Morning. Before you take out your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 12, I want you to look at me. I just want you to know, dear church, brothers and sisters, how much I love you. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Well, if you would please take out your Bibles and turn to Luke 12. We continue in our study through the Gospel of Luke, and we find ourselves once again in this extended section of Jesus' teachings to the multitudes who've gathered to hear him. And we come today to a passage that addresses one of the most important questions that a Christian could ask. Because the answer to this question determines, in large part, how you view your Christian life. Like, what does it mean to live as a Christian? And your answer to this question also determines how you view the church. Like, what should we, as a church, be all about? And that's the question, why did Jesus come? Did Jesus come primarily to feed the hungry and heal the sick? If so, then the highest priority in the Christian life and the primary mission of the church should be to go and do likewise, to prioritize practical mercy ministries above all else. Or did Jesus come primarily to be an example of love and mercy and righteousness for us? If so, then the whole of the Christian life would just boil down to be like Jesus, imitate Jesus. What would Jesus do? And that would be the primary message of the church. Or, did Jesus come primarily to be a good moral teacher? If so, then the church should primarily be a place for Christians to learn those lessons so that we can be better people. Morality is of first importance. You see what I'm saying. The answer to the question, why did Jesus come? It has tremendously significant implications on both how we live as Christians, as individual Christians, and what we as a church should be doing. Now given how vitally important the question is, It should not surprise us that Jesus, on several different occasions in the Gospels, addresses and answers that exact question. For even the Son of Man came, Mark 10, 45. Why? Why did he come? Not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. I came, John 10, 10, Why? Why did you come, Jesus? That they may have life and have it abundantly. The Son of Man came, Luke 19.10. Why? Why did he come? To seek and to save the lost. And so you see how each of those well-known passages addresses the same question of why Jesus came, giving, of course, the same answer, the Gospel, that Jesus came to die to save lost sinners that they might have life, the same answer from slightly different angles. And that answer is why we, as Christians, need to live gospel-centered lives. And why we, as a church, why we must be a gospel-centered church. So each of those passages gives an answer to the question, why did Jesus come? But our passage... our verses for this morning, unlike those passages that we just read, they don't give us just one answer to that question. They don't even give us just two answers to that question. In our passage, Luke chapter 12, verses 49 to 53, Jesus gives us three answers to the question of why he came. Three answers that, again, are all going to point to the same gospel. but again are gonna approach from slightly different angles. And so given how important the question is, and given how many different aspects of the answer Jesus gives to us here, we who are his people ought to be paying very close attention to this passage. Let me start by reading the passage and then we'll talk about what it means and how we might apply it to our lives. Luke chapter 12, verses 49 through 53. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 mother-in-law. Brothers and sisters, the word of the Lord. So I have three points for you today, and all three points are going to answer the same question. Why did Jesus come? Point number one, Jesus came to cast fire. Point number two, Jesus came to be baptized. And point number three, Jesus came to divide. Let's go through those one at a time. First point number one, Jesus came to cast fire. Why did Jesus come? He came to cast fire. At least that's what he says in verse 49, I came to cast fire on the earth. So there you go. Easy enough. Point number one, Jesus came to cast fire. But what exactly does that mean? Obviously, he's not speaking literally. I Came to Cast Fire isn't like The Human Torch from Fantastic Four. And I already know that only two of you in this entire room are going to get this reference, so this is just for you two, but this is not like Dhalsim from Street Fighter with his yoga fires. He's speaking metaphorically. He's speaking symbolically. Say, fair enough. But then what does fire stand for? What does it mean? Well, there's a couple of possibilities here. Some people think he's talking about the Holy Spirit. Think Acts chapter 2. Think about the day of Pentecost when divided tongues, as of fire, appear to them. I guess that's a possible interpretation, but it would be kind of random for Jesus to prophesy about the coming of the Holy Spirit in this context right here. Like, I'm not really sure what the connection would be with anything else that he's been saying. Others think that he's talking about the word that he preaches. You know, in Jeremiah 23, where God says, is not my word like fire, like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? And I suppose that reference could make sense here in the middle of this long teaching in Luke 12. Like even as he's saying this, he is in the middle of casting the fire of the word left and right. But I think the best interpretation here is that in talking about fire, I came to cast fire on the earth, Jesus is talking about judgment. Because fire, throughout the Bible, is often a picture of judgment. And that's not just true in the Psalms, and Isaiah, and Amos, and 2 Thessalonians, and I could give you a whole bunch of cross-references here, but I'll let you do that study on your own. But we've also already seen this picture used this way in this very Gospel. Luke chapter 3. You remember our old friend John the Baptist? Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And then he says this about Jesus in chapter 3, verse 17. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. And so in those verses, right, from this very same Gospel, fire is clearly a picture of judgment. And so it makes sense for us to understand this word picture here in Luke 12 in the same way, as that of judgment. And look at how in John 9, 39, How Jesus gives the same exact reason there for his coming into the world. Why did you come into the world? Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. So why did Jesus come? Point number one, Jesus came to cast fire, referring to judgment. Now we might not typically think of Jesus' coming, at least his first coming, as being one of judgment. We typically think of it as being all about saving sinners. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But you see, that gospel of salvation, that saving of sinners, is one that necessarily separates the wheat from the chaff. One that necessarily separates the sheep from the goats. One that necessarily separates those who, by believing in Him, are saved from judgment, saved from fire, and those who, in their rejection of him, remain under God's judgment and remain under fire. And so Jesus, even in his coming to seek and to save the lost, has also come to cast fire on the earth. But notice, that's not all Jesus has to say about fire. Look at the second half of the verse. Would that it, referring to the fire, would that it were already kindled. He's desiring, longing, yearning for that judgment of fire to come, for that fire to be kindled. But why? Well, that leads us to point number two. Why did Jesus come? Point number two, Jesus came to be baptized. Verse 50, I have a baptism to be baptized with. Again, just like fire, this isn't literal, he's not referring to a physical baptism, and we know that because Well, Jesus already was physically baptized by John the Baptist all the way back in chapter 3. It's like if Emilio were to come up to me today and say, I have a baptism to be baptized with. What do you mean? You had a baptism last Sunday. So if Jesus is not referring to a physical baptism, again, what then is the metaphor? What is being symbolized here? Well, to answer the question, we should ask ourselves if there are any other passages in the Gospels in which Jesus uses the idea of baptism in a metaphorical sense. And that leads us to Mark chapter 10. You're probably familiar with the backstory here. James, John, the two brothers, they come up to Jesus and they ask him, grant us to sit. One at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. Silly request, but do you remember Jesus' response? Mark 10, 38. You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? So you see how in that statement that Jesus makes there, Jesus links the metaphor of baptism together with another metaphor. He puts baptism in parallel construction with a second metaphor, that of drinking the cup. And drinking the cup, we can be pretty sure about this from many Old Testament references, drinking the cup is a reference to suffering the wrath of God in judgment. And since being baptized in that verse means the same thing as drinking the cup, right, they're parallel concepts, then that means that baptism also refers to suffering the wrath of God in judgment. And so it's a picture of how, just like in physical baptism, right, picture Emilio, the one being baptized is submerged, he's immersed, he's plunged beneath the physical water, So in the same way, one under God's wrath is immersed, submerged, or plunged in the waters of God's judgment. And so going back to Luke chapter 12, verse 50, I'm kind of putting this all together here. If Jesus is using baptism in the same sense in Luke 12 as he does in Mark 10, and I see no reason why we can't make that assumption, then what Jesus is saying here, what he's referring to here when he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, he's talking about the cross. He's talking about the fact that on the cross, he's gonna suffer the wrath of God in judgment. He's gonna drink the cup of God's wrath, the cup that will not be removed from him. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Of course, not the wrath of God for his own sins, for Jesus lived a perfect life. No, the wrath of God for our sins. He takes our place. He takes our sin upon himself. Then he drinks down the cup of God's wrath that's reserved for us on our behalf, down to the dregs. He's baptized into the wrath of God for all the ways in which we have sinned against the Holy God, all the ways in which we've rebelled and broken His laws. Why? So that sinners like you and like me can be saved. If we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus' death and resurrection, we can be saved. Point number two, why did Jesus come? Jesus came to be baptized. And do you see the wonderful connection between the first two points, between the fire and the baptism? Jesus in coming brings judgment, judgment for sin, judgment that each and every one of us deserves, fire, because we've broken the laws of a holy God. But Jesus, in coming, dies for our sin. He undergoes a baptism. He immerses himself in that judgment that each and every one of us deserves. And so yes, he judges. He brings judgment. But he first bears judgment on our behalf, that we might be spared from that