The Warning of Hostility to Come part 1

Go ahead and take your Bible this morning. Turn with me to John chapter 15. The Gospel of John chapter 15, we are in our study through the Gospel of John. Of course, we know the theme of the book. It's where our series title comes from. It comes from that theme. It's called Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live. And this morning we will cover verses 17 on down to verse 21. Now, as you're turning to your portion of Scripture, I want to take just a minute to remind you where we are chronologically and where we are in Christ's relationship to His 11 disciples.

Now, chronologically, we have learned that the events, starting in chapter 13 all the way to chapter 17, are taking place the very night of Christ's arrest. We know that Judas, traitor Judas, left Jesus, left the disciples there at the Passover celebration, and he is making plans to lead those who would arrest Christ. In chapter 13, Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover meal. And then all the way through chapter 17, Jesus is spending one-on-one time with His disciples. Now, when we get to chapter 18, we will see Jesus arrest, and then very quickly we will see Jesus go to the cross.

Now, what is special here in Christ's relationship to His disciples? We need to really understand what is taking place in this one-on-one time. Remember that chapters 13 to chapter 17 are what Bible scholars call the farewell discourses. Jesus is preparing them for the cross. Jesus is preparing them for everything that would take place around His arrest and His going to the cross. He is preparing them for His departure, and He is preparing them for their ministry after His work of redemption is complete. I've said this numerous times, and I'll repeat it on purpose, that Jesus is persevering in them.

They are confused about all that is going on, and He is persevering in them so that they would be all that He knows they need to be. Now, in looking at our verses this morning, if you take notice, if you've read or studied ahead, starting in verse 18, Jesus' teaching changes rapidly. Look at verse 18 with me real quickly. What does Jesus say? "If the world hates you," then if we look on down to verse 20, and what does He say? "That you will be persecuted." If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. What are we seeing here? Since chapter 13, all the way through this point, Jesus has been encouraging.

Jesus has been making promises of comfort and blessing to His disciples. And now Jesus begins to teach on rejection and on hatred and on persecution. Truthfully, hostility would mark the disciples' lives until the very end. And not only was this the destiny of the disciples, but much of the church throughout the ages. And I want to continue along this line for a bit so as to get this firmly in our minds. Now, I referenced earlier the wonderful promises that Christ has made. One of the promises He's made has been concerning the Holy Spirit.

And we know that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God, was poured out on the disciples there at the Day of Pentecost, the celebration there, in Acts chapter 2. So the Holy Spirit has been given in Acts 2, but in Acts chapter 3, Peter and John were there in the temple at the hour of prayer. And what happens? Peter heals a cripple. He preaches Christ. And then they were jailed by the religious leaders. This type of hatred and persecution followed the disciples all throughout the birth and the growth of the church. All you have to do is read carefully through the book of Acts, and you'll see this.

The Scriptures, the church history tells us that all of the apostles died. And they died an early and a violent death from persecution. Brother Keith referenced it earlier, all but one. That would have been the Apostle John, but we know he died in exile. And church history tells us that he was boiled in oil in an attempt to kill him. Now, a question might arise for some of you. What about the church after the death of the apostles? If you know your church history, you know that Rome persecuted Christians off and on in the first, second, and third centuries, mostly on and less off and on.

Emperors like Nero and Domitian led government-sponsored persecution and wholesale death of Christians. The worst persecution came in the early 300s, led by the Roman emperor, Diocletian. This was an all-out movement to destroy all Christians and all Christianity. And this persecution finally subsided when Emperor Constantine granted freedom of worship for all religions in the Roman world. Now, if you know your church history, this took place in what is called the Edict of Milan in AD 313. And this type of persecution has always dogged some within the church throughout the centuries.

We've just celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Men like Martin Luther, who were used greatly of God during that time, they faced great persecution, great hostility, and great hatred. If you do our family tree as Baptists, if you go all the way back to our Baptist forefathers in the 1500s, there were these individuals that were called Anabaptists. And they were hated and they were persecuted because of their belief of baptism after conversion. Now, what am I trying to show us here?

Hostility, hatred, and persecution has been the path for some within the church throughout the centuries, starting with Christ and this little band of disciples that are right here with Jesus. Starting in our passages, we have this morning, Jesus is preparing this little band, this little group of disciples for the life of hostility that was to come. So that leads me to the title of the message, and that is the warning of hostility to come. The warning of hostility to come. We encourage you to take notes so that you can study and hold on to what the Lord wants to teach us this morning.

