gather together. So look with me at Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12. We're gonna finish this chapter, Luke 12, looking at verses 49 to 59. So if you're able to stand, stand with me for the reading of God's Word. Hear the Word of our Lord. I have come to cast fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is finished. Do you think that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you no, but rather division. For from now on, five members in one household will be 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 mother-in-law. And he also was saying to the crowds, when you see a cloud rising in the West, immediately you say, a shower is coming. And so it happens. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, it will be a hot day. And it happens. You hypocrites, you know how to examine the appearance of the earth and the sky. But why do you not examine this present time? And why do you not even judge for yourselves what is right? For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there, make an effort to settle with him. so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not get out of there until you have paid the last lepton." Here ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for its conviction, its clarity, Lord, we just ask that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear the wonderful things that are found in your word. Lord, help us who are weary, even physically, to be attentive, to hear your word and to grow in it. And Lord, for those who don't know you this morning, that they might come to know you because today is the day of salvation. May that be true in their lives, we pray in Christ's name, amen. You can be seated. Well, you have likely at some point in your life experienced the letdown of a missed opportunity. Missed opportunity, just something that passed you by, that if you would have had all of the information and you would have connected the dots, you would have done differently. You look back at that and it may even gnaw at you still, even years after the fact. Maybe you missed a financial opportunity. Maybe you should have invested in Amazon in the 90s. I once heard a billionaire who was asked, what's one investment you wish you would have made? That was what he said, Amazon. Or Disney. in the 50s and the 60s, right? Who knew how explosive those businesses would be? Maybe you have the regret of, man, I should have started investing and planning for retirement when I was in my 20s instead of now in my 50s, right? I should have bought a home earlier. I should have saved more. I should have taken that job. There are missed opportunities. And maybe it was a relational missed opportunity. Right? Some of you young men, you know, you think to yourselves, I wish I would have been brave enough to ask that girl out on a date. I should have done that. Man, she was, she was a class act and you didn't do it. And so it gnaws at you. Or maybe you, you have a, a torn relationship between a parent a mother or a father and you think to yourself, man, I wish I would have reconciled when my mom was still alive or when my dad was still alive. Maybe it's a relational as I wish I would have spent more time with my kids than on my career. We've all experienced missed opportunities. That's part of life, but perhaps none as consequential and infamous as the missed opportunity of Judas Iscariot. Think of that for a moment. He's one of the 12. He's one of those men who had the privilege that was granted to only 11 other people. He was living and traveling with and experiencing those three years of earthly ministry. He knew the presence of Christ in a way that only a handful, a little over a handful, really knew and experienced. It wasn't just an academic, this is the Messiah. No, he saw him, he was with him. Think of that for a moment. Jesus' experience is very similar to what John the Apostle said of his own experience in 1 John 1. Do you remember what John says there? He says, what we have heard and what we have seen with our eyes and what we have beheld and touched with our own hands. He saw Christ. He heard Christ. And the language there in 1 John is the Apostle even saying it. It's almost like I can still hear Him. I can still see Him. He didn't read Christ correctly. He was with Christ. He was seeing Him and hearing Him. yet inconceivably after that intense personal companionship with Jesus, witnessing with his own eyes the miracles of Jesus, witnessing with his own eyes and hearing with his own ears his unparalleled and authoritative teaching. Remember that no one taught like Christ. They were marveling and wondering at such a teacher. Judas betrays Jesus and sells him out for a few bucks. It's a missed opportunity. It's the headline of all headlines for missed opportunity. And it is the most disastrous missed opportunity. The most consequential missed opportunity. I mean, you could say that perhaps of of guys like Herod. Right? These guys that missed, maybe the family of Mary and Joseph, who didn't extend an opportunity for Jesus to be born in their home. Remember, he's born in a manger, in a stall, in some kind of cave. Those are all missed opportunities, but none as unique and pronounced as Judas Iscariot. Jesus says of Judas, he says, Woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Now, tragically. There were many Judases in Jesus's day, maybe not in degree, but certainly in kind. There were many who rejected him after being exposed to his teaching, seeing his