Jeremiah 6:30

Refuse Silver

Refuse silver. Jeremiah 6:30.

“Refuse silver!” What did the prophet Jeremiah mean by “refuse silver”? And why did he tell the people of Judah that they were like refuse silver.

As many of you know, silver is rarely found as pure silver. It is often found mixed with other metals such as copper or platinum, and before it can be made use of it has to be separated from these. The alloy, as the mixture is called, has to be refined or purified. Nowadays there are several ways in which this can be done, but in Jeremiah's day there was only one, and it is to it that he refers when he speaks of “refuse silver.” In the prophet's time the alloy was mixed with lead and the whole was melted in a furnace. Then a current of air was passed over the molten mixture. This caused the lead to combine with the impurities. It carried them away and the pure silver only was left.

Now Jeremiah pictured himself as a refiner of silver trying to refine or purify the nation. He was continually giving the Jews warnings and messages from God telling them to repent of their wicked ways, pleading with them to give up their naughtiness, their impurities. He was heating the fire, he was blowing the bellows. He was doing his best to make the people turn to God, but in vain. They were like silver that refused to be purified. They would not separate themselves from their sin. They would not give up their wickedness. And so, Jeremiah told them, they were like “refuse (or “impure”) silver.”

It is a far cry from the days of Jeremiah, but I think there are still plenty of grown-up people who are like refuse silver. They remain wicked because they want to be wicked. And there are lots of little people who are uncommonly like refuse silver too. They won't be good because they prefer to be naughty.

Now, I am rather sorry for those who won't be good because they prefer to be naughty. You see, they are making such a huge mistake. Perhaps they are mixing up goodness and “goody-goodness” which are two very different things. Perhaps they are just determined to have their own way whether it be bad or good. Perhaps they are like the troublesome small boy whose mother said to him, “Johnnie, I don't believe you know what it is to be good!” “Yes, I do!” promptly replied Johnnie. “It's not doing what you want to do.” Perhaps they are what Scotch people call “contrary.” When someone wants them to do a certain thing they immediately want to do the very opposite. Whatever their reason may be, they are acting very foolishly. And if there are any of them here today I want to tell them three things.

1. The first is that goodness means happiness. Did you ever try to swim up-stream or against a strong current? That is what you are trying to do when you are persistently naughty. You are going against God and against good. And going against God and against good never brought anyone happiness yet. It may bring you at the moment a kind of excitement which you mistake for happiness; but nobody who goes on deliberately doing evil is ever really happy. God made man to be good, and that is why. The better man is the happier he will be. Goodness and happiness are like the parallel lines of a railroad track. They are found always side by side.

2. Then goodness means usefulness. It is only if you are doing right, it is only if you are pure and good, that you will be of value to the world. Refuse silver is worthless, and so are deliberately naughty people. Have you ever tried to work a sewing-machine? Have you ever tried to work it backwards? You know that the wheel will turn backwards as well as forwards. You can reverse it quite easily. Yes, but it won't do any sewing; it will merely tangle the thread. Those who prefer naughtiness to goodness are working their machine of life backwards. They are succeeding only in making a failure.

3. In the last place, goodness means strength. It does not mean weakness, as some people would make you believe. These people are probably thinking of “goody-goodness,” which, as we said already, is quite another thing. Goodness genuine goodness and purity is a power so great that there is nothing it may not accomplish.

They tell a story of the church in the quaint little town of Mont St. Michel on the coast of Normandy. The town is built, as you may have read in the geography books, on a rock. The story goes that a certain good man called Aubert was bidden in a dream to build on the rock a church to God. He and his fellow-laborers set to work to prepare a foundation, but it was hard labor, for the rock was steep and difficult. At last they succeeded, except for one huge boulder which was so enormous that none of their pulleys or contrivances could move it out of the way.

Then Aubert had a dream, and in his dream he was told to send for the sons of a certain peasant, and they would move the stone. He did this, and twelve strong men came at his bidding. They pushed and pulled, but still the rock would not move. Aubert was puzzled, but he bethought him that there might be still another son, so he asked the men if they had yet a brother. They replied that they had, but he was only a child. Aubert desired that he too should be brought, and the story tells that when the child set his hand against the rock the whole mass crashed down to the foot of the mount where it lies to this day.

Boys and girls, that is more a legend than real history, but there is a lesson in it for you and me. It reminds us that goodness the goodness of purity and innocence is not weak, but is one of the strongest things in the world.