Luke 12:49–56
“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
The modern church, who likes to paint Christ as a tolerant wet sock never speak of this verse. There are those in the modern church who have decided to completely ignore the bits of the Bible that do not align with their lies about the Lord of Hosts, in order to push their own agenda of leading their congregations down the garden path, or the highway to hell. Woe to these pastors and ministers! “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Consequently, this also is another one of the verses that the cowards in the modern church ignore. O pitiful fools leading your flocks astray, can you not see into what depths of depravity you are sinking? “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” And “For those who guide this people mislead them, and those they mislead are swallowed up.”
If the holiness of the Lord is ignored, then His commands also will be ignored, and who can be saved who lives in unrepentant sin? No one! For through our actions do we demonstrate our faith in the Lord, “If you love me, you will obey my commands.” Of course, we are not saved through our good works, if that were true, then the cross of Christ would be nullified, which is almost blasphemous to say. No, we demonstrate our love for the Lord through our good works, which should be a naturally occurring outcome of faith in the Lord. I have strayed a bit from the text, let me return.
To the forces of this world, the Lord did not come peaceably. He brought His holiness, the greatest weapon ever unleashed upon the realm of evil. The old Israelite way was passively against evil, but through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, that way was flipped. Christ brought a sword, to crush asunder the forces of evil, and He has given to us this weapon as well; the Sword of the Spirit. With it, we can find and execute any and all devils that tempt us, for they cannot stand before the power of the Lord. As darkness must flee before the light, so evil must flee before the awesome power of our God. Gird up your armor, dear Christian, and stand in readiness for the day of battle. Weakness will not do, wishy washiness is of the devil, and hemming and hawing on the subject of evil will lead to the pit. We must be violently against the very idea of any and all sin, purity and righteousness before the Lord is a must, for that is the way commanded of us by Christ Himself.
There is no greater way to live than the way of holiness, but the devil will try to cause us to fall even in our righteousness. Pride is a dangerous sin, perhaps the most dangerous, for we can become holy in the Lord, or at least more righteous than we were before, and Satan uses this opening to sneak a little pride in. He whispers in our ear that we are more holy than they guy over there, look at how good we’re doing in the Lord. Eliminate this thought as soon as it reaches your mind! For “There is none who does good, not even one.” And “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” There is no scale of how far we have fallen short, for we all have fallen short. And to fall short even by the tiniest fraction of an inch is to miss the glory of the Lord completely and fall into abject sin. We all are broken, sinful creatures, doing nothing through our own devices but wickedness. As fallen humans, we cannot, apart from the Lord Almighty, do any good. Even then, our good is limited by our sinful natures.
We must completely eliminate our entire sinful nature, and have nothing more to do with it. Do you see a sin that you commit, beloved? Destroy it, for through the power of the Lord we can overcome every wickedness that may reside within our hearts. Not through our strength, for our strength leads only to wickedness, but through the right arm of the Lord can we overcome the devil and our sinful flesh to live in righteousness before Him. There can be no in between, there is no grey area with sin and holiness, everything is either one or the other. Be careful, “be on your guard,” for you never know when the devil will sneak a little temptation into your mind. Shut the door of the fortress of your heart, “the Lord is my refuge,” and do not allow the devil to peek in. When he comes knocking at your door, peddling his evil deeds, do not answer the summons, rather, send the Lord, and He will cast the prince of this world out from your presence. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Rely upon the Lord, do not fall to the left or to the right, and He will preserve you. We have this promise from Him, and we know that He can never break a covenant. Therefore, live in holiness, beloved, do not bother with the evil things of this world, for they only lead to destruction. No, praise the Lord in all that you do, whether that be work or play, praise His Holy Name!
