The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 388

will 1:0 save is as t~e northern iron an~ the.steel. 'l'ruc, the retrospect over the past mny be gnevous, and smce that was forgiven 1t may have been too often reproduced ncrain. "Thy backslidings," as God told Israel, "have been mo.ny;" but nrt thou hopin°g in God? dost thou grieve and mourn over sin and truly desire to be made whole? Then ~t shall be so :with th~e; thy salv~tion ~hall be accomplished, for thine accusers' power 1s but as the uon, whilst thy Saviour's 1s as the northern, etc. 'l'herefore yield not to doubt, still less to despair, but go to him who is mighty to save, and ask him to give thee of his strength that thou mayst now conquer thy sin; so shalt thou no more doubt of his grace or of thine interest therein. Such are some of the applications of this question which, taking it as an implied promise, we are justified in making. But as we said at the outset, if we connect our text with the verses that follow, H will mther supply lessons of serious warning and admonition. For thus understood, the iron tells of the power of Israel and "the northern . . . steel" of the invincible power of the Chaldean armies that were so soon to come against them, and therefore this question is a declaration of the sure overthrow of Israel when the time of conflict co.me. The power of God was against Israel, and then what hope could there be? Their poor defence would be soon broken, and they would lie at the mercy of their foe. It is, therefore- II. .A SAMPLE OF THE FATE THAT ATTENDS ALL RANGING OF MERE HUMAN POWERS AGAINST THE WILL OF Goo. Vvhenever any such unequal contest is contemplated or being carried on, this question may be fitly asked. .And therefore we ask it: 1. Of all these, and they are very many, who think that they can,. ttnarmed of God, success- fully wage the war with sin. We would be unfeignedly thankful that there is felt the desire to wage this war at all, that there is no fatal apathy -0r. content with sin, but that there is a real purpose to subdue it and keep it under and to ·live in all righteous- ness. Yes, wherever that purpose is, let thanks be given to God. But what all such need to remember, yet what they very often <lo not remember, is that the evil of their own hearts is as " the northern ... steel," whilst all the strength of their own resolves is but as common "iron," and when these two come in collision we know the result. Remember that first of all there is the guilt of sin to be provided for, and even supposing you were to contract no further sin, what is to be said of all the past? How can your own right resolves and correct future· conduct~if ·it be indeed correct-atone for that? But supposing it were true_ that in an amended life there is atonement for the past, as we overlook the sins of youth, if the mature life be what it should be- supposing that were true, which it is not, even amongst men, if the past crimes have been of a serious kind-but supposing i_t were, and that if a man really turned over a new leaf all the records of the foregoing leaves should be destroyed, no matter what those records were-have you any guarantee that the future leaves will be altogether• different from those that went before? . The Word of God, and experience also, teach us that we have not. No doubt some sine may be given uf, some evil actions forsaken, especially if they be such as bring upon us the reproach o man, but the true nature of the man remains unchanged-he is in himself what he was. " Can the Ethi~ian cho.ngo his skin," etc.? " then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. So speaks the prophet of God ; so, too, speaks the experience of life. Of course we do not affirm all this in regard to the coming up to the standard of society, or of maintaining an external decency of life, but we do affirm it in regard to the attainment of that renewed and alone morally excellent character to which God calls us and of which our Lord Jesus Christ set us the example. You cannot bore throu~h rock with wooden tools; you cannot with soft iron cut or pierce the hardened eteel. .And so you cannot, by the power of your own resolves, break that heart of evil, hardened liko very steel, which every man carries about in him until it is regenerated by the Spirit• of God. The grace of God alone can help you. It is at the cross of Christ, where you gain furgi veness from all the guilt of the past, that you gain also strength for the better life ur tl,e future; and it is in daily coming to that crose, daily looking unto Jesus, thnt Llessed Lord who is both your Redeemer and your perfect Pattern, that you become changed into the same image and made like him. Iron is striving to "break the . . . slcel," whilst you are endeavouring of yourself to save yourself from the past results nnd the present power of sin. You cannot do it, and iu view of tile gracious help the Lor<l Jesus Chri~t oliers you it is a sin and an insult to him to persist in tho atbmpt. cu. xv. 1-21.] TUE DOOK OF 'l'IIE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 391