Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel of John, chapter 15. John 15. I'd like to look at verses 17
through 27. John 15. Our Lord had told his disciples, commanded them to love one another. Now he repeats
that in verse 17, where we're going to start. These things
I command you that you love one another. You know, it is a sobering and
a searching thought that we need to be commanded. He said, these things I command
you. That we need to be commanded
to love one another. I said last, or asked the question
last time, does a believer naturally do the things in these scriptures
or does he need to be taught? And the answer is yes to both
of them. We need to be taught. We need
to be charged. You know why? Because we are
forgetful people. Sin is present with us. Sad to say, but I need to be
told to love you. I hate to have to admit that
to myself or to you. That the Lord would command me
to love you. Thanks be unto God, He knows
us. He knows our nature. He knows that we are dust and
the struggles that we have with the flesh, the battle that rages
within because of sin, because of our old man and the wiles
of the devil that would come to us and say, you don't have
any reason to love that brother. Think about what he's done. I need to be commanded according
to Ephesians 4.2 to forbear one another in love. I need to be
told according to the next verse Ephesians 4.3 to endeavor to
keep the unity of the spirit of the bond of peace. I need
to be reminded that this is not all about me.
It's not about you. It's about Him. This is the Lord's Church. This
is the Lord's Church. Lord, help me to be respectful. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. Those are such sweet words. And I know them, but I need to
be told. I was reading this morning, going
over my notes, that be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another. And I read those words, and this
is what went through my mind. You know what that sounds like?
It sounds like something that I would tell my kids. Hey, y'all be kind. Now wait
a minute, wait a minute, y'all hold it. Now listen, no fussing. Little children. John did pen this, the gospel
of John. in 1st John, 9 times I counted
them, 9 times in 1st John, John referred to the saints like this,
little children, little children. Except you become as little children. Our Lord says these things I
command you that you love one another. Every ill feeling, every
malicious word or lack of compassion toward the brethren is a denial of his command. Lord, forgive me. I'm guilty. You. Oh, that I might be found faithful. Lord, help me. Then having commanded
his own to love one another, then the Lord warns them. Now he was telling them, you're
my brethren. I've everlastingly loved you.
My father chose you. I'm going to soon go to the cross
for you. Spirit of God's called you out.
Love one another. Then he warns them. It gives him a warning in verse
18. He said, now if the world hate you, you love one another. But if the world hates you, you
know that it hated me before it hated you. Now this world
that he's talking about right here is not the world in general. Now this is what I mean by that.
The Lord said, I came forth from the Father and come into the
world. Again, I leave the world, I go to the Father. There's a
sense in which there's some dirt. It's not talking about the dirt
there. He did come into the dirt, this
world. And then there's a sense in which
there's a kind of a complacency of the
world in general toward God's people that knows nothing. They're like wayside hearers. They've heard the message preached
and it made no impact. The parable of the sower, the
Lord said a sower went sow, the seed was sow, fell by the wayside.
And the birds came and picked it up and he said it was a picture.
