Secure Enough to Risk - Myles Holmes | Feb 22, 2026

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

You can take your copy of God's Word and open it up to John chapter 15, verse 12.

John 15:12

You're gonna need the text in front of you this morning.

So if you don't have a Bible with you, the ushers are coming down the aisles.

You can just flag one of them down, they'll get a copy of God's word into your hand, which you can keep as our gift to you.

We love God's word at this church, and nothing would bless us more than for you to have a copy of it in your hands and in your home.

It's a phenomenon that happens in preaching more often than you would think, where what's happening in the world just so happens to converge with what you're preaching through, working through the text week by week.

And as you're turning to John 15, you'll probably notice that in your Bible there is a header there, something along the lines of the hatred of the world.

And I cannot help to think as the gold medal Olympic game goes on between Canada and USA, and the last I heard and want to hear, by the way, was that it was 1-1 at the end of the second period.

That the reason for this is because the world hates us.

Can I get an amen on that?

I mean, the world did not stop or delay that game for us this morning.

And yet, what we actually, as we actually get into the text, we're gonna discover that this is about more than the world hating us because of a first world problem, like an Olympic hockey game.

And more about the opposition we will face in light of the mission that Jesus has put us on to see lost people saved, to be like our Savior who came to seek and save the lost, to do that ourselves, to commit ourselves to the work of soul-seeking.

Now they say that there are two ways to empty a room quickly in the context of Christian ministry.

The first is to host a prayer meeting.

The second is to talk about evangelism.

Most of us, if we're honest, understand why that is.

As we think about evangelism, maybe we put it in a category like for so many of us, like flossing our teeth.

We know we should do it.

And as that dentist appointment approaches, the guilt, the shame rises up in us.

Those of you who are legalists and actually do it are disgusted right now.

How could someone not floss their teeth?

You know you should do it, but you but you don't.

And as we think about evangelism, we're in the same boat, many of us, aren't we?

We've believed the gospel.

And in many ways, believing the gospel was hard.

We had to give up our lives, and we were then baptized in the waters of baptism, making a public declaration of this fact that we believe the gospel, but on a day-to-day basis, when it comes to saying the gospel out loud, it's entirely different, isn't it?

There's this tension we find ourselves in where we want to make known to people the reality of eternal life and what Jesus Christ has done for them.

But also this reality that we don't want to become that person.

You know who I'm talking about, the person who people see on the street and they intentionally cross the road just to avoid the socially abrasive person, the socially radioactive person.

And we consider the call then to evangelism, to soul seeking, and we have this honest fear because things have legitimately happened in the past when we've shared the gospel before.

The room has sort of cooled down and you know, something in the room has has shifted.

There's this sort of awkward tension there, and even more than that, we we certainly do risk something whenever we preach the gospel, whether it's relationships or a reputation or just being seen differently, so that we've all had this experience where we're in a conversation and it's sort of like the Lord, you know, sovereignly tease us up for this, you know, just hit a home run out of the park and we freeze up.

You know, it's not until you're driving home later or you're awake in the middle of the night that you just think, man, I mean, why didn't I just say that?

Why didn't I just take the chance?

Why didn't I just take the risk?

What started as a hesitation, it turns into guilt for so many of us.

And maybe that's where you're at this morning, the sense of guilt.

I know I should do it, but I but I don't.

I live in this tension constantly of wanting to do it, but but living in a world where opposition is real.

And you know, loved one, Jesus knew that that tension would exist.

If you sit with that guilt in your stomach, I want you to know this morning, you have a compassionate Savior who wants to speak to you in that tension.

And that is exactly what he does for his disciples, and in turn for us this morning, as in the upper room, he gathers them together on the night before he would be crucified, and he says, Listen, this world I am sending you into will be hostile against you.

And Jesus in this moment, he prepares us for the hostility of that world.

And I find I find it fascinating because something happens between the time that these disciples are in this room with Jesus and they're afraid just at the thought of moving forward without Jesus.

