WWUTT 966 They Hate Him Who Sent Me?

The World Hates Christ and His Disciples

Jesus said to his disciples, as he says also to us, we will be persecuted for our faith. And it's not because the people hate them in particular, it's because ultimately they hate God when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of John,.

We're still in chapter 15. We got a few more verses to finish up here. I'm gonna start in verse 18 and read through to the end of the chapter. Jesus said to his disciples, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it has hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things, they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will bear witness about me.

And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. Last week as we were looking at John 15 verses 18 through about 20, we talked about how Jesus has chosen us out of the world.

And this is not just something he has said to his disciples, but every one of us who is a follower of Jesus, we are his disciples. And therefore he has chosen us from the world. He has set us apart that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In verse 19, he says, if you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. This is the same language that is used in the book of Exodus when God is talking to his people Israel as having been chosen out of all the other nations on earth, he chose a people for himself and rescued them from slavery, pulled them out of slavery that they would live in freedom and gave them a promised land.

And all of this has a certain spiritual motif to it that it is a type and a shadow of the people of God that he would call out from all over the world, all nation of men, there would be a people whom he would call out from the rest of the world, set them apart, growing them in holiness and righteousness.

And the promised land that he has for that people is the kingdom of God. And that is us now the church who are followers of Jesus Christ. We've been called out from the world to follow him. And the world is gonna hate us because we're strangers to them.

We don't join them in the same flood of debauchery and so they malign us. Peter, as I referenced that passage from 1 Peter 4. I didn't mention this verse though, or this section in 1 Peter 2. Peter says the following, starting in verse seven, the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. We who have been called out from the world into Christ Jesus, we are destined for an eternal kingdom and a place that God has prepared for us with him forever in glory.

Those who are not in Christ, they have a destiny also. God has destined them for something. They are destined to disobey the word, to stumble on the rock of Christ Jesus, not to stand firm upon it, but actually to be crushed by it, that they would be crushed by the cornerstone.

Jesus Christ is not a savior to them. He will actually be their judge. In Romans chapter nine, we are told that God desiring to show his wrath and make known his power has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. Once again, we have that motif of having been called out just as Israel was called out. So we who are not Jews have been called out from the world to be followers of Jesus.

We've been called out of slavery to sin and to death to live in the freedom of Christ. And so Peter continues even this same kind of language in first Peter chapter two, verse nine now, but you are a chosen race set apart from those who are destined to disobey the word.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, talking about how we are strangers in this world to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. So there are some who are gonna see that the works that we do are consistent with the message that we preach, that we've been called out from the world.

And so we don't behave like the rest of the world. We behave as kingdom people, according to the commands and statutes that have been given to us by our God and our hearts having been changed to desire to obey God and do what pleases him.

And the world will see that, that our actions are consistent with our message and that bears witness to the world of the Christ whom we proclaim. That we don't just say these things with our lips, but we live it out even with our lifestyle.

In John 15 verse 20, Jesus said, remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. That goes back to chapter 13. That was what he said to his disciples after he had washed their feet.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Verse 21, but all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Ultimately, what does this come down to? The hatred and the vitriol that is shown toward Christians and followers of Christ. Not just people who merely proclaim or say or admit that they're a Christian or a follower of Jesus, but they actually with their lifestyle demonstrate that they're followers of Jesus.

The pursuit of holiness and righteousness. When people hate that, they hate godliness. What does this ultimately come down to? They hate God. They will hate you and the godliness that you are pressing for, arguing for, living for.

They will hate this because they hate God. The rebellion that is in their heart is against the God, the creator of all. Which is why as I'm growing in sanctification and as I'm maturing, the anger that is cast toward me, I take less and less personal than I used to.

When I was much younger, it was definitely a lot more personal. And my feelings would be hurt, and I would even try to find vengeful ways of getting back at the person who made me feel bad. And that was all in my immaturity and still reacting according to my flesh, and not according to the spirit.

As I get older, and praise God, I have been maturing according to his word, I take those things less and less offensively. What does offend me indeed when a person does cast insult toward me because of the godliness that I'm pursuing, where I am vexed in my heart is the hatred that they have toward God.

And if I respond in anger, let it be a righteous anger in that way. I'm upset that a person would blaspheme the name of God, not that they would necessarily say anything personal about me. May it not be about me, but my concern would be for this other person that they would not flirt with danger in this way, that they would provoke God to judgment by continuing to blaspheme him, exalting their own glory, and insulting God.

I fear for their soul. I hope that they repent. But in the meantime, I know that I'm gonna be insulted for my faith, because the Bible says that I will be. I will be persecuted, ridiculed, simply for pursuing godliness.

Jesus says, John 15, 20, remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. Now, what does this have to do in the context in what we're talking about? It seems a little out of place.

Jesus is saying the world hates you because it hated me first. And then he kind of throws in there something that he said to his disciples earlier in chapter 13, a servant is not greater than his master.

Well, because the greatest persecution has been endured by Christ. We will not face a persecution as great as what he went through, or a level of insult like he went through, because he is the very son of God.

We are not the son of God. We're sons and daughters of God because we've been adopted into the family of God by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus is God. And the reason why the people hated Jesus is because they hated the father, and therefore they hate Christ.

And that condition in their heart became manifest in the fact that they put the son of God to death. This was because they hated God himself. The level of hatred that people have toward God is gonna be greater than the hatred that they have toward you specifically.