miracles, witnessing his life. Remember, Jesus was drawing crowds. Many people saw the things that he did. That generation in Israel was the most privileged generation in all of human history. The Incarnate God walked among them and they rejected him despite massive irrefutable evidence as to his true identity. They had the scriptures and he was physically present with them performing these things right before their eyes. And yet some were so prideful and so arrogant to actually go so far as to attribute the works of Jesus to Satan. Their unbelief had utterly decayed any kind of rationale. It had blinded their eyes. It had seared their consciences. The promised one, the promised son of man, the promised son of God was standing right in front of them. And they missed it. Having eyes they could not see and having ears they could not hear. And Luke chapter 12 has been amping up in the sense of urgency. Jesus has been going back and forth between his disciples and these crowds that were following closely behind. And he has been warning them both. Instructing, warning, pressing them for a decision. And in our text last week, we noted that Jesus was warning and pressing His disciples and everyone else that He will return, and when He comes that second time, He will come in judgment. He will judge the unfaithful servant, and He will bless the faithful servant. He warns them, He presses them, and there seems to be a ratcheting up. urgency at every corner. He's steadily tightening the grip. You must make a decision. You must render your verdict when it comes to me because there is a moment when I will render my verdict against you. And so there is no neutrality with Christ. He can't just be a noble human or a good teacher or a rebel who just was caught up in a political rebellion and so they disposed him. He can't be those. He is either Lord or he is a liar. You must In fact, he's already said this, you are either for me or what? You're against me. There's no middle ground. There's no neutrality. And now in Luke chapter 12, as he concludes in our verses, he ends with this fiery blaze of judgment and urgency, warning them to find their safety before it is too late. before it is too late. And from our text, I want you to take note of three pressing decisions that need to be made regarding Jesus Christ. Three pressing decisions. And we see the first one in verses 49 and 50, and I will just say it this way, you need to decide, is Jesus judge or savior? He is one or the other. The gospel divides all of humanity into two categories. I know you want to have your own special category. There isn't. There are two. Two categories biblically. There are those that are saved and there are those that are lost. There are those that are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and there are those who are unredeemed, and that means the judgment is on them. Those who are in Christ, those who are outside of Christ. Those who will spend eternity in heaven, and those who will spend eternity in hell. There is no middle position. There is no special niche group. You're in one or the other. And notice Jesus states, I have come. In other words, this is his mission. Verse 49, I have come to cast fire upon the earth. This is his defining purpose and aim. Now, it's not the only aim. Thank God, but it is one of his aims. I have come in judgment. I have come to cast fire upon the earth. It is his defining aim. The mission of Jesus is not a matter of fate or chance. The father sends the son in order to accomplish redemption. He comes to save a people for his glory. In Luke 19, Jesus says the same kind of language, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And so you have this kind of dual aspect to Jesus's mission. Jesus has come to seek and to save that which is lost. He says in John's Gospel that He has come to do the will of the One who has sent Me. He's come to do the will of the Father, and the will of the Father is that the Son would be lifted up upon the cross and would bear the judgment and the wrath of God in our place. Notice that in Luke 12, the strong emphasis that Jesus is pointing out here is not on his saving ministry, but his judging one. I have come to cast fire upon the earth. In the Bible, the image of fire frequently refers to divine anger and judgment. In a book we don't often quote, but Zephaniah, chapter 1, verse 18, Zephaniah is speaking of the day of the Lord, this cataclysmic concluding event where God judges. And it says this, all the earth will be devoured in the fire of his jealousy. for he will make a complete destruction, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth. And so in Zephaniah 1, the image of fire is one of judgment. Isaiah 66, verses 15 and 16, for behold, Yahweh will come in fire and his chariots like the whirlwind to return his anger with wrath. So fire is not like a warming agent as we use it to warm up our water, to shower with, or to warm up our homes. This is a picture of abundant fire that is used in judgment. Isaiah 66, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh, and those slain by Yahweh will be Many. Now, there are many Old Testament passages and even New Testament passages. You remember that John the Baptist, in preparation and preparing the way of the Lord, what does he say about Christ? That he is coming to baptize with fire. Right? So there's lots of passages that speak of fire in its connection to judgment. This is one of Jesus's aims in coming, especially in his second coming. This metaphor of fire