Let us turn once more to God's
Word and turning for our text to words that we find in that
portion that we read in Matthew. Matthew chapter 3 and I'll read
verses 11 and 12 taking the latter verse for our
text but seeking to establish something of the context as we
read the previous verse it's the words of the Baptist whose
ministry of course we are introduced to at the beginning of this chapter
and here at verse 11 John declares I indeed baptize you with water
unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than I whose
shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will
surely purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garden, but
he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." So in particular,
these words spoken by John concerning the Lord Jesus, he says at verse
12, "...whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his
floor and gather his weight into the garner and he will burn up
the chaff with unquenchable fire." John was that one spoken of in
the Old Testament in the prophecy of Isaiah particularly there
in the 40th chapter of that book we have him set before us as
the harbinger or the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. And Matthew
is referring to that particular scripture here in verse 3. With regards to John, he says,
This is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, Isaiah
being the Greek form of the Hebrew name Isaiah saying the voice
of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the Lord
make his paths straight and we have some detail given to us
in that particular chapter of Isaiah with regards to the nature
of John's own ministry there in Isaiah 40 verse 6 the boy
said cry and he said what shall I cry all flesh is grass and
all the goodliness thereof is the flower of the field the grass
withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth
upon it surely the people is grass the grass withereth the
flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand for forever. Poor John's ministry was surely
a ministry that was very searching and very sifting. He spoke so plainly concerning
all the frailty of man and not only his frailty as a creature
but also as one who was alas in that fallen condition a sinful
creature the people nothing more than like the grass in the field
which today is and tomorrow is no more John's ministry then
was that that came very close but if that was true with regards
to the ministry of the forerunner. How much more do we see it when
we come to consider him of whom John was speaking. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that one whose ministry is even more searching, more
winnowing than was the case with John the Baptist. And so in the
words of the text John says concerning the Savior whose fan is in his
hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat
into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. The imagery is that of the arable
farmer as he gathers in his crop. The wheat must be beaten with
the flail in order that there might be that separation of the
head from the stalk. And also, of course, there must
be that that follows when the grain and the chaff are winnowed. It's always a process of separation. and the Lord God himself says
through the ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah what is the chaff to
the wheat it is the wheat that the farmer is looking for at
the end of all this winnowing process and here in the text
we have mention of the fan whose fan is in his hand the words
literally refers to some sort of implement, some sort of large
shovel that might be used so that the mixed peat can be tossed
into the air and the wind will come and blow away the chaff
and the pure grime will then fall again to the ground. And so it says he will truly
purge his flaw. The imagery is being used as
a description of the type of ministry that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself is going to exercise. It's John that's speaking, as
I've said, the opening words in those days. John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent ye for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but then we read through. through
chapter 3 into chapter 4 and we concluded on those words at
verse 17 in that chapter where we see the ministry of Christ
from that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand and so the subject matter that
I want us to consider for a little while this morning concerns that
ministry, that winnowing ministry of the Lord Jesus. Now ultimately
Ultimately that ministry of separation is to take place in the great
day of judgment. We know that he who came in that
state of humiliation, who came to make the great sacrifice for
sins, is to return in power and in great glory. we should be
looking for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, that great
Second Advent. And He Himself said during the
days of His ministry here on the earth, that the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, and hath
given Him authority to execute judgment also because He is the
Son of Man. Or when the Lord returns him,
then the books are to be opened and the final judgment will be
made and Christ Himself will make the separation, He'll separate
the sheep from the goats. The end of this Gospel of Matthew,
the Lord very solemnly speaks of these things there in Verse 31 of chapter 25, When
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And
before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate
them one from another. As a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on the left. then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand come ye blessed of my father inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world
and so forth the Lord speaks so clearly so plainly of that
that is to take place and looking at the words that we have in
this particular text in Matthew 3 at verse 12 the The tenses here are all in the
future. He will throughly purge his floor
and gather his weight into the garner, but he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire. Speaking of some future work,
and all the terms that are used here are those that are applicable
to that awful great day of burning. that day of judgment in the parable
of the tares that we find later in the 13th chapter what does
the Lord say there? let both grow together until
the day of harvest the separation is to be made at the end There
are the tares that have been sown so wickedly amongst the
wheat, but no separation ultimately until that great day. All the language that is being
employed then, here in our text, seems to have some bearing upon
that that is yet to come, the great day, the final day of separation. Again, when we think of the language
here, it reminds us somewhat of those things that we find
written in the opening psalm. The language of the psalm is
there concerning the ungodly. Ungodly, it says, are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. And one more example in Isaiah's
prophecy, and this time there in the 41st chapter we see the
language that is employed to describe God's work of judgment. Verse 15 of Isaiah 41, Behold,
I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having
teeth. Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and shalt make the hills as chaff, Thou shalt find them, and the
wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.