He said Satan comes and steals it away. Just made no impression. No impression. And as a general
rule you're going to find, I talk to a lot of people. And I don't make it a habit of
coming up to them and introducing myself as pastor of Katie Baptist
Church. As a general rule, my name is
Marvin. But if somebody does know that
I do pastor here, as a general rule, those that make no profession
whatsoever there's a semblance of respect. You know, they don't,
there's no, you know, and I don't know, this is an outward observation
to me. You know, it seems as though
that, you know, that they have somewhat of respect of religion. They don't, you know, they're
not, you know, but I'm going to show you in just a few minutes
who our Lord's talking about. I'll tell you who it is. It's
the world a false religion that places all their confidence in
their work, in their merit. I'll show you that in just a
minute. He said, verse 18, if the world hates you, who hated
the Lord? Who was the outward manifestation
of those that hated Him? I'll tell you who it was. It
was the religious crowd. The Pharisees, the scribes, They
hated him. They hated him. There were many
that followed him. Disciples, for a while, for a
while. But those that hated him and
despised him were those that trusted in themselves. Is that
not right? That they were righteous. They
trusted in themselves. They hated the Lord. Now, he said, if the world hates
you, you know that it hated me before. It hated you. John said in 1 John 3.13, Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hates you. Now I can tell you
this, those that do not outwardly manifest their resentment towards
you, you let them sit under a false message for a while and be convinced
that they are their own God. that their self-will, free will
is their salvation before God and I'm telling you that manifestation
of hatred toward you will come out. The Lord is speaking to
the world that loves man honoring works religion. That world of false religion
It hates God's people. And that's a fact. But their
hatred of God's people is a direct result of their hatred of Christ. Now this is one thing we have
to remember. Why do men that believe in their own salvation
being procured by their own work? Why do they hate God's people? The scripture says, if the world
hates you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. Look at verse 19, if ye were
of the world. Now, you know this, if it's just
talking about the world in general, Kevin, if it's just talking about
the world. Well, everybody's of the world. You see what I'm
saying? Everybody's in the world. I mean,
we were born here. If you were of the world. So
he's distinguishing a particular type of people. If you were of
the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not
of the world. If you were of that worldly thinking
that salvation It's all depended upon man. That Pharisee, I quoted
that a while ago, they trusted in themselves that they were
righteous. He stood before and he prayed thus with himself. God, I thank you that I'm not
as other men are. Now where did he get that thought?
He's of the world. Of the world of false man-centered
free will. It works, religion, if you were
of the world. The world would love his own,
but because you're not of the world. And here's the reason
that men hate you. Now you listen, you listen. I'm
telling you, according to the words of our Lord. Let me tell
you what false, free will, man-centered religion hates. It hates God's
sovereignty. It hates God being God. It hates God who has the right. He made this world. He made you. He made me. He made everything
you see. He made the sun. He spoke it
all into existence. Who does it belong to? It's His. Does the potter have the right to make one vessel under honor
and another vessel under dishonor? Does the potter have the right
to do? He made us. He says, if you were of the world,
the world would love his own, but because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. If you believed, the Lord is
setting forth in salvation, if you believed in something that
you did, If you believe that your free
will, your works, your baptism, your profession of faith, your
joining this church, if you believe that something you did was the
merit of your salvation, if you believe that, the world of false
religion would love you. They'd embrace you. But, because
God has sovereignly chosen to show mercy. Now here's the reason
they're mad. Everybody fell in Adam. Everybody
fell. Everybody rebelled against God
in Adam. That nature of Adam, of rebellion,
of a dead, spiritually dead nature. Everybody's born with that nature. And because everybody was born
dead in nature, every man was born with a spirit of rebellion
against God. But because God Almighty will
have mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will. Because God
has sovereignly chose to show mercy to some. and to not allow the whole mass
of humanity to perish justly because God has chosen to not
allow that because God so loved the arrangement of mankind because
God has been pleased to have compassion and has chosen a people
that he's going to show mercy to because God is merciful and
kind and just and good. Men hate him. I hate you. I hate you because you're going
to save some. Look at Luke 4. Luke 4. Luke 4.25. The Lord is preaching
here and he says, Luke 4.25, but I tell you a truth, many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, is who Elias
is, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months.