So the title of the message this morning is "A Warning of Hostility to Come." We will start in verse 17 and we'll go down to verse 21. So let's look at our verses together this morning. "This I command you that you love one another." Now we'll come back and touch on verse 17 at the end of the message. But let's look starting in 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, therefore the world hates you." Remember the word that I said to you.

A slave is not greater than its master. "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also." And then verse 21. "But all these things they will do to you for my namesake, because they do not know the one who has sent me." So our first major truth this morning, which will come out of verses 18 and 19, is the hatred from the world. Let's go back and look at verses 18 and 19. We'll see this word "hate" immediately. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you." And then 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, therefore the world hates you." So it's obvious that the theme here is this word "hate." Now here in verse 18, we see immediately a change in Jesus' teaching direction. Here Jesus abruptly begins his preparation of the disciples for this great hostility that was right around the corner. One of the Bible commentators I use, his name is D.A. Carson. He's a very well-respected theologian in our day. I love how he describes this.

He says, and I'm quoting, "The purpose of these verses is to eliminate the surprise factor when persecution does break out." I think that's very accurate. "Eliminating the surprise factor, preparing the disciples for this hatred that was to come." Now let's break down this hatred from the world. There are three observations I want to make here. First, I want us to notice the world hates Christ. The world hates Christ. Now I'm going to pick up in the second portion of verse 18. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you." Isn't that what the text says?

"The world hated me before it hated you." Now this prompts a question that needs to be answered. Who or what is the world? Isn't that what's said here in the verse? This word "world"? "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you." Who is the world? What is the world that Jesus is talking about? The word "world" here refers to the evil world system which is controlled by Satan himself. This system is against God. It is against Jesus. It is against man. And it is against everything that is good and true and noble. If you see anything in the world that is of God, the world and this evil world system is against it.

And this system is comprised of wicked, sinful, unregenerate people. And the word "hate" here, in its original construction, it communicates an ongoing, continual hatred. So Christ is saying that this evil world system, which is full of lost, wicked people, and it is governed by the powers of Satan himself, it hates Christ. Jesus is saying it hates him. So the world hates Christ. Then second, notice that the disciples, they were not of the world. They are not of or from the world. Go back to the verse. "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." Here Jesus is not questioning their relation to the world. John is writing to emphasize that they are not of the world, but Jesus goes on to emphasize their position by repeating what he had previously taught in verse 16. If we go back to verse 16, we covered this last Sunday morning. What does he say in verse 16? "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you." Go back down to our verse this morning, verse 19. What does he say?

"You were not, 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." Here Jesus boldly states that they were chosen by him. The construction of the pronoun "I" here is in the emphatic. And the construction of the word "choose" reveals that Jesus did this act for himself. So with that understanding, go back to the verse. Jesus is saying, "But I," it's in the emphatic. He is emphasizing himself. "But I chose you for myself out of the world." And again, this is a repeat from verse 16.

And we see this type of teaching about God choosing individuals all throughout the scriptures. I will reference one and give you two or three others. Paul says in Colossians 2.13, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son." Notice what Paul is saying here. He, that is God himself, God did this work. God had delivered them from the domain of darkness. That is none other than the choosing of God himself. This is taught in Acts 26 verse 18. 2 Timothy 2, 26, Hebrews 2, 14, and 15. What do we see here? They were not of the world. They were chosen out of the world by God.

And then third, we see the world hates the disciples. The world hates the disciples. For that, we go back to the first portion of verse 18, and then the last part of verse 19. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. And then the end of verse 19, "Therefore, the world hates you." Again, Jesus is not questioning this fact. He is emphasizing. Here we see that this evil world system that is comprised of sinful, wicked humanity, this evil world system that is governed by Satan himself and his fallen angels, they will hate Jesus, and they hate his chosen disciples.

This is inevitable given that they are his, and they stand for all that Christ is and all that Christ stands for. The apostle John teaches this truth later in his epistle. In 1 John 3, 13, what does he say? "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you." So in summary, what are we seeing just in these two verses? Jesus is giving them, and I'm borrowing Carson's language again, Jesus is giving them the surprise factor. He is telling them that the evil world system, which hates him, will hate them so they better get ready.

