Now you turn in your Bible again
to John chapter 15. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 25. The last part of verse 25 is
the Lord says unto his apostles as he teaching them, they hated
me without a cause. where they hated me freely, freely,
freely. So that's going to be the title
of the message, Hated Without a Cause. Our blessed Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, never did anything whatsoever contrary
to the perfect will of God. Everything He did, He did perfectly
according to the will of God. Turn back one page in chapter
14, verse 31, but that the world may know that I love the Father,
as the Father gave me commandment, even so that what I do. He perfectly did the will of
God. Remember in John chapter 4, he
said, My desire, my satisfaction is to finish the work the Father
gave me to do. And yet sinners in that day,
especially religious sinners, in that day, even in this day,
still despise, deride, and hate the true and living God. God
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true of all men left
to themselves apart from His grace and it also is true of
us by nature. We would never love Him had He
not first loved us and drawn us to Himself with everlasting
love. Now did you notice in these few
verses starting in verse 18 down through verse 24 and 25, how
many times the Lord uses this word hate and hated, hate and
hated, at least seven or eight times. Now, why is this? Why is it that men in their sin
and in themselves and left to themselves, why is this? Well,
it's because of what we are. This is a testimony to man's
total sinfulness and depravity. Now let me show you a scripture
here that also describes this condition that we find ourselves
in by nature. Turn to Galatians chapter 5.
I quote all the time from Romans 8-7 where it says the carnal
mind is enmity against God. And that word there, enmity,
is deep-rooted, deep-seated hatred. This enmity and this hatred is
nothing more than the deeds of the flesh. Galatians chapter
5 verse 19. Now the works of the flesh. or
the fruit of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred."
hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, divisions,
heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revilings. What a gruesome list. And those who are left to the
devices of their flesh, these shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. God must do something for us
and in us. to make us new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Now our Lord here in these verses,
John 15 verse 18 down through the end of the chapter, our Lord
is instructing His disciples and preparing them for the persecution
and hatred that will come for one reason. for preaching God's
truth, for exposing man's sinfulness and for telling that salvation
is in Christ alone. He's preparing them and warning
them for the persecution and hatred that is certainly to follow
because of preaching this message that's offensive to the flesh.
Look at John chapter 16 verse 2. He said, They shall put you
out of the synagogue, out of their assemblies. Yea, the time
cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he's doing
God a favor, doing God's business, service. And these things will
they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor
me." Now I think it's interesting here that the Lord doesn't mention
to these apostles who were called, given special gifts, credentials,
and sent forth with the message of preaching the gospel. He doesn't
hear in these verses tell them about the success that they're
going to have. He warns them about the persecution
and hatred that comes. He doesn't tell Peter, now Peter
when you stand in a few days and preach at Pentecost, there's
going to be thousands that bow to the Lord. He doesn't even
mention that. He mentions this persecution, rather the difficulties
and persecution that would surely come their way. Last verse in
chapter 16, look at verse 33. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have trouble, persecution, hatred, tribulation, but be of good cheer,
I've overcome." That's our hope. It's not that we're overcomers.
It's not that we have won the victory. It's only that He has
overcome and He has won the victory and we stand complete in Him.
In Him dwells all the fullness of a Godhead bodily and in Christ. We stand complete in Him. Now let's go back and pick up
a few thoughts from verse 18. If the world hates you, you know,
and you know this, they saw this as they tried to persecute and
hate the Lord Jesus Christ. These apostles saw the Jews pick
up stone, didn't they? To stone Him. If these religious
Jews hate you, You know that it's because they hated me before
they hated you. The Lord reminds them of this
hatred that they all had experienced from this religious crowd, the
religious self-righteous Jew. It wasn't the publicans that
despised the Lord. As a matter of fact, he was called
a friend of publicans and sinners. It was the Pharisees who hated
the Lord Jesus Christ so they called him a winebibber. They
even called him the devil. What did he do that got them
so upset? It wasn't so much what he did,
it's what he said. You are of your father the devil. It was the Pharisees who hated
him, who on several occasions took up stone to try to kill
him. Let's see one of these occasions, turn back to John chapter 10.
You remember when he declared unto them that salvation is a
gift of God? When he declared unto them that
I and my Father are one, John 10 verse 30. Then verse 31, the
Jews took up stones to stone him again, to stone him. And the Lord said, Many good
works have I showed you from my Father. From which of these
good works do you stone me? You see, it wasn't the soup kitchen.
