The Gospel of John (96)The Hatred of the World toward God

First Baptist Church Leominster

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and Please be seated For us and then pray 1st

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John chapter 4 Beloved do not believe every spirit

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But test the spirits to see whether they are from God for many false prophets have gone out into the world

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By this you know the Spirit of God Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and Every spirit that does not confess

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Jesus is not from God This is the spirit of the Antichrist which you have heard was coming and now is in the world already

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Little children you were from God and have overcome them For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world

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They are from the world therefore they speak from the world And the world listens to them. We are from God Whoever knows

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God listens to us Whoever is not from God does not listen to us by this.

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We know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error Beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows

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God Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love in This the love of God was manifest among us that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him in This is love not that we have loved

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God But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins

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Beloved if God so loved us. We also ought to love one another No one has ever seen

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God if we love one another God abides in us and his love is perfected in us by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit and We have seen and testified that the father has sent his son to be the

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Savior of the world Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God God abides in him and he in God So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us

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God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him

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By this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment

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Because as he is so also are we in this world? There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear

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For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love

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We love because he first loved us If anyone says I love

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God and hates his brother He is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love

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God whom he has not seen and This commandment we have from him whoever loves

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God must also love his brother Let's pray Our father we thank you so much for this very rich passage of Scripture We thank you for what it says about Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ indeed came in the flesh

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And he was the propitiation for our sins He was the wrath absorber for us the punishment that we deserve fell upon him

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And Lord, we rejoice in that truth. We're thankful for the sacrifice of Christ we're thankful for the work that he accomplished on our behalf for your glory and Lord, we pray that we would love one another as you have loved us

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Help us Lord to be sacrificial in our love for one another Help us to be giving of our love for one another

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We pray Lord that we would look to the needs of those around us to those in the church But also

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Lord to those in the world who desperately need to hear this message We pray

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Lord that we would be bold that we would Present the truth in love that we would be gentle and yet we would be firm

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We pray Lord that we would have this reputation that when people think of First Baptist Church They think of men and women who love one another and thus we pray

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Lord that you would be glorified Help us now Lord as we continue our worship through the preaching of the word.

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We pray that we would be attentive Help us to be focused Lord on what your word says We pray that the

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Spirit would teach us exactly what we need to hear Help us Lord to apply these truths to our lives so that we might live for your glory and honor

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Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen Let's turn in our

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Bibles to John 15 As we continue our study of John. I see today is the 96th

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Lord's Day that we've been in this gospel for a little over two -thirds of the way through And today we'll consider the matter of the hatred of the world toward toward God and toward God's people

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Just a reminder. We of course we didn't take a public offering and we aren't because of the virus situation But there'll be ushers at the end of the service at the back doors if you care to involved in that All right in this section of John's gospel

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That we've been considering for some time we have a lengthy farewell speech or word from Jesus to his disciples it actually begins with John 13 31 and continues through the end of chapter 16 and Here's a description of this farewell discourse surrounded by a prologue and An epilogue the beginning and end the farewell discourse can be divided into six significant and developing thematic statements of by Jesus with each offering comfort and consolation for the disciples

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Befitting the nature of a farewell discourse These six statements within the farewell discourse offer one long exhortation to stay the course and Encouragement that their efforts will be matched by the

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Trinitarian God himself. And so we have Before us if you have your notes, we have these sections

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Identified and again, you notice there's the prologue and the epilogue and then there are these These six statements of Jesus that are in this discourse in which

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Jesus declared I am the way the truth and the life I Will give you the paraclete the comforter.

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I am the true vine. I Have also experienced the hate of the world. I Will empower you by the paraclete the

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Holy Spirit. I will turn your grief into joy and Then of course the epilogue

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Now before us today is the fifth of these eight sections are actually the fifth

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Of fourth of the six sayings of Jesus in this farewell discourse and it's in John 15 18 through 27 and here we read of the great enmity that exists between the world and the

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Son of God and therefore also between the world and his disciples We also read of the danger of persecution that his

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Disciples would encounter as they bear witness of him But they may be assured that they're not helpless for the

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Lord. Jesus will send the Helper even the Holy Spirit who will give them power and give them success in their witness

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These words of Jesus may serve to exhort us to be confident and faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ in today's world

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Which continues to be hostile to the Son of God when he and his kingdom are presented clearly and proclaimed rightly

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We may not be characterized by fear that it might mute or modify our witness but let us in the power of the

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Holy Spirit be bold in our proclamation of Jesus Christ our Lord and to this fallen world in which he has placed us and let's take

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Heart to our Lord's warning whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him Will the

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Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and the Holy Angels? So let's read this

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Word of Jesus found in John 15 18 to 27 If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you

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If you were of the world the world would love its own yet because you're not of the world

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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

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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 him who sent me

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If I had not come and spoken to them they would have no sin But now they have no excuse for their sin

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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

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But now they have seen and also hated both me and my father But this has happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law.

