient? To some people, I'm gonna preach Jesus and they're gonna say to me, you stink. Oh, it smells horrible. I don't want anything to do with your Jesus or with you. That's legitimate, it's okay. I gotta get over myself, amen? to some I will preach." And they're going to say, that's perfume. You smell beautiful, pastor. It's a smell that I've never smelled before. It's the smell of Jesus. And I want it on me. I want Him in my life. And they're going to come to Jesus. Same message. Maybe preached at the same time, to maybe the same crowd. Some people are going to walk out of there and say, that was perfume. I needed that. As believers, some will walk out as converted new believers going, praise God for the smell of Christ that I just smelled. I needed that. Without Him, I didn't realize I was going to go to hell. And some people walk out of there and go, that's complete poppycock nonsense. Nobody needs that. I'm never coming in. That was terrible. I'd rather go to a church that tells me how wonderful I am than hear this, I need Jesus all the time. I'm so sick of it. Same message, same pastor, same time, same group. That's why Paul says, who's sufficient for these things? It's God who's just doing this. So, how did I smell to you today? What a question to ask on a Sunday, right? You're like, well, normally I wouldn't ask a question like that, but how did I smell to you today? Did you smell Jesus and do you love that aroma? Or you're walking out of here going, you know what, I don't need this. I'm not sufficient for these things, it's the work of God. And I'm okay with being a stink. And I'm okay with being a perfume. I realize it's not me that people are rejecting one way or the other, or accepting one way or the other. It's Jesus. And I'm not sufficient for that, but he has called me to do it. So beloved, This is the power of God's Word. We know that faith comes by hearing, so we preach. We implore passionately people be reconciled to God before it's too late. And we realize that for some we will be the aroma of death, and to others we will be the aroma of life. Praise God for that. And I'm okay. Beloved, I hope that you've seen the power of God's Word. Wheat and straw, fire and hammer, Compare both and how will the word of God be used in your life? What will it be? Will it be weed or will it be straw? I pray that it would be what sustains you and not what kills you. Amen? Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. What a wonderful portion of scripture for us to consider today. Father, would you do this work in us? Father, I am imploring anyone here who has never come to Jesus Christ by the mercies of God and is an ambassador of Jesus Christ whom I represent. Please, today, Father, reconcile them to you. Let them run to Jesus and beg Christ for forgiveness. Let none leave here, Father God, smelling the aroma of death. I implore anyone here who has never come to you to come to Jesus Christ. Whether they be a church member, Lord, because I'm fully aware that membership in church does not save us. Whether they be new or haven't been here forever, Lord, let no one leave here, Father God, in the realm of death. I implore them that they would be reconciled with God. Father, help us to understand the sufficiency of what we just talked about, the truth of it, Lord. This truth that we preach Jesus to some the aroma of life and to some the stench of death. May we be okay with that. And may we preach. And Father, help us to realize, Lord, that in the sea of the false, there are very few who stand up for the truth and the right gospel. Let us be among that group. Let us not lose heart, but let us rely on God, on your Word, which is the power of God, unto salvation for us. We pray these things, Lord, in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen and amen.