I. The human dream is empty, but the Divine word is substantial. Chaff is a mere husk, but wheat is all grain. So the antagonists of the Bible deal in vague speculations or empty negations, whereas the Scriptures are positive and satisfying.
II. The human dream is destitute of nourishment for man's spiritual nature, while the Divine word is strengthening and ministers to its growth. Chaff does not feed, but wheat gives nutriment. So mere speculation has in it no educating and ennobling influence. It occupies the mind without strengthening the character. The man who indulges in it makes no progress, but, instead of flowing onward with the current, he is caught in some whirling eddy, round which he is continually revolving. But the Christian believer grows. His character is ever gaining new development. He never reaches his ideal, but still "follows after."
III. The human dream has no aggressiveness in it to arrest or overcome the evils that are in the world, but the Divine word is regenerating and reforming. "Is not My word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"
IV. The human dream is shortlived, but the Divine word is enduring. Chaff is easily blown away, but the wheat remains. And so the "little systems" of human speculation "have their day, and cease to be;" but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. Like some impregnable fortress, in the hollows around which you may pick up specimens of the various missiles which from age to age have been hurled against it, whilst its walls remain unbroken; the Word of God has withstood for centuries the attacks of many successive armies of antagonists. There is deep truth in Beza's motto for the French Protestant Church, which surmounts the device of an anvil surrounded by blacksmiths, at whose feet are many broken hammers:
"Hammer away, ye hostile bands,
Your hammers break, God's anvil stands."
W. M. Taylor, Contrary Winds,p. 21.
References: Jeremiah 23:28. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xv., No. 862.Jeremiah 23:29. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 202.Jeremiah 23:35. J. Hiles Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit,vol, xvi., p. 394.Jeremiah 24:1-3. T. G. Horton, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 149. Jeremiah 24:7. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xx., No. 1206. Jeremiah 26:4-6. T. Binney, Good Words,1861, p. 300.