In Acts 4, where when you know you can read Acts 4 later, that we're told that these disciples are boldly proclaiming the gospel, even though they are facing hostility upon hostility, standing before authorities who can imprison them and kill them, and yet eager, eager, eager to proclaim the good news.

What is it that happens?

I am convinced, loved one, that part of what happens is they believe the words that Jesus speaks to them here in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

That that look, if you go to chapter 16, verse 4, they they did this command.

What Jesus said, I have said these things, the things we're gonna hear this morning to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you.

You know what's happened?

Jesus has offered them security before they take the risk of living in a hostile word on mission for Jesus Christ.

Jesus offers them security.

You know, it's the same security that a father offers to their kid as they stand on the edge of the pool and they jump into the deep end, and the father holds his arms out.

You know, loved ones, Jesus offers you that security this morning.

That's what I want you to see this morning.

That secure in Christ, we can risk the world for the sake of his mission.

Secure in Christ, we can risk the world for the sake of his mission.

Jesus wants to speak to you this morning through his Holy Spirit and offer you the security that makes you stand with confidence in his Holy Spirit and his work, that you can risk the world for the sake of him.

That's the offer this morning.

And we know that to be true, don't we?

That people who feel secure are much more willing to risk it all in their security.

And so Jesus offers us that security.

Loved one, I want you to know it's it's not a security of guilt.

It's not a security of, you know, Jesus is just gonna like hype us up, just hype us, if we can just hype us up so that we're, you know, have this kind of fervor, then we're gonna go with zeal and proclaim the gospel.

Loved one, it is a it is a security that is strong enough not just to take the risk of evangelism, but to bear lasting fruit in it.

And Jesus is gonna offer us that security in three ways.

I want you to see it in John chapter 15, verses 12 to chapter 16, verse 4.

John 15:12

We're gonna read it together.

So would you stand with me as we honor God's word here and continue to worship him as we not only hear it, but seek to be doers of it.

John chapter 15, verse 12.

John 15:12

I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

No longer do I call you servants.

For the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

These things I command you so that you will love one another.

If the world hates you, know that it 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 me, 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 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 have said these things to you to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God, and 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.

This is the word of the Lord.

You can grab a seat this morning.

Loved one, notice that Jesus' concern for us is a concern not of worldly security, but a concern of relational security.

We see that clearly in John 16, verse 1, don't we?

John 16:1

As a preacher, I'm always asking the question: why is the writer, why is Jesus here saying the things that he's saying?

And it doesn't get much clearer than this.

Look at verse 6, uh chapter 16, verse 1.

I have said all these things to keep you from falling away.

That's the purpose.

As Jesus prepares his disciples and prepares us for the enmity of the world, he's not venting about the world, he's not merely speculating about the world, he is securing them in it.

Things will be incredibly difficult if the disciples cannot remember the lessons that they are given here.

Jesus tells us exactly what is coming.

Notice verse 2, they will put you out of synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he's offering a sack a service to God.

This is a hostile world.

The disciples are entering.

It is a hostile world that we live in.

And Jesus here wants us to understand that when we embrace the mission that he gives to all Christ's followers to see lost people saved, to be like his son who came to seek and save the lost, you are stepping into deep waters.

And one of the greatest comforts you can have before you step into deep waters is to know what is in them.

That is what Jesus is giving us a security by telling us who we are, by preparing us for what to expect, and promising us help.

He offers it to us in three ways.

The first way he does it is by anchoring our identity.

Loved one, I want you to know that you are secure enough to risk because your identity is anchored.

Notice how Jesus prepares us for this hostile word, not the world, not first by talking about the world itself, but by first talking about your identity in the world that you are going into.

Did you notice that?

Look at verse 16.

Perhaps this is the banner over the whole entire section.

It comes up time and time again.

Jesus looks to his disciples, to those who have placed their faith in him, and he says, You did not choose me, but I chose you.

So that before you face any rejection from the world, you need to know that Christ has selected you.

Before the world ever opposes you, loved one, Christ has appointed you.

