If you would, turn to Luke chapter
12. Luke chapter 12, and I want to read verses 51
through 53. No, excuse that. 49 to 53. I
am come to send fire on the earth. and what will I if it be already
kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? Suppose
ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but
rather division. For from henceforth there shall
be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against
three. The father shall be divided against
the son, and the son against the father, the mother against
the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law." And I'm going to stop right there. Now, I know it's not the most
pleasant of subjects, but these are the words of Jesus
of Nazareth, the Christ of God. Therefore, they are of extreme
importance. Our Lord never said one word
that wasn't needful for us to hear that's recorded in this
book. Our understanding of it comes
and goes. Walter preached this morning
on a a verse of scripture in Ephesians on the radio. I'd read
that verse. I'd read Ephesians I don't know
how many times. Especially that first chapter. And I'd never
seen that until I saw it a few months ago. Where we believe
by the working of His mighty power. But that's been in there
all along, Mason. It doesn't matter sometimes if
I don't understand it. The truth is here. And these are the words
of Jesus Christ And what this statement will reveal to you,
I hope, if you have ears that hear, is what Jesus actually
said to his disciples and to his hearers. Because I believe,
like Mack said, the scriptures are inerrant. There are no errors. Okay? There's plenty of errors
in men to go around. We've all got them. We see, at best, through a glass
darkly. But the scriptures are always
right. And they are our sole authority
that we have. He has delivered this book to
us. Inherent and perfect, the imperfection
is in us. Now, I will admit, there are
some versions out there I will not recommend. But even there's a little bit
of truth in the living Bible, Walter. You have to hunt for
it sometimes, but it's there. But there are people, and this
is a key point, who go out of their way to disrupt this word. They don't want to use this word.
They don't want to know this word. They don't want you to
know this word. Because there's a multitude of
errors about what men say about the scriptures. But the scripture
is always correct. Now these were written down by
Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How do I know
that? Well Christ said it was going
to happen. John 14 26 but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost
whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all
things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I
have said unto you that was he was telling his disciples and
I believe the Holy Spirit did exactly what Christ said he was
going to do He brought to Luke's remembrance this account, and
Luke wrote it down faithfully, under the inspiration of God.
This is not what I think. It's what the scriptures say.
I do believe it, and now I do think it. But it didn't come
from me. The scriptures are true whether
we know it or not. They are true whether we believe
them or not. And this is what Jesus Christ said this day. The
first two words are suppose ye. Verse 51. Suppose ye that I have
come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather division. Jesus is referring here to the
thoughts of men about him. Is that important? You better
believe it's important. It is. That's what it means, the word.
I looked it up. It means thoughts. Think ye. Suppose ye. Are you of an opinion? Boy, are we full of an opinion. Our Lord was speaking to men
about the thoughts of men. Scripture talks about that, too.
Isaiah 55 and verse 8 says for my thoughts are not your thoughts
Now there a problem with that you got a problem with the book
This is the Lord speaking my thoughts are not your thoughts
neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord Jesus said thank you suppose
you If you disagree with Jesus Christ You are disagreeing with
God Almighty. You are disagreeing with the
well-beloved Son of God who did everything. That includes every
word he spoke. When he spoke it, where he spoke
it, to whom he spoke it. I feel bad sometimes for the
way I have talked to some people. Now other people I wish I had
talked to them that way. That's me. I get it backwards. Christ never did. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
Jesus said it. Think ye? Suppose ye? If you're
disagreeing with God, you're wrong. At best, you're wrong. At worst, you're dead in trespasses
and in sins. I've been wrong before. But I
hope I'm not dead in trespasses in the sea. This is vital. The thoughts of
man are vital. Because the Lord continues on
with that statement to Isaiah. It says, for as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. And my thoughts higher than your
thoughts. God's thoughts show in God's
ways. And here's the other part. Our
thoughts show in our ways. Now that ought to scare the pants
off you. That ought to scare somebody. I don't want to be judged by
my ways. Don't really want to be judged
by my thoughts Because my thoughts the ones that are mine Okay,
the ones that come from me are not the thoughts of God And that's
the way Christ is starting out here suppose. Is this what you're
thinking? Guess what he's gonna. Tell me
wrong Man's thoughts show man's ways
Says in Proverbs, eat thou not the bread of him that hath an
evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. There's a reason I wrote that.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink saith he to thee,
but his heart is not with thee. The thoughts of a man come out
of his heart. See, this is the problem we have
with free will. A man's will is bound to his heart. A man's
deeds are bound to his heart. A man's tongue is bound to his
heart. What comes out of the mouth reveals
what's in the heart, what's in the thoughts, what's in the thinking
of men. It ain't good. Man makes a lot
of suppositions about God that you will never find in the scripture. There's a lot of supposing going
on all around us right now today. Mason, a couple of weeks ago
we mentioned assumptions and how assuming things can get you
in trouble. This is exactly the same thing. Because an assumption
is your thoughts about a matter. This is a supposition. that men,
they suppose that I am come to bring peace on earth. He's talking to his disciples.
