Kingdoms In Conflict - Part 2

[0:00] Now in chapter 15, 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.

[0:30] 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.

[0:52] Whoever hates me hates my father also. 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.

[1:09] But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth, who proceeds from the father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. I said these things to you to keep you from falling away.

[1:43] They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the father nor me.

[1:57] But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I have told them to you. That is the reading of the word of the Lord. You may be seated.

[2:13] If you're using a pew Bible, we're on page 902. And I encourage you to, if you don't have a Bible with you, to use one of those Bibles so you can follow along.

[2:31] A short introduction this morning. Simple question to you. Are you willing to be hated by the world? Is Jesus worth it?

[2:48] Now remember, what we mean by world here, we're not talking about the earth, we're talking about the system of thinking and living that says God is irrelevant, that leaves God out of our lives, is a system of living and thinking that all people are born into.

[3:06] It is governed by the evil one. And there is no escape on your own.

[3:19] That's what Jesus means by world. And remember last time, we kind of gave an overview of the passage that Jesus says we as his disciples will be hated and what that means.

[3:35] So let's get into the specifics now. Let's kind of work through the passage a bit more carefully. First of all, the world hates disciples of Jesus because it hates him.

[3:48] Verses 18 through 20. If you have your Bible, just look at it. Verses 18 to 20. Now when Jesus says, if the world hates you, don't let that word trip you up.

[4:01] He's not saying this is uncertain. He's not saying it might not happen. The best way to understand if is the word or when.

[4:14] When the world hates you. It's inevitable. That's what Jesus is telling us. It's inevitable. But our Lord is saying to us that we don't have to worry. If you are hated as outsiders, even evildoers.

[4:27] Because he says they treated me the same way. In other words, it is a great honor for the name to be so treated for the name and kingdom of Christ.

[4:43] It is a great honor to be hated by the world because of him. And these early disciples, I mean, remember this passage is first of all to them, but it does have impact for us, of course.

[4:55] But remember what happens in the book of Acts. I'm going to refer to Acts a couple times now. But remember in the book of Acts, when the apostles are brought in and then they're beating. In Acts chapter 5, verse 40.

[5:09] Look at what happens. And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them. And charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

[5:23] Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ, that the Messiah is Jesus.

[5:46] What a powerful situation here. They did not suffer for being rude or being arrogant, but they suffered for preaching the gospel, for preaching the name of Christ, for bearing witness, for telling people that the only hope in this life and the next, the only hope of forgiveness before God is found in none other than Jesus.

[6:19] And for that they suffered. And in that, not in the act of being beaten, but for the reason they were beaten, they rejoiced.

[6:34] Our Lord even told us earlier in his ministry that such was going to happen. Let's go back to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 10 through 12.

[6:47] And notice how he begins. Blessed, I would say eternally happy, are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[6:59] Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you. Falsely, falsely on my account.

[7:12] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. They persecuted the prophets and the Savior.

[7:30] They hate you because they hate me. Now, hold on now, why? Why would the world hate the most loving being who has ever walked on the face of the planet?

[7:47] Why would anyone hate such a one? First, Jesus says, the world hates him because he is not of this world. Later in this evening, in this passage, and later that very night, he will stand before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and he will tell Pilate that his kingdom, his kingdom, Christ's kingdom, is not of this world.

[8:10] Meaning, neither he nor his kingdom are subject to or held captive to the way this world's system of sin, Satan, and death operates.

[8:22] Not subject. Therefore, he is not corrupted by the system. Jesus is, when Isaiah says, he saw the Lord, he was holy, holy, holy, he saw the Son of God.

[8:39] The second person of the Trinity. Holy is Jesus. He's not like us in his origin and being. He is absolutely pure in thought, word, and deed.

[8:51] he is sinless. He's not of the system. He doesn't fit in the matrix. Now hold it now, that leads naturally to the next thing he says.

[9:07] The world hates Jesus because of guilt. Verses 22 to 24. Jesus' words from the Father explaining the law of God and his acts.

[9:20] They hate him for his words, remember? His acts of righteousness and the things he did displaying the power and love of God show us all how sinful and wrong we truly are.

[9:33] Amen. His words and his works reveal how messed up we all are. you ever have someone show you up?

