diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
index 0a7f9d26..4318cd52 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/main/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplate.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import org.springframework.kafka.support.SendResult;
 import org.springframework.kafka.support.converter.MessageConverter;
 import org.springframework.kafka.support.converter.MessagingMessageConverter;
 import org.springframework.messaging.Message;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
 import org.springframework.util.concurrent.SettableListenableFuture;
 
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.concurrent.SettableListenableFuture;
  *
  * @author Marius Bogoevici
  * @author Gary Russell
+ * @author Igor Stepanov
  */
 public class KafkaTemplate<K, V> implements KafkaOperations<K, V> {
 
@@ -50,9 +52,10 @@ public class KafkaTemplate<K, V> implements KafkaOperations<K, V> {
 
 	private final ProducerFactory<K, V> producerFactory;
 
+	private final boolean autoFlush;
+
 	private MessageConverter messageConverter = new MessagingMessageConverter();
 
-private final boolean autoFlush;
 	private volatile Producer<K, V> producer;
 
 	private volatile String defaultTopic;
@@ -172,6 +175,7 @@ private final boolean autoFlush;
 
 	@Override
 	public void flush() {
+		Assert.state(this.producer != null, "'producer' must not be null for flushing.");
 		this.producer.flush();
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplateTests.java b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplateTests.java
index 074966fe..760c13cf 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplateTests.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/org/springframework/kafka/core/KafkaTemplateTests.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package org.springframework.kafka.core;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.fail;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.springframework.kafka.test.assertj.KafkaConditions.key;
 import static org.springframework.kafka.test.assertj.KafkaConditions.partition;
 import static org.springframework.kafka.test.assertj.KafkaConditions.value;
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.concurrent.ListenableFutureCallback;
 /**
  * @author Gary Russell
  * @author Artem Bilan
- *
+ * @author Igor Stepanov
  */
 public class KafkaTemplateTests {
 
@@ -195,4 +197,18 @@ public class KafkaTemplateTests {
 		pf.createProducer().close();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings({"rawtypes", "unchecked"})
+	public void flushWithoutSend() throws Exception {
+		KafkaTemplate template = new KafkaTemplate(mock(ProducerFactory.class));
+		try {
+			template.flush();
+			fail("IllegalStateException expected");
+		}
+		catch (Exception e) {
+			assertThat(e).isInstanceOf(IllegalStateException.class);
+			assertThat(e.getMessage()).isEqualTo("'producer' must not be null for flushing.");
+		}
+	}
+
 }