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Please take your Bible once more and turn with me to the Gospel of John, Chapter 15. The Gospel of John, Chapter 15. Once again, before we look briefly at the Word of God, let us ask Him to bless our time together.
Gracious Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We ask that You would once again help us to set aside those things that would distract us and help us to concentrate upon Your truth. May we hear Your Word and understand.
We pray in Christ's name. John, Chapter 15, beginning at verse 18. John, Chapter 15, beginning at verse 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because they do not know the one who sent me.
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have 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 not have sin, but now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well.
But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. Amen. Disciples' relationship to the world. Now, these words had their immediate and first fulfillment in the apostles themselves.
But as with so much of this tremendous Gospel of John, what was immediately fulfilled in the disciples' experience continues to be fulfilled in the experience of those who have believed on the name of Christ through their words.
And that is, there has been this application that has been true generation after generation after generation. The Christian church does not desire to be hated by the world in the sense that we enjoy this.
There have been times, if we look back at the history of those who call themselves Christians, when there has been an unhealthy desire to create an unnatural animosity between the Christian and the world.
Similar to someone who stands at a bus stop and waits for the bus to pass by and then leaps out and gets hit and then claims to be persecuted or brings a lawsuit or something. There was even times during persecution in the early church where there were people who would literally seek martyrdom.
And that was not in accordance with what the Lord Himself had taught the disciples. They were to flee. They were to maintain life, if at all possible. But there is a natural enmity that exists between those who have bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and those who continue in their rebellion against Him.
How else could it be? There is a fundamental conflict that exists between those who see the Lordship of Christ, recognize God's sovereign power, His right to rule over His creation, and who yield in subjection to that.
Those who remain in rebellion, those who continue the fight, an unwinnable fight, but it's a fight nonetheless, those who continue in that fight and cannot help but see those who have surrendered as some type of a traitor, a turncoat.
I think as we understand this, we understand a little bit more about the reaction of the unregenerate man when they see Christians doing what Christians want to do, what they naturally should do when we understand the Word of God and when we seek, for example, to live in such a way as to glorify God, not just on Sunday or Wednesday night, but when it really troubles them, when we demonstrate that we desire in all of life and in all of our decisions, even those decisions that touch upon them, to have as our utmost priority the pleasing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, someone who's doing that, first of all, is a reminder. The Scriptures tell us that the natural man, he knows God exists, and yet he's holding down that knowledge. He's suppressing that knowledge.
And when they see us and they see that we have stopped the suppression, that's sort of like prying up the fingers. And they don't like that. That bothers them. It brings conviction. And so when husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, and that man knows that that's not what he's doing, it brings conviction.
When wives honor their husbands and other women who are in rejection of God's will, they're not doing that, it brings conviction to their life. When we don't love the things of the world that are willing to do with less so that others might have more, those who are in love with the things of the world, that brings conviction.
And I truly believe that the profanation of marriage that we have seen only a matter of hours ago in the state of New York, and you and I both know that apart from a mighty work of God in the hearts and minds of people in this land, will someday be forced upon everyone, and not in the distant future.
I truly believe that that movement that seeks to promote homosexuality and to force people not just simply to tolerate it, but to consider it to be virtuous and good, what is at the heart of that? What is at the heart of that is people who are constantly having to try to quiet that voice of conscience, and it just enrages them when they see others who speak what their conscience is saying, and they're trying to drown it out, and their anger motivates them to live for the promotion of this lifestyle, to give everything for the promotion of ungodliness.
There is a natural conflict that exists. Lord Jesus put it very clearly, if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. It hated me before it hated you. When we experience the animosity of those who either are completely ignorant of the Christian faith, or know of the claims of the Christian faith and openly reject them, which is normally the experience that we have in Western culture.
It's not like the Bible's unknown. There are many quote-unquote former Christians in our land today. Causes you to redefine the term Christian a little more biblically, but there are many people like that.
Whether they know what the demands are or do not, those individuals are showing not neutrality toward God and his message, but hatred. And see, this immediately places us in conflict with the world today.
This is not a politically correct statement on Jesus' part. The world would have us to not use this term hatred. Now, they in fact will go so far as to try to identify the Christian message as hate speech.