Before ever there is a relational door slammed in your face, Christ opened the door of heaven to you through his death and resurrection.

This is the security that Christ offers us before you go into this hostile world.

I've got you.

I chose you.

There is a security in being chosen that emboldens us, isn't there?

It emboldens us to the mission that Christ has given to us.

I remember when I was interviewing for this position as the lead pastor of this church, there was a stark difference.

I had preached in the pulpit many times before then, but I only came when I was invited.

It would have been awkward if I came anytime other than when I was invited and told the pastor there, you know, get out, it's my turn.

I had no authority.

I had not been chosen to be the lead pastor.

Something shift, though, once I once I was hired as the lead pastor, once I had been given the commission, the call, I came into this pulpit week in and week out with an understanding I was chosen for this.

Loved one, Christ looks at you.

He says, I chose you, I chose you to go and bear fruit.

The calling comes first.

The work follows it, and Jesus is anchoring your identity in this hostile word, world, in the reality that you have been called by him.

Now notice how he frames out that calling, then in the rest of the verses.

Look at verse 12.

This is my commandment to you.

This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

He reminds them that his choosing of them, the foundation of it, is his love for them, so that even the command to love one another, notice it is rooted in his love for them, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Not, hey, listen, go and love so that I will love you.

You better be obedient because my love hinges on it.

Love because I have loved you.

We saw this in verse 10 last week, didn't we?

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

So that obedience to the command to love one another, obedience to the command to go and bear witness, all of it is not for the sake of earning our identity.

All of it comes out of this reality that our identity is already anchored in his choosing.

He has chosen us, us, he loves us.

So that our obedience does not cannot earn his love.

We already have it.

He's already loved us.

What obedience does then is it sprawls us underneath the warmth of his affection.

Verse 13, Jesus deepens this.

Of course, speaking here of the example of love that we are to show, but but on the night before his crucifixion, these words in verse 13 certainly have a deeper meaning.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends.

Now, of course, in one sense, he's showing us how to love one another, but on a much deeper sense, what Jesus is doing for his disciples on the night before he was crucified is saying, listen, before the world hates you, before the world rejects you, I will be crucified for you.

I will lay down my life so that there is no question in your mind that you have my approval, that you are deeply loved.

Listen, Christian, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, you know, we say it all the time here that you are loved.

You are loved by God.

You are loved by like every everything's already figured out.

You have nothing to prove if your faith is in Jesus Christ.

You are loved.

Now listen, if you miss that, you stop experiencing the love of Jesus Christ for you, you know what happens is that when you whenever you face rejection, you begin to collapse entirely.

You go seeking for approval in other places.

If you are not constantly experiencing the love of Christ, you go looking for it in the world.

You know, I've learned this that when I'm trying to eat well, one of the worst things I can do is be in the presence of, you know, junk food when I'm ravenously hungry.

In that moment, I will disregard everything I thought I cared about, you know, a moment before, and I will eat Oreos until I'm just stuffed, you know?

Anyone with me?

You're all kind of looking at me like this is my problem, but I think it's your problem too, right?

I mean, if I am empty of good food, I will seek food that I know will never satisfy me.

And when you are hungry, you can look at a pile of crumbs and think, man, this is really a feast.

Jesus looks at us and says, if you're starving for love, you will chase the crumbs of approval wherever you can find them.

And if you are not constantly living in the experience of Jesus' love for you, the opposition of the world will threaten the approval that you are seeking.

But when you know, not in a vague sense, but but deeply, in the sense that Jesus looks at you this morning and says, I love, I love you.

I laid down my life for you.

You're no longer starving.

You can face rejection and it may hurt, but it doesn't entirely undo you because listen, the deepest verdict of the most important approval has already been spoken over your life at the cross.

So that because you are loved by Jesus, you can risk the world for him because you don't need the love of the world.

You are filled with the affection of Jesus Christ for you, displayed on the cross.

Now Jesus doesn't stop at love.