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They hated me without a cause But when the helper comes whom

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I shall send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will testify of me and You also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning

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These verses press upon the disciples of Jesus Christ to see and acknowledge their decisive break from the world

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From which they had been separated by their Savior as one Wrote from an evangelistic perspective these verses demand decision

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Because the issues are of ultimate importance following Jesus costs something and May cost life itself and yet not following Jesus means one is siding with a lost and hateful world

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To warn prospective disciples of these unyielding realities serves to discourage furious conversions

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In name only and to foster true ones just as Jesus told these things to the first disciples in order to ensure stability until the time of faith truly dawn

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Now we may consider this passage these verses Using the following outline first.

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We'll consider the cause of the world's hatred of disciples of Jesus Verses 18 through 21 and then we'll consider the culpability of the world for its hatred verses 22 to 25

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And then we'll read of the promise of Jesus of the Holy Spirit who will sustain his disciples in their conflict with the world

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And so let us first consider the teaching of our passage The cause of the world's hatred of disciples of Jesus verses 18 through 21

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Of course, the Lord Jesus had been encouraging his disciples in the face of his impending arrest

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Trials and crucifixion and burial which would take place and he'd be arrested in just a matter of perhaps minutes from now

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Maybe an hour. I don't know but very short order The Lord had given great attention and emphasis of the love relationship that he and his father had for his disciples but here he transitions in Addressing the hate relationship between the world and himself and his people

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Love relationship between them and God hate relationship between them and the fallen world

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Of course what our Lord was about to experience was the greatest act of injustice

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It was ever perpetrated in the history of mankind. It was born out of hatred toward him

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Which would also fall out toward his followers his disciples Jesus said they hated me.

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They're gonna hate you also And here the Lord described the fact of this hatred of the world toward him and toward them

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And so we read in verse 18 if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you

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So let's consider these words First Jesus said if the world hates you

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It's important to define terms a single word may have the capability of a variety of meanings certainly the word world falls into that category

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But the definition of a word will be more narrowly defined by the context in which you find it

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How do we define the word world in this context? Well, actually in the

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Gospel of John this word world has special significance and that it may have any one of seven possible meanings just in the

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Gospel of John and We've listed them here the world may

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Refer in the classical sense to the orderly universe the cosmos all of creation

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Secondly, it may be restricted to the earth itself the world Thirdly the human inhabitants of the earth by metonymy

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That's just another word for the people of the earth fourth mankind under the

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Creator's judgment alienated from his life in the ethical sense Fifth the public gatherings who are about Christ Jews in particular

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The whole world has gone after him is what some Jews declared Six the kingdom of evil forces angelic as well as human as related to the earth and Then seventh men out of every tribe and nation, but not all tribes and nations as a whole the world in other words the term world

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May refer to all that God has created or to the earth and sphere upon which mankind dwells or to mankind as a whole or To the

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Palestinian contemporaries of our Lord the Jews in particular or to all evil forces related to the earth and in rebellion against God or to person selected out of every tribe and nation upon the face of the earth and so it's important to look at the context in order to more narrowly determine the nuance of the meaning of a word and here

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World is a reference to all non -christians those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior The world is commonly in John refers to the created moral order in active rebellion against God The world hates

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Jesus the world hates Jesus's father the world hates Jesus's disciples the fallen world

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Notice our Lord stated this in a conditional sentence. He said if the world hates you

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He in no way was suggesting that possibly it doesn't Doing just the opposite He was expressing the fact that it does and the way that the

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Greek language is Set forth here. Technically they call it a third -class

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Conditional sentence in Greek and what that simply means is is he's implying that this is the reality

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In other words if the world hates you and it certainly does Know that it first hated me.

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There's no doubt about it the world hates him Of course the

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Word of God teaches us that all mankind until they're reconciled to God through salvation That Jesus Christ provides are born haters of God Paul wrote of mankind in general and Romans 1 we won't read though all those verses

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But right in the middle of it you see this description of mankind who do not have salvation estranged from Jesus Christ they are haters of God Mankind hates

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God Because as Jeremiah Burroughs long ago once wrote the workings of sin are always against God and Burroughs expressed how sin shows itself against God as The nature of sin is opposite of God.

