I need thee every hour. Temptations lose their power. Matthew chapter 3. We've been
going through Matthew and we come to this verse. This verse deserves a message
by itself like the one before it. Verses 11 and 12, John said,
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 hand is in his hand, and he will
truly purge his floor. and gather his wheat into the
garner, or Luke says, his garner. But he will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire. Serious message, but yet a blessed
message. It's serious because it speaks
of Christ purging his floor and burning up the chaff, talking
about people. But it's a message of life or
death is what it is. Life or death, salvation or damnation
is to either be wheat or chaff, wheat or tares, sheep or goat. God's people are the world. Scripture talks about the righteous.
It talks about the wicked, one or the other. And then it's blessed
because it speaks of This fan in his hand and his wheats, his
wheat, his people that he gathers into his garden. So it's serious,
but yet it's blessed. Then he asked me what I was going
to preach on tonight. I told her, she said, and she's
keeping Isabella sick tonight. And she said, good, I was hoping
I'd hear that. Well, I said, why? Why were you hoping that? She
said, because it speaks of His hand being in His hand, His wheat. So, I hope you'll be blessed
by it. There's four things. He talks
about His hand. John talks about His floor. John talks about His wheat. He talks about His garden. I thought it interesting, Brother
Patrick, you read in Psalm 29, the very last verse, says the
Lord will give strength unto His people. The Lord will bless
His people with peace. So this is mostly for His people. John said this in another place.
John 3. He said, The Father loveth the
Son, and hath given all things into His hand. Let's look at
his fan here. John said whose fan is in his
John is using this process of winnowing wheat as an illustration
of how Christ will separate God's elect from the people of the
world. God's elect he calls wheat, and
the people of this world, the unbelieving people of this world,
are called chaff. And that's spoken of many times
through scriptures in that way. Wheat, and I meant to bring a
sheaf of it. I stopped one day on the side
of the road. There was a field full of winter
wheat growing, and I couldn't resist it. I stole some wheat,
and I wrapped it up into a sheaf, and I've had it ever since because
it's so beautiful. Have you ever seen a field full
of amber waves of grain? Wheat is a wonderful creation
of our God. It's highly nutritious. It's
a wonderful grain mostly used for bread. And it grows up, each
stalk of wheat grows up in itself from seed. From a corn of wheat
falling into the ground and dying. And that one stalk grows up and
it has many clusters of this seed fruit, if you will, or kernels
of wheat. And those clusters of seed in
each stalk must be separated from the stalk itself, which
is the chaff. The stalk itself and some other
things are useless. They're lifeless. They're worthless.
The chaff is worthless. But the seed, the kernels, have
life in them, nutrition in them. They have the potential to be
made bread. Bread. It's a wonderful thing.
Wheat. And 4,000, for 4,000 of years
that is, at least 4,000, this was done one way, this separating
the wheat from the chaff. It was done one way. There was
a threshing floor, usually outside, to use the wind as this process
of separation. But there was a threshing floor,
a huge area, where they would set aside for this purpose, to
remove the chaff from the wheat. And then the winnower would take
a great big fan or shovel, if you will, and much in the shape
of a man's hand, And he would take those, as they would thresh
that wheat on that floor, and all of that would be separated.
Then they would take that fan in that shovel and throw it up
in. And then the winds that would
come through, see the chaff was very light. There was nothing
to it. Had no substance in it whatsoever. And that wind would blow it away. While the wheat being heavy laden,
The wood falls to the ground. And they keep doing this, but
there's no more chaff. And all you've got is wheat on
this threshing floor. That's the illustration that
John used, that our Lord had John use to separate the wheat
from the chaff. And like the axe, like the axe
that he spoke of laid under the root of the tree, this fan is
God's work. It's Christ Himself. This fan. Look at John chapter 8. Go over
to John chapter 8. This fan in which God uses to
separate the hui, or His people, from the chaff, people of the
world, is His Word. And more particularly, it's the
Word which speaks of Christ Himself. This is how He separates the
elect from the non-elect, God's people from the world, sheep
from goats. The fan is God's Word, and it speaks of Christ
being all in salvation. Look at John 8. He said to some
that came to him, verse 43. John 8, 43. Why do you not understand
my speech? Because you cannot hear my word. Verse 44. You are of your father
the devil. The lust of your father you will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning. He abode not in the
truth. That's God's Word. Because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. In another
place, our Lord said of these false prophets, they speak lies. And He said some people love
to have it so. And they would rather believe
a lie than the truth. Not so with God's people. See,
this is how He separates the people of God. For the people
of the world, verse 47, he that is of God, heareth God's word. You therefore hear them not,
because you're not of God. See, God's words separate the
wheat from the chaff. And we're not just talking about
the Bible. Everybody claims to believe the Bible. No, to preach
the Bible. My preacher preaches the Bible, doesn't he? Well, see, Christ is the Bible. Christ is the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, so help me. God, to Him give
all the prophets witness. When Christ said, I am the way,
the truth and the life, that means that's concerning everything.
