Sermon # 90 Luke
Sermons
Title: “I Am Come to Send Fire on the Earth”
Text: Luke
12:49-53
Subject: The
Gospel Compared to Fire
Date: Sunday
Evening—
Tape # X-36b
Introduction:
In Luke
(Luke
12:49) "I am come to send fire on
the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
Let’s look at
the context surrounding it. Then, I want to show you something of what our Lord
means for us to understand by these remarkable, instructive words.—“ I am come to send fire
on the earth.”
We will begin
back in verse 35. I do not pretend to know all that is contained in this
passage of Scripture, but there is much here to cheer the hearts of God’s
elect, inspiring us with devotion, zeal in the cause of Christ and joyful
assurance and hope with regard to everlasting glory. And there is much here to
strike terror in the hearts of rebels against the King of Glory and those who
merely pretend to serve him in this world. May God the Holy Spirit now speak to
your heart and mine by his Word.
Luke
Verses 35-37—“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye
yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they
may open unto 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 to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve
them.”
What
a blessed passage! The Lord Jesus Christ is our Master and Lord, yet he washed
his disciples’ feet. But that is not all. If we are his, if when he comes he finds
us watching for him and serving him, our Master and Lord declares that the day
shall come when, in all his robes of glory, he shall gird himself, and serve
us!
Verses 38-40—“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
goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have
watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore
ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
This
is a warning to you who are yet without Christ. We know that because the
Scriptures clearly teach that believers are people who live in the
anticipation, hope, and expectation of the Lord’s return. We are watching for
him. Only the unbelieving imagine that he delays his coming.
Suppose
the Son of God were to appear in his glory tonight.—Where would you be? You
have lived all; your life as if you were your own master. Have you not? You who
refuse to bow to Christ, who refuse to be his servants, where will you be when
Christ returns? Read on if you dare.
Verses 41-44—“Then Peter said unto him Lord, speakest then this parable unto us, or
even to all And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, 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. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all
that he hath.”
What
rewards Christ has in store for his own eye has not yet seen, ear has not yet
heard, and heart has not yet conceived! We cannot begin to imagine the glory
that awaits us in heaven! If we are Christ’s servants and the servants of our
brethren in this world, he will make us rulers over all that he has in the
world to come. I have no idea what that means; but it’s got to be good. It is a
matter of absolute certainty. We shall reign with Christ forever! But that is
not true of all. Read on…
Verses 45, 46.—“But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and
to 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, what everlasting torment shall be the punishment of every unfaithful
steward!—The preacher who is untrue to his professed calling!—The professed
believer, who says that he is a child of God, and a servant of Christ, and yet
is unfaithful to his Master and Lord! The evil servant is pictured here as that
man or woman who is religious, but…
·
Self-serving.
·
Self-righteous.
·
Judgmental and Cruel.
Read
the Lord’s words again, and tremble. We are often accused of exaggerating about
hell and the wrath of God in the world to come. But, the fact is, these things
have not yet been spoken of adequately by any mortal. Read the Book of God. You
will find in this Book expressions about hell, the wrath of God, and the
torments of the damned that are unparalleled in the writings of men.
·
—Unquenchable Fire!
·
—A Bottomless Pit!
·
—Gnawing
·
—Blackness!
·
—Darkness!
·
—Abandonment!
·
—Everlasting Hopelessness!
·
—Fire and Brimstone!
·
—Torment!—Torment!—Torment!
No,
we do not overstate the matter. These are the words of him who loved as never a
man loved, of him who is the most tender, gracious, compassionate spirit in the
universe.—“The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not
for him, and at an hour when he is net aware, and will cut him in sunder, and
will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”—Added to everything
else, those who find themselves in hell will forever be tormented by the fact
that it is their portion, their just due!
Verses 47, 48—“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 he that knew not, and did commit things worthy
of stripes, shalt be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is
given, of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much, of
him they will ask the more.”[1]
Let each judge for himself
or herself what talents, abilities and opportunities the Lord God has put in
your trust. We must never be content to have done this or that. We are
responsible to serve our Master, our Lord, our God in proportion with the
talents, abilities and opportunities he has given us. Who among is not humbled,
broken and ashamed before God when he thinks of this?
But this passage speaks
distinctly of those who serve themselves and not God who made them. Great
talents, gifts, abilities, and opportunities are great responsibilities. They
are to be feared rather than coveted. Those who seek great things for
themselves seek great damnation for their souls. Now verse 49…
Verse 49—“I am come to
send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be already kindled?”
The
Son of God did not come to send peace on the earth but a sword. Nothing in all
the world is more unifying than the gospel of the grace of God; but nothing is
more divisive. And it is our Lord’s intention that it should be. The language
of this passage in the original is very, very strong. John Trapp
very accurately paraphrased it.—“I am come to send fire on the earth. Let the
fire kindle as soon as it will. I am contented. I know much good will come of
it.”
The
gospel of Christ is not a creed enshrined in a temple, but a fire burning in
the soul. The gospel is not a theological system entombed in the brain, but a
fire erupting in the heart. The gospel is not an icy system of ceremonies and
rituals, but a fire burning in the earth.
