Without Excuse

Good morning everybody. It's a pleasure to be back with you. It's been a bit too long. I can't remember exactly how long it's been, but it was at least a year, I think. And it's good to be back with you and see you all.

I bring greetings from our church in Stockton, Bethany Baptist Church, and we pray for you all regularly and pray for the Lord to prosper the work of the gospel here in your area. And so, it's a pleasure to be able to bring the Word of God to you.

John 15 and the Theme of Having No Excuse

I invite you to turn with me to the gospel of John chapter 15 this morning. John chapter 15, and we will focus on verses 22 through 25. John chapter 15, let's read verses 22 through 25. Let us listen intently to the Word of God.

Do you stand for the reading? Let's stand for the reading of God's Word. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father also.

If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. But this happened that the Word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, they hated me without a cause.

Amen. You may be seated and let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we just sung, we now pray. Would you send your Holy Spirit? May He descend upon your people and illuminate our hearts and our minds to see the glories of your Word.

Father, we confess all of our best efforts are done in vain if not blessed by the ministry of your Holy Spirit. He is that river of life. He is the one that gives life where there is death. He is the one who gives light where there is darkness, life, and all things to us.

And so, Father, we pray, bless this time in your Word. We pray that you would keep our enemy far from us, that our minds would not be turned away to vain things, distracted with the things of the world, but that, Father, we would feast on the manna from Heaven, your Word that you have given us.

Lord, we pray, may every soul in this room be stirred to seriously and savingly consider your Word. That every heart would close with Jesus Christ. That none would go away hardened. That none would go away indifferent.

But that they would see the light of Christ. And while they have the light, that they would believe in the light. Father, bless us, we pray. We ask for your help in this hour. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Greater Light Means Greater Responsibility

What's the difference between a 2-year-old who steals something and a 10-year-old who steals something? Why do we, when a 2-year-old steals something that's not theirs, why do we patiently instruct them saying, no, we don't take other people's things.

But when it comes to the 10-year-old who we've told 200 times, you cannot take other people's things, we say to them, what were you thinking? You should have known better. You know not to do this. The reason we treat those two differently is because the more light we have, the more instruction we have, the less excuse we have for disobedience.

In other words, our obligation to do what is right increases as we are more and more instructed in what is right. And at some point, ignorance can no longer be claimed as an excuse. The 10-year-old can't say, well, I just didn't know Dad's rules or Mom's rules.

Well, God operates on this same principle with us. To whom He gives little, He expects little. But to whom He gives much, He expects much. And here, chapter 15 of John, this is in the middle of the upper room discourse, our Lord is giving His parting words to the 11 disciples.

He now applies this principle to the world that has hated Him and that will hate them. So let's consider, first of all, in terms of outline, I want to consider the exposition of the text. And then secondly, we will move into doctrine drawn out from the text.

And then thirdly, application, how we should respond, how we should live. So those are the three main movements in which we will move in considering the text. So if you have your Bibles, I encourage you to have them open, especially for the exposition so that you can see the text yourself.

Our Lord says to them, to the disciples, if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Now, He's speaking comparatively here. He's not saying if He had not come to the Jewish people that they would have continued in sinless perfection, as though the first time sin entered the world was when Jesus Christ came into the world.

He's saying, if He had not come to them, they would comparatively have no sin compared to the level of sin they now have because He has come to them. Their guilt has increased because the Lord of glory has come.

Notice His words. Why has it increased? Because He has come and spoken to them. The Lord Himself spoke to them. God before this point had given light to men before Christ. Light that was sufficient to guide men into the truth, to convince them.

But when Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, it was like the sun burst into a candle-lit room. He revealed God like no one else had. The Son of God came shining with the divine light. Hebrews 1 .3 He is the radiance of the Father's glory.

And notice He draws attention specifically to His words. That would include His preaching, His teaching, His instruction, His insight. And the Jews themselves knew this. From their own lips, they have said things like in Matthew 7 .9 He teaches as one who has authority and not as our own scribes.

Or again, from their own lips in John 7 .46 No one ever spoke like this man. Or Luke 4 .22 And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth. Beloved, there never was and never has been preaching like the preaching of the Son of God.

And the Jews, as a people, they're a testimony against themselves. They themselves said so. And they probably regret giving such high praise. Because their own words now makes their present sin and unbelief all the more inexcusable.

But that's not all He cites. Notice He also cites His own works. Look at verse 24.

He says,.

If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. So a very similar line of thought, but now with His works, His miracles.

