The Winnowing Fan

The Winnowing Fan 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. Matthew 3:12 Observe 1. First the One whose hand has the fan. Here John the Baptist is heard addressing those coming to him to be baptized, particularly the Pharisees and Sadducees. There attendance to his baptism gives rise to this metaphor. 2. Next that which is in His hand. It is likened unto a winnowing fan. Winnowing was generally done in the evening. A pitchfork like instrument was used to grab hold of a large amount of chaff, wheat, and straw, was thrown up into the air, against the wind. It was generally done during a cool breeze. 3. What He is said to do with that fan. He is said to gather His wheat into the garner, while burning up the chaff. For the winnower, when the fan tosses the chaff, wheat, and straw into the air, the lighter chaff is driven away by the wind, and the heaver wheat falls to the ground. Christ's coming is likened to the gathering and preparing for sifting to come. 4. The end to which that winnowing brings. Clearly, John's metaphor intends to show that the hypocrites and pretenders are to have no place in the kingdom of heaven, while the truly repentant shall enter into the kingdom of God. Doctrine. In the gospel kingdom, Christ the Lord has begun the winnowing of the floor. With the coming of the kingdom there is now the gospel work. I. There is the gathering of the wheat. The gospel age is the age of planting and harvesting, until the time of ingathering. It is that age where the kingdom is planted as a seed that is thenceforth growing. The harvest is increasing. At Pentecost we see the first fruits of harvest. The Jewish year was typically built around the present age. With Passover came deliverance and flight. With Pentecost come a celebration of the first fruits of harvest. When the Festival of Booths was to come, there would be a day of final ingathering, Pentecost was that day of first fruits, when Christ was on the throne and the Spirit was come, we saw the gospel call sent and multitudes gathered into the kingdom of God. This was the beginning of harvests. We await the final day. For now, it is the time to plant, to water, to grow, and reap. It is the time to increase and ripen. It is the time for us to come to full ear. It is time to bring forth the fruits of our salvation. It is time to preach the truth; it is time to cast forth the seed unto life. It is time to guard the crop, to whether the storms, to protect the harvest until that day. II. There is a mixture of the chaff. Always in a harvest there is that admixture of chaff. There is in the field of harvest much that shall be cast out. Now is the time though to work the field. We must endeavor to guard the harvest. We must be ever so careful as to not allow the field to be overrun by rot. It is imperative upon the church to be sure to employ the visible means of faith and grace given her to be faithful in the fields of faith. Satan is a wicked defiler! He is so quick to poison the crop. He is so quick to poison our minds. See how quickly he took that which was good and led Adam and Eve through deception and willful defiance into a harvest of corruption. Uses 1. For our alarm let us beware the end of hypocrites. Hypocrites came to the Baptist only to hear words of alarm. Two types of pretenders were there at John's Baptism that day. You had the legalists, the Pharisees, those who dotted every I and crossed every T in the law. They were known for their rigor, their exactness in the statues and directives of their laws and traditions. They were as zealous a people as you could imagine. Remember, Paul was first such a legalist. These are those that Christ called pure on the outside, but on the inside full of dead men's bones. Theses were those that would compass land and sea to make one more proselyte a child of hell as themselves, while shutting up the kingdom of heaven. These were Abraham's children of the flesh. These were men like Ishmael and Esau, made in the flesh, built up by the deeds of the flesh, circumcised and earthly mighty, but having no part in the kingdom of heaven. These were those that played religion well. They had the robes, the crowns, the tithes, and the authority, and they declared themselves inheritors of God's promise, but they were not. They were merely pretenders, as Jesus said, they played religion and expected Jesus to as well, saying, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented (Mt. 11:17)." The Christian church is full of such hypocrites. They have the robes, the incense, the heritage, and the rites, but nothing of Christ. They kingdom of God is not about pretense, rather it is about the heart. Let all hypocrites hear these words, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. O how many have served on committees, given tithes, cared for the sick and widowed, have sung hymns and served with choirs, even preached sermon upon sermon, having never known the King, have never entered the kingdom of