The way, there is no other way to God but by Him. Christ said,
I am the truth, and everything that doesn't point to Christ,
give Him all the glory, is life. All other salvation. But by Him,
through Him, for Him, because of Him, in Him is life. And He
said, I am the life. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son, that is an understanding of the Son,
a knowledge of the Son, a love for the Son, Christ in Him, hope
of glory. So it's not just the Bible, but
it's speaking of Christ Himself. And that fan, or this Word, is
in His hand. It says, whose fan? I'll tell
you. Go back to that. It says, whose
fan? Whose fan is it? Christ said,
it's My Word. Why is it that you do not believe
My Word? In another place, He said, the
words that I speak, I speak not of Myself, but the Father which
sent Me. But they are one. These three
are one. It's Their Word. And it's in
His hand. It's in His hand. It's in His
hand to reveal it to whom He will. Can a man by searching
find out God under perfection? No. It's His to reveal it. It's His
to bless it. How else can you explain why
one person will hear this Word and be glad, and another person
hear it and get mad? Huh? How else can you explain
why one person will be weeping while it's being preached, and
another person will be sleeping? How else can you explain why
one person will believe it with all their heart, and another
person will reject it with all their heart? Or one person loves
it, and another person hates it. Another person stays, can't
get enough of it. And another person leaves, and
can't get out quick enough. Because it's in His hand. To
give it to whomsoever He will. His plan, His word. Paul said
this, and here's the question. When will a man be saved? When
will a person be saved? When it pleases God. That's when. Not when they decide. Not when
we want them to. It's not up to us. It's in His
hand. Paul wrote this in Galatians.
He said, he was speaking of his religious path. You've heard
Brother Mike talk about his religious path. I guess I was religious
too. I was Calvinist. I didn't know
Christ until the day that he revealed himself to me. Not doctrine,
but him. But Paul was saying, I had great
gain in my religion, but I was religious. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me
by His grace to reveal His Son in me." He revealed Himself to
him. It's in His hand. It's in His
hand. That's why we pray to the Lord. We don't beg people to do anything,
do we? But we beg the Lord to do something
for us. It's in His hand. His fan is
in His hand. And this Word of the Lord is
what separates and divides. It's in His hand. And look at
the next line. Whose fan is in His hand, and
He will truly purge His floor. His floor. is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof, the world and they that dwell therein." Everything and
everyone in this world, in this earth, is the Lord. All souls
are mine, Scripture says. And there's a sense in which
Christ died, Romans 14 says, that He might be Lord both of
the dead and the living. That He bought this whole world.
He bought the rights to do with it as He pleased. To give eternal
life to as many as the Lord gave Him. But this is speaking particularly
of his church, the threshing floor. It's a threshing floor
that he uses to separate the wheat from the chaff. And go
with me to John 17. John 17. Go over there. You know
these verses, but my, my, what a blessing they are. John 17. The Lord uses His Word to separate
the wheat from the chaff, and He does it in the context of
His church, where His Word is preached. In John 17, verse 16
and 17, praying to His Father, He says of His disciples and
all His people, they are not of the world. even as I am not
of the world. Sanctify them." That word sanctify
is sanctify. That word sanctify is set apart. You remember when the Lord put
a difference between Israel and the Egyptians? You remember that?