So understand that in the context of Jesus now saying to his disciples, a servant is not greater than his master. You are not going to go through anything greater than what Jesus endured. But instead, as the scriptures say over and over again, we actually share in the sufferings of Christ.

Second Corinthians 1 .5, as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort as well. And later on, a couple of verses later, Paul says that our hope for you is unshaken for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

So we share in suffering and we share in the comfort that has been given to us in Christ Jesus, which is the comfort of the knowledge of knowing that our sins have been forgiven and we have right standing with God.

What can man do to me? If God is for us, who can be against us? As Paul says in Romans 8, and there is nothing in creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In Philippians 3 .10, Paul had said, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

And Paul had encouraged Timothy, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Later on in 2 Timothy 2 .3, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

Peter has also said, as I've quoted from Peter several times we've been going through this section, 1 Peter 4 .13, rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings. I'd read this earlier where Peter is talking about not being surprised at the fiery trial that we go through, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

And this even comes back to something that Paul had said, that we share in Christ's sufferings, so we may also share in his comfort. So you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. A servant is not greater than his master.

What we are going through is what Christ has gone through. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. One of the things that I try to do as a pastor is I try to make my answers gospel filled, scripture filled.

So what it is that I'm saying is not the opinion of Gabe, but that it comes from scripture. I don't always do this perfectly, but it is certainly the discipline that as a pastor, I am trying to do. So the answer that I give to a person when they hate it, again, it's not toward me personally.

It's not because they hate something about me. It's because they are rebelling against the word of God. And so I want to give them that word because it's only by that word are we justified by faith in Christ and sanctified as we continue to grow in the knowledge of this and draw closer and closer to the Lord through the teaching of his word.

Jesus is gonna say, when we get to John 17, sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth as he is praying before the father. And so I want my answers to be scripture filled so that it will grow a person in sanctification.

But when a person hates the word that I say, it isn't mine. It is the word of God that they hate. If they kept my word, Jesus said, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me.

Again, this all comes back to the fact that people hate God and that's why they hate you. That's why they're gonna hate your godliness, your desire for holiness. And let it be the anger that they have towards you is because of that.

Not because you acted like a jerk, not because you were provoking someone else to respond to you in an angry way, but because you spoke the truth and you shared the gospel. And that's why it is that they are angry at you.

And hopefully the Lord will turn their hearts. They will become aware of the anger that they have toward a righteous person who has really done no wrong to them, has shown them no ill. In fact, love them enough to give them the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

And may that message turn their hearts and they repent of their sin and come to know the Lord Christ. We are never gonna win anyone to Christ by shouting at them and hurling insults at them. In fact, that's contrary to the command of God to speak with gentleness and respect and correcting opponents with gentleness.

If we speak in an ill manner toward other people and not respectfully, they will have cause to hate us simply because we're rude. But let that not be the reason why a person was so hard-hearted to the message of the gospel.

Let it be because everything was done that could possibly be done to give them the truth. And yet they continued to hate it and love their sin because ultimately the condition of their heart is hatred toward God.

Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh and Christ’s Sufficiency

In 2 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul had been burdened by the false teaching that had been introduced in the church in Corinth. And there were some men that had come into that church and had proclaimed themselves to be an even greater apostle, even greater apostles than the apostle Paul was.

So all through chapter 11, 2 Corinthians 11, Paul is talking about the persecutions and stuff like that that he's gone through for the sake of the gospel that these guys haven't gone through. He's appealing for the hearts of the Corinthians that they would not be led astray by these false apostles, but they would listen to the true word of Christ as given to his true apostles.

And Paul finds his heart vexed over the things that these apostles have said about him and the fact that they might even lead astray those whom Paul had labored so earnestly for that he suffered for to get the gospel to them.

So he prays unto the Lord with what he describes a thorn in his flesh, he prays unto God and asks that the tormentor would be taken from him. So this is 2 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse, let's see, seven, to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations that Paul had received from God.

A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. And again, this is in reference to those false apostles that he had just been talking about in chapter 11.

A lot of people debate about what this thorn in Paul's flesh was. It's pretty clear what it was when you're reading 2 Corinthians in context. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

But Jesus said to me, 2 Corinthians 12, nine, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Now hear what Paul's response is to that. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for when I am weak, then I am strong. We undergo and endure these things so that it would make us rely all the more on God who raises the dead, Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, Christ who will deliver us from death and give us entrance into the eternal kingdom of God purchased, our entrance purchased by his blood, his sacrifice on the cross for our sins so that we would not know the wrath of God because of our rebellion against him, but rather we know his love and his grace and his mercy by faith in his only son, Jesus Christ.

Let us not grow weary in doing good, but let us continue because in due season, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up as Paul talked about in Galatians chapter six. Let's conclude with prayer. Our heavenly father, I pray that the sufferings and the trials that we would go through would indeed produce in us a steadfastness, that we would rejoice in sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

For we know that whenever we're weak and we suffer in this way, that you become strong and we see your strength and that you are delivering us out of this. We're not gonna be part of this fallen world when it is judged, but we will be in your eternal kingdom forever sitting with you on your throne because this is what you have promised to those who follow your son, Jesus Christ.

Teach us ways that we can live for Christ even as we go throughout our day. And let us not be ashamed of the message of the gospel that has been given to us, but we have an opportunity to give it to somebody else, that they may know their sin and that there is a savior who saves them from their sin.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

This has been, When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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