heaven. Beware! But let us not forget the second of pretenders there before the Baptist that day. They were equally culpable, equally corrupt, these were the Sadducees. While they were not as visibly contentious with Christ in His day, they still were equally condemnable. These were the traditionalists. These were those that made nice with the Greeks and the Romans. They wanted their traditions and enjoyed their prestige, but never wanted to stir the pot. These ruled alongside the Pharisees, but rules were not their forte. They were traditionalists. They were those that liked the trappings of religion but had little understanding of truth. Their religion and their traditions were all about this life. They had corrupt doctrine, unbiblical, denying the resurrection and the supernatural. These are like today's vast multitudes that play religion, enjoy it as a lifestyle and social club, who fill churches and committees, but have no knowledge of truth. I have seen such so called churches. Bibles are rare, biblical teaching and knowledge extinct, they have hymns about chapels and memories of life, they have all the trappings of Christianity, but they have not Christ. Beware! Many Pharisees and Sadducees still come out to play today. To all those that are pretenders of faith, whether legalist or traditionalist, beware! The axe is laid at the root. The fork is now cast into the pile. Christ shall soon sift and cast forth all these into the evening breeze of judgment. They shall be cast into the depths of sorrow and torment, worm without end. Even now we are a day closer to the coming of the Son of God, who shall come forth in judgment. Hypocrites and apostates, pretenders and formalists beware! The day is coming when you shall flee to the mountains and say, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? The same Jesus that shall gently say to us His children, Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, shall you hear say, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 2. For our examination let us not presume upon our place. I want to speak to two sorts today; one group that was there at John's preaching, the same at Jesus' ministry, were those that were mere observers from the outside in. There were also those there that were certain followers of Jesus, who in the end had no place with Him. One was like the vast numberless multitude, which heard Him preach, which saw Him work wonders, who were like Israel in the wilderness, but stiff necked observes of the wonders of heaven, who had not faith. The church and the Christian faith has had vast multitudes that have observed our gathering, who have been nothing more than observers of what we speak. Even in small churches as ours, many come and go, worship with us, sup with us, even labor with us, but know nothing of Christ. The other type is the self-deceived, who like Judas was near, so near to Jesus, but a son of perdition. With the coming of this King comes self-examination. It is time to consider our ways. For this text if anything teaches us one most important lesson; do not presume upon your faith. 3. For our wonder let us behold the One with a mighty hand. For all these warnings these is this contrary side to consider. For those that have languished in their sins. Those that have despaired over life's futility and have no hope, who like scored widows have merely gleaned for scraps, or stolen away to a well in the heat of the day for a drink, behold, here comes Christ! Ruth was a beggar in the strong man's field. We must be as well. Gleaning the scraps of mercy and grace, see how He alights to the impoverished and widowed. Here He comes! You can sense Him coming. The Baptist, immediately upon the end of these threats, is heard to say, 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. Then, Matthew is heard to say, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. O did my heart leap! O did He suddenly come to be seen. Here He is, grown, alive, God and Man but One, coming to be anointed King. You hear Him finally say, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. O, the King has spoken! The hour has come! Here is the Son of God to be anointed the King. And then we behold it done! And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Heaven has testified of Him! The Spirit has come upon Him! Follow Him! Turn to Him and follow Him. He has the words of eternal life. Is there any other? O that He might favor us! O that He might brings us to sup with Him. O that we might steal to lie at His feet in the middle of the night, only to have His cloak cover our nakedness and shame. O that He might gather us in His arms. O that He might not pass us by. See the wonder of Jesus Christ the Lord. Has there ever been any as strong as He? Any as merciful as He? Any as glorious as He? Any as merciful as He? Follow, throng, press, and grab hold of the King of Kings, by faith don't let go! For may it be that sovereign grace this days shall cling our souls to His evermore.