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So in the workings of sin, there is a continual working against God a Sinful heart that is always stirring and working is always working against God and Therefore you shall observe these several expressions of the

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Holy Ghost Has concerning sin first the Holy Ghost calls it enmity to God Romans 8 7

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The wisdom of the flesh that is the best part of flesh is enmity against God Second yes, the

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Holy Ghost says it sin is walking contrary to God Leviticus 26

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Third it is fighting against God sin is fighting against God in these two places

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Rejecting the gospel is called fighting against God for in Acts 7 51. You do always resist the

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Holy Ghost There is a company of men who naturally walk contrary resisting and fighting against God We see that we must take heed of opposing the ministry of the gospel for while you do that you fight against God you think you only oppose such and such men but opposing the gospel is not fighting against us men, but against God and Fifth sin in Scripture is called striving against God Isaiah 45 9 woe unto him that striveth with his maker let the potter strive with the potter's of the earth

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As far as sin prevails in your heart or life so far. You are guilty of striving with your maker and Sixth it is also called rising against God By sin the soul rises against God and for that you have an expression

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Micah 2 8 even my people of late are risen up as an enemy and As Burroughs wrote these are strange expressions enmity walking contrary striving fighting resisting rising against God and yet these are all in sin and This is how we should understand sin.

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It's presented in the Bible as a manifestation of our hatred toward God And yet mankind is so ignorant of his sin

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He would protest against this assertion That he is a hater of God Arthur pink

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Wrote of this enmity is a principle which expresses itself by opposition against its object

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It contends with what it loathes as in the regenerate the flesh lusts against the spirit

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That is in the part of the Christian. So in the unregenerate the non -christian it fights against God Enmity is the energy behind every sinful act

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Though in all sins there may not be an express hatred of God Nevertheless in every sin there is an implicit and virtual hatred of him

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So deeply rooted is man's enmity that neither the most tender pleading nor the direct threatening will abate it

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God may entreat but men will not heed he may chastise But as soon as he lifts the rod, they're like Pharaoh or as defiant as ever

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But so far from owning that they hate God the vast majority will not only vehemently deny it

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But they affirm that they respect and love him Yet if their imagined love be analyzed it will be found to have respect only to their own interests

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While One concludes that God is favorable and lenient with him. He entertains no hard thoughts against God So long as he deems

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God to be prospering him. He bears him. No ill will He hates not God as one who confers benefits

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But as a sovereign lawgiver judge He'll not yield to his government or take his laws the rule of his life

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And therefore does he dread his that is God's tribunal or judgment? The only

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God against whom the natural man is not at enmity is one of his own imagination The deity whom he professes to worship is not the living

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God For he is truth and faithfulness holiness and justice as well as being gracious and merciful

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The soul of man is a complete stranger to holiness even when his head be bowed in the house of prayer

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But God is not deceived by any verbal Acknowledgements or external homage this people draws near unto me with their mouth and honors me with their lips

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But their heart is far from me is what Jesus himself expressed It is a

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God of their own devising and not the God of holy writ of Scripture They believe in it is an awful delusion to fancy They admire

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God's character while refusing his son to reign over them And So they would deny vehemently.

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No, I don't hate God. I love God No, not if you're if you're not submitted to him sin is a manifestation of a soul's hatred for God However, because people are haters of God, they're also haters of God's Son Again Jesus declared if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you

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The Jesus that the world claims to love is a different Jesus than who he's revealed in the Holy Scriptures Paul warned of some who come and proclaim another

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Jesus 2nd Corinthians 11 This past week we were treated to the reading of Scripture by politicians who claimed they were speaking on behalf of Jesus Do you watch some of that?

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Incredible they were trying to up one another quoting reading the Bible and calling upon Jesus as if He was endorsing their beliefs and practices but if we're to proclaim our

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Jesus of the Holy Scriptures before them They would reject him straightway and us who proclaim him for they hate him who is true

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The Lord Jesus told his disciples that the world hates him because they were no longer because the disciples were no longer of the world

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Verse 19a if you were of the world the world would love its own Throughout human history there have been two peoples that have existed in the world

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Which are opposed to one another and these of course are the people of God and the people of the world

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And the people of the devil there has been hatred and persecution of one people against the other throughout history and this persecution has been one -sided

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True Christians do not hate the people of the world For they desire their well -being and their salvation.

