Our Fiery Ordeal – Pt. 2

God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn once again to John’s Gospel, chapter 15. John chapter 15. We came into a very abrupt transition, didn’t we, last Lord’s
Day? where Jesus had been talking for many weeks as we worked our
way through that first 17 verses of John’s Gospel. We saw Jesus
to be talking for many weeks about love and abiding in His
love. And suddenly, without any warning
at all, Jesus says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated
me before it hated you. It was an abrupt transition.
And I wanted the saints to feel the full effect of that transition,
how abrupt it was. That if we felt it, we might
have even perhaps a better perspective of what the apostles themselves
felt that evening. Jesus had just calmed them. He had just settled their hearts. He had just dwelled into their
minds and hearts the need to abide in Christ and to abide
in His love. And suddenly, as I said without
warning, they’re talking about persecution and the hatred of
the world. We come again to John chapter
15. Verse 18, if the world hates
you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you
were 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 sinned. 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 sinned. 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 have hated Me without
a cause.” When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from
the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the
Father, He will testify about me. And you will testify also,
because you have been with me from the beginning. 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.” It was a sobering,
a stunning transition. this picture that Jesus had painted
in their minds of walking up and peering over the finest vineyard
in the land, a vineyard owned and operated and cared for by
none other than God himself, producing the best grapes in
all the land. That’s the image that Jesus painted
in their minds in the opening portions of John 15. But now
suddenly, as Jesus has done even prior to this evening, Jesus
pulls them back, yanks them back, indeed, into a sobering reality
that the world is not going to offer them a warm welcome. We
have entitled this section, Our Fiery Ordeal, because it is our
ordeal. Their ordeal is our ordeal. And what Jesus wants his people
to come to grips with is the reality of hostilities. The reality of the persecution
of the church that the church will no doubt face. Jesus, as
I said, had on many occasions warned the disciples that they
would have difficulty, they would have trouble. Matthew’s gospel,
blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
at least an indicator that it’s a possibility. But here he says,
if or really since the world hates you, you know that it hated
me first. We cannot miss this. This theme
of the opening, the immediately preceding section, verses 1 through
17, is essentially love. And the theme of these verses,
in verses 18 all the way down through 16, 4, is essentially
hate. We are urged to love one another,
to love Christ, to abide in His love, all the while the world
is hating us. It was a shock. It was a shock
to the apostles, and it should be a shock to us as well. In spite of the fact that we,
by God’s grace, are manifesting godly character in the land,
that we come bearing the greatest news that man has never heard,
the gospel, that people can be saved simply by placing their
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the greatest message that
the world has never heard. And we come bearing that message. And the surprising discovery
is that the world isn’t ready to hear it, by and large. The
world doesn’t want to hear it. The world meets that message
with hatred and scorn. We noted here that the world
last week, as we looked at it, the world signifies that unconverted,
unbelieving, sinful pool of humanity that actually is contrary first
and foremost to God and all things that are of God. It is as one
described it, the realm of evil, the society of wicked men who
have set themselves against God. not just the Jews, as we pointed
out last week. That was what Jesus experienced. They were the ones that were
manifesting the world’s perspective towards Christ, but it goes beyond
just the hatred of the Jews for Christ. John 1 in the opening
of the Gospel forecasted that hatred. that He was in the world
and the world was made through Him and the world did not know
Him. We know that that is first and
foremost spoken of the greater measure of the Jewish nation,
but not all of them. And likewise, not all of the
Gentiles, not all of the heathen world would clamor for Christ
and come to Christ and yield to Christ. The world would hate Jesus. The
world in its totality, everyone outside of Christ, everyone not
drawn by God himself, would have indifference, disregard, ridicule,
not only for Christ, but for anybody who places their faith
in him. Jesus made it plain. And in John’s
first epistle, he carries this theme forward into that epistle.
Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. If we
are aligned with Christ, the world will hate us. That is the
sobering forecast of persecution that Jesus provides here in these
verses. If the world hates you, and we
saw that it really indicates since the world hates you, from
the first moment that we name the name of Christ and we begin
to tell others about Christ, we feel it. We feel it. And oftentimes as we, the longer
we walk, we were reminded last week that a lot of times we succumb
to the peer pressure of the world that says we shouldn’t discuss
religion or politics. Jesus says the world will hate
you, but if so, you know this. Know this, that the world hated
me before it hated you. And here Jesus concludes his
opening thought on this astonishing section. Catching the disciples,
the apostles, quite by surprise, he communicates here his empathy
towards his disciples. He knows what they will endure.
