[8:00 a.m.] The World's Hatred and The Spirit's Help (John 15:8-16:3)

As you know, earlier this summer, if you've been when

we've been with us, we spent a lot of time in John 13 through

17, but there is one passage that we missed because on July

6th, right after the flooding, Mark chose to preach from Psalm

16 that morning. So this is the passage that we

didn't cover. We didn't want you to miss this

portion of Scripture. So we're returning to it this

morning. You'll see a big portion printed

in your bulletin for us this morning.

I'm going to start with John 15, verse 818, and I'll read to

chapter 16, verse 3. Follow along in your Bible or in

the bulletin. John 1518.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it

hated you. If you were of the world, the

world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the

world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world

hates you. Remember the word that I said to

you. A servant is not greater than

his master. If they persecuted Me, they will

also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will

also keep yours. But all these things they will

do to you on account of My name, because they do not know Him who

sent Me. 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.

Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

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. But the word that is written in

their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause.

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. And you also will bear witness

because you have been with me from the beginning.

I've said all these things to you to keep you from falling

away. They will put you out of the

synagogue's. Indeed, the hour is coming when

whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God.

And they will do these things because they have not known the

Father nor me. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Please be seated.

Father, we thank you for this portion of Your word.

We're so grateful for every word that comes from your mouth.

And we pray this morning. That would be food for us, Lord,

that it would encourage us, that it would challenge us, and most

of all, that it would drive us to Jesus.

Lord, help us to know you and help us to cling to You for the

help that we need to live according to your word.

By your grace, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

How do we navigate the waters of life?

Whether life feels like smooth sailing or stormy seas?

How do we know where to go? And is there some fixed point

outside of ourselves that helps us navigate as we return to

these farewell discourses? And John, one last time, those

are questions that for me form a frame around our passage.

And, and they remind me of the North Star, the star that's been

so important to sailors maybe before all the devices that we

have now, but the star that's so important to sailors because of

its relatively constant location.

It's located close to Earth's N celestial pole, and it's that

point in the sky directly above the North Pole.

And so when sailors are lost, if they can just see the North

Star, they can find their way. What's interesting is that it's

not the most impressive * in the sky, but this dim little star

can help us navigate on the darkest night.

So if you think about what Jesus is doing in John 13 through 17,

one way to think about is he's presenting himself to his

disciples as the north, the north star.

For them, He's the fixed point that will help them navigate

every dark night that lies ahead because they're about to face

the darkness of his suffering, and then not long after, the

darkness of their own suffering. And so their hearts are troubled

and think about how Jesus responds to everything going on

in their lives. Their hearts are troubled.

And Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. believe in

God, believe also in me. And he says, you know, they

don't know where he's going. What does Jesus say?

I am the way they feel unanchored.

And Jesus says I am the vine. Abide in me.

And they're worried about being left alone.

And Jesus basically says, I'll send you the Spirit to be with

you and in you forever. So, so Jesus says so much in

these chapters. But this brief sampling is

stunning because in short, he's presenting himself to them as

the North Star for them and for us.

He's the fixed point as our lives spin around and he's the

light that helps us navigate in the darkness.

But here's the problem. We all need a North Star like

that, but left to ourselves, none of us would choose Jesus.

Our natural inclination is actually to make ourselves the

North Star in life. So what we think, what we want,

what we feel, that becomes our compass.

And so we navigate life and we run everything through a grid of

questions that's really focused on us.

What's fulfilling for me? What's comfortable for me?

What's best for me? When we're the North Star and we

navigate by our own desires, it's easy to see why we just

want a healthier, wealthier, happier life.

Everything in US wants to sail around the storms and avoid the

suffering. And if we know Jesus, we're not

immune to this selfish approach to life.

We can actually see Jesus as the ticket to the healthier and

wealthier and happier life. And we expect that He'll protect

us from suffering and hardship. But God never intended for us to

be our own North Star. When we put ourselves at the

center, things start to fall apart because we don't actually

have a fixed point to navigate through life.

And then we especially struggle on the dark nights when life

gets hard. So Jesus words in these chapters

are deeply comforting. But we have to remember why he

needed to say these things to his closest friends.