[9:47] I mean, they behave in a way that you think you should have behaved but didn't. That's why sometimes I hate watching those Hallmark movies.

[10:00] and Sandy loves them. We watched one yesterday. I mean, the guy, he's romancing this girl and he writes poetry to her.

[10:14] Takes her on carriage rides and balloon rides. He's got this woolly nice voice. You know, good voice for radio. And notice these guys are always buff.

[10:28] none of them have a dad bod. Oh, I got abs. And, well, just everything in place.

[10:40] Just beautiful. And while I'm watching, come on, y'all know what I'm talking about. And while I'm watching this, I can feel in my spirit Sandy is cutting her eyes at me and twisting her lips.

[10:55] and here's the thing, I want to yell at her. It's not real. He didn't really do that.

[11:08] No one is that good. No guy is that suave. No one, I mean, I want to yell at her like, it's not real. Because those guys always show me up.

[11:21] I'm talking about me now. You guys are better than me. I understand ladies. You got the greatest guys I know. But if you're like me, and you're human, it's embarrassing.

[11:33] You're shown up. You know, you feel less than. Jesus makes everybody feel less than.

[11:48] You get the feeling, listen, you get the feeling that you are in the presence of someone who not only does better than you, but is ontologically better than you.

[12:04] In his very being, he is better than you. You get that feeling? I hope you do. If you don't, you haven't met Jesus.

[12:17] That's called conviction. That's a good thing. thing. We should be in the presence of God and feel less than.

[12:28] Just read Revelation chapter one. Just go back and read that chapter. When John sees the risen Christ and all of his holiness and glory, what did the Bible say? John said, I fell on his feet as though I was dead.

[12:43] Proper response to being in the presence of absolute, total holiness, being in the presence of God. Now, when you realize the perfection of Jesus in his holiness, you see, one of two things can happen.

[13:00] One of two things. You will run away or even attack him in hatred, anger, and shame. Or, you will run to him in worship, awe, and love.

[13:13] You see, the first one only sees him as an angry judge for your sins. the other sees him as your savior from your sins. You see him as the merciful one.

[13:25] Though he is glorious and good and powerful as I just described, though he really is better than you, yet he is one who is condescended to be one with you and to love you and to care and to want you.

[13:39] Hallelujah. It's amazing. Amazing love. How can it be? Right? That should grip us.

[13:52] Listen, Pilate even realized later, when Jesus gets to him, Pilate realized that the reason the Pharisees and the religious leaders wanted Jesus gone is in Matthew 27, 18.

[14:08] I won't turn there, but just read it. Just put it in your notes. You know what the word was? Envy. He said he knew they were envious of Jesus. Now, here's the funny thing.

[14:23] This is really kind of funny to me. Hope is funny to you. It's slightly funny. In this passage, Jesus quotes from the Psalms and says, they hated me without cause.

[14:35] I think that's funny because they did have reason to hate Jesus. He showed them up. You don't like people who show you up. They had real reason to hate Jesus.

[14:50] And Jesus says, they hated me without cause. Now, listen, this statement comes from the Psalms. It's repeated twice in the Psalms. Psalm 35, 19. Psalm 69, 4.

[15:01] In both those Psalms, David is being attacked by foes who unjustly and wickedly want to destroy him. He is miserable.

[15:13] And so he calls out to God to sustain him and to defend him. They did not have just cause to attack him.

[15:24] That is what our Lord is saying here in this passage. They did not have just cause. No right reason to hate him. But just as David, even more so the Son of God, trusts in his Father to sustain and defend him.

[15:45] Peter writes about that. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 23. Speaking of Jesus, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

[16:05] That's a word to all of us. And so should we. And so can we. When we are unjustly attacked by the world, immediately we don't go on the attack to defend ourselves.

[16:22] Because when you do that, that will likely be an expression of anger and wrath. But instead, even as our Savior is showing us, we can entrust ourselves to him.

[16:41] Him who knows what it means to be judged unjustly, to be treated harshly, to be hated without cause. We can entrust ourselves to him.

[16:54] How do you see Jesus? Are you running away from him? Or are you running to him with your sin and weakness and frustration and pain?

[17:12] How do you see him? That's the question. How do you see him? What do you see when you look at Jesus? Is he frowning at you? Or is he smiling at you?