There is a twisting of even the meaning of words that finds its origin in the rebellion of the creature against his Creator. But Jesus does not use weak terms. He uses strong words. If the world hates you, know.
Know that it has hated me before it hated you. How had the world hated Jesus? Well, interestingly enough, much of the hatred of the world had been expressed by religious people, by religious hypocrisy.
But you see, any act of unbelief is an act of hatred toward the Creator. There is no moral neutrality and this is the great myth and lie of our day. Oh, people don't hate Jesus. They love Jesus. Well, which one?
I was listening to a man just this week and he's an atheist. He rejects the existence of God, but there's this desire in the heart of so many people in the West to say, well, at least something nice about Jesus.
So he's like, well, you know, I could accept the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount. I don't know about you. It wasn't all that long ago that Pastor Fry preached the Sermon on the Mount and whenever I hear anybody say that, I immediately conclude that they probably haven't read the Sermon on the Mount.
They've probably only read just a few words of it and they might know something about the Beatitudes or something like that, but they don't really know what the Sermon on the Mount says. But see, they'll accept a watered down Jesus.
They want to sound so open-minded, but the reality is, if you presented to them the real Jesus, the Jesus of Scripture, the Jesus who brings His claims to bear upon their lives, no, there's not going to be any acceptance of Him.
This stuff about repentance, this stuff about taking up one's cross and denying oneself, no, no, no, that's not for me. There's no neutrality about one who claims to be the way, the truth, and the life.
You see, if all Jesus had said was, I am a way, a truth, and a way to life, then you could be neutral about that. You could go, well, maybe so, but I think there's another way over here, another way over there.
But when Jesus says, I am the way, and there is no other way, I am the truth, there is no truth, I am the life, anything outside of me is death, that's absolute. And therefore, you either accept what He said, or you reject what He said, but no one is in a position of neutrality.
No one is saying, oh, well, you know, I don't hate God's truth. Yes, in fact, you do. And the person that is hardest to deal with is a person who does not realize their true state. The world hates you.
No, it has hated me before it hated you. You see, if you were of the world, Christian, the world would love it. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you.
Once again, this fits so consistently with all of God's truth. There is a radical distinction being assumed by the Lord Jesus between His followers, His disciples, and the world. That radical distinction's gonna come right out of the Lord's mouth in just a matter of two chapters.
In John 17, in His high priestly prayer, I do not pray for the world, I pray for those you've given me out of the world. There is a radical distinction that is drawn, but it's so clear that this radical distinction is based upon the sovereign choice of the Creator Himself.
I chose you out of the world. And because of this, the world hates you. Now, I don't think that it's because of this in the sense that, oh, well, you have such great privileges, and you have eternal life, and the world hates you because of that.
I don't think the world even understands most of that. But you see, when God chooses someone out of the world, He separates them from the world. He takes them away from the world. He gives them a new heart, and that new heart has new priorities.
We're not focused upon the things that those around us are focused upon. At least, we're not supposed to be. We find joy in things the world cannot understand. We don't find joy in the things the world thinks it finds joy in.
There is such a distinction. There is such a difference that the world hates what it does not understand. The world hates what has been removed from its sovereignty. It would be okay. There would be a harmony.
In fact, you could even be a religious person in this world. As long as that religiosity does not bring you into fundamental conflict with the dogmas, the beliefs, the commandments of the world, thou shalt love thyself first.
Thou shalt love the things of the world. Thou shalt be consumed with the things of the world. Thou shalt always keep up with the Joneses. We could probably come up with 30 commands easily that the world would have for us, which we break, or should break, and openly break, naturally break, every single day.
Thou shalt speak like the world. Thou shalt have a filthy mouth like the world. Thou shalt think and daydream as the world. No. If we were of the world, the world would love its own, but we've been changed.
We're not of the world. And why was that? Well, because we just freely of our own good heart chose to leave the world. I chose you out of the world because of this. The world hates you. Jesus reminds them of the word that he had preached to them.
A slave is not greater than his master. Who is our master? Our master is the Lord Christ. Therefore, if they persecuted him, they will also persecute you. This is a fundamental concept that is lost in the hearts and minds of many of those who promote a theology today.
