Matthew 12 - Introduction

Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:7. “Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purify His threshing-floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” In the blessed Word, God has given us “line upon line and precept upon precept” knowing and pitying our stupidity, He leaves us without excuse. The preceding verse is a beautiful elucidation of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.

Another dangerous heresy has been deduced from these Scriptures; i.e., that the baptism of fire here means the baptism of the wicked with hell- fire, corroborating this Conclusion by the burning up of the chaff with unquenchable fire. Now, to the law and the testimony: “He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.” Humas , “you,” in this statement of John, is the second person, plural number, and absolutely inseparable. The inspired Baptist here tells us most unequivocally that the very same, identical people shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. There are no sinners addressed in this pronoun, from the simple fact that John applies it exclusively to the people whom he baptized with water, and you know that he rejected even the great preachers and high officials of the Church who did not repent. Again, John refused to count the repentance valid till they reached the remission of sins. So, you may depend on it, there is no flaw in John's theology. The people here addressed had repented unto the remission of their sins. These same people, whom John had baptized with water, he positively certifies, Jesus will baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. Hence they are all Christians, and simply receive at the hands of the Savior the sanctifying baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. You must remember that our Savior's disciples were in this crowd, coming to Him through the ministry of John, who actually received this baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire on the day of Pentecost. “Threshing- floor” is the visible Church, which underwent a thorough purgation in the ministry of Christ, the Omnipotent Fan coming like a tornado from heaven, and blowing out of it the multitudes who lack the grit and grace to stand the truth, not even sparing the leading clergy and officials, cutting down the membership to one hundred and twenty who received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire at Pentecost. While “Church” means the “called out,” having a subjective signification, the kingdom of God is objective. Hence they are called out in order that they may enter the kingdom here symbolized by “garner” i.e., heaven's granary in this world receiving nothing but the pure wheat, ready for the Lord's mill, and a grand festival among angels and archangels; while our Lord literally burns up the chaff with unquenchable fire, not meaning the wicked, who burn forever and are never exterminated, but the depravity in the hearts of God's true people, which it is the province of a sanctified Church, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, to utterly exterminate. Now, remember that Jesus does not gather the wicked into the Church, but the regenerated i.e., the wheat in order that He may sanctify them wholly preparatory for immortal citizenship in heaven. This chaff has not an individuality separate from the wheat, hence it can not be applied to the wicked. You can not raise a crop of wheat without chaff. But you can raise a crop of chaff without wheat, as sometimes the grain is blighted, and it all turns out to be chaff and straw. As this world is full of depravity, you can have plenty of it without grace, but you can not, ab initio, have grace without depravity, which God will remove in due time, utterly consuming it with the fire of the Holy Ghost, graciously exterminating it, world without end.

Luke 3:18. “Therefore, indeed, also exhorting them as to many other things, he continued to preach the gospel to the people.” We find that John was not only a wonderful preacher, but a powerful exhorter. Let me remind you all to seek the grace of exhortation. Preaching is generic, including exhortation and teaching the former, to convict the wicked and bring them to God; and the latter, to edify the saints and establish them in holiness.