John 11:45-57
Introduction:
Phil 3:10 - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings
Hated for Jesus (John 15:18-6:4):
The Reality: Why Will the World Hate You?
:
- Because you're Not Like the world. (John 15:18-19)
1 John 3:12 - We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous
See: Prov 29:27
- Because the world hates Jesus. (John 15:20ab)
See: John 13:10
-
Because the world hates being called out for their Sin . (John 15:20c-25)
See: Psalm 69:4
John 7:7 - The world… hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
The Response: What Do You Do About It?
- Power up. (John 15:26-27)
- Prepare yourself. (John 16:1)
Matt 10:16 - Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
1 Pet 4:12 - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
- Persevere . (John 16:2-4)
See: 2 Tim 3:12
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:03
Open your Bible's with me, please, to John chapter 15.
00:06-00:15
We're following Jesus from the upper room around the table, last supper, and walking to the garden.
00:15-00:25
And through this whole talk that we've been going through in this chunk of John, we see Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure.
00:25-00:41
He says, "I'm leaving, and you need to be ready for that." And you know, the very first thing that Jesus talked about is also the very thing that Jesus talked about in our message last week, love.
00:42-00:48
All through this teaching, love, love, love.
00:48-01:13
And I imagine at this point, they're walking to the garden and Jesus once again is talking about love and the disciples were probably humming, you know, the Beatles, "All You Need Is Love," and, "Yes, Jesus, yes, love, love." And you're like, "You're going to sing that for us?" And I'm not right now, but look at verse 18.
01:15-01:27
Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." Did you hear the needle scrape across the record?
01:28-01:33
Well, hey, whoa, hey.
01:35-01:38
See Jesus was telling them, "They're going to have all these resources.
01:38-01:43
You're going to have God's Holy Spirit indwell you, and you're going to have answer to prayer.
01:43-01:59
You're going to have this home in heaven." And he said, "You have to love each other because you ain't going to get that from the world." church, you ain't going to get it from the world.
02:00-02:04
In fact, you're going to get the opposite.
02:05-02:07
And listen to me very closely.
02:09-02:10
You can't avoid it.
02:11-02:13
There's no getting around it.
02:13-02:15
There's no talking people out of it.
02:16-02:20
There's no secret path to universal likability.
02:22-02:25
This is part of knowing Jesus.
02:26-02:31
That's this theme our church has had specifically for the last three years.
02:32-02:32
Knowing Jesus.
02:33-02:35
Well, two years and then next year, spoiler alert.
02:36-02:37
Knowing Jesus.
02:39-02:44
Part of knowing Jesus is knowing what it's like to be hated.
02:47-02:51
And what it's like to suffer at the hands of people who hate you.
02:52-03:03
knew this, he said this in Philippians 3.10, he said, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings." Knowing Jesus means knowing His power.
03:04-03:05
Who's signing up for that?
03:05-03:07
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to know the power of the resurrection.
03:08-03:08
Sign me up for that.
03:09-03:11
I want to know." Resurrection power, we sing that song, right?
03:11-03:12
I want that.
03:12-03:13
And he says, "You know what else?
03:15-03:16
It's knowing His suffering.
03:17-03:39
It's sharing that too." Back when my sister-in-law Corinne, back when her father was dying, we all gathered at the hospital and I got the call and raced down and the family was there and we knew that things weren't looking good for Jerry and a lot of you knew Jerry.
03:40-04:03
Even though he lived on the south side, he came here occasionally and I remember walking back to his hospital room and you know, just that sense of just heaviness, knowing what things are looking like and the sadness and the family called in and all that, and just walking back to his hospital room.
04:03-04:14
I remember my brother turned around and said to me, "If I were you, I'd only do the parts of ministry that were fun." And message received.
04:14-04:24
he was saying was, "It's not always fun, is it?" You know, I was thinking about that a lot this week as I was preparing for this message.
04:26-04:29
It would be nice to just do the parts of ministry that were fun.
04:29-04:37
I could like just do this, just stand up and tell you about Jesus and see you here next week, same time, same channel kind of thing.
