The Great Separation # 3

The Great Separation # 3

Before Christ comes, I do not expect to see a perfect Church. There cannot be such a thing. The wheat and the chaff, in the present state of things - will always be found together. I pity those who leave one church and join another, because of a few faults and unsound members. I pity them because they are fostering ideals which never can be realized. I pity them, because they are seeking that which cannot be found. I see chaff everywhere. I see imperfections and infirmities of some kind in every church on earth. I believe there are few tables of the Lord, if any, where all the communicants are converted. I often see loud-talking professors, exalted as saints. I often see holy and contrite believers, set down as having no grace at all. I think that if men are too scrupulous, they may go fluttering about, like Noah's dove, all their days, and never find rest.

Do you desire a perfect Church? You must wait for the day of Christ's appearing. Then, and not until then - you will see a glorious Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, or any such thing. Then, and not until then - the floor will be purged.

Before Christ comes, I do not look for the conversion of the world. How can it be, if He is to find both wheat and chaff side by side in the day of His second coming? I believe some Christians expect that missions will fill the earth with the knowledge of Christ, and that little by little, sin will disappear, and a state of perfect holiness gradually glide in. I cannot see with their eyes! I think they are mistaking God's purposes, and sowing bitter disappointment for themselves. I expect nothing of the kind. I see nothing in the Bible, or in the world around me, to make me expect it. I have never heard of a single church entirely converted to God, anywhere. And why am AI to look for a different result from the preaching of the Gospel in other lands? I only expect to see a few raised up as witnesses to Christ in every nation - some in one place, and some in another. Then I expect the Lord Jesus will come in glory, with His winnowing fork in His hand. And when He has purged His floor, and not until then - His kingdom will begin.

No separation and no perfection until Christ comes! This is my creed. I am not moved when the infidel asks me why all the world is not converted - if Christianity is really true? It was never promised that it would be so in the present order of things. The Bible tells me that believers will always be few - that corruptions, and divisions, and heresies, will always abound - and that when my Lord returns to earth, He will find plenty of chaff.

But Christ will come again. Sooner or later there shall be a separation of the visible Church into two companies - and fearful shall that separation be! The wheat will make up one company. The chaff shall make up another. The one company will be all godly. The other company will be all ungodly. Each shall be by themselves, and a great gulf between, that none can pass. Blessed indeed shall the righteous be in that day! They shall shine like stars - no longer obscured with clouds. 

Wretched indeed will the ungodly be! How corrupt will corruption be - when left without one grain of salt to season it! How dark will darkness be - when left without one spark of light! Ah, it is not enough to respect and admire the Lord's people; you must belong to them - or you will one day be parted from them forever. There will be no chaff in Heaven! Many are the families, where one will be taken and another left.

Who is there now among the readers of these pages who loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity? If I know anything of the heart of a Christian, your greatest trials are in the company of worldly people - your greatest joys in the company of the saints. Yes - there are many weary days, when your spirit feels broken and crushed by the earthly tone of all around you - days when you could cry with David, "Woe is me, that I dwell in Mesech, and have my habitation in the tents of Kedar." And yet there are hours when your soul is so refreshed and revived by meeting some of God's dear children, that it seems like Heaven on earth. Do I not speak to your heart? Are not these things true? See then, how you should long for the time when Christ shall come again. See how you should pray daily that the Lord would hasten His kingdom, and say to Him, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus!"

"This is certain - when the elect are all converted, then Christ will come to judgment. As he who rows a boat, stays until all the passengers are taken into his boat, and then he rows away; so Christ stays until all the elect are gathered in, and then He will hasten away to judgment!" (Thomas Watson).

Who is there among the readers of these pages, who knows that his heart is not right in the sight of God? See how you should fear and tremble at the thought of Christ's appearing. Alas, indeed, for the man who lives and dies with nothing better than a cloak of religion! In the day when Christ shall purge His floor, you will be shown and exposed in your true colors! You may deceive ministers, and friends, and neighbors - but you cannot deceive Christ! The paint and varnish of a heartless Christianity will never stand the fire of that day. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. You will find that His eye has read your secrets, and searched out you hidden things! 

Oh, tremble at the thought of the day of sifting and separation! Surely hypocrisy is a most losing game! Surely it never is good, to try to deceive God. Surely it never answers, like Ananias and Sapphira, to pretend to give God something, and yet to keep back your heart. It all fails at last! Your joy is but for a moment. Your hopes are no better than a dream! Oh, tremble and repent!

3. Let me show you, in the third place, the portion which Christ's people shall receive, when He comes to purge His threshing floor. The text at the beginning of this paper tells us this in good and comfortable words. It tells us that Christ shall "gather His wheat into His barn."

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 4)