coming to earth is picked up by Jesus to announce his coming to administer God's wrath. In fact, if you connect the New Testament dots, you might remember that Paul, when he's talking to the Athenians in Acts 17 in Greece, He tells them that Yahweh has fixed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, and then he says this, through a man whom he determined having furnished proof to all by raising him from the dead. Who's the judge? Jesus. Is that an image that you're comfortable with? Is that an image that you're familiar with, that Christ is a judge? That Jesus is the appointed judge and when he returns, he comes in judgment. That sweet baby Jesus, right, is all grown up. He's accomplished his saving ministry in undergoing this baptism that we'll talk about in a moment. And when he returns, he comes in judgment. This is the opportunity that Jesus is pressing them on. Right now, you have an opportunity. Right now, there is the opportunity to meet Him as Savior because in the end, if you do not, you will meet Him as Judge. There's a future day when He will judge the earth. In the meantime, this fire that will one day punish in the future, currently purges, just as John the Baptist talked about with the winnowing fork being in his hand, right? He's at the threshing floor and the chaff, which will be burned up, right? There's this separation that's going to take place. And notice something about Jesus. This should cause some concern. If your only vision of Jesus is this kind of soft and meek and mild, this kind of, you know, creamy, lotiony hands Jesus, right? Where he's all about love and all about, you know, he gets us. Did you catch what he just said? I have come to cast fire upon the earth and I wish it were already kindled. I wish it was already kindled. Notice Jesus doesn't come here saying, guys, I've got a little bit of bad news. You might want to take a seat here. He doesn't do it softly. He said, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you know, one day I'm going to come back. And you're not like David Banner, right? Hulk, you're not going to like it when I return. No. He says, no, I wish It were already kindled. This is a very different Jesus than I think is promoted in our day. It's a Jesus that people are uncomfortable with. And yet, this is exactly how he reveals himself. It's exactly how he reveals himself. In fact, he says, this is my mission. This is why I have come. And yet, the good news, because you will either meet him as judge or you will meet him as savior, notice what he says in verse 50, and that tells us this isn't his sole mission. He says, but I have a baptism to undergo. Now notice, this is a baptism that is done to him, right? This isn't something he's doing, it's something that is being done to him. a baptism that he must undergo. Now, you might remember in Luke chapter nine, Jesus says to his disciples, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. and be raised up on the third day. Jesus here, using this imagery of baptism, is talking about the nearness of his death. How close in proximity he is in terms of timing to when he will go to the cross. In Mark's Gospel, in Mark chapter 10, verse 38, Jesus pairs the image of baptism and the image of drinking a cup You might remember James and John foolishly, unwisely, clearly not understanding, asks the question, hey Jesus, when we come into your kingdom, can we sit on your right and your left? Can we have a place of importance? And Jesus asked them the question, are you able to drink the cup? that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. Again, the imagery there of drinking the cup, of being baptized, is one of him receiving judgment. There's a parallelism between this cup and this baptism. They're speaking of the same thing, or at least aspects of that same thing. Remember going through, and we do this sometimes during communion, but this cup that Jesus refers to there in Mark 10, and then again, He says it at the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, if it be your will, let this what? Cup pass from me, or be removed, right? And so, what is he referring to? And the cup in the Old Testament is oftentimes a metaphor of God's judgment. Again, the Old Testament informs our understanding of what Jesus is talking about. Isaiah 51, 17, there's a reference about the cup of His wrath. Or Jeremiah 25 15, take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. So again, the cup, like fire, is often in reference to God's judgment. And Jesus is talking about this baptism, this judgment that he is going to endure. And so Jesus uses these images to speak of his death. And in particular, to speak of one aspect of his death, namely bearing and enduring or drinking up, right? Drinking fully or being baptized into God's judgment and wrath. And this is a common understanding among Christians that Jesus, as he is on the cross, is dying as a substitute. He's dying as a sacrifice. He is absorbing the judgment that should be ours. He's absorbing the judgment of God's wrath against sin, against your sin, and he's taking it upon himself. We might say, like, He took the curse, right? The curse that was upon the earth. He takes that, the curse that should be directed towards us. He took the chastisement, Isaiah 53, of our sin. He's crushed for our iniquities, not His own. And that is the gospel. Now notice the language here at the end of verse 50. Jesus says about this baptism that he's going to undergo and how distressed I am until it is