Jesus came to divide

Welcome to No Compromised Radio Ministry. 12 seconds in, possibly 13, is when I'm supposed to start talking. What do I say next? You can write me, mike at nocompromisedradio .com. Info at nocompromisedradio .com.

Spencer at nocompromisedradio .com. Mario, Austin, the list goes on. Thanks for listening. We're back on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays. I'm working on Sanctification of Primer. The chosen book didn't sell at all.

It is what it is. Maybe somebody will buy a truckload. Maybe somebody like Nahum, Pastor Nahum will buy a thousand of them, like he bought a thousand Jesus and cancer books. I have talked to several people, no laughing matter here, several people in the last month or so that have been struggling with cancer.

I had no idea that the Lord would give me a cancer ministry, but that's what happens. Went through a church split in 2000, and then you have a ministry where you want to try to encourage pastors that have church troubles.

Right? 2 Corinthians 1, the Lord comforts you, and then you want to give comfort to other people. So today on the show, we're talking about Jesus' return and what we should expect when we're expecting him to show up.

What to expect when you're expecting. Talked about that a little bit earlier in last show with Ethical Eschatology, and Jesus is coming back. We are to be ready because he's coming back at an hour we don't expect.

Our goal is not to figure out exactly when, but to be ready. He's coming back for sure, not if, but when, and we are to be ready. And so what should we do? Well, we should be believing. That's true, because that's how you're ultimately ready.

If you're coming back and you're not a believer, then there's literal hell to pay. God is righteous and God is just, and we want to be believing, and that the root of all sins is unbelief. And can you imagine, especially as you look at these men in the Bible and people now living in society of a Judeo-Christian society, probably post-Judeo-Christian, but still most everyone in the country will know something about Jesus.

They know about God in natural revelation, of course, his power, his wisdom, etc. But most people know what Easter is, most people know what Christmas is, and when you know something, you're held even more responsible and more accountable for what you know.

But even for people that don't know specifically about Jesus and his...Jesus the Eternal Son and the Incarnation and a substitutionary death, they still are going to be judged, and that will be a just judgment.

And so for us, if the core root of sin is unbelief, which then leads to lawlessness, 1 John, sin is lawlessness, then it spirals into greed, idolatry, immorality, etc. But at the root of it all is unbelief.

That's a horrible sin not to believe. If we are to believe, if the work we're supposed to do is to believe, and we don't, how awful that is. But when you do believe, you realize it's a gift. Even faith is a gift.

You believe by grace. They received this by grace. I want to say that's Acts 18-ish. Believe by grace. And then you say to yourself, I'm ready in terms of I'm on Jesus' side. God has placed me on the side of Jesus.

I am adopted into the family. There's no condemnation. I'm justified. I'm going to be glorified one day. God keeps promises, and he's put his love on us, and he'll never take that back. So then in the realm of living as Christians in the sanctification category, we respond to God's sanctifying work with faith.

We know he's doing it. And then we kill sin and say yes to righteousness. So we want to be doing that upon his return. We don't want to be slackers. We don't want to be sinning. We don't want to be lazy.

We don't want to be fumbling and bumbling and rumbling and all those things. So we want to be ready for the return of Christ. And if you're a believer, you're ready. And if you're a believer, then don't you want to respond out of gratitude and thankfulness to live a holy life and to walk in a manner worthy of the call of conduct befitting an officer?

I might say to my son, live like an Ebendroth. You're an Ebendroth. If he doesn't, then that doesn't mean he loses his sonship, but it would be something that wouldn't be good for him, wouldn't be good for his neighbors, and wouldn't honor his father on earth.

And so Jesus says, I want you to be ready. This whole section is you to be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. And we're not expecting it these days. We might be longing for it.

We might be waiting for this blessed hope, Titus chapter 2, but we're not probably thinking today's the day. I have a lot to do today. My wife is out of town. She's in California. My daughter-in-law Hannah just had a baby, their second baby, Luke and Hannah, Eleazar, and now Evelyn.

And Evelyn's two days old, and so my wife flew there to see the baby. And Hannah was about eight, nine days late, and my wife is thinking, oh, now what's going to happen? Fly back home, and okay, fine.

But then my other daughter, Haley, I have three daughters, Haley is expecting baby number three, and she usually delivers pretty early, and she's got all kinds of contractions and bedrest stuff and into the hospital for steroid shots and all these things.

She's not supposed to deliver for another six to seven weeks. They want to put it off for two weeks for sure. So then Kim, my wife, drove up to go take care of Haley, so we'll probably stay longer than normal because she's there to help.

