Luke chapter 12. Let's read the text, beginning
with verse 49 through the end of the chapter. The Lord is speaking
primarily to His disciples, but everyone heard it. And He says,
I have 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 or pained 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. Father shall be divided against the son. The son against
the father, the mother against the daughter, the daughter against
the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And he said also
to the people, to everyone, when you see a cloud rise out of the
west straightway, immediately you say, there cometh a shower.
And so it is. And when you see the south wind
blow, you say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass.
Ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the
earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourself
judge ye not what is right? When thou goest with thine adversary
to the magistrate, As thou art in the way, give diligence that
thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he hail thee to the
judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the
officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart
thence till thou hast paid the very last money." Those are dire
warnings, aren't they? Ominous-sounding words, as they
are. How fitting in these perilous
times. We are in the last days and perilous
times. The Lord rebuked the people of
His days and said, Why can't you discern the times? It's clear,
isn't it? How fitting in these last days,
this perilous time. How often have we said, reminded
us that the Word of God is full of warnings, lest we presume
promises, lest we despair. Warnings. Warnings produce fear,
don't they? Warnings. Fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is cleaned by
the fear of the Lord being departed from evil, Scripture says. Our
Lord is talking about His imminent return. He just said, you be
like to His disciples. You have your loins girt, shoes
on your feet, light burning, waiting, watching. He's coming,
and He's right at the door. When you see all these things,
know He's at the door. He's speaking of His imminent
return. And he said in another place, as in the days of Noah,
so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Now Noah was warned
of God. How did Noah find grace in the
eyes of the Lord? He said that Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord and he was found in the ark. How did
he first find grace? He was warned. Isn't that what
it said? What did he do? Moved with fear. What did he do? The rest of his
days were spent around an ark. God told him there's one place
of salvation and safety. And you know God told him what
that ark, or rather who that ark represented. Noah was a preacher
of righteousness. Not his own, but God's. Of Christ
the Refuge. 120 years that ark was his. And when the time came, where
was Noah found? In the ark. Seven days. They scoffed. They mocked. The sun was shining. Where's the promise of his coming?
That rain, Noah? It's coming. And the door shut. As in the days of Noah. That's
what the Lord said. 120 years. The ark was his life. Our Lord, throughout this twelfth
chapter, we spent a long time in chapter 9, and we've spent
a long time in this chapter. We've got nothing better to do.
There is nothing better to do. The Lord, throughout this psalm,
he said, Beware, beware, beware, beware, didn't he? Beware of
the covetousness. the leaven of the Pharisees.
He said, everything's going to be revealed. He said, those that
deny me, I will deny. He said, I'll forewarn you whom
you shall fear. He said, don't fear man, but
fear God. Didn't he? All through this text. He said, they'll be cast out,
those that don't confess me. He said, beware of covetousness. Beware of covetousness. And warnings and warnings and
promises and promises. He promised his disciples, he
said, fear God, but don't fear man. He says, not a hair of your
head will perish. Now what does that mean? I've lost all my hair. He's going to put it all back
in someday. When he raises this vile body, you understand? God's people, if not a bone of
his body, is going to be lost. Though it's turned to ashes and
dust, he's going to put it all back together again. Perfect,
like his glorious body. Not a hair on your head is going
to perish. And remember after all that he
said, remember Peter said, Lord, are you talking to us? He said,
be like the servant, the wise servant, feeding his sheep and
waiting and watching and praying and your loins girt and your
lights burning and don't be like the Gentiles. All they think
about is eating and drinking and tomorrow, wake up tomorrow,
don't be like that. Now I'm coming. And after it's
all said, Peter said, Lord, are you talking to us? Yeah. Yes,
I am. Look at Luke 21. Luke 21. And you need to remember where
this is and mark it well. And look at it constantly. Luke
chapter 21. This is at the end of the Gospel,
isn't it? Not at the end. We're halfway through, 24 chapters.
But Luke 21, look at verse 34. And he's talking to his disciples.
He talked about, you'll be hated, verse 17, you'll be hated. Verse
18, out of the hair of your head will perish. He says it again.