04:40-04:42
But you obviously can't pick and choose that, can you?
04:43-04:44
You take the bad with the good.
04:45-04:47
And that's what Jesus is alerting the disciples to here.
04:48-04:54
Wouldn't it be wonderful if our lives were just about basking in the love of our church family?
04:55-04:56
Wouldn't that just be awesome?
05:00-05:01
But that's not reality.
05:02-05:06
Jesus said, "People are gonna hate you.
05:08-05:15
"They're gonna hate you." And you're like, I'm not sure I like that.
05:16-05:17
Doesn't matter if you like it.
05:20-05:21
Well, why is that?
05:21-05:22
Well, on your outline, jot some things down.
05:23-05:26
Hated for Jesus, let's talk about the reality because that's where Jesus goes.
05:26-05:28
Why will the world hate you?
05:30-05:31
Jot some things down here with me, please.
05:31-05:33
Number one, because you're not like the world.
05:34-05:36
People are gonna hate you because you're not like them.
05:39-05:42
Let's pick up again, verse 18, on Rampus, verse 19.
05:42-05:46
And Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
05:47-05:50
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.
05:51-06:02
But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Stop there.
06:06-06:13
Jesus said, "If you are of the world, they'd love you." You can test this.
06:14-06:21
Next time a pride parade goes through Pittsburgh, let's put on our rainbow overalls and go down and offer high fives.
06:23-06:25
And everybody there is going to love you.
06:28-06:31
But simply believe and act differently than the world.
06:34-06:35
That's gonna be a problem for them.
06:38-06:40
Jesus said, "I chose you out of the world.
06:40-06:45
You're not like them." We talked about this last week.
06:45-06:47
You were on the slave market of sin.
06:48-06:50
Jesus said, "I bought you back.
06:50-06:57
You belong to me now." Chosen out of the world, and you don't even have to say anything.
06:58-07:08
When you strive to honor the Lord and live by God's Word, you understand church, you You sort of become like the world's conscience.
07:11-07:13
They hate you simply because you're not like them.
07:16-07:17
How can that be?
07:18-07:20
Well, John talked about this later when he wrote 1 John.
07:20-07:30
1 John 3.12 says, "We should not be like Cain, "who was of the evil one and murdered his brother." And why did he murder him?
07:32-07:33
Do you know why Cain murdered his brother?
07:35-07:46
because he was able, but he went on, he says, "Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." Did you catch that?
07:46-07:49
Why did Cain murder Abel?
07:51-08:19
John says, "Simply for one reason." Well, he's of the evil one, but what drove him, he said, "His deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." You see, you have lost people saying, "I want to live apart from God, and I hate you for being different." Proverbs 29, 27 says, "One whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked." People hate you just because you're like, "Hey, I want to honor Christ.
08:19-08:35
I want to live a life that honors Christ." You don't even have to be addressing them just to say, "This is what I choose to do." Like, "I hate you for that." How can that be?
08:36-08:37
Why?
08:37-08:38
I mean, I see what you're saying.
08:38-08:41
I see what Jesus is saying, but how can that be?
08:41-08:44
Well, number two, here's why, because the world hates Jesus.
08:45-08:47
Revisiting this concept, look at verse 20.
08:47-09:10
Jesus said, "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' And understand, church, hating Jesus Christ is the absolute purest form of evil.
09:11-09:12
It's the worst.
09:13-09:13
Why?
09:13-09:18
Because there is literally nothing in Jesus to hate.
09:20-09:21
He's perfect.
09:21-09:30
And He perfectly represented God, and He spoke for God perfectly, and the world hates Him.
09:32-09:36
So, question, why do you think you're exempt?
09:40-09:40
You aren't.
09:43-09:44
Because of what Jesus said here.
09:45-09:53
He said, "A servant is not greater than his master." That was apparently a favorite saying of Jesus.
09:54-09:58
He said it in Matthew 10, Luke 6, John 13, it says it again here.
09:59-10:03
It was a favorite saying of Jesus and it became a favorite saying of mine.