Healing the blind. Healing the lame. Feeding 5 ,000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Making the winds and the sea obey Him. These were all the hand of God. Nicodemus earlier in the Gospel of John in chapter 3 said to Him,.

We know that no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him. Notice the phrase here, works which no one else did. This aggravates their guilt all the more. This people, the Jewish people, they believed other prophets who did far less than the Lord.

Now, it's true, their forefathers before them killed them as well, but eventually they came to understand and believe in them as prophets. But now the Lord has come, and in Jesus Christ, divine power and majesty in terms of miracles has apexed.

And they, most blessed of all generations, saw it with their own eyes. They marveled at it. They experienced three years of divine kindness from the hand of God. And you can imagine the stories that would have buzzed around Israel.

Did you hear Simon Peter's mother-in-law? Deadly fever and she was healed in a moment. Did you hear the ruler of the synagogue's 12-year-old daughter died and he brought her back to life with a mere word?

It didn't matter. The Lord, whether it was poor fishermen or wealthy synagogue leaders, the Lord showed kindness to all and they all saw it and they all should have believed Him for it. Matthew Henry said, they might have had some reason to say that His Word was not to be credited if it was not otherwise confirmed, but He produced satisfactory proofs of His divine mission works which no other man did.

But they didn't believe Him. Instead, they hated Him. Verse 22, but now they have no excuse for their sin. And verse 24, but now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. Now, we need to understand what's being said here.

The Greek word here is a bit stronger than just our English word for excuse. It means they have no pretext. They no longer have a plausible justification for why they might remain unbelieving. Because they have seen, because they have heard, they cannot claim ignorance.

Matthew Henry said they have no cloak for their sin. There is only one reason that can truly and legitimately be given for why they have rejected Him. Verse 24, they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

Verse 23, whoever hates me hates my Father also. Hatred is the reason. Pause and think about that, Christian.

Why hatred?

What is there to hate? We sing a hymn. I don't know if you guys sing it. It's not in the Trinity Hymnal. My song is love unknown. You know that hymn? One of the lines says, Why, what hath my Lord done?

What makes this rage and spite? He made the lame to run. He gave the blind their sight. And in another stanza, it says sometimes they strew His way and His sweet praises sing, resounding all the day hosannas to their King.

Then crucify is all their breath, and for His death they thirst and cry. Christian, this is something that we can become used to in a way that we shouldn't let it become common to us. It should stagger us.

Sinners hate God. We hated God before He came by His Spirit and awakened our hearts to see His goodness and His beauty. We hated the Lord of glory. Sinners hate God for no logical reason. No just cause.

By nature, our hearts spew hatred towards God like the rebellious son towards his father, even though his father raised him, took care of him all of his life, fed him, shepherded him, loved him, and the rebellious son turns around and says, but I hate my dad.

I hate what he is. So too, we say to God, we don't want your bonds. We want to throw off your bonds and we want to serve sin. We hate God. We mock God. We make fun of God. We even desire to kill God. They had all the reason in the world to love Him, and instead they murdered the Lord of glory without a cause.

Verse 25,. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. Most likely a reference to Psalm 69, verse 4. More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause.

Mighty are those who would destroy me being my enemies wrongfully. David of old was a type, a picture, that now comes to fulfillment in his greater Son, Jesus Christ. David was hated without a cause in a sense, but now God's own Son, the sinless One, God in the flesh, the perfect Savior, is hated without a cause such that He is driven by malice and hatred to the cross.

However, as they hated Him without a cause, He loved sinners without a cause. He was not driven to the cross against His will. Rather, like Isaiah says in his prophecy, as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

He could have opened His mouth. He could have defended Himself. He could have called on legions of angels to deliver Him. And yet, like a sheep before its shearers is silent, He opens not His mouth to go willingly to death.

Why?

Love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be. He endured hatred so that He could love us with the greatest love anyone has ever showed us. Giving His own life a ransom in our stead for our sin.

Bearing in His own body and soul the wrath of God that was owed to us for our transgressions, and He drained it. And He rose again so that everyone who trusts in Him will receive His righteousness and their sins are given to Him.

And my friend, if you're here and you're an unbeliever, I'll say more to you later on, but I want to say to you now, still right now this very moment in Heaven where Christ the Lord has ascended, those same arms of willing mercy are open to you.

He calls you through the ministers of the Gospel on earth through His Word to come to Him. To cease hating God without a cause. To humble yourself and to turn from sin and to come humbly with empty hands to receive the glories of His grace through His cross and resurrection.

And so trust Him. Do not resist Him any longer. Let's turn now to our doctrine. That's something of the exposition of the text, understanding what it is that God is communicating to us. Now, I want to draw out further some doctrinal instruction from this section here.

