John 15:18-21
Down to Business (4)
John started recording the events of the upper room in John 13:1.
After Jesus took care of a few issues, He started teaching.
I. \\#John 13:31-32\\ It was time for God to expose Himself and
the Father as the great God.
II. \\#John 13:33-35\\ It was time for Jesus to leave and the
disciples to love.
III. \\#John 14:8-31\\ It was time the disciples knew the Godhead.
IV. \\#John 14:21-5:17\\ It was time that the disciples knew the
importance of obedience.
V. \\#John 15:18-16:4\\ It was time the disciples knew they would be
hated. Of all the things that Jesus had been telling the
disciples, this may have been the hardest! No one wants to be
hated.
A. Jesus plainly told the disciples they would be hated.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
1. The Jews were used to some measure of hatred, after all,
they were Jews.
a. Jews comprise a nation ruled by God - something most
other nations did not like.
b. And God had given the Jews some kinds which made them
very, very different. (People do not like
different.)
2. But at least the Jews had other Jews for support & help.
3. Jesus was telling them that was about to change.
B. Why? Jesus gives four reasons.
1. \\#15:21, 16:23\\ They were going to be hated because the
world did not know the Father.
John 15:21 But all these things will they do
unto you for my name’s sake, because they know
not him that sent me.
John 16:3 And these things will they do unto
you, because they have not known the Father,
nor me.
a. Notice the emphasis.
Joh 8:19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy
Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor
my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have
known my Father also.
John 8:55 Yet ye have not known him; but I
know him: and if I should say, I know him not,
I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him,
and keep his saying.
(1) Jesus was making it very clear that there was a
line of demarcation between those who are hated
and those who do the hating. That line is having
a relationship with the Father.
(2) Since Jesus specifically directedy these commens
at the Jewish leaders the first two times He
spoke of people not knowing the Father, I think
it would be safe to assume that the first line
of hatred was going to come from the Jews.
(a) It did!
(b) It was not long before the Gentiles hated
Christians too.
b. If the Jewish leaders did not know the Father…
(1) Somewhere, serving the Law and knowing the Father
had become disconnected.
(2) Since Jesus EMPHASIZED this truth REPEATED
over a long period of time, tt would appear the
disconnect occured a LONG time ago.
(3) This warns of a danger.
(a) It is possible to offer service without
having a relationship with the Father!
(b) If you serve, you have experienced a time
when you served for some other reason than
love for the Father.
i. habit
ii. duty
iii. obligation/job
iv. expectation
(c) However, these can only move us for a short
period of time!
(d) Our motivation must be our relationship to
God.
c. Why does knowing the Father mean we have to be hated
by those who do not know the Father?
(1) My first thought was that the hating/being hated
effect was because of Jesus; however, I ruled
that out.
(a) The truth is that many Old Testament saints
who had known the Father but did not know
Jesus were hated too.
(b) Jeremiah, Isaiah
Ac 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your
fathers persecuted? (Stephen)
(2) My guess is that those who know the Father take
on the attribute of the Father, primarily His
holiness.
(3) And it is that holiness that draw the scorn of
those who do not know the Father.
(4) That is interesting since those who do not know
the Father often accuse us of looking down our
noses at them while the opposite is often true.
2. \\#15:22\\ They were going to be hated because Jesus
exposed their sins.
John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto
them, they had not had sin: but now they have
no cloke for their sin.
a. I believe there is a connection to this reason and the
last, but that it is revved up a notch here.
(1) To be holy is to be apart from sin.
(2) To expose sin is to manifest or to reveal sin.
b. To take away the cloke of sin means that Jesus was
stripping away someone’s veneer to reveal their sins.
c. Whose veneer was He stripping away? Any one who
thinks they can hide sin.
d. How was Jesus exposing sin?
(1) By His works.
John 15:24 If I had not done among them the
works which none other man did, they had not
had sin: but now have they both seen and hated
both me and my Father.
(a) Only One connected to God could do the works
that Jesus did.
(b) Won’t Satan? Yes, but even his most
spectacular works will sputter when
compared to Jesus’.
(2) By His words.