10:03-10:09
Because this one statement, I think more than any other verse in the Bible, has kept me going in ministry for two and a half decades.
10:14-10:25
But when you look at the life of Jesus Christ and see how people treated Him, and then you have worldly people hating you simply for following Jesus, why do you think you're exempt?
10:29-10:38
Tough pill to swallow, but real, listen, God won't deliver you from persecution any more than God delivered Jesus from persecution.
10:42-10:43
Like, okay, got it.
10:45-10:51
The world hates me because I'm not like the world and because the world hates Jesus, but I, okay.
10:52-10:54
Why does the world hate Jesus?
10:55-10:55
Right?
10:57-11:01
I'm so glad you asked that because number three is because the world hates being called out on their sin.
11:02-11:03
Let's be real here.
11:03-11:08
Why does the world hate Jesus so much, hate Christians so much, hate the church so much?
11:08-11:09
Look at verse 20.
11:12-11:15
Jesus said, "If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
11:16-11:22
But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
11:23-11:30
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
11:32-11:34
Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
11:36-11:46
If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
11:49-11:52
But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled.
11:54-12:00
They hated me without a cause." That's from Psalm 69 verse 4.
12:04-12:06
So just to sort of recap, Jesus said a lot there.
12:07-12:10
He was saying the world refuses to know God.
12:11-12:24
They're willfully ignorant and that's inexcusable because they heard His words, verse 22, and they saw his works, verse 24, and the result of hearing him and seeing him is they hate him and they hate the Father.
12:26-12:36
And you're like, "Well, what was it that Jesus said that caused so much hatred?" And I just want to remind you, Jesus already told us this.
12:37-12:48
Back in John chapter 7 and verse 7, Jesus said, "The world hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil." Don't miss this.
12:49-12:51
Why does the world hate Jesus and Christians so much?
12:52-12:55
The world hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
12:55-13:00
In other words, Jesus said, "The world hates me because I called them out on their sin.
13:02-13:22
That's why they hate me." Nothing enrages people faster or nastier than being told they are wrong, than being told that what they are doing is an offense towards God.
13:27-13:30
Right now you're like, "Oh, yeah, you know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.
13:32-13:35
I see now why they hated Jesus, 'cause he kind of did do that.
13:40-13:42
But I'm not quite sure what this has to do with me.
13:43-13:48
Well, look back at verse 20 again, just in case we missed it, we wanna make sure we get this.
13:49-13:57
Verse 20, the very last sentence, Jesus said, "If they kept my word, "they will also keep yours." You understand what Jesus is saying?
13:57-14:03
He was obviously telling us that vice versa, that's true as well.
14:06-14:09
In other words, if they won't keep Jesus' word, they're not gonna keep yours.
14:14-14:20
Because you and I are speaking the same word of Jesus, right?
14:21-14:21
Aren't we?
14:22-14:24
I mean, aren't we speaking the same word of Jesus?
14:25-14:25
Right?
14:29-14:37
And the word, this word, calls people out on their sin.
14:41-14:50
And when this word is proclaimed and sin is being called out, people are going to be hated.
14:53-14:55
Some of you look like you don't believe me right now.
14:58-15:01
And I would just encourage you to try it sometime.
15:04-15:07
Like noted, Jeff, if I'm ever in the mood to be hated, I will try that.
15:08-15:12
Some of you, I know, I give you the assignment, some of you aren't gonna do it.
15:13-15:15
So I thought, wouldn't it be fun to try that right now?
15:18-15:19
Here's what we're gonna do.
15:20-15:22
I'm going to just simply say some things that God said.
15:25-15:26
And we're going to watch people get angry.
15:32-15:34
Security is on standby.
15:35-15:36
Thank you.
15:36-15:38
Security literally is on standby.
15:45-15:46
Watch this.
15:49-15:52
Romans chapter 1 says homosexuality is a perversion.
15:54-15:59
And culture-wide approval of homosexuality is a sign that God has abandoned the nation.
16:01-16:03
Right now there are people that are like, "Yeah!
16:04-16:04
Preach!