They gotta learn too. They're just as corrupt as we
are. They're just as ignorant as we are. They don't talk about that. God's
disciples were. It mentions it in scripture.
Who are these unlearned fishermen? Come here to teach us. No, don't
worry about it. They weren't there to teach you.
They were there to preach to you. And the learning wasn't done
because the good ground wasn't there. But where the good ground
was, guess what? There come up fruit with patience. Think ye that I am come to give
peace on earth. And I'm telling you, there are
a lot of people who suppose this, even today. I don't know where they get the
idea, if you look at the world around you, I don't know where
they get the idea that they think Christ came to bring peace on
earth. Because if that's what he came to do, he's an abysmal
failure right now. There is no peace on this earth.
Matter of fact, it seems to be getting, you know, that worse
and worse thing. Evil men and seducers shall shall
wax worse and worse But these men were beginning
to believe that this was the Christ And this is the Christ
word suppose II that I come to bring peace on earth to give
peace on earth You know That's not an unreasonable supposition
from a human standpoint. From a human standpoint. But
here is Christ revealing His way, His will, and His thoughts
about what's going to happen on this earth. See, what we think doesn't matter
in the fact that it's not going to change anything. It does matter
in us as to who we believe. Salvation is a person in Jesus
Christ this Christ right here who was speaking There are those around us who
suppose that Jesus is trying to do a lot of things that don't
seem to get done Now that's worse than being wrong
That's worse than being wrong I mean, they're wrong. It is
wrong, but that's worse than being wrong. That just shows
you don't know God. You don't know his Christ. You
don't know Jesus of Nazareth who is risen from the dead. If
you're supposing that God's trying to do anything, you're wrong. At best, and then your trespasses
and sins at worst. And I'm betting on death and
trespasses and sin if you actually think that. Because our Lord
Jesus Christ never tried to do anything like that. Our God is
in the heavens and He has done, is doing, and shall do whatsoever
He hath pleased. So if your supposition was correct
that I am come to bring peace on earth, there would be peace
on earth right now. And it ain't here. It ain't even
close. There are a lot of people who
suppose that God loves everyone. That's wrong too. That's way
wrong. You will never find a case in
the scriptures, ever, where it says anything to the effect,
or even close to the effect, if God loves anyone, That person
perishes. What does he say in the Old Testament?