Because he knew he was going to suffer and that they were going

to suffer. He knew his disciples then and

now would need deep comfort. But Jesus never offers cheap

comfort. The balance in his teaching is

really spectacular because in John 15, first he talks about

making a home in the One who loves us, and now he's talking

about living in a world that hates us.

So he wants us to know the reality of suffering as we

follow Him. He's telling us to expect the

world's hatred, but he also wants us to know all the

resources we have in Him. As we follow him, He's telling

us to expect the Spirit's help. So when Jesus is at the center

of our lives, he brings this radically new perspective

because life is no longer about glorifying and enjoying me, it's

about glorifying and enjoying Him.

He's the North Star, and if we're following him, we know

that the path to glory, as we've said before, runs through the

cross, not around it. But we also know that he's with

us to strengthen us, and he intends to use our suffering to

grow us and also to draw other people to himself.

So let's lean into this passage and see how the Lord wants to

change our perspective on suffering in the Christian life.

The first thing I want us to see is Jesus tells his disciples to

expect the world's hatred. He's clear about the reality of

suffering for his followers. Just look at verse 18.

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it

hated you. Since Jesus is talking about the

world hating us, take a moment to ask what he means by the

world. We remember John 316 for God so

loved the world that he gave his only son.

But we also remember first John 215.

Do not love the world or the things in the world.

So does God love the world or not?

And are we to love the world or not?

It all hinges on what John means by the world.

John 316 is talking about the people of this world.

God so loved His people that he gave his only Son that they

might have eternal life. First.

1 John 2:15

John 2:15 is talking about the systems and structures of this

world. They're the systems and

structures that set themselves actively against God.

This is the world we mean when we say the world, the flesh and

the devil, that evil Trinity that's always opposing the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This is the world that Jesus says will hate his followers

because it hated Him first. And in these verses, Jesus helps

us understand why we should expect the world's hatred.

Really. He gives us two big reasons and

paints around them. The world hates Christians

because it hated Christ 1st and were associated with him.

And the world hates Christians because they're not of this

world. So when Jesus talks about the

world hating us, he's basically saying if they did it to me,

they're going to do it to you. A servant is not greater than

his master, Jesus says in verse 20, and he consistently teaches

this principle to his disciples. He never says, it's going to be

tough for me, but easy for you. Still, it's jarring for us to

hear, especially when we think about Jesus, because the world

had never seen glory like the glory of Jesus, but the world

looked at him and hated him. I think of Isaiah 53.

He was despised and rejected. It was prophesied to you and our

best. The world's never seen glory

like the glory of Christ in US, and yet Jesus gives us the

expectation that the world will look at us and hate us too.

And verse 19 helps us understand why.

Jesus says if you were of the world, the world would love you

as its own. But because you are not of the

world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world

hates you. This language of Jesus sovereign

choice runs throughout John and the Bible.

So John 644 no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me

draws him. And John 1516 you did not choose

me, but I chose you. And then Paul in Ephesians 1/4,

he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

Now this doctrine makes two things clear.

The Lord set his love on his people before they could do

anything to deserve it. And the Lord's choice brings

about a change that separates His people from the world.

Jesus says his disciples are not of the world.

Why? Because he has chosen them out

of the world. In John 1714 and 15, Jesus prays

to the Father along these very same lines.

Listen, he prays, I've given them your word and the world has

hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not

of the world. I do not ask that you take them

out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil. 1 The

non Christian is in the world and of the world, but the

Christian by God's grace is in the world but not of the world.

And this is because God has done something significant and

marvelous in our lives. In Colossians 113 Paul says God

has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us

to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.

And so Peter can say in first Peter 211 that we are sojourners

and exiles in this world. We're like aliens and strangers

in this world. In Christ, we're no longer

slaves to the world's systems and structures.

We're actually a new creation in Christ with a new center and new

values and a new mission. And as we grow in Christ, we

become more and more different from the world, and the world

doesn't like it. There's a Chinese proverb that

says the nail that stands out gets hammered down, and no one

stood out like Jesus, and he got hammered down literally nailed

to a cross. So on a smaller scale, that will

be true for everyone who follows Jesus.

