Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? So asks the Lord God of his, at this time not simply lamenting prophet, he was rarely anything but that, but also his complaining prophet. And as we read these verses with which the striking inquiry contained in this verse is connected, we cannot help feeling that his lamentations become him far more than his complaints. Still, who are we, to criticize a great hero of the faith such as Jeremiah undoubtedly was? These verses, from the tenth onwards, are no doubt on a lower, a less spiritual and less self-forgetful level than that which the common strain of his prophecies and prayers maintain. It will be seen that these verses come at the close of a long and most earnest appeal addressed by him to God on behalf of his countrymen. They were suffering fearfully from the dearth of which the opening of the fourteenth chapter tells. Now, all this was then present before the prophet's mind, and these chapters record the expostulations, the pathetic appeals, and the almost agonized prayers which he pours forth on behalf of his suffering land and people. He makes full confession of their sins, but pleads the all-merciful Name of the Lord, and when that did not suffice, he urges the evil teaching that they had received from their prophets and that therefore they may be held guiltless or far less guilty, and when that plea also was rejected he returns to his confessions and earnest entreaties; but it is all of no avail. At the opening of this chapter God says, "Though Moses and Samuel" - men who had once and again proved themselves mighty intercessors for the people, yet even if they - "stood before me, my mind could not be toward this people." The crimes of Manasseh, King of Judah, that king who reigned so long, so disgracefully, and with such disastrous results over Judah, had never been repented of, and never really forsaken. They were rampant still, and therefore the Lord declares this judgment which he had sent upon them must go on - no prayers of his faithful servant could avail to stay its execution. Upon this the prophet pours out a piteous lamentation over the woes of his people, and then, turning to his own position, he complains bitterly of the hatred which was felt towards him by those whom he had sought to bless. "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!" He had been no usurer nor fraudulent debtor, "yet every one," he cries, "curses me." Then to him the Lord replies, promising him deliverance in the time of evil, and asks the question, "Shall iron break.., steel?" The ancients knew comparatively little of the manufactures of iron and steel. Amongst the Israelites it was very coarsely wrought, but the best iron was from the north. So bad was their own that an admixture of brass, which among us would be rather thought to lessen its value, was regarded as in improvement. But the iron and steel procured from the people who lived in the far north, on the shores of the Black Sea, was the most celebrated for its tenacity and hardness. Against it the common iron of every-day use could offer but little resistance, and when opposed to it could make little or no impression; it could not "break the northern iron and the steel." And the question of this verse is a proverb denoting the impossibility of any force, though great in itself, overcoming one which by its very nature and by its effects had been proved to be greater still. Our Lord teaches the same truth when he speaks of the folly of that king who thought, with his army of ten thousand, to encounter and overcome another king who came against him with twenty thousand. But whilst the meaning of this verse is plain enough, its application is not so clear. If we connect it with the verses that immediately precede, as many do, then it is a question whose tone is bright, cheerful, and reassuring. But if we connect it with those that immediately follow, its tone is altered and is full of solemn admonition and serious warning. In the first case it refers to Jeremiah himself, and is for his comfort and confidence. It tells him that the enemies who are against him, however iron like they might be-cold, hard, fierce, strong - and however much they may oppress and afflict him, yet assuredly they shall not prevail against him; for God will make him as the northern iron and the steel, against which all their might shall be in vain. God had promised at the very outset of the prophet's ministry that he would thus strengthen him. Behold, he says, in the first chapter, "I have made thee this day a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land... and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." And in the twentieth verse of this chapter the like promise is given over again. So that they have much reason on their side who regard these words as a heart-cheering assurance conveyed to the prophet under the form of a question, and assuring him that, let the power of those who hated him be what it might - as iron like as it would - the grace of God which would be given him would make him stronger still, would make him as the northern iron and the steel. Let us, then, view these words -