16:05-16:06
Yeah!" Hold on a second.
16:08-16:13
Hebrews chapter 13 says that sex is only for a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage.
16:14-16:17
And that outside of that, it's a sin and you need to repent.
16:18-16:19
You need to knock that off.
16:19-16:21
If you're not married, stop it!
16:22-16:24
You're sinning and you're not honoring God.
16:29-16:31
Anyone starting to resent me yet?
16:32-16:34
Because all I'm doing is repeating what God said.
16:34-16:36
You can fact check me on this.
16:40-16:47
Psalm 138 says a baby in the womb is a human being that God wonderfully knitted together.
16:48-16:57
And if you are pro-choice, that means you are pro-murder, and you support violently slaughtering innocent and defenseless children.
16:58-17:02
You should be ashamed of yourself because you're committing to the worst kind of evil on the planet.
17:08-17:13
Everybody likes the bold preacher until it's something that confronts you, right?
17:16-17:22
Matthew 18 says if someone sins against you and wants to reconcile, you must forgive them.
17:24-17:29
And if you refuse, you obviously don't understand how God and Christ forgave you.
17:35-17:52
Matthew 6, Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also." So if you do not faithfully and generously give unto the Lord to the church, that means your heart isn't with the church and money is your God, not the Lord.
17:56-17:57
Have I offended everyone yet?
17:58-18:00
Because if not, I can keep going.
18:02-18:05
But understand, I'm just telling you what the Bible said.
18:06-18:08
Literally nothing that I said here was my opinion.
18:08-18:11
These are all things that come from the Word of God.
18:15-18:29
But you see, here's the thing, to a believer hearing these things, when a believer hears that stuff, it brings conviction, and it brings sorrow over sin, and Lord willing, it should bring repentance.
18:30-18:43
Like, "Oh, you know, God is right, and I am wrong, and I need to stop that because I'm I'm sinning against God and I need to change the way I think about that, and I need to change what I'm doing because it's wrong." That's how Christians think.
18:44-18:46
That's how born-again people think.
18:46-18:49
That's how spirit-filled people think.
18:49-18:52
But to the unsaved, hearing these things simply brings anger and hatred.
18:53-19:11
"Who do you think you are?" and hatred to the point of taking the greatest person who ever walked on this planet, God Himself, beating Him half to death, mocking Him, and then nailing Him to a cross to die.
19:14-19:19
That's the level of hatred that comes when you simply call people out on their sin.
19:20-19:21
Right?
19:23-19:25
Like John the Baptist, you know how he died, right?
19:27-19:28
You shouldn't have your brother's wife.
19:30-19:35
You're in sin." It took his head off for that.
19:38-19:39
So here's your reality check, church.
19:39-19:41
The world is going to hate you because you're not like them.
19:43-19:45
We all hate different, especially the world.
19:45-19:49
Number two, because the world hates Jesus and a servant's not greater than his master.
19:51-19:53
Number three, because the world hates being called out on their sin.
19:54-20:11
If you're going to be faithful to teach and believe the Bible and not just cherry pick a few things so we don't offend anyone, but if you're going to be faithful to stand on the entirety of the Word of God, eventually you're going to be calling people out on their sin and people hate that.
20:11-20:13
So that's your sermon today.
20:14-20:17
The world is going to hate you.
20:19-20:32
And you're like, "Thank you for that." But there's more, because I certainly wouldn't want to leave you hanging there and Jesus certainly did not leave us hanging there.
20:33-20:35
So hated for Jesus, the response.
20:35-20:36
Let's talk about the response.
20:36-20:37
What do you do about it?
20:38-20:39
What do you do about it?
20:41-20:44
Well, we're even alliterated this point here, these points rather.
20:45-20:46
What do you do about it?
20:46-20:49
Letter A, jot this down, power up.
20:50-20:51
Power up.
20:53-21:04
As we said in the beginning, you church, you're not without resources, and you have the greatest resource in the entire universe in dealing with hatred.
21:05-21:07
Do you know what that resource is?
21:08-21:08
It's God Himself.