Leon Morris, another commentator I read says, he points out that John is emphasizing the world because he repeats it over and over. And even in the original language and in our modern translations, in verse 18 and 19, John uses the word six times. What is John doing is he's writing what Jesus said. He is emphasizing the world and the hatred that the world has for Christ and the hatred that the world has for them, and he is giving them the surprise factor because he is preparing them for what is to come. So we see the hatred from the world. Now let's continue. I want us to notice our second major truth.

Our second major truth is the persecution from the world. The persecution from the world. We see this in 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." Again, this is part of the surprise factor. This is part of the preparation. Jesus is still preparing them for what was to come. But now Jesus moves from teaching on hatred to teaching on persecution. Just as in verse 18 and 19, Jesus will show them that they will endure exactly what he has and he will endure. Now let's break down this persecution.

There are three observations that I want to make just out of this one verse. First of all, notice a reminder of their position. Jesus gives them a reminder of their position. We see this at the beginning of verse 20. "Remember the word that I said to you." Jesus repeats himself to these men over and over. And what does he say? A slave is not greater than his master. Here Jesus reminds them of an earlier teaching from the Passover meal back in chapter 13. And if you really pay attention, this is an exact quotation and John rarely quotes himself like this.

Now there is one word which is not mentioned in the verses, whether it's in chapter 13 or here in chapter 15, but it is right here and I want to bring this word to your attention and this is key. This is the word, humility. I would like you to write that word down. Humility, because humility is the key to understanding what Jesus is teaching in chapter 13 and in chapter 15. Back in chapter 13, in the example of Jesus washing their feet, what do we see? Jesus was humbling himself to the very lowest of servants.

In that day they had many servants, some were even slaves, and the very lowest of servant, the very lowest of slaves, had the job of washing people's feet. And in that example, Jesus taught them to humble themselves and to serve, yes, even serve as the lowest of servants, performing the most demeaning of tasks if necessary. So the key to understanding what's taught in chapter 13 is humility. Jesus is saying I am humbling myself to the very lowest of servants and you should too. And then here in chapter 15, Jesus is teaching that he has humbled himself to endure persecution and they should humble themselves in like manner.

Now go back to the verse. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave, they are the slaves, is not greater than his master, he is the master. What is the context? Persecution. And Jesus is reminding them of their position. Stay humble in your position as a servant. And then second, the second observation, notice the promise of persecution. 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. Here is a very simple statement.

This is here, this is not meant to question the reality of Jesus' persecution, but it emphasizes its reality the way this is written. Here he states that the world persecuted him, so they will be persecuted by the world as well. And then our third observation, the promise of some acceptance. The promise of some acceptance. Let's read verse 20 again. 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. Here, Jesus is referring to their future ministry. Here, Jesus gives some good news in the middle of the bad news.

In Jesus' ministry, the vast majority of those who heard him rejected him. We learned that in our journey through the Gospel of John. And the same would be, the same would happen for the disciples, but there would be some who would hear, and there would be some who would accept their message. So there is a little bit of a bright spot here in this negative teaching. So there is the promise of some acceptance. So in summary, what are we seeing right here in verse 20? Jesus is preparing them for more than hatred. He is preparing them for outright persecution. You see how it ascends?

He is teaching them that they were to humble themselves to and under this persecution and trust him. And then he gives them a small ray of sunshine. He promises them that they would have some success. Now let's continue and let's examine our third major truth. And that is out of verse 21, the explanation for this persecution. This explanation for this persecution. Verse 21, "But all these things they will do to you for my namesake, because they do not know the one who sent me." Here in this one verse, Jesus gives the disciples a brief but powerful explanation for the world's persecution.

Now I want to ask you a question before we dive off into this verse. Does the explanation take away the suffering? No. If you know your Bible, you know that the disciples endured horrific suffering. And so this explanation does not take away the suffering, but understanding why is part of Christ's encouragement and preparation for them. Again, he is giving them the surprise factor. This is what's coming, but he's still encouraging his own. Now there are two observations out of this work, this verse. Two observations I want to make here. First, this persecution is on account of his name.

Verse 21, "But all these things they will do to you for my namesake." Jesus is saying that their persecution will be because of their association with him. This persecution will be because of Christ. They are associated with Christ. They are known as Christ followers. And so they are persecuted. And we see this teaching back in Matthew's writings. You know that Matthew gave a gospel account. And in Matthew 5, in what's called the B-Attitudes, Matthew chapter 5 verse 11 says, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." What is Jesus saying there through Matthew?