He says we are chosen, he says we are love, but notice in verse 14 and 15 where Jesus goes, he says, You are my friends.

If you do what I command you, no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you.

Now we need to slow down here.

What Jesus is inviting us to when we take up his mission is astonishing.

He looks at us and he says, Listen, you are my friends, you are no longer my servant.

So where a servant carries out orders, where a servant might have to obey without understanding, where a servant can certainly be dismissed at any point, a friend is entirely different.

A friend is brought inside, a friend is trusted with the plan, a friend is told what the master is doing.

There is a certain dignity and friendship over servanthood, isn't there?

And notice what Jesus says here for all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you.

In other words, you are not being used for evangelism.

Loved one, God doesn't need you.

He doesn't need you.

You are not the reason that your kids do not love the Lord.

He doesn't need you.

You're not being used.

You're not a servant of his as though he needs you to work this out.

What Jesus does as we seek the lost is he invites us.

He includes us in it.

His work is to seek and save the lost.

He invites us then to participate in what he is already doing.

Jesus Christ came, the gospel according to Mark says, to seek and save the lost.

Do you think that that mission hinges on you?

Do you think that that mission hinges on me?

And we can all take a breath of fresh air as we realize that when Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it, it wasn't like he was looking forward 2,000 years, thinking about you and thinking, oh man, okay, they might actually stop it.

He was, however, looking forward to all those he would save and then invite to participate in this mission that is so much bigger than what we could ever accomplish.

I mean, listen, if the if the mission depended on us, would we not panic?

What are we doing here if the mission depends on us?

What are we doing while lost souls do not know Christ and are on a hellbound race?

What are we doing here, not panicking about that reality?

Instead, we we sit with a sort of confidence, a security, knowing that when Jesus is not using us for salvation, he's inviting us into the process.

Love when there's a world of difference between those two things.

Notice what Jesus says in verse 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear the fruit.

As Jesus talks about the mission to bear witness to him, he reminds us this morning that even your own salvation did not begin with you.

Love one, can you not look at the story of your salvation and say it was entirely of the mercy of God?

That nothing else contributed to your salvation other than God's merciful hand working in your life?

Is there anyone here willing to stand up and say, listen, I believed because I was just smarter than all those people outside who don't believe?

I believe because I was just more spiritually sensitive, I was just more morally aware.

Loved one, can any of us say that?

Or is it as Scripture says, because God chose to make us vessels of his mercy?

Scripture says it again and again.

It is, it was mercy.

Jesus here says it plainly, I chose you.

That means that when we step into evangelism, when we share the gospel with our neighbors and our family and our loved ones, we are not trying to manufacture a salvation.

We're not trying to force salvation into their lives.

You are delivering a message to people who, by God's mercy, just like you, if your faith is in him.

That means you're not the savior.

You're the messenger.

Jesus says here, loved ones, look at verse 16 again with your eyes.

I I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide.

Jesus here is anchoring our identity in the fruit that we will bear.

Notice that he did not just choose us, he, loved ones, it's right here in the text, appointed us that we would bear fruit.

That word appointed here is significant.

It means to be set apart, to be designated, to be assigned.

So that Jesus is saying, Here, listen, verse 12, I chose you for intimacy, but here in verse 16, I chose you for impact.

I not only chose you to be in relationship with you, we we get that, right?

You know, accept Jesus in your heart, we say.

Have a relationship with him.

But Jesus chose us not only for relation, he chose us for missional impact.

He chose us, verse 16, that we should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide.

Not that we should go and try.

There is a firmness of the promise here that we should go and bear.

Now, what kind of fruit is John talking about here?

Fruit in John's gospel can be broad, but as we start as we think about the word in the context of this passage, uh truly believe that the fruit that Jesus is talking about here is a missional fruit.

Notice that he says, go and bear fruit.

It's not a fruit of character, though a fruit in the scriptures can mean that.

There is a go and bear fruit.

Then Jesus will speak about the world hating them.

He will speak about testifying, bearing witness to Jesus Christ.

And then he will speak about the spirit bearing witness.