Well, all that to say, I've got all these plans for today. You probably do too. It is Saturday. It is cold and rainy. I need to prepare things like my sermon, to review my sermon on Saturday. I always do that.

I need to prepare something for communion. I have a brief exhortation time that I'm going to talk to the VBS workers tomorrow, that they're having their first meeting, and I want to remind them about the gospel and about praying for the I'm going to exhort them from Acts chapter 16, where God opens up Lydia's heart, and so just pray.

Every time you see one of these children having fun or you're talking with them, just silently pray. Lord, open up their hearts. If you haven't before, open up their hearts so they can receive the Word and pay attention to what the Scriptures are and trust in the Lord.

So I've got that. I'm headed to Poland with my friend Tomek to teach a preaching class there on Friday and Saturday, then preach on Sunday. So I've got those things to prepare and go over. I don't want to put them...I don't want to bring my laptop, so I have to have it all on my iPad, get that all figured out.

Then I'll be teaching a one-week class at a Master of Divinity class at the EBTC, European Bible Training Center, and I do that every three years or so. And I've got that to prepare, so five days of teaching.

At least that's in English, so that'll be good. And then just other things here at the church, and I just finished the men's group on Thursday night. I'll have to prepare for the next one, and I've got some stuff around the house to do.

I've got some cleaning to do. I need to go to the grocery store. If it would stop raining, I need to mow. I've got a whole list. So when Kim's gone, I have a huge list of things to do. And guess what's not on my list?

Guess what's not on your list? Jesus is coming back today. I know. It should be on my list. That should be the top of the list. Every, you know, my day timer should have at the very top. Today, question mark.

Right, you wake up in the morning. Good Lord, it's morning. Or, good Lord, it's morning. Or, I have cancer. Or, I have to do all these things today. Or, did Hannah have the baby in the night? That was kind of fun the other night.

I know they went into the hospital. Contractions and all that kind of stuff. Dilated. I went to bed. I thought, I can't stay up. Who knows how long this this labor is going to be. It ended up being only two hours in the hospital, which, you know, child number two, sometimes it's fast like that.

And, you know, the first time, it's 12, 15, 18, 28, 38, whatever the amount of hours are. And I went to bed, woke up in the And I thought, I'll check my phone, right? You don't really want to check the phone in the middle of the night, and bright lights, and dopamine hits, and smartphones, and dumb people.

And I thought, well, I have to check. And then there's pictures of little Evelyn. Quick tear. Tried to go back to bed. All that to say, I should be thinking Jesus could return today. Today, Lord? Is today the day?

Is that the way you think? Is that the way you think? So, Jesus goes on to say in Luke 12, this is what's going to happen when I return, when I'm on earth, first coming or second coming, for that matter.

What do you expect? Well, one of the things that you should be expecting is there's going to be a great division. And again, whether that's the first coming or second, there's going to be a great division.

Jesus said in Luke 12, 49, 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've 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.

So, we need to be bracing ourselves. We need to be resolved that this is the kind of thing that's going to happen. This is going to happen, and there's going to be a division. So, we need to be resolved.

We need to brace ourselves, and we need to think, you know what? Keep believing. Keep trusting. Certainly keep evangelizing. The good news of the gospel is wonderful news. It's great news. It's joyous news.

But when people hear it with blind minds and hearts that are corrupt and slaves to Satan, dead in trespasses and sins, they don't think the good news is good until the Spirit of God opens their mind. There's conflict.

There's division. There's a sword. There's a price. There is an offense to the gospel. Jesus is the only way. He is the only son. He is the only sin bearer. He is the only creator. There's heaven or hell.

There's Jesus or perdition. There's no third way. Christianity is not be nice and be good, love one another, moral teachings. If in fact it was, I think it'd probably be fine in terms of how the world considers it.

The world would say, fine. But Jesus isn't an option. He's the option. He's the one. We don't even want to say option. You can't opt. You need to believe. Jesus is the only mediator. There's not 10 ways to heaven.

There's not six paths. There's not five gurus. There's not four deities. There's not three. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. I mean, the wonderful news is, no matter what your background, no matter what your skin color, no matter what your parents were like or anything else, there's a free offer.

And the offer is to believe, to come and receive this spiritual water without price. But it's only Jesus. And if you think of the time when the Bible was written in the New Testament, especially with Rome and their pluralism, and just worship anybody you want, but just don't say it's only this, there's going to be trouble.

