In Luke 12, 49, our Lord Jesus
makes a very unusual statement, shocking to some. He says, I am come to send fire
on the earth. And what will I if it be already
kindled? Now, let's look at the context
surrounding that statement. And then I want to show you something
of what our Lord means by this statement. I am come to send
fire on the earth. We'll begin back in verse 35.
Now, I don't pretend to know all that's contained in this
passage of Scripture, but there is much here to comfort and cheer
the hearts of God's elect. Much here to inspire us with
devotion and zeal in the cause of Christ, to inspire us with
joy and assurance of hope with regard to eternal glory. And
there is much here to strike terror in the hearts of you who
believe not, if God will cause you to hear it. Verse 35. Let your loins be girded
about with truth, girded about, and your lights burning the light
God's given you. And you yourselves liken to men
that wait for their Lord. That's how we are to live in
this world, waiting for Christ. Not waiting with our arms folded,
sitting down, saying, well, the Lord's coming, but waiting as
we serve Him with expectation and hope. like men that wait for their
Lord when He will return from the wedding, that when He cometh
and knocketh, they may open to Him immediately. Blessed are
those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that He
shall gird Himself, and make them sit down to meet, and will
come forth and serve them. What an astounding statement.
Christ is our master, yet he washed his disciples' feet. But
this says more. There is a day coming when our
Lord Jesus shall, with all the robes of his indescribable glory,
gird himself and serve us forever. He'll take his children and lead
them by rivers of living water, and cause them to feed upon a
tree of life forever. Verse 38. And if he shall come in the second
watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so blessed are
those servants, and this know, that if the good men of the house
had known what hour the thief would come, He would have watched. If the man in charge of the house
had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched
and not have suffered the house to be broken through. Be ye therefore
ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think
not." Now, we'll see in a minute, Peter was a bit confused. He
didn't know whether the Lord was talking to him and the disciples
or whether he was talking to other folks. This passage clearly
is a warning to you who believe not, to you who do not know God
our Savior. Now, we know that because God's
people all are watching for Him. The scriptures teach that just
as plainly as they can teach it. We are living in the expectation
and hope of Christ's glorious advent. Only the unbeliever imagines
that the Lord delays His coming. Now, suppose. Will you hear me now? Suppose,
just suppose, the Son of God were to come tonight. Where would He find you and where
would you be? Forever. I dare you to think about that. I dare you to think about that.
May God give you no rest until He gives you rest in Christ.
And you can with confidence lay your head on your pillow in the
expectation of Christ coming and with joy want it to be so. Verse 41, Then Peter said unto
Him, Lord, Speakest thou then this parable unto us, or even
to all? And the Lord said, who then is
that faithful and wise steward, that faithful and wise servant,
whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them
their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant,
whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Blessed
is that servant who, when the Lord comes, is serving him. Blessed
is that servant. Of a truth I say unto you, that
he will make him ruler over all that he hath." What an astonishing statement.
The rewards Christ has in store for his people in glory, eye
has never yet seen, ear has never yet heard, and the heart of man
has never yet conceived. We have pictures and illustrations
and glimpses of that glory that awaits us. But I hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man
the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." If we
are found the servants of Christ, serving Him, and serving one
another in this world, when He comes again, He will make us
to be rulers over all that He has. Now, I cannot begin to even think
about, much less declare to you what that means, but it sounds
pretty good. He will cause us who are his
to enjoy and possess all the glory that the Father has given
him as the God-man mediator, as the result of his obedience
unto death, as our substitute. The scriptures nowhere teach
that there will be degrees of reward, but just the contrary.
We'll see in just a moment. There certainly are degrees of
punishment because men are judged, every man according to his works.
And every man will be judged and eternally damned according
to his deserts as he has rebelled against the measure of light
that God has given him. But the believer, the children
of God, possess heaven on the basis of their works, which are
the works of Christ, perfect righteousness. And that means
that everything he earned, we earned in him. Everything God
gave him, God gives us in him. Everything he possesses, we shall
possess forever. Read on. Not everybody is going
to enjoy this inheritance. Verse 45. But and if that servant say in
his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat
the men servants and maidens, and eat and drink and be drunken,
the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut
him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. I have no idea what the horrors
of hell are, but horrors they are. What horror, what terror, whatever
lasting torment shall be the punishment of every unfaithful
steward, the preacher who is untrue to his calling, the professed
believer who says he's a child of God and the servant of Christ
and yet Shows himself by his deeds to be self-serving, self-righteous,
judgmental, and cruel. What terror awaits them. Read the Lord's words again and
tremble. We cannot possibly exaggerate
what this book teaches about the hell that awaits God's enemies. I don't have any idea what it
is. I don't have any idea. People ask me fairly often when
I think about the fires of hell. I just don't know. I just don't
know. I don't know. But it's real. And it's dead
sure. You will find in this book expressions
about hell so graphically clear that if you hear what God says, I don't see how on earth you
could avoid trembling at the prospect of eternity without
a substitute. Fire, brimstone, a bottomless
pit, everlasting darkness, eternal abandonment, total, total abandonment. A worm that never dies, a fire
that is never quenched, a conscience completely alert, completely
acute, completely awake, but with no satisfaction. Lust at their height, but with
no gratification. And whatever hell is, if you
wind up in the pit of the damned, the hell of hell will be this.
Your conscience will forever tell you, you got it by justice. Because it's what you have earned
by your rebellion and your unbelief. The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for him, at an hour when
he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint
him his portion with the unbelievers. Verse 47. And that servant which
knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did, according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But that servant,
he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall
be beaten with few stripes. In other words, hell's going
to be hotter for some than others. Torment's going to be worse for
some than others. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much
be required. And to whom men have committed
much, of him they will require them more. Let's each apply this to ourselves.
Let each judge for himself or herself what talents and abilities,
opportunities the Lord has put into our trust. We must never be content to say,
well, I've done this or I've done that. I fear for many women. I fear for preachers. I fear
for churches. I fear for individuals and groups of individuals who
talk about what they used to do for God. We must never be content. I've
done this. I've done that. Well, I've done
my part now. It's up to you to take care of
the rest. We are responsible, you and me, like it or not, we
are responsible to serve our Master, our Lord, and our God
exactly in proportion with the talents, abilities, and opportunities
he puts in our hands. That means Bobby Estes and Don
Fortner too. Who among us is not humbled,
broken, and ashamed before God in the realization of this? But
the passage speaks distinctly of those who serve themselves
and not God, those who serve their will and not God's will,
who serve their pleasure and not God's pleasure. Great talents,
great abilities, great opportunities are great responsibilities. If
men and women ever understood this, they'd learn to fear these
things, not covet them. Seekest thou great things for
thyself, seek them not. You seek great things for yourself,
you seek great damnation for yourself. Every increased light that is
despised, every increased opportunity that is neglected, every increased
talent that is not used for the glory of God is but that which
increases your everlasting torment. Now, look at our Lord's statement
in verse 49. I am come to send fire on the
earth, and what will I if it be already
kindled? The Son of God, contrary to popular
opinion, states plainly that He did not come to send peace
on earth. He came to give peace to some
men on earth. But he never came to send peace
on earth. He never intended to send peace
on earth. Nothing in all the world is more
unifying than the gospel of the grace of God. And nothing is
more divisive. Our Lord came to send a sword.
And the sword he sends is the gospel. It is our Lord's intention that
it be divisive. The language of this passage,
if you could read it in the origin, is very, very strong. John Trapp gave an excellent
paraphrase. This is what he said. I'm come to send fire on the
earth. Let the fire kindle as soon as
it will. Let trouble begin. I'm come to
send fire on the earth. Let it kindle as soon as it will.
I'm content. I know that much good will come
of it. You see, the gospel of Christ is not a creed enshrined
in temples, but a burning fire in the soul. The gospel is not
a theological system entombed in the brains of men, but a fire
erupting in their hearts. The gospel is not an icy system
of ceremonies and rituals, but rather fire burning in the earth. Our Savior tells us that the
gospel is an ardent, fervent, flaming thing, a subject that
stirs enthusiasm, a theme that rouses intense devotion. It is something that excites
men's souls. It's something that affects us
in the depths of our beings. The gospel does this both in
those who believe it and in those who believe it not. You see,
men and women may and often are,
may be and often are indifferent to religion. You can give it
or take it. You can take it or leave it.