It wasn't the loaves and the fishes that fed the thousands
that they had a problem with. And the Jews said unto him, For
good work, we're not upset. For good work we stone thee not,
but for blasphemy, because that thou being a man, you make yourself,
or you call yourself God. He said before Abraham was, I
am, and He is God. But they got very, very, very
upset. This is man's natural response
to the gospel of God's grace. It's still true the carnal mind
is enmity. It's still true that the carnal
mind, the natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. Foolishness unto him. Now people
don't despise the gods with a small G that they have whittled out
in their puny mind. I thought about a song that I
heard the other day from back in the 60s or early 70s. You
remember that rock and roll song that says, Jesus is just okay
with me, Jesus is just all right, oh yeah? They don't despise the
Jesus they have whittled out in their mind. What they do despise,
if they met with the Sovereign Christ, with the Holy Christ,
with the Christ of God, they would say, we'll not have that
man. to reign over us. People don't despise the God
they've whittled out in their mind. It's the sovereign Christ
that men will not have by nature. It's the Christ of God that's
revealed in the Word of God that they despise and that they hate. You remember over in John 17,
look at verse 2. Here's the sovereign Christ that
men by nature do not love. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as the Father hath given to him." He said in Matthew 28, he said,
go preach the gospel knowing this, that I have all power in
heaven and earth. You go preach the gospel, and
I'll be with you, and I will not forsake you. If the world
hates you, you know it hated me before it hated you. Look
at verse 19, if you were of this world, John 15, 19, if you were
of this world, they'd love you. The world would love his own.
But because you're not of this world, now we are by nature,
But he said, I've chosen you out of this world, therefore,
here's the reason that they hate you. They hate God that elects
whom he will. Therefore the world hateth you. Here's one of the reasons of
this hatred vented out against the Lord and against his people.
His sovereign electing love, chosen out of this world. Look back at verse 16, how the
Lord said, you didn't choose me, we didn't choose him, he
chose us. Had He not chosen us, we never
would believe the gospel. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. You've not chosen me, I've chosen
you. And I have ordained you. We're
chosen out of this world. The Lord redeemed people out
of this world. Believers have been made to differ
by the sovereign grace and mercy of God. Who makes you to differ
from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive? We can say with the Apostle Paul,
by the grace of God, I am what I am. I want you to find 2 Timothy,
turn over there, 2 Timothy for just a moment. Those who contend
for the gospel, those who contend for the gospel will hear from
those who hate the true and living God. Take a stand for the gospel
now. Don't compromise, don't back
up. You won't be a friend of this world, especially this religious
world. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.
Verse 10, 2 Timothy 3, 10, But thou hast fully known my doctrine,
my teaching, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering,
love, and patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto
me in Antioch, in Iconium, Lystra. They stoned Paul and thought
he was dead, and maybe he was, but they drug him out of the
city there at Lystra. What persecutions I endure, but
out of them all the Lord delivered me, yea, look at verse 12, all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. What is this, shall live godly? Well, I don't go to the picture
show. I don't take a paper on Sunday. That's not what he's
talking about. It's standing for the doctrine
of Christ, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. My friend,
if you take a stand for the gospel, especially among this self-righteous,
religious, God-hating world, you're going to have a fight
on your hands. That's right. If you can tell
an unbeliever the gospel, especially a religious man, tell him the
gospel of God's grace and he doesn't get fighting mad, he
didn't hear a word you said. That's right. I can always tell
when folks hear what I'm saying, unbelievers, because they get
mad. They grit their teeth. That's
not fair. That's not my God. Yeah, you're
right. It's not. God is God, beside Him there
is no other. Look at verse 20, John 15. Remember
the word that I said unto you, the servant's not greater than
his Lord. If they persecuted me, get ready. Get ready. Now if you find yourself getting
along with this religious world, there's something wrong. There's
something bad wrong. If you find yourself getting
along with this religious world who preaches another gospel and
another Jesus and another spirit, you've got something bad wrong.