We should stand out in our families, in our schools, on our

teams, in our offices, in our neighborhoods.

If we're no longer conforming to this world, if we're being

transformed by the renewal of our mind, we will stand out, and

sooner or later someone will try to hammer us down.

Wherever Christians go, we bring the light of Christ with us.

But people in the world don't want their darkness exposed, so

they may not welcome us into their group or invite us to

their party. They may not want us work

working alongside them in their company.

So we'll experience exclusion, rejection, persecution to

different degrees. But when this happens, we need

to remember what Jesus says. The world did it to him first,

and he's chosen us out of the world.

But as we talk about this, we need wisdom to think about the

world hating us, because it's easy to be really black and

white, but there's Gray here. So think about the range of

possibilities. If the world hates us, we could

be doing something right. Our experience could be like

Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel is that rare character in

the Bible who seems to do everything right.

He's in Babylon, but not of Babylon.

His character is exemplary. But how does the world respond?

They try to kill him and his friends.

Jesus and Daniel both teach us that a righteous life doesn't

necessarily save us from suffering.

On the other hand, if the world hates us, we could actually be

doing something wrong. As Christians, sometimes we

suffer because of our own sin and folly.

We bring the pain upon ourselves because of something we say or

do. And I think that's why Paul says

in Colossians, four or five walk in wisdom toward outsiders,

because when we lack wisdom, we actually invite the world's

hatred. What about the seasons when it's

more smooth sailing for us? If the world doesn't hate us, we

could be doing something wrong. Our experience could be like Lot

in Genesis. You remember, Lot decided to

raise his family close to Sodom. We can also live close to the

wickedness of this world. And in Genesis 19, when angels

warned Lot about the coming judgement, he shares that

warning with his family and they basically laugh at him.

They don't take it seriously. So it seems like Sodom was

influencing Lot and his family more than Lot was influencing

Sodom. So a life without suffering

doesn't necessarily mean God is blessing us.

On the other hand, if the world doesn't hate us, we could

actually be doing something right.

Proverbs 16 seven says when a man's ways please the Lord, he

makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

So even in places that Sam prayed about, where it's very

hard to be a Christian, Christians will experience

seasons of peace. Depending on where we live and

how we live, our experience is going to vary.

And there are winsome and admirable things about the

Christian life. There are moments when the world

is drawn to Christ in us. So a life without suffering

doesn't necessarily mean we're doing something wrong.

Still, Jesus tells us to expect the world's hatred.

So if the world always loves us, we should probably ask ourselves

some hard questions, because it's hard to avoid a verse like

verse 21. But all these things they'll do

to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who

sent me. The world doesn't know Jesus or

the Father apart from Christ. People don't love God, they love

themselves and Jesus is the threat.

From their perspective, Jesus and his people are the problem.

And that's why Jesus says in 16 two the hour is coming when

whoever kills you will think he's offering service to God.

And again, he says they'll do this because they don't know the

Father or the Son. Now, this teaching can fall flat

on us because we enjoy relative peace in America and Dallas.

But there were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than

in any century before. And there are places in the

world today, you heard Sam's prayers where Christians feel

the world's hatred intensely and their places even in America

today where Christians are feeling it more than ever.

So before Jesus went to his cross, he wanted to prepare his

people for their cross. So he talks openly about the

world's hatred, but he also talks openly about the Spirit's

help. And that's our second point.

Jesus tells his disciples to expect the Spirit's help.

It's wonderful to see Jesus teaching so much about the Holy

Spirit in John 14 through 16. He's going away, but his going

is not simply a going. Jesus going means the Holy

Spirit is coming in a new and amazing way.

By his Spirit, Jesus will be with us and in US forever.

And he he names the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the Counselor, the

Advocate. So as we live for Christ, we

have the best possible help in the Helper.

But notice what Jesus doesn't say about the Holy Spirit's help

in this context. He doesn't say that the Spirit

will cause the world not to hate us.

He doesn't say the Spirit will deliver us from suffering.

He focuses on the Spirit's primary job, to bear witness.