And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the
Holy One of Israel." All the imagery that we have then in
this text this morning is that of God's work of judgment, His
work of separation. We read of the unquenchable fire. He will burn up the chaff. It
says with unquenchable fire. That's not annihilation. That's not annihilation. In that 25th chapter that we
referred to where the Lord is speaking of His second coming
and the final judgment, to those whom he has separated from the
sheep and put on his left hand, the goats, he says, depart from
me ye cursed into everlasting fire, reserved for the devil
and his angels, everlasting, unquenchable, where they were
and dieth not, and the fire is not quenched is what the Lord
says on another occasion in the gospel and He repeats that solemn
words on some three occasions where their worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched. Now the conscience is constantly
gnawing, the worm dieth not. No unbelief you see in that awful
place which the Lord speaks of as hell. They know that God is
And there they know that they were created by God, and man
of course was created to enjoy his God. He was made in God's
image, he was made after God's likeness. He can only find his
true rest in God. And there they are, eternally
separated from the only source of real joy, and the conscience
always knowing. And the fire is not quenched.
You have to recognize that there is in our text some reference
to that final separation. However, however, principally
here I say that the reference is really to an imminent work
that the Lord Jesus Christ was about to begin. Really there
is a reference here to the work that the Lord Jesus Christ is
pleased to accomplish in this day of grace. Look at what is actually said
in verse 10. John says, Now, and now also
the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Again, in our text,
verse 12, Uspan is in His hands. He is about to undertake the
work. And then, in verse 13, we are
told, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to
be baptized of John. John has been speaking of something
that is currently or very shortly about to take place, the axe
laid onto the root of the tree, one who is found is in his hands,
then cometh Jesus. Or the Lord's ministry then,
that ministry that was about to commence and is being baptized
by John in the river Jordan did mark the commencement of his
public ministry. And that ministry was clearly
a ministry in which he made a division between men. His ministry was
a searching ministry. Even in the Day of Grace his
ministry is one that makes a separation between men and men. It's said
back in Luke chapter 2 where we read in the opening
chapters of Luke some detail concerning his birth before ever
he has commenced his public ministry behold his child is set for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel. His little boy has
been born. There is a ministry that he is
going to exercise in Israel and the Lord Jesus himself as he
exercises that ministry tells us that His ministry is one that
will make a separation, make a difference. Look at the language
that we find in Luke chapter 12 and there at verse 51, these
are the words of Christ, Suppose ye that I am come to give peace
on earth, I tell you nay, but rather division. For from henceforth
there shall be five in one house, divided, three against two, and
two against three. The father shall be divided against
the son, and the son against the father, the mother against
the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. The Lord is giving a description of his own
ministry, the ministry that he himself was exercising at that
time. Where is it? Where is it that
the Lord Jesus exercises his ministry? Well, it is spoken
of here in the text as his flaw. His fan is in his hand, it says,
and he will throughly purge his flaw. The reference is to Israel. The reference is to Israel. when He comes. He comes where? Not to the Gentiles, but to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. He comes unto His own. And Israel is really, as we know,
a remarkable type of the church. His floor. Again, going back
to the Old Testament in the book of the Prophet Isaiah, we find
this statement, all my threshing and the corn of my floor. That's
how God is describing His people, that He's threshing at the corner
of His floor. And we have something similar
in the ministry of another of the prophets, Amos. When Amos
speaks of Israel, he says there in Amos 9 and verse 9, for lo,
I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all
nations as corn is sifted in a sieve, neither shall the least
grain fall to the ground." In all the Lord's dealings with
His people, there in the Old Testament, His dealings with
the children of Israel, the various judgments that He visits upon
them, it's all a sifting process. It's all a separating process.
