The Warning of Hostility to Come part 2

Well, go ahead and take your scriptures your copy of God's Word turn with me to John chapter 15 John chapter 15 We will be in verses 21 through 25 John chapter 15 verses 21 through 25 now last week we covered verses 17 through 21 and if you remember the title of the message I Called this message the warning of hostility to come now we will keep that same title for our message this morning and really in our Being studious of God's Word. We need to understand that verses 18 through 25 are part of one lesson from Jesus to his disciples Now I don't know if you write in your Bible.

I do because it helps me in my personal study Especially when I go back and study But if you will note verses 18 on down to verse 25 are part of this one message This one lesson that Jesus has for his disciples Now the subject at hand out of these verses is rejection The subject at hand is hatred and we learned last week. It is persecution I ran across one description of this persecution this week in some of our study One commentator I read called it a venomous opposition That's true.

This was a horrific opposition that Jesus was facing and the Disciples now the purpose in this lesson was preparation Jesus was preparing this little band of weak and discouraged disciples For what was right around the corner and that's why I chose the title the warning of hostility To come now last week. I concluded the message with three reasons why I believe We have lived in security in our land and in our time now This was purely out of my own observation in my opinion I had been meditating on these verses last week during the Thanksgiving holiday in between my study times and Those points of application really just kept coming back to my mind and like I said last week We are going to revisit those and we're going to do that real quickly Remember I shared that I believe we've lived in peace and security Because we have enjoyed what brother Keith called home field advantage home field advantage we have lived in a Predominantly Christian culture and what I mean by Christian culture Not that everyone in our country's leadership in the past and in our culture has been saved but we have enjoyed a Judeo-christian culture and so we have enjoyed home field advantage But that is fading very fast And then I shared last week that I believe that the church for the most part has lost her message and her mission The church has been so caught up with entertainments the church has been so caught up with trying to appeal to the lost world that I believe many churches have lost the sharpness of the message and lost her mission and the message of the Word of God and the church should be that Christ is the only way and The mission of the church is to reach lost sinners around the world and to build them into saints for God in his glory And then I did share that these things are under God sovereign control.

They are part of his will in his plan. I Was doing some reading this week concerning this matter, but most Christian organizations believe that the most dangerous place on the face of the earth to be Christian is North Korea It is horrible what Christians face in that land Why in the world will we born in our day in our time in our culture in our country? It is purely the grace of God and the sovereign will and plan of God now this week I was immediately reminded of how these points of application are really true Was on the phone with a minister friend of mine.

He ministers in a different state a larger city But he ministers in the south Very much a culture like we're in but he was sharing with me about a friend in his church a man of God in his church Who is facing some difficulty? This individual is a an Iraqi war veteran Really loves the Lord and serves God in his community and in his church He happens to be an African American man, but in his job He is a police officer and he was explaining to me how he works in the juvenile court system and this particular individual was attending some regularly scheduled training for police officers and those in the juvenile court system now He was explaining to me that one of the difficulties that they face in that particular community That's ravaging people in the black community was that many young girls are involved in homosexuality lesbianism Well in that regularly scheduled training that subject came up In the individual that was leading that training.

I ask everyone to stand and That individual said if you believe that homosexuality is okay Go to one side of the room and if you believe it is a sin go to the other He was the only one that went to that side He was reprimanded ridiculed As a matter of fact the particular individual leading the training told him he probably needed to find a new job in a new career As a matter of fact some of his co-workers reprimanded him in private Now what am I sharing with you that individual? faced Hostility and rejection because he was true to the message of the Word of God and he was living out his faith in his job He was living out his faith in the inner city sharing Christ as a officer in the juvenile court system And he was ridiculed what what do we see that home-filled advantage is fading fast and the message?

And the mission of the church is attacked and that individual faced it in our day and time Now like I said earlier Our verses this morning are part of Jesus teaching on the hostility hatred and persecution That the disciples would face and that leads us to the title of the message and like I said This is the same title as last week. We're looking at a part two now I'll put before you how we're going to divide our verses this morning It's rather simple.