I. AS A REASSURING PROMISE, and make two or three applications of them.

1. And first, to such as Jeremiah himself was at this time - a faithful servant of God, but muck troubled and tried. What right have we to expect that all things will go smoothly with us in this world, or to be surprised when sore troubles come? Did not our Lord say, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep amongst wolves"? Well, it would be strange if the sheep were to find all things just as they wished amid such surroundings as that. But, as one has said, the sheep have beaten the wolves after all. There are today tens of thousands of sheep for every wolf prowling on the face of the earth. It did seem very likely, when the sheep were so few, that the wolves would most certainly have quickly made a clearance of them. But, though here and there one like Saul "made havoc of the Church," the flock, the Lord's fold, went on increasing and multiplying in a marvelous way. Spiritually as well as literally the sheep outnumber the wolves who would destroy them. And what is the explanation but this, that to those who have no might the Lord has increased strength? He has let the wolves be indeed like iron, but his sheep he has strengthened as the northern iron, etc. And this he will ever do. God can temper our souls to such degree of hardness and tenacity that they shall blunt and beat back every weapon that is formed against them. The arrows hurled against us shall fall pointless to the ground, and the armor of God wherein we stand engirt shall more than defend us from the adversary's power. The shield of faith is made, not of our enemies' untempered iron, but of the northern iron and steel told of here. Oh, then, child of God, how is it with thee? Is the world frowning upon thee? are circumstances adverse and involved, and thy way hedged with difficulties? Has death invaded thy home or is it about to do so, and is thy heart saddened thereby? Does disappointment dog thy steps and baffle all thy best-meant endeavors? Is anxiety creeping over thee and filling thee with foreboding fear? Hearken to this word of God, "Can iron," etc.? Can these things, hard and terrible as they are, break down thy defense or break through thy shield? Oh, bring thy soul to Christ, tell him how weak, how defenseless, in thyself, thou art; come to him for the armor of proof thou needest; ask him to give thee good courage and to strengthen thine heart; and then, as thou comest off more than conqueror over all these things, thou shalt triumphantly ask this question for thyself.