He knows it firsthand. He has already endured the world’s
hostility and will yet face their ultimate wrath in His murder
on the cross. Throughout John’s Gospel, even
from the very opening verses of John’s Gospel, the world’s
hatred of Christ has been recorded. John 1.5, the light shines in
the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. It did
not receive Christ. John 1.10, He was in the world
and the world was made through Him and the world did not know
Him. John 3.11, I say to you, we speak
of what we know and testify of what we have seen and you do
not accept our testimony. And throughout the remainder
of John’s gospel up to the moment we find ourselves in. It has
continued. The hatred of the world has been
manifest towards Christ throughout this gospel. Even calling Jesus
demon possessed. Jesus says, look, I know. I know
the potential of what you’re going to face. I know the reality
of what you’re going to face. I know the hurt. I know the pain. I know the separation that you
will sense and feel, no doubt. The world is going to hate these
disciples. Christians in the world are going
to know the hatred of the world. But there is comfort in that,
that the world hated Him first. after Jesus has gone to be with
His Heavenly Father, they too will experience the world’s hatred.
They will not be surprised. They will see it coming. And
they will no doubt think back to this very moment, to this
very encouragement. Jesus wants them to be strengthened. He wants them to be prepared.
He wants them to be ready for hostility. And when they find
difficulty, when they find persecution, they will realize that they are
in not just good company, they are in the best company of all
in their present trials. They are facing only what their
Savior has already endured. If the saints would, keep your
finger there in John 15 and turn to 1 Peter 4. In essence, these aren’t even
our sufferings, right? Jesus Christ is identifying with
his disciples because they are identified with him. And just
the fact that we are identified with Christ means the heat, the
fury, the hatred of the world is going to be poured out on
us as well. It is the depravity of human
nature unleashed in its fury against God Himself. Glance down
at verse 12 of 1 Peter 4. I shared with those in discipleship
last Lord’s Day that this is the very passage from which I
drew that title, the fiery ordeal. Verse 12, Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you for your
testing as though some strange thing were happening to you.
Peter, writing there in the first century, says that the disciples
were already experiencing this fiery ordeal. They’re already
experiencing the fury, the persecution of the world. But I want you
to see what happens here three times. Three times he says, it
isn’t about you. It isn’t that they dislike you. Do not be surprised that the fire
ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as
though some strange thing were happening to you, but to the
degree that you share the sufferings of Christ. Keep on rejoicing
so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice
with exultation. He says it again. If you are
reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit
of glory and of God rests upon you. By no means let any of you
suffer as a murderer or a thief or evildoer or troublesome meddler. We spoke last Lord’s Day about
what is and what isn’t persecution. And when we do wrong and are
punished for it, that is not persecution. But he says in verse 16, but
if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but
in that name let him glorify God. Jesus says that If we have named
the name of Christ, if we have called ourselves Christians,
if God has drawn us to Himself through His Son and we find ourselves
saved, we are going to know the wrath, the fury, the frustration,
the hatred, the hostility of the world. But they’re the sufferings
of Christ. We’re suffering in the name of
Christ. We’re suffering as Christians. That’s point one. It’s a sobering
forecast. of persecution. And what John
does there in recording those words of Christ is really just
present to us the facts, the description, or if you will,
the picture of the coming difficulties. Point two, as we begin to look
at these four disclosures of the church’s expected persecution,
not only do we see the sobering forecast of persecution, we see
the expected cause of persecution. It’s expected. But why does it
happen? And here in these verses, verses
19 all the way through 25, Jesus gives us the reason or the cause
of these hostilities. Now, they are there plainly for
us to consider, but I would even label them, if you will, social
explanations of the world’s hatred, or if you want to use the word
political. It’s because of our association with Christ, even
as we’ve already acknowledged, it’s because of that that we
are persecuted, first and foremost. The expected cause of our persecution
is, number one, our association with our Savior. Look at verse
19. If you were 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. So Jesus says that these disciples,
indeed all disciples, can expect mistreatment and cold hatred
from the world. He has already fingered himself
as the cause. By way of a comfort, he says
in verse 1, You know that the world has hated
me before it hated you. Now, that is stated as a comfort. Jesus is expressing empathy here. He knows what they are experiencing.