Remember when God stopped it, when Ahab and Jezebel, and God
says it's not going to rain three and a half years. And Elijah
preached that God said that and it didn't rain, Freddy, three
and a half years. During that three and a half
years, everything dried up. That's when the Lord was pleased
to feed Elijah with ravens and he drank out of the brook. And
then when the brook dried up, God sent him to this lady right
here, this widow. To tell you the truth, many widows
were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut
up. Three years, six months, when great famine was throughout
all the land, but unto none of them was Elijah sent save unto
Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. This
woman was a Gentile. And God had His prophet, Elijah,
go to a widow woman who was a Gentile, and God took care of her through
Elijah, God's prophet, and he did not send a prophet to one
widow in Israel. And many lepers, verse 27, were
in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and none of them
were cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian, God delivered a Gentile, and
all the other lepers in Israel were dying. Verse 28, And all
they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled
with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led
him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built,
that they might cast him down headlong. Now listen, let me
tell you something. This was written. This was written over
in the Old Testament. That was recorded in the Kings
about that woman and about Naaman over in 2nd Kings. They had those
scriptures and you know when they got mad? When Christ preached
it. When he preached it. When he stood up and proclaimed
God's sovereignty, God has the right, they got so mad. According to the word of our
Lord, this world hates that which gives all honor and all glory
and all praise to God Almighty. And we do not worship the little
G, God of this world, the little J, Jesus, that everybody says
they love. I love Jesus. That's what they say. But I tell
you the little J, Jesus, that they're talking about. He's a
puppet. He's just a puppet. He's a hand
puppet of their own making, of their own imagination. We do not believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for everyone. We do not believe that Almighty
God loves all men without any separation or distinction. We
believe that Almighty God has everlastingly loved His people
chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world that
He predestinated to be holy and without blame before Him in love.
You know why we believe that? Because that's what He said. and his word is the final word.
Lord as thou sayest, that's what Peter said, we fished all night,
but it's your word. Almighty God has declared that this world of false religion
hates God's people because they hate God. It's just It's in all
of us, but for the grace of God, we got an old nature. I'm talking
about them, and scripture says them, but we are what we are
by the grace of God. In verse 20, back in John 15,
remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not
greater than his Lord. If they've persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they
will keep yours also. The Lord is going to have us
remember His word. That's what He said. Remember
the word that I said unto you. What word is that? That word that says the servant
is not deserving of more respect than his Lord. The servant's
not going to be treated any better than his Lord. Not going to be treated with
respect. The world of false religion is
not going to love the gospel of free grace. It's going to
take a new heart. God's going to have to give them
a new mind, a new spirit. He's going to have to give them
new eyes and new ears to hear and see. If they've persecuted me, the
Lord says they will persecute you. They mocked our Lord, they're
going to mock you. They killed Him, and if they
thought they'd get away with it, they'd kill you. They did,
and they've already done it in their heart. Verse 21, But all
these things will they do unto you for My namesake, because
they know not Him that sent Me. when we're persecuted because
of our love and faithful proclaiming of the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus. Remember this, it's for the Lord's
sake. It's for His sake. Whatever you
do, whether you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, do
it for His sake. Do it for His honor. Whatever
you do, ask yourself, is this honoring to my Lord? Does this
exalt Him? Does this promote unity in the
body of Christ? Does this express my love for
God's people? I said before, it's not about
me. And the moment it becomes about
me, all about me or all about you, you write this down, it's
rebellion. God's people They're not hated
because of maliciousness, evil against God Almighty. They're
not hated for that. If that was the spirit of a man,
the world would love him because the world loves maliciousness
and evil against Christ. Isn't that... I mean, it's true. It's true. Men don't want to
hear that by nature. They want to be told that they're
good. But I'm telling you that ignorance
of who God is, the God of sovereign grace, is the reason for the
world's hatred. Verse 22. If I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not sinned. But now, they have no
cloak, they have no excuse for their sin. Now, our Lord doesn't
mean that had He not come into the world, that the world would
be without original sin, because all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's not what He's talking
about. When He says, if I had not come
and spoken to them, they had not sinned. But what He means
is, had He not come in the flesh, The Jews would not have the sin
of rejecting the Messiah. They would not have the sin of
refusing to bow to God's prophet, God's priest, God's king. Had he not come, they would not
have fulfilled the scriptures that prophesied that they would
reject him. His actual fulfillment of all
the prophecies is the proof of who he is. He came into this world And God's
people love him by grace and the world of false religion hates
him and rejects him. And they're without excuse. The
rejection of the truth is a heinous crime. I want you to look in
Matthew 10. Hold your place right there,
John. Matthew 10. We're going to look at a verse
in Matthew 10 and then a little bit in Matthew 11, Matthew 10.