Because of your association and connection with me. So he is saying here, this is part of the explanation, this persecution will be on account of his name and their association with him. And then second, this persecution is because they, the world, does not know Christ or know God. Go back to verse 21, "But all these things they will do to you for my namesake because they do not know the one who sent me." Here, Jesus gives the fundamental reason why the world hates him, the fundamental reason why the world hates the disciples. And it is because they do not, that is the world, know God. And if they do not know God, they do not know Christ.

And if they do not know Christ, they will not know the disciples. Now, in my study this week, I ran across, it's a paragraph, it's by John MacArthur. And it's a consolidation of a whole lot of Bible passages and his own insights. And it describes why the world persecutes the disciples in Christ. So I'm going to read this, and like I said, it's a mixture of MacArthur and various passages. I'll try to note the passages. So if you want to jot those passages down and read them on your own. So let me quote John MacArthur here, and it'll help us.

And I quote, "Because," and I'm quoting verse here, "the mindset on the flesh is hostile towards God," Romans 8-7, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God," Romans 8-8, "unbelievers are dead in their trespasses and sins," Ephesians 2-1, "alienated in hostile in the mind," Colossians 2-21, "and darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart," Ephesians 4-18, "all people are sinners by nature, born into a state of rebellion against God, they," and this is a quotation of Scripture, "they suppress the truth in unrighteousness," 1-18, Romans.

"And even though they know God, they do not honor Him as God, or give thanks, but are futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart is darkened," Romans 1-21. So what is John MacArthur helping us see here? These persecutors of the disciples, they do not know Christ, they do not know God, they are enemies against God, they are rebels darkened in their understanding, and Scripture after Scripture after Scripture describes who they are, therefore we know why they do what they do. They do not know God. So in summary, what do we see here? Just in this one verse, Jesus explains why this persecution is taking place.

It is because of their association with Him. He is saying, "It is because of Me." And most importantly, He is telling them that it is because of their sinful, rebellious hearts. To quote MacArthur again, "They are born into the state of rebellion against God." Now, I mentioned earlier that we were going to pick back up in verse 17, and that's what I want to do now. I want to circle back around to this verse, verse 17. We used this in last week's message. So let's go back to our verses, verse 17. What does Jesus say?

"This I command you that you love one another." Now, in my study, in all of the different resources that I use, in scholars that I look at, in commentators that I reference, they all basically say the same thing. This verse, verse 17, is what's called a verse of transition. It's between two portions of Scripture, and some will say, "Well, it is attached to the former verses." And some will say, "No, it is attached to these verses about hatred and persecution." Well, I say it's both. I think that this verse has a big purpose in all that Christ is teaching. Now, remember Jesus' approach with the disciples.

Jesus was not forgetful, but He knew them. And He knew that they needed to get this truth. They needed to get this command if they were to get all that He was going to teach them. Remember, in chapter 13, verse 34, what does He say? "A new commandment that I give you that you love one another." Then He repeats Himself in chapter 15, verse 12, "This is my commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you." And then here, in verse 17, "This I command you that you love one another." Now, why would Jesus drive this truth home? Why would He repeat over and over this command? Now, this is my thinking. Look at what they were facing.

Great hostility, hatred, persecution. I mean, right out of the gate, the Spirit of God is poured out at the Day of Pentecost in chapter 2 of Acts. And right there in Acts 3, they healed a crippled man there at the temple, and then they preached Christ and immediately hostility and persecution. And they were to live a life of nothing but hatred and hostility and persecution and suffering and death. And look what He said, "Do not forget to love one another. You must love one another. The whole world let them down, and the only ones they could depend on were their brothers and sisters in Christ." Maybe their own parents let them down.

Maybe former friends rejected them. Maybe neighbors and close acquaintances that they had prior to conversion were the very ones that persecuted them. And so Jesus is saying, "You must love one another, because you might not have anything but the brothers and sisters when you face this persecution." Now, I thought about some application as I meditated through these verses this week. And I thought about real-life scenarios that we face. Do we not need brothers and sisters in Christ the Church? I'm talking about real born-again Christians now. I'm not talking about wolves in sheep's clothing.

