Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Luke 12:49-53

Theme: A It was real to Him. Is it real to You?@

 August 19, 2007

 

This section is part of a very intense time of teaching Jesus is doing with His disciples. He is calling on His disciples to stand to, to stand up for what He was teaching. The Lord calls on us to do the same. He calls on us to stand to as well:

- To acknowledge the authority of the Bible from its very first verse to the last.

- To stand by and live by God=s law and to stand by and trust in the Gospel, the Gospel built on the unique identity and work of Jesus.

This is very different from the world=s thinking and sets Jesus and His followers apart from the world. That is very true, standing with the truth of God=s Word, the absolute authority of His law and the uniqueness of the Gospel is a difficult task, all the more so today with the Bible under attack and the Alets all get along@ attitude so prevalent and so opposed to the truth of Jesus Ano one comes to the Father but by Me@ message.

Yes, Jesus asked a lot of His disciples but infinitely more was asked of Him.

Look at the first verses, Jesus speaks of judgement. The judgement He will bring on the last day, the fire on the earth. And the judgement He will suffer on our behalf, the baptism He will under go. These cause Jesus great anguish. The distress He feels may be increased by knowing that many will reject Him and His work. He knows it will bring division.

I.                    Jesus= mission is very real to Him.

    A.                 The approaching day of judgement for all people on earth is very real to the Lord.

        1.                  He talks of it as fire He will cast on the earth.

        2.                  He knows there will be many who reject Him, many who will be condemned.

        3.                  It is a painful thought to Him and He wishes it was over with.

        4.                  And there is more intense, more personal suffering coming to Him.

    B.                 Jesus knows what awaits Him in Jerusalem.

        1.                  He knows He is here to suffer death and hell on our behalf to pay our debt to the law.

        2.                  He knows this will happen in Jerusalem on a Roman cross.

        3.                  He is greatly distressed by this and will be until it is completed.

        4.                  This is the work He was sent to do.

    C.                 All of this raises the question, AHow real is this to you?@

        1.                  How real is the coming judgement?

        2.                  How real is the sacrifice Jesus made for you?

II.                 How real are the missions of Christ to you?

    A.                 How real is the coming judgement?

        1.                  Are you ready? What are you counting on?

        2.                  Jesus= life and death as your substitute is all that can make you ready.

            a.                   We can do nothing to make it so. We can add nothing.

            b.                  Even the faith with which we receive and hold fast to this gift is created in us by God the Holy Spirit.

        3.                  This judgement can come at any time.

            a.                   Today could be the last day and Jesus return in all His power.

            b.                  Today could be your last day and the Lord return for you.

        4.                  The more real the judgement, the more real our total need of God=s gracious gift, the more wonderfully sweet the words delivering His forgiveness.

    B.                 How real is the coming judgement that will fall on unbelievers?

        1.                  Is the fact that those who are without Christ are lost real to you?

            a.                   Those who count on anything else than Jesus= life and death on their behalf are still condemned by the law, the law they broke.

             b.                  Is this real to you?

            c.                   It is very real to the Lord.

        2.                  How are you answering the Lord=s call for workers?

            a.                   The fields are ripe and ready for harvest.

            b.                  Everyone needs to hear the message.

                (1)               What=s the worst that could happen?

               (2)               they already believe? They refuse the gift? One of the seven

                (3)               the need is real and you have what they need.

               (4)               faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

            c.                   What a great privilege we have to deliver to people the greatest, most valuable, most wonderful gift they can ever receive.

            d.                  May the reality of all this move us to share this gift.

            e.                   Not just the reality of the judgement but more so the reality of Jesus= great love for and gracious gift to us.

    C.                 How real to you is the work of Jesus, His life, death and resurrection?

        1.                  Jesus really is God the Son come to earth as a man.

        2.                  He really said and did the things we are told in the Bible and much more.

        3.                  His gracious gift of salvation is here for you.

            a.                   He paid a terrible price for it.

            b.                  He wants nothing more than for you to have it.

            c.                   How real is all this to you? Why? Because . . .

III.               It is the reality of Jesus gift of salvation that brings peace.

    A.                 The peace Jesus came to establish is peace with God.

        1.                  He moved to end the war, to reconcile us to Himself.

            a.                   Our sin is taken away, paid for.

            b.                  It was nailed to the cross and there it stayed.

        2.                  God has removed the barrier and come to us to establish peace.

    B.                 He also gives peace within us.

        1.                  The peace that comes from knowing that our sin does not condemn us anymore.

            a.                   They have been taken away.

            b.                  They can=t accuse us anymore.

            c.                   We need not be plagued by guilt over them.

        2.                  The more real all this is to us - real need, real guilt, real price paid by our real living Lord Jesus - the more real the peace.