21:10-21:13
Look at verse 26.
21:16-21:32
Jesus said, "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." Jesus said the Holy Spirit will bear witness.
21:33-21:34
Bear witness to who?
21:34-21:35
To you.
21:37-21:47
We've already talked about this, but the Holy Spirit's greatest ministry to the believer is manifesting the life of Christ to you and in you and through you.
21:47-21:53
That's what the Holy Spirit does, that you understand Jesus is alive and He's real and He's powerful in me.
21:54-21:56
That's what the Holy Spirit does.
21:57-21:58
That's who He is.
21:58-22:01
And that's why literally here He's called the helper.
22:04-22:10
Jesus said the Holy Spirit is going to be a witness to you, alive through you.
22:10-22:16
Therefore, verse 27, Jesus said, "And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.
22:17-22:21
So the Holy Spirit is going to witness through you.
22:23-22:26
Listen, you don't need a class on how to witness.
22:27-22:28
You don't need one.
22:29-22:32
And I have taught so many classes over the years.
22:32-22:39
Aaron can tell you, Evangelism 101, How to Witness, How to Share the Gospel, Romans Rode This.
22:39-22:42
I've taught so many of these classes.
22:43-22:45
And here's what I've learned from teaching these classes.
22:47-22:51
That information is no good in the hands of people who aren't fired up about Jesus Christ.
22:53-22:53
It's just no good.
22:57-23:17
To people who haven't been transformed, born again, get the implications of the gospel, to lukewarm Christians, to church attenders, to seat warmers, to pew sitters, that information and it's just, "Well, that was interesting." Waste of time.
23:18-23:20
We don't need Bible fatheads.
23:20-23:21
Do you know what we need?
23:21-23:24
We need people who know Jesus.
23:25-23:29
We need people who, because they know Jesus, they love the lost.
23:30-23:31
That's what we need.
23:33-23:38
And you don't need a seminary degree, not that there's anything wrong with a seminary degree.
23:40-23:49
Just saying even more than that, You need Holy Spirit power to tell people who Jesus is and what He's done in you.
23:50-23:56
That's why Jesus said, because you have been with me from the beginning.
23:57-23:58
What was Jesus saying?
23:58-23:59
He says, you're gonna be my witness.
23:59-24:01
Why? Because you know me.
24:01-24:02
That's what He was saying.
24:02-24:02
You know me.
24:03-24:03
You know who I am.
24:04-24:06
You're gonna go tell people who I am.
24:09-24:12
And you're like, well, Pastor Jeff, Witnessing is just so hard.
24:13-24:17
You just need to tell people who Jesus is and what he's done in your life.
24:17-24:18
Is that so hard?
24:18-24:19
Like, well, I don't know.
24:20-24:24
If you don't know who Jesus is and what he's done in your life, then you don't need to be out witnessing.
24:24-24:26
You need witness too, right?
24:27-24:29
Just tell people, here's who he is.
24:29-24:30
Here's what he's done.
24:31-24:32
Here's what I've seen.
24:32-24:33
Here's what I know of Jesus.
24:34-24:35
Here's what I've experienced.
24:35-24:37
Here's how he's changed me.
24:37-24:38
That's called your testimony.
24:39-24:42
Share that, power up.
24:43-24:46
Because the Holy Spirit empowers witness.
24:46-24:48
Letter B, prepare yourself.
24:50-24:51
Prepare yourself.
24:53-25:05
I imagine when Jesus started talking about hatred here, that some of the disciples were probably like, yes, Lord, can we please talk about love again?
25:06-25:08
Or perhaps literally anything else?
25:11-25:13
Like, why do we have to talk about this?
25:13-25:15
I'd rather not talk about this.
25:16-25:18
And honestly, church, I'd rather not preach about this.
25:18-25:21
I'd rather do the love sermon from last week.
25:21-25:23
I'd rather do that again this week, to be honest with you.
25:23-25:24
It's a lot more cushy.
25:27-25:29
But we're committed to the whole counsel of God.
25:31-25:32
So we're covering all of it.
