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CHAFF!
Spurgeon- "THE CHAFF DRIVEN AWAY!"
"The wicked .... are like the chaff which
the wind drives away."
-Psalm 1:4
The wicked are good for nothing-- useless in this world,
and useless in the world to come.
They are the dross, the refuse of all creation.
The man who is ungodly, however much he may value himself,
is as nothing in the estimation of God.
Put a gold chain round his neck, put a star upon his breast,
put a crown upon his head, and what is he but a crowned
heap of dust-- useless, perhaps worse than useless.
Base in God's sight, he tramples the ungodly beneath his feet.
The potter's vessel has some service, and even the broken
potsherd might be used-- some Job might scrape himself with it.
But what shall be done with the chaff?
It is of no use anywhere, and no one cares for it.
The wicked "are like the chaff which the wind drives away."
Where - where - where? Where are they driven?
The man is in health- the sun shines, the sky is calm, the world is
still about him. Suddenly there is seen a little cloud the size of
a man's hand. A little signal overtakes him. The hurricane begins
to rise- first it is but a faint breath. The wicked man feels
the cold air blowing on him, but he screens it with the physician,
and he thinks that surely he shall live.
The storm is on-- God has decreed it, and the man cannot stop it.
The breath becomes a gale, the gale a wind, the wind a storm,
the storm a howling hurricane! His soul is swept away!
To go to heaven on angels' wings is a glorious thing; but to
be swept out of this world with the wicked is an awful thing--
to be carried, not on wings of cherubs, but on the eagle wings of
the wind-- to be borne, not by yon songsters up to their celestial
seats, but to be carried away in the midst of a howling tempest
by grim fiends.
The wicked are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Do you not catch the thought? I do not know how to bring out
the fullness of its meaning- the great storm sweeping man from
the place on which he stands-- He is driven away!
And now cannot your thoughts go further on while I again repeat
the question-- Where is he driven? Ah! Where is he driven?
I see him driven from the solid shore of life. He is carried away.
"In vain my fancy strives to paint the moment after death."
I cannot tell you into what state that soul at once enters,
that is to say, I cannot tell you by any guess of my own-
that were frivolous, and were to play with a solemn matter;
but I can tell you one thing, Jesus Christ himself has said it-
"He shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
You die, but you die not. You depart, but you
depart to fire that never shall be quenched.
I will not dwell upon the topic.
I return again to ask the question-
"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
Who here is prepared to make his bed in hell?
Who shall lie down and rest forever in that lake of fire?
You must, my hearers, if you are ungodly- except you repent.
I beseech you, think of your destiny--
death, and after death the judgment.
The wind, and after the wind the whirlwind, and after the
whirlwind the fire, and after the fire - forever, forever,
forever lost, cast away, where ray of hope can never come;
where eye of mercy can never look upon you,
and hand of grace can never reach you.
I beseech you, oh, I beseech you by the living God,
before whom you stand this day-- tremble and repent!
"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from
the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little."
"Tophet is ordained of old, yes, for the king it is prepared;
he has made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and
much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
does kindle it."
"Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, O house of Israel?"
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have
mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
Oh, that you knew what a fearful thing it
will be to be cast away forever!
Why will you die?
Is there anything pleasing in destruction?
Is sin so luscious to you that you will burn in hell forever for it?
What, is Christ so hard a master that you will not love him?
Is his cross so ugly that ye will not look towards it?
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