Okay, go with me back to John
15. John 15, I want to deal with
the text and then I want to show you something, all right? So
may the Lord cause us to enter into this. We've said before
that John 13, John chapter 13, that's where our Lord took a
towel and girded himself and washed the disciples' feet. From
John 13 to the middle of John 18, all happened in one night. the night in which he was betrayed.
It was just a few hours or an hour, however long it was. One
night. And our Lord so lovingly, he
took that special time, that one night And he clearly, clearly
taught his disciples some very comforting things. They had been
with him three and a half years. He's about to go accomplish his
mission and he took a moment to just let them in on some things. And he recorded what he said
so that every single disciple can enter into this same comfort,
this exact comfort he gave them. As we read down through this,
listen to it, listen to this as though he has pulled you aside
and he's telling you this personally. All right, now look at verse
18. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If the world hates you, what
he's saying is, consider it a good sign. Consider it a good sign. Now, not if the gospel's not
involved. You know, not if the glory of
God and the truth is not at stake. Don't consider that a good sign.
God's people are not hated because of the way they live in this
world. They're just not. They're not hated because they're
liars and they're cheats and they're hard to get along with,
rude. God's people are supposed to
be the salt of the earth. That's what he said. He said
you're the salt of the earth. You're the savory part. The only reason the world is
being preserved is because you're in it. That's it. God's people
ought to be the most honest and kind and friendly citizens in
the community. They ought to stand out as being
a good neighbor. And they're not hated for the
way they live in this world. They're hated for the truth's sake. Now
turn with me over to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5 verse 3 says that God's
people are poor in spirit. Poor in spirit. Verse 5 says
they're meek. Verse 7 says they're merciful. Verse 9 says they're peacemakers. Verse 10 says they're persecuted
for righteousness sake. Verse 11 says blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." For my sake. This world hates the true and
living God and this world will not bow the knee to the true
and living God. And any sinner who does, this world hates that
sinner because of Christ, because of His namesake. Go with me back
over to John 15, verse 18 says, If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you." Is it not absolutely clear that God did
not die for every sinner in the world? Isn't that so clear? Verse
19 says, If you were of the world, the world would love his own.
but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world. That's why the world hates you. Verse 20 says, remember the word
that I said unto you, this is John 13. He told them this back
in John 13, which would have been an hour ago or 20 minutes
ago or something like that. 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, that means scrutinized, singled out, my saying, they
will keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake. because they know not him that
sent me." He is clearly explaining these things to him, to all of
them, all of his disciples. He's saying, expect these things
to come. Expect them to come. These persecutions. Expect the religious world to
treat you this way. And it's not fun. Not at all. But it's going to happen. And
the reason that this is going to happen, the reason they'll
do this is because they don't know my father and they don't
know me. Look at chapter 16, verse 3. And these things will they do
unto you because they have not known the father nor me. That's why. They don't know my
father, they don't know me. So right here in chapter 15,
our text, verse 22 says, If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for
their sin. If I had not come, if Christ
had not come, if he had not come into this world, the gospel could
have never been preached. The Old Testament hung on the
fact that Christ was coming. You know that without Christ
coming, the Old Testament, there's no foundation to it. And this
New Testament of grace, free grace, there's no foundation
to it had Christ not come, had God not been manifest in the
flesh. And so he's saying, if I hadn't
come into this world, the gospel could have never been preached,
and man would not have been able to reject me personally, the
true God, and hate me, But I did come, I did, and now they have
no excuse. Verse 23 says, he that hateth
me, hateth my father also. The reason is because they are
one. And that gives us some insight
into what he's telling us. If they hate you, you remember
they hated me first. It's the same reason that His
people are going to be hated. It's because the Lord's people
are one with Him. I know we don't feel it right
now. Sometimes we don't feel saved. Sometimes we don't feel like
we belong to Christ. Sometimes we don't feel like
we're in Christ, but we are. We are. God's people are vitally
united with Him. If we're living, it's just like
this child. I have no idea if that child
feels like it's vitally united to Tracy or not, but it is. It's
alive. Because she's alive, that child
is alive. And we are one with our Lord. Verse 24 says, 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. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law. They
hated me without a cause." It was written in their law. I love
that. Men are under the law. This world
is under the law. Not us. Written in their law.
They hated me without a cause. Ask men and women if they hate
Jesus Christ. Ask them if they hate Jesus Christ
and hate God the Father. Everybody knows their answer.