And what I want to do is I'm going to keep it simple. I want to open up one main theme, and it's this idea of revelation and culpability. God gives us instruction and our culpability for that. And I'm going to give it to you with four subpoints so you should be able to follow fairly clearly.

But this idea of revelation and our culpability. Subpoint number one, I want to start by saying this. God is not unjust. God does not hold sinners culpable for things that we had no knowledge of. Rather, God justly holds us accountable according to the amount and the clarity of the revelation that He has given to us.

So, kids, I want to speak to you guys. You can follow this. This is for adults too, but kids, I want to give this to you in categories that you can actually draw from the sermon and understand and benefit, okay?

If mom and dad... This is basically a similar analogy to what I opened up with. If mom and dad have never ever told you do not jump on the couch, and you had no way of knowing that that was a household rule, and you go and jump on the couch, does mom or dad come to you and say, you should have known better?

We've told you that before. No, they're lenient with you, right? They understand you are not informed. And so they instruct you. But, kids, if they've told you 258 times do not jump on the couch, and you go and you jump on the couch, what are mom and dad going to do?

They're a bit more firm with you, aren't they?

Why?

Because you're culpable. Meaning you have more fault because you were given more teaching, more instruction, more light. That's the principle Jesus is opening up here. Only here it doesn't just have to do with children and how they relate to their parents' rules.

It has to do with every single person and how they relate to their Creator. We are all accountable to God for what God has made known to us about Himself. And that's why Jesus says, if He had never come to them, they would comparatively have had no guilt compared to the amount of sin they now are guilty for because He came and drew near to them.

But now they are without excuse. That's the first thing. God is not unjust. Second sub-point. There are differing ways and differing degrees in which God reveals Himself to us. One way He reveals Himself to us, and not only us, to every single person everywhere in the world, is through the world He has made.

Turn with me to Romans 1. Romans 1. We call this in theology general revelation. I'm sure you're probably familiar with that. Your pastor has taught on that. We call it general revelation, one, because it is given to all mankind generally, not just to some, but also because it's more generic in the things that it reveals about God.

And we see Paul opens that up in Romans 1. I just want to read and comment briefly through a small section here. Beginning in verse 18. Paul says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

So follow closely what Paul is saying. He says, one, God is angry. He says He is angry with unrighteousness because men suppress the truth.

What truth?

How do we know it? You can't suppress truth that you don't know. He goes on to explain. Verse 19. For what can be known about God is plain to them. Notice, not fuzzy to them. Plain to them. Because God has shown it to them.

Now kids, how has God shown us something of Himself? Is Paul talking about here how we all have the privilege of opening our Bibles and reading about God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit? Is that what Paul is talking about here?

Not in this section. Notice, he says, verse 20, His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so that they are without excuse.

Every single person in this world, whether they will admit it or not, has been clearly shown by God and they themselves have clearly perceived at least three things. One, that God is. Two, they have seen and known something of God's attributes, such as His power and His eternity.

And three, they have been shown that we owe God worship and thankful obedience. Verse 21, although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but became futile in their thinking.

Christian, you don't need a Bible to know about God. Vermigli, an old theologian, said God continually holds up the book of creation before our eyes. You, every single one of us, you look at the world around us and you know, I did not make this.

I did not make myself. And you know that it's a preposterous idea that something came from nothing without a previous uncaused cause. But sinners, because they hate God and they have a bias against God, they will believe literally anything, no matter how illogical, simply so that they can avoid acknowledging the God who is.

That's the second sub-point. Differing ways in which God reveals Himself. And the first one is general revelation. But there's a second kind of revelation. This is the third sub-point. What we call special revelation.

Special revelation. This is what Jesus is describing in our text. God's presence, God's Word, God's miracles, go far beyond revealing who God is and what He has done, and go far more specific than anything in nature ever will.

And not everyone is privileged with special revelation. The Gentiles at this point in history, when our Lord was on earth, the Gentiles by and large walked in utter darkness. God did not send them prophets with saving Scripture, saving prophets.

He didn't send Christ to the Gentiles first. They were Ephesians to strangers and aliens. To the covenants of promise in the commonwealth of Israel. John 4, salvation is from the Jews. It is only through special revelation that God's promise of free grace through the Gospel, through Jesus Christ, comes.

Christ crucified for sinners, risen for their justification, ascended to the right hand of God, reigning in glory, returning again to judge the living and the dead. You will not know about that no matter how long you study the sun or the moon or the human eyeball or anything like that.

