Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical dot net.

Matthew chapter 3 verse 12 is a sobering verse.

John the Baptist is talking about Jesus coming and John the Baptist says his

winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

This imagery may not be very familiar to us so how a farmer would separate

grain from chaff, he would basically take a farmer would take a winnowing fork he toss the grain and the

chaff together into the air and when he did that the grain which is heavier would fall

to the ground while the chaff would blow to the side and so the farmer would keep the grain and then he'd sweep all the shaft together and throw it into the

fire.

So when John the Baptist is talking about Jesus, he says his winnowing fork is in his hand.

Basically he's saying that Jesus is coming to judge the world. The part of the

purpose of his coming is to separate the grain from the chaff that he's going to separate

those who turn from their sins and trust in him and those who don't.

Those who don't repent. This verse says he will burn with unquenchable fire.

The language is serious the axe is at the tree, John the Baptist says, and he's cutting down,

Jesus is going to cut down every tree that doesn't bear the fruit of faith and

throw it into the fire, unquenchable fire, this picture of eternal punishment, fire that can never, ever, ever

be quenched.

So this is the essence of the gospel.

God is king, he is righteous, he is holy, he is holy set against sin.

We are sinners, we have sin in our lives. We're separated from God. We're deserving of death and the whole picture here in the coming of Christ is the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king has come in Christ to save us from our sins yes but if we do not turn and trust in him

we will experience his wrath and punishment forever. So there's good news and bad news

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