Please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 12, and we'll read verses 49 down to 59. Jesus says, I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. He also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, a shower is coming, and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, there will be scorching heat, and it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. So ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray and ask for the Lord's illuminating work. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, and we ask that by your spirit we would not be found among those to whom Jesus cries hypocrites, to those who are charged with a failure to read the times. And for this, we know that we need your Holy Spirit to illuminate the text to our eyes and to our souls. And would you do for us, Lord, that which we need? Would you show us your word, show us your law, show us your gospel, show us and lead us to Christ Jesus, our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. What did Jesus come to do in his earthly ministry? What did Jesus come to do? How would you answer that question? Jesus came into the world to blank. Now there's certainly more than one right answer. Jesus came to accomplish many things in his earthly incarnation and life and ministry. But if you were to ask that question to the man on the street, how would they respond? What kind of answers would you get? Well, you'd probably be told that Jesus came to bring peace, or Jesus came to show us a better way to live, or Jesus came to bring us all together. These are some of the popular conceptions of Jesus and of Christianity. The American Jesus is a kind and gentle and peaceful man who doesn't bother himself with the fine points of theology or of the law. He's nonjudgmental. He just loves everybody the way they are. the journalist Stephen Prothero, not a Christian to my knowledge, in his book, American Jesus, looks at the way that Jesus is used as an icon and really a mascot for all different social groups and even religious groups in America. He writes in one place, When Americans demanded a feminized hero, he became sweet and submissive. When they demanded a manly warrior, he muscled up and charged into battle. As feminism and the civil rights movement gained momentum and as baby boomers turned into the new age, he became a black androgyne, as comfortable with his ying as with his yang. Prothero goes on to rightly evaluate, what Americans have seen in him has been an expression of their own hopes and fears, a reflection not simply of some holy other divine, but really a reflection of themselves and their nation. Well, the average American has all sorts of conceptions as to who Jesus is. but there is only one true Jesus, and that is the Jesus who has revealed himself through the pages of Holy Scripture. And as we see, even in our passage, the true Jesus defies all of the attempts of sinful man to turn him into something comfortable and cozy, something we can manipulate, something ultimately that we are God's over. No, instead, Jesus, through his word, speaks with authority and he speaks with power. And here in our passage, he speaks to us of none other than the topic of judgment. Jesus isn't afraid to upset our comfortable and cozy notions of who we think he is or who we think he ought to be. For here he declares that he has not come to bring peace to the world, but to bring a fire, to ignite a fire that will spread and burn and cause division. He alerts us to the fact that the gospel will not always be met with readily acceptance. Instead, as it is ignited and as it spreads, it will expose sin and self-righteousness, and thus it will cause division. He also alerts us to the importance of discerning the times, the time for the Jews then, as Well, as the time for us now is the time in which we are called to repent of our sin. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the time in which we must turn and trust in Christ and in his sin-bearing work on behalf of sinners. And thus he calls us to make peace with God and to settle our accounts with God before the day of judgment. Well, the theme that flows throughout this passage of scripture is that of judgment. So let's consider then the judgment of division, the judgment of the times, and finally, the judgment of Christ. Well, the first thing Jesus speaks to us about is the judgment of division. Notice how he begins in verse 49 by saying, I came. And again, in verse 51, he says, I have come. So this alerts us to the fact that Jesus is speaking to the reason why he came to earth. Why did Jesus come to earth? Did he come to put out fires? Did he come to bring peace, world peace? Well, he begins to tell us in verse 49, I came to cast fire on the earth and wood that it were already kindled. This is what Jesus came to do. He came to start a fire on earth, a fire is a metaphor for judgment. In the Old Testament, to cast fire on earth is imagery of divine judgment coming down on humanity. Think of when Elijah called down fire on the prophets of Baal. It was a picture of God's judgment coming down. Luke also, throughout his gospel, has used fire as an imagery for judgment. Think of when James and John wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans because they had rejected Jesus. But if you remember, when they tried to do it, Jesus rebukes them quite sternly