Doesn't matter. But I'm going to tell you something
about the gospel of God's grace. Nobody's indifferent to it. Doesn't
happen. Doesn't happen. The gospel is
fire. The fire that our Lord came to
send on the earth. The fire He was anxious to light
by His death, by His resurrection, by His ascension, by the outpouring
of His Spirit upon all flesh. Now look at verse 50. But I have
a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened until
it be accomplished? He was talking about His death.
his suffering, the agony of his soul, the torment of his body,
the breaking of his heart, the laying down of his life. And
he said, I am pressed. I'm pressed until it's accomplished. As you would take a cube of toothpaste
and squeeze it, you press it, and the toothpaste moves out
the end of the tube. That's the word he's using. He's
saying, I am pressed. Not pressed by circumstances
beyond my control, pressed by my determination to redeem and
save my people. I'm pressed until I accomplish
this baptism, which I have come to be baptized with. Baptism
into the horror of God's anger and wrath and justice. Oh, how
anxious the Son of God was to redeem us. How anxious He was
to put away our sins, regardless of the fact that it cost Him
His own life. How anxious He is to save His
people. How anxious He is to bring us
to glory by virtue of what He accomplished at Calvary. Now,
as the direct result of His work at Calvary, As a direct result of this thing
he's pressed to accomplish, as a direct result of him sending
the gospel upon the earth, there's a division among men. The gospel
we preach is a fire in the earth, and it is a dividing fire. Look
at verse 51. Suppose ye that I am come to
give peace on earth, I tell you nay. Now, this is not my supposition. This is what he said anyway.
I tell you, no. No. But preacher, I've heard
all my life he came to send peace on earth. I've told you all your
life, as long as you've been listening to me, preacher's been
lying to you all your life. He didn't come to send peace
on earth. He came to give peace to some men 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, the son against
the father. The mother against the daughter and the daughter
against the mother. The mother-in-law against the
daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. Now
this is exactly what Paul tells us in Galatians 5. Turn over
there if you will. Galatians chapter 5. Paul's talking about the believer's
freedom from the law. He's writing to these Galatians
to whom the Judaizers have come, attempting to mix grace and works,
taking away the offense of the cross. You see, there's no offense
to works religion. Everybody loves it. Everybody
loves it. Everybody talks about grace. Everybody loves works. Everybody
says we believe in salvation by grace. They all teach salvation
by works. Everybody except the folks who know God. Everybody.
And so it doesn't matter what form it takes. It doesn't matter. Well, this is going to get out,
so let it get out. Fellows of the Ministerial Association
can fuss if they want to. But they all get along. They
all get along. You know, they don't even invite
me to come. I wouldn't if they did, but they're the only ones
who come. How come? Because we can't possibly get along. Now,
some of them wear dog collars, and some of them don't. Some
of them wear silly-looking costumes, and some of them don't. Some
of them are conservative, and some of them are liberal. Some
of them are Pentecostal, and some of them wouldn't think about
speaking in tongues. Some of them are Baptist, and some Presbyterian,
and some Catholic. But they ever wouldn't get along.
How come? Because they all preach exactly
the same thing. They just play different games
and go through different ceremonies. They preach exactly the same
thing. There's no offense to the message because they'll tell
you plainly, really, when you get right down to it, when you
get to the bare knuckles of this thing, salvation depends on you. That's the message. No offense
to that, men love it. And then somebody comes along
preaching free grace. And they will everyone, they'll everyone
start biting nails and spitting fire. How come? Galatians 5.11. My
brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, if I preach salvation by the
law, if I preach salvation by what you do, why do I yet suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Now this is what Paul tells us
and this is what our Lord tells us back here in Luke 12. The
simple preaching of the gospel message, the message of the cross,
not the symbol of the cross, the sign of the cross, or pictures
of the cross. That doesn't offend anybody. Everybody loves it.
But the message of the cross is an offense to men. It divides
men. It divides families. It divides
fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives. It divides churches. And it's
supposed to. It's supposed to. I hear preachers
tell me, well, I believe that, but if I preach that at our church,
it'd just tear the church all to pieces. Church needs to be
tore to pieces then. Just that simple. Just that simple. If the gospel of God's grace
will disintegrate this place, it needs disintegrating. It needs
disintegrating. The sooner, the better. Oh, why
is the gospel offensive? Because it offends man's sense
of dignity. We all like to think we're somebody,
and the gospel addresses us all as nobody. We all like to think
we're good, and the gospel addresses us all as sinners. Every one
of us. Sinners to the same degree. Sinners with the same corrupt
hearts. Sinners with nothing to distinguish
us. Not before God. centers. The
gospel offends man's wisdom because men like to think that they can
find out God if they're just smart enough and study enough
and search enough. And the gospel says, no, you'll
never know God except he come and reveal himself in you. You
can't possibly know the glory of God unless Christ is revealed
in you by the grace of God. You can't possibly understand
the things of God unless God gives you a new heart and gives
you light to see and eyes to see and to behold his glory in
the face of Christ. The gospel offends man's pride
because it declares that the only way a sinner can ever stand
before God Almighty and be accepted of Him is through the doing and
dying of somebody else. You can never be accepted of
God on the basis of anything in you. It ain't gonna happen. The only way sinners can ever
be accepted before God is through the substitutionary death of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, through His blood atonement and through
His righteousness to which you contribute nothing. The gospel
offends man's love of self because the gospel demands surrender. I don't know how to make this
clear in this generation. When men and women have been
told all their lives You know, if you'll just say the sinner's
prayer, if you'll just say, I believe in Jesus, if you'll just say
something, the Lord will accept you if you don't even know what
you're saying. Ron Wood, the gospel demands
surrender. The issue of the gospel is who's
going to be boss. The issue of the gospel is who's
going to rule. The issue of the gospel is whose
will shall direct you, whose word shall rule you, yours or
his. That's the issue. The gospel
offends man's sense of self-worth because it declares salvation
by grace. Grace. You don't need to define grace,
should you? The man alive is so poorly understood,
it has to be defined. Grace is what makes the difference.