finished or until it is accomplished, right? And you talk about foreshadowing here. That very same language that Jesus uses, I am distressed. is telling you about the future. Do you remember another time that Jesus says, I'm sorrowful unto death? Another time where he's sweating droplets of blood? Where he tells his men, especially Peter, James, and John to pray for him, to contend with him. You remember the event in the garden, right, before the betrayal, before his arrest. Jesus knowing the nearness of drinking the cup and being baptized into God's judgment, the nearness of the cross, it drives him to distress, to sorrow unto death, right? It's a very unique image that we have of Christ. He's so close to it, and so Jesus says, I am distressed. It grows, but it's even there. See the humanity of it all? You see the Savior who is in route to Jerusalem, on his way, for a rescue mission and he says I am distressed until it is accomplished or until it is finished. Does that sound familiar? The same language that he declares upon the cross before he breathes his final breath. So Jesus is setting the stage, right? He's setting the stage. He's pressing them. You need to decide here. You will be met either, A, I will be your Savior, or I will be your judge. There is even a holy impatience that Jesus has to do this, to accomplish this. So that's the first pressing question. Will you meet Jesus as your judge or will you meet him as your savior? Those are the only two choices. And Jesus presses it by helping us to understand in the context of all of Luke 12, this is an opportunity that's right now. It's right now. Read the climate, he's going to say eventually, right? Read the forecast here, notice who you're with, and respond. Make your choice. But second, notice in verses 51 to 53, Jesus gives another pressing reality, another pressing decision that might hinder you. from following Christ that may keep you at bay because you're afraid of what this might involve. And you can't help but see the theme of both decision and division in Luke 11 and 12. The truth is that decision and division are essential to the gospel. I've already pointed out you're either lost or You are found. Those are the two options. And you might remember in chapter 11 of Luke, verses 17 and 18, Jesus reminded his opponents that his casting out of demons was not the result of a collaboration between he and Satan, because a house divided against itself will fall. So Jesus reminds them of the division. There is the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. There is the kingdom of Satan and there is the kingdom of God. Decision. Division. And then you might recall in chapter 12 that Jesus refused to take sides in the dispute between two sons over the division of their father's inheritance. He didn't do that. He did so not because he was indecisive, but because he did not want to divert attention away from life's most pressing and important decision. Who cares about your wealth? Who cares about your possessions? That stuff will go. That stuff is fleeting. Your father will take care of it. Division, decision, division, decision. Even as an infant, the significance of Jesus' life was foreseen in terms of division. Do you remember the words of Simeon to Mary? that this child was appointed, was destined, what? To cause the falling and the rising of many. A sword will pierce your own soul too. Division, that's a major theme here in this section, division and decision. And so Jesus poses this question, look at verse 51. And this may be a Jesus in our current day you are unfamiliar with. Maybe not. Practically, I think it is, but I don't know that it's one that we emphasize. Jesus says, do you think that I came to grant peace on earth? That's a potent question. That's a loaded question. Do you think, speaking to his disciples, do you think that I came to grant peace on earth. Now, if Jesus paused for a moment and was fielding questions, you might have at some point kind of, yeah, I thought that's why you were here, right? Isn't that, I mean, aren't you the promised prince of peace, Isaiah 9, 6? Didn't the angels, the heavenly host at your birth sing, what, peace on earth? The Old Testament says there will be peace in the Messiah's kingdom. And Jesus, your own words, you said, blessed are the peacemakers. So yes, I mean, I think you came to bring peace. And notice the shock that that he brings. He says, I tell you no, but rather division. Now again, is his kingdom a kingdom of peace? Yes. Is he a king of peace? Is he the prince of peace? Yes. And do we understand that in some way as believers? Yes. But is there going to be a future fulfillment of this? I would say yes. He will usher in a kingdom of peace that is coming in the future. But Jesus is talking about right now. Right now on earth, I've not come to bring peace, but division. I've come to divide. Jesus, in his message of repentance and faith, will bring in strife. And those disciples have already seen some of that. Because it convicts. And it perturbs. Right? It perturbs the guilty sinner. Now, little does the sinner know that there is a profound peace that is found in Christ. Christ is our peace, Paul says in Ephesians. And there is peace with God. He is the mediator between God and man. There is a peace that surpasses all earthly knowledge and experience. But that is not a universal peace. Peace comes to those who've responded in faith and repentance. Faith comes to those who are his faithful servants in the verses preceding. There's