25:34-25:35
So why are you telling us this, Jesus?
25:36-25:38
Why are you preaching this, Jeff?
25:39-25:44
Look at verse 1 in chapter 16, Jesus said, "I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling away." That's why.
25:48-25:50
I'm telling you these things so you stick with it.
25:50-26:02
Jesus said, "I'm telling you this so that the minute persecution comes, you don't just crumble like a house of cards." That's why I'm telling you this.
26:03-26:07
Do you notice the big insult today?
26:07-26:12
And it's always kind of been an insult, but I'm seeing it more and more and more.
26:14-26:23
The big insult to call people, the big name to call people when you really wanna make somebody angry, call them a sheep, right?
26:25-26:26
You seen that?
26:27-26:29
Oh, you know, oh, you're not getting the vaccine.
26:29-26:29
Well, you're a sheep.
26:29-26:31
Oh, you are getting the vaccine.
26:31-26:31
You're a sheep.
26:32-26:33
You're getting 12 vaccines, you're a sheep.
26:35-26:38
Whatever, get a vaccine, don't get a vaccine.
26:38-26:39
That's your decision.
26:40-26:41
I don't care.
26:43-26:47
But both sides, you're a sheep, you're a sheep, you're a sheep.
26:49-26:51
You know what's interesting about that insult?
26:55-26:56
In all its forms, right?
26:56-26:58
You know the big ones calling people sheeple.
26:58-26:59
Listen up sheeple.
27:02-27:10
"You just threw some mad shade at me." Do you know what's interesting about that?
27:13-27:15
Is that's exactly what Jesus said you are.
27:17-27:18
Jesus said you're a sheep.
27:20-27:22
That's why I think it's so interesting that it's become an insult.
27:25-27:31
Matthew 10, verse 16, Jesus said, "Behold, I'm sending you out as a sheep in the midst of wolves.
27:32-27:42
So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." I love that verse, but you know, there's something about it that I don't like.
27:44-27:55
I kind of wish, I kind of wish that Jesus said, "I'm sending you out as a wolf in the midst of sheep." I wish that was what Jesus said.
27:56-27:57
Like, listen up, disciples.
27:58-27:59
Like, big pep rally from Jesus.
28:01-28:02
What are we?
28:03-28:03
Wolves!
28:04-28:04
And where are we going?
28:05-28:05
Sheep!
28:06-28:06
And what are we gonna do?
28:07-28:07
Attack!
28:08-28:10
That's what I wish he said.
28:11-28:11
Like, let's get 'em.
28:12-28:14
Come on, church, we are wolves.
28:14-28:15
Let me hear you howl.
28:15-28:18
We're going out into the world and we're gonna get us some sheep.
28:19-28:21
Can I get an amen from the wolves?
28:22-28:23
That's what I wish he said.
28:26-28:27
But he didn't say that.
28:29-28:30
You see what he did say?
28:31-28:41
He said, "You're a sheep, and you're going out to the wolves." What do you call a sheep in the midst of wolves?
28:44-28:45
Lunch, right?
28:46-28:48
I think we call that venison.
28:50-28:52
A sheep in the midst of wolves.
28:54-28:58
So Jesus, what he promised us here, do you see what he promised us?
28:59-29:04
He promised us that we would be vulnerable in a vicious world.
29:05-29:05
That's what he promised.
29:07-29:16
So he prepared us, a lot of places, but in this particular verse, he said to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
29:18-29:24
That's a whole nother sermon, But just very quickly, I'd encourage you to meditate on this concept.
29:25-29:28
You know, serpents are masters of situational defense.
29:29-29:34
Whether you like snakes or not, and I imagine most of you don't, they're masters of situational defense.
29:34-29:39
A serpent knows when they're faced with the possibility of conflict, what do I do?
29:39-29:40
Do I warn?
29:40-29:41
Do I attack?
29:41-29:42
Do I flee?
29:42-29:42
Do I hide?
29:42-29:43
What do I do?
29:43-29:45
Serpents are the master of situational defense.
29:46-29:54
Jesus said, "You got to be smart like that." And doves, well, doves are innocent and harmless.
