John, the 15th chapter, John 15 verses 18 through 25 is our scripture reading for the day. John 15, 18 through 25, I'm grateful for Dr. Gordon Reed who was with you to share the scriptures with you last week and I'm thankful for those who were aware of my destination and were in prayer for that I was invited to preach at Providence Presbyterian for their officer installation and that went very well as they laid hands on their newly ordained deacons and elders and they were commissioned and charged rightly to serve and so that was a blessed opportunity there was plenty of food to follow so it was a rewarding trip as well and so that was a wonderful time for us and for the family as that was back in our home turf and it was good to see some old friends so I'm appreciative of Dr. Reed's journeying with you some last week as he brought to you the scriptures and we'll return now to our study of John 15 verses 18 through 25 John 15 verses 18 through 25 listen for it is God who speaks to us if the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love you as 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 servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you if they kept my word they will also keep yours but all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me if I had not come and spoken to them they would not have been guilty of sin but now they have no excuse for their sin whoever hates me hates my father also if I had not if I had not done among them the works that no one else did they would not be guilty of sin but now they have seen and hated both me and my father but the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled they hated me without a cause may the Lord bless the reading of his word and the hearing of his people in some to this point you notice I trust that there's a significant shift in the themes which we've been following up to this point this is continuing the farewell discourse which Jesus is having with his disciples he's been offering words of comfort to them as he described to them his departure he promised to them that he was preparing a place for them and that they would join him there and then he also followed that with teaching to the disciples about their identification and unity with him and their appointed duty to bear fruit as a ministry to the glory of God they've been called out of the world he has taught them separated in the name of Christ to do the work which is eternal in a world which is temporal Jesus taught them that on account of him they could ask for whatever they needed in pursuit of this ministry God has called them to in his name and that he as their mediator and advocate would see that their needs were indeed met it would be provided they're commanded to abide in him to stay in him by keeping his word in them that they would abide in him as his word is found in them and that they were further to manifest the fruits of the spirit love being chief among them listed first and expounded in so many other scriptures love being the fulfillment of the law itself the letter of the law that is and that they were to express that in the fellowship of the saints and that would become the testimony of the church Martin Luther the great reformer observes about this he points out to them how christened them must live together what its fate will be and by what sign true believers or Christians are identified Christ makes this so urgent because he foresaw how many false Christians there would be who would vault their faith with excellent words and strong outward show but without a foundation we can see this concern of Martin Luther's worked out in the scriptures in Acts 1915 there's a story there which would be funny if it weren't so tragic a story of seven priests sons who take it upon themselves to perform an exorcism of a demon possessed man the evil spirit speaks to them in that passage saying Jesus I know Paul I know but who are you the humor would be that at that point we're told that the the evil spirit which was in the man then causes the man who is possessed to fall upon the seven sons and he gives them what we call where I'm from a good whooping but unfortunately it can't be funny because of the nature of the story so we can conclude that where there is only words Christ is not present no matter how great the profession no matter how great the liturgy no matter how involved whatever the ministries might be if they are only words then though the lips may praise the hearts of the people are far from the Lord we might wonder why Jesus is teaching so much and so long on a subject which we've been covering at length for so many weeks this subject of love within the body love for one another love for God it would seem that for the believer that would just naturally flow and so by simply stating it or giving us the truth concerning love that would be sufficient but Jesus has continued to elaborate and to approach it from several different perspectives in order that his teaching on love would be clear to the disciples he's emphasizing their unity with him and the foundation of love that that commits between them and because of their unity with him they also have a unity with one another why would he emphasize this why push so hard this idea of unity with him and love within the body because now as we are seeing in the passage just read today he's now telling them that the world will seek to destroy them that they are in a hostile environment and if the household is not strong if it is not firm if their if their inclusion in the body is not one where there is unity in the body with the head which is Christ then the body will be destroyed I imagine and I must imagine because the scriptures do not reveal this to us but as Jesus is speaking to them we know that there is a movement towards the cross at first only as Jesus was explaining it but then we're told they leave the upper room and yet they will go to the garden for prayer where Jesus will be arrested could it be that our Lord would even be looking down the road and in his mind's eye as it were seeing the cross or at least the shadow of the cross beginning to fall upon his own shoulders and knowing as he's talking with the disciples that the cross which he now is beginning to feel the coldness of that shadow being falling upon him is also a cross which is meant for the disciples because the world is the enemy of the church Jude will warn in his writing in his scriptures that incorporating worldliness in the church will bring division because the people of God have nothing to do with worldliness we are called out from that people who are worldly are devoid of the spirit because they are committed to ungodly passions and that has no