The Holy Spirit loves to testify about Jesus, to point people to

Jesus. So if Jesus is the North Star,

the Holy Spirit provides the navigational help.

And Jesus makes it clear the navigational priority is not

comfort. The navigational priority is

witness. He wants to move us through this

world in a way where we can witness for Christ, and that

sometimes means suffering. So the apostles have witnessed

Jesus ministry from the beginning.

No one's better equipped to bear witness about Jesus than they

are. And Jesus promises to fill them

with his Spirit for this very purpose in this very moment when

the world hates them. The Spirit bears witness about

Jesus through the witness of his people.

And what we don't see in English, in our translation, is

the word martyr in English comes from the Greek word witness.

In this passage. Biblically, martyrs are just

witnesses. They testify to what they've

seen in Jesus, and sometimes the world hates them enough to kill

them. These fearful fleeing disciples

would become mighty witnesses for Christ by the power of the

Spirit. They would bear witness, some of

them for decades. And nearly every one of them,

tradition tells us, would die a martyr's death for their

witness. Jesus knew what it would cost

him to win a people for himself and he knew what it would cost

his disciples to share that news with the world.

And that's why Jesus says what he says John 16/1.

He says, I've said all these things to you to keep you from

falling away. And at the end of the chapter,

verse 33, he says, I've said these things to you that in me

you may have peace in the world, you'll have tribulation.

But take heart. I have overcome the world.

Jesus didn't want his disciples to be surprised by what was

coming. And sitting here 2000 years

later, he, his Word still speaks to us.

He doesn't want us to be surprised when the world hates

us. He wants us to know that the

Spirit is with us so that we can bear witness in those moments

too. So I want to encourage you and

your witness for Christ. I want Jesus to be your North

Star so that when suffering comes, you don't just try to

navigate around it. Nothing encourages us more than

the stories of those who've gone before us, and there's so many.

But let's consider a few people who learned about the world's

hatred and the Spirit's help. Consider Peter's story.

We've talked about Peter recently.

Peter was there in Matthew 5 to hear the beatitude.

Blessed are those who are persecuted, and he was there to

hear these very words. But we know that moments after

this, Peter would take up his sword and try to stop a mob from

arresting Jesus. Jesus was Peter's north star.

Peter just didn't agree with where that star was leading.

Peter didn't have room in his theology for a Savior who

suffered and sacrificed and called his disciples to the

same. He didn't understand it until

after Jesus died and rose again. But then in Acts we see what

seems to be a whole new man, filled with the Spirit, willing

to suffer for Christ. And then as an older man, he

wrote these words in first Peter 412 through 13.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial.

When it comes upon you to test you, doesn't that sound just

like this, As though something strange were happening to you?

But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that

you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.

Sword swinging Peter wrote that Peter was imprisoned multiple

times in his life and apparently crucified upside down.

The world hated him, but the Spirit helped him to bear

witness to Christ. Peter shows us even on our

darkest nights, the light of glory breaks through.

And so he didn't run from suffering.

He actually learned to rejoice in it because he knew that the

world may give us a cross, but the Lord will one day give us a

crown. He'll share his glory with us.

Next. Consider Paul's story.

We meet Paul or Saul at the end of Acts 7.

At the stoning of Stephen in Acts 760, Stephen cried out,

Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

That's what he says in his dying moment and the very next verse

we read. And Saul approved of his

execution. Saul hated the church.

He thought he was serving God by trying to kill Christians.

So what a powerful transformation the Lord worked

in his life. How amazing that the Lord would

choose this man to be his instrument.

How amazing that the Lord would choose any of us to be his

instrument. So the Lord invites this man

named Ananias to preach the gospel to Saul.

And Ananias is kind of like, you know who this guy is?

I don't really want to do this. And you remember what the Lord

told Ananias in Acts 9/16. He says, For I will show him how

much he must suffer for the sake of my name, the one who wanted

to make Christians suffer. The Lord has the path of

suffering for him for the sake of Christ.

So the Lord saved Paul and he became the saved Saul, and he

became the apostle Paul. And this man who hated the

church now loved Jesus and long for people to know him.