29:57-29:59
And as usual, people go to the extremes.
30:00-30:03
Some people are so innocent that they're stupid.
30:04-30:06
And I say that in good Christian love.
30:07-30:14
And some people on the other end, they try to be so crafty that they take deceptive measures and they're no longer innocent.
30:14-30:17
Then Jesus said, "You got to be both.
30:17-30:30
You got to maintain your innocence, but you got to be smart, people, because if you aren't prepared, you'll fall away." And that's what Jesus is warning us here, because this stuff just blindsides so many people.
30:31-30:32
You come to Jesus.
30:33-30:34
My sin is forgiven.
30:34-30:35
I'm going to heaven.
30:36-30:37
I got this wonderful church family.
30:41-30:43
And then suddenly people don't want to be around you anymore.
30:45-30:47
People think you're weird.
30:49-30:50
People make fun of you.
30:52-30:55
You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.
30:56-31:01
I thought everything was going to be heavenly.
31:02-31:06
What's all this?" People fall away.
31:08-31:11
Jesus said, "I'm telling you this stuff so you don't fall away.
31:11-31:13
You can't be blindsided by this.
31:15-31:29
1 Peter 4.12, Peter said, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you." So you see, you will be tested.
31:32-31:33
You won't be surprised.
31:37-31:38
Will you be ready?
31:41-31:42
Prepare yourself.
31:43-31:46
And finally, persevere.
31:48-31:48
Persevere!
31:51-31:52
Look at verse 2.
31:55-31:57
Jesus said, "They will put you out of the synagogues.
31:58-32:07
Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God." "Well, that escalated quickly." Yeah, didn't it?
32:09-32:10
Do you see the spectrum?
32:11-32:12
See the spectrum?
32:12-32:14
Like, what does hatred look like, Jesus?
32:15-32:16
Jesus said, "Here's the spectrum.
32:16-32:20
It looks like rejection all the way to murder.
32:20-32:24
That's what it looks like." Rejection.
32:25-32:43
Jesus said, "They'll put you out of the synagogues or your workplaces or your family or your friendship, some people are going to put you out of their lives because you love Jesus.
32:43-32:44
You ready for that?
32:47-32:51
Jesus said, "It goes up to murder." Some people will kill you.
32:51-32:53
Notice how Jesus said this, because this is very important.
32:54-32:58
He says, "They're going to kill you thinking they're offering service to God." Get that distinction?
33:00-33:12
We're not talking like evil super villain, Jason Voorhees kind of thing like, "I'm going to kill you because I'm evil." It's people that are like, "I'm going to kill you because it's right.
33:13-33:14
It's the right thing to do.
33:14-33:20
And this is what God would want me to do." And their narrative, they're the good guy.
33:24-33:25
They think they're doing a good thing.
33:27-33:28
Have we seen any of that?
33:29-33:29
(laughs)
33:29-33:31
Yeah, we have.
33:33-33:33
We have.
33:37-33:39
Or at least we're seeing the prelude to it.
33:40-33:41
I talked about this before.
33:43-33:46
If you've been following the news, I have a lot of Canadian pastor friends.
33:48-33:56
So I kind of updated on these things on a regular basis, but there have been Canadian pastors arrested for having church.
33:56-33:57
We've talked about that, right?
33:58-34:02
They committed the heinous crime of obeying God and assembling for worship.
34:02-34:05
and some Canadian pastors have been arrested.
34:05-34:08
I expect that stuff from the world, right?
34:08-34:11
The hatred, I expect that from the world.
34:12-34:15
But here's the part of this story that makes me sick to my stomach.
34:17-34:31
As there was a group of Christians, and I use that term loosely, there were a group of Christians cheering this on, calling for the arrest of these pastors, people who called themselves Christians.
34:31-34:34
I don't know the heart, only God knows the heart.
34:36-34:37
But I do know a tree by its fruit.
34:38-34:41
And I know there were a group of people calling themselves Christians cheering us on.
34:42-34:44
Arrest those pastors, arrest those pastors.