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There's a general benevolence that we have we really desire good for people

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Mercy to be extended as it's been extended to us But the people of the world only love their own those of the world

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Those who think like they think value the things they value strive for the things they long for are regarded as their friends

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For the world loves its own But we are no longer part of the world

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For if we were of the world the world would love us But the primary reason the world does not the world hates

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Christians is because it hates Christ their master As one wrote

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Christ followers will be hated by the same world partly because they are associated with the one who is supremely hated and partly because as they increase in the intimacy love and obedience and fruitfulness depicted in the preceding verses

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That is Christians. They will have the same effect on the world as their master. They too will appear alien

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The world loves its own. This is not a sociological remark about inborn suspicion of strangers but a moral condemnation

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The world is a society of rebels and therefore finds it hard to tolerate those who are in joyful Allegiance to the king to whom all loyalty is due

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Christians do not belong to the world Not because they've never belonged but because Jesus averse

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I have chosen you out of the world former rebels who have by the grace of the king been won back to loving allegiance to their rightful monarch are not likely to prove popular with those who persist in rebellion remember after I was converted

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I had Actually got kicked out at junior college in California for poor grades

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Back when it was all free state paid for everything. All you had to be was 18 and breathing But the

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Dean called me in and kicked me out of college because I had such poor grades And I went home two hours away two and a half hours away and within a handful of months.

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I was converted transformed And my old friend Norm Thurston looked me up one day he came into the store hadn't seen him in months and months and Wanted to go out and party that night and I whole hummed

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I didn't know what to say to him and he looked at me strange and he found out from my other friends later No, no, he's he's got religion now

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And so I was I was alienated castigated. This is what happens

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You just can no longer run with them No longer they don't they no longer regard you as friends

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Christians cannot think of themselves as intrinsically superior There's never there should never be a spirit of arrogance or self -righteousness on our part

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They are ever conscious that by nature they are as all others objects of wrath But having been chosen out of the world having been drawn by the master's love into the group

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Referred to as the Messiah's own who are still in the world the world the world of rebels

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The Lord called us out of the world And then we read in verse 19 be yet because you are not of the world

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But I chose you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you Simply stated the

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Christian is no longer from the world that's a Prepositional clause in Greek to Cosmo and it describes to whom that disciples belong in the nature of their identity

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You're from the world They used to be from the world.

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They will continue to be in the world another prepositional phrase The Christ himself note the emphatic first person pronoun

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I is what he's referring to shows them out of the world Christ's disciples are now a foreign entity in the world and the world's antibodies

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He's describing it like a body that has some kind of foreign principle in it virus in it The world's antibodies will naturally respond to them in force with intent to destroy

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This is the way this is the way a body reacts to some but something that's alien and foreign

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Want to eject it The world hates God the Father the world hates

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God the Son and the world hates the disciples of the Son of God and This is how it's been throughout all biblical history

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God had declared after the fall that God himself put enmity between these two peoples

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His people and the people of the devil Genesis 3 15 God declared to the serpent

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I'll put enmity between you and the woman between her seed and your seed and and your seed her seed

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This is an ultimate reference. Of course to Christ as a seed of the woman The Lord himself put this enmity between the fallen world and his son

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Jesus Christ But this verse also speaks to the hatred of the fallen world Toward the people of God through history

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God put that in place to keep us separate from the world distinct

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There's enmity between these two people For one is identified as the people of God the other is the people of the devil and there can be no peace between them when their distinctions and differences are manifest and It's always been the seed of the serpent that has hated and persecuted the seed of the woman

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The people of God as Matthew Henry wrote note from Christ blessed the world

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Whom Christ blesseth the world cursed The favorites and heirs of heaven have never been the darlings of this world

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Since the old enmity was put between the seed and the woman and the servant Why did

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Cain Hate Abel but because his works were righteous Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing

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Joseph's brethren hated him because his father loved him Saul hated David because the

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Lord was with him Ahab Hated Micaiah because of his prophecies such are the causeless causes of the world's hatred

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It's biblical history Now a few verses earlier than the passage before us our

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Lord declared that he had chosen them Verse 16 you did not choose me But I chose you appointed you that you should go and bear fruit that your fruit should remain

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Whatever you ask of the Father my name he may give you Christ favored them God the

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Father favored them. He chose them and Therefore the world hated them

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JC Philpott once illustrated this dynamic by citing the hatred of toward Joseph by his brother

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It was due to their knowledge of their father's favor of Joseph over them that caused them to have such enmity toward Joseph Here Philpott's words in which he describes the hatred that the world has for the true

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Christian However, various sects differ from themselves. They all unite in condemning him.