The servant's not greater than his Lord. If they've persecuted
me, they will also rail on you. If they've watched my saying
so as to criticize me and condemn me, they'll do the same thing
for you. They'll do the same thing to
you. The same crowd that persecuted
the Lord and said, we will not have this man to reign over us,
will also persecute you for the very gospel that you preach,
the very gospel that you believe and stand for. You remember reading
in Luke chapter 4, when the Lord there went to his hometown. He
went to his home church there in Nazareth, remember? And he
took the book of Isaiah and read from Isaiah where it said, to do everything that God has
purposed for me to do, to set the captive free, to proclaim
liberty to those who are in bondage, to do the acceptable will of
the Lord, and he closed the book, gave it to the man in the Pharisee
in the synagogue, he said, this day is the Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And then he explained what he
meant. And he talked about the widow, And then the Leper Naaman,
how God singled out a Gentile widow, a Gentile woman, and had
mercy on her. And God singled out a Gentile
Syrian and had mercy on him. And when they heard that, oh,
it says they were filled with wrath. And they took hold of
him bodily. Now the Lord allowed this. They
physically took hold on him and took him out of the synagogue
and went to the brow of the hill to throw him off, to kill him. But he simply passed
their way. What got them so upset? He declared
the truth of God's sovereign saving mercy. He'll have mercy
on whom he will. Now look at verse 21. Verse 21, John 15, but all these
things will they do unto you because of my name, my name. You know, his name declares who
he is, doesn't it? His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. All these things will they do
unto you for my name's sake because they do not know God. nor do they know me God that
sent me here's another reason for this persecution and hatred
that the apostles experienced and you know they all died as
martyrs what the Lord said here came to pass didn't it I mean
these fellas weren't popular fellas they were hated they were
hated and despised And he says here, they'll do it because of
my name. My name. God has given him a
name which is above every name, that that name every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess that he is Lord. They were called
by his name. You remember what they were called?
Christians. Now I don't use that term in
this day because it has become a meaningless term. I recall
and refer to people as believers of the gospel. But in that day
it had a name that identified with the true Christ of God.
They were called by his name Christians and they were despised.
They confessed his name, Peter and John, before that council
of the Pharisee. There is no other name under
heaven, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. They believed by His name, in
His name. They preached the gospel in His
name. They encouraged others to call upon the name of the
Lord, didn't they? The Lord Jesus Christ. Have you noticed in my preaching
that I never refer to Him except when I read and oftentimes I
add the word Lord Jesus Christ? I never refer to Him just as
Jesus. That's His name of suffering. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. God had made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, God had made Him Lord and Christ. He's the Lord. Not by something
we do. He's a Lord by God's eternal,
immutable, unchanging purpose and decree. And He is the Savior. That's what His name means. He
is what He's called. He is the Savior who really saved
His people from their sin. And He is certainly the Christ
of God, isn't He? He's the anointed of God. He
is the Messiah. You remember back in John chapter
6? Turn back over there. In John
chapter 6, When the Lord declared unto them the gospel of His sovereign
saving power. Remember in John chapter 6, look
at verse 69 in just a minute. But remember in this chapter
the Lord said, No man can come unto Me except the Father which
sent Me draw him. He declared His sovereign purpose,
His sovereign grace. And you know what happened? Look
at verse 66. From that time many went back
and walked no more with him. And the Lord said to the twelve,
will you also go away? Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the word of the eternal
life. We believe and we are sure thou
art that Christ, that one promised of God, the Son of the living
God. What a privilege it is to believe
on His name, to call upon His name, to preach the gospel in
His name, and to suffer for His name's sake. Turn to the book
of Acts chapter 5 for just a minute. What a privilege to believe in
his name, to call upon his name, to preach the gospel in his name,
to count all things but loss for his name, for his righteousness
sake. Look at Acts chapter 5, the last
couple of verses, verse 41, 42, Acts 5. They departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name. They were beaten, it says in
verse 40, To him they agreed, and when they had called the
apostles and beaten them, and commanded them that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus, they let him go. And they departed
from the presence of the council rejoicing they were counted worthy
to suffer for his name. And daily in the temple, publicly,
and in the house, privately, they ceased not to teach and
preach. this name Jesus Christ the Lord
God help us to do so here's another reason this persecution the last
part of that verse verse 21 because they do not know him that sent
me men by nature do not know the true and living God not at
all not at all because they don't know me they will persecute and
hate you what an indictment What an indictment against them, these
religious Jews, and against all unbelievers. God has made us to differ, to
believe the gospel of His grace. Look at verse 22. If I had not
come and spoken unto them the truth of God, the word of God,
they had not sin. They had not had sin. But now, they've heard the truth. They've heard the Word and they
have no place to hide. You know what he's saying here? Guilty. Guilty he came unto his
own you think of all the privileges they had those old Jews had they
had the priesthood They had the Word of God. They had the prophets
of God They had the Messiah in their midst and when he came
to his own his own said away with him Crucify him. We have
no king. We don't need a king. We have
Caesar. We don't need God They have no
place to hide, no excuse for their sin. Now make no mistake,
we too Left to ourselves, what we are an item by nature, are
also guilty of rebelling against the Lordship and casting away
His mercy. By nature we stand guilty, naked
before God, having no covering, but our own self-righteousness. Aren't you glad God didn't leave
us to ourselves? We'd be right with that crowd
saying away with him, crucify him. You say, I've always loved
the Lord. No, you haven't. You may have
been always religious. I've always known God. No, you
haven't. That's contrary to what this book teaches. You may have been in religion
all your life, but you don't love the Lord all your life.