34:44-34:46
Yes, arrest, like why?
34:47-34:50
Why would these Christians call for the arrest of pastors?
34:51-34:54
Do the Christians suddenly see themselves as the bad guys?
34:54-34:55
No, no, no, no, no.
34:56-34:59
They see themselves as the good guys, like Jesus is talking about here.
34:59-35:01
And they said, "Look, it's in the name of safety.
35:02-35:14
It's in the name of protecting public health that we need to arrest these horrible pastors that have the audacity to have people gather for worship." I just, I gotta stop for a second.
35:15-35:18
I'm about to say some non-church words.
35:20-35:21
It just, it makes me sick.
35:22-35:24
It makes me absolutely sick.
35:27-35:33
Speaking of persecuted pastors, we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan.
35:34-35:46
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you see the Taliban has been running roughshod, taking over violent militant Islam, gunning for them, going house to house.
35:48-35:54
And you have some Christians that are fleeing, and you have some Christians that are holding their ground.
35:55-35:58
And that's a matter of conviction, what you feel God wants you to do.
36:01-36:12
All I know is we need to be praying for them, but we certainly don't need to be shocked that these things are happening in the world.
36:15-36:15
Right?
36:18-36:19
Look at verse three.
36:20-36:45
Jesus said, "They will do these things "because they have not known the Father, nor me." But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you." Jesus said all this stuff, this wickedness, this hatred that comes, He says that they do it because they don't know God.
36:47-36:51
He says, "They don't know my Father, they don't know me." Right?
36:55-36:59
Because people who don't know Jesus act like what?
37:01-37:02
People that don't know Jesus.
37:04-37:05
He said their hour is coming.
37:09-37:10
It's here.
37:12-37:13
Spoiler alert from Jesus.
37:15-37:15
It's coming.
37:18-37:22
But Harvest Bible Chapel, I have to ask you, what are you going to do?
37:24-37:26
What are you going to do when it comes here?
37:29-37:32
What are you going to do when they come for me?
37:36-37:38
What are you going to do when they come for us?
37:40-38:06
I'll tell you what do. That is your only option. Do you want everybody, everybody to just love Jesus and love His Word and love you and get along? Do you want that? Awesome.
38:06-38:38
That's called heaven. But that's certainly not descriptive of what we were promised here. Because 2nd Timothy 3.12 says, "Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." So really church, what we have to ask ourselves, just these questions. Does the world hate us? Does the world hate us? We need to ask if they don't, why don't they?
38:40-38:46
Is it because Has the world has become more Christian?
38:49-38:53
Or maybe it's because Christians have become more worldly.
38:56-39:03
If we aren't feeling the friction, maybe we need to take a harder look at ourselves.
39:05-39:13
Because Jesus felt the friction and He said that a servant is not greater than his master.
39:14-39:15
Let's pray.
39:16-39:37
Father in heaven, we just thank you for the truth from your Word that God it's real, that you don't hide anything from us and you don't paint for us a picture that's ultimately going to disappoint us because it's not rooted in what's actually happening.
39:40-39:46
Jesus told us that the world's going to hate us, and he told us what to do about it.
39:49-40:01
And I know, Father, especially in light of pandemic and all this other stuff going on, it's real easy to point fingers at churches that should be doing this and shouldn't be doing that and shouldn't say this.
40:01-40:04
God, I pray that we take a hard look at this church.
40:08-40:20
Father, as persecution continues to advance and swell and increase and intensify, just ask, Father, that these words of Christ would prepare us.
40:21-40:35
Father, that your Holy Spirit would strengthen our resolve and through it all, Father, we would persevere Because of your glorious promise, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 15:18-16:4
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Tell of a time you were hated because of your faith, faced persecution on any level. How did you react?
Why exactly was Jesus so hated by so many? See John 7:7. How does this cause the world to hate us?
If persecution is a reality, is it wrong to flee from it? Or is enduring it always the right thing to do? Defend your position!
How exactly does the Holy Spirit empower your witnessing (John 15:26-27)?
Breakout
Pray for one another.