How many times does he have to tell us? Lord, keep telling them. Verse 19, in your patience, possess
your soul. Get a hold of yourself. What
patience? Waiting on the Lord. Patiently
submitting to everything that he sent. Now verse 34, take heed
to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting. That's eating and drinking and
the things of this world, and drunkenness, being intoxicated
with anything. People are intoxicated with family,
with jobs, the world, food, drink. and the cares of this life, so
that that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come
on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. So watch,
therefore, and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape."
Remember in Colossians, he said, he's made us meet, fit, qualified
to be partakers. Who's that? Sinners. mercy-beggars, those that need
mercy. If this gospel ever ceases to
be the greatest news we've ever heard, this is going to come
on us unaware. If we're going to be like the
children of Israel, overcome by the world. There were only
two adults. There were only two adults that went into prostitution.
That's frightening, isn't it? Oh, to be a Joshua and a Caleb,
to follow Him faithfully. Now, let somebody say, tell us
some good news. These are the words of our Lord.
I am faithfully dealing with God's Word as it is told. This
is Christ's Word. To whom? Peter said, you're speaking
to us? Who the Lord loves, He warns,
doesn't He? I need warning. My father, all
the time I was in his house, he was never ceasing to warn
me. He was never ceasing to reprove, rebuke, and correct. I needed
it bad. What happened? I left. What happened? I almost killed myself. But God brought me back to hear
the same thing that I heard before. Then he put a love in it. Then
he made me a theologian here. Then he made me a prayerful here. Then he made me love what I was
hearing. Then it wasn't just a duty, it was mine. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is salvation. His word is salvation. Our Lord
said, I'm warning you, son. How about the proverb? Over and
over. Son, my son, my son, daughter,
I'm warning you. Those who are warned are promised. Those who fear, he says over
and over again, fear not. Lord, are you speaking to me?
Are you hearing me? Are you warned? Are you convicted?
Are you reproved? Are you rebuked? Are you guilty?
Does your conscience smite you? Are you convicted of sin, of
righteousness, of judgment? Are you? Are you? Yes, I am.
I'm speaking to you. I've got good news for you. I'm
coming for you. But watch. Because he's going
to come on the whole world. That's what the Lord said. All
right, back to our tape. He said, I have come to send
fire on the earth. Verse 49. You see that? And what will I? What shall I
do? It's already kindled. It's already
started. Fire. See, this is the Jesus
Christ that this world doesn't know. These are words that the
religious world, they don't hear these words. Have you ever heard
a modern preacher quote these verses? I haven't. I have not. I've come to send fire on you. And it's already kindled. All
right, look at Malachi 3 with me. Malachi chapter 3. Fire. Fire is an amazing thing, isn't
it? We were camping recently. Another couple was out there
and we were sitting by the fire. You always have a fire, summer
or winter, when you're camping. That's just what you do. But
don't you love to sit and look at the fire? It's mesmerizing. You can't take your eyes off
of it. It's an amazing thing. Fire's a living thing, isn't
it? It's a living thing. You can't
predict it. It's just a living thing. Blue and yellow, multicolored. It's an amazing thing. It's a
wonderful thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's a terrible thing. It can be a terrible thing. It
can be a dreadful thing. Brother Kevin Thackeray, his
wife, Kimberly, and the people out there, the fires were raging.
God has sent fire after fire after fire after fire all over,
especially California. All over Midway, raging, consuming
thousands of acres. Our Lord said, you can discern
the place, why can't you see the time? Why can't you see earthquakes
and famines and droughts and pestilence and floods and tornadoes
and the wrath of God revealed from heaven? Fire after fire
after fire. Why can't you discern the time?
We can't. But Kevin and May said the fire
was just a few hundred yards from our house. Have you ever
been in a situation like that? Can you imagine? Have you ever
been near a burning building? I have. It's frightening. You can feel the heat from 500
yards away and there's no stopping it if it's out of control. Our God is a consuming fire. That's the God of the Old Testament.
That's Hebrews 12, 29. And Jesus Christ said, I am come to bring fire. Malachi 3, verse 1, Behold, I
send my messenger, he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord,
whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, the messenger
of the covenant, whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hope, but who may abide the day of his coming?
Who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire. Chapter 4, verse 1. Behold, the
day cometh that shall burn as an oak. All the proud, yea, all
that do wickedly shall be stubble. The day that cometh shall burn
them up, saith the Lord of hosts. But, here's the promise. Verse 2. Don't you love the buts? Unto you that fear Fear my name,
shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his way."