[17:24] With his arms open wide? Are you running to him with your guilt and shame? Or are you running somewhere else?

[17:38] Are you being attacked without just cause? or are you being attacked because you blew it?

[17:55] Remember when I read in Matthew 5 he said they will speak evil of you falsely. Falsely. But sometimes let's be honest.

[18:06] they may speak evil of us justly because we have messed up. We let it go. We didn't follow Christ in the relationship.

[18:20] We didn't do what we ought to have done. So I ask you again how do you see Jesus? If that's happened how do you see Jesus?

[18:31] Are you running away from him? or are you running to him even? Even when you blew it and the world is attacking you because you blew it.

[18:43] What do we do at that point? Admit we blew it. We don't have to hide our sin. We're forgiven. We don't have to be ashamed in a sense because we know Jesus loves us.

[18:58] The world may reject you but Jesus will accept you. Now listen Jesus says also the world hates disciples because we are traitors.

[19:14] Verse 19 this is the only verse 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.

[19:27] We're traitors. He says we're no longer of the world system. What does this mean? We're not of the world. We like everyone else I think I said earlier that we're all born in our sins.

[19:40] We're all born unresponsive to God. All of us are born in the system. We're all born and at home in the world system. We were by nature Ephesians says by nature children of wrath.

[19:54] That's God's holy and just anger against sin. We were citizens of the kingdom of darkness according to Colossians 1.13 I call this whole scenario the crabs in a barrel theology.

[20:11] Put 20 crabs in a barrel they're all cramped in together on top of one another. So they all begin to try to climb out. They climb over each other and here's the funny thing as one of them gets near the top the others grab him and pull him back down and then they try to climb over and as they get to the top the other crabs will grab and pull them back down.

[20:40] People are I hate to say it but people can be the same way. This world's system's way of thinking is simply this no one is allowed to escape.

[20:59] If people do what are you saying about the rest of us who didn't escape? the apostle Peter addresses this very question in 1 Peter 4 3 and 5 listen to what he says this is for the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do living in sensuality that's your senses living for your senses passions and drunkenness orgies drinking parties and lawless idolatry idolatry with respect to this they are surprised they they who he's talking about the world they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery what do you mean you're not going drinking what do you mean you're not hooking up what do you mean watch this and they malign you but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead you see the world hates disciples of

[22:12] Jesus because in Jesus we are set free to be different different makes us outsiders and it's offensive disciples of Jesus now owe our allegiance to him as our king and savior we are now citizens of his kingdom we live in the kingdoms of this world but our true citizenship get this get this now and our true home is in heaven you know I preached on this some time ago so I won't spend a lot of time but you know the passage in Philippians Philippians chapter 3 remember what Paul says there I'm not going to read the whole passage but 17 to 21 just so you can write it down but listen to what he says first he talks about the world then he says but our citizenship is in heaven verse 20 and from it we await a savior the Lord

[23:19] Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself the very power that gives Jesus the right and the ability to be sovereign over all creation is that same power that's going to transform you when he comes because you are no longer primarily a citizen of the world of America you are primarily and firstly a citizen of heaven so we are traitors to the world we're traitors to the world system we got out but how did we get out that's a good question how did we get out

[24:23] I mean we're part of the new creation now we're a new creation part of the new creation to come we're already there we're already in the new creation we're the first fruits of the new creation to come so yes you are different we are someone says we are the third race we don't fit with the Gentiles fully we don't fit with the Jews fully we are another race another people do you know who you are citizen of the kingdom do you know who you are how did you get out how did you get out of the kingdom of darkness that we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and determined to do better no way Jesus chose you is that what he says he chose you I chose you out of the world the doctrine of election is the reason we are no longer of the world you've been chosen we could never have escaped on our own nor did we want to when

[25:35] Jesus chose to save you he put a target on your back no longer does the world have the warm fuzzies feelings towards you because you no longer serve its agenda or its king you no longer love the world first John reminds us of this John talking to the people of God warns us be careful do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world and watch this and the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever hallelujah we our passions we don't love the world meaning our passions and desires are no longer governed by the world system the world says love this desire this want this you need this you gotta have her you gotta have him you gotta look this way the world says all those things and more and we no longer fall for it cause we see the world for what it is it's all smoke and mirrors destined for destruction the world pass and its desires will pass away we want what the father has for us in Jesus and see here's the thing by one when you want what the father has when you can smell what the lord is cooking and want it it is that desire that will drive out your desire for the trinkets of the world miller and simon the writers offers a great book joyful outsiders they're commenting on 2 peter 1 3 and 4