We will look at their rejection of Christ's words Their rejection of the Father their rejection of Christ works and their rejection was prophesied Now I stated earlier that we will Start the message with verse 21, but we will break down verses 22 to 25 So I'm going to read verse 21 and then I'm going to stop at verse 25 And then we'll begin our journey through these passages verse 21 But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake because They do not know the one who sent me If I had not come and spoken to them they would not have sin But now they have no excuse for their sin He who hates me Hates my father also if I had not done among them the works which no one else did they would not have sin But now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well and then verse 25 But they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law They hated me without Calls now before we dive into verses 22 through 25.

I want to reach back to verse 21 And I want to bring a couple of observations to the surface now I know we covered verse 21 last week, but this is a beginning point for our verses This morning now last week. I called verse 21 the explanation of or for this Persecution now I want to call your attention to verse 21 and I want you to notice the word because go back to your copy of God's Word But all of these things they will do to you that's talking about the persecution the hatred the rejection for my namesake because Notice that word because that is a transition From the hostility to the reason for the hostility go back and look at it again But all of these things they will do previously Christ had mentioned the things that what happened Because they do not know the one who sent me So there is a transition there to the reason for the hostility.

They do not know God now a Question who is the they there? Go back to the verse but all of these things They will do to you for my namesake because they do not know who are these individuals? For Jesus it was the Jews it was the Jewish leadership It was the Jewish populace who had rejected Jesus and also it was Rome That is the world that he is speaking of in verse 18 that hated Jesus and ultimately hated his Disciples and we learned last week that they were unbelievers They were dead in their trespasses and sins Ephesians 2 1 they were hostile in their mind hostile in their thinking Colossians 1 21 they are darkened in their understanding Ephesians 4 18 and they are born into a state of rebellion against God Romans 1 18 so this day out of verse 21 That is the subject of the verses starting in verse 22 Notice verse 22 if I had not come and spoken to them so these individuals are the subject of these verses and these verses are a continuation of that explanation for the persecution and that explanation started in verse 21 So let's look at our first major truth that comes out of verse 22 our first major truth their rejection of Christ's words their rejection of Christ's words look at the verse if I had not come and Spoken to them they would not have sin but now they have no excuse for their sin Now here in this verse we will see that Jesus brings this opposition right to himself What does he say if I had not come?

Now this verse can stir up a thought-provoking question now. Here's the question is Jesus saying that if he had not come to these who were rejecting him Then they would not be in a state of sin. Is that what he's saying? No, that's not the case Jesus is saying that by coming and Revealing himself to the Jews to their leaders and to the nation He provoked the most damning of sins that is knowable and that is the rejection of God's Revelation and this would be for them the rejection of God's grace Through the revelation of his son Jesus and the words that he spoke to them Now there is one specific observation that I want to make here and that is how Christ Revealed himself to them go back to the verse But if I had not come and spoken to them they would not have sin But now they have no excuse for their sin.

How did he reveal himself to them? Jesus revealed himself through the spoken word of God. That's what he says if I had not come and spoken to them Jesus revealed himself through the spoken word of God, which was the very word of God from his father Notice what we learned back in John 12 verse 49 For I have not and this is Jesus speaking For I have not spoken on my own authority But the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment What to say and what to speak if we go back father in John John chapter 6 or excuse me verse 8 Chapter 8 verse 26. What does he say?

I Have much to say about you and much to judge But he who sent me is true and I declare to the world what I have heard from him So in summary, what are we seeing here? The Jews the religious leaders and the populace? sin greatly against the revelation of God through Jesus therefore they incurred a greater guilt and this great sin was rejecting Christ as the Messiah and rejecting his spoken word I Like what the Bible commentator Leon Morris says here about their guilt now listen to this because this helps us and I quote The greatness of the revelation made in Christ is the measure of guilt of those who rejected him I like that word measure They were more guilty Because of the word that he spoke to them now, I want you to notice what we can learn an application right here What do we see these Jews the religious leaders?

They had incurred a greater guilt because they rejected the revelation of God through Christ's Word now. What do we learn? We must see that there are individuals in our day They incur a greater guilt because they reject the Word of God There have been people who have come to our church and they have rejected the Word of God Preached from the pulpit the Word of God that was declared There have been people that brother Keith and I have sat down with and counsel with they have met in our homes And we have declared to them the Word of God and they have rejected the Word of God Therefore they have incurred a greater guilt the measure brings about a greater guilt Now I want to take this a little further I want you to see that there are some of you here you are evaluating what's taught you're evaluating What's preached there are some of you here?