even when He sends them amongst the nations, when they are sent
away into exile. He is sifting them, He says,
like corn is sifted in a sieve, and yet the least corn never
falls to the ground. He always preserves that that
is the true spiritual Israel. There's that separation of the
precious from the vile. It's a marked end of the true
Church. when the Lord is doing that great work, that separating
work. Here is the mark of the true
servant of God. Look at the ministry of John
the Baptist. John was, as the Lord goes on
to say in chapter 11, he was the greatest of all the prophets. There was not a greater. than
John amongst all the prophets of the Old Testament. And John's
ministry, as we said at the outset, was very much a searching ministry,
how close he came in the things that he said. Here at verse 7,
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them, O generation of vipers who were sworn dutifully
from the wrath to come, bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance and think not to say within yourselves we have Abram
to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham." They could and they
did make their boast in Abram. They were Abram's seed. They
were those who were the natural descendants of Abram and Isaac
and Jacob. They were the children of Israel.
But what was that? Oh, John, you see, he speaks
so clearly and so plainly. Well, if John's ministry was
a close ministry and a searching ministry, how much more was that
the case with the Lord Jesus Christ? As we read through the
Gospels, we see it. We referred in times past to
those verses that we find in John's Gospel. on three separate
occasions. In John 7, verse 43, again in
chapter 9, verse 16, and furthermore in chapter 10, verse 19. And what do we read? There was
a division. There was a division among the people because of Him,
because of the Lord Jesus. Or it says, there was a division
because of these sayings. His person was an offense to
them. His preaching was an offense
to them. He caused there to be a division. Now, in the sixth
chapter of John, that long chapter, our late friend Sidney Norton
used to say it was the chapter of the blessed diminishings. John chapter 6. The multitudes
are there at the beginning of the chapter. Christ performs
that remarkable miracle of the feeding of the five thousand.
and they want to come and they want to take him and make him
a king. But the ministry of the Lord
throughout the chapter so searches and so sifts the multitude. We
come to the end and it appears that even the twelve might forsake
him. The contrast between the beginning
of John 6 and the end of of chapter 6. He says to the twelve, will you
also go over? And it's Peter who comes forward
again and utters remarkable words. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God. But the Lord says, have not I
chosen you twelve? And one of you is a devil. He
spoke concerning Judas Iscariot, the one who was going to be trained,
though he was one of the twelve. But see how the Lord is sifting
the multitudes in this chapter. We're told at verse 66, from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. And the connection there with
what he said previously, from that time, is the way in which
verse 66 opens but look at the previous verse the Lord said
therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except
it were given unto him of my father from that time it was
as the Lord spoke so plainly of the sovereignty of God that
no man could come except it were given to him of the father in
heaven No man would ever understand these things, except God himself
was pleased to enlighten their minds. That a man can receive
nothing freely, except it is given to him from heaven. The
men can do nothing to help themselves, to save themselves. No, it's
an offense. The sovereignty of the grace
of God. And this is the ministry of the Lord Jesus, it is. as
dear Sidney Norton used to say, the chapter of the blessed diminishings
that ministry of the Lord Jesus that was so searching and so
sifting and so though there were many who would have come and
seized hold of Him to make Him their King yet by the end all
the disciples are now wandering away His ministry, His preaching
is so offensive to them And what was true in the ministry of the
Lord Jesus was also true in the ministry of his apostles. As Paul says at the end of 2
Corinthians 2, we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them
that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the
savour of death unto death, to the other the savour of life
unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? How Paul felt
it as he exercised his ministry. We have the record in Acts. What
persecutions! When we come to read the epistles,
how we see in a church like that at Corinth, a church so greatly
favoured by God with remarkable gifts, and yet how false teachers
come in amongst them. The ministry then of the apostles.