[27:44] I think I put it up there yeah I did here's the coming on this passage his divine power God's divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge through the knowledge of him Jesus who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of evil sinful desires commenting on that passage here's what they say you can't resist the influence of Babylon if you don't love something more than Babylon you can't say no to Babylon's false promises if you don't know the promises of God you can't say no to Babylon's false joy if you don't know the true joy

[28:47] Jesus alone offers us we have escaped from the corruption of the world how because of the very precious and great promises he has given us in Jesus we have a new love we have better promises in the words of Dr.

[29:12] Ellis we have a better operating system find your greatest love and joy in Christ's kingdom enjoying his gracious kindness and salvation and you will become inoculated against the world's counterfeits now listen that inoculation is a daily inoculation because the world because of we are still here the world always has a little bit of pull because I remember oh I wish I didn't Leonard I wish Leonard I wish I didn't but I do I remember and sometimes that memory the world's is the enemy I have to look I have to turn my head and look Jesus where are you I have to remember that I got something better so Jesus is telling us brothers and sisters don't be surprised that the world hates you remember last week

[30:25] I said some of us are trying so hard to get the world to like us doesn't mean you should make the world hate you by being obnoxious listen you don't have to do anything for the world to hate you except this abide in the vine we're still in John 15 abide in Jesus live a life dependent upon Jesus that's all you got to focus on don't focus on making the world mad at you no no no that's ridiculous no no focus on loving him and knowing him and walking with him and it will happen the world will hate you don't be surprised listen if you do not anticipate opposition then you don't understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus you you should know if it hated him and you with him you know you hear these stories all the time guy commits a crime goes into maybe a convenience store robs it he comes out gets in the car and drives off and the cops pull him over and there's another guy in the car and he says

[32:03] I didn't do it and he didn't he didn't go in the store and rob the place but he still goes to jail why guilty by association that's us y'all we are guilty by association with Jesus so don't worry about trying to get the world to hate you don't worry about that at all just walk with Jesus he said this of you will be treated just like him a servant he says is not greater than his master he said that twice by the way when he washed the disciples feet he said it first in John 13 then he says it again here in John 13 he is talking about serving lowly service for one to one another if he did it so should we and now he is saying it again guilty by association he is our master a servant's goal is to live like the master and represent him accurately that was what they thought in that culture and they were right in that culture a messenger's goal is to clearly and accurately relay the message that she has been given that's what we do we live like the master and relay the message the master has given us and because of that you will get treated just like your master if they persecuted

[33:42] Jesus he says and rejected his word he will do they will do the world will do the same to us but he also said if they kept my word they'll keep yours too now again he was talking to the first apostles but we come after them but because they continued his message they continue the word that he directly gave them was that gospel and now but we followed in their footsteps we got the same message they didn't have a more powerful message than us we got the same message and we have the same Jesus and because of this hatred from the world is the Christian's birthright second Timothy 3 12 and 13 indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted note the word will while evil people and apostles will go from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived if you're abiding in

[34:51] Jesus not living not living if you're not abiding in Jesus that is not living in his life I'm back in John but drying up as a branch you will have nothing to worry about but if you are alive in Christ and deriving your life from him as you trust in him on a daily basis if you are alive in Christ and a true branch of his his life is in you his spirit is in you he's transforming you your birthright is that you too will bear the mark of your savior hatred from the world system because the forces of darkness led by the infernal majesty himself the devil will not leave you alone he will not leave you alone brothers and sisters if you're not aware of that get ready he will not leave you alone this from

[36:07] Genesis the seed of the serpent has always attacked the seed of the woman and in Christ who is that great seed that defeated the serpent but go to Revelation chapter 12 and you'll find out that when the dragon can't get to the son he goes after the son's people that is our life this is our life brothers and sisters that we live in a battle we're two kingdoms in conflict the battle has been won the war has been won but there are more battles to be fought every church must fight battles every Christian must fight these spiritual battles it's a glorious war and sadly sometimes the enemy will pursue us even within and within the confines of the church herself