A fire, a fire. A fire is a wonderful thing.
A fire does several things. A fire destroys, doesn't it? If you want to completely obliterate
something, if you want to completely remove all trace of something,
burn it up. There'll be nothing left of it.
If it's hot enough, there won't even be ashes. Isn't that right? That's what God says is going
to do with everything, except God's people in Christ. A fire
consumes. A fire is a purifier. In Malachi
3, it purifies the sons of Jacob, sons of God. A fire warms. You know, you can have your electric
heat. Sorry, Ron. Ron worked on the fire company.
He hates the gas company. We kid about that all the time.
But there's nothing that heats like a flame, is there? You old
folks, when all you had in the house was a fireplace, okay? John, you old folks. Did you
ever put your backside up to the fire? Did you ever drop your
bridges? Nothing like it, is it? Nothing
warms like that. Christ said, my word is a fire
and a hammer. One time he was preaching to
his disciples on the road to Elia, and after he finished,
he said, our hearts are burning. So warm, so comforted. And you
know what a fire does? It destroys everything. We need everything destroyed,
don't we, except faith in God, faith in Christ. He's going to
everything in this world, all the works of man and all the
things that man has done, gone. How? The brightness of his country,
gone. Everything's gone. But what? Him. And those in it. Fire. Fire of comforts, fire of warmth.
Jesus Christ is God. How did he come to earth as the
fire the first time? How? Well, the scripture says
a fire went out of his mouth, Psalm 21, Psalm 18. Fire is fiery words. People don't like fiery preachers
today. They don't want to be used today. Oh, boy. For when he spoke, no
man speak like this man. Oh, he obliterated his enemies. Oh, lies, the refuge of lies
with one word, his short breath of his mouth, the breath of his
nostrils. He didn't destroy it. By the word of his mouth, he
destroyed all lies, all hypocrisy, all false refuge, all false prophets. Like Elijah at that time on Mount
Carmel, he said, The God that answers by fire, he's God. And he's the same, he hadn't
changed. Then God came to this earth, and what did he do? And
all these people, nothing hidden that wasn't revealed. All the
Pharisees and the scribes and the Pharisees. He spoke one word
and boy, they all shriveled. I love that woman caught in the
act of adultery, don't you? They brought all those law people
that kept the law holier than thou, you know, they were righteous
according to the law, like Saul of Tartuth. And they brought
this guilty woman. Everybody knew she was guilty. Everybody
knew she was guilty. She was guilty. Caught in the
act. They brought her. The Lord had
them bring her to his feet and throw her at his feet. Oh, blessed
woman. Caught. What a blessing. Found guilty. What a blessing. Afraid. What a blessing. Fearful. What a blessing. Broken heart.
What a blessing. One hope. What a blessing. What's he going
to say? With a word, he can cast me body
and soul in the hand. With a word, he can forgive me,
justify me from all. With a word. And when he was
through, everybody was gone but him and her. And he lifted her
up and said, woman, look around. Where are your accusers? Does
the law accuse you? Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
you see here, he's gone. Everybody, I've wiped them all
out. You and me. Your sins are forgiven. Gone, they're gone. Fire destroys
everything. Christ said, your sins are gone. And I still feel them. Nope,
they're gone. Praise the Lord. Fire. I come as a fire. He said in
our text, I have a baptism. Be baptized with it. The Lord came as a fire, and
we're going to look at a sword or division. He came as a fire. Fiery words of his mouth, but
he came to endure the fire. He came to be put in the fire.
He came to be a burnt offering. That's why He came. He said,
I'm in great pain until I get through this. This is why I came. For this cause came out of the
world. I came to endure the wrath, the hell, and the judgment of
God against my people. I'm going to go to the cross
and be made a curse. Curse of the law for them. And I'm going
to endure the eternity that they deserve in hell for them on Calvary's
tree. I'm going to be made sin for
them. And the wrath of God, the fire
of God is going to fall on this sacrifice. But you know what? He wasn't consumed. He wasn't
consumed. He wasn't concerned. Like the
burning bush. Moses said, let me go see this
site. He saw there's a burning bush, but it's not concerned.