He says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. From the beginning, he has loved
someone. Therefore, he doesn't stop there. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. God loves everyone. no no no he said I loved you
he personalized it and he's speaking to Israel there as a representative
of his children but he says he says therefore I've loved you
with an everlasting love therefore there's a result to the love
of God there always is a result therefore have I Drawn thee what
with loving kindness have I drawn thee If God loves you he will
draw you with loving kindness and guess what you're gonna be
drawn And I remember what I'll say that's dragged That's dragged
Get over it people Our will is so corrupt that we
want our will yeah and That's how corrupt our will is. If our will wasn't corrupt, we'd
want His will. We'd want the will of God. We'd
want the will of Christ. We'd want the will of the Holy
Spirit. We'd want the will of Almighty God to overcome everything
in this world. Well, it is. It's working out
exactly as He has planned, and He has purposed, and as He is
doing. But we suppose a lot of things,
this world does. He says, suppose that I have
come to give peace on earth. I tell you nay. I tell you nay. Christ said no. I don't think Christ is supposed
to tell anybody no. That's the way some people talk. That's
the way some people preach. You ask and God will give it
to you, good measure, press down. That's in the scriptures. But
you need it in context. If you ask anything in His name,
that's the key phrase. People just want to leave that
part out. If you ask anything, He'll give it to you. That's
the way they preach it. Christ said you pray in my Father's
will. James said if he's willing we
shall live and do some things He's got to be willing for you
to live to start with then you can worry about doing things I Tell you name When Christ said
no he meant no Just as well as when he said yes, he meant yes,
I Just as well as he said, I give unto them everlasting life. That's as strong as his word
here, where he says, I tell you no. I am not come to give peace
on earth. I get vexed with the news. Because it's on all the time
in my house. I'm blaming her. I don't listen to it all the
time, but whenever I do listen to it, well right now it ain't
nothing but election stuff. And that's driving me up a wall. Never mind. Never mind. Shake it off. Yeah. Some people think Jesus Christ
only spoke positively. But sometimes he'll tell you
no The Apostle Paul prayed for a thorn in the flesh to be taken
away from three times three times I prayed And guess what God told
him no all three times He did tell my grace is sufficient for
me And it is his grace is sufficient even for no I Didn't come to
bring peace on earth There is a sense that everything
that Jesus Christ said is positive It was absolutely positively
true even when he said no Everyone he says no Christ spoke only the absolute
truth about God about himself about men and to me And he said no more times than
most people realize. But here's the context. I'm not
come to give peace on earth, but rather division. That's what
it says. Division. But rather division. Not peace, but division. What happened there? If you didn't come to earth,
what did you come to give? He told you. Division. That's what it says. Now, you
say, wait a minute. Didn't Paul tell us there was
peace with God? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. And it's true. Romans
5.1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's just as true as I
tell you nay. They're both true statements,
but they have different contexts. Yes, Paul wrote this. Yes, Paul
meant this. In this world, we who believe
have peace with God. That's not the same thing as
peace on Earth. or to give peace to this earth. Paul's context and Jesus' context
are not the same thing. Jesus is speaking of peace without
of men with other men. That's what he's talking about.
Specifically between believers and unbelievers in the same household. Paul is writing of peace within. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He is
our peace. But that doesn't give us peace
with men. That's peace with God. That's
what it says. And actually, if you really want
to get down to it, in a lot of ways, our having peace with God
in a way brings about this division. Because when you have peace with
God, you want to talk about God. When you have peace with God,
you want to glorify God. Other people want to glorify
men. They want to glorify themselves.