Our
Savior here tells us that the gospel is an ardent, fervent, flaming thing—a
subject that stirs enthusiasm—a theme that rouses intense devotion—something
that excites men’s souls—stirs them in the depths of their beings. The gospel
does this both in those who love it and in those who hate it.
Men
may be and often are indifferent about religion; but no one is indifferent
about the gospel. It is a fire, the fire that our Lord Jesus came to send on
the earth, the fire he was anxious to light by his death, resurrection and
exaltation, by the out pouring of his Spirit upon all flesh.
Verse 50—"But I have a baptism to be baptized
with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"
How
anxious our Lord was to suffer and die for us! How anxious he was to glorify
the Father by his sacrifice as our Substitute! How anxious he was to redeem and
save his people! How anxious he still is to bring us to glory.
Now,
as the direct result of his work at
Verses 51-53—"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."
This
is exactly what Paul tells us in Galatians 5:11. The cross of Christ is an
offence to men. It always has been and always will be.
(Galatians
5:11) "And I, brethren, if I yet
preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of
the cross ceased."
The
simple preaching of the gospel, the message of the cross, the doctrine of the
crucified Christ is an offence. It divides men. It divides friends. It divides
families. It divides churches. Why? What is there in the gospel that causes
such offence? The offence of the gospel is the fact that it is a
declaration of salvation by grace alone, without works.
1.
It offends man’s sense dignity, because it addresses all
men as sinners.
2.
It offends man’s wisdom because it asserts that salvation comes
only by divine revelation. Christ cannot be known by anyone, except he reveal
himself to you and in you.
3.
It offends man’s pride because it declares that the only
way of salvation is substitution—Particular and Effectual Redemption—Imputed
Righteousness.
4.
It offends man’s love of self because it demands surrender
to Christ as Lord.
5.
It offends man’s sense of self worth because it declares
that salvation is by grace alone—Distinguishing Grace—Sovereign Grace—Free
Grace—Irresistible, Effectual Grace.
Now, go back to verse 49.—The Master says, —“I am come to
send fire on the earth.” “Is not my Word like a fire? Saith the Lord; andlike a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29). How can the gospel be compared to fire.
I.
What is the Gospel?
Before showing how the Gospel of Christ is like fire, let me state plainly in your hearing one more
time what the gospel is. We could go to many passages of
Scripture to find a clear definition of the Gospel. If ever there was a day
when the gospel needs to be clearly defined, it is in this day. Let’s just look
a couple of texts. They will suffice.
A. The Gospel by
which we are saved, the good news of heaven, is “How that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures,” not the mere fact that Christ died, but “How that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures.”
(1
Corinthians 15:1-3) "Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
(3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures."
·
Voluntarily
·
Vicariously
·
Victoriously
B.
The Gospel of Christ is the revelation
of God as a just God and a Savior, the revelation of the righteousness of God
in the exercise of saving grace.
(Romans
3:24-26) "Being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus."
II.
How may the Gospel be compared to
fire?
If you read
the Book of God you cannot avoid being struck with the extraordinary doctrines
of the Gospel revealed in these sacred pages. If ever the Lord God applies them
to your heart, they will cease to be matters of curiosity, philosophy, and
religious theory and debate. They will grab your soul, pierce your heart, and
radically and forever change your life.
Perhaps that
which first overwhelms the heart of a sinner in the experience of grace is the
wondrous revelation of the love, mercy, and grace of God in Christ. What sweet,
golden words these are—“God so loved the world, that he gave his
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” Pause, O my soul, and think about the love of God!
·
Eternal, Electing Love!
·
Undeserved Love!
·
Free and Unconditional Love!
·
Redeeming, Sin-atoning Love!
·
Everlasting, Unquenchable Love!—“Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it” (Song 8:7).
·
The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me. Imagine that!
(1
John 3:1) "Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."
(1
John 4:9-10) "In this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through him. (10) Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins."
Now, here is
the wondrous revelation of the Gospel.—The love of God is revealed and known
only in connection with a most astonishing display of justice, wrath, and
severity imaginable—The sacrifice of his own dear Son! If ever you come to know
this God, if ever God reveals his Son in you, if ever you learn this Gospel, it
will come to you like fire, and ignite a fire in your soul.—That’s what Isaiah
experienced, was it not?
(Isaiah
6:1-7) "In the year that king
Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple. (2) Above it stood the seraphims: each one
had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his
feet, and with twain he did fly. (3) And one cried unto another, and
said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full
of his glory. (4) And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (5) Then said I, Woe is
me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the
LORD of hosts. (6) Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
(7) And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."
The Gospel of the grace of God is the sword of the Lord. It cannot
sleep. The truths of the Gospel—Blood Atonement—Free Justification—Complete
Forgiveness—Salvation by Grace, are not just words and religious slogans. They
are living principles. Like the breath in our lungs, they cannot be contained.
The must break out. And when they do, they break out like fire in the earth. As
soon as you confess the Gospel of Christ in the ears of men, you will see the
meaning of our Lord’s words—“I am come to send fire on the earth…and
(with the fire) division.”