You're wondering about your spiritual condition and I want to issue you a kind warning I want to ask you to be careful be careful that you don't get to the place where you reject the taught Word of God We work hard to preach to you chapter in verse word by word I can't tell you how many times people have said to me. I never saw it that way, but you explain chapter in verse word by word Just this past week having brother Ed here having him go through Christ's and evangelism There have been individuals who have said chapter in verse word by word I've never seen it that way now. What am I showing you?

We are not teaching you our opinion We are teaching you the Word of God and be careful Be very careful not to reject the Word of God that is brought before you Because if you're not careful you can do exactly like these Jews and that is you would incur a greater guilt Because of the revelation of the Word of God that has been brought to you Now I don't want to sound arrogant here But there are people that don't get preaching and teaching like we get I Know people who are starving to death I know Christians that are struggling in their faith because they are sitting under men of God who do not preach and teach the Word of God and Christians do struggle and what I want to share with you is this we because I'm including in this We need to be careful not to reject the words of Christ The word and the work that God has brought here through the taught word because we will incur a greater guilt And I want to say to you specifically don't do like some have done Walk out those doors and never come back because the Word of God offended accept it Receive it pray through it study through it adjust your life to the Word of God Let's continue on I want us to notice our Second major truth comes out of verse 23.

That is their rejection of the Father. It's a rather short verse He hates me hates my father Also now verse 23 a short verse can be easily overlooked and it can be easily lumped together With the verse before or the verse after now when we examine the language just out of these verses This verse we see that there are two words that are in the emphatic meaning there is a great emphasis given The word me that Christ uses in the word father Both of those are in the emphatic go back to the verse What is he saying he he is emphasizing he he who hates me? hates my father also Jesus wants to show the level of the rejection here these haters these persecutors are rejecting both Jesus and The father who sinned him?

Now there are two quick observations that I want to make here first of all I want us to see the unity of the father and the son The unity of the father and the son Jesus has made this claim all throughout the gospel of John those of you who have been in this journey faithfully You know the unity of God the father and God the son we see this all through the gospel but in John chapter 1 verse 1 What do we see in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God That's God the father and God the son in perfect unity We saw this taught in John chapter 5 verse 17 We saw this unity in chapter 8 verse 58 chapter 14 verse 9 verse 23 And when we continue into chapter 17, we will see this unity in chapter 17 verse 10 and 21 So the unity of the father here and then the second observation the unity of their mission The unity of their mission here Jesus is saying that their rejection of him and his mission as the Messiah is rejection of the father himself Jesus was saying that they are one in their mission Jesus alludes to this in many places But one that comes to my mind is in John chapter 4 verse 36 Jesus had been dealing with the Samaritan woman the disciples had come on the scene and they were Confused and they did not understand why he would be talking with a Samaritan or a woman and what does he say?

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work Jesus is saying that that which duruses him is to do the will of the father and there was perfect unity in their mission So in summary, what are we seeing here just out of this one little verse? Jesus and the father are one and their rejection of him as Messiah was a Rejection of the father now, let me pause here Because the Jews claim to worship the one true God They claim to worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, but they rejected Jesus but what Jesus is saying here is when you reject me you reject the one true God and Jesus teaches the opposite back in chapter 13 verse 20 What does he say?

Truly truly I say to you whoever receives the one I sin I sinned receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me So the Jews and all who reject Christ or Rejecting the father the one true God and even those who claim to worship God Now what can we learn here in application now, there is a lot of application for the Jews I've already mentioned that because the Jews claimed to worship the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Jesus continuously said if you were the true child of Abraham you would know who I am and What Jesus was saying was because they rejected him They were rejecting the God of the Old Testament the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob But what we need to see is when people reject the teachings of the Word of God When people reject chapter in verse chapter in verse word by word and they claim to be a Christian and Claim to serve God and claim to know God.