No. They know it's not. They know they don't or they
think they don't. And the reason they're going to say that is
because they don't know Jesus Christ or the Father. They don't
know Him. That's the only reason they feel
like they don't hate Him. If you start telling them the
truth, if you start telling them who Jesus Christ really is, and
God the Father, that God the Father has exalted God the Son. High above all things. High Almighty
King of Heaven. And even though every man and
woman deserves an eternity in hell, God chose to have mercy
on some. You start telling people the
truth about this and they will say, I hate that. I hate that. They won't like it. People who
are so sweet, so kind, so gentle, so meek, so religious, you tell
them that and they turn and they hate it, absolutely hate it.
And we acknowledge the fact that Christ did redeem who he chose
to redeem, didn't he? He saved whoever he chose to
save. He died for the chosen ones. In God's Holy Spirit, He
doesn't call the whole world. He calls the chosen and the redeemed
ones. Every bit of that is God's right
because He's God. After the service this morning,
I was thinking about the fact that we were talking about election. What if God didn't choose me?
I went home thinking about that. What if God didn't choose me?
Oh, I don't want that to be so. I don't want that to be so, but
here's the fact that God puts in every believer's heart. We
know he is God and it is his right because he's God. And we know we don't deserve
it. I know I don't deserve it. I
know I do not deserve it. I do not blame him. David said
in Psalm 51, you're clear when you judge. I acknowledge my sin,
my transgressions ever before me. And whatever you decide to
do, you're right in doing it. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes. Even if he were to put me in
hell, he would be right. And the reason is because he's
God. That's his right. He's God Almighty. But you go around telling men
and women that, and they will hate that God, and they will
hate you for believing that. They'll think you're crazy. But that's how it's going to
be. That's how it will be. But here's what he said in verse
26. He said, When the Comforter is come to you, he said, Now
I'm leaving, this is how it's going to be, but I'm going to
send a Comforter to you. And 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." The spirit of absolute truth is coming. We read this
word and we believe absolute truth. And he's going to testify
of me, verse 27, you also shall bear witness because you've been
with me from the beginning. They were with him from the moment
he began his ministry. And he gave that faith to them
to go preach that gospel. And he's continued to give faith
to his people. And now I'm doing the same thing
they did. And we all profess this word,
believe this word. These persecutions must come,
but I'm gonna send my Comforter to you, that's the Holy Spirit,
and He's gonna bring you to my word. That's what He's gonna
do. All of these persecutions, and
all of these doubts, and these fears, and these hardships, and
everything that sin produces in us, do you know what the Lord
Jesus Christ does for us? He brings us to His word. That's what he does. And this
word testifies of him through the spirit. And we believe it
and we're comforted by it. He's going to testify of me and
point you to me and he's going to comfort your heart through
my word. All right, let's see if the Lord will comfort us tonight.
This is a short message. I love short messages. So something
in all of that blessed my heart. It just blessed my heart. Now
I hope the Lord will comfort us and make us ready and make
us excited. This is what I want to show you.
Look at verse 19. Our Lord said, if you were of
the world, The world would love his own, but because you are
not of the world, you're not of the world. I thought I was
a center. You are, but you're not of the world.
You are not of the world. If God, the father chose you.
If Christ redeems you, if His Spirit has called you, given
your heart to bow the knee to our Lord, the King, and believe
this word right here, you are not of the world. You are not
of this world. You do not come from and you
do not belong to, you are not of the world. Well, then what
are we of? Go over to John chapter 1. John 1 verse 10 says, He was
in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not, but as many as received Him. Now that
doesn't say accepted, received. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Of God. God's people are not of this
world. They are of God. They were born in God. They come
from God. They belong to God. They're of God. They are of God. Go over to John 17. John 17, verse 9, our Lord said,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Verse
11 says, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in
the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one
as we are one. Look at verse 14. I have given
them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they're
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Just like the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know he's not of the world,
don't we? He's not of the world. All right, now watch this. Verse
15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Verse 18 says, As
thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them
into the world. In Christ, we're of God. In Christ, we were born of God. In Christ, we've always been
of God. Everything in Christ was from
the foundation of the world. In Christ, we are of God. Now, our Lord left this world.
He went over to Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, and He left
this world. Verse 11, he said, now I am no
more in the world, but these are in the world. We're here
right now in the world. All right, now he left the world. Where did he go? Verse 11, he
said, I come to thee. Where's that? There's a reality here. This
is what was getting me. There is a reality here. I mean,
he went somewhere. Don't we believe he's a man?
Don't we believe we're going to see a man? Don't we believe
God became a man? Don't we believe that he ascended
up on high and they watched him go up? Don't we believe that
he was on this earth and now he is not on this earth? He left
this world. Where did he go? There's a reality
here. A real man, the God man, went
to a real place, a more real place than this, a place that
He is of. Our loved ones have gone to a
real place. I know that we believe it and
I also know we don't understand it and I also know we can't get
our minds around it, but I'm telling you they're in a real
place. They are in a very, very real
place. Our Lord said, He that liveth
and believeth in me. Now, do we believe the last three
words or is it three? Yeah. Do we believe these words
or not? He that liveth and believeth
in me. I know it says shall never die,
but we see him die. They go in the casket. So this
is what he said. shall never die. To be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord. He that liveth and believeth
in me, he's going to live forever. He is going to live forever.