Over an accident? What made the difference? Well,
He did. He chose them. They were His
elect. And the difference was He revealed Himself to them,
the living and the true God. while the Egyptians had their
idols. The difference was the Lord revealed to them the only
way of redemption, the blood of the Lamb. He didn't reveal
that to the Egyptians, did he? And the Lord brought them out,
every one of them, because they belonged to Him. And He set them
apart. That's what separated them. He
said in verse 17, sanctify them, separate them from the chaff
through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Verse 14,
He said, I've given them thy Word and the world hath hated
them. Because they're not of the Word. Why is it that when
you try to speak the Word, you just want to tell people you
work with or your family what God's Word says? We don't try
to tell people what we believe or even what John Calvin believed.
We don't do that. I heard my pastor preach a message
and he took issue with us being called a Calvinist. He said,
I'm not a Calvinist. Don't call me that. And that's
right. We don't take any man's name
except Christ. Yeah, I call us a Christian,
but you know, He's not being a Calvinist, and we're not trying
to expound and make men believe Calvinism, are we? Although,
I believe that's just a short term for the gospel. I believe Calvinism is the gospel.
I really do. And I love John Calvin. I'm thankful
for John Calvin. I don't think the world was worthy
of John Calvin. The salt of the earth. Nevertheless, we don't
take His name, do we? We're not trying to get men to
believe His doctrine. It's the doctrine of Christ.
And when we go then with the doctrine of our Lord, just what
our Lord says, why do they get mad at you? Why don't they receive
Him? Professing Christians, you see,
the threshing floor, the visible church, like Israel above them. The Lord went at Israel, didn't
He? Israel was twelve tribes. All of them seemed to be God's
people, didn't they? Were they? Oh no, the Scripture
says they were not all Israel, they were all of Israel. It was
a remnant according to the election of grace. One tribe out of twelve. One tribe out of twelve. Tribe
Judah. And you know why that is. That's Christ's lineage. But my, my. This is what winnows, this is
what separates. We're just trying to tell what
our Lord has said. And the Lord threshes with His
Word. He threshes with His Word. I just read the story of Joseph
again. I can't wait to get through it. We're going to have to wait a
while. When Joseph was going to reveal
himself to his brethren, his brethren, you know, they were
guilty. They were a sorry bunch, sons of Jacob, weren't they?
They were guilty. They should not, Joseph should
not have had mercy on them. They didn't deserve it. But Joseph,
merciful like his Lord, was going to show mercy as soon as he saw
him. He talks about Joseph weeping for his brethren. Just as soon
as he saw them. And all the way through, he'd
hide back from them. Especially when he saw Benjamin. At any
rate, when Joseph first dealt with them, it says he spoke roughly
to them. Didn't he? He spoke through an
interpreter. He didn't speak directly. He
spoke through a man. And he spoke roughly. Why? Because those guilty sons of
Jacob have to be brought down, don't they? Repentance is what
John preached. Repentance is what our Lord preached.
And that's what this Scripture first does. It threshes. The Scripture doesn't speak peace
to a person that doesn't know they're at war. It doesn't. The Scripture's first. God, through
His Word, through His Preacher, speaks of a holy God, an offended
God, a just God, who by no means clearly guilty, and it threshes
them. Well, what happens? When God's
elect, they're going to hear it. And like you've got the wheat,
they're going to fall to the ground. They're going to become
heavy laden with their own sin, the sins of their own sinful.
and they're going to hit the ground. What's the chaff going
to do? I don't want to hear that. I'm out of here. Threshes. Threshes. Threshes with the Word. The child of God hears it. It's
broken. It's threshing. I preached one
time that little passage in Isaiah that talks about there can always
be a threshing, but He does. And God's people are broken by
it, slain by it, convicted by it, humbled by it. They bow at
His feet, they fall to the ground, fall at His feet, fall on their
faces toward God while the chaff leaves, don't they? And one time
Paul said, every wind of doctrine that comes along, I'll go after
that. Every wind of doctrine. Tell us something smooth. Don't
speak so roughly to us. I know you fly away. But we need
this, don't we? Because everyone that is broken
will be healed. Everyone that's brought low will
be raised high. Everyone that's convicted will
be comforted. Everyone that's heart is broken
over sin will get that balm of Gilead. Everyone. Everyone that
knows that they've been at war with God will hear peace. Peace. And so this threshing
floor is his church. Now let's look at his wheat.