He knows the feeling. He knows the hurt. He knows the
rejection. He knows. But here in verse 19,
and coursing all the way down through verse 25, he identifies
himself as the cause. He tells them, not only are you
going to suffer, you’re going to endure the same thing that
I suffered, perhaps not to the same degree, but I empathize
with you because it’s all because of me. The disciples would be
benefited from knowing why they were undergoing the difficulties,
why they were experiencing what they were, why they were receiving
this harsh and hateful treatment of the world. Why? The reason
for the hostility is because of their hatred of Christ. It
isn’t even because of us as we saw a moment ago. And there is
a subtle but very encouraging message here in verse 19. Did
you get it? Did you see it? Likely not. It’s very subtle. It’s in the
form of a rather incomplete syllogism. And it would go something like
this. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
Here’s the completion of that. But the world does not love you.
In fact, the world hates you, therefore you are not of the
world. Did you get that? The world’s
hatred for disciples, those who name the name of Christ, is a
sure indicator that they are not of the world. This is an
encouragement. The world is self-seeking, selfishly
motivated, in it only for themselves, their own gain, their own fulfillment,
their own pleasure. They’re in it for themselves. Martin Luther said it so plainly
when he said, Towards each other, apart from Christ, the men of
the world are as little friends as dogs and cats. in all that concerns Christ,
they are unanimous in their hatred. And as such, they only love what
will meet their own ends. They’re selfish even in whatever
they call love. And because of that, they do
not love God, they do not love Christ, and they do not love
Christians. J.C. Ryle said here, the world
always loves what is like itself and would love you if your standard
of faith was like its own. What an encouragement. When the
world truly does not like you because of Christ in you, because
of your Christianity, when it truly dislikes you as a Christian,
what a comfort. What an encouragement. It is,
in effect, proof of the very salvation, a sure indicator of
their alignment with Christ. It’s a comfort that they have
been called out, called out of the world system and into a right
relationship with God Himself. What a comfort. But it’s subtle. The world loves its own. 1 John
4, 5, they are from the world, therefore they speak as from
the world and the world listens to them. It’s like this fraternity. Listen to this. Paul says that
even more graphically, for the sake of time, I won’t
have you turn, just listen in your mind’s eye. Romans 128,
just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer,
God gave them over to a depraved mind. Here he begins his very
detailed testimony about the heathen world. God gave them
over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper,
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. They are gossip, slanderers,
haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God,
that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they
not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those
who practice them. That’s how you get in the club.
That’s how you get in the fraternity. That’s how the world makes you
one of their own. And if the world cannot get us
to comply, that’s when their hatred boils over to the surface. And all the while, the world
is engaged in this mad love fest of itself. Everyone who thinks
like them, loving those who share in their love of sin and unrighteousness,
there is this particular ostracism that functions as an encouragement
to those who know Christ. There is true comfort here. When
the Christian reasons well, there is true comfort here. Of course
the world does not love us. We are now unlovable to the world
because we are no longer of them. Our priorities are different,
our affections are different, our character, our standing before
God, all of those things are forever changed by God’s grace. Matthew, in his gospel, there
in the Sermon on the Mount, records Jesus, blessed are you. Oh, how
very happy you are when you are reviled for the name of Christ. You are blessed. Blessed are people when people
insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me. 1 Peter 4.14, if you are reviled
for the name of Christ, you are blessed. Jesus Christ came calling,
calling us out of the world. And it says it so plainly, doesn’t
it? He chose us out of the world. Now here, we’ve talked about
this a couple of weeks ago, here divine election is in view. Jesus
had mentioned a choosing of sorts in verse 16. That choosing, that
electing was to the office of apostleship. Verse 16, you did
not choose me but I chose you, appointed you that you would
go and bear fruit, that your fruit would remain. He was encouraging
His disciples, His apostles, hand selected by Him to go and
bear fruit. But here Jesus says explicitly,
I chose you out of the world. I elected you to salvation and
there is no other way to absorb this that is a plain reference
to divine election. They were chosen for salvation
out of the world. This statement is both humbling
and affirming, isn’t it? Humbling in that it points to
the eternal counsel of a sovereign God and not to anything in the
person chosen. We would have to go to many other
places, Ephesians 1, 1 Peter 1, to see that election has nothing
to do with who we are. It isn’t as if God gets a good
deal in choosing anyone. It’s humbling. It’s purely by
His mercy. But it is also affirming because
it does indicate an effective calling by God of Himself to
us for service. He did call them. He did call
some. It’s God Himself who has called
and placed them into a service. He has saved them. He has gifted
them. He has equipped them. They are
really and truly His. They no longer belong in or to
the world. And as a result, we don’t fit.