As they sought to be faithful to the Lord Jesus, it was in
the same vein as that that we see in the Lord Jesus. Going
back into the Old Testament, think of the language that was
spoken concerning the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah. God
says to him there in chapter 15, If thou take forth the precious
from the vial, thou shalt be as my man. This is what we have
then here in our text. Yes, some reference to the great
final day of judgment. But primarily, John is speaking
of that ministry that the Lord was about to commence in his
floor. Oh, how he sits, whose fan is
in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his
wheat into the garden, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire. He is that one that we see also
when we come to the end of scripture as he addresses those seven churches
in chapters two and three of the book of the Revelation we
have that vision given first of all in the first chapter John
is favoured on the Isle of Patmos he sees the glorified Christ
and seeks to describe the vision that he is favoured to behold
and amongst other things he says his eyes were as a flame of fire. And then there's a letter to
the church of Thyatira in the second chapter And there, verse
18, it says, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his
eyes like unto a flame of fire. That's how he is spoken of. Just
as John had seen it in the opening chapter. How the people in Thyatira,
in that church, are reminded of this one. And he goes on to
say, verse 23, all the churches shall know that I am he that
searches the reins and the heart. He searches the reins, he searches
the hearts of men. Oh, his ministry is a distinguishing
ministry, a separating ministry even in that glorified state
throughout the day of grace. Now, Such a ministry is necessary,
I say, for at least two reasons. There's a negative and there's
a positive. The ministry of the Lord Jesus continues, you see,
throughout the day of grace. That's what we see in the book
of the Revelation. He's glorified. And yet He's
there in the churches, He's there in that church of Thyatira, as
that one, as we just said, whose eyes are a flame of fire, but
all the churches All the churches shall know that I am he that
searcheth the reins and the heart, he says. Why is it so? Well, first of all, there is
a negative reason. There must be the exposing of
those whose religion is not true, those whose religion is a false
religion. The religion of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees, as John speaks against these here in
verse 7. Now, we see what the profession of these
people is. Those who are satisfied with
themselves. Verse 9, John says, Seek not
to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father.
Oh, they are well pleased. Why? They are, as we said, the
very descendants of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. Self-satisfaction. We are the
people. We are the people. When the Lord speaks again of
the publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18 These two men go to
the temple at the hour of prayer, the despised publican, the man
who's gathering taxes for the despised Romans. But not only is he a tax gatherer
for the occupying forces of Rome, but he's one who is seeking to
feather his own nest. That's how those publicans operated. They abused their position. They
were much despised. And here is this publican going
to the temple. but he goes together with the
Pharisee and do you remember how the Lord speaks of these
two men? the publican standing afar off
cannot lift up his eyes to heaven smites upon his breast and cries
out God be merciful to me a sinner or the Pharisee he comes near
and he says he prayed thus with himself he prayed thus with himself
I thank thee that I am not as other men are nor as this public. But you see what the Lord says
concerning that Pharisaic prayer, he prayed thus with himself,
his prayer went no further than himself. It doesn't enter into the ears
of the Lord God of Sabaoth, the Lord God of hosts. And here of
the Pharisees and the Sadducees, John says, they say within themselves. Oh, it's a self-satisfying religion
and nothing more. It was that publican, that despised
man, Christ says, who goes to his house justified rather than
the other because he comes only to plead for mercy. God. God
be merciful to me, a sinner. That was the language of the
true penitent. Now the Lord is pleased to hear
that prayer, whereas that of the false professor, the religion
of the Pharisee is altogether rejected. We have it again in
the ministry of the Lord in the 9th chapter of John, that great
chapter that speaks about Christ performs a notable miracle and
He gives sight to the man who was born blind the man who had
been put out of the synagogue excommunicated because he acknowledged
the goodness of the Lord in granting him eyes to serve and the Jewish authorities had
agreed amongst themselves that if any man was to acknowledge
Christ he must be put out And we come to the end of that chapter.
And the Lord speaks sharp words again to those Pharisees. If
ye were blind, He says, ye should have no sin. But now ye say,
we see. Therefore your sin remaineth.
All their boast, all that they looked to of themselves was as
nothing. They were blind men. They didn't understand the ways
of God, the grace of God. the religion of the hypocrite,
then the Lord will expose it and reject it. Again, looking
at the language that the Lord employs when he addresses those
churches in the Revelation, the language that he speaks to the
church at Sardis at the beginning of chapter 3 in Revelation. Thou hast denied that thou livest
and art dead. That's what the Lord says to
that church. Thou hast denied that thou livest. What is it? It's nothing more
than a night. And the Lord will expose these things. The hypocrite's
faith. It's like the chaff. It's light. It's empty. It's useless. It's driven away of the wind.