This is such a blessing. His wheat. His wheat. If you've
ever grown a garden of any size and gathered the fruits thereof,
there's a lot of labor involved, isn't there? I've been working real hard on
this year's garden. I'm trying not to be proud of
it, because the last time I was, I didn't grow a thing, I think.
Oh my, last time I did, I thought, I'm going to win the Rocky Mountain
Clean and Beautiful Award. I just know it. And man, it was
a total failure. And I deserved it. But this one
I worked even harder on. And I plant and water, but oh,
the Lord has to give the increase to me. But if you've ever worked
hard on a garden, and I know many of you have, much labor
involved in it. I mean, there's a lot of hand
labor involved. Great cost. This is a great cost. I had this soil brought in and
things like that. Went and got manure myself and
dunged it myself and a lot of time, a lot of labor. And if
it produces, if there's produce from that garden, tomatoes and
beans and whatever, potatoes and all that, you take great
pleasure in it, don't you? Something you put a lot of time
in, a lot of effort that costs you a great deal. You take great pleasure in it,
don't you? You almost hate to eat it. You
look at it. Those beans, a big bushel of
beans and corn and all that. It's so wonderful. And you take
great pleasure in it. This is called His wheat. God's
people are called His wheat. Like His people. His children.
His sheep. Sheep of His pasture. And they
are precious to Him. He takes great pleasure in His
people. Now listen with me as we look
at how the Lord takes pleasure in His people. You believe the
Lord takes pleasure in you? You just don't know. You just
don't know. We don't know. I haven't seen,
you haven't heard, need to have entered in the heart of His people
the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. The Lord
takes great pleasure in His people. They feel black in their own
eyes, but He calls them humbly and honorable. He says they're
fair. He doesn't see any spot in them.
None. The book of Hebrews, the Lord
doesn't mention any sins of any of His people. Not the fears
of Abraham, but the faith of Abraham. Not the unbelief of
others, but their faith. Not Noah's drunkenness, but Noah's
faith. Not Rahab's past life, but Rahab's
faith. The Lord takes great pleasure
in His people. He chose them, knowing everything
about them. He took them for His own, with
a perfect understanding of all that they owed, that He has paid. all their liabilities, all their
infirmities, and He'll never break His covenant, though unfaithful
they may be, He will never be. He'll never cast them off. They
will never perish, no matter what. He said, in no way. He'll
never break that covenant. When they fall, He'll raise them
again, and again, and again, and again. When they wander,
He'll go after them every time. Their prayers are pleasant to
Him. Their prayers are pleasant to Him. Like a father loves the
first efforts of a child to speak. You remember your child making
their first effort to talk to you? Sophie is trying her best
now to speak. And the other day she told Mindy,
She wanted her to tell me hello from her. She said, say hi to
Papa Ami. Hi to Papa Ami. Oh man. Trying to tell me hello. Just
trying to tell me hello. Oh, what about what Scripture
says about Abba Father? With groans it cannot be uttered.
He takes great delight, more delight than I take in my own. Much more delight. He takes great
delight. Their prayers are pleasant to Him. The Lord loves the feeble
petitions of His people. Their services are pleasant to
Him. Not only their prayers, but their services are pleasant
to Him. Like a mother delights when a child picks a little daisy
out in the field, a little buttercup. Do you remember that, Mary? They
take a little buttercup and bring it in to the mother. Oh, honey,
you shouldn't have. That's just wonderful. And what do we do for God? What
do we do for God? He takes great delight. He said,
a cup of cold water will receive a disciple a prophet's reward. There's not a word spoken in
love that He forgets. Not an act that they do that
He doesn't reward. He loves the weak attempts of
His people to serve Him. He takes great pleasure in them. And the Lord cares for His, like
this week, the Lord cares for His people. No one has guardians
like His people. He gives His angels charge over
them. When they're born, When they
live, His angels minister to them. His angels encamp around
about them. None have better food than they
do, the bread that He gives them. Their water is out of a rock. They have meat to eat which the
world knows nothing of. None have such company as they
have. The Spirit dwells with them. The Father and the Son
come to them and make their abode with them. Their steps are ordered
from grace to glory. Of those that persecute them,
Christ said, persecute Me. And they that hurt them hurt
the apple of the Lord's eyes. Their trials and their temptations
are all measured by their wives' heavenly father. There's not
one grain of bitterness in their cup that's not good for the health
of their soul. Their temptations, like Job's,
are all under God's control. Satan can't touch a hair of their
head without their Lord's permission. He cannot tempt them above that
which they're able to bear. As a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. He never afflicts willingly,
but only does what is absolutely necessary. He withholds nothing
that is really for their good. And when they're placed in the
furnace, it's to purify them. When they're chastened, it's
for them to be more like Christ. When they're pruned, it's to
make them more fruitful. All things are working together
continually for their good. It's His way. It's His people.
