The Fire Burns and the Hammer Swings

The devil’s main attack has always been to attack God’s word. Did God really say he came to Adam and Eve in the garden? No, you will not surely die. You’ll be like gods, knowing good and evil. And, of course, you know how that worked out. Throughout the years, God’s people have had to constantly fight off attacks on God’s word. And the time of Jeremiah the prophet was no different. At the time of Jeremiah the prophet, there were people who were claiming, “I had this direct vision from God. “I had a dream, and God told me this.” And God dismisses it contemptuously. He says, “Let the prophet who had his dream tell his dream. “But let the one who has my word speak it faithfully.” And then he goes on to give the words of our text. He says, “‘Is not my word like fire?’ Declares the Lord. ‘And like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?'” The word of the Lord. One could argue that it is the most amazing conversion story ever. The thief on the cross. This guy is horrible. He’s described in one of the gospels as a thief. He’s described in another of the gospels as a doer of evil. Can you imagine if that was the epitaph on your gravestone? Here lies a doer of evil. Not very happy, huh? Well, that’s the thief on the crosses. The word that God gives regarding the thief on the cross as against comes near the end of his life. And this guy must have been a really bad doer of evil because they’re crucifying him. You know, you wouldn’t have crucified somebody who took the first-century equivalent of a candy bar from the first-century equivalent of a Walmart, right? You’re not crucifying a person like that. Slap on the wrist, yeah, some sort of a punishment, sure. Not crucifixion. You reserve crucifixion for the really, really bad guys. Jesus is, of course, a huge exception. That’s part of God’s plan. But generally, it was reserved for the worst of the worst. So there he is on the cross. He’s up there for six hours from the ninth hour or from the third hour till the ninth hour. Nine-ish in the morning till three-ish in the afternoon. And can you believe it? He came to faith. Wow. How does God work faith? God always works faith through his word. The word fires our heart. The word smashes our heart. Well, this thief didn’t get a whole lot of words of God that we know of, right? There could have been more discussion while they were on the cross than what’s recorded in the gospels. But let’s assume there wasn’t. What were the words of God that he got? Well, first of all, in that time with crucifixions, it was traditional that they took the crucified victim, they’d make them carry the crossbar of the cross, probably not the whole cross, but the crossbar, which was heavy enough, and they’d parade it through the streets and they’d have the written charge of the person who’s being crucified. They wanted to make fun of this guy. They wanted this to be a big deterrent to people. Mess with us, and this is what’ll happen to you is kind of the thought process. So it’s very likely that the thief on the cross was within proximity of Jesus as he stops to address the women who were mourning. Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t mourn for me. And what was happening? The Word’s fire was burning. The Word’s hammer was swinging. Very ironically, the thief on the cross heard words of God from Jesus’ enemies, because how did they mock Jesus? Part of it was by using his own words. You said you were going to tear down this, destroy this temple and build it in three days. Ooh, the Word’s fire was burning. The Word’s hammer was swinging. He saved others, but he can’t save himself. Once again, the Word’s hammer is swinging. The Word’s fire is burning. Aren’t you the Messiah? Yes, that’s who he was. Fire burning, hammer swinging. My guess is that the one that may have made the most impact on the thief of all was what happened when Jesus was crucified. Arms splayed out, soldiers taking the nails, pounding them through, and what does Jesus say? Father, forgive them. Are you kidding? You think that’s what the thief on the cross said when he was hammered through? I’m guessing not. And I’m guessing we can’t speculate inside church what he may have said. It probably was pretty ugly. If I were being hammered through, I don’t know that forgiveness would be the first thing on my mind. Anger, frustration, condemnation of those people who are doing it, sure, forgiveness. Wow, the Word’s fire was burning. The Word’s hammer was swinging. And sure enough, the word did its thing, and the word fire, the fire of the word thawed that man’s unbelieving heart. The Word’s hammer crushed the unbelief out of his heart and gave him a warm, soft heart of faith. Said he’s willing to say to Jesus, man, we’re getting what I deserve, but this guy’s done nothing wrong, referring to Jesus. He’s willing to come to Jesus in confidence and say to him, remember me when you come into your kingdom. This is a miracle. This doesn’t happen. In fact, Luther uses this account as a proof for the fact that faith has to be a miracle and that faith has to be something done by the Holy Spirit because there’s no possible other explanation for how the thief on the cross could have become a believer. This was astounding. This was a miracle. And guess what I see right now? A bunch of other miracles. Your heart and mine were no less dead in sin than that thief on the cross. You and I were just as much hostile to God as that thief. Our hearts were just as much on the incline towards evil as that evil doer’s heart was. And yet here you are. Here, you are willing to say, yeah, Lord, I’m a sinner. And what I’ve done, what I’ve left undone, Lord, have mercy on us. And when the words of forgiveness were announced to you, you received them with joy. That’s a miracle. As you raise up your prayers, you raise them up with absolute confidence that God is hearing them. You are willing to lift up your voices in praise of God rather than hurl insults at those who do. The same prayer that was on the thief’s lips, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He’s on your lips, too. And that’s a miracle. And someday, some glorious day, those words of the thief, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Are gonna cease to be your prayer. Instead, they will become your reality. For Jesus will take you into his kingdom. And oh, what a miracle. What a conversion story. That is you. Amen. And amen.