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That is the Christian Who believes and follows the Bible? All other religion is right.

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His alone is wrong Everyone else's faith is genuine. His only is spurious of Him alone the charitable augur uncharitably

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Universal salvation has cut off him alone from salvation those that pity the heathen have no pity for him and Those who come to see and land and make one proselyte pronounce his case alone as past recovery

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And what is his trespass? What is his sin that they so hotly pursue after him?

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Does he live in sin? No Is he buried in the world head over ears and politics heaping together dishonest gains or eaten up with covetousness?

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None dare say so Does he neglect prayer reading the word hearing the truth?

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Contributing to the necessities of saints and living peaceably with all men No, why then this universal bane at him from every dog of the pack for the same reason that Joseph's brother

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Brethren hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. The father loves him

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Jacob loved Joseph his son and has clothed him in a garment of many colors and given him revelations

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That he dreams which he had denied them You And I are

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Christians ultimately because of course the Lord chose us to be the recipients of his salvation

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We were of the world as ones opposed toward God hating him Refusing to believe on him and submit to him

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What set us apart from the world Why was it that we came to love the true God and his son in the way that he is revealed to us in the scriptures?

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Was it not the antipathy toward him resident in our own hearts It is because the

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Lord chose us and called us unto himself. That's what makes us different And we must describe the change in us due to the grace of God only

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The grace of God so richly poured upon us through the Holy Spirit who caused us to become born anew

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If you're following along in your reading chart, I'm thinking the one I'm you I'm using today

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We're reading Acts 26. Maybe maybe you're not if you're following the different chart we read about King Agrippa and how

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Paul described who he had been and what he had been like Indeed I myself thought

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I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth This I also did in Jerusalem many of the

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Saints I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priest and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them and I punished them often in every synagogue compelled them to blaspheme being exceedingly

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Enraged against them. I persecuted them even to the foreign cities Paul hated

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Jesus. He hated the disciples of Jesus and he knew it but something changed

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Paul recounted his conversion three occasions in Acts and here's one of them He'd formerly been a hater of Jesus Christ a hater of his people

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But suddenly doing an act of God's grace in Christ. He became a Christ promoter and a lover of Christ people while thus occupied filled with hatred enmity

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Intention as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest at mid midday

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Okaying along the road I saw a light from heaven brighter than the Sun Shining around me and those who journeyed with me and when we all had fallen to the ground

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I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language perhaps Aramaic Saul Saul.

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Why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goats And so I said who are you

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Lord? He said I am Jesus whom you're persecuting The rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness

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Both of the things which you have seen the things which I will yet reveal to you I'll deliver you from the

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Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you To open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me

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So he was a promoter of the kingdom of Satan destroying What he thought was the cause of Christ and his people

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But once he was delivered by Jesus once the Lord called him he became a

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Christ promoter and He would bear that message to the Gentiles of the world Seeking to turn them from the power of Satan on to God The only reason we're not still

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Enemies of God and haters of God is because of the grace of God Which was initiated by him

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We were as Paul mining in our own business Going to the world, you know aiding what we hated loving what we love

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But he intervened wonderfully marvelously Transforming us. It was the

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Lord who put love for himself within us because he first loved us His love for us is not his response to us because we loved him

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Rather our love for him is the result and the response of his love for us as Jason Pastor Jason read a little earlier.

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We love him because he first loved us As one wrote and you he made alive

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This is from Ephesians you he made alive who were dead and trespasses and sins in which you walk

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According to the course of this world. We were just like everybody else according to the

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Prince of the power of the air the devil was in charge and he's in charge of those by Tempting them and leading them to please themselves and do what they want to do do their own will

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Among whom also we all conducted ourselves and the loss of our flesh Fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind were by nature children of wrath

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Just as the others everybody else but of course verse 4 declares but God God took the action took the initiative

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Who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in trespasses.

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He made us alive together with Christ by grace You've been saved and raised us up together made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.

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That means we're enthroned with Christ We're in his kingdom with him for the purpose

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Verse 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus will never fully

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Comprehend and know fully the grace of God that he has shown to us in Christ When we became aligned with our

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Lord and Savior We were no longer ones belonging to the world and then the world began to hate us because it hated him

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Returning to John 15 We read that Jesus then declared that we would experience similar things to what he experienced

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Because of our association with him as his servants and he is our Savior our Lord We read in verse 20

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Remember the word the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me

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They will persecute you The people of the world persecuted

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Jesus they'll also be persecute you because you're his servant We see this played out in the book of Acts In a manner that the world treated the apostles of Jesus.