as something antichrist. But why rebuke them if now Jesus is saying that he's going to do that very thing, that he has come to bring down the fires of judgment on earth? Well, we learn more about this fiery judgment in the next thing Jesus says. Verse 50, he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished. Well, just like fire, baptism is also Old Testament imagery for divine judgment. In the Old Testament, baptism, that is being submerged underwater, that's what the Greek word baptizo means, is a picture of undergoing a trial of judgment through water. Think of how Israel were, in a sense, baptized as they went through the Red Sea. Israel went through the waters, through that trial and that ordeal, and yet they were saved and preserved by God's grace. whereas those same waters of judgment crushed and destroyed and obliterated the Egyptian army. Likewise, Peter tells us that Noah and his family were baptized through the flood. Those same waters that obliterated and judged and wiped out humanity and the rest of creation, through those waters, God preserved Noah and his family. And so using this language and imagery, Jesus says that he has a baptism to be baptized with. To what is this baptism referring to? Well, he's not referring to the baptism he underwent in the Jordan by John. Because this baptism that he's speaking about is clearly something that's future. It hasn't happened yet. It's something that he's both anticipating and also dreading. It's something that he tells us is causing him great distress just to think about. What judgment is he referring to? Well, of course, the fire and the baptism he speaks about refers to the cross. On the cross, Jesus will be judged as a sinner and as a rebel. He will endure the consuming fire of God's wrath against sin, and he will be drowned in the waters of God's judgment. He will do this in the place of sinners so that we might be saved. We'll come back to this, but the fire in baptism he's speaking of here refers to the judgment he will receive at the cross. However, this fire that Jesus will ignite on earth will, in a sense, go beyond the cross. It will light and spread like a wildfire that will scorch its way across the entire earth, leaving no family unaffected. Because notice what he says next in verse 51. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Now, the common conception of the Messiah in Jesus' day is that he would be kind of a Solomon 2.0, that when the Messiah comes, well, he's going to restore the peaceful reign of Solomon. He's going to kick out the Romans. He's going to solve all of our economic problems, all of our political and military problems. And he'll bring in a reign as in the days of Solomon. Some people think of Jesus the same way today. That to follow Jesus means to have an easy life, to have a good life, to have peace and prosperity and even good health. But that's not at all what Jesus teaches us here. Jesus makes clear that the fire of the cross does not bring peace, but rather it is a fire that judges and creates division. It burns and judges and distinguishes between all people. and even among the closest of relationships, that of the family. But how do we reconcile Jesus' words here when he says that he has not come to bring peace? with the words announced by the angels at his birth and before his birth, that he would bring peace? Or what of his announcement to the sinner woman of peace? Or when he sent out the 72 disciples, telling them to announce peace to every house that would receive them? Has he come to bring peace or division? Which is it? Well, of course, the answer is both, both and. Jesus came to bring peace between God and man. Jesus came to deal with our sin, which is the thing that has caused a broken relationship between God and man. He does this by paying for our sin and thus removing our offense and reconciling us to God. As Paul writes in Romans chapter five, verse one, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And thanks be to God, through Christ, we will one day enjoy an everlasting life of peace in the new heavens and the new earth. However, until his kingdom comes in its fullness, although we have the assurance of peace with God, we do not always enjoy peace with others here on earth. In fact, because of the gospel, because of the offensive and dividing fire of the cross, some people will reject us and hate us, including even our own family members. As he goes on to say in verses 52 and 53, from now on, in one house, there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Jesus is using the language of Micah 7, 6 to illustrate the kind of division that the gospel will bring to families. These groupings of three against two, two against three, mothers against daughters, fathers and sons. Jesus is illustrating for us how this division that the cross will bring will strike into the very core of the very foundational relationships that make up society. And some of you know exactly, exactly what Jesus is describing because it describes your experience. Some of you know this firsthand of father against son and mother against daughter. You know what it's like to be rejected by a parent or by a child. Or perhaps by an aunt or uncle that you were once very close to, or maybe even a longtime best friend, simply because you've chosen to follow Christ. Or maybe because you've decided to take your walk with Christ more seriously than you have in the past. In certain parts of the world, we hear reports of Christians under extreme persecution. To follow Christ in many parts of the world results in extreme, extreme persecution. It results in being completely disowned by your family members. And in very extreme situations and severe cases, it means being handed over to the authorities for imprisonment or punishment or even execution. That's not to say that even in our context we don't experience the fire of division in our lives. In our context, our following of Christ will also incur division and suffering. It will cause division in the workplace when you refuse to lie to a customer at your employer's request. in such a way that would cause the customer harm and profit your employer. It will cause division and you'll suffer for righteousness sake. It will cause division among your friends when you say no to watching that movie or you say no to engaging in that immoral behavior, even though everyone does it. It will cause division in your extended family when you make a stand for the Lord's Day. And you say, no, we're not going to go to the beach or the movies or wherever Sunday morning. We worship the Lord with our brothers and sisters at that time. We serve the Lord on His day. We'll do it any other time. But on Sunday, we worship the Lord. It will cause division in your immediate family. When you share the message of the law and the gospel to unbelieving family members, yes, doing it in a loving way, but doing it in a way that doesn't mask or hide the truth, it will cause division. Family and friendship is a gift from God to us, and it can be one of the most wonderful and intimate blessings that we will ever experience in this life, aside from our communion with Christ himself. which is why it's so painful when that intimate relationship is in any way ruptured or divided. And yet Jesus prepares us. for this kind of suffering that we will all inevitably face to some degree or another. Jesus is no prosperity preacher. No, he warns us that following him will be a cause of suffering. The gospel will bring division to the home, to the family, to the workplace. And that's because the very thing that is life to us is an offense to the unbeliever. Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians where he says, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. The message of the gospel and those who bear it will be as a sweet fragrance to those who know that they are dying sinners in need of a savior. But to those who are blind in their sin, to those who are actively resisting God and suppressing the law of God written on their heart and on righteousness, it will be as the aroma and stench of death. And to be clear, when Jesus speaks of the gospel-causing division, he is speaking of the gospel-causing division. This is not an excuse for Christians to be rude are obnoxious, are offensive in some other kind of way, are to be stirrers and cause, those who cause division, which in itself will result in division and rejection. Rather, peace with our unbelieving family members and even with our society is something that is always to be our goal. As Peter wrote earlier, as we read, and even as Paul writes in Romans 12, 18, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Now sometimes it's not possible to have peace. It's not possible to have peace when you're rejected, or when religious practice like meeting together and singing together on the Lord's Day is criminalized. Then we must break the peace. But inasmuch as it depends upon us, we should strive to have peace. And so let us, even as we seek to be those who carry with us the aroma of the gospel, let us also have that aroma of peace so far as it depends upon us. We should strive for peace with all people, especially our unbelieving family members. But Jesus makes clear that it won't always be possible to achieve. There will be division. And in those times, beloved, remember Jesus' words, that although you may not have peace with man here on earth, you do have peace with God in heaven through Christ himself. So there's the judgment of division that the gospel brings. Next, Jesus speaks of another judgment, the judgment of the times. Well, Jesus has demonstrated very clearly that he is the promised Messiah that Israel has expected throughout its history, and he has come to ignite a fire. His baptism of judgment is about to happen. He's anticipating it, and yet, Israel has been completely blind to all of this. And so he rebukes them in verse 54 and following for failing to judge the times. He also said to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once a shower is coming. And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say there will be a scorching heat. And it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but you do not know how to interpret the present time? Well, first, Jesus begins his criticism and his address of them by commending what they do well. he commends their ability to predict the weather. When you see the clouds rising in the west, coming off the Mediterranean Sea, you know that it will bring some showers of rain. Whereas when you see the wind blowing up from the south, you know that it's coming off the desert and it'll bring a scorcher of a day. And yet, even though you're very good at reading the weather, you're completely unable to read