We've all come in contact with supposed Christians who would devour one another. Those are not true Christians. Do we not need real brothers and sisters when we're facing a troubled marriage? You know when the marriage is falling apart, and all you have is Christ, don't we need true brothers and sisters in Christ? Don't we need true brothers and sisters in Christ when we lose our father or our mother? Don't we need the body of Christ, the Church, true Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ when we're facing a rebellious son or a rebellious daughter? Don't we need brothers and sisters in Christ?

Don't we need the Church, the body of Christ, when we lose our job or have struggles in our jobs? Don't we need brothers and sisters in Christ when we have great financial difficulties? You know, I've ministered long enough to know that there are certain people that endure pain and suffering because they've been victimized. The world and the enemy, Satan himself, will victimize people in a whole host of ways. And don't we need brothers and sisters in Christ when we're having to deal with pain and suffering from being a victim? You see where I'm going with this? Don't we need brothers and sisters in Christ? Another question.

Do you think we will need each other when the culture and/or the government turns on us? That's what those disciples faced. As soon as they stepped out into that Roman world, the Roman world sought to destroy them. As our culture becomes increasingly anti-God, anti-Jesus, anti-Bible, anti-Christian, and everything that is good, don't you think that we will need each other more and more? Don't you think that you will need the church and true brothers and sisters when you get converted and you begin to witness and your own family turns on you? You might lose your earthly brother and find a true brother in Christ in the church.

Don't you think you need brothers and sisters in the real church when your spouse leaves you because of your faith? Don't you think you need the church and true brothers and sisters when you begin to witness on the job and you lose your job because of your faith? You see where I'm going? Now, a little more application, and then we will conclude. Now, this application that's been on my mind all week is, think about this. The church, the New Testament church, the true church, has been under persecution around the world while we live in security.

Did you know that Christians are losing their lives today for their faith while we live in security and freedom? Now, why? Why is that the case? I want to explore that question in three statements. I'll touch on these and then we'll close. Brother Keith helped me with this quite a few years ago when we were teaching some students. I believe the first reason why we are living in security, it is because we have enjoyed what's called, what he called home-filled advantage. If you know our American history, I do not believe many of our founding fathers were necessarily Christian, but we were founded on Christian principles.

Now, many of the pilgrims and early settlers were Christian, many of them were Puritans and people who truly loved God. There were many who were part of the founding of our country who did love God, but for the most part, throughout our country's beginnings and up to now, we have enjoyed home-filled advantage. And that home-filled advantage has been Christianity, even if it's cultural Christianity. I'll give you an example.

If you go back to the 1950s, when some of our American missionaries were killed, martyred, Jim Elliot was the most famous, Nate Saint and Roger Udarian, they were martyred for taking the gospel to a primitive group of individuals who hated them and hated everything that was good and they gave their life. And if you look at how the American public reacted, it was a national outcry. Why? Home-filled advantage. Even lost individuals in our country did not want our boys who were Christian missionaries killed. We've enjoyed home-filled advantage, but it's slipping away. That might be why we have enjoyed such security.

I'll give you a second reason why maybe we have enjoyed security. Maybe the American church has lost her message and lost her mission. Listen, I don't care where you are, but when you stand on the rooftop and you begin to shout, "Jesus is the only way you alienate people." I think the church has lost her message in America. I think the church has lost her mission. I think the church has been too caught up on so many other things besides the message of the one true God and the mission of taking the gospel around the world.

And when the church gets very sharp on her message and very focused on her mission, there will be people who will hate her. And then the third thing that's been on my mind is all these things are under God's sovereign will and plan. Why were we not born? Why did we not have to live under the iron rule of communism when communism seized hold of Eastern Europe after World War II? Why weren't we born in the days of Richard Wambourin and those who suffered immensely for their faith? I'll tell you why. It was by the sovereign will and plan of God. Now, my personal opinion, I believe that true hatred and persecution is coming our way.

If you look at the Roman culture in their day and if you look at our culture and how it's changing in our day, we are going to face what they faced and it might be sooner than you know. So what are we looking at this morning? The warning of hostility to come. Jesus puts his disciples, I believe, in a shocking opposition. They could not believe what they're hearing, but he is preparing them for what is around the corner. Even though we might not face this type of opposition and hostility and persecution, there is still a great deal that we can learn out of these passages for our day. Let's pray and then we'll dismiss.