place in the body of Christ and there is nothing that is worldly that can knit together a body where it is perceived that the love of Christ has failed the love of Christ is not received by the world because the love of Christ is the antithesis to the love which the world understands the world loves what the Christians must recoil from and the Christian loves what the world naturally hates five times in a single verse Jesus uses the word cosmos or is translated as world five times five times he uses that word world and doing so he uses a literary tool or a literary means of teaching where he's making sure that that concept of world is not lost in the conversation we do the same thing in our conversations when we want to make a point we might say something and then we might reiterate it or then we might say did you actually hear what I'm saying and the person might repeat it and you might realize that even in their repeating it they haven't grasped what you're really trying to say and you might repeat key words in your sentence to make sure they understand we know that after the resurrection Jesus and Peter in conversation he asks him three times do you love me to the point that Peter is almost desperate trying to understand what is it that the Lord is driving at because he answers easily to begin with all Jesus does is repeat the same question and each time it goes further and further to the soul of Peter here in this sentence Jesus is using the word world and in doing so he's making clear just what he's speaking of that the disciples must must understand that the world with this ambitions the world with its goals the world with its pleasures are all a danger to them they had already experienced hatred against Jesus and now they would begin to experience the hatred of the world coming first through the Jews but then as we also learn to experience as we stand for Christ against all Christians and all places Jesus had to leave Judea because the Jews were planning to murder him in 859 we find out in John chapter 8 verse 59 that there they're trying to stone him and they did that again in chapter 10 verse 31 is this anything at all contemporary to us is there anything about the warning this given to the disciples here that we can translate into our own experience read in the news that there was a young Muslim Christian or who was dating a young lady who was herself a Muslim practicing in the religion of Islam when her brothers discovered the fact they came to the young man requiring that he convert and marry the young lady he agreed to the marriage but he would not agree to forsake the gospel in the name of Christ so they abducted him and very cruelly tortured him over a long period of time until they left him dead now we might say well that's far off and we know that they can be very cruel because of a lack of conversion because of some one that it stands for Christ why is it that we can't post 10 commandments in public places when our very legal system is based upon the commandments why is it that we are offended if one bows their head to pray and then if one does pray if they use the name of Christ because the world hates the faith which we hold and anytime it rears its head and anytime it is symbolized in anything and anytime there is any reminder or any encouragement to those who would worship the same it is to be squashed and it is to be cast out it is to be repressed do we not see it do we not understand it and yet by and large the Christian church continues to accommodate herself as her ministers do to the world and so we do restrict our expressions we do fall back away from the front lines of the battlefield as it were in the cause of Christ we do step back so that we aren't offensive in our proclamation of the gospel if we were to be honest wouldn't we say that many times we don't speak about Christ or we don't share the gospel because we know that it would simply offend others as if they will go to hell because of being offended against us instead of their rejection to Christ it's their rejection of Christ that condemns them to hell not being offended by us now that doesn't mean we need to try to purposefully be offended offensive but it means that by holding off sharing the gospel of Christ we are helping no one the world is not our friend we are called out of the world not as punishment but for our salvation Paul explains the separation of a Christian from the world further in Ephesians chapter 2 12 and 13 he says remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise having no hope and without God where in the world in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ an interesting story in scriptures that illustrates this is the story of lot lot and his movement to the good lands lot and his movement with his family towards Sodom in the plains where they were fertile and where people had begun to populate he moves from the mountains and remote areas separating from Abraham he goes into the plains just outside the city sets up his tents and we're not sure exactly when it happened but eventually he finds himself inside the city and based on the description of the house as the angels of the Lord come to bring lot out of that city we can we can say that he's moved away from tents and perhaps bought himself a townhouse as it were inside Sodom itself and he's well aware of the nature of the city and what goes on in the city but he's decided that somehow I suppose psychologically he's been insulated from that and that he can live as a Christian in an intolerable circumstance even though he should be separated from it and so lot lives in the city with his relatives the angels come finding him at the gate he takes them to his own home and they tell them of the approaching judgment of God and they tell him to warn his family to get out lot goes to his family members who think he's joking they laugh at him and they will not leave let himself the next morning we're told was lingering even told by angels whom he recognized as being messengers of God told by angels of judgment he's still lingered so intoxicating is the effect of the world upon people upon Christians that even though in our minds and even though now you are aware of all that I'm saying you might still be because of a love of certain worldly activities and certain worldly functions and worldly vices finding some way to rationalize within your own mind away to hang on you are warning to linger linger in the lossness of what is worldly because of an appetite that has been that has been placed within us and has been fostered and allowed to grow we love that which is of the world even though God hates that which is of the world and so we return to it over and over again