Grace distinguishes. Grace separates men from men. Grace is free. Grace is sovereign. Grace is eternal. Grace is irresistible. Grace is God's operation. And it shall not fail. Salvation,
in other words, is something God does for you, to you, and
in you. Not something you do. It ain't
got nothing to do with what you do. Now, preacher, you ought
not talk like that. Well, you understood it, didn't
you? It ain't got nothing to do with what you do. Salvation
is by grace. Now, let's go back to verse 49. Master says I'm come to send
fire on the earth and the fire is talking about his word the
gospel There's a similar passage in Jeremiah 23 listen to it The
Lord God says is not my word like a fire Now what's he talking
about when he speaks of the gospel that he's come to sin as fire
What is this gospel? What is this gospel? Let's look
at two texts. I can show you many, but let's
look at two. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Let me one
more time state plainly in your hearing what the gospel is. I know folks, you go home and
turn on television at night and you pick up one of those religious
clowns who's trying to get all your money so he can make more
himself. He'll smile at you just as sincere and sweet and he'll
say, God loves you and we do too. You hear fellas on television,
they're being interviewed for news. You get a religious fella
on television, if he mentions the gospel, he's going to say
the gospel of Christ is love. It ain't either. No, it isn't. No, it isn't. The gospel is a
declaration of something done. The gospel is good news. It's
not good advice. It's not wise counsel. It is
good news. It's not an invitation. It's
a declaration. The gospel, that by which we
are saved, that by which we believe, is the good news of heaven. How? That Christ died for our sins
according to the scripture. Not just that He died. That doesn't
do anything for anybody. But H-O-W, how He died. Look at it, 1 Corinthians 15.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which you also have received, and wherein you stand,
by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory, if you
hold fast what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, H-O-W. How that Christ died for
our sins, just like the book of God said He would. How did
He die? He died voluntarily. He said,
I lay down my life. He died moral because he wanted
to. He wanted to. He said, I have
a baptism to be baptized with. I'm pressed. I'm straightened
to the succumbed. And he died vicariously. That
means he died in somebody's place. He died for somebody's salvation. He died for somebody's redemption.
And he died victoriously. That means whatever it was he
intended to do, he did. The Lord Jesus Christ said, it's
finished. And the redemption of his people
was finished. The gospel, look in Romans chapter 3, is primarily,
not singularly, but primarily, a revelation of the justice of
God. It is the revelation of God as
a just God and a Savior. The revelation of the righteousness
of God in the exercise of saving mercy. In Romans chapter 3, the
Apostle Paul is giving us instruction about the matter of justification.
And it says we are justified, verse 24, freely. Freely. You know what that word is? It's the very same word that
is translated, they hated me without a cause. Those who hated
the son of God didn't have any reason for hating him. And when
he says we are justified freely, the Lord God is saying we're
justified without a cause in us. There's no reason in me and
no reason in you why God should justify us. Justified freely
by his grace for grace means but justified on the basis of
something Justified freely by his grace watch it now through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God has sent forth
to be a propitiation a justice satisfying substitute a We have
these things for babies, you know, when you little types you
stick a little something in their mouth called a pacifier. What's
that for? It's to pacify them. It's so
they'll quit fussing at you. It's so they'll quit making noise.
It's so they'll be satisfied, at least for a little while.