We don’t fit here any longer. And the truth be told, we don’t
belong here any longer except by God’s command for a season. We are, as Peter calls us, strangers
and aliens. We are really, truly just passing
through. We are not viewed as merely different
or unique or diverse. We’re viewed by the world as
a contrary element. Do you realize that in the first
century Christianity, they were already calling Christians cannibals
because they practiced the Lord’s table? There has always been
a slanderous hatred towards believers in Christ. They’re viewed as
a contrary element because what we believe, what we love is diametrically
opposed to the world. No wonder the world hates us.
We don’t belong here. and as such were viewed as felons
and vagabonds, enemies to the world, and they take great offense
at this and would love really to be rid of us. I said that
this entire section, verses 19 through 25, really unfolds to
us the expected cause of our persecution,
but he’s pointing to three specific things. Not only our association
with our Savior, But secondly, our subordination to our master. Look, if you would, at verse
20. 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. We’ll come to that one next Lord’s
Day, Lord willing. There is hope. The preaching
of the word will bear fruit. There will be fruitful ministry,
and we already know that from the first 17 verses of this chapter.
Jesus says here, remember. And that’s because he had uttered
this same exact warning, a slave is not greater than his master.
He had uttered that warning on an earlier occasion. In fact,
in this same setting in John’s Gospel, there in the upper room,
Jesus uttered this statement. But in John 13, 16, The significance
there seems to be a call to humility. Truly, truly, I say to you, a
slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent
greater than the one who sent him. He said, look, you’re not
above washing feet. Humble yourselves. Don’t get
too big for your britches, is effectively what he says. But
there’s another occasion where we find this admonition, and
the apostles, it was at the apostles’ first commissioning to service,
if you wouldn’t mind, please turn to Matthew’s gospel. Where
did I leave you? Wherever I left you, get to Matthew’s
gospel and keep a finger in John 15. In Matthew’s gospel, chapter
10, I told you he is commissioning out his apostles for the very
first time. and he wants to give them a word
of warning. Look at verse 17. But beware of men, for they will
hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will even be brought before governors and kings for
my sake. How would you like that as your marching order? Here’s
the ministry, you know, that’s the part we just don’t tell you
about in seminary. You’ll be brought before governors,
kings for my sake as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. But
when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are
to say, for it will be given you in that hour what you are
to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the spirit of
your father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to
death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against
parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated
by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured
to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you
in one city, flee to the next. For I say to you, you will not
finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man
comes. A disciple is not above his teacher,
nor a slave above his master.” In the same context, Jesus utters
the same admonition you’re going to have the same experience,
you’re going to have the same hatred of the world that I experienced. Back, if you would, to John 15. So I believe that this admonition
in Matthew 10 is exactly that to which Jesus is referring here
in John 15. And there he’s encouraging his
fledgling band, these brand new apostles, he’s encouraging them
to perseverance and patience just as he is here in John 15.
And he tells his beloved friends that harsh treatment is coming.
It comes with the territory. It comes because of association
with Christ. And if he was persecuted, they
could expect the same exact treatment. And the apostles embraced this
as part of their call to service. Not one of them. Not one of them
turned back. Not one of them refused to go.
As per the title which I adopted for this section, Our Fiery Ordeal,
I remind you of 1 Peter 4. Do not be surprised at the fiery
ordeal among you. It comes with the territory.