Now the Lord does not lie. He cannot lie. He is going to
live forever. But he's not going to live in
this world. And the reason is because he's
not of this world. He's not staying here. Believest thou this?" Do
you believe that? Do you believe the reality of
this? Go with me over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, look at verse 13. It says, these all died in faith. In faith. Not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded
of them. They were persuaded of them.
And embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Here's the reality. We don't
belong here. We're not of this world. We are
strangers and pilgrims passing through. We don't make a life here. Well,
we're just going to, you know, hunker down and we're going to
park it right here. Nope, we're passing through.
Strangers and pilgrims. Verse 14, for they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. Now I'm so thankful
that I was born in this country. I realize it has problems. But
I'm very thankful that I was born in this country. It's been
a good country to grow up in. But God has said there is a better
country. There's a better country. One
where Christ dwells. That's where he went. One where the only population
is those who love Christ. Those who he redeemed. The only
ones there. They're the only ones there.
The ones that love the truth and know the truth. Those who are of God. One where
there is no hate because there is no sin. It's a real place. No hate for Christ, no hate for
His people because only Christ and His people are there. That's
the only ones there. Verse 13, These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they
came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country. That is in heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. He has prepared a city. He has prepared a city. The beautiful city of God. He
has prepared a city. A place for us who are not of
this world. Strangers and pilgrims in this
world. Look at Hebrews 13 verse 12 says,
Hebrews 13 verse 12, Jesus also that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood suffered without the gate. Let
us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his
reproach for here we have no continuing city but we seek one
to come. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to his name. All right, now let
me close with this. Would you like to see a small
glimpse of the city? I love this. I love this place.
How spiritual is it? I don't know. How real is it? I don't know. But I can tell
you this. In the Old Testament, when they said the king is going
to come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the king came riding
in on a donkey. And when it said that his garment
would not be torn, his garment was not torn. And when it said
in Zechariah that he's going to stand on the Mount of Olivet
near Jerusalem and ascend back to glory, he stood on the Mount
of Olivet and ascended back to glory. So, I don't know, but
let's enjoy it. Go over to Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 1 says, And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Does that sound good?
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
Does that sound good? And there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and
there shall be no more death. neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful." Verse 10 says, and
he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain,
and showed me that great city, holy Jerusalem, descending out
of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was
like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal." And then he goes on down to say that it had walls,
and it had gates, and it had foundations. Verse 22 says, "...and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it." Where are we going to go to worship?
We're in Him at all times. We're going to be worshiping
God at all times. We're going to be in the temple at all times. He said, I saw no temple therein.
For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them
which are saved, now that's going to be us by God's grace, shall
walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth, you
know what revelation says, we have been made, we sinners, kings
and priests. The kings of the earth do bring
their glory and honor into it. What is our glory? Christ is
our glory. And the gates of it shall not
be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there." You're
never going to shut the gates. Free. Everybody's going to know,
and it's going to be declared and declared, you're free, you
are free, you are free, you're free. Bondage is over. All that bondage is over. You
ever going to lock? If I go out of that gate, am
I not going to be able to make it back in? No, the gates never
shut. What time do I have to be back?
There is no time. It's always today. There's no
night there. Will Christ be with me? You're in Him. You cannot
be out of Him. The gates of it shall not be
shut at all by day. There shall be no night there.
They shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it,
and there shall, this is the best part, there shall in no
wise enter into it anything that defileth Neither whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of it, the river was there. In the midst
of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there
the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse. But the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him,
and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their
foreheads. Everybody you're going to bump
into will be, hey, how's it going? What do you want to talk about?
Christ. Let's do it. And there shall
be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the
sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign
for ever and ever." Thank God we're of God. Aren't
you so glad? This poor miserable world, this
sin, everybody's trying to just scoop, let's scoop, how much
sin can we scoop up by the end of this life? I got three score
in 10. How much sin can I rake in? Forget all that. Lose this life, gain eternity,
there's nothing to lose. Thank God we are of God. It is so wonderful to me to hear
him say, you are not of this world. I'm going to the place
you're of. And I'm going to prepare a place
for you in the city reserved for you. Not only did I put a
down payment on it, I bought it. I bought your spot, paid
in full, free and clear. And we'll see you there. All
right, let's stand together.