A theology, a teaching, that fundamentally tells the Christian that while they may have persecuted Christ, Christ has promised us worldly pleasure and success and health and happiness. The sad thing is that message goes out into many nations, even in Africa.
And I'm amazed at how many people who live in absolute poverty grab hold of that. But I guess I can understand why. If they hate the position they're in and they hate their poverty, it's understandable why when the rich man comes along, you're going to believe what he has to say.
It only leads, of course, to disappointment. And there are many people who do embrace that. Yet, Jesus said, if you're going to walk in the steps of Christ, what was he known as? A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Do we really want to walk in those steps? If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. But notice the second half of the statement. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. It's all of that remnant.
It's all of that encouragement. Even when Paul was experiencing the worst forms of persecution, stoned and beaten and shipwrecked and in jail, the majority of the populace laughing at him and supporting the persecution.
Yet, even in those times, there were those. Those bright lights. That remnant, the elect of God that hear and believe. Even as the philosophers scoffed at him at Mars Hill. Ah! Resurrection! Resurrection!
Yet, there were some. And just as he himself recognized the message of the cross, the Jew at the scandal, the Gentiles' foolishness, but to those who were called, whether of Jews or Greeks, Christ, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the same message, all could recognize by the Spirit of God in the hearts of the elect it comes alive.
If they kept My Word, they would keep yours also. There's going to be a consistency. Jesus builds His church. We can have confidence that we still possess the truth to this day. There are some who have lost confidence that we can really know what the Gospel is, but Jesus promises, if they kept My Word, they would keep yours also.
This isn't just the disciples. This is a promise that goes down through the history of the church. But all these things, they will do to you for My name's sake because they do not know the One who sent Me.
Have you thought about that? What's the motivation? What's the motivation? Unfortunately, these days, and maybe it's unfortunate, maybe it's fortunate, I don't know, but because of the Internet, you can now see the persecution and you can even see people dying.
You can see brothers and sisters. I remember a mob in Pakistan or India, one of the two places, they were stoning Christians to death and a horrible thing to watch. And you sit back and you go, what do they get from this?
Why? The hatred that motivates. You can see in their faces that they scream, this hatred. Much of it is religious in nature, but that's not necessarily the case in an overt way in a place like North Korea.
And yet, those who beat and murder Christians in North Korea, they look pretty much the same to me as those who do it in the name of Allah or a Hindu god or anything else. What's the motivation? All these things they will do to you for my name's sake.
Why? Because they do not know the One who sent me. People who claim to know God, but who really don't, those people who claim to have a knowledge of God, but they don't know the one true God, the One who sent Christ, can be some of the most dangerous, anger-filled people in the world because if they claim to know God, but do not know the true God, are engaging in what sin?
Idolatry. And idol worshipers, idol worshipers can be very, very zealous of their idols. And when someone comes along who worships the one true God, it pours judgment and conviction and condemnation upon their false worship.
And oh, the reaction of their hearts. Now, surely, in the context that the disciples would encounter, the Jewish persecution they experienced, how galling it must have been for the scribes and the Pharisees, for Jesus to say, you claim to know God.
You've never seen Him. You've never heard His voice. You don't know Him at all. If you loved Him, you would love me. Oh, how dare you! How dare you! But you see, that which motivated them so much so that they would follow Paul pretty much to the end of the earth to try to bring persecution against Him, that same motivation can be found in many to this very day.
You might say, well, wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say that men know God? Yes, but there's a difference between knowing and knowing. John uses the two terms in a very obvious way. There are people who can hear, but can't hear.
See, but can't see. Know, but don't know. It's one thing to know that God exists and to suppress that knowledge. It's another to know Him. The only way we know Him is because He in His grace has revealed Himself to us.
As Jesus said over in Matthew 11, He's the one by which anyone can really know God. He reveals God the Father to whoever He chooses to reveal Him. And that's where true knowledge comes from. But those who stand in rebellion, they don't have that relationship.
They don't have that personal knowledge. And as a result, they are in rebellion. They are God-haters. That is the terminology of Scripture. They are God-haters. No neutrality. None whatsoever. Jesus, as having come, truly brings a level of sin to those who rejected Him that is frightful to consider.
