Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along,
I'll be preaching from the book of John, the gospel of John in
the New Testament, chapter 15. And I'm going to begin the message
in verse 18 of John 15, where the Lord is teaching his disciples
concerning their relationship with the world especially in
evangelism, going out into the world and preaching the gospel.
And the title of this message is this, Love from Christ, Hatred
from the World. Love from Christ, Hatred from
the World. Now he says here in John 15 and
verse 18, He tells them, he says, if the
world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So he's telling them that don't
marvel, don't be amazed. If in going out and preaching
the gospel of Christ, you are confronted with people who literally
hate you. Now, let me say this at the outset. Hatred of Christ and hatred from
the world, and obviously he's talking about unbelievers there,
comes in different forms, in different degrees. In other words,
it's not always the fact that, of course, many of these disciples,
when they went out, they had people who picked up stones to
stone them, who arrested them, who threw them out of their house,
and all kinds of things. But hatred for Christ and His
truth, His gospel, can be shown just in ignoring it, denying
it, walking away from it. Now that's what Christ said.
He said, he that is not with me is against me. And the Bible
says that in our unregenerate state, before being born again
by the Spirit and being brought by God to faith in Christ, that
we are his enemies, enemies in our minds by wicked works, Colossians
chapter one. So don't think that if you don't
believe the gospel, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ Jesus, if you don't believe that, but you're just,
apathetic towards it. Or you say, well, I don't want
to hear that. Just walk away. Don't think you're off the hook
now on this issue of hatred. Now, there are people who just
get very angry. I mean, I've had people get red-faced
angry with me and just want me to leave. Thank God we live in
a country where we have religious liberty. I thank God for religious
freedom. I think maybe some people are
trying to put that in jeopardy today. But I thank God for religious
freedom. If you preach a false gospel,
you have every right to do so. And I don't have any right to
physically attack you or pass a law that'll stop you. I don't
want you to preach a false gospel or believe a false gospel. And
the gospel, even though you have the liberty to preach it and
to live it, it's still untrue. And it's a hell-bound message. But still, we need this freedom. But now back then in Christ's
day, they were many times, when they went out to preach the gospel,
they were under penalty of being arrested, being put to death. Most of the apostles, well, all
the apostles were martyred. Even John, he lived to be an
old age, but they exiled him on the Isle of Patmos. So when
he talks about hatred, understand that. But he says in John 15,
18, if the world hates you, You know that it hated me before
it hated you. So why should it amaze a true
disciple of Christ if the world, the unregenerate world, despises
him, ignores him, hates him, when they despised and ignored
and hated the Lord himself? That's his point there. And he
says, verse 19, if you were of the world, if you were in fellowship
with the world, in agreement with the world, the world would
love his own, the world would love you. But because you're
not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you. So you're not in fellowship with
the world, if you're a believer. If you believe the gospel, wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed, which is a righteousness that
no sinner can produce, If you preach the gospel of the glorious
person of Jesus Christ, who is Jesus Christ? God in human flesh,
God-man. And if you preach the gospel
of the power of his finished work, that all for whom he lived
and died and was buried and arose again the third day, shall be
saved. And if you preach the sinfulness
of man, the sinnerhood of man, that man has fallen in Adam,
so ruined and depraved and sinful that he's born spiritually dead
and will not of his own will come to God, come to Christ,
seek the Lord, that his best efforts to please God when aimed
at the ground of salvation are an abomination to God, Literally,
if you're trying to be saved or accepted with God based on
your works, whatever God you have in your mind who will accept
you and receive you on that ground, that God is an idol. Now, that's
right. Now, how do you like that message?
That's the key. If that's the message you have,
then you hate the gospel of Christ. And that's what he's saying here.
The world hateth you. And he says in verse 20 of John
8 to 15, remember the word that I said unto you, the servant
is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. His saying, that's the gospel,
what he's talking about. How God saves sinners. The Bible
says there's just one way that God saves sinners, and that's
by His grace, based on the righteousness of His Son, the God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He will not save sinners
on any other ground, on any other basis, through any other person.
I know there are churches in this town who are being pastored
by men and women who will tell you that there are more ways
than one to God. I'm telling you that's a lie.
That's His saying, Christ's saying. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And it's not just
Jesus, it's Jesus as He is identified and distinguished in the Word
as the Lord my righteousness. The Bible says that those who
are ignorant of or not submitted to the righteousness of God are
going about to establish a righteousness of their own, and they failed. Most people today don't even
know what the righteousness of God is. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's what the Bible teaches.