There's going to be division. And even if you go back to Genesis chapter 1, there's this separation, there's this division of land and water and light and darkness and fish and mammals and lower forms and upper forms and nature from chaos.

This is just an operating principle, an operative principle, as some call it. James Edwards called it that. Division is an operative principle in creation, and it is no less operative in the process of redemption.

I meant to hit the pause button there. I meant to hit the off button, and I pushed the wrong button. That is so wrong. That is so wrong. Don't clap for that. I don't even have an editor anymore. I can't even edit this out.

It just is what it is. Jesus is the dividing line. Jesus is the focal point of history. Jesus comes to earth to seek and save the lost. That's true. But what are the implications of that salvation? Since there's not universalism, some saved and some aren't.

Some saved and some aren't. Jesus said, I came to cast fire on earth and that it would already be kindled. Fire separates, fire divides, fire purges. There's flammable things and non-flammable, and fire in that way divides.

I read that fire has twofold effect. It consumes whatever is destined for destruction while at the same time purifying whatever God ordains to refine. Fire always consumes or purifies, dependent on the nature of what it burns.

It is an instrument of judgment, revealing things for what they are. Jesus said, I have come to do that. By the way, that's language of preexistence. I've come. Right? I was in eternity with the Father, in heaven, if you want to use that language, and now I've come to earth.

It's my mission. Here's what I've come to do. He didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He's come in his Father's name, and you do not receive him, and if another comes in his own name, you'll receive him, Jesus said.

I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. I'm leaving the world and going to the Father.

I've come into this world to testify to the truth, he said to Pilate, and he came to cast fire, separating evil and the good. Of course, fire, ultimate fire, and the final judgment, and this fire will be divided.

This whole section here is about division. You see the three times the word division, or you heard it when I read it. Here, the judgment of God. Of course, Jesus received the judgment of God at Calvary.

That's exactly true. The fire of judgment he received, and now when he's coming back the second time, Jesus isn't paying for sins next time. He's judging those who reject him, burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire, language from Luke chapter three.

One thing about fire, it's not neutral. One thing about fire, it divides. One thing about the return of Christ, it's going to divide between believers and unbelievers. It's a fire of judgment, a fire of purifying, a fire of consuming, and Jesus said, and I wish it was already kindled.

Now, Jesus said that when he was on earth, and he was looking forward to, of course, Calvary, where he himself would bear our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

Jesus, the just, dying for the unjust so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. Wages of sin is death, and Jesus, dying as a substitute, bearing God's righteous wrath against our sins that were placed on him.

So Jesus says, I wish it was already kindled. In one sense, you can really see the true humanity of Jesus here. I wish this already happened. He realized what's going to happen, and eventually, of course, Jesus will cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And Christ's passion and death are right around the corner, and I wish it already happened. That's why I came. That's why I'm here. I came to do my Father's work. And he says in verse 50 of Luke 12, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it's accomplished.

That's exactly right. I know why I came to earth. I know what my destiny is. I know what I'm going to do. And this destiny and how people respond, some respond positively and some don't. And here, this metaphor of baptism or immersion, just being overwhelmed by catastrophe, is what scholars say baptism is.

And here, Jesus, I've got my own suffering and death, and my distress is great until it happens. I want to do that. I'm here for that reason. I'm willing. Luke and Duncan said Jesus is saying to his disciples that he is ready, willing, and able to endure anything and everything necessary to procure for them forgiveness of sin and everlasting fellowship with God.

He's the one that accomplishes it. We don't. I'm on target. I'm on mission. I'm ready to face Jerusalem, and I'm committed to do the Father's will, and I'm committed to redeem sinners. That's pretty good when you think about it.

He knows the cup that he has to drink. He knows the baptism with which he has to be baptized, and he wants to, even though there's distress, even though there's suffering, even though there's pain, even though there's agony, even though sweat became like great drops of blood in the garden as he prayed and fell down on the ground.

He knows that he's off to Jerusalem to honor the Father and redeem his bride. I've come to do this. I came to die. I'm not just going to die like a martyr. What I do actually does something. My death does something.

Most people, their death, nothing happens at their death. This death does something. I'm going to experience God's judgment. I'm going to be dunked under the water of God's judgment, and the breakers and waves will roll over me, Psalm 42.

Psalm 124, the waters will have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul. And so here Jesus uses that kind of language of distressing and judgment. He's going to do this until it is accomplished.

Your salvation, dear Christian, your redemption, reconciling you to the Father. Nothing was going to stop Jesus. A mission. This is what I've come to do. I'm never going to go off track. I'm going to get this done.