judgment. Or to put it another way, if it were not for Jesus's baptism, Jesus's fire would have consumed us all. But thanks be to God, in the gospel, his baptism quenches his fire. So now we can come back to that question we asked earlier. Why does Jesus say, referring to the fire of judgment, why does he say, would that it were already kindled? Why does he desire so strongly for this judgment to come? It's because the fullness of the judgment, the fullness of that judgment coming means that his mission is accomplished. His mission is completed. Look at how in the end of verse 50, he refers to accomplishing his mission. When his salvation is accomplished, when his baptism is completed, When He dies for sin and rises again, triumphant over death, and then ascends to the right hand of the Father, when His work is finished, that means that eternal salvation has been secured for His people and the just judgment of those who reject Him is pronounced. Salvation and judgment, they're like two sides of the same coin. with the gospel determining which side you're on. And so Jesus, we've seen him pictured as resolutely setting his face to Jerusalem that he might fulfill that task. And so here he longs for that day when it would all be accomplished and completed. Oh, that it were already kindled. But until that day, until the completion, Oh, how great my distress until it is accomplished, he says. And that's not just like a general distress as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. No, this is great distress as he anticipates becoming the sin bearer for all of his people, as he foresees his upcoming baptism. This is great distress a distress that would be exhibited most prominently in the Garden of Gethsemane, where sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground, where it was an agony. My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Great distress, as he thinks ahead to that moment when darkness would come over the land. And he would cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But that great distress, as great as it would be, well, it would only be for but a moment. How great is my distress until, until, until he concludes his work, until his baptism is completed, until, look again at verse 50, it is accomplished. In Greek, that word is teleste, which you may recognize as coming from the same root as his very last word, tetelestai, it is finished. And so Jesus is longing for the joy that was set before him. He's longing to say those words. How great is my distress until it is finished. Point number two, Jesus came to be baptized. So why did Jesus come? Well, point number one, he came to cast fire and judgment. Point number two, he came to be baptized and to take upon himself the judgment for the sins of his people. And point number three, we're gonna see how this is a natural consequence of points number one and two. Jesus came to divide. Verse 51, do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. And you say, wait a minute. What do you mean Jesus didn't come to give peace on earth? Whatever happened to the Prince of Peace? The one who makes peace by the blood of his cross? What happened to Ephesians chapter 2? He himself is our peace. You mean to tell me that the angels got it wrong back in chapter 2? Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Well, no, Jesus does bring peace. Through the baptism that he undergoes, his death, Jesus brings peace between God and man, between a holy God and sinful man. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5.1. And because of that vertical peace that sinners now have with God because of Christ, well not horizontally, We who previously were at enmity with one another, we can now be at peace with one another. That's the whole point of Ephesians chapter 2. He himself is our peace, and so he's even made Jews and Gentiles, people who hated each other, he's made them one in him by breaking down that dividing wall of hostility. And so yes, in a very real sense, Jesus does bring peace, but that peace, somewhat ironically, also brings division. Because when someone is saved, when someone is brought to peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, when they're spared from the fire of point number one by the baptism of point number two, Well, the Bible says that they're a new creation, that the old has passed away and behold, the new has come. Which means that not only are they different from their old selves, but also significantly, they're now different from all those around them. And when you're a person who loves the Lord Jesus, surrounded by those who are in rebellion against the same Lord Jesus. When you're a man after God's own heart, surrounded by those who set themselves against the Lord and His anointed, when you're a woman who is a slave to righteousness, and you're surrounded by those who are slaves to sin, you see, division, separation, conflict, They're all inevitable. Just picture this scene in your mind. You and your friends are all walking together towards your sin, towards unrighteousness, away from God, away from holiness. You want nothing to do with any of that. And so you're all walking in this direction, and then by His sovereign grace, God takes your spiritually dead heart and grants to you faith and repentance. Well, what does it mean to repent? It means to turn. And so now, you are leaving behind the pursuit of sin and unrighteousness, and you are pursuing holiness. You are pursuing God. But as you turn in that direction, as you now desire God, and as you pursue Him with your whole life, well, your friends continue down that same path of destruction. And you see how division then is inevitable. And the closer you're linked together, The more