They are truly rejecting God and rejecting the father Now I'll take this to a Specific area and that is the area of conversion God taught us a long time ago that the first pillar in the church is conversion if we do not have Conversion, right we let anybody come in the church. We declare them safe They become a member of the church and then we have wolves and the pews dressed as sheep And we lose the whole thing called the church But when we declare biblical conversion conversion according to the Word of God and when our friends and our neighbors and our associates and our co-workers and family members Reject biblical conversion and they go out the door and claim to be Christian actually according to this they are rejecting God They are haters of God They have decided to construct a religion of their own They might quote Bible verses they might say that they love Jesus But according to what we see here when we reject Jesus and his way of conversion Which is the only way we are rejecting God the Father himself Let's continue and let's notice our third major truth Let's notice the rejection of Christ's works the rejection of the works of Christ Look at verse 24 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 now just as in verse 22.

We see that Jesus brings this opposition Right back to himself and again Jesus uses the same language that can provoke that question is Jesus saying that if he had not come to these who are rejecting him Then they would not be in a state of sin. No, that is not the case Again by coming and revealing himself to the Jews through his works their leaders in the nation They were provoked to this damning sin of rejecting God's revelation through his son Now two observations I want to make here and this will show us how Jesus revealed himself first notice that Jesus revealed himself through works Through works if I had not done among them the works The amplified reads works and it hasn't quotations attesting miracles and these were miracles These were works we've learned way back in the beginning of our study in John that John as he is writing his gospel Likes to call them signs Because the miracles the works the signs were meant to point those who were witnesses to who Jesus was They were not to be caught up in the miracle.

They were to be a they were to be pointed to the Miracle worker, but these Jews rejected Jesus works therefore they rejected him We see this in other places in the Gospels Matthew chapter 11 starting in verse 22 20 on down to verse 24 gives us an example I'll read you these verses Then he that's Jesus he began to denounce the cities where most of his works There the miracles had been done because they did not repent. They rejected Christ Verse 21, what does he say?

Woe to you Corazan Word woe to you Bethsaida for if the mighty works done in you had been done entire in Sedan they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes Verse 22, but I tell you it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sedan Then for you verse 23 and you Capernaum will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades For if the mighty works done and you have been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom then for you very Stiff wording. What is he saying?

They rejected his Miracles therefore they rejected him Second notice the unity spoken of here in the end of the verse go back to verse 24 If I had done Among them the works which no one else had done They would not have sinned but now they have both seen and hated me and my father as Well, this unity is seen in verse 23 again. It's in verse 24 Jesus repeatedly emphasized his perfect unity with the father.

He kept his special Relationship to the father at the forefront and all times One commentator read that I read said that he used words like my father and not the father Why because of that perfect unity that he had with the father So in summary, what do we sing here? the Jews sinned greatly Against the revelation of God through Jesus and his works Therefore incurring a greater guilt they rejected Jesus works Therefore they rejected Jesus therefore they rejected the father This is the one that they claim to be worshiping the one true God But yet they were rejecting the one true God again I like Morris quotation because it helps us here What does he say the greatness of the revelation made in Christ is the measure of guilt of those who rejected him?

Now an application what might we learn right here We need to see that not only do people reject Christ's words But many times people and sinners and people we come in contact with will reject the true expression of the faith of Christianity and the church If you go out into your community and you begin to express true Christian faith True Christian service there will be people who reject you for your works We have ministered to people here we have given and served to people here We have loved people here. We have given of our time.

We have given of our efforts We have helped people who have come into the life of this church and they have rejected those works They have turned their nose up at those works Therefore rejecting Christ because they have rejected a true expression of the church Now I want to warn you here There are a lot of things a lot of churches do and they are not true expressions of the church.

