The Great Separation # 1

The Great Separation # 1

"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor. He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matt. 3:12).

Wheat or chaff? You see my question - for whom do you think it is meant? It is meant for every man, woman, and child in the world. And among others, it is meant for you.

The question is drawn from the verse of Scripture which is now before your eyes. The words of that verse were spoken by John the Baptist. They are a prophecy about our Lord Jesus Christ, and a prophecy which has not yet been fulfilled. They are a prophecy which we shall all see fulfilled one day, and God alone knows how soon.

I invite you this day to consider the great truths which this verse contains. I invite you to listen, while I unfold them and set them before you in order. Who knows but this text may prove a word in season to your soul! Who knows but my question may help to make this day the happiest day in your life! Listen to one who loves your soul, and would sincerely help to save it, or draw it nearer to Christ.

1. Let me show you in the first place, the two great classes into which the world may be divided. There are only two classes of people in the world, in the sight of God - and both are mentioned in the text which begins this paper. There are those who are called the wheat - and there are those who are called the chaff.

Viewed with the eye of man, the earth contains many different sorts of inhabitants. Viewed with the eye of God, it only contains two. Man's eye looks at the outward appearance - this is the only part of which He takes any account. And tried by the state of their hearts, there are but two classes into which people can be divided - either they are wheat or they are chaff.

Who are the WHEAT in the world? The wheat means all men and women who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ - all who are led by the Holy Spirit - all who have felt themselves sinners, and fled for refuge to the salvation offered in the Gospel - all who love the Lord Jesus, and live to the Lord Jesus, and serve the Lord Jesus - all who have taken Christ for their only confidence, and the Bible and the Holy Spirit, for their only guide, and regard sin as their deadliest enemy, and look to Heaven as their only home. All such, of every church, name, nation, people, and tongue - of every rank, station, condition, and degree - all such are God's wheat!

Show me men of this kind of people anywhere, and I know what they are. I know that they and I may not agree in all particulars - but I see in them the handiwork of the King of kings, and I ask no more. I know not whence they came, and where they found their religion - but I know where they are going, and that is enough for me. They are the children of my Father in Heaven. They are part of His wheat.

All such, though sinful, and vile, and unworthy in their own eyes - are the precious part of mankind. They are the sons and daughters of God the Father. They are the delight of God the Son. They are the habitation of God the Spirit. The Father beholds no iniquity in them - they are the members of His dear Son's body - in Him He sees them - and is well pleased. The Lord Jesus discerns in them, the fruit of His own travail and work upon the Cross - and is well satisfied. The Holy Spirit regards them as spiritual temples which He Himself has raised - and rejoices over them. In a word, they are the wheat of the earth - God's wheat!

Who are the CHAFF in the world? The chaff means all men and women who have no saving faith in Christ, and no sanctification of the Spirit - whoever they may be. Some of them perhaps are infidels - and some are formal Christians. Some are sneering Sadducees - and some are self-righteous Pharisees. Some of them make a point of keeping up a kind of "Sunday religion" - and others are utterly  careless of everything except their own pleasure and the world. But all alike, who have the two great marks already mentioned - no faith and no sanctification - all such are chaff. From the atheists Paine and Voltaire - to the formal churchmen who can think of nothing but outward ceremonies - to the unconverted admirer of sermons in the present day - all, all are standing in one rank before God all, all are chaff!

They bring no glory to God the Father. They honor not the Son, and so do not honor the Father who sent Him. They neglect that mighty salvation, which countless millions of angels admire. They disobey that Word which was graciously written for their learning. They listen not to the voice of Him who condescended to leave Heaven and die for their sins. They pay no tribute of service and affection to Him who gave them life, and breath, and all things. And therefore God takes no pleasure in them. He pities them - but He reckons them no better than chaff.

Yes - you may have rare intellectual gifts, and high mental attainments - you may sway kingdoms by our counsel, move millions by your pen, or keep crowds in breathless attention by your tongue - but if you have never submitted yourself to the yoke of Christ, and never honored His Gospel by heartfelt reception of it -  then you are nothing but chaff in His sight. Natural gifts without saving grace, are like a row of ciphers without an unit before them; they look big - but they are of no value. The vilest insect that crawls in the filth - is a nobler being than you are! It fills its place in creation, and glorifies its Maker with all its power - and you do not. You do not honor God with heart, and will, and intellect, and members, which are all His. You invert His order and arrangement, and live as if time was of more importance than eternity, and body better than soul. You dare to neglect God's greatest gift - His own incarnate Son. You are cold about that subject which fills all Heaven with hallelujahs. And so long as this is the case, you belong to the worthless part of mankind. You are the chaff of the earth.

Let this thought be deeply engraved in your mind, whatever else you forget, there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are wheat - and there are chaff!

There are many and various minds in every congregation that meets for religious worship. There are some who attend for a mere form - and some who really desire to meet Christ; some who come there to please others - and some who come to please God; some who bring their hearts with them, and are not soon tired - and some who leave their hearts behind them, and reckon the whole service as weary work. But the eye of Jesus only sees two divisions in the congregation - the wheat and the chaff.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 2)