It comes only through the Word and the works of God. And so kids, again, you know what that means? That means that the book that you might be holding in your hands right now, God's Word is a privilege.

A privilege that not everyone has. You've been graced with knowledge and light that not everyone today has. They're our nations. We pray every week in our church prayer meeting for an unreached people group that has no knowledge of the Scriptures or of Jesus Christ.

They are still serving idols. They're still dead in trespasses and sins. They've never heard the saving Gospel. They've never heard of God's Son and what He's done for sinners. But you, kids especially, you have been given this pearl, this treasure, and therefore, let me ask you, this is for everyone, given what God has given you, do you think He expects more of you.

Or less of you?

You can answer that. More, right? To whom He gives little, He expects little. To whom He gives much, much will be required. Kids, you have the blessing of not only being raised in a church, but you're raised in a good church that sticks to the Scriptures and loves the Word of God.

Parents who catechize you. Matthew Henry said, the clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ are, the greater is our sin if we do not love Him and believe in Him. That brings us to the fourth sub-point.

And then we'll turn our attention to application. Fourth sub-point. Greater judgment will be received by those who had greater light and rejected it.

Okay?

I know I've already stated that,.

Implied that,.

But I want you to see it.

Not only from this text, but from several other texts. Turn to Luke 12 .47. Luke 12 .47. Jesus here is giving a parable about how His servants must make ready for His return. They don't know when their Master will return, but they must make ready and prepare for Him.

And He says this in Luke 12 .47 and 48.

He says,.

That servant who knew his Master's will, but did not get ready or act according to His will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.

Everyone to whom much was given of Him, much will be required. And from Him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. One more text. Turn to Matthew 11. Matthew 11 .20. Then He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done because they did not repent.

Verse 21. Woe to you, Cherazim! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

So, this is for everyone. Special revelation is a double-edged sword. It's a privilege apart from which we can't be saved. And therefore, we should want it with all of our hearts. Lord, give me light.

Give me the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Lord, thank You for Your Word. Do not take Your Word from us. We should hunger and thirst for the blessing of special revelation. But the other edge is that if God grants it to us, blesses us with it, pours out the rain of those blessings upon us, and we then turn around and spurn it, our judgment will be greater than if we never had it in the first place.

Romans 2 .12. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Let's turn to our application. How rubber meets the road, boots on the ground, how should I now change my life?

How should I now change the path, the way that I'm going to be more in line with this text? I have one overarching point that I want all of us to genuinely, with Judgment Day honesty, ponder before the Lord.

We need to all heed our Lord's words that He spoke in John 12 .36. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may be sons of light. Or Hebrews 4 .1 -2. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

For indeed, the Gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them.

Why?

Not being mixed with faith. Children, old person, everyone in between, believe in the light while you have the light. I want to speak to four groups of people. Kids, I want to address you one more time.

And I want to plead with you.

Young ones, teenagers, are you mixing what you hear of the Word of God with faith? Or is the Word of God just another book to you? Is it just stories? Is Bible time just something that I have to do this because mom and dad make me do this?

Or can you say with genuineness, with judgment day honesty, no, the Word of God, not only is it alive, but God has made me alive to it. And it feeds my soul and I hunger and thirst after righteousness.

And I want to know God better and I want to fear God and I want to serve God and I pray for grace that all my days I would be a Christian who brings glory to the Lord. Children, seek the Lord Jesus Christ while He may be found by you.

He is among you. Christ draws nearer to children of Christian parents probably more nearly than He draws to any other class of people. He's in your house. He's in your mom and your dad. He's in your prayer times, your Bible times, your meal times, your church times, your fellowship times.

He's all around you in other people, but young people, I want to ask you and plead with you, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Not just the Savior who I know He saved sinners, but can you say, I know He has died for me to save my soul.

My sins were put upon that cross. Kids, do you remember the pig farmers that sent Jesus away after He drowned their herd of pigs in the sea? And you remember, because they loved their stuff more than God, when they saw what happened to their pigs, they begged Him, it says, to depart their region.

Go away from us. We love this world more than whatever you have to offer. Children, don't be like those pig farmers. Be like Mary. Mary who always loved to host the Lord in her home. And you remember how she broke that flask and poured that whole flask of expensive oil upon the Lord.

She gave her all for the Lord because she knew He is more valuable than life. Kids, give and trust your heart, your soul, everything, your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our only comfort in life and death is that we belong to our faithful Savior.

I trust many of you have done that. By the grace of God and the Spirit's work in your heart, you genuinely know and love the Lord. But I also know it's very likely that there are probably some of you who your mom and dad have had to talk to you, hopefully lovingly but seriously, and said to you, son or daughter, we're worried about the trajectory of your life.