Now listen to the heinousness of this crime. Matthew 10, 11
to 15. Our Lord is talking to his disciples
right now. This is what he says to them.
Matthew 10, 11. And into whatsoever city or town
you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy. Now, That word right there, it doesn't
mean worthy in themselves. Nobody's worthy in themselves.
This is what the word means. It means hospitable. Hospitable. Into whatsoever city or town
you should enter, inquire, is there hospitality in this place? and there abide till you go thence. And when you come into an house,
salute it. And if the house be hospitable,
if they receive you, if they let you come in and stay, that's
all he's talking about. If you're welcome there to come
in and I'll give you a place. If the house be worthy, hospitable,
let your peace come upon it. But if it be not hospitable,
let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive
you nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto
you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment and for that city. Look at Matthew 11. Now our Lord was speaking to
his disciples right there. Then he preached it. He preached
what he just told them. Matthew 11 20. He stood up and
started preaching. Matthew 11, 20. Then began he
to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were
done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto
you that it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee." Our Lord is setting forth to
have heard the gospel and to reject it. All I can tell you is that he
said that it will be more tolerable for those that never heard it.
It'll be more tolerable. I can tell you what my thoughts
are. My thoughts are they're going to remember. And the reason
I base that, that's not a baseless thought. You remember when the
rich man, Lazarus, the rich man, he fared sumptuously every day. And old Lazarus was outside out
on the sidewalk and he had these old sores on him and he would
take pieces of broken pottery and scrape and scrape. Have you
ever had your ankles, my ankles sometime during the winter, they
itch, they're dry and they just itch and itch. And he's out there
scraping and the dogs licked his sores. Out of his only comfort,
the dogs licked his sores. And Lazarus died, went to the
bosom of Abraham, went to heaven. Rich man died and lifted up his
eyes out of hell. That rich man cried unto father
Abraham, would you send Lazarus over here, let him just tip his
finger in water, just touch my tongue, just one, just touch
my tongue. And what did the Lord tell him?
Remember. Remember. Listen to me. To sit and hear the gospel of
God's grace and to refuse it, it will be more tolerable for
those that never heard it. They'll have nothing to remember.
But to have heard the gospel and refused it? More tolerable. Verse 23, back
in John 15. He that hateth me, hateth my
Father also." Now, no one can truthfully say, according to
our Lord's Word, that they love the Father if they hate the Lord
Jesus Christ as He's revealed in this Scripture. Now, here again, I'm not talking
about that little J, Jesus, that people talk about. I'm talking
about the Lord of glory. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'm talking about the sovereign
Lord that came into this world and speaks what He's heard. Now, you listen to this. The
Scripture says, He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. Why? Okay? John 14.10. Just turn back a
few pages. John 14.10. John 14.10. Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you, I speak not of myself or independently. He did nothing
independently of the Father. But the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Look at verse 24 of John 14.
He that loveth me not. keepeth not my sayings, and the
word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."
You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ, this one, I quote this
all the time, John 10, 15, when the Lord said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. Do you know where he got that
word? as the servant. As God Almighty, he never received
anything. He's God. But as the servant
who humbled himself, he said, the father words I speak, my
father spoke those to me. Where did he get the words that
he spoke? In submission to his father. He said, he said, If
you receive not the words that I say, it's because you hate
my Father. He that hateth me, hateth my
Father. The words that I speak, they
came from the Father. When He said to those Pharisees,
when they said, why don't you be honest with me? Why don't
you be plain? Tell us plainly. I told you. And you believe not. And you believe not because you're
not my sheep. The Father said that. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said that. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. The Father said that. The Father
chose the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the sheep. The Spirit of God regenerates
the sheep, keeps the sheep, seals the sheep, teaches the sheep.