His sheep. And it says here in our text,
He will gather them into His garner. When the time comes,
the Lord will care for them in their death. The Lord cares for
His people in their death. Their times are all in the Lord's
hand. The hairs of their head are numbered.
Not one can fall to the ground without their Father. They're
kept on earth until they're ripe and ready for glory and not one
moment longer. When they've had enough sun and
rain, enough wind and storm, cold and heat, enough when the
ear is perfect, when the stalk is full, then and not until then
will the sickle be put in and they'll be taken home. They're
immortal until God's doing it. There's not a disease on earth
that can take them. There's not anything anyone can
do to prevent them from going. There's not a physician that
can keep them alive when the Lord gives the word. But a thousand
they call at their right hand, ten thousand at their right hand,
it will not come nigh them until the Lord says so. And when they
come to their deathbed, the everlasting arms of the Lord will be round
about them, and He'll make their bed. And when they die, they'll
die like Moses according to the Word of the Lord, at the right
time and the right way. When they breathe their last
breath, they'll fall asleep and cry, and they're at once carried
away like Lazarus into the bosom of Abraham. It's a blessed thing
to be one of God's people. And when the Lord comes a second
time, He's going to gather all His people into a place of safety,
and He calls it His garner, which is another way of saying they're
in Christ now, they're in Christ then, they're in Christ forever. And He'll send His angels to
gather them from every quarter of the earth. The sea will give
up the dead that are in it, the graves the dead that are in them.
The living will be changed. Not one poor sinner who's ever
laid hold of Christ by faith will be waiting in that company,
but they'll all be gathered together. Not one single grain of wheat
will be missing. Not one hoof nor hair left behind. When the judgments fall upon
this wicked world, it will not come to them. And there's a garner
waiting for every grain of wheat. And He'll gather them into His
garner and take them unto Himself. Oh, it's a blessed thing to be
His wheat. The chaff, it's an unpleasant
subject. Good. It's an unpleasant subject,
but a needful one. The Lord speaks much of it. And
it's a fearful thing. to not believe such a gracious
God, such a faithful God. But the chaff, he says, he calls
them the chaff. Not his, but the chaff. Nothing to him. What's the chaff
to the wheat? Nothing. Nothing. He says he'll
burn them up. If you find any of those things
in yourself, He must be weak. You still hang around when it's
all over. He must be weak. You find yourself broken, bow
down, lift up your head. You're redemption draws nigh.
Okay. Stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for the
fan, the fan of Your Word that went us, Your people. We need it. Thank you, Lord,
for the rough words. Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you for the words that break us, the words that heal
us. Thank you, Lord, for the words that convict us, the words
that comfort us. Lord, thank you. Thank you. Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth. Whom the Lord chasteneth, he
gives peace and instruction. Thank you, Lord, for your work.
Again, we thank you, Lord. We preach in part. We know in
part. And when that which is perfect is come, know even as
we've been known. But we thank You for what we
do know. Thank You for what You have showed us. Thank You for
what You have revealed unto us. Continue. Continue, O Lord, to
open our understanding. Wean us from this world. Separate
all in this world from us like chaff from the wheat, Lord. It's
vanity of vanity. All is vanity. Let it not cling
to us, but let us cling to Thee. Set our affection on things above.
Not on the chaff of this world, but on Christ that sitteth at
the right hand of the majesty on high. We look forward to that
great day when you come, Lord. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Prepare us, make us fit to be
partakers of the angels in light, the saints in light. It's in
Christ's name we give thanks and we're here tonight. Amen. It's good. It's good.