All throughout the passage, the movement is outward, so that the fruit that Jesus talks about here is missional.

It is the fruit of lives being changed and disciples being made through your impact.

The promise here then is staggering.

If you are saved, you are then sent on a mission that cannot fail.

You believe that, loved one?

Do you believe that promise?

It is all throughout scripture.

If you are saved, you are sent on a mission that cannot fail.

And I searched the scriptures and I thought about verses like Matthew 16, verse 18, where Jesus says, I will build my church.

Matthew 16:18

And then it just so happened that Joel this morning was talking to the worship team, and Joel gets very pastoral with the worship team.

He always encourages us and he talked to us about a text.

Now, Joel didn't know what I was talking about, and he didn't know I was going to talk about this, but he shared a text with us at the end of Acts 28 that was like a light bulb for me.

I didn't even think about this, but it's the was the Holy Spirit bringing it to my attention.

Chapter 28 of Acts, verse 28, Paul says this, therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles and they will listen.

They will listen.

You know, when Paul meets Christ on Damascus Road, what does Christ say to him?

Paul, you are no longer your own, you are being sent for my mission.

As Jesus talks to these 11 disciples sitting in that upper room, knowing they would be rejected, imprisoned, and killed, I cannot help to be fascinated that within a generation the gospel would spread across the Roman Empire through these men.

Why?

Because of this promise, Jesus chose them that they would go and bear fruit, and their fruit would remain, and the promise is just as true for them as it is for you this morning.

You are sent on a mission whose outcome has already been secured.

I chose you, Jesus said, to go and to bear fruit.

A fruit that remains.

Is that can we just you know hit the brakes on the sermon for a second and ask, how are we feeling right now?

I mean, how are we feeling?

Is the Holy Spirit washing away that evangelism guilt for a moment and saying, man, there's so much hope here.

There's so much.

I mean, I know I'm not enough.

I know I don't have all the answers, but loved one, is the is the Holy Spirit enough?

Is the Holy Spirit enough?

Is Jesus Christ enough who came to seek and save the lost and chose for whatever reason when he could write his message in the sky, chose you and chose me?

He's enough.

Amen, church.

Can we get a hearty Amen?

Amen.

He is enough to work through us.

Now listen, we need our identity anchored here by Jesus Christ.

He promises us fruit.

But in promising us fruit, he also prepares us for hatred.

Look down with me at verse 18.

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

Jesus anchors our identity.

The second thing he does is he clarifies the cost.

And you need to know that you are secure enough to risk because Jesus has clarified the cost.

That clarification is a mercy to us as we go into a hostile world to know what it will cost us.

Otherwise, when the opposition comes, we panic, don't we?

Isn't this what doctors do with their patient?

You know, if you have ever had surgery, I'm sure that the doctor has said something to you like this.

Well, you're you, you know, as you recover, you need to expect this kind of pain.

But if there's bleeding, make sure you come back in because that's not normal.

Jesus looks at us and he gives us the same sort of clarity.

We know what to expect so that when it comes, we're not undone by it.

If the world hates you, Jesus says, know that it hated me before it hated you.

Now, notice what Jesus is doing here.

He is normalizing rejection.

It is normal to wrestle with the fear of rejection.

Part of the mission that we have been given to be witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the reality of rejection.

And we all wrestle it.

If I say this, what will that person think?

If I if I speak clearly, how will that message land with this person?

What will be the consequence?

That wrestling is human.

Jesus wants us to take a step back with him and understand the heart of the rejection.

He says, if the world misunderstands you, you probably just communicated poorly.

Well, that's not what he says, right?

He also doesn't say, Well, if the world resists you, you just didn't try hard enough.

You needed to try, you needed to cram the gospel deeper down their throat.

Where we're tempted to interpret offense as a personal inadequacy, Jesus tightens our theology.

He says that the reason why we are rejected is because the world hated me first.

In other words, rejection is not a sign that you have failed or that you are inadequate.