no peace for those who stand against Christ. and his kingdom. There is only enmity and strife and division. And so, in a real sense, he presses them. Do you want division or peace? And again, you might be, I kind of want peace. And they probably did too, but Jesus is reminding, no, there's division right now. The winnowing fork is still dividing, right? It's still separating. And to illustrate this division and the likelihood of where you might see it most potently, Jesus chooses society's most fundamental and foundational and intimate unit, and that's the family, right? There's no more, usually, right? At least supposed to be. That might have not been your personal experience, but usually fundamental and foundational And the most intimate is in that family unit. And look at what he says in verses 52 to 53. For from now on, five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided father against son. And he just talks about how they'll be against each other. Jesus tells his men to expect this. That's what he means when he says from now on. That's an important warning. That's an important point that Jesus makes. This church age, as it pertains to people, as it pertains to relationships, and the relationships that are shared in proximity to the saved and the unsaved, it may be rocky. It may be tumultuous. It may be a warring against one another. This is how it's going to be in Matthew chapter 10 verse 21. Jesus said, it will get so bad that brother will betray brother to death and father, his child and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. It's going to get bad at times, and historically there have been those moments. The offense of Christ, the offense of the gospel, is so great to those who are rejecting it and hating it, that it will make you, the believer, an outcast to them. That's what scripture says. They're not going to like you. And it's not because they don't like you, necessarily. It's because of what you say. It's because of Christ. We need to be aware that Jesus and the gospel divides families at times. There's a reason, friends, where we may not be the most popular in our friend group. We might not be the most popular in our neighborhood. We might not be the most popular in our own home. Because again, our allegiance is to Christ. Our love is to Christ. We treasure Christ above all else. And those who don't, don't understand it. And often don't like it. It could be conviction, right? Your life is a conviction to them. I hope it's not because you're a jerk. Don't be. You don't want to add insult. You don't want to add to that, but there is a natural dividing that takes place between those who are believers and those who are not. Why do you think it's such encouragement to come to church? It's like, ah, my people. Now, we still, because of sin, can squabble. But generally speaking, it's just, ah, relief, because again, Here's a group of people who get it. They understand. The world doesn't understand why I make the choices that I make. Why I do these things and I don't do these things. Why I get up early and come to church when I could easily sleep off my Saturday events, right? Why do I do that? They don't get it. It divides. Many of you have experienced that very thing. You love Christ and you are the outcast because of it. You may have wayward children who've grown up hearing the gospel. They may have even responded to it earlier in their lives, but now they cast it off. They would rather live as their own king in their own kingdom. And so they reject Jesus. And what happens as a result? There's maybe some tension. Things aren't as they might have been at some point. Some of you have spouses or parents or brothers or sisters who limit their contact with you. Or maybe it's so severe they want nothing to do with you at all. I mean, we can't be shocked by this. I mean, I don't know if you were familiar with some of the reels. that were on social media after Trump won the presidency. But there were people who were basically saying, I have written off my parents because they were MAGA supporters. And I was just like, wow. I mean, so if that happens on a political level, how much more when you are telling people that what weighs in the balance is your eternal destiny. Forget four years, your whole life, And so, you can understand, even in a small way, where those political divides, which are so pronounced in our world, it makes absolute sense that Christ would divide. Because the gospel is, you're a sinner, he's a savior, run to him. That's simple, but that's it. You need him. You must have him. And so Jesus divides, divides even those closest to us. And he said it would be like that. This isn't the only warning he gives. Now, let me preface that. With the fact that we should never give up praying for our enemies, right? Even if we don't view them as enemies, they're enemies because they don't like us, right? We don't ever stop praying for those family members. We don't ever give up sharing the gospel when the Lord gives us opportunities. We never give up that. We still walk with Christ, we love Christ, our allegiance is to Christ, but we can't be shocked by their response, and we can't compromise because of their response. And I think that's where the American church has done a lot of compromising. Soften it. Don't make it so difficult. I went to an event, a Christian event yesterday, And man, this guy just preached it. Heaven and hell, baby. That was it. He just let it loose. And I was like, wow, that's refreshing. I