They'll glorify other men. They'll glorify other preachers. When you want to glorify God,
when you want to glorify Christ, when you want a say, if you want
to tell someone of what Christ has done for each and every single
individual that He chose from before the foundation of the
world, and with an everlasting love and loving kindness He has
drawn them to Him, and He is drawing them to Him, they're
going to hate you. Because that kind of talk glorifies
God. Not me are having peace with God Affects our thoughts and affects
our ways I got new ways Walter that I
never had before I got new thoughts. I never had before man And are speaking the words of
Christ in Manifests our separation from the world We didn't separate
ourselves He separated us Our peace with God is what in Christ
Jesus it ain't in ourselves. It's in him That life from the dead by the
Holy Spirit that gift of faith that believe in the gospel is Unto good works It's not good
works leading to faith and grace. Oh No, no, you don't get the
cart before the horse by grace Through faith and that not of
yourselves. It's the gift of God for we are
his workmanship We're his work He made us and not we ourselves. And when that begins to leak
out on you, you have peace with God, but you don't have peace
with men. Now sometimes, luckily, the world
separates itself from you. Other times, you have to separate
yourself from the world. Because they hate Him. His word and because of his word
they'll hate you There's a division and it's been made From henceforth there shall be
five in one house divided three against two and two against three
The father shall be divided against the son the son against the father
the mother and the daughter the daughter and the mother the mother-in-law
the daughter-in-law the father-in-law and the son-in-law doesn't write
that down, but they count to Although I guess maybe the son-in-law
wasn't supposed to be living with the father-in-law, he's
supposed to be living with the father-in-law. It doesn't matter. The house is divided. And here,
this is an earthly family divided. Well, say it ain't so. What about
our family values, Walter? What about them? I still got
family values, but my family's changed. You know? My family's changed. Now, it ain't a new family, but
it's new to me. I didn't know I had a family
one time, like this. I knew my own family, and that
was a whole other thing. But now, now, This is the division. You are now knowingly a member
of the family of God. And that causes division in your
family at home. And Christ came to give that
division. That's tough, ain't it? No! That's
glorious! It's tough, but it's glorious
or it's tough, and it's glorious For those he's put into his family
it can be hard on it can But this is the way it is and this
is what our Lord said Glory in his work Glory in his name Not just a household, your family. Here's your family values. 2
Timothy 3 and 12. Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Even a home. Even a home. You don't have to
go out and find enemies. All you got to do is open your
mouth. That's all it takes. Now, we
are told not to cast our pearls before swine. But there are some
times you don't know who a swine is. Unfortunately, sometimes
there's only one way to find out. But then you stop. Whoa, OK. Please don't rend me anymore.
That's all right. They'll never forget you. You'll never forget them, too,
but they'll never forget you. And there is hope for them. Saul of Tarsus was consenting
unto the death of Stephen. He held the coach. He watched
the coach. They're there to stone Stephen,
and Saul of Tarsus has to watch the coach so nobody steals their
stuff. He admitted it himself. He was consenting unto the death
of Stephen. God saved him. He was one of
God's elect while he was there. He was one of God's elect while
he was consenting. But God didn't leave him consenting
to the death of Stephen. God brought that man to life
and repentance and faith. There's hope for your family.
It ain't what you do, what you say. It's in God. It's in Christ. The same one that saved you can
save members of your family. We've seen it. We have all this and peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no peace with the church
and the world, with the believer and the unbeliever. There's no
peace with the faithful and the faithless. There may be detente. That's a good word they used
during the Cold War. An uneasy peace. You go your
way, I'll go my way, and we won't talk about God. They don't want to hear, they
don't want to hear. And the reason they don't want to hear is because
they've already heard once at least. And they know, I don't want to
hear that. Okay, I don't want to cast my pearls before swine.
You don't want any Earl used to ask that question. Do you
have an interest if there's an interest give an answer? You
are to be ready to give an answer to every man But in order to
that that means there's got to be a question that somebody asked We do preach publicly and proclaim
publicly our Lord Jesus Christ That's why we're here for this
purpose this day This is what we do. But there's no peace between
the church and the world. And here's the point. This is
the way it's supposed to be. Now I use that word suppose on
purpose. It's supposed to be this way. Why? Christ said so. Christ said,
I came to do this, to set a difference. Who maketh thee to differ? What
have you got that you haven't received? If Christ has not made
you to differ, you aren't different. You may be obstinate and not
get along with people, but you're not different. Who maketh thee to differ? According to the word of Jesus
Christ, in this world you shall have tribulation and the child of God is not in
this world or is in this world he is not of this world and Christ came to do that and that creates a division and
in Christ We have peace with God. God is not angry with us
every day, even though we're still sinners. We are forgiven in Him. We are righteous in Him. We are holy in Him. And Mac, that's what? Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Christ came to give that. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. Lord, thank you for what
you have done for us, to us, in us, and around us. Thank you
for this assembly. for the blessed believers who
come. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.