Sometimes it is a sign that you belong to Jesus Christ.

He goes even further down in verse 21.

We're gonna skip a few verses and then come back to them.

He says, They will do these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Jesus looks at at us.

He says, Listen, the the uh the problem's not ultimately you, okay?

You are a lovely person.

Jesus pats you on the shoulder.

You're a love, the problem is not ultimately you.

The problem is that they do not know the Father.

It is a spiritual blindness.

And as Jesus goes on in verse 22 to verse 24, he makes it even clearer that their rejection is not just innocent misunderstanding, that they've seen the light, John says earlier in his gospel.

And even though they saw the light, they loved the darkness more than they loved the light.

The problem, Christian, is not a you problem.

Don't think too highly of yourself here.

The problem is a problem of spiritual warfare.

That as the light of Jesus Christ pours out through your mouth, the rejection here is a rejection of the light because there is an affection and love for the darkness.

It is fulfillment, verse 25, where Jesus says, They hated me without a cause.

This rejection then is a part of the story, and Jesus here is clarifying the cost for us so that when the rejection comes, we do not misdiagnose it.

We do not spiral inward.

We remember this happened to him first.

Look then at verse 19.

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.

Notice again that the cost of living in the world, Jesus roots in our identity.

Having been chosen by Christ, you no longer belong to the world.

Now it's important here to understand what Jesus means by the word world.

He is not talking about specific individuals.

Jesus is not saying here, hey, listen, if your 89-year-old neighbor who is as sweet as sweet could possibly be doesn't hate you, you are failing your mission.

I mean, but when I first read that this verse, that's kind of what I thought.

I mean, I just started to think, does anybody hate me?

I mean, I don't think so.

Maybe put up your hand if you do, because I'm curious to find out.

I don't think I'm hated by any specific individuals.

And I and I start, you know, this guilt kind of starts to flow over you.

Like, am I not fulfilling this verse?

Do I need to go and like, you know, cut someone off on the way home or something just so I can be hated and understand and be the fulfillment of this verse?

Am I not a Christian because nobody hates me?

In John's gospel, the world refers to a moral system that is an active rebellion against God.

It is the created order that is organized around loves that exclude him.

What Jesus is saying is this: you no longer belong to that system.

You do not love what the world loves.

You are driven by different priorities, you belong to a different kingdom.

The issue here, Jesus says, is allegiance.

That unless there is a supernatural work in that person's heart that you are sharing the gospel with, allegiance to Christ will feel threatening to all that they love and to all that they think life is about.

That is why resistance comes.

It makes so much sense because when you share the gospel, you are asking for that person to trade their allegiance from the world to Christ so that when resistance comes, Jesus again is clarifying the cost for us.

It's not because you failed, it's because you have been sent on an impossible mission.

You have been sent to speak in a way that affects the heart, that changes a person on the inside, and you cannot do that.

This is why resistance comes.

Now look at the encouragement in verse 20.

Notice what Jesus says.

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.

Now, the fact that you do you remember a few chapters ago in the Gospel of according to John, now this was about a year ago for us as at the pace that we've worked through the Gospel of John, but do you remember there is a time where there were 5,000, I mean, probably closer to 10,000 people following Jesus because of what he said?

They were kind of fascinated about what Jesus was saying.

But then as the Gospel according to John moves on, there's sort of this like Jaws theme playing in it, this ominous people are falling away until all that is left, even Judas here, has departed, and Jesus only has 11 people.

So as he says, they have persecuted me, so they will persecute you.

In the disciples' mind is yes, Jesus has preached to many, and there are few who have accepted that message.

Most instead have turned against him.

And tomorrow, if what Jesus is saying is true, they'll persecute him on the cross, crucifying him to the point of death.

Of course, they understand the persecution, and so these words come with great weight.

They persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

But there is great encouragement here.

At the end of verse 20, look at the text.

If they kept my word, if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

In other words, Jesus looks at this room of 11 people and says, Look at some of you guys actually listened to me.