I mean, how many times did Jesus say, compare Chorazin and Bethsaida with Sodom and Gomorrah? It would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for those who lived in the days of Jesus.
Why? Because the very Son of God walked amongst them. There was no Son of God walking amongst the Sodomites. The light was bright that they were sinning against. They had to cover their eyes it was so bright.
There's no excuse for the sin that these people had committed. But note v. 23. He who hates me hates my Father also. There are so many today that absolutely reject those words. Absolutely reject those words.
Many who call themselves Christians. Any of those who promote something called pluralism, the idea that there are many ways to God, find this kind of expression just utterly unacceptable. Oh, Jesus would never have said anything like that.
This is just the later church saying these words, especially because of the stark terminology He uses. He who hates me hates my Father also. There are many who would like to say, oh, I could love God.
It's just this exclusive stuff that Christianity presents. No. He who hates me hates my Father also. And if you say otherwise, it's you versus Jesus in the integrity war. And you lose. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sinned, but now they have both seen me and hated me and my Father as well.
He's not saying they would have been sinlessly perfect. The point is they have rejected the clear, overwhelming revelation of the identity of Christ. They have both seen me and they have hated me and my Father as well.
But interestingly, this is to fulfill the word that is written in, notice something? Did you catch something we read through it? In their law. Now, Jesus isn't denying that it's the law of God. He's not denigrating it.
But what He is pointing out is they carry this around. They have hated me without cause. It's right there as a prophecy of their own actions in the book they're carrying. Maybe even in the scroll that they're shaking in anger at Him.
How many times does the New Testament tell us this was done to fulfill this? These men were appointed under destruction. Peter says, the Word of God had told us all along. Even in recognizing the hatred of the world for Himself and for His Father.
And hence, the hatred that is going to be reflected upon the followers of Christ who are indwelt by His Spirit, whom He is going to send. Verse 26 begins that discussion again. It's interesting that this discussion of the hatred of the world is right in the middle of the discussion of the coming of the Helper, the coming of the Parakletos, the Paraclete.
But this that they are going to do is a fulfillment of what is written in their law. We should not be surprised. We should not be shocked when the world expresses its hatred toward us. Jesus will go on to speak about that.
And yet, so often Christians are, oh, but I'm such a nice guy. He's going to go on to say in chapter 16, these things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that He is offering service to God.
These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you.
And then He talks more about the coming of the Spirit. You see, Jesus knew that it was the divine will that His church experience the enmity of the world. And the coming of the Holy Spirit is the great possession, the great comfort that is given to His people.
And so He knows what the Father's will for us is. He explains to us the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but nowhere here is there anything that would suggest to us that there is some back door that we can take to get out of walking through the trial and difficulty and persecution in the power of the Holy Spirit who will come and will not leave us as orphans.
And yet, the history of the church is often the history of God's people trying to find some other way. Can't we just avoid this? Can't we just avoid the hatred of the world? The suffering? Isn't there some other way?
And the church is never weaker than when instead of walking in the footsteps of Christ through the hatred and enmity of the world, we're taking all these other paths, seeking to find some other way. Isn't there just some other path that is such a difficult way?
The world always knows when we're going that way. I think there are many people in the world that can look and they can tell the difference between the glitz and the glitter and real Christianity. One challenges them and the other doesn't.
It's easier to mock the one than the other. But you see, in the midst of telling His disciples, this is to fulfill what the law has said. This is part of God's decree. This is what you are called to. And I don't know if this is really what they were hoping for.
They're hoping to sit on thrones and judge the tribes of Israel. They're looking to overthrow the Romans. And it's all going to be great and wonderful. But in the midst of this, you have the promise. The Helper will come.
I will not leave you alone. Even as I'm telling you that difficult times will come, even as I can tell you of the enmity of the world, I and my Father are going to make our abode with you in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That's what He had said in John 14. I'm not going to leave you alone. I'm going to provide you with the very One who will empower you to walk and to experience joy in the midst of persecution. That is a promise that believers have held on to down through the ages.
In our experience, we haven't encountered much in the way of persecution. Oh, yes, on certain levels, all of God's people are persecuted. But certainly on the physical level that the disciples experience, most of us haven't been thrown in jail.