Like the angel that went into the sacrifice where Gideon was
and ascended up, he wasn't concerned. He ascended up. And on and on
it goes. That's Christ crucified, the
burnt offering, endured the fiery wrath of God. Why? Not for himself,
but for others. He endured, and yet was not consumed. But something was. Our sins were. Our sins were. That fit man that
took that goat out in the wilderness and he put that goat where it
could never be found, remember that? You know what? That fit
man, he came back. He came back. You remember Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego? Hananiah, Mashiach, and Ezariah?
They went in the fiery furnace. They said, put us in there. And
they came and they looked. They said, didn't we put three
men in that furnace? Someone said, yeah, they should
be consumed by now. Said, they're not. And lo, there's
a fourth man in there. They came out, not a hair up
their head was singed. The clothes on their back, no
smell of smoke. And that fourth man stayed in
there. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Who held the mouth of the lion
shut while Daniel was in there? Son of David. Come to bring fire. And I have a baptism. And he
baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire, the scripture says.
Holy Spirit and fire. That's not some apparition that
we see or some experience that we feel. No, no, no, no. That's
fake. That's phony. It's hypocrisy. All this sham
of religion today. Holy Ghost fire. It's a sham.
Put the children through the fire, which the scripture always
talks about. Acquire the fire. You don't acquire the fire. The
fire acquires you. What is that? It's the Holy Spirit
of God. What does He do? He takes the things of Christ
and shows them to you. The Holy Spirit and fire burns
up your false profession. Burns up your experience. Burns
up your baptism. Burns up everything you've ever
done. Your righteousness. Burns up everything you thought
you knew about God. Destroys it. And he starts all
over. Born again. Born of God. Born
of the Gospel. Fire destroys it all. Now he
says, The Spirit said, now, I'm going to show you everything. I'm going to show you Christ.
I'm going to show you, you are nothing. Nothing you've ever
done matters. It's all gone. Blown up. Only what Christ has done for
you matters, will last. A division. Look at verse 51.
Matthew's gospel says a sword. A sword. Divides them. Hebrews 4, the
Word of God is a sword that pierces to the dividing asunder. Soul
and merits. Joints and the merits. Soul and spirit. Dividing. And
he said, weren't these... and nearly every believer has
gone through this. He said there's going to be five
in a house, two against three, three against two, and a father
against a son. How can that be? Why would that
be? I thought Christ was, you know,
loving and gentle and kind and wanting to save everybody. He
saves whoever He wills to save. He shouldn't have saved anybody.
But bless God, by His mercy and grace, saved somebody. He saves
a lot of people. Because he's so merciful, so gracious. But
to be five in a house, there's not one of them that deserves
to be saved. There's six of us, not one of us. My father was
a false prophet, a false preacher, a free-will Armenian preacher.
He didn't deserve to hear the truth. He was a false prophet. He needed to be obliterated.
But God sent a fiery preacher named Rothbard, tore his world
up, destroyed his past, destroyed his preaching. Started all over again like he
knew nothing. Good. And all he knew was Christ. All he knew to preach was Christ.
But my family, six of us, none of us deserved to be saved but
God. I believe he saved four of us, five of us. By His mercy, by His grace. A
division, though. There's some of you, five or
six in the house, and there's only two of you. It's sad, isn't it? What is it
that separates? It's Him. It's not doctrine. It's Him. It says two or three
times in the Gospel there was a division because of Him. See, God's people, Christ really
does become their Lord and their Master. You serve one Master. You listen to one Master. You
don't listen to the world, you listen to Him. And your family
and everybody else says, well, what did they say? And you say,
I don't care what they say. All I care about is what He says.
Right? You're too narrow. Yes, I am. Christ said narrow is the way,
straight is the way. There's nothing closer than blood
and kin now. Blood thicker than water. There's
something closer than that. It's Him. Born again. A creature. And divides. Divides a husband against a wife.
Father against son. Sometimes, the Lord is pleased
to save a whole house, but not very often. What mercy, though,
if He saves any of us. He said, though, didn't He say,
every kindred? My family weren't noble people.
It wasn't a noble family. The Mahan, the Scotch-Irish.