the current time. They can judge and predict a weather pattern that hasn't yet happened and yet they cannot judge what is right before their eyes. Now to be clear, his rebuke for not reading the times has nothing, nothing to do with ascribing eschatological significance to the wind or the rain or other naturally occurring events like earthquakes or even a solar eclipse. Rather, Jesus is speaking of their failure to recognize him. They fail to see that now is the time of the Messiah. Think of all that they've already seen and heard of what Jesus has done. They've seen Jesus command the forces of nature, wind and rain and wave obey him. They've seen him exercise authority even over the kingdom of Satan as he cast out demons and he liberated those from bondage. He's healed the sick. Even the dead have been raised. All by the power of his word. They've seen all of this and what is their judgment? How do they read the times? Oh, well, I guess God has sent us another prophet. Or God has given us another good teacher. And they're blind to the fact that the Messiah that Israel has long been pining for is right before their eyes. And so he rightly rebukes them as blind hypocrites who are unable to judge the present time. And so after rebuking them for failing to judge the times, he judges the times for them. Look at verse 57. And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge and the judge hand you over to the officer and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny. Well, here in this scenario, you are the defendant and you have an accuser who is suing you for a great deal of money. Jesus' advice is, well, you should settle your case outside of court with your accuser. Why? Well, because your case is so bad that if you go before the judge, if your case goes to trial, the judge is going to throw the book at you. He will throw you into debtor's prison and you will not be released until you've paid the very last penny. Now Jesus' point here is not practical or ethical. He's not making an application as to how Christians should be involved with the court system. He's not even speaking of how we should be reconciled with a brother or sister. Rather, This is a dramatic presentation of the times and how Israel should respond to the times. Remember what time it is. It is the time when Jesus has come to earth. He has come to start a fire. He has come to receive a baptism of judgment, and therefore today is the day in which one must turn to Christ for salvation. This is what Jesus' story illustrates, not of being reconciled with people or with judges, but of being reconciled to God. He's urging us to settle our accounts with God before the day of judgment. Why? You must settle your account with God before the Day of Judgment, otherwise you will be thrown into the metaphorical debtor's prison until you have repaid every last penny. was the smallest denomination of that currency. And so the implication is or the imagery means that you will be thrown into that place of God's judgment and you will be judged down to the smallest sin. And this is exactly what we deserve. Dear friend, perhaps you're visiting here this morning and perhaps you're thinking that, well, if there is a day of judgment and if I stand before God on that day, I think I'll be able to mount a stirring enough defense that God will be so impressed that he'll forget about the debt that I owe. Or perhaps you're kind of crossing your fingers and you're hoping that, well, sure, I'm not perfect, but who is? God can't be that strict. I'm not as bad as the guy in the pew across from me or the person who lives down the street. Well, that's not the Bible's prognosis. That isn't the judgment that the judge makes of us. God's standard is not good enough or fair. God doesn't give a passing mark. No, what he justly demands is perfect righteousness. And that is bad news for us, because as Paul writes in Romans 3.10, there is none righteous. Maybe one? No, not one, Paul says. If you think that you will stand in the end, if you think you'll be okay because you've done enough good things, well, scripture has language that describes what you're trying to do. Paul calls it trying to justify yourself according to the law, the very thing that Paul says is impossible. He writes, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. Why? Since through the knowledge of the law comes the knowledge of sin, we cannot, cannot justify ourselves according to the law. Why? Because the law, as we bring it into court with us, as we carry it up in front of the judge, the judge turns the book around and points to all the places, we've broken the law. If we try to bring the book of God's law into his court, it will not help our case. What we all deserve is judgment, and we will all give an account. In the words of one old commentator, the wicked shall be placed in hell until they pay their debt to the uttermost farthing. And as they never will pay it, it is certain that they will be there to all eternity. Dear friends, this is why Jesus, with such grace and such urgency, calls you this morning to settle your account with God. To settle your account with God means, first of all, recognizing your sin. It means admitting your sin. Settling your account is not calling you to attempt to try to kind of get your life right before you turn to Christ. No, it is to go to Christ. And it is not to come before