don't usually go to events like that. Usually it's only tailored in one direction. His great love. He just loves you so much. He's lonely without you. He just wants you near him. And it's like, um, I mean, he loves you. He loves us. He loved the world and sent his son. But he crushed his son for sinners, right? And so repent and believe the gospel. And that's where it gets offensive, right? So don't ever give up in praying and asking the Lord to save them. Don't ever give up. And when given opportunity, sharing the gospel. Don't compromise. Jesus will later say in Luke 14, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be a Minnesotan. Wow, that is going to definitely weed out some people. Jesus's altar call, right? Now, again, let me just preface to be sure, Jesus calls us to honor our fathers, our earthly fathers and mothers. He commands us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and to love our enemies even, to love each other. So there is a profound sense in which we must love our fathers, even though we must hate them in that sense, right? The idea is Christ must be everything to us. He must be everything. Because we may be called upon to make choices in this world that look as if we hate our family members. Because we treasure Christ more. We, at times, will have to choose division instead of peace. Why? Because we cannot compromise our faith. And that will look to the world as if we hate And isn't it interesting? Isn't that what they're levying against us? Right? Bigots, haters, right? You come against this one particular group in the community, you hate them. No, we love Christ. We love Christ. It's not hate, it's hate to you because we're calling into question the way you're living just as we would anyone, an adulterer, Fornicator? Any of those would be in the same thing. You're living according to your own desires. You're not living according to what the king has said. And so follow him. Turn from your sin and believe on Christ. And to them it's received as hate. Because it's not, you know, we're unwilling to compromise. And we need to be unwilling to compromise. Jesus says, you'll be divided. You stand with me. You stand for what I'm calling you to. You may not be liked, but our allegiance and our affections must be directed towards Christ. And so again, the disciples are pressed. They're being pressed. You better understand what you are getting yourselves into. Understand it. Are you going to decide for Jesus? Is he going to be your greatest treasure and delight? which may mean division among those closest to you? Or will you choose the easier path, the safer path, the more tempting path, and that is to compromise and to be at peace with everyone, which is, by the way, a false peace, right? It's not a genuine peace, it's a false peace. But the church and us as believers, again, we'll be tempted at times. Just be easier, just lessen this thing, don't make it so harsh. It's a real temptation, and the church has fallen in that. They've fallen prey to that. Well, in this final pressing decision, Jesus now, notice, broadens his reach. Notice in verse 54, and he was also saying to the crowds, now he turns, as he has been, back and forth, back and forth, he turns to the crowds. And Jesus goes after their ability to discern. Again, this is very timely. Has a lot to do with that immediate context. But he tells them, look, you guys need to be more discerning than you are. Consider the age that you find yourselves in. Consider the privilege. Jesus essentially tells them in these verses, man, you guys make better weathermen than you do theologians. And that's not a compliment. They should know better. They have the scriptures. And Jesus is standing before them and he says to them in verse 54, you see clouds rising in the west and you know there's a shower coming. And you see the south wind blowing, you know it's going to be a hot day. This is before the weather app, right? And then he says, you hypocrites, you know how to examine the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not examine this present time? Your promised king is here, and you're missing him. You're able to discern rain and heat, but you're not able to discern my identity. They were reaching these conclusions. And by the way, with far less evidence, right? I mean, even meteorologists today don't always get the weather right. They're wrong. You didn't think you needed that umbrella, and it turns out you did. And they didn't even tell you about it. He goes, you guys have far less evidence before you concerning the weather. And here I am, my identity is so clear. The Old Testament scriptures, they testify about me. You have seen with your own eyes supernatural works that have accompanied my ministry. It's so obvious, and yet they don't see. In fact, they refuse to see. And Jesus says, what a bunch of hypocrites. You pretend to have enough evidence. To be convinced of the weather, you have much more than I am Christ. The Apostle John was right when he says that Jesus came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. Why? Because men loved darkness, because their deeds were evil. They loved darkness rather than light. And so Jesus is going after their discernment. In particular, at that moment, concerning this present time, courting that time about who he is, his person, again, which demands a response. They failed to discern just how cloudy their future, spiritually speaking, truly is. They don't realize the scorching fire of judgment that looms on the