Thousands rejected me, but if some of you kept my word, then certainly when you go to preach the gospel, maybe it will be the same.

Maybe thousands will reject you, but but look at this room.

Look at this room.

Some will accept.

Loved ones, can you take a moment?

I mean, this is gonna be really awkward, so let's embrace it together, okay?

I mean, we already feel the pain and missing the gold medal game.

So let's just, you know, wound ourselves even more.

Can you just take a moment to look around this room for a second?

If you're in the front, I mean, you can stand up if you want.

Adam, can you just stand up just so it's not awkward for everyone else?

Okay, just everyone stand up for a moment.

Just take a look at other people in the room.

Take a look, stand up, come on.

We can do this, we can do it.

You know, we can do it.

Work out the legs, stand up, look at some other people in the room.

You know, some of you guys, you hate that I'm doing this, okay?

Make some awkward eye contact with some people, okay.

You can sit down, you can sit down.

Depending on what your church background is, you don't feel like a Christian anymore because you did that.

Can you believe that in this room, this many people heard the gospel and believed for eternal life?

Jesus looks at this room and says, Listen, sharing the gospel works.

You know how I know?

There's people here this morning, and all around the world on this Lord's day, people are gathering to worship him who at one point did not know the gospel, but then heard and believed, and now their eternal destiny is changed.

They kept the word of the gospel so that the mission does not accept on uh does not depend on everyone universally accepting you.

The mission, I mean, all the evidence is right here, depends on God's sovereign grace.

Some will accept the message.

You know, when I became a Christian, God was doing a lot to prepare my heart for the moment that I would accept the gospel, and I wouldn't recognize it until years and years later.

But the human component of my conversion was strange.

There was a skateboard park on a church that was near us, and I was a teenage boy, and I wasn't any good at skateboarding, but for whatever reason I thought that I could go to the skateboard park.

Now I found out later that this skateboard park was largely considered a failure.

That it cost thousands of dollars, that it was made of wood, and in Canadian winters, wood skateboard parks just do not last that long.

Hardly anybody used it.

And considering my skateboarding ability, I don't even know if you could say that I used it.

This is what I think about as I as I think about that skate arc.

If that entire skate park only existed so that one teenage boy would hear the gospel and be saved through it, was it worth it?

I mean, you I mean maybe you do hate me, so you're like, no, it wasn't worth it.

You know.

But I cannot help but to think that that answer is obvious.

Of course it was.

And you know, loved one, when you proclaim the gospel, your theology tells you something honest.

Apart from supernatural sovereign grace, you will be rejected many times.

Maybe even like Jesus Christ, who can we just He was a better evangelist than us, right?

Maybe even thousands of times.

Maybe you'll be rejected more times than you think your tender heart can even handle.

But if the sovereign grace still saves you and even one Person listens.

How many times being rejected, having to face the awkwardness of someone thinking that you believe something silly, how many times will it be worth it for that moment when you are in heaven and you see Jesus Christ has been victorious over it all and you're lifting your arms and in worship of Jesus Christ, which by the way, we will do not only on the Olympic gold medal games, but when we see Jesus Christ, okay?

And you're you're you know raising your arms for Jesus Christ, then you look over and you connect with that person who you didn't save them, but God used your courage and your boldness to save them for eternal life.

How many rejections will it be for that to be worth it?

And I cannot help but to think that Jesus sets such a good example here of thousands and thousands and thousands of people would reject him, but some were eternally saved.

Jesus is securing us so that we are willing to risk the world for the sake of his mission.

And having anchored our identity and clarified the cost, he tells us here thirdly that we can risk them the world because he has given us his spirit.

We can risk the world because he has given us his spirit.

Look at verse 26 with me.

Would you put your eyes on the text?

Because I just think this is such a fascinating promise that you need here.

But when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit here, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness.

Notice, loved ones, the order there.

Do you notice it?

That there are two who bear witness to the gospel.

And in verse 26, we are told first that the Spirit will bear witness to this world that stands in opposition to Jesus Christ.