Paul knew it. Paul told Timothy, all who desire
to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It comes
with the territory. Jesus advances a second proof
here. Not only will they certainly
be persecuted as Christ was, but they will also certainly
know ministry success as Christ did. And as I said, we’ll spend
much more time on this point next Lord’s Day, but look at
the verse again. If they persecuted me, they will
persecute you. If they kept my word, they will
keep yours also. Not every individual, not every
person that we proclaim Christ to will venomously reject Christ,
will hate His gospel, will have scorn for His followers. There
were converts in Christ’s day. There will be converts by means
of His disciples’ ministry throughout the world. They will keep the
apostles’ word. receive, they will embrace the
gospel, they will hold fast to the hope of redemption by faith
in Christ. And what a joy that some were
saved, certainly not all. And the majority, frankly, side
with the devil against Christ, but there are some. There are
those few. There are those who hear and
repent and place their faith in Christ. There are those. And
Jesus encourages His men that they will know that blessing
as well. Peter was present here, one of
the 11 with the Lord. He would go on to count it a
joy to be found worthy to suffer for Christ. That’s a man who
was listening that night. We can expect it. And instead
of reacting and lashing back out at them and treating them
with the same scorn with which they meet us and the gospel. We just embrace it as unjust
treatment that is ultimately aimed at the Lord himself. You
just happen to be standing in the way. There’s another portion that
we look to these social explanations of the world’s hatred. Why are
we hated? Why is it true? Well, not only
is it true because of our association with the Savior, and it’s true
because of our subordination to the Master, but it’s true
because of our relation with the Father. Look at verse 21. All these things they will do
to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who
sent me.” Ultimately, we are in fellowship. We have been reunited
with God the Father Himself. We are at peace with God. And
having offered proof to his friends here, both of the pending hostilities
and the hope of success in ministry, Jesus returns to the primary
theme of this entire section, and that is the cause of these
hostilities. And here Jesus tells them straight
out, whatever persecution that we ever face, if it’s true persecution,
ultimately it is for His name’s sake, not us. We tend to put ourselves in the
way. We tend to get ourselves in the
way. We tend to think that it’s all about us because of our denomination
or what Bible translation we read. It’s not because of us. The early apostles faced the
hatred of the world very early in the book of Acts. In Acts 4.17, they admonished
the disciples They were concerned that the gospel would continue
to spread. And so they concluded, let us
warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name. Christianity already became illegal.
They set up this phony law that it was no longer to be practiced,
no longer to be proclaimed. By this little phrase, by his
name, Jesus is using a Hebraism here the name pointing to the
entire revealed character of God here of Christ. It points
to the fullness of who Jesus is. He’s God. It points to His
person. It points to His character. It
points to His divine nature. And while others would actually
have to suffer, His people would have to suffer, They would actually
have to endure ill treatment, even persecution. It’s all done
for Christ. It’s all endured for Christ. Mark 13, you will be hated by
all because of my name. Luke 21.17, you will be hated
by all because of my name. Matthew 24.9, you will be hated
by all nations because of my name. Jesus says, it’s because of your
association with your Father, your heavenly Father. And he’s
not just suggesting that maybe we should be more careful about
the friends that we select. He’s reminding them that any
and all true persecution is due ultimately to the world’s hatred
of God. This idea, this is so completely
woven throughout the New Testament. Listen to just a few. Matthew
5.10. We read this verse a few moments
ago. Blessed are those who have been
persecuted for the sake of righteousness. That’s Christ. Our righteousness
comes from Christ. We have no righteousness of our
own. Matthew 10.18, you will be brought before governors and
kings for my sake. Matthew 10.39, he who has found
his life will lose it. He who has lost his life for
my sake will find it. Matthew 16.25, whoever wishes
to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it. Acts 9.16, I will show him, talking
to the Apostle Paul at his conversion, I will show him how much he must
suffer for my sake. It’s always for Christ. It’s
against God’s Christ, the very revelation of God that draws
out the world’s scorn, and it’s all resulting from and proof
of the fact that they do not know and do not love God. Jesus
says it here plainly, because they do not know the one who
sent me. They have no personal knowledge
of that one, and logically the world hates God, hates His revealed
Christ, and ultimately hates those who love Him. It’s not just that they didn’t
know the fact that God sent Christ. They didn’t know God Himself. this image of God that Jesus
presented. They didn’t know that God. They didn’t know the true nature
of God. They didn’t know the real character
of God in His holiness, in His justness. And yet Jesus said
before and said on multiple occasions, if you have seen me, you’ve seen
the Father. I came as the perfect representation
of Almighty God. the logical conclusion. He essentially
says here, if they hate me, it’s only because they hate the Father. So the apostles here, they had
no cause to be disturbed. They had no cause to be distraught.