somehow excusing it or just pretending to be ashamed of ourselves and a humorous kind of way for a laugh and continuing on professing that we're weak in the flesh and hope that all understand to the detriment of our own soul there's nothing funny about that anymore than there was anything funny about the seven priests sons who were bludgeoned by an evil spirit because they were not walking with the Lord James makes it clear what the nature of the world is and chapter 4 verse 4 you adulterous people do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God therefore anyone who makes himself a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God if that wasn't sober the mind of any Christian to flee everything that is worldly then there is nothing that will to love the world is to make yourself an enemy of God Jesus is making it clear to the disciples that living in service to God and in unity with Christ will necessarily bring hostility from the world to Christ and all who follow him seven times he uses the word hate or hatred seven times he uses that word in the passage read just as Jesus called them to love he now warns them of the world's hate hatred of God's people isn't new it's historical even the Psalmist in Psalm 35 19 lamented let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause isn't that the mystery of it all in Christ ministry he healed the blind and made them to see he made the land to walk he fed 5,000 when there were no food he stilled the storms he healed and cleansed the leper he explained the scriptures and without fault there was no rebuke against his teaching which they could make stick everything was explained thoroughly people marveled at his teachings they saw his miracles and yet they hated him they hated him though he taught clearly and plainly though he acted in their midst with integrity and hid nothing from them they hated him is there any more testimony that we need than that and any more mystery in our own mind is the why why would the world hate those who seek to do good why does the world hate the true Christian church and it does wasn't it the church that began and founded most of our nation's hospitals wasn't it the church that began and founded most of the orphanages when our nation depended on those wasn't it the church that began and founded most of the institutions of education and higher learning which now have gone completely secular why because of a hatred of the church and the gospel and the truth of the scriptures had to be pushed out as those were taken over by the world and the church retreated one step after another away from that which she had begun the ministries which the which our nation and which all of civilization have enjoyed since the church was born or the same ministries which Christ himself did that when he was walking in the streets of Jerusalem and the church has experienced the same hatred that Christ himself experienced why why first of all and there's two reasons first of all because the words of Jesus Jesus taught in weakness he taught in humility his teaching was always in accordance with the scriptures and he was to teach men the way of salvation Jesus taught clearly throughout his ministry and their sin was now turned to judgment as he came to those who were wallowing around in their own lives by his revealing to them clearly the will of God their sin then translated into judgment it may have not have been scandalous in the years of the Pharisees it may rather have been scandalous in the years of the Pharisees but it was never slanderous he didn't slander them then even when he told the truth about them why did his words elicit such a strong response because before Jesus came men felt comfortable with mediocrity men prefer mediocrity they're comfortable in mediocrity you want to see or you want to experience when a minister begins to get pushed back from his own flock it's when he calls them to stop living with mediocrity when he first of all says let's deal with the fact that we are sinners and let's commit ourselves to live unto God and to forsake sin and then when he calls them to the mission which Christ has given them and he calls them to study God's word let's not study let's presume let's go with what we've already known let's stay with mediocrity let's not go out and and wrangle and unsettle people with this proclamation of the gospel they know I go to church they'll ask me if they want to go let's not talk about sin so much it's depressing I know I'm a sinner I said it once that's sufficient let's not go there anymore let's stay with the level of mediocrity don't challenge me on any front whatsoever don't challenge me with the mortification of sin and the flesh don't challenge me with being on the mission for Christ don't challenge me to grow deep in my understanding and the study of God's word leave me in my mediocrity or else you will find me a difficult customer to deal with such is the way of those who are not comfortable walking with God James Montgomery boys they could have a little arrogance but not too much they could have a little selfishness but not too much they could have a little meanness a little hypocrisy but after Jesus was revealed for what it is he revealed it for what it is sin and people hated the exposure isn't that what irritates the world the exposure that the gospel brings is the light of Christ shines upon the lives of men they are exposed for what they are and so they seek to either crawl back deeper into a hole or to extinguish the light they are not comfortable with the light of Christ so you find the churches getting busy with many ministries that have very little to do with the light of the gospel shining to be a transformative power in the lives of men you find a lot of busyness you find a lot of pleasures you find a lot of religious traditions you find a lot of people involved and a lot of religious action but the light of the gospel transforming their lives ask yourself and ask those whom you know what work is the gospel of Christ doing in your life now why where is it that your flesh is being mortified that is where is it that you are putting away sin and growing more in Christ likeness or is it that the power of the gospel is so weak in your own life you can't define or identify where it's having its work is it that you can't really recall the last time you were so moved by the gospel that you experienced some significant transformation in your life long time pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago H.A. Ironside tells a story of a missionary that I think illustrates the condition of the world and the response of the world there was a cheapness and a tribe an African-cheekess who visited a mission