Then in verse 27, you also will bear witness.

That order really matters.

It means that you will never be able to bear witness about Jesus Christ to a person to whom the Spirit has not already spoken to and borne witness to.

You cannot.

Theologically, you can, I mean, try it.

You cannot do it.

It's why, you know, every time we have like a baptism testimony, I'm so amazed that the story is never about a person because people are so rarely relevant in testimonies.

So often it's not just one person who came and shared the gospel and they're the you know hero of the story.

So often it's like, well, this one person prayed with me, and then this other person told me the gospel, and then this I came to church and I was just like ready and I heard and I believed, and it was like a process of God's mercy sort of softening me until I was ready to receive it.

And what is that, loved one?

It is it is practical proof, though we don't need it because we have the theological proof right here that the spirit bears witness before you ever do.

The spirit first bears witness, then you bear witness.

The spirit comes before you and does what you cannot.

You can speak to ears, the spirit speaks to hearts, you can declare the gospel outwardly, the spirit awakens faith inwardly, you can explain the gospel as clearly as you want.

The Holy Spirit reveals Christ, you can present the truth, it is the Holy Spirit who produces conviction, you can call for repentance, you can beg on your knees for a person to turn from their sin and repent.

It is the spirit who grants repentance, you are the messenger, it is the spirit who is the life giver.

That changes everything.

When you step into a conversation, you were not the first one there.

You are the second.

And you are not initiating a conversation, you are participating in one.

You know, in Mark 4, Jesus gets really practical with us about how we are to seek the lost and share God's word and be a witness to him.

He tells the parable of a man who scatters seed on the ground.

And then you know what he does.

You don't even remember what he does in Mark chapter 4?

Mark 4 · chapter mention

He scatters the seed and then you know he goes to sleep.

He's a farmer.

After he scattered the seed, the point that Jesus is making is what else can we do?

We don't look at the farmer and call him a madman for not standing over the seed and yelling at it and say, just grow.

We don't look at the farmer and say he's lazy because he planted the seed and then went to sleep.

We say that's a smart farmer because he's planted the seed, now the life is in the seed.

The seed must take root.

He's responsible for the scattering.

The Holy Spirit is the one who makes it alive.

Loved one, you are not responsible to make the gospel grow in someone's heart.

You can't.

You are responsible for the scattering of it.

The Holy Spirit brings life to it.

Jesus says these things this morning to us like a father whose children faces a storm that's coming, and whose words of security and encouragement and hope steady us.

Look at again, loved one, verse one of chapter 16.

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Without this security that Jesus has offered you this morning, you know, you can't you can't make it.

You will bow down to the world.

And Jesus just has, I mean, Jesus had this rock solid conviction he needed to share these things with you this morning because you walk out into a hostile world.

But look at verse 4.

I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, when the world persecutes you, when the world hates you, when you are rejected, when you feel awkward because the gospel, I mean, the person just thought you were the craziest person in the world.

Jesus says, when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you them to you.

You need these words.

You live in the same world.

But the rejection that we face in light of our taking up of the calling to share the gospel does not mean failure.

Love when the spirit's already at work.

Do you believe that this morning?

Do you believe that outside I mean, I believe it inside these walls 100%, but do you believe it outside these walls and in the world, the spirit is at work in people who need the seed to be scattered in their life?

You know, and what did Jesus say?

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

We labor for him.

Jesus has given us security so that we can risk the world for the sake of his commission.

May we be his laborers.

Let's pray.

Father, we God, we thank you for times like this, where you pull us aside and God, you are inviting us into a conversation with your son, and your son is gentle and lowly.

And when we expect shame upon shame and guilt upon guilt to be heaped on our head because of the way that we have lived and because of maybe the conversations we have been afraid of and not stepped into.

To root our lives firmly on the identity that has been given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And so we boldly declare now, Lord, that you have saved us.

Praying, God, that you would embolden us and empower us to be sent for your sake.

God, we pray this all in the name of your Son.

Amen.

Would you stand and respond and worship with me?