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In fact, there's a lot of literary parallels Particularly in Luke's gospel and Luke's record in the book of Acts and It's been demonstrated.

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For example, the people's treatment of Stephen very much parallels the treatment of the people of Jesus in Luke's gospel and Similarly with with the

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Apostle Paul there seems to be an effort Inspired by the

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Spirit but of Luke to set forth What the Lord Jesus encounter and experience his disciples encounter experience, too

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They hated Jesus they hate his followers But thankfully we also read there will be those that do respond favorably to the message of the gospel

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That the disciples will bear to the world. Jesus said if they kept my word, they'll keep yours also And so we see that our

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Lord's words to his disciples are within the context of mission To declare him and his word to the world

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This is a missionary passage Two reactions can be expected and they are far different from one another.

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There'll be those who persecute us for doing so Proclaiming the gospel, but thankfully by the grace of God Which is operative there will be some who keep his work just as we've kept his word

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I'm a little booklet a biography of an evangelist in the early 20th century Mordecai Ham He looked like an accountant.

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Frankly. He looked like a little mousy guy with I'm not decrying any accountants.

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We have some in our church, but this this guy looked the part Shall I say and you you wouldn't you wouldn't think him being very dynamic, but apparently he was so bold it says wherever he went and preached there was either a riot or revival and I've read

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Billy Graham was converted under his ministry. I don't know but Oftentimes when the

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Lord is really, you know working Bringing your revival that you'll get extremes in reaction

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You know Whitfield preaching to 20 ,000 and a guy standing there with a long pole 20 feet long hitting him on the top of the head as he's preaching

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You know to the crowd so we'd get cats at him You know while people were weeping

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Repenting of their sin The you had these varied reactions extremes as it were

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This is what happens when the Lord is at work and the Holy Spirit is operative blessing his word

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Thankfully there will be those who respond Well, the

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Lord then gave the reason the people the world respond to his people in the manner that they do verse 21 But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because they do not know him who sent me

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They don't know the Father The Lord indicated the world will maltreat his disciples due to their ignorance of the true

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God. They don't know him He declared that they would be maltreated by the world for my namesake in other words because of me

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That's what for my namesake means because of me And so we see the cause of the world's hatred of disciples of Jesus is because of their sin they're ignorant of who the true

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God is and because of their sin they hate him who is true when he's presented to them and proclaim to them

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Well, then the Lord begins to talk about the culpability of the world for its hatred.

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They're responsible Yeah, they may be ignorant, but that doesn't mean they're without fault. They're guilty and culpable for their sin of unbelief

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The Lord addressed the spiritual condition of the people of the world declaring there they warranted God's judgment

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They were without excuse if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin

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But now they have no excuse for their sin He who hates me hates my father

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Also, if I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would have no sin

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But now they have seen and also hated both me and my father But this has happened that the word might be fulfilled which is it written in their law.

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They hated me without a cause And so our Lord declared the people of the world who failed to believe on him deserve to be condemned for their sin

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If I had not come spoken to them they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin He's not saying

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That they would not have been responsible for any and all sin if he had not come among them He was declaring that the sin of having rejected

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God That was born out of their ignorance of God would not have happened had the

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Lord Jesus not come among them revealing the father to them This made them guilty of this sin

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Because the Lord had revealed the father to them. They had no excuse for their unbelief

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As one wrote by coming and speaking to them Jesus incited the most central and controlling of sins

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Rejection of God's gracious revelation rebellion against God decisive preference for darkness rather than light

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Of course, those are words of John in his gospel earlier They preferred darkness to light

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Matthew Henry wrote the aggravated guilt Which those lie under to whom Christ has come and spoken in vain whom he is called invited in vain

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With whom he has reason and pleaded in vain. They have no cloak for their sin. They are altogether

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Inexcusable and in the judgment day, they will be speechless and will not have a word to say for themselves

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Note the clearer and fuller the discoveries are which are made to us by the grace and truth of Jesus Christ The more is said to us that is convincing and endearing the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him

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The Word of Christ strips sin of its cloak that it may appear sin

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I think of the guilt and the responsibility that a person has who grows up in a

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God -fearing family in a God -proclaiming Christ proclaiming Church and Yet continues in unbelief throughout life

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Such great privilege that most people in history probably never never had the accountability and responsibility of Will be great on the day of judgment and there won't be there won't there won't be a word that can be said in one's defense

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The culpability is there Our Lord stated in verse 23 he who hates me hates my father also

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It's clear the Lord Jesus was asserting that the love of God can only be known and expressed if one has love for him as the son of God All claims of all religious people everywhere that they truly love

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God are false claims Now just that statement alone probably get rocks thrown at me depending, you know, we're where we were

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People claim they love God and most people think as long as people are sincere that they really do love

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God Jesus said they don't if they don't love me. They don't love

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God the Father That's What he declared And that'll get a rise from people, won't it?