It happens a lot in other countries. Most of us haven't been beaten and there's been very little shedding of blood. But it's happening all around the world. And the same Holy Spirit who empowered the apostles to experience what they experienced and to persevere and to glorify Christ, that same Holy Spirit dwells with us, indwells us, and will be with us should that day come when we need to give that testimony in the face of persecution.
But what I want us to understand as we close this evening is that the only way to understand Jesus' discussion here, yes, we need to make application. We don't seek friendship with the world. We need to understand the enmity of the world.
We need to understand the fundamental conflict that exists between those who are under the Lordship of Christ and those who are under the Lordship of the world. All those things are true. But what strikes me as I listen to these words outside of the glorious provision of power by the Holy Spirit is how often the church has missed the clear revelation of Scripture.
It is not God the Father's will that His church should lie back upon beds of ease in this world. It has never been His will that His church is just going to take a long 2 ,000 year vacation. There will be conflict and warfare with the world in every generation, in every season, in every year, in every week, in every day.
And we should not be surprised at this. It is so easy for us to become complainers. In fact, I don't know if any of you heard it, but I linked this this week. The first time I had heard it was from 1998.
It was a dividing line I did. A half hour long dividing line I did. And I was interviewing Josh and Summer. They were 12 and 9. And we were talking about the church. If you get a chance, take a look on the blog.
It's very interesting. And when you talk about the church, you can't help but talk about Pastor Fry. And I don't think Pastor Fry heard this. It was 1998. It was 13 years ago. So, the statute of limitations has definitely passed.
And we were talking about how we'd talk about the sermon on the way home in the car. And I brought up a sermon illustration. I don't know if Pastor Fry remembers this sermon illustration, but the kids remembered it.
But as soon as I heard this, I didn't remember the sermon. Sorry, Pastor Fry. It was 13 years ago. You wouldn't remember the sermon to be very honest with you. But Roxy would, but she's the only one who would remember the sermon.
But Pastor Fry had used an illustration. And he had said, some people just every morning, it seems like they pour themselves a bowl of gripeys. And we were trying to remember. I thought it was grumpies, but some remembered it was gripeys.
And we were talking about what it means to pour a bowl of gripeys. And as soon as I heard it, I remembered. I didn't remember the sermon, but we've heard these illustrations enough. We've got the idea.
Pastor Fry talks about those people. You know, sometimes they're just people. And they just like to gripe. They like to complain. They always choose to be unhappy. How many times have we heard that kind of illustration?
And evidently, we had heard that illustration about 13 years ago. And it is stuck in our minds because, you know, what does a bowl of gripeys look like anyways? Well, I've met some people and I think they do.
Every morning they pour themselves a bowl of gripeys. And the first thing they do is they start complaining and complaining and whining about the situation they find themselves in. I can understand that for people in the world.
But something tells me what Pastor Fry had said was that's not right for believers. That's not an appropriate Christian attitude. And even in the midst of persecution, it should be our recognition, our joy to know that God has ordained even our trials and tribulations for His honor and His glory.
And our joy should be found in recognizing that we get to glorify Him by the way we respond to those things. And it's His Spirit within us that allows us to do so. What a wonderful promise we have. That our God will not leave us alone.
And He has not left us alone. Even in the midst of persecution, He has sent us His Spirit. He has made His presence with us by His Spirit. And He will be with us to conform us to His own image. Let's pray together.
Indeed, our precious Lord Jesus, we thank You for these words You spoke to Your disciples long ago. And we thank You that You have not left us alone, but that You and the Father have sent to Your church Your Spirit, and by that Spirit You make Your home with us.
You dwell with us. You empower us. We thank You for that promise, and we thank You for the reminder once again that it is the divine will that Your church stand in sharp opposition and contrast to the attitudes of the world.
And Lord, may You forgive us for how many times we do gripe and complain. May our hearts be filled with thanksgiving at the great provision that has been made for us. And as we go into this week of service, may we once again be reminded of Your warnings and Your exhortations so we may walk wisely before You as a people that truly brings honor to Your name.
We pray these things in Christ's name.