But
in our text (Luke
God
Almighty makes his ministers a flame of fire. And when they preach the Gospel,
the effect is always the same. It causes a division. Some believe and some
believe not. And those who believe not always turn upon those who believe in a
mad rage of fury, just as Cain did upon Abel.
But there is
more. How is the Gospel comparable to fire? I can do no more than offer some
thoughts for your meditation. When I am done, I hope God the Holy Spirit will
not be done, but that he will make the gospel of Christ burn as fire in your
soul and mine more intensely than ever.
A.
The Gospel, like fire, is wondrously pure.
The gospel is
like fire because it is such a perfectly pure a thing. There is no admixture of
impurity, error, or unrighteousness in it. It is free from every alloy of
earth. It is altogether spiritual.
·
Spiritual Altar
·
Spiritual Sacrifices
·
Spiritual Motives
·
Spiritual Aspirations
B.
The Gospel, like fire, gives light.
·
The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face
of Jesus Christ
·
Light about Ourselves, Exposing our Sin
·
Light about Salvation
·
Light about the World and Time
·
Light about Judgment and Eternity
C.
The Gospel, like fire, has a great
testing quality.
Nothing tests earthly things like fire. And nothing tests
spiritual and heavenly things like the gospel (1 Cor. 3). Here we test and
prove everything.
·
Every Doctrine
·
Every Philosophy
·
Every Principle
·
Every Thought
D.
The Gospel, like fire, is cheering and
comforting.
Those who
have experienced it find that the cold of this world no longer’ pinches as it
once did. We may be poor, but the gospel’s fire takes away the chilliness of
poverty. We may be sick, but the gospel gives our souls joy even in the body’s
decay. We may be slandered and neglected, but the gospel honors us in the sight
of God. The gospel, wherever it is experienced in the heart, becomes a divine
source of matchless consolation.
E.
Fire is tremendously aggressive. So is the Gospel of
Christ.
Take a few
live coals, put them down in a pile of dry straw, and tell the fire, “I have
given you a pile of straw to burn. Now burn, burn away to your heart’s content.
That straw is yours. But you can go no further. You must burn only this pile o
straw. Give off no sparks or flames. Ignite nothing else.” While you are
talking so foolishly, you will soon find your barn in a heap of ashes. Fire is
aggressive. It is never naturally contained. So it is with the gospel. It
spreads as naturally as fire and licks up everything in its path, wherever the
Wind of Heaven blows it.—Behold, how the fire has spread and is
spreading.
·
In Ancient Times
·
In Our Own Day
F.
As fire ultimately prevails, so the gospel of Christ
shall prevail.
It is clearly
revealed in Scripture, that as the world was once destroyed by water, it will a
second time be destroyed by fire. It is predestined that earth and all the
works that are therein shall be burnt up, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Fire will win the day. The oceans roll and roar, as it were, in
great pride, and laugh at fire, but fire will lick up the waters of the sea
with its tongues of flame. All the cities, and nations, and elements of the
earth shall soon be consumed with fire.
So it is with
the gospel. The seas of iniquity shall ultimate dissolve before our God and his
Christ. The day shall soon come when the fire of the gospel shall make the
whole world to be a burnt-offering unto the Lord God Most High.
“Let us have
courage! Let us look forward to the flight of time, and expect the advent of
our Master; for the day shall come when he shall reign from the river even to
the ends of the earth, and from sea and land, from mountain and valley, there
shall come up the universal song, ‘Hallelujah! hallelujah! the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth.’” – (Spurgeon)
G. One more comparison—Like fire, the
Gospel consumes.
(Psalms
39:4) "LORD, make me to know mine
end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I
am."
Watch
what happens when the Lord God, by the application of the gospel, makes a man
to know his end, the measure of his days, and how frail he is.
(Psalms
39:10-11) "Remove thy stroke away
from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. (11) When thou with
rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away
like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah."
Come, my brothers and sisters, come sinners, come
one and all. Come now to Christ. Let us bow at his feet. May the fire of his
love, mercy, and grace ignite our souls afresh.—Blessed Savior, send your fire.
·
Consume my unbelief.
·
Consume my pride and self-righteousness.
·
Consume my apathy and indifference.
·
Consume my love of the world!
·
Consume my heart!
·
Consume my life!
Come to the pierced One. Gaze upon his thorn-crowned
brow. Look into the hole which the soldier’s spear has made in his side. Gaze
into the nail-prints in his hands and feet, and say unto your soul,
“Now, for the love I bear his name,
What was my gain I count my loss;
My former pride I call my shame,
And nail my glory to his cross.
Yes, and I must and will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus’ sake:
O may my soul be found in him,
And of his righteousness partake.”
(Luke
12:49) "I am come to send fire on
the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
Amen.
[1] There will be degrees of punishment, as this parable clearly indicates, because there are degrees of rebellion and evil. But there are no degrees of reward because there are no degrees of holiness and obedience among the redeemed before the law of God. The wicked perish because of what they have done personally. The righteous enter into and possess eternal glory because of what we have done representatively in Christ.