We're gonna talk about that at the close But we need to see that not only do people reject our words and reject what we say in our witness But they can reject our true Christian works before them and in their life Again, I make a personal plea this personal warning if you are here Do not reject not only the words of Christ don't reject the expression of the church that is Before you because if you reject the words of Christ and you reject the works of Christ through the church and through genuine Christians you will be you will be rejecting Christ and the Father Let's move on let's notice our fourth major truth our last major truth and That is their rejection was prophesied Their rejection It was prophesied look at verse 25, but but they have done this In order that the word may be fulfilled that it is written in their law They hated me without cause again Jesus is giving an explanation as to why this hatred and persecution is happening here We see that their rejection was not risking God's plan through his son This rejection was not risking God's plan through the disciples, but a fulfillment of God's spoken word Now I want you to notice that John uses the term Written law go back to the verse, but they have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled That is written in their law now this term can be used in two different ways In the scriptures and this will help you First of all the law it is applied many times Specifically to the first five books of the Bible now if you study on your own you might run across the term the Pentateuch because Bible scholars and scribes called the first five books of the Bible the Pentateuch and so this term the law Can be specifically applied to the first five?

But then second the term law can refer to the Old Testament in general And the latter is what is used here because John is quoting From the Psalms and we see this language They hated me without cause we see it in Psalms 35 19 We see this in Psalm 69 for Psalm 109 verse 3 and what do we see their? Rejection was spoken of it was prophesied and this is a fulfillment of That prophecy so in summary we see the hatred the persecution. They were not hijacking God's plan They were not thwarting what God was going to do through the disciples.

No, this was a part of God's plan And so for you for me and us we need to see then when we experience rejection When we are hated and reviled for our witness when we begin to love people who need Christ and they reject us Even if the day comes will we face violent persecution? It is a part of God's plan because these things were prophesied so long ago Now as I conclude and what I mean by conclude not just these verses from this morning But from 18 all the way down because this is really one message the warning of the hostility to come I want us to I want to make some application here that will help you If we're hated if we're persecuted if we're reviled we need to remember That this is a humble Christ like position.

We need to accept it with humility We need to accept it of us as a slave as the lowest of servants. Remember verse 20. What does Jesus say? Remember that the word I spoke to you Jesus is saying You are the slave. I'm the master under persecution. You humble yourself like I have So we need to humble ourselves But if we are hated if we are persecuted and we receive it as a humble slave of Christ We need to make sure that we are persecuted because we are doing what Christ Did and not what others do?

Let me help you with this first If we are hated and persecuted We need to make sure because we are proclaiming the true Gospel message and the truths declared in the Word of God Let me repeat that if we are hated for our words if we are persecuted We need to make sure it is because we are declaring the gospel the unadulterated Gospel and the truths from God's Word Remember our friend who was ridiculed in his job. What was he declaring? Homosexuality is a sin.

He was persecuted because he spoke for God's Word We must not twist God's Word to fit our agenda have you ever known anybody that did that We must not twist God's Word to fit our agenda and look that is not what Christ did What did Christ say? He said I'll only speak what the Father told me and we only have the authority to declare God's Word the way God's Word is written that goes to the gospel and the other truths in the Word We cannot preach and teach our own personal opinions Now we all have our opinions Sure But we need to be careful Some people say they're persecuted for the gospel and the truth of the Word of God But really they're just reviled because they're declaring their own personal opinions about God's Word and there is a big difference Second if we are hated and persecuted make sure it is because of Christ centered works Now remember verse 20 how Christ served He served as the lowest of slaves void of self Many people serve in the name of Christ For their own reasons To be recognized out of pride out of ambition for what they can get there are many people who Use the gospel and use the word and use the church and they use good works to propagate something And not Christ So we need to make sure if we're persecuted for what we do it is because of true Christian works and then third if we're hated if we are persecuted Know that this was prophesied and this is part of God's sovereign plan For our life now remember the checklist if we receive persecution We should go back and say Lord am I being persecuted because of the word and true Christian works?

Because if it's not it's something you need to not do And if we are persecuted because we declare the gospel and the Word of God and we're doing true Christian works Then it is God's sovereign plan for our life And he has a purpose for that that would get glory out of that persecution Now what's the title of the message the warning of hostility to come Now I know last week. I did share my personal opinion.

I believe more hostility more rejection and possibly Persecution is coming our way If I'm wrong, praise the Lord In these words these teachings and these verses and what Christ did for these disciples He had as a little band of weak disciples and he is preparing them for the future And if we will receive this warning this teaching this lesson Then we can be prepared for whatever would come our way tomorrow What's the title of the message the warning of hostility to come?