tightly knit you were with those people, the more this separation is going to hurt, the more it's going to tear those bonds apart. But it's inevitable. It's kind of like what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6. Do not be unequally yoked, yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? We'll often cite that passage to talk about why believers shouldn't marry or date unbelievers. And that's true. Believers shouldn't marry or date unbelievers. And that's a wonderful application of that passage. But I hope you see that that passage is much more broad, much more general than just romantic relationships. Because Christ, his gospel, his salvation, it divides all righteousness and all lawlessness. It divides all light and all darkness. It separates and divides every possible relationship that we could have. But you see, division and conflict and rejection, those are always hard. But it's especially hard when it's your own family. Your co-workers hate you, that's one thing. Your neighbors can't stand you, that's another thing. but your own family, your own flesh and blood, that's where it really hurts. Yeah, I get that the gospel is gonna cause strain and division in my relationships, but even in my own family? Yes, Jesus says, even in your own family. And so to make that point, Jesus gives a hypothetical example of a family being divided. Look at verses 52 and 53. He borrows this in substance from the prophet Micah. If you count the people, the number of people in verse 53, you're actually going to count six. So there's father, son, mother, daughter, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, So what kind of math is that? How is that a two on three? It's kind of like the old riddle. Two fathers and two sons go fishing, but there's only three men on the boat. How can that be? Well, Sherlock, there's a grandfather, a father, and a son. And so one man is both a father to his son and a son to his father, and so there's actually only three people on that boat. Well, in the same way, in verse 53, one woman is both a mother to her own son and a mother-in-law to his son's wife. It's the same person, and so there's actually only five people on that boat. Probably not all that important, but at least you now have a good riddle in your back pocket. Now that might be a hypothetical example that Jesus is giving there. But at the same time, I know that as some of us read that verse, like there's nothing hypothetical about that at all. As some of you know, the division that the gospel can cause in families. Because when, as a young person, you got saved, that caused a serious divide between you and your parents. They wanted you to devote your life to money and power and prestige and success. And here you are giving your life to Jesus and your relationship has never been the same. You've experienced that division firsthand. Some of you know the division that the gospel can cause in families because you are a Christian and your spouse is not. And you know how hard that's been on your marriage. And how you and your spouse, you just have such different priorities and different values. Maybe that unsaved spouse is even sitting here with you this morning. You know how your heart longs for them to be saved. And so you've experienced that division firsthand. And it's caused much heartbreak in your life. Some of you know the division that the gospel can cause in families because of when your brother stopped talking to you and cut you out entirely from his life after you shared the gospel with him and he was deeply offended. Quick side application here, if any of this really hits home, if you've experienced this firsthand, Don't give up on your unsaved parents, on your unsaved spouse, on your unsaved brother. The conflict and the tension in your relationship will make that an easy enough temptation to just give up on them. But continue, be steadfast in praying for them. Continue to share Christ with them. Continue to be a light to them. Don't write them off because the same gospel that took a spiritually dead sinner like you and saved you can surely do the same in them. Point number three, why did Jesus come? Jesus came to divide. And I hope you see how these three points are intertwined, how they're answers to the same question, and so they're closely related. Jesus came to bring fire, to bring judgment. That was point number one. But he spares his people from that fire by undergoing a baptism on their behalf, by taking that judgment for them. That's point number two. But now based on how people respond to that baptism, to that death and resurrection, to that gospel, whether by repentance and faith or by rejection and unbelief, well that then divides them. And so point number three, Jesus came to divide. So that's our text. Let me leave you with two quick points of application here. First application point number one, rightly view your earthly family. Rightly view your earthly family. Let me start with a few caveats here. The Bible is very clear on the importance of family. We just talked last week about how we must, as faithful Christians, be faithful and wise managers when it comes to the stewardships of our families. The Bible has a lot to say about how parents and children, husbands and wives are to be faithful in the relationships that God has given them. So one of the most beautiful and wonderful and precious things in the world is a Christian family. A family in which both husband and wife, father and mother love the Lord Jesus and they're bringing up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Look what a glorious picture of the transformative power of the gospel and its ability to affect an entire family unit is. But with all that said, we need to rightly view our earthly families. Jesus says it most plainly, Matthew 10, 37. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. That is a sobering but important thing for us to hear. Because we can easily take the good and gracious gift of family that God has given to us, and we can turn that into an idol. We can make our families the end-all be-all, and our families become our highest and greatest affections. But that should not be. Our love for the Father, our love for the Lord Jesus, our love for the Holy Spirit, our love for God, the three in one, has to come first, and then our love for our families has to flow out of that. Now sometimes, those two things are very compatible. For example, you selflessly love and serve your wife, Well, that's both loving her and honoring the Lord who calls you to love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Or you're leading your family in devotions every night. Well, that's loving your family by caring for their souls, caring for their spiritual good, and loving the Lord who you're worshiping together. Or you just faithfully go to church every single Sunday as a family. What a wonderful thing for an entire family unit to worship God together and to fellowship with His people together. And so sometimes, those two things are very compatible. But at other times, and that's kind of the point of this passage, at other times, they're not so compatible. And the gospel causes division. three against two, two against three. The gospel divides you from your parents. The gospel divides you from your children. The gospel divides you from your spouse. The gospel divides you from your siblings. And the question is, will you still follow Jesus despite that resistance? Will you still obey the Lord? despite those headwinds, just to make it very practical. What about when God calls you, through his word, to do something that's not going to be very popular with certain people in your family? Are you okay with that? You're spending too much time at church. Why aren't you coming to our family barbecue next Sunday morning? Why do you prioritize being with church people over us? Why aren't you going to your cousin's wedding? How dare you waste your education by becoming a missionary? That's where we really need God's grace. That's where we really need the abiding, enabling power of the Holy Spirit to rightly view our earthly families. Yes, family is important. It's so important. And so don't hear me, or more importantly, hear Jesus saying otherwise. But part of the Christian call, part of denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily, This being willing to forsake anything and everything, I count everything as loss, that would hinder us from loving the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And sometimes that even includes family. Application point number one, rightly view your earthly family. Application point number two, rightly view your spiritual family. Let's cheat and look ahead a little bit. Turn ahead in your Bibles to Luke chapter 18. Let me read Luke chapter 18, verses 28 to 30. And Peter said, See, we have left our homes and followed you. And Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life. Oftentimes when we think about the blessings we get for making costly sacrifices for Christ, such as being forsaken by family, we think about the blessings in the life to come. And know how every sadness in this life, from fractured family relationships because of the gospel, how all of that will be more than made up for then. But, Did you catch what Jesus just said? Look again at verse 30. You'll receive many times more brothers and parents and children in this time, in this life. How? Well, in this life, in saving sinners from fire through his baptism, Jesus calls his division because he divides believers from unbelievers. But in doing so, he also unites believers to one another in a new spiritual family, all adopted into the same family by the same Heavenly Father because of the work of Jesus Christ. So now we have brothers and sisters in Christ. Friends, how wonderful is that? That even as the gospel will divide many of us from unbelieving family members, at the same time, it will unite us into even closer bonds with brothers and sisters in Christ. Many of you know this firsthand because your earthly family is unsaved. They don't know the Lord. Or maybe your earthly family is saved, but they live far, far away. And so this, like this, this is your family, your church family. How incredibly kind for a good and gracious God to give us such a wonderful gift. Our brothers and sisters and parents and children in this life. So dear church, let us steward that gift well. Let's steward this gift faithfully, loving one another. spending ourselves for one another, giving of our time and our energy and our resources for the sake of one another, being eager to maintain the spirit of unity in the bond of peace. For this is a family that should not be divided, in which we should not see three against two and two against three. And ultimately, Helping one another to love the Lord our God in an undivided, complete way. Encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Friends, what an incredible blessing we have in one another, our church family. Application point number two, rightly view your spiritual family Let's pray. Father, what an amazing gift of grace that even as your gospel, the baptism of your Son that saves us from your fire, that then divides us from unbelievers, that this same gospel then grants to us brothers and sisters, parents and children in this life. Father, allow us to be a church that stewards that gift well for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.