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You hate Christ you hate the Father According to the Lord Jesus. They hate his father They hate

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God the Father is shown and that they hate his beloved son One cannot truly love God if he does not truly love

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God's Son If you fail to honor Jesus, you cannot honor

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God the Father Our Lord stated that the works that he did before people works that no other person could have done condemned men in their sin

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If they refuse to believe on him After having witnessed them witness to them

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Again, they're refusal to believe on him betrays their hatred of God the Father Verse 24 if I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would have no sin

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But now they've seen and also hated both me and my father Once again,

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I can't help but quote Matthew Henry. He's so good Christ works were such as no man ever did

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No common person that had not a commission from heaven and God with him could work miracles

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That's what Nicodemus confession John 3 2. We know you're from God No man can do these things signs unless God is with him

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No prophet ever wrought such miracles so many so illustrious Moses and Elisa brought wrought miracles as servants but a dry power but Christ is a son by his own power and This was it that amazed the people that with authority commanded diseases and devils

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Demons they own they never saw the like They were all good works works of mercy and this seems especially intended here for he is upbraiding them with this that they hated him

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One that was so universally useful more than ever any man was one would think should have been universally beloved and yet Even he is hated

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There's the manifestation of sin, isn't it? They crucified Jesus. They hated him

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One would have thought the many miracles Jesus performed would have resulted in all people everywhere Who especially those who witness firsthand would love him because of those works, but rather they hated him

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He came to show them the love of God, but they reacted to his love with hatred But then the

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Lord Jesus declared the reason for all the unreasonable hatred toward him Jesus said

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But this has happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law. They hated me without a cause

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Totally unjustified unwarranted The world's hatred for Jesus as he is truly portrayed in the scriptures is unreasonable

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There is no legitimate reason that anyone anywhere Would or should hate him

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But the fact is everyone everywhere hates him unless and until the grace of God imparts a heart in them to love him

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Well, then our Lord Again, this context is in mission and witness.

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He assures his disciples That even though they're going to be hated Persecuted.

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Yes, some will hear Nevertheless, he's going to give them the Holy Spirit who will enable them to be able to address the world with this gospel

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Even though the Lord was about to be arrested tried crucified Even though he foretold the great hardship his disciples would encounter from the fallen world because of their association with him

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He desired that they would be encouraged in their work of witnessing in his behalf To the world that lay open before them and so we assured them of the presence and power of the

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Holy Spirit Whom he would send to them verses 26 and 27 when the helper comes the paraklete

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Paraklesis the one who stands alongside the helper who my shall send to you from the father the spirit of truth

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Who proceeds from the father? He'll testify of me and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning

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This is the third saying in John's gospel of the Holy Spirit The other two first two were in John 14, and then here we have it in John 15

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And then we'll see it again in John 16 Throughout John's gospel

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Jesus been portrayed as the one who will baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire

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Here Jesus called the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth. He called the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth back in John 14 as well and when he speaks of the spirit of truth

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He's not just talking about truth as an abstraction like what is what is a true thing or true situation?

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The truth spirit is truth Speaks of the spirit testifying of Jesus who is the truth?

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He's the spirit of truth he's the spirit of Jesus Christ is ultimately if you want to distill it

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I Won't read that passage from Edward clank, but he talks about that in Some detail it's a little difficult to to read but perhaps you have

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Some time to do so one other important thing about this verse I debated whether to even address it

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It's a very important verse in church history It's actually

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What gave rise to what historically has been called the philico? phrase and It was instrumental really in the division of the

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Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church back in the around 1000 AD And it had to do with the

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Holy Spirit does he Only proceed from God the Father and it's what the Greek Orthodox declare

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Or does he proceed from God the Father and God the Son both and that was what the

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Western division of Christendom? declared It's a difficult matter.

