JOHN was faithful in his ministry to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. He broke up the hardness in people’s hearts by preaching repentance, and told them of their need to repent. He had specially warned the Jewish leaders of the danger of their position, and the wrath of God waiting to engulf them if they did not repent truly. He had been sent to do this, but he knew that this was not enough, and in itself could not save people from their sins, and so he spoke of his baptism as simply baptism of water for repentance. This baptism was a seal to the baptised that they truly repented of their sins, and was an outward confession of sin, but John wanted then to understand that, though this was very good as far as it went, it was not enough to save their soul, and save them from their sin. Repentance is an important and necessary work that we do, but it is not a work that save us, or wins our forgiveness. It can’t atone for our sin, or cause God to cancel our sin. So as a faithful and good pastor John goes on in his ministry to point people to Christ as the one who saves us from our sin.

How important it is that the preaching of Christ as the one and only Saviour from sin is at the forefront of the ministry of all the ministers of Christ, and that his office of Saviour from sin is presented often and clearly, and people called to place their trust in him for salvation.

Let us see how John goes about this ministry. The first thing he does is cry himself down, and cry up Jesus in every way. He points to Jesus as totally above and better than himself. He spoke of himself as recorded elsewhere in the Gospels as having to decrease, but Christ had to increase. By this he meant that people should not look to him but only to Christ, and that all glory and power was his.

Jesus has power to save our souls. No one else can do this saving work. John and all ministers of the Gospel can only show people their need and point them to Christ. They can’t save anyone. Only Jesus has power to save.

Jesus is superior to John in every way. John shows his understanding of this, and his humility, by saying that he was not worthy even to carry Christ’s sandals, that is do even the most menial task for him. Jesus is superior to all for he is divine the Son of God. He is holy as God, and above us all. His glory is that he came to save us sinners.

John then goes on to point out the excellence of the ministry of Christ. John declares the wonderful truth that Jesus will baptise those that come to him with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What is John telling us here? It is important to be clear about this as their is so many misconceptions in the church today concerning what is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As John declares this baptism of the Spirit here it can mean nothing other than that Jesus saves us by the power of God from our sins, and purifies our souls, and causes us to be raised to the life which is holy and eternal, to the life which Adam lost by sin. This declaration encompasses the whole of salvation through faith in Christ. We are forgiven all our sins, past, present and future. We are counted righteous in God’s sight as if we had never sinned. We are born again and given back the eternal life in our inner being that Adam lost by sin, and this inner being, this new creation, is created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24). Because we have this new holy creation the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and fills our souls with divine life and blessing. This is the work of salvation which can not be parted from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in his fulness within our souls.

This is the mighty work of salvation which Jesus can do, and that only he can do. We must go to him for it, and there is salvation in no other than Jesus.

John then goes on to speak of the division which Jesus brings within the world. There are only two sorts of people in the world, which have any real importance, before God, and importance eternally. They are those who are wheat and those who are chaff. This is the illustration that is used here. The harvested wheat consists of the wheat grain, which is what we eat, and the chaff or husk that surround the wheat while it grows, which is then thrown away. All the people in the world come under these two categories. The wheat and the chaff is all mixed up in this world, but Christ makes the separation. Christ separates the those who are wheat from those who are chaff. Only the wheat is kept, and this means are welcomed into heaven and God’s eternal glory. All those who are chaff are disposed of by burning with fire.

There is no doubt that this represents the future destiny of all who are in the world. Some, the wheat, will be raised to blessing and happiness in heaven. The rest will end up in the misery of hell, thrown out of God’s presence for ever, and lost in darkness.

The question is who are the wheat? This is of monumental importance for our eternal destiny depends on it. The answer to this question surely exposes all that is worthy or not in religion in the world, of what ever kind.

Who are the wheat? They are the ones who receive the baptism of the Spirit and fire which Jesus alone can give. The wheat are those who have come to Jesus in true repentance for their sin, and in their desperate need have placed their lives in trust into the hands of Jesus. The wheat are all those who have believed the Gospel truly that all who believe in Jesus receive the gift of eternal life. The wheat are all those who receive Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, and trust in him alone for their acceptance before God.

This excludes all who do not receive and believe in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, and shows the deception of trusting in any other religion or faith other than the faith of Christ. We can only be wheat, and gathered into God’s eternal barn, which is heaven, if we have been saved by Jesus.