It's all for His honor and the good of His sheep. He said, you
don't receive the words I say. You hate me because you hate
my Father. People say, I love God. The Lord Jesus Christ says, you hate me, then you hate my
Father also. He that hateth me hateth my Father. Verse 24, if I had not done among
them the works which none other man did, They had not sinned,
but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father." The Lord, in verse 22, had said,
if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sinned,
but now they have no cloak for their sin. He said, the words
that I've spoken, they're a witness against you. And now he says
that the miracles that he did would be a witness to their inexcusable
hatred of himself. He said, if I had not spoken
unto you now, he said, if I had not done, if I had not done among
them the works, whoever turned water into wine
before him, whoever walked on the water, whoever raised the
dead to life Whoever gave sight to the blind
before he did. Whoever healed a leper before
he did. Look at Acts 22. Whoever did
that. The works that he did. Acts 2.22 of it. Whoever did the things
that he did, who was ever proven of God? Approved or proven? Whoever proved the Messiah as
he was proven? No one. They're without excuse. Look at verse 25. But this cometh
to pass, that the word may be fulfilled that is written in
their law, They hated me without a cause. The Lord prophesied this. The
Lord prophesied. Look over in Psalm 69.4. Here's what the Lord says, their
law says. Psalm 69.4. You know, you'd think that when
the Lord Jesus Christ came, spoke the words he spoke and did what
he did as God was proving him. And then, you know, they're seeing
him heal lepers and walk on water and turn water, wine, raise the
dead, five loaves, two fish, feed 5,000 people with five loaves,
two fish? And then they hated him. They
hated him. Those that prided themselves
so much in the scriptures, Oh, I know God's word. I'm a believer. I believe God's word. And then
they hated him. Would you think that maybe something
didn't go off in their mind and say, I'm doing exactly exactly
what these scriptures prophesied a rebel would do. Should it not
go off in our minds when we're doing something that the scriptures
forbid? Should it not go off in our minds?
Look at Psalm 69, verse 4. They that hate me without a cause,
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away." He came to do the will of his father
and he told him, Pat, who he was. The father proved him by
miracles and signs and wonders and they hated him And the scripture
says they were doing just exactly what God said they would do.
But this cometh to pass, verse 25, that the word might be fulfilled
that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter, verse
26, 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. And ye also shall bear
witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." Remember, our Lord is soon to
leave this world. He's going to the cross. And
He's doing this to comfort Him, to soothe their hearts. He's warned them. Warned them
of the surety of this world's hatred. When we are despised,
when someone despises you for what you believe, and I'll tell
you, it hurts. It hurts. Especially if it's
your family, your friends. And what hurts the most is that
they hate the God that you love. They truly despise you because
they despise Him. But it still hurts. It's still
painful. But here our Lord is going to
soothe the comforter in how we need comfort, how we need some
help. He's going to bear witness to
God's people and remind them. Remind them. He said they hated
Him before they hated us. And they hate us because of Him. But God's people love Him. And
they'll take sides with Him against all of them. They'll take sides
with Him against themselves. He's going to testify the Comforter
to the elect's heart and going to give them some comfort, some
security, some assurance of his presence. He said, I'm not going
to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. And I'll tell you
what they'll do. By the grace of God, they'll
be faithful. He said, you will testify of
me. A believer by the power and grace of God, kept by the power
of God through faith. The reason that you don't quit
is because He keeps you. If it wasn't for the grace of
God, you'd leave. I would too. We'd all leave.
That was the reason that many left. He said they went out from
us because they were not of us. For had they been of us, Surely,
surely, they would have remained. Lord, help us this day. Keep
us according to your good pleasure. Forgive us where we failed. May Christ be honored. I pray
that the Lord bless these words to our heart for Christ's sake.