horizon. So having set that stage of their inability to discern, Jesus now presses them for a final decision. There's a storm brewing. It's coming. It's on the horizon. See it. It's right before your eyes. And then in verses 54 to 59, he gives us a final depressing decision settle now or later Settle now or later. What do we mean by that? Jesus sets up in verses 58 this scenario this parable of sorts Right where you are gonna have your day in court and in essence Jesus is saying he's not just giving them good advice about how to avoid going to prison right or or paying their debt completely and realize again this crowd in particular is made up of the house of Israel. And they seem unaware and even perhaps uninterested in the looming threat before them that judgment is coming. He uses this imagery of their day in court. It's coming. And so Jesus advises them that before they're in the courtroom, before that prosecution levels their charges against them, and before that judge renders the verdict and then you're handed over, before that, again, the concept of opportunity, before that, there is a decision. There is an opportunity that you ought to seek out, and that is this concept of settling outside of court. Settling outside of court. Now listen, there may be times when it's better for you to go through the legal proceedings, to have your day in court. This is not one of them. Jesus is not talking about You know, going to court to settle various matters. There might be, you might have those. He's just saying, listen, when it comes to this, when it comes to this issue, you don't want to wait for your day in court because you lose. It's a tremendous loss. And it's the end of opportunity. You're guilty. Right? As people before a holy God, we are guilty. This is an open and shut case. And Jesus is saying, listen, you'll end up suffering the full penalty for your crime. What does he say there? You will not get out of there until you've paid the last, the most insignificant, I think it's a Jewish coin. It's insignificant. Again, you need to be careful not to press this mini-parable too far, to try to allegorize it by connecting all the dots and connecting people and things like that. Jesus is just giving an illustration, a parable, to help them discern the time they are in right now. Right now is the time for reconciliation. Right now, reconciliation is still possible. Right now, when the verdict hasn't been sealed, when the verdict hasn't been rendered, you've got time, but very soon it will be too late. Again, the urgency, the gravity, the fact that you have a lot to lose, way more than not investing in the right things, earthly-wise, right? There's a lot more at stake here, and so the pressing of now is the time, now is the time. Jesus says, listen, a lawsuit has been rendered against you, and it's in progress, and the warrant and the subpoenas, they've been issued, and the weighty sentence is impending, and if you ignore the clear and evident signs of the way that this court case ends, you'll have no one but yourself to blame when the verdict is finally rendered. This is, by the way, a come to Jesus moment. It is. Hear the word of the Lord for you, friend. Discern the time you are in, that you are in right now, because your life, that dash in between your birth date and your death date is opportunity. And as you know, that opportunity has a shelf life. It has an expiration date. We don't know when that might be. Scripture is very clear. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that none of us is righteous Not even one that we have offended a holy God and his wrath and his fury are rightly directed Towards us they are aimed at you and Christ in the end is the final judge The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9 27 that it's appointed for men to die once and And after this comes judgment. There is a day in the future where you will stand before Christ and give an account. And right now, today, you've been granted an opportunity to settle outside of court. And so, again, that is the good news of the gospel, right? That there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. That God has sent forward His Son as a propitiation, as an appeasement, that the Son was crushed for us. That the Son has absorbed and extinguished, to use that fire imagery, He's extinguished God's judgment against us. And so the Gospel is very clear. It's a Christ. This is your Jesus moment. This is the opportunity that you have. Because in the end, all accounts will be settled. And so you can settle now by running to the mediator, or you can settle later in the end when you will be charged with all of your sin and you will bear God's judgment for all eternity, the scripture says. And so this is a very much a come to Jesus moment. You may have heard the gospel over and over and over and over again. My prayer is that you would hear it clearly. Run to Christ, run from your sin, embrace him as Lord and Savior, place your full confidence and trust in the baptism that he underwent at the cross. where he extinguished God's judgment against sin. Believe on Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its clarity. We thank you for its razor sharp effectiveness, and I pray that it would have its way in our hearts. May we be confident, may we be confident this day that we know you as Savior, And we know that our case has been settled, not because we're great, but because of Christ. May that be true of each person in here this morning. We pray in Christ's name.