They had no cause to give up and give in as if maybe they’ve
chosen the wrong Savior in whom to place their faith. He said, Jesus said, look, take comfort. I know what’s coming. I know what you’re enduring.
And it’s a sign of your walking with me. Look at verse 22. Jesus said, if I had not come
and spoken to them, they would not have sinned. But now they
have no excuse for their sin. We get this all the time, don’t
we? You get people that will say, if we only found the Shroud
of Turin, boy, I’d be in. I’d be in with you. Still looking
for the ark. I’d love to see the ark. I’d
love to have a little more proof.” Jesus says they have all the
proof they needed. Jesus states here in verse 22
that not only did He come, but He clearly declared Himself to
mankind. He declared Himself to the Jewish
nation particularly. In fact, remember Hebrews 1?
Hebrews declares that Jesus himself was the final message, the final
word, the final revelation of God himself to humanity. Here’s how it goes. God, after
he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions
and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in his
Son. whom he appointed heir of all
things, through whom also he made the world. And you know,
if you’ve been with me for a month, you know how this passage lays
out. God, having spoken, has spoken. God has spoken and he’s
spoken to us in Christ. He gave the world his final message.
He gave the world his final word. So it’s not as if the world doesn’t
know. Jesus told them just by coming to earth in the flesh,
but he also verbally proclaimed it. Let’s be clear, when he says,
if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin,
he isn’t saying that they weren’t tainted by original sin, inherently
sinful, temporally vexed, physically dying, spiritually dead. He isn’t
saying that they didn’t have original sin. Rather, what he says here is
that with this compounded testimony, that not only did they have their
Old Testament, not only did they have the converted lives of sinners,
not only did they have Jesus Christ in the flesh, they had
His testimony. They had His Word. It’s compounded
testimony. And with the compounded testimony,
sin itself was also compounded. Rejection itself was compounded. It is as one pastor described
it, an invincible antithepy towards God. It’s the hatred of God. You remember Paul on Mars Hill?
Paul’s preaching to heathens. And he says, therefore, this
is his conclusion. It’s beautiful. Therefore, having
overlooked the times of ignorance. And what he points back to, to
these heathens, godless people, didn’t know God, didn’t even
have the first concept or clue who God was. And what prompted
this whole thing was the godlessness of the society in which he found
himself. And he says that God has overlooked
this season of ignorance. Enough is enough. You don’t need
to be ignorant anymore. Having overlooked the times of
ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere
should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will
judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed,
having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. The ignorance is over. Jesus
Christ has come. See, the world couldn’t have
been any more apathetic. They couldn’t have been more
complete in their detestation of the Almighty. Having seen
God in the flesh, having heard His testimony, they were all
the more guilty in their rejection of Christ. The rejection of God’s
Messiah was utterly inexcusable. Verse 23. verse 23 is just offered
as an explanation of how could this possibly be. How could Jesus
come as God, take on human flesh, dwell among us? How could He
be God’s final message to humanity and be so utterly overlooked? Simple. He who hates me hates
my Father also. It’s because they hated God.
And here Jesus says the bottom line in the rejection of Himself
by the world isn’t merely a rejection of Him, but it’s a rejection
of the Father. It’s a hatred of God Himself. And what it reveals is that all
along such people have established no less than an idol, a false
image of God, a God in their own making, not the one true
living God as revealed in Scripture and as revealed in Christ. One pastor said here, in no other
part of his gospel has John declared more clearly the sinful nature
of unbelief and the peril of rejecting Christ. For to deny
his claims and to refuse to become his disciple is to hate God and
to condemn one’s own soul. You know what? They’ve been completely
exposed. This isn’t ignorance of the nature
of God. This isn’t ignorance of their
Bible. This is a violent hatred of who
God is. And as Jesus Christ and His Heavenly
Father are one in essence, a person cannot receive one and reject
the other. It is impossible. We have this
idea that is so rampant in our own day of deism. You know what
it is? It just is a general belief in
God as if that’s good enough. It isn’t good enough. You can’t
believe in God and reject Christ. What Jesus says here, you can’t
reject Christ and claim that you believe in God. To love one is to love the other.