It's His righteousness. It's the merit of His works charged,
accounted to me by the grace of God. and I have no other righteousness
before God. Now, if you have any other righteousness
other than Christ, His righteousness, you're a lost person and your
deeds are evil. Now, do you like that message
or do you hate it? Well, look over at John chapter
three. In John chapter three, look at
verse 18. Now, he'd just been talking to a religious man named
Nicodemus. He told him, you must be born
again. And he says in verse 18 of John 3, he that believeth
on him, that is on Christ, this is John writing about Christ,
he that believeth on Christ is not condemned. Now, what does
that mean? That means, well, he says, but
he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. His name identifies
him and distinguishes him from all counterfeits. So if you don't
believe in Christ as the one and only way to God, the one
and only way of righteousness, the one and only way of forgiveness
by His sovereign grace, and you stay in that state and die in
that state, you die condemned. He says, and this, verse 19 of
John 3, listen, and this is the condemnation, that light is coming
to the world. Now who is the light? That's
Christ. That's the gospel, the truth. And men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Now what deeds
did the light expose as being evil? Man's best efforts to save
himself. Man's best efforts to make himself
righteous, so to be recommended unto God. You see, you cannot
be saved by your best efforts. You cannot be made righteous
by your best efforts. God is righteous and we are not. God must punish sin. God cannot show mercy and love
and grace unless justice is satisfied. How can God save a sinner like
me and still be God? Still be just, still be holy
and righteous and truthful. How can he do so and honor himself?
I often put it this way. How can God be both a righteous
judge, which he must be, as well as a loving, merciful, gracious
father? How can he be both? There's not
but one ground upon which God can do that, and that's the ground
by his grace through the blood, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Romans 10, four says, for Christ
is the end, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. Well, look at John 3, 20. For
everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light. Now the evil there
is man working, trying to work his way into God's favor. That's
evil because it dishonors God. It's evil because it denies Christ. It's evil because it gives sinners
room to boast. It's evil because it's the product
of unbelief. You see, I wanna do my best,
and I wanna be right with God, but I cannot do that by my works.
I have to look to Christ, the author and finisher of my faith.
And he says, everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved, discovered,
uncovered, exposed. Verse 21 says, but he that doeth
truth, that's believing the gospel, repenting of dead works, They
come to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God, that is, they are the work of God. I preached
on that last week. I am the vine, you're the branches.
You bear fruit from the vine. We'll go back to John 15. He says in verse 21, he says,
but all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake. because they know not him that
sent me. The reason that the world hates
Christ and his disciples is because they hate a message that exposes
them for what they are, sinners who need mercy, sinners who cannot
make themselves righteous, sinners whose best deeds, best attempts
to save themselves by their best works are condemned. Their deeds are evil. And this
gospel message, it exposes all false refuge. What is your refuge? Think about that. You know, you
ask most people today about salvation. Are you saved? And they always
go back to a decision that they made when they were young, probably,
you know, their baptism. My friend, is that your refuge?
That's a false refuge. Here's the issue. What, upon
what ground do you expect God to save you, accept you, receive
you, bless you, hear you, and bring you to glory? Upon what
ground? You say, well, I made a decision
when I was 20. That's the wrong ground. I'm telling you. There's
only one ground upon which God can do all those things, and
that's the merit of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood
alone, His righteousness alone. Now, if you don't believe that,
and if you're a churchgoer, if you claim to be a Christian,
and you don't believe what I just said, Then why do you sing hymns
like, what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Remember we said, this is all my hope and peace. This is all
my right. You see, what do you say? My
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but holy, that is 100% lean on Jesus' name, on Christ,
the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
You see, the ground of my salvation is not my decision for Christ.
That's the fruit of salvation. The ground of my salvation is
not my willingness, not my faith, not my repentance, not my perseverance. The ground of my salvation is
the merit of Christ's blood and righteousness alone. You say,
well, you're just splitting hairs. Well, you may think that, but
I know this, when you stand before God at judgment, here's the issue. The issue is not how much faith
did you have? How many works have you done?
The issue is how do you stand in Christ? The Bible says in
Acts 17, 31, that God has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead. How do I stand with Christ? Do
I stand pleading my faith? Do I stand before God pleading
my repentance, pleading my works? They don't equal what Christ
has done. I stand before God washed in the blood and clothed
in the righteousness of my Savior. That's my hope, that's my ground,
that's my assurance. Well, go back to John 15. He says in verse 22, He says,
if I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin,
but now they have no cloak for their sin. What does he mean
by that? Well, the Bible says, Christ
himself said, the Pharisees do indeed appear righteous unto
men. They appeared to be moral. They
appeared to be sincere, dedicated religionist. But when Christ
came and preached the gospel, that shows us that we have no
righteousness even by our best efforts to be dedicated, to be
sincere, to be moral, that we're sinners and the best we do fall
short for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. And
that there's only one righteousness that God will accept, the righteousness
of His Son, which is the merit of the obedience unto death of
Christ. What does that do? That removes the deception, the
cloak, of an appearance of righteousness and exposes me as a sinner in
need of mercy and grace. That's what he's saying. If I
hadn't come and spoken, preached the gospel, he says, they had
not had sin. In other words, they wouldn't
appear as to be really what they are. But now they have no cloak
for their sin. He exposed it and it says in
verse 23, he that hateth me, hateth my father also. You know,
you cannot love the Father and not love the Son. You cannot
trust and believe in the Father and not trust and believe in
the Son. I don't care what anybody says. The only way to the Father
is through the Son. And that's it. And he says in
verse 24, if I had not done among them the works which none other
man did, they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and
hated both me and my father. So he preached the word, he did
wonderful works that supported the authority of what he said,
and therefore they hated him. And Christ said, they hate me,
they hate the father. They claim to believe in the
father. They claim that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
was their father. but they did not receive God's
Son. They did not believe and love
Him. Well, they hated the Father too. Their idea of the Father
was an idolatrous one, one who would receive them and accept
them based on their works. So verse 25, he says, but this
cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law, they hated me without a cause. And there he quotes
from the Psalms talking about his relationship to the world.