We're worried about where your heart's at. It doesn't seem you're going the way of the Lord. If that's you, if you're a young one and you know that's me, my heart, it wants what it wants and I can't change what it wants.

I want to plead with you, bring your heart to Jesus Christ. If your heart is not where it should be, and you know my heart is cold towards the things of God, it's disinterested towards the things of God, then take that cold, disinterested heart to the Lord and pray and ask Him, Lord, I cannot change this and I cannot give myself a new one, but You can, and would You do that?

And if nothing happens immediately, don't give up. Keep seeking the Lord. Wrestle with the Lord like Jacob wrestled with the Lord. And say, I will not let you go until you bless me, until my heart is awakened, until I see the glories that others see.

Children, close with Jesus Christ. Seek Christ while you're young, while He may be found. That brings me to the second group of people. I want to speak to Christians of all ages. All ages. No specificity here.

I don't want you to walk away from this sermon thinking that's a sermon for the unbeliever, that they really need to be saved, otherwise all the light that they've been given is going to stand up against them at judgment day.

And that's all that sermon was. This text, this sermon, also has a very Christian application. Namely, this same principle applies to you and me with regards to how we respond to God's Word in the Christian life.

And how we give ourselves by faith or don't give ourselves to heeding and obeying God's Word.

So, if you're a Christian,.

Saved by the grace of God, you're going to heaven not because of your own merits, but because of Christ's merits for you, you will still, though, be held accountable and rewarded based on how you mixed the Word of God with faith in your pursuit of your own holiness and bringing glory to God in this life.

So, for instance, a text of Hebrews 6 .1.

He says, therefore,.

Leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection or maturity. Or another text that comes to mind.

James.

James says that it is possible, and I think we all know this all too well, it is possible for a Christian to be a hearer of the Word, but not a what? Doer. Right? So, Christian, I want to ask you, how is your life of obedience matching up with your doctrine?

How does your growth in love, patience, kindness, how you respond to your spouse, how you respond to your children, how does your growth in those types of things compare or relate to your growing knowledge of the finer points of Reformed theology?

Don't get me wrong, I love theology. Theology is vital, and I love Reformed theology. But theology by itself with no obedience is not a good thing. It's actually light that we will give an account for that we failed to put into practice.

Is your obedience to Scripture steadily rising as your knowledge of Christ's Word is steadily increasing? Or, if we could see into heaven right now, is the Lord seated in glory constantly looking down on your life and saying, you know better.

You have so much knowledge in your head. You know so much better than to act like that. Is He saying, if you didn't know, you would have no sin,.

But you know better,.

And so now you have no excuse. Christian, we want to, as sons of the Most High God, we want to please the Master who bought us. We want to tremble at His Word. Every word. Every portion. Every command.

Every threatening. And as we read, we want to pray, Lord, now I know. Now You've instructed me. Now Lord, I pray, would You by Your Holy Spirit bring my obedience into line with this sacred truth? Third group of people.

Teachers of the Word. So this would be myself, Pastor Conley. I'm not sure if there's other of you men who teach in various capacities, but perhaps there are, and perhaps there are some who aspire someday.

Even there are applications here to parents and your teaching of your children. James, again, says that teachers will undergo a stricter judgment. And I don't just think that that means if you're a teacher of the Word, God is going to judge you on the content of your teaching.

I think that's true. We want to be accurate in our teaching. I think it also means teachers will be judged more strictly on how their lives lined up with what they taught.

You think about it.

You're the one, most of you. You sit in a pew. You listen to sermons. You're going to give an account if you fall asleep. That's not a good thing. And yeah, you're going to have to give an account for that.

But me, Conley, others, we don't just listen to sermons. We put them together. We fashioned them. We thought through them. We studied out the Word of God. And then, would a teacher of the Word of God just like James says, be like the man who looks in the mirror and then turns around and immediately forgets what he looks like?

Would we teach others.

And then just go away.

And totally forget anything we said? Romans 2 .21 You who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

A few weeks ago,.

When I preached this sermon at my church, providentially that week, I had a pastor of a different church. He's preaching through the Gospel of Mark,.

And he asked me,.

Because I had preached through Mark in the past, he asked about a certain section. He said, how did you take this text? How did you approach or interpret this text? And honestly, my response was, I don't remember what I said about that text.

But you can read my manuscript. And I had to read my manuscript to remember what I said. And it dawned on me in light of this text, okay, it's a fact, unfortunately. Mark was like six or seven years ago.