And to reject one is to reject the other as well. Look at verse
24 briefly. 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 and hated me and my father as well. Jesus
says, look, nobody ever came and performed the miracles that
I did. No one ever came and lived the life that I did. His works, His miracles, the
proof of His divine mission, Indeed, the testimony of His
entire sinless life, those things were a testimony to them and
for them and ultimately against them. His miracles, by the Jews’
own acknowledgement, were such as had never been done before
by any man. In John 5, Jesus says, the works which the
Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, they
testify about me. In John 10, 38, though you do
not believe me, believe in the works, so that you may know and
understand that the Father is in me. If they had just, maybe
they didn’t see divinity in human flesh. Jesus allows for that. Maybe they didn’t understand
his message quite, that as God in the flesh, he would fully
atone for their sin. But he says, look at these works.
And if you only looked at the works, you would be led to faith.
There were those that noted that these were no ordinary works.
There was an entire horde of people that watched Jesus heal
a demon-possessed man, Luke 4. An amazement came upon them all.
They were astounded at what they had just witnessed. Nicodemus
came skulking towards Christ at night and came to Him and
said, no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with
them. They knew. many people looking on Christ.
In John 7 31, when the Christ comes, will He not perform more
signs than those which this man has done? Is this possibly the
Messiah? And in John 9, after the healing
of the blind man, the twice healing of the blind man, since the beginning
of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of
a person born blind. They were astounded at His miracles
and they wouldn’t trace it to its logical conclusion. And Jesus
tells them why, verse 25. They have done this to fulfill
the word which is written in their law. They have hated me
without a cause. And Jesus concludes this entire
section telling his friends that this treatment by the world,
this rejection of God and his Christ, and subsequently the
hatred of his people, his followers, his disciples. It’s really a
fulfillment of divine prophecy. And it should be noted here that
there are a number of prophecies that could potentially be referenced
here. Psalm 109, Psalm 119. But David himself expressed this
on multiple occasions. It was the perception of this
shocking hatred by the Lord’s enemies Psalm 69 he says it,
those who hate me without a cause. Psalm 35 he says it, those who
hate me without a cause. David says that their hatred
of him was unjust, without a cause. It wasn’t right. And David takes
his complaint to the only one to whom we can properly lodge
such a complaint. He takes it to God in the Psalms. And he basically says, look,
this is unjustified. This is unjust. And I want you
to consider this. If David. Even even though he
was favored in God’s eyes, he was a sinner like the rest of
us. And if even King David complained of the unjust hostility of the
enemies of God, how much more true is that sentiment uttered
by the Lord Jesus Himself. You see, because Jesus, for Jesus
this means now literally within minutes, not days, not hours,
within minutes He would face the injustice of the cross for us. In a very real way we
can never accurately say, I don’t deserve this. Do you realize
that? And you say, well, this is all really neat. Four disclosures
of the church’s expected persecution. It is coming. And not only is
there this sudden and sobering forecast of persecution, but
now we know the cause that ultimately when we suffer, it’s because
of Christ. What do we do with that? Because of our association with
Christ, because of our submission to Him as our Master, because
of our relationship with God the Father, first of all, come
to Christ. If you don’t know Christ, you
are on the enemy’s side. You are contrary not to the people
that name His name. Not so much. You are, but it
gets worse than that. You’re against Christ. You’re
against Almighty God. You need to repent. You need
to place your faith in the only hope for humanity, the only help
for sinners, and that’s Christ. Not only come to Christ, but
cling to Christ. We talked about this some weeks
ago. It’s all God’s grace. Anything that we do or accomplish
is all God’s grace. We must abide on the vine. Come to Christ. Cling to Christ. Live for Christ. Take a stand
for Christ. Stand up against evil. Stand
up for what is right and good. Clean up your lives by God’s
grace. Come to Christ. Cling to Christ.
Live for Christ. Speak for Christ. Tell others
about the hope and the help of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s
pray. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your glorious presence and we know that it’s coming.
Your word is true. And Lord, in some sense, we have
already tasted it. We can already sense the hatred
of the world. Not just in the belittlement
that we receive when we try to talk to others about the Lord,
but Father, in many other harsh ways, and we see it building.
We do. Lord, grant us the grace. First
of all, grant us the grace of salvation. Grant us the grace
of walking with Christ Grant us the grace of trusting you
in all things and grant us the grace to open our mouths as you
would have us. Use us, Lord, for your glory
while we still have time, while there is still the window of
gospel opportunity. We plead with you for Christ’s
sake. Amen.