Select the Precious From the Vile

Back in Jer. 15:19, this love of God's words is followed up with: "Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before Me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth." The great concern of believers in an evil day is not to be meddling with the vile, but to be seeking to do good to the precious.
The gospel seeks the vile because it is God's way of making the vile to be precious. But the people of God are not to occupy themselves with what is bad, except to reject it. They are to seek what is good, to proclaim it. This is precisely what is pressed upon Jeremiah: "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth." That is, you will be enabled to utter God's truth and God's grace. You will be the vessel of His mind, which the mouth is. "Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." That is, do not meddle with them, but if you love His mind, His words, His truth, you will be made a blessing to them. The great point is the selection of the precious from the vile.
"And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee." The unfailing protection of God is with His testimony as long as there is one, and He Himself is with His witnesses.
W. Kelly