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I didn't want to You know bring it all up. It's a complex matter

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However, I did find da Carson's comments on it helpful and I set those aside on the last page of Your notes, please don't read it now, but that's available for you for a later time

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The Lord declared the Holy Spirit will testify of me I do want to zero in on this as we begin to wrap things up here

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This is a verse that is very helpful in identifying assessing claims regarding the presence work of the

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Holy Spirit in various ministries Jesus said he the Holy Spirit will testify of me There are those namely those who are our charismatic brothers and sisters in Christ who make claims the

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Holy Spirit performs miracles and reveals extra biblical revelation to them and If you examine their teachings and practice respecting the

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Holy Spirit, you'll often find them concentrating on the person of the Holy Spirit independent of the person of the

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Lord Jesus Christ Here Before the Lord Jesus declared the primary ministry of the

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Holy Spirit is to testify of him The Holy Spirit does not draw attention and focus to himself

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But he seeks to reveal Jesus Christ clearly and fully and glorify him to and through his people the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit enables the Successful and faithful witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a world that is hostile to him and his people a ministry that gives attention and emphasis to the work of the

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Holy Spirit separate from the Proclamation and furtherance of Jesus Christ is flawed and is suspect the

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Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ Two considerations as we close

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First let's consider ourselves our motivations Examine your heart as best you can from what our

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Lord taught his disciples on this occasion. Do you truly love him and Do you show forth that love and how you live and relate to others about you?

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Here are the words of Alexander McLaren a London preacher Dear friends. I want some of my hearers today

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Who have never honestly asked themselves the question of what their relationship with God is

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To go down into the deep places of their hearts and test themselves by this simple inquiry

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Do I do anything to to to please him? Do I try to serve him?

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Is it a joy to be near him? Is the thought of him a delight

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Like a fountain in the desert or the cool shadow of a great rock in the blazing wilderness

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Do I turn to him as my home my friend my all if I do not am

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I deceiving myself by fancying that I stand? neutral There is no neutrality in a man's relationship to God.

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It's one thing or other you cannot serve God and ma 'am And the friendship of the world is enmity against God It's a very simple and sound biblical test, do you really love the

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Lord Jesus is it show forth in your desires and your delights and Then lastly, let's consider the nature of our

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Christian witness in a fallen world in the light of these things The Lord Jesus declared if his disciples are faithfully witnessing for him and the

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Holy Spirit was blessing their efforts They would experience mixed results There would be those who hear and respond to them and there would be those who persecute them a faithful vibrant witness for the gospel would engender both the hatred and the favorable response of their hearers and This should cause us to think carefully about the means we employ in our efforts to bear witness of Christ before the fallen world and And It should cause us to consider what truly success is in gospel ministry

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The words of our Lord to his disciples in this passage calls into question the philosophy of ministry

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That governs many Christian churches and ministries. They claim to be reaching the fallen people of the world with the gospel

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It would seem they give much attention and effort to shape their ministries to appease the spiritual hostility of sinners thinking that this is going to better win souls to Jesus Christ and So they shape their churches and their ministries in a way that they're as least offensive as possible

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It's almost they've got the thought if we can get the world to love us. They're going to love Jesus whom we love

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And frankly their ministries take on the philosophy and appearance of the world

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And that's a sad thing Our Lord Jesus warned against compromising biblical convictions paring one's message in order to appease or win over a world as in He is inherently hostile to him and his people the

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Lord said woe to you when all men speak Well of you for so did their fathers the false prophets

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Those Christian men and ministries that seem to be

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Praised by the fallen world about them as great leaders of the faith they are to be suspect

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Because if we're properly Proclaiming the gospel to a fallen world and the

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Holy Spirit is bearing witness with our witness we're going to be getting some hostile reactions to us and Depending on the state of the world or society any given time in history

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It'll vary in degree and intensity and given today's present state of affairs

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You know, I I think that we can probably anticipate greater hostility in the future, but that won't

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Doesn't matter does it? We're called upon to be faithful and and true to the word and Jesus said blessed are you when they revile and persecute you say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad For great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the the prophets who were before you you know, we lament because of the world in which you we live, but I see it as a

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A Great opportunity for for the gospel We're becoming more like the

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Roman Empire aren't we in the first century and yet the gospel turned the world upside down as it were and God has called us and we need the blessed power and presence of the

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Holy Spirit and We need to be faithful to his word and proclaiming it leave the results up to him

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But let's be true and faithful as a church and as individual Christians, amen, let's pray

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Thank you father for your word help us to be true to you our father and to your son our

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Lord Jesus Christ Help us our God to be faithful to you in these difficult days

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Help us as a church Lord to be faithful with their faithful witness of the kingdom of Christ within our region and Help us

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Lord to be true to you and true to one another Help us Lord to show forth through our love for one another that we clearly are to be distinguished

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From the fallen world about us. It's so full of hatred and division and hostility