2. And we may ask it again in reference to the opposition of the world against the Church of God. For that Church is girt with invincible power, and stands like a rock amid the raging of the sea. In vain the tempests hurl the mighty waves against it, in vain do they fiercely smite it as with force sufficient to make it stagger and fall; but whilst you look expecting to see it overthrown, lo, the huge seas that smote it are shivered into clouds of spray, and multitudes of foaming cataracts are seen rushing down its sides but leaving it unharmed and immovable still. And - to return to the metaphor of this verse - the iron of its adversary's weapon has broken against the steel of its impenetrable shield, and the Church of God is unconquered still. Heresy has sought with insidious power to turn it from the truth. Persecution with its fires and all manner of deadly cruelties has threatened every member of its communion, and slain thousands upon thousands of them. Superstition has come with its priestcraft and pretended supernatural powers and taught men to worship idols in the name of God. Infidelity, the sure offspring of Superstition, disgusted with the miserable shams and the mass of wretched fables which Superstition has taught men for truth, has thrown off all belief, and denied the very existence of God and the whole of the precious faith that the Church has received. The world, a more deadly foe still, with her soft blandishments and her mighty bribes, has done more to pervert the right ways of the Lord than perhaps all the other enemies of the Church altogether; just as on the mass of iron used in the construction of the great railway bridges which span so many of the valleys, straits, and rivers of our land, it is found that a warm morning's sunshine does more to deflect them from their true horizontal line than is accomplished by the ponderous weight of the heaviest engines and trains rushing over them at their highest speed. The soft warmth does more than the heaviest weight. And again and again in the history of the Church of God it has been found that when the world is most smiling then is it most deadly to the best interests of the Church. And in our day, fresh forms of unbelief or disbelief are gathering round the Church, and like a mist enwrapping the minds and hearts of not a few, so that the blessed firmness of faith which once was the common characteristic of the Church is giving way to a general doubt, vagueness, and uncertainty, upon which no firm foothold can be had. But what is our confidence in view of all this? Is it not in the truth, made sure to us by the experience of all the ages, that the Church of God is his especial care, and that therefore his omnipotence is around it, and all the powers of hell shall not prevail against it. Here the Church of God is today, in numbers, zeal, faith, charity, not one whit behind the former days. Here in this direction and that there may be loss, but if so, then in other directions we find gain. And the witness of all the history of the Church is this, that the forces that oppose her are but as untempered iron, whilst the power that defends her is as the northern, etc. And should there be any anxious heart who is in much doubt and fear as to his own personal salvation because of the multitude and magnitude of his sins, we would bid such a one take home to him the truth of our text. For although his sins be all he thinks them, and even more - of strength like iron - yet the Savior's will to save is as the northern iron and the steel. True, the retrospect over the past may be grievous, and since that was forgiven it may have been too often reproduced again. "Thy backslidings," as God told Israel, "have been many;" but art thou hoping in God? dost thou grieve and mourn over sin and truly desire to be made whole? Then it shall be so with thee; thy salvation shall be accomplished, for thine accusers' power is but as the iron, whilst thy Savior's is as the northern, etc. Therefore 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, it will rather 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 came. The power of God was against Israel, and then what hope could there be? Their poor defense 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 GOD. Whenever 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, unarmed of God, successfully 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 or content with sin, but that there is a real purpose to subdue it and keep it under and to live in all righteousness. Yes, wherever that purpose is, let thanks be given to God. But what all such need to remember, yet what they very often do 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 it 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 sins may be given up, some evil actions forsaken, especially if they be such as bring upon us the reproach of man, but the true nature of the man remains unchanged - he is in himself what he was. "Can the Ethiopian change 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 through rock with wooden tools; you cannot with soft iron cut or pierce the hardened steel. And so you cannot, by the power of your own resolves, break that heart of evil, hardened like 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 forgiveness from all the guilt of the past, that you gain also strength for the better life of the future; and it is in daily coming to that cross, daily looking unto Jesus, that blessed 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... steel," whilst you are endeavoring of yourself to save yourself from the past results and the present power of sin. You cannot do it, and in view of the gracious help the Lord Jesus Christ offers you it is a sin and an insult to him to persist in the attempt.

2. Finally, I think of another hopeless contest in which also many are still engaged, in which the iron is thinking to "break... steel." It is the contest with God, the combat with the Most High. God has made us all for himself, Now, he himself so obeys the law of truth and righteousness and goodness that we say he is righteousness. "The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works" "God is love." Therefore he bids us surrender our hearts, our wills, to him, to obey, love, and serve him. It is not simply right, but most blessed for us as for all his creatures to do this, and the vast majority of them do, and are blessed in consequence. But man has the power of saying "Nay" to God's "Yea," and "Yea" to God's "Nay," and that power he has chosen to exercise. In other words, he has set up his will against the Divine will, and refuses obedience where the will of God and his own are opposed. This is the contest that is ever going on - God seeking to win man's will, his heart to himself, and man persistently refusing. Man wants to have his own way, believing and insisting that it is the good way for him, whilst God knows well that it is a way of evil and of evil only. Therefore by all means God is seeking to draw us from that way to his own. By the voice of conscience and of his Spirit pleading within us, by his providences, his Word, his ordinances, and in other ways still, mostly gentle and gracious, others of them of a sterner kind, but by them all he is aiming at but one result - this, of inducing us to yield to him, to acknowledge his authority, and confess him Lord. And remember this will of his is no passing wish, one which, when he finds he cannot have it, he will cease to care for. Oh no, but it is his steadfast purpose, that upon which his heart is set. "As I live, saith the Lord, all the earth shall be filled with my glory." "To Jesus every knee shall bow, and... Father." Can we think, then, that instead of this, God will be content with simply destroying man? That would be to confess failure on his part, and so would also the mere infliction of vengeance. Therefore we feel sure that the rebel will have to yield, and the stoutest heart to bow. The iron cannot "break... steel" Shall the will of man forever defy God, and hold out against him? But ah! what of agony and woe will not the rebel will have to go through ere it will own itself wrong! All the awful words of Christ about the quenchless fire and the undying worm - those dreadful sayings of his at which the soul shudders - still are his setting forth thereof. Oh, you whose hearts are still unsurrendered to him, will you provoke him to this? will you force him to hold you down to the consequences of your own doings until you come to see them as he sees them? Then not alone because of the sorrow that must attend the refusal to yield to him, but because such yielding is so right, so blessed, let us cease from the vain and sinful conflict; let the iron no more foolishly think to "break the northern iron and steel," But "let us come and worship and bow down" - not with the knee alone, but in heart "before the Lord our Maker" and our Redeemer. - C.