He brings you into that vital union by His grace and causes
you to love Him because He first loved you and called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. Now look at verse 23,
John 15, 23. He that hateth me, he that hates
the true Christ of God, hates my Father also. Now he just keeps
pounding this point, doesn't he? They hate me, they hate me,
they hate God, and they hate me, they hate me, they hate my
word, they hate everything about me. You seem like he's just kind
of lightened up a little bit. No, he's got to tell the truth.
He that hated me hates my Father also. Now it's a common sin and
a common error among many religious people that they think they can
approach God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's impossible. You remember John 14, 16? The
Lord said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man come
to the Father but by and through me. God is too holy and we are
too sinful. Well, I'm just gonna love God
and I'm gonna forget the Lord Jesus Christ. Impossible. There's
no way to approach the thrice holy God apart from a sufficient
high priest suitable with an offering that's acceptable unto
God, which is only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No
sinner can approach God apart from the mediation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's one God and one mediator
between God and man, and that is a God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's no approaching unto God
apart from the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only
by the blood of Christ that we have boldness to enter into the
holiest. He said, Come boldly unto the
throne of grace that you may obtain mercy, find grace to help
in time of need. There's no approaching God apart
from the righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel. Is there? For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth to the Jew, and also to the Gentile." See,
a rejection of the sovereign, holy, almighty Savior is a rejection
of God altogether. Now, did you hear what I said?
To reject the Holy Sovereign Christ of God that did not fail
to bring in everlasting righteousness, that did not fail to obtain eternal
redemption for us, is to reject God Almighty. You can't have
Him without His Savior. without the Lord Jesus Christ,
because I and my Father, we are one. Whoever hates God that sent
the Lord Jesus Christ also hates the one that sent of him, and
he sent of God. Look at verse 24. If I had not
done among them the works, Which no other man did, and no one
did the wonderful, mighty thing that he did. He raised the dead. He made the blind to see. He caused the deaf to hear. He
made the crippled to walk. He raised, on at least three
different occasions, he raised someone who had died, Lazarus,
been dead four days. And he walked in front of that
tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth. If I had not done among
them the work which none other man did, They had not had this
sin of rejecting me, but now they have both seen and hated
both me and my father." What an indictment against all men
everywhere. These Jews not only had the privilege
of hearing the Word, of the Lord, the gospel directly from the
mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, He gave full proof of His ministry
and of His deity that He was indeed God and He spoke for God
by the many mighty and miraculous miracles that He did. They couldn't deny it, could
they? But now, even with all these special privileges given
unto them, they heard the Lord, they saw and enjoyed to some
extent His miracles, yet they hated the Son of God, and they
hated God the Father. Now, my question is this. You're thinking, maybe thinking,
with prejudice in your heart, them old rotten Jews, How about
those old rotten hearts that we have, huh? Let's point the
finger right back here. We're no different. Are we any
different from them? Not at all. Left to ourselves,
our own devices, we do the very same thing. By nature, we're
children of wrath, even as other. It's only as but God, who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead, in trespasses and in sin. Now verse 25, but
this has come to pass, this hatred, this rejection, this willful
rebellion against God, this willful unbelief. This has happened that
the word of the Lord might be fulfilled that is written in
the word of the Lord. Psalm 35, Psalm 69, Isaiah 63, Isaiah 53 rather, they hated
me without a cause. You remember Isaiah 53, he said
he's despised. This was written hundreds of
years before the Lord came. Despised and rejected of me. And a man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. All this has come to pass that
the scripture might be fulfilled. They hated me freely. freely, without a cause. As I
pointed out earlier, those three words, without a cause, is one
word in the original, and it's the same word that's translated
in Romans 3, 24, where it says we're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there was nothing in His
holy person to provoke Such hatred against Him. There was nothing
found in Him. Right? His character? Faultless. Impeccable. Impeccable. Such a high priest became us
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. His doctrine? Absolute truth. It says in Hebrews
6, it's impossible for God to lie. His redemptive and priestly
work, complete, perfect, satisfying to God. He obtained for us eternal
redemption. Even Pilate said, not once but
three times, do you remember what he said? I find no fault
in him. You see, his character is impeccable.
Even the soldier that stood at the foot of the cross said, surely,
This was a righteous man. The repentant thief, you remember
what he said? This man had done nothing amiss. We're getting what we deserve.