And of course, Jesus receives a sour wine at Calvary and says, it is finished, and he bows his head and gives up his spirit. So for the joy set before Jesus, he runs this race, saying, not my will, but yours be done.

And so he asks the question in verse 51, do you think I've come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Now, ultimately, the elect receive peace with God, right? And you look at Ephesians chapter 2.

I don't mean that peaceful, easy feeling, not subjective peace we're talking about here. We're not talking about Philippians 4 peace, that peace that passes all understanding. We're talking about objective peace.

Two countries at war, now they're at peace. So it's an objective thing. And Jesus said, I've come, and there are other verses we could talk about, but his emphasis here, I came to divide, right? Chaff here and the wheat here.

Sheep here and the goats there. Believers here, unbelievers there. Elect here, non-elect there. Jesus divides. Obviously, when you receive salvation, you're at peace with God, and then you're at peace with other people.

But this division is so true because you can't just stay in the middle. You can't be neutral about Jesus. He says he's the way, the truth, the life. He's not a way, and that divides people. Who believes it, who doesn't?

And by the way, does not truth divide error from truth? Does it not mean that when you believe in Jesus and have loyalty to him as a Christian, and when I say allegiance and loyalty, that's in the sanctification category, to receive Jesus' saving faith, his knowledge, his sentient trust, and when you believe him and you're in the sanctification category, you submit, you surrender, you yield, you have allegiance to, you have loyalty to, you have love for.

I just don't want those put in the category of saving faith. Don't I have something to say here regarding that? What did that have to do with anything? How about a nice Hawaiian punch? I don't think so.

Nobody knows what a Hawaiian punch even is anymore. I was talking about this the other day. I grew up, we just didn't have a soda anytime we wanted a soda, or a seltzer, and then drink half of it, not drink the rest of it.

It was vacation, we got Shasta. It has to be Shasta. I don't think I ever just said, I want a Coke or something. I mean, we didn't get Dr. Pepper, we got Mr. Pibb. There wasn't really Sprite at the time, it was 7-Up, but we got the Shasta lemon-lime soda, or whatever it was.

Anyway, 7-Up the Un-Cola. Remember that guy? Anyway, I don't have any idea what I'm talking about. Allegiance. Oh, Jesus comes and he says, yes, of course he's the Prince of Peace, Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.

Of course, Zechariah says in Luke 1, he's going to guide our feet into the way of peace. Of course, Luke chapter 2, on earth, peace among those whom he's well pleased. Of course, Jesus says regularly, go in peace.

Romans 5, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, but until you get that peace, there's going to be this division. Even within households. Think about the cross, think about the two thieves, think about the division there.

One a believer eventually, one not. A division occurs when Jesus shows up. John 10, a division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. John 9, and there was a division among them. John 7, so a division occurred in the crowd because of him.

That's what happens. I've come to divide. How can that be true? Prince of Peace? But we understand what's going on. A division between believer, unbeliever, sheep, goats. Five members of one household will be divided.

Jesus does say in Matthew chapter 19, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms, for my sake, will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life.

We should not be surprised. We should not be shocked that when Jesus comes back, there's a division. And sometimes I've seen that even here in our own church, where there's a husband or a wife that's a believer, and then their spouse is an unbeliever.

Children believing, their parents unbelieving, etc., etc., etc. And there's a division. And of course back in the old days, or even now in Muslim countries and elsewhere, in Israel, if you are Jewish or you're a Muslim and you turn your back on that and believe on Jesus, there's more than just a split.

Jesus, I think, is using language here from Micah chapter 7. For son treats the father with contempt, and the daughter rises up against mother, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

But as for me, Micah 7, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Jesus says in Matthew 10, I came to set a man against his father and daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be members of his household.

That's right from Micah chapter 7. It's called the offense of the gospel. The Jews demand signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, any folly to Gentiles.

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and wisdom of people here about the claims of Christ, and you mean to tell me that I just believe on this Jew that got crucified, I'll have all my sins forgiven?

It just seems crazy. It seems ridiculous. It seems to be wrong, and so they reject. And here we have the world that's tolerant of everything, except it's not tolerant of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is coming back.

People are going to have to choose sides, believe in him or not. They had to do it at his first coming, they have to do it at his second coming. Well, there's more to be said, and when you say that, that means it's time for the show to end.

My name's Mike Ebendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. Don't forget, you can get the book King, Understanding Jesus as the King, Nothing to Do with Christian Nationalism, on amazon .com. You can follow me, NoCoRadio, on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram.

See you next time.