1. Let me show you, in the first place, the two great classes
Do you feel lonely and deserted as every December comes around? Do you find few people left to pray with, few to praise with, few to open your heart to, few to exchange experience with? Do you increasingly learn that heaven is becoming every year more full and earth more empty? Well, it is an old story. You are only drinking a cup which myriads have drunk before. Look up and look forward. The lonely time will soon be past and over: you will have plenty of company in the future. "When [you] awake, [you] will be satisfied with seeing your [Lord's] likeness. (Psalm 17:15) Yet a little while and you will see a congregation that will never break up, and a day of rest that will never end. "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him," will make amends for everything.
The Great Separation
"His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:12)
The verse of Scripture, which is now before our eyes, contains words that were spoken by John the Baptist. They are a prophecy about our Lord Jesus Christ, and a prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled. They are a prophecy which we will see fulfilled one day, and God alone knows how soon. I invite every reader of this paper to consider seriously the great truths that this verse contains. I invite you to give me your attention, while I unfold them and set them before you in order. Possibly this text may prove to be a timely word to your soul? Who knows, maybe this text will help to make this day, the happiest day of your life? 1. Let me show you, in the first place, the two great classes into which mankind 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 all he thinks of. The eye of God looks at the heart—this is the only part of which He takes any account. And tested by the state of their hearts, there are only two classes into which people can be divided—either they are wheat, or they are chaff. Who are the wheat in the world? This is a point that demands special consideration. The wheat refers to 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 for their only guide, and regard sin as their deadliest enemy, and look to heaven as their only home. All such people, of every Church, name, nation, people, and language—of every rank, occupation, and condition—all such people are God's "wheat." Show me people of this kind anywhere, and I know what they are. I do not know whether they and I may agree in all particulars, but I see in them the handiwork of the King of kings, and I ask no more. I do not know where they came from 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 people, 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 a dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit. The Father sees no iniquity in them—they are the members of His dear Son's mystical body: in Him He sees them, and is well pleased. The Lord Jesus sees in them the fruit of His own suffering and work upon the cross, and is well satisfied. The Holy Spirit regards them as spiritual temples, which He Himself has created, and rejoices over them. In a word, they are the "wheat" of the earth. Who are the chaff in the world? This again is a point that demands special attention. The chaff refers to all men and women who have no saving faith in Christ, and no sanctification of the Spirit. Some of them are atheists, and some are "Christians" in name only. Some are sneering Sadducees, and some 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 everyone of them has the two great marks already mentioned— no faith and no sanctification —everyone of them is "chaff." Those who attend Church and can think of nothing but outward ceremonies— the unconverted admirer of sermons—all are standing in one class before God: everyone of them is "chaff." They bring no glory to God the Father, because, "He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent Him." (John 5:23) They neglect that mighty salvation which countless millions of angels admire. They disobey that Word which was graciously written for their understanding. They do not listen to the voice of Him who condescended to leave heaven and die for their sins. They do not serve nor love Him who gave them "life and breath and everything else." And therefore God takes no pleasure in them. He pities them, but He considers them no better than "chaff."
Yes! You may have rare intellectual gifts and great mental attainments: you may sway kingdoms by your counsel, move millions by your pen, or keep crowds in breathless attention by your tongue; but if you have never submitted yourself to the rule of Christ, and never honoured His Gospel by heartfelt reception of it, then you are nothing in His sight. The most insignificant insect that crawls in the dirt 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 honour God with heart, and will, and intellect, and with the members of your body, which are all His. You overturn His order and arrangement, and live as if your time on earth was more important than eternity, and the body better than the soul. You dare to neglect God's greatest gift—His own incarnate Son. You are cold about that subject which fills heaven with hallelujahs. And as long as this is the case, then you belong to the worthless part of mankind. You are the "chaff" of the earth. Let this thought be engraved deeply in the mind of every reader of this paper, whatever else he forgets. Remember there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are wheat, and there are chaff. There are many nations in Europe. Each differs from the rest. Each has its own language, its own laws, and its own unique customs. But God's eye divides Europe into two great parties—the wheat and the chaff. There are many classes in England. There are peers and commoners —farmers and shopkeepers—masters and servants—rich and poor. But God's eye only sees two classes—the wheat and the chaff. There are many and various minds in every congregation that gathers 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's hearts are open are very alert to the message, and some who have closed their hearts and consider the whole service a drudgery.
But the eye of the Lord Jesus only sees two divisions in the congregation—the wheat and the chaff. There were millions of visitors to the Great Exhibition of 1851. From Europe, Asia, Africa, and America—from North and South, and East and West—crowds came together to see what skill and industry could do. People from all over the world, who had never seen each other before, met face to face under one roof. But the eye of the Lord only saw two groups crowding that large palace of glass—the wheat and the chaff. I know full well that the world dislikes this way of dividing professing Christians. The world tries hard to convince us that there are three classes of people and not two. The first class of people are the very good and the very strict; however, this does not suit the world: they cannot and will not be saints. Yet, the third class, which has no religion at all, does not suit the world either: it would not be respectable. "Thank God," they will say, "we are not as bad as they are." Then there is the second class—a safe middle class, the world thinks—and in this middle class the majority of men persuade themselves is where they belong. In this class a person only needs enough religion to be saved, and yet not go into extremes—to be minimally good, and yet not be exceptional—to have a quiet, easygoing, moderate kind of Christianity, and go comfortably to heaven when they die—this is the world's favorite class. I denounce this notion of a middle class as an immense and soulruining delusion. I warn you strongly not to be carried away by it. It is as vain an invention as the Roman Catholic's purgatory. It is a refuge of lies—a castle in the air—a Russian ice-palace—a vast unreality—an empty dream. This middle class is a class of Christians that is nowhere spoken of in the Bible. There were two classes in the day of Noah's flood: those who were inside the ark, and those who were outside; two in the parable of the Gospel-net: those who are called the good fish, and those who are called the bad; two in the parable of the ten virgins: those who are described as wise, and those who are described as foolish; two in the account of the judgment day: the sheep and the goats; two sides of the throne: the right hand and the left; two abodes when the last sentence has been passed: heaven and hell. And just as there are only two classes in the visible Church on earth— those who are in their natural state of unbelief and sin, and those who are in the state of grace; those who are on the narrow road, and those who are traveling on the broad road; those who have faith, and those who do not have faith; those who have been converted, and those who have not been converted; those who are with Christ, and those who are against Him; those who gather with Him, and those who scatter; those who are "wheat," and those who are "chaff,"—into these two classes the whole professing Church of Christ may be divided. Apart from these two classes there is none. You must examine yourselves! Are you among the wheat, or among the chaff? Neutrality is impossible. Either you are in one class, or in the other. Which is it of the two? Perhaps you attend church. You go to the Lord's table. You like good people. You can distinguish between good preaching and bad. You think Roman Catholicism is a false religion, and heartily oppose it. You think Protestantism is true and warmly support it. You attend Christian meetings. You sometimes read Christian books. It is good: it is all very good. It is more than can be said of many. But still this is not a straightforward answer to my question—are you wheat or are you chaff? Have you been born again? Are you a new creature? Have you put off the old man and put on the new? Have you ever felt convicted of your sins and repented of them? Are you looking only to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life? Do you love Christ? Do you serve Christ? Do you hate your sins and fight against them? Do you long for perfect holiness and strive after it? Have you come out from