No, no, no. They all ran naked, fighting useless battles, and
they were all heathen. Catholic origin. Yes, my mother's
family, the Dyers, they're from France. They're all a bunch of
heathens. I'm not from noble. No, not many wise, not many mighty,
not many noble are called heathens. The Lord calls us heathens. Out
of every kindred, every kindred, the House of Sheisman, the House
of Pendry, the House of Canterbury, the House of Davis, the House
of Hudson, Who am I, David said, and what is my house that you
show such kindness? And God said, I'll tell you why,
it's for Christ's sake. And so you give Him all the honor
and glory from that day forward. And the free will Armenian people
that like the honor for themselves and like their decision and like
their works and like their church and like their past preacher
and like their, they believe like their grandmama did, nothing
can change me, they won't fight you. Leave them alone. Tell them the truth. You can't change them. And our
Lord said, I've come to bring the sword. The sword. And he said this, verse 54 in
closing, he said, when you see these things, can you not discern
the times? Brethren, we're an apostate generation. There was a great outpouring
of the Spirit of God back in the Reformation, and then on
and on it went, and the Second Great Awakening in this country,
and Europe, and all that. Where is it now? We're in the last days, the latter
harvest. The latter harvest, you know,
the fall, you just hear little, little, little. A few tomatoes,
right? We're in the last days. Can't
you discern? He said, how is it you can't
discern the time? He said, then why can't you judge
what's right? What's right? There ain't nothing in this world
right. Ain't nothing in this world right. Everything's wrong
in it. It's turned upside down. Judgment's turned way back. That's
Isaiah 59. There ain't nothing right. I'll
tell you who is right. And God gives his people a discerning,
an understanding of all things, 1 Corinthians 2. The spiritual,
God's people discern all things. How? In light of Christ. They
see he's coming, see the clouds, dust at his feet. I see the signs.
He's near, he's at the door. Judgment's turned way backward.
Truth has fallen in the street. None called for truth or justice.
You don't see people coming into God's house very much. Why? Door
of the ark is shutting. The door of the ark is shutting.
Isn't that right? Clear as a nose on your face. Do you not see how thankful we
are? That was outside, and now I'm
inside. My soul, God, have a praise the
Lord. And the last two verses, do you
know what this is saying? You've read it. Agree with your
adversary while you're in the way. Give diligence to be delivered
of him. He's going to hail you to the
judge, and the judge delivers you to the officer, and the officer's
going to cast you into prison. You ain't coming out until it's
everything you've ever done, faithful. Who's he talking about? He's talking about God. God's
our adversary. Psalm 7 says he's angry with
the wicked every day. And Psalm 11 says he hates all
workers. But I thought God loved everybody. You thought wrong. Psalm 50 says
thou thoughtest thou was all together such as one as yourself.
He said I'm going to approve you. He approves his people.
The fear of the Lord. We're right back where we started,
Mark. The fear of the Lord. And we come to him and we say,
Lord, put me in the ark, put me in Christ. I fear you. I fear your name. I fear your
judgment. I fear your wrath. But you're merciful, you're gracious,
and your mercy and your love and your grace is in Christ.
Lord, put me in the ark. Put me in the ark. Don't leave
me. Take hold of me like those animals and put me in the ark.
And don't let me go. Shut the door. Shut me up to
faith. Don't let me out. Seal me inside
that. Don't let me out. Because I'm
prone to wander. Lord, put me in the ark. You agree with your adversary.
We agree with God. We justify God about everything
He says about Himself, about everything He says about man,
about everything He says about me. Right? We agree with Him. Who's the
adversary? God, man. It wasn't always that
way. See, man's invented a carnal
mind, is invented against God. Now, if you're against God, He's
against you. It didn't start that way. It
didn't start with God as an inmate, did it? But man became the inmate. So then, could God be against
us? Whoo! But if God be for him, he can
be against us. Who's he for? Those that are
for his son. Those that love his son. Those
that bow to his son. He said, kiss the son. Psalm
2. The whole world is against him. He said, God's laughing. He said, now, I've set my king on my holy hill
of Zion. Fire and sword. Fire and sword. He is the officer. He's the judge,
isn't He? Christ is the judge, all judgment.
The keys of hell and death are at my side. Agree with Him. Give
diligence to be delivered of it. Oh, deliver me. Have mercy upon me. Spare me
for Christ's sake. You know what you'll do? Like
1 Samuel 22? You'll forgive all your debts. Relieve you of your distress.
And you'll be satisfied with Christ. And every mite has been
paid. Everything that God's people
owe to God's justice and God's love and mercy and kindness,
then Jesus Christ paid it all in full. Amen.