him with excuses, but rather with confession. It begins with saying, Lord, I am a sinner. My sin makes me guilty. I deserve the wages of my sin, which is death. The question that the Holy Spirit presents before you this morning is, where do you stand with God? Where do you stand with God? And have you settled your account with him? Well, there's a judgment of the cross that divides families. We've just been called to rightly judge the times. Finally, we'll consider the judgment of Christ. Well, if we are rightly reading the times as Jesus leads us to see, we will see that we are all sinners who owe a massive debt to God. His justice demands that we repay our debt down to the last penny. That's the one truth on the other hand. And yet at the very same time, We are bankrupt. We don't even have a penny. We are penniless to repay anything. And then on top of that, Jesus tells us to settle with our accuser outside of court. Well, how do you settle a debt of billions of dollars when you don't even have a penny to your name? How do you even begin to settle that outside of court when you have nothing to give in exchange at all? Well, the answer to this question is found in Jesus' words about the fire and baptism that he would receive. As I mentioned already, fire and baptism is Old Testament imagery of judgment and Jesus says that At this point, he's anticipating a baptism of fire that he must undergo, and as he says, great is my distress until it is accomplished. The fire and baptism judgment refers to what Jesus would undergo on the cross for sinners. You see, it is the cross which is the way we as sinners settle our accounts with the righteous judge. Our account with God is delinquent, and yet God has mercifully sent Jesus Christ to die to pay for the penalty that stands against us. God has mercifully sent Christ with the promise that if we believe in him, he will forgive all of our sins. This is what Jesus came to do. This is the fire he came to ignite. This is the baptism. he came to undergo. At the cross, Jesus underwent the fires of God's wrath against sin. At the cross, Jesus went deep down below the judgment waters of baptism. And where the psalmist complains to God that his head is almost sinking below the water, Jesus went the whole way under, and he was drowned under the wrath of God's justice. And he did this, not for his own sake, not because he had a debt to pay off. Rather, he underwent it for the sake of his elect. He went willingly and obediently for the joy that was set before him. And this is why he's both frightened and yet eager at this point in redemptive history for this baptism of fire to be fulfilled because he longs to save us from what our sins deserve. He longs for us to be reconciled to God, to bring us into that state of forgiveness and justification. And from our vantage point in redemptive history, he has done this. He went to the cross. Just as he said he would. He silenced the law's loud, thundering voice that spoke against us, saying, guilty, condemned. He satisfied God's righteous justice. He paid our debt in full so that he was able to say on the cross, it is finished. Dear Christian, he says, I've paid your debt. Not most of it, but right down to the last penny. And although on earth we may face hostility because of the dividing nature of the gospel, though we may go home to homes today that are not filled with the aroma of Christ or of his peace, we have the assurance of everlasting peace with God in heaven and even with one another as his saints. Well, again, the final question I leave with you, dear friends, is have you read the times? Have you listened to Jesus' words? Now, living between Christ's first coming and his second coming, it is the time of salvation. Now is the time to trust in Christ and repent of your sin. If you do not, If you reject Christ, you will have your day in court and you will be cast into the fires of eternal hell where you will suffer until every last penny is paid, which it never will be because you are a poor debtor to the law. You will either reject Christ and be judged, or you will trust in Christ, the one who was judged in the place of sinners, the one who underwent the fiery judgment of God's wrath so that you could enjoy the peace and true prosperity of heaven forever. Turn to him, trust in him, confess him as your Lord and you will be saved. Receive this morning his free grace of forgiveness that he delights to give to all who call upon him. As pastors have been faithfully preaching for millennia, as The Church Father Cyril of Alexandria implored his flock and those who were there to hear him, let us seize the grace that is by Christ that frees us from all debt and penalty and delivers us from all fear and torment. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for the message of the cross, that message of fire and baptism that Jesus underwent in our place. Though we were deserving sinners, worthy to pay our own debt down to the last penny, we thank you that you send Christ into the world to receive that fire on himself that we might be saved. And Lord, we pray that you would do a work in all of our hearts who have fallen under the hearing of your word that we might even this morning read the times and today repent and trust in Christ to the saving of our souls and to the glory of your great name. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.