They had no right to hate him, but they did. He was just telling
them the truth. You know, preachers today try
to do their best to pack their church buildings with people
by doing what? By telling unbelievers, the natural
man, what they want to hear. Christ didn't do that. He told
them what they needed to hear, and they hated him without a
cause. Verse 26, he says, but when the Comforter has 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. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. not to speak of himself, not to just make you feel good
or get you into some kind of a religious frenzy. The work
of the Spirit is to point sinners to the Son, to point to Christ. And that's what He does. That's
how you know the work of the Spirit. He convicts of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment, and it all has to do with Christ.
He convicts me that I'm a sinner, because my efforts always fall
short, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
He convicts me of righteousness that can only be found in Jesus
Christ, who lived, died, was buried, arose from the dead,
and ascended to the Father. The Spirit shows me that without
Christ, the law of God does nothing but condemn me, even at my best,
and that the perfection of righteousness that the law requires can only
be found by God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what
he does. And he continued, he takes the
word and he points sinners to Christ. And verse 27 of John
15 says, and you also shall bear witness because you have been
with me from the beginning. They're going to preach the same
gospel. Now down in chapter 16, let me just read you a couple
of verses here. He says in verse one of John 16, these things
have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. What
he's saying as far as the offense, it means you shouldn't be tripped
up. I'm telling you these things
beforehand that you won't trip over them later. Verse two, they
shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. Verse three,
and these things will they do unto you because they have not
known the Father nor me. And then verse four lastly, but
these things have I told you that when the time shall come
you may remember that I told you of them. And these things
I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you. So Christ
is forewarning them of what's coming. from the world. And he
said, this is even gonna come from the unbelieving Jews. How do you know that? He said,
they'll throw you out of the synagogues. They're religious services. Now,
let me say this. Today, there's a big movement
called Christians and Jews Together. Well, let me tell you something
about that. And I've had people ask me about
Israel. Should we support Israel? And
I always say, yes. Politically and economically,
we should support the state of Israel. I'm glad that our president
is a supporter of Israel politically and economically. But we who
believe the gospel, we who are Christians, have no biblical
right to support Israel religiously because on the whole, I mean,
there may be some Christian Jews, that's great, they're my brothers,
sisters in Christ. They're not Christians and Jews
together, they're just all Christians together. But when it comes to
having fellowship with unbelievers, whether they be Jewish or Arab
or whatever, We are commanded not to have fellowship with unbelievers. He said to his disciples, they'll
throw you out of the synagogues. How can I have fellowship in
the synagogue where the gospel is not preached, where Christ
is not preached, where Christ is not exalted? I pray for the
salvation of all unbelievers, Jews included. I've had people
who tell me they believe that in the future, before Christ
comes again, that Christ is going to save the whole Jewish nation.
Well, now I don't believe the Bible teaches that, but let me
tell you this, if it were true, I would jump for joy. But I would
be just as happy if God saved the whole Arab nation, or the
whole United Nations. All of us, United States. I want
God to save sinners. I pray for the salvation of sinners.
That's the love that Christians are to express to their neighbor. It's not a love that brings them
into fellowship with unbelievers. It's a love that prays for and
promotes their salvation by telling them the truth, even at the peril
of them hating what I say and hating me. That's what Christ
did. He told them the truth. Why didn't
he have fellowship in the synagogue? You know what happened when he
went back to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth? They read from the
book of Isaiah 61 and he got up before them and he said, today
this is fulfilled before your eyes, meaning I'm the Messiah,
that's what he said. And you know what they, he didn't
have fellowship in the synagogue. It wasn't Christians and Jews
fellowshipping. They brought him outside to throw
him over a cliff. They wanted to kill him. and
he walked unharmed through the crowd because it wasn't his time.
That's not the way he was to be killed, and it wasn't his
time. So don't get me wrong. I pray
for the peace of Jerusalem. I want peace in the Mideast.
I want the peace of Jerusalem. Israeli nation today is the only
democracy that I know of in the Mideast, and I support them politically
and economically, but not religiously. I cannot have fellowship religiously
with anyone who doesn't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
hasn't repented of dead works, who isn't walking by faith in
Him according to this book from Genesis to Revelation. That's
what we have to understand. This is the issue. of the love
that comes from Christ and the hatred that comes from the world.
Do we love Christ or do we love the world? That's the fellowship
with Christ and not fellowshipping with the world. That's the whole
issue. So understand, he said, if the world hates you, don't
be amazed. It hated me before it hated you.
Why did it hate our Savior, the Savior? Because of what he preached
to them. that exposed their false religion
and false hopes. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive. Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact
us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website
at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.