This man done nothing wrong. Even Judas, after betraying the
Lord, came back and cast the money on the floor. You remember
what he said? I betrayed innocent blood. This man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, there was no reason found in him for any sinner to hate
him, yet they hated him freely, without a cause found in him. The whole reason and cause of
any sinner hating and rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ must originate
within our own wicked, unbelieving, depraved heart. Matthew 15 says,
For out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, murderers, envies,
debate, all these things. The work to the flesh, we read
in Galatians chapter 5 verse 20, all these things, hatred
against God. Jeremiah 17 declares, The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? We studied in John chapter 3
verse 19 and following that by nature we love darkness, not
light. Because our deeds are, what?
Evil. Always evil. Now, that's us by nature. Look at
the next two verses. Now here's what happened by His
grace. Left to ourselves, we keep right on rebelling, right
on unbelieving, right on rejecting the sovereign Christ of God,
right on hating the Lord Jesus Christ. But when? Something happened. Something happened to you. But
when? But God. When the Comforter is
come, he's talking about God the Holy Spirit. He's talking
here about regeneration. Our Lord said to Nicodemus, except
a man born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. But when
the Comforter is come, He's the Spirit of truth that will convict
us of our sin. of unbelief, of righteousness,
and of judgment," he says in chapter 16. But when the Comforter
is come, whom the Father will send unto you, whom I will send
unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth
from the Father, He shall testify of me. He shall reveal Christ
to our heart. And then we can say with Peter,
we believe and we're sure thou art the Christ. Peter, do you
love me? Lord, you know all things. You
know. You know I love you. And you shall also bear witness
because you've been with me from the beginning. We are his witnesses
from the gospel. But when God, thanks being to
God, that the Lord is pleased to work His grace in us to love
Him, to believe Him, and to bow to Him freely without any cause
found in us. Can't find one. There's no cause
in us. There's no reason in us that
made us to love and believe the gospel. The cause is found in
Him. Not in us. Not in us. You see that? We love Him only
because He first loved us. The whole cause of unbelief and
of our rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, our rebellion against
Him, is only found in us. We are sinners. There's none
righteous, no not one. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The whole cause and reason of
the Lord freely justifying us is without any cause found in
us. The cause is only found in Him. It's by His mercy and by His
grace that He justifies us freely by His grace. God the Holy Spirit
must make us new creatures in Christ to cause us to love Him
and to believe Him. This gives Him all the honor
and all the glory justified. Turn to the book of Revelation
just a moment. Let me show you how the book
of God closes. He uses this word freely. Freely. While you're turning there, Revelation
21, let me remind you of this verse in Romans 8, 32. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also? Freely, freely give us all things. And you got Revelation 21. Revelation
21. And jot somewhere in your Bible,
jot this reference down. Maybe you can put this reference
down. You see Revelation 21 verse 6? Put this reference down. Hosea
14.4. Hosea 14.4. You know what Hosea 14.4 says? It says, I will love them freely. I will love them freely." See,
we're justified freely. He loves us. There's no cause,
reason found in us to cause God to love us. Is there? He loves
us freely by His grace. Look at Revelation 21 verse 6
now. He said unto me, It is done. I'm Alpha, Omega, the beginning,
the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. I will give the fountain, the
water of life. Who's that? Christ. Freely! He
that overcometh shall inherit all things. I will be his God. I will be his God and he shall
be my son. I like that language. Now, Revelation
22, freely, freely, freely, without a cause. You see, he has mercy
on us, not because we're lovable, not because we're good. He's
a good boy. No, he's not. I guess every mother
says of her son, he's a good boy. No, he's not. He's a rotten
rascal. He's a rebel. And every mother
probably says that of their daughter. She's a good daughter. Well,
I know what you mean by that, but not in God's sight. Revelation
22, Luke verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root
of David, I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning
star. And the Spirit, this is the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter, when He has come, the Spirit and the
Bride, the Church, they say, Come! Come to Christ! Look to
Him! And let him that heareth say, Come! And let him that is
thirsty, Come! And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Whosoever will, whosoever will,
let him take. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. I tell you the place where the
Lord brings us to, when he does a work of grace in our heart,
He causes us to willingly, lovingly trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone,
and count all else, dung, ruin, and loss, that we may win Christ
and be found in Him. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely, without a cause. Without a cause. I worked so hard No, don't bring
your works without a cause. I've given so much. No, without
a cause. You see what he's saying here?
Without a cause. Found in you. Freely. Freely. That's grace. That's the gospel
of His grace. God help us to embrace that.
And to love it. To love it in our heart. I love
the gospel. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not like ought to. Not like I should. But I do love
Him.