All we read of those who are tossed to and thrown, carried
about with every wind of doctrine, nothing substantial to them.
The ungodly, they're like the chaff which the wind driveth
away. And the Lord will expose these things. This is what John
is saying concerning the ministry of the Lord Jesus, that ministry
that was so imminent. that miniature that he will very
soon be exercising after his baptizing. His fan is in his
hand, he will surely purge his floor and gather his weight into
the garner, but he will burn up the chap with unquenchable
fire. There's that negative aspect,
that exposing of what is not true but false. But then also
there is the positive. Well thank God, we have the negatives
and we are not to be afraid of the negatives. But we don't just have the negative,
there is also the positive here. Here is a ministry that will
be an encouragement to those who are truly the Lords. The old Puritan John Flavel says,
it is false grace that is shy and cares not to be examined.
False grace. The false profession doesn't
like to be examined, doesn't like to be searched out. The
implication is that where there is true grace, it wants to be
tried, and tested, and searched, and sifted. There is that desire,
you see, where faith is real. And faith that has been wrought
of God, it wants something that comes close. We see it in the
language of David in the psalm that we sang from in the metrical
version. Remember the end of that 139th
psalm? That psalm that is such a celebration
of the omnipresence and the omniscience of God. Our God is everywhere,
our God sees all things. Nothing can be hid from God.
And when David comes to the end of the psalm, what does he say? Search me. Search me, O God,
and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in them, and lead me in the
way everlasting." And it is that that we see time, and time, and
time, and time again in the language of the people of God. And we
see it there in the Old Testament. We see it in Job. that man who
was so sorely tried what remarkable experiences how God sifted that
man and Job there in chapter 31 at verse 6 says let me be
weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity he
wants it to be so because he wants to know that what he has
is real, genuine Again, in the language of the Psalm, Psalm
26, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my veins and my heart. It's the same as we find really
at the end of the 139th Psalm. This is the prayer of the godly
man. He wants the Lord to examine him. Everyone that doeth evil hateth
the light, neither cometh to the light that is lest his deeds
should be reproved but he that doeth truth cometh to the light
that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God
is what we read in that third chapter of John there's the contrast
you see there's the contrast there are those who don't want
to come to the light they don't want to be searched but there
are those the godly who wants to know that what they have is
something that has been wrought of God in their souls. Oh, there is that then that is
so positive. It's the mark of those who are
the true children of God. They see the point, the purpose
of that examination. They examine themselves. There's
a place for that. Examine yourselves. Prove your
own selves. No, you're not your own selves.
O that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate, says
the Apostle. We are to look to ourselves.
But then it's not just looking to ourselves. if we look to ourselves
and examine ourselves and have God come by his word as he were
and so search us by his word is it not that we might be caused
to see that our only hope is altogether outside of ourselves
we must be looking on to the Lord Jesus pour not on myself
too long lest it sink the lower look to Jesus kind as strong
mercy joined with power, and we have to look to Him. Yes, we look to ourselves, but
it's to be, as McShane would say, it's that one look at self,
but then a ten, a hundred, a thousand looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that one who John comes to
direct us to and how John speaks of him even here in the words
of our text that ministry that the Lord is pleased to exercise
even in this day of grace his hand is in his hand he will truly
purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he
will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire then comes Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him Oh, then comes the Lord
Jesus. And then again there in verse
17 of chapter 4, from that time Jesus began to preach and to
say, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Oh, He is
that One who comes to preach faith and repentance and that
faith and repentance of which He preaches He is able also to
bestow, He's a Prince, He's a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins. And now we have to be those,
if we would know anything of faith, we have to look on to
Him. Looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
says the Apostle. Oh yes, we have to look to Him
and look to Him in all that gracious ministry that He is pleased to
exercise. here in the Gospel, in the Day
of Grace, the acceptable time, even the Day of Salvation. For the Lord grant then that
we might bear that mark of those who are His true children, that
mark of the true Church. When He comes to purge His floor,
He will through purge His floor. Almighty do it in our own hearts,
individually also, for His name's sake. Amen.