In order to achieve a purpose there must be sufficient force. The weaker cannot overcome the stronger. In a general clash the firmest will win. You cannot cut granite with a pen knife, nor drill a hole in a rock with an anger of silk. We shall apply this proverb —

I. TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD INDIVIDUALLY.

1. Many Christians are subjected to great temptations and persecutions; mocked, ridiculed, called by evil names. Persecuted one, will you deny the faith? If so, you are not made of the same stuff as the true disciple of Jesus Christ; for when the grace of God is in them, if the world be iron, they are northern iron and steel.

2. We are frequently called to serve God amid great difficulties. Will you say, there is no converting these dark and obdurate souls? Is the iron to break the northern iron and steel? Look at Mont Cenis Tunnel, made through one of the hardest rocks; with a sharp tool, edged with diamond, they have pierced the Alps. As St. Bernard says: "Is thy work hard? set a harder resolution against it; for there is nothing so hard that cannot be cut with something harder still."

3. To labour with non-success, and to wait, is hard work. It is a grand thing for a Christian to continue patiently in well-doing.

II. Applicable to the cause of God in the world — TO THE CHURCH. What power, however like to iron, shall suffice to break the kingdom of Jesus, which is comparable to steel?

1. We hear it said that Romanism will again vanquish England; that the Gospel light, which Latimer helped to kindle, will be extinguished. Atrocious nonsense, if not partial blasphemy. If this thing were of men, it would come to nought; but if it be of God, who shall overthrow it?

2. Others foretell the triumph of infidelity. That the gates of hell are to prevail against the Church; that the pleasure of the Lord is not to prosper in His hand. Who but a lying spirit would thus lay low the faith and confidence of God's people?

III. Apply the principle to THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS EFFORTS WHICH MEN MAKE FOR THEIR OWN SALVATION.

1. The bonds of guilt are not to be snapped by a merely human power.

2. Yet that were an easy task compared with a man renewing his own heart.

3. Do you think you can force your way to heaven by ceremony? Come, sinner, with thy fetters; lay thy wrist at the cross foot, where Christ can break the iron at once.

IV. Applicable to all persons who are making SELF-RELIANT EFFORTS FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS.

1. Our preaching — we try to make it forcible — how powerless it is of itself! We plead, reason, seek goodly words, etc., but the northern iron and steel remain immovable. Though all the apostles reasoned with them, they would turn a deaf ear.

2. The best adapted means cannot succeed. A mother's tears, as she spoke to you of Jesus; the pleadings of a grey-headed father over you — no power to change your heart! The Gospel, though put to you very tenderly by those you love best, leaves you unsaved still! You have been sick, near death, within an inch of doom; yet even the judgments of God have not aroused you.

V. THIS TEXT HAS A VERY SOLEMN APPLICATION TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE REBELS AGAINST GOD. Fight against God, would you? Measure your adversary, I charge you. The wax is about to wrestle with the flame, the tow to contend with the fire.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)