[37:16] St. Ferguson writes in his book these kinds of he says people when there are internal struggles in the church he says we say these kind of things can't happen in our church these kind of things can't happen in a church like ours the enemy will use friendly fire sometimes to get after Christians who are abiding in the vine we need to recognize that our spiritual battles follow us wherever we go but good news our savior was already there ahead of us and he's there waiting for you he's there with you strengthening you he's he's actually I'm gonna wrap this up he's actually sent you reinforcements how shall we respond to the world's hatred then we respond to the world's hatred by bearing witness especially when we suffer for it that's how he ends chapter 15 the helper comes who

[38:34] I will send to you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and you also will bear witness because you've been with me from the beginning again a first word to those early disciples they were with him from the beginning but listen brothers and sisters that certainly speaks of us because the spirit of God was poured out on the day of Pentecost and we have this same spirit that they have and this spirit living in you is there to do something he is there to bear witness to Jesus through your life and through your lips that that that that that that that that you may bear witness to Christ that he may transform you into the image of your savior and then that he might use your lips to declare the wonderful matchless grace of God well Jesus just last he just says real quick why is he telling us this now why is he telling the disciples this now chapter 16 verses 1 through 4 why is he speaking to them about this now he says this

[39:47] I said these things to you to keep you from falling away that's first see he wants you to be prepared that you're going to be in a fight because if you're not prepared then you're!

[40:00] going to fall away I ain't no being a Christian meant this I wouldn't prepare no he's telling you so you won't fall away you won't lose confidence you won't lose courage you won't give up when you are faced with stuff you won't give up and the second and more beautiful reason is that you have confidence in him because he knew it was coming and he told you and you can know that even that is in his hands whatever you're going through whatever suffering whatever you must face whatever hatred from the world you must face you can know that the Savior was he already knew it was coming and he's preparing you for it and you can trust him that night the enemy will come for Jesus and he said his disciples no don't worry don't worry I'm good he's okay and so are you live for

[41:08] Jesus well it's something easy to miss in this passage and by way of conclusion by way of wrapping this up Jesus says and insists that the world hates him because it doesn't know the father who sent him that's what he says they don't they hate they don't know him here's the thing the reason the disciples do not hate Jesus is because they do know the father this is our great assurance of victory family we don't have to fear the devil's intimidation we have to fear the devil's lies we have to fear the devil whatever he does we are not helpless orphans any longer we have a father we have a heavenly father whom he whom we know loves us and has sent his son to save us and his spirit to protect and equip us you have a father now he's no absentee father fear not father's with you fear not the spirit of god is with you fear not you are part of the royal family the kingdom of god you are part of god's family because god's son was the lawyer at your adoption he made sure you're in the family so let the world hate us we're not called to hate the world though we're not called to hate the people of the world our call is to love our neighbor as ourselves and to serve people no matter how they treat us serve them in the name of jesus he'll figure it all out at the end he'll handle everything else but be wary because it's happening too often that those who name the name of jesus sound just like the world in anger and malice that's not our calling we're not of the world we don't play by the world's rules we play by the rules of the kingdom of heaven and key to that is love love one another and love your neighbor even though your neighbor may not like you at all doesn't mean you become a doormat but it does mean you stand for truth and you do what is best for that neighbor as much as you're able and let the lord handle the fallout father thank you for your for sending your word thank you lord jesus for preparing us for the hatred of the world thank you that you overcame the world and so lord we pray that you would help us because it's so easy to respond in the way the world does to its attacks upon us it's so easy to speak with anger and malice it's so easy to use the world's weapons against the world but lord those weapons are ineffective help us to fight using the weapons of righteousness the weapons you have given us that are more powerful because they come from you help us to stand in righteousness help us to stand in faith help us to proclaim and live the gospel of peace and demonstrate that peace even within our bodies and fellowship oh god and may we take up the sword of the spirit to do battle against the forces of darkness forgive us

[45:11] forgive us for looking and sounding writing and typing just like the world help us lord may we be people of love not hate and may we not be afraid but stand firm on the word of christ trusting in him his name we pray amen as