(a) Jesus preached against sin.
i. \\#Mt 5:21-26\\ against unjust anger
ii. \\#Mt 5:27-28\\ against adultery &lust
iii. \\#Mt 5:31-32\\ against divorce
iv. \\#Mat 5:33-37\\ swearing
v. \\#Mt 5:38-39\\ revenge
vi. \\#Mt 6:1-4\\ show-boat religion
vii. \\#Mt 6:5\\ hypocrisy
vii. \\#Mt 6:7\\ vain praying
viii. \\#Mt 6:12-15\\ bitterness
ix. \\#Mt 6:16-18\\ false fasting
x. \\#Mt 6:19-21\\ greed
xi. \\#Mt 6:25-31\\ worry
xii. \\#Mt 7:1-5\\ judging
xiii. \\#Mt 7:15-20\\ false prophets
(b) That was just one sermon!
e. If Jesus preached against sin, I believe we should
too.
(1) However, our preaching must be in love.
(2) Some would say that Jesus called His audience
"vipers."
(3) If you get as wise, as holy, as divine, as
filled with the Holy Ghost, you can too. Till
then, just preach in love!
3. \\#15:19\\ They were going to be hated because they were
not of this world.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
a. I think this one is connected to the other as well.
(1) To know the Father is to have a relationship with
the Father.
(2) To have a relationship means we have to take on
(to a far lesser degree) His attribute of
holiness.
(3) To take on the attribute of holiness means we
must abandon this world—meaning, we are not of
this world any longer.
b. Jesus will actually speak more about this in His
prayer in John 17. There He will pray for us
because while we still live on this world, we
are not apart of it.
c. That balance can only be achieved by walking in the
Holy Spirit which is why Jesus will bring the Holy
Spirit back up \\#John 15:26\\.
John 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom
I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye
have been with me from the beginning.
4. \\#15:25\\ They were going to be hated for no reason at
all.
John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the
word might be fulfilled that is written in their
law, They hated me without a cause.
a. This was actually a prophecy being fulfilled
\\#Psalms 35:19, 69:4\\ about Jesus. It becomes
true of us as well.
b. When you get right down to it, there was/is no reason
for anyone to hate Jesus or us.
(1) He was holy—YES, but He did not come to condemn
sinners.
(2) He exposed sin—YES, but He also offered to take
those sins upon Himself.
(3) At this point in God’s plan, Jesus and
Christians are both as be dangerous as
butterflies.
(4) All we have is truth, but we are hated for it.
C. \\#16:1-4\\ What will the hatred do?
1. The hatred will cause the haters to hurt those who are
hated.
John 16:2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
a. Anyone who carried hatred within them will hurt
someone sooner rather than later.
(1) That is just what hate does. It turns people to
violence.
(2) So don’t hate, not Muslims, politicians,
abortionists, terrorists, liberals, criminals,
or even idiots.
b. Jesus made reference to how they would hurt us.
(1) From religious ostracization to death. That
about covers the extremes.
(2) Most of us don’t know how we will deal with death
but let’s at least make it through being
ostracized!
2. The hatred will make the haters think that they are the
ones serving God.
a. That is what happened to Jesus, Stephen, and Paul.
b. The haters present themselves as the good guys and the
hated as the bad guys!
c. This adds confusion to the lost, insult to the hated,
and injury to the gospel.
d. However, none of that is our concern. God is in
charge of vindications.
e. Our job is to just stay faithful.
3. The hatred will offend some of the saved.
John 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you,
that ye should not be offended.
a. Jesus was telling the eleven because He did not want
the surprise and shock to offend some.
b. Offended means to stumble, to trip, to entice to sin
or apostasy.
c. We could say that it will frighten some off.
d. Since some are not preparing the church for the
coming hatred, as it comes, I suspect some will be
offended.
e. Jesus prepared His disciples and I am trying to
prepare you.
D. There had been one bright spot for the disciples.
1. The haters had not been able to get to the disciples
because Jesus had been with them.
John 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they
will keep yours also.
John 16:4 But these things have I told you, that
when the time shall come, ye may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not
unto you at the beginning, because I was with
you.
a. Jesus’ presence had protected the disciples from the
haters.
b. The haters had been so busy hating Jesus, they had not
paid any attention to the disciples.
2. But in that upper room, Jesus was telling the
disciples that things were about to change because He
was leaving.
3. Friend, you and I have been protected in this country
because there was a strong presence of Jesus here.
a. Sadly, Jesus is being thrown out.
b. As He leaves, it is time for us to understand
that the haters will be coming after us soon.
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