station and while she was there she saw hanging on a tree outside of the missionaries hut or his his building that he had a mirror it was just on the tree she'd never seen a mirror before she walked up to the mirror and she looked at it long and then she went over to the missionary and she asked him who who was the ugly person inside the tree the chief just had war paint on and the paint that they had applied to them were to make them look fierce was to make them look evil in a way to strike fear and intimidation into the hearts of the enemies and as she saw her face for the very first time she saw what looked to her to be an evil and an ugly person well the missionary explained to her that it was a mirror she would not believe what she was seeing until he took it down and put it in her hands and she moved it around and could see that indeed that was a reflection of herself after she sat with the mirror for some time she decided she must have it she offered to buy the mirror well the missionary didn't actually want to sell the mirror that she was holding and so he resisted but it became clear that if he didn't sell it there was going to be trouble and so he set a price and he sold the mirror to him she paid for the mirror and immediately she took the mirror and she threw it to the ground she said I will not have it making faces at me again such as the nature of the world when it comes to the gospel they think that they want all of the hope that the gospel gives them they want to have an eternal life but with that comes the recognition that we are sinners and we are far from the righteousness of God and that we receive Christ and in receiving Christ we are then clothed with His righteousness but it doesn't end there though our salvation is secure in Christ the rest of our lives are about the work of the kingdom which involves the transformation of our entire person that we might love God more and glorify Him by being involved in that work of transformation which is by the power of the Spirit this is precisely how people respond to the gospel they want those promises of the future but when they discover that they have to deal with their sin they won't absolutely nothing to do with it nothing the words of Jesus reveal our true selves and the world just won't tolerate it the second reason the world hates Jesus he he mentions is his work there are many who've come and gone claiming to enter and to speak for God or speak to God or sometimes even to be God when they speak but none of them have signs and miracles that validate what they claim the words of Jesus can't be dismissed because the signs of God calls even the unlearned to know that this man is telling the truth that which goes along with the proclamation of the gospel which Jesus brings to them bears testimony that the words of Jesus are true because no man could do what Jesus has done signs such as the healing of the blind and the cleansing of the leper show our spiritual bankruptcy just as much as his words did perhaps beyond even the words and the signs however the world which we live in today can see the purity and the authenticity of genuine Christian love that is found in a Christian community and that also will invite persecution so much of the world's pursuits and you'll have to ponder this for just a moment so much of what the world is pursuing so much of what causes sin in the world involves an inappropriate pursuit of love we can't say that the world wants nothing of love the world is desperate for love and they see the love that is shown in the church from one Christian to another and they see the love of a Christian for Christ and they can't apprehend or grasp that love for themselves and so rather than have a diminished quality of love of their own they seek to destroy that which they can seemingly never apprehend the love of Christ is seen in the lives of his people it makes a love of the world be seen for what it is it's filthy it's inadequate it's perverse and it is dead and so the love which is shown in the Christian church steals away the false pretentions of love which the world tries to create so the world believes that by shutting out the love of Christ they'll once again be satisfied with that love which they have learned from the world the bottom line is found in Christ's words they hated me without reason we'll never logically be able to make it make sense to us how no matter how horrid the cult may be no matter how vilified a particular leader may be those associated with the Christian church or hated all the more no matter what abominable practices a particular religion may have no matter how many heads our enemies may so off with their knives it's the Christian who is vilified as being deceptive and leading people astray it's the Christians sin which will be used against the Christian church to seek to demonstrate hypocrisy and that it's all faults anyway they hate us without reason but we can be warned to not accommodate ourselves to those who hate Christ we don't simply want them to love us just because we want to be loved our love need is fulfilled in Christ we don't need to turn to the world we don't have to become like lot like lot who took his own family from the safety and security which they enjoyed down to the plains and eventually assimilated into Sodom itself moving from the suburbs to the city until an angel of God came to tell them to come out and then hearing his own relatives laugh at the warning and he himself delaying because of his own affection for the things of the world first John 215 do not love the world or the things of the world if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him we cannot love both we cannot be both we cannot be in and of the world and also in and of Christ consider these questions as we depart are you living too closely to the world are you living at the outskirts of Sodom or have you moved into Sodom itself do you sit in the gates of the city and marvel at the sin around you while at the same time being in amongst it yourself is your testimony deluded because of your affection to the world is it hard for you to profess Christ while you at the same time are participating in loving all of the life that those who were lost enjoy does your love for Christ and his people contrast so strongly with the brokenness of the world that you find those who reject God also rejecting you and do you find because of the way you live your life that those who God is calling or drawn to you because they recognize in you the voice of Christ as you proclaim the gospel we should live in imitation of Christ not doing anything to earn the hatred of the world except on account of our unity and love for Christ and his love for us