And perhaps more than anyone in history, Paul experienced the

world's hatred, but also the Spirit's help.

He says things about suffering that sound really strange to us.

So riding from jail in Philippians 129, Paul says, For

it's been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you

should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.

Did you catch that? Suffering for Christ is

something granted to believers. It's not a problem to solve.

It's a privilege to receive. If our North Star is just

comfort and prosperity, we'll never think like this.

Do we see the privilege granted to us to suffer for Christ?

And then in Colossians 124, Paul says, now I rejoice in my

sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I'm filling up what's

lacking in Christ's affliction for the sake of His body.

That is the church. What is Paul talking about?

What could be lacking in Christ's afflictions?

There's a way you read that that sounds like heresy.

Surely he doesn't mean that Jesus failed to finish the job

on the cross, right? That's not lacking.

Christ's afflictions are not lacking in their merit or their

power to save sinners. What's lacking is their

extension to a world that wasn't there to witness Jesus dying on

the cross. They didn't see it.

It's not real to them. So when Christians like Paul

suffer, people see a miniature picture of Christ's sufferings

and it becomes real to them in that moment.

And they're forced to ask, why would someone live and suffer

like this? And we can say, because Jesus

suffered for me and I want you to know him.

Do you believe that he loved you enough, so much that he suffered

for you? Tertullian, who lived in the 2nd

century, said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the

church. The blood of the martyrs is the

seed of the church. It's just another way of saying

what Jesus said in John 1224. Unless a grain of wheat falls

into the ground and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much free.

And we see the fruit from Peter's life and Paul's life,

from the lives of missionaries across all these centuries, from

the lives of missionaries that we send out into the world, and

from the members of our church. When Jesus is our North Star and

we follow him in this life of sacrificial love, our lives will

bear fruit for his glory. We'll be like a grain of wheat

that goes into the ground and dies, and from it bears much

fruit. And we may never shed blood for

Jesus, but if we're seeking Him and not just seeking our own

comfort, we will be mocked or misunderstood or insulted or

rejected in various ways, as we've said.

So when we experience the world's hatred, will we run?

Or will we rejoice and look for the Spirit's help?

So whether it's smooth sailing or stormy seas, the Spirit wants

to use our lives to point others to Jesus.

It can be scary living for Christ when we don't know what

the world's going to do to us. But friends, when the unknown is

scary, we have to focus on what we know.

And earlier in this passage printed we we know a lot.

We did not choose Jesus, He chose us.

He appointed us to go and bear fruit for His glory.

As we abide in Him, He will give us everything we need so we can

rest in His love and perfect sacrifice for us.

He is the one who laid down His life for us, for His friends,

and we can rejoice that He calls us to love and sacrifice for

Him, to follow Him and love as He loved us.

And we need to remember God is sovereign not just in our

salvation, but in our suffering. He knows who will suffer and

when they'll suffer, and how they'll suffer.

John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, knew this.

He suffered much, and he wrote these words to encourage us.

Listen as I close. Bunyan says Our sufferings are

ordered and disposed by him. Not that we might always, when

we come into trouble for this name, not stagger, nor be at a

loss, but be stayed composed and settled in our minds, and say

the will of the Lord be done. Let's pray, Lord Jesus, give us

grace to believe what You're teaching in Your Word.

The world will hate us, but Your Spirit will help us.

So be our North Star and guide us through all the suffering,

all the hatred of this world, and into glory.

Lord, we know that this is a hard word to hear, and yet we

know that You've gone before us, Lord.

So for those who believe, Lord, strengthen them in their faith

and their resolve to follow you. Strengthen them knowing that

they have everything in you to live and abide in you and bear

much free. And Lord, for those who don't

know you, I pray they might hear the call even today to look to

Jesus, to this one who suffered and died for us, that we might

have life and that even our suffering in this world would

one day be redeemed. Or that we might share in your

glory and and invite others to join us in this incredible life

in you. Lord, left to ourselves, we know

we're weak and fearful. And so as we come to your table,

give us your strength and courage that we might rejoice to

be your witnesses in this world. And your name we pray.

Amen.