That's the word. Only it's a legal term. God set
forth His Son to be a justice-satisfying, a God-pacifying sacrifice through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that passed through the forbearance of God. What on earth
does that mean? How can God? Without changing, without altering
his character, without changing his law, without violating his
word, how can God, who has said, the soul that sinneth, it shall
die, forgive a sinner? How can he do it? Look yonder. And behold, Emmanuel, God in
human flesh, burying our sins in his body on the tree, until
justice said, that's enough. That's how he can do it, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Well, how may the gospel
be compared to fire? If you read the book of God,
you cannot avoid seeing and being struck with the extraordinary
doctrines of the gospel revealed in these pages. If ever the Lord
God applies the gospel of his grace to your heart, if ever
you come to experience grace, it will no longer be a matter
of theory, of curiosity, of philosophy, of debate. Rather, it will grab
your soul. It will pierce your heart. And
it will forever alter your life radically and continually. It will turn your world upside
down and inside out. And perhaps that which is most
profound and most astonishing, at least in the initial experience
of grace, and more so as we grow in grace, is the sweet, wondrous,
golden revelation of the love of God for sinners such as we
are in Jesus Christ the Lord. Herein is love. Not that we loved God. We didn't. We wouldn't. We couldn't. But
that He loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Men say, I used to hear it. And
it was a theory. It was an idea. It was a concept. It was a philosophy. It was a
creed. But now I've tasted it. And nothing's been the same since.
Nothing. No relationship, no fault, no
prospect. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. Imagine that. and just about the most horrid, abominable, vile, corrupt, obnoxious,
loathsome thing I can imagine in the universe. is that my heart is sometimes
frozen over like an arctic sea in the presence of his love and
totally unmoved by it. There is not an evil imaginable
worse than that. None. None. The gospel of the grace of God
comes on the hearts of men, cold hearts like ours. Initially,
and I pray, will come down like fire from heaven. Is that what
Isaiah experienced? He said, I saw the Lord. High
and lifted up. His train filled the temple,
sitting on His throne, the Lamb of God sitting on the mercy seat
covering the ark, the throne of free grace. The seraphim bowing
before Him, crying, holy, holy, holy. His train filled the temple,
and the earth shook at His presence. And I cried, oh, oh, His name.
For I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And then one
of the seraphim came, and he took tongs and took a live coal
from off the altar and laid it on my lips. And he said, though
this hath touched your lips, this burning sacrifice, thine
iniquity is purged and thy sin is taken away. The gospel of
the grace of God is the sword of the Lord. It cannot sleep. The truths of the gospel, blood
atonement, Justification by the blood of Christ, forgiveness
through His blood, salvation by His grace, are not just words
and religious slogans, but rather living principles. And like the
breath in our lungs, they can't be contained. They must erupt
and break out. But in our text, when our Lord
said, I'm come to send fire on the earth, He's primarily talking
about gospel preaching. And when he talks about sending
fire, certainly he's talking about preachers, God who makes
His angels, ministering spirits, and His ministers, His preachers,
a flaming fire, puts fire in a man's soul when it sends him
to preach. And if you hear him, you'll know
it. Benjamin Franklin used to go hear George Whitefield preach.
Went to him as often as he could. And Benjamin Franklin was a deist.
He had no regard for what Whitefield preached. And somebody asked
him one time, said, why do you go hear that man preach? He said,
you don't believe what he does. He said, no, but he does. He
does. Fire, not emotionalism, not brilliant
intellect, not fiery oratory, but the fire of God in a man's
soul. by which He speaks to the hearts
of men, and that fire is the Spirit of God, poured out by
the Son of God from the throne of God for the people of God."
How is this gospel like fire? Let me just give you some highlights. When I get done, you'll have
plenty to meditate on. The gospel is wondrously pure. Like fire. Fire, pure. You want to sterilize
something? Put it in the fire. And the gospel
is pure. Pure truth. Nothing of error,
nothing unrighteous, nothing carnal, nothing material. Pure
truth. Everything about the gospel is
spiritual. We have a spiritual altar, Christ
the Lord. We have spiritual sacrifices,
praise and worship to our God. We have spiritual motives that
rule our lives. And we have spiritual aspirations,
the knowledge of God. Fire gives light. And when the
gospel comes, oh, son of God, send the fire from heaven and
cause men to see the light of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And fire, fire tests about everything.
You want to find out if gold is real or not? Stick it in the
fire. You want to find out if the silver is real? Stick it
in the fire. You want to find out if the jewels are real? Stick
them in the fire. Stick them in the fire. The gospel
too tests everything. Read 1 Corinthians 3. It'll burn up most everything
being called good works and religion and preaching and serving God,
like wood, hay, and stubble. It'll consume it like a snowball
in a blast furnace. Test every doctrine, every principle,
every philosophy, every thought, every ambition, every aspiration,
every deed by this fire. The gospel of Christ, like fire,
gives comfort and cheers. Oh, how the gospel cheers my
soul.