John 15:18-25
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 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 keep yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' NKJV
John 13:1 is the beginning of the record of Jesus’ last words to His disciples and the emphasis is on love.
How much does Jesus love His own? Jesus loved His own to the uttermost; i.e., He will die for His own. [13:1] He gives His life for the sheep. [10:11]
Jesus demonstrates humility to His disciples and shows them how they should love and submit to one another as He takes the role of a servant and washes their feet.
Jesus tells His disciples the only sure way that the world will know that they are His disciples is that they have love for one another. [13:35]
Jesus, in another act of love, comforts His disciples who are greatly troubled with the knowledge that He is going to leave them and be “lifted up”. He tells them “Let not your heart be troubled,” and gives them the reasons that they should not be troubled.
[14:1-4]
Jesus says that the test of our love for Him is that we keep His commandments. [14:15]
So the emphasis is on love: love for Jesus, and love for one another.
If you examine the verses from 13:1 to 15:17 using a Greek text you will find that [agape] love is used at least 25 times in some context and love is the thing that is emphasized.
Our passage uses three words that we must understand in order to get the meaning of what Jesus is teaching.
Let’s quickly define the words: Love, world, and hate.
The word “love” as it is used from 13:1-15:17 is always some form of agape. Agape is unmerited love that demands no recompense. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”
The “world” here is the world order, the system of evil that operates in the world [kosmos].
Note that “world” in John’s Gospel has several meanings. Not knowing that [kosmos] “world” has different meanings is what leads men to assume that the “world” in John 3:16 must necessarily mean the entire human race without exception.
If you believe that “world” in John 3:16 means every single human then apply that meaning of world in other places where world is used and see if you can live with it. Take 1 John 2:15-17 as an example:
Instead of “world” read “the human race”.
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the [world] “the human race” or the things in the [world] “the human race”. If anyone loves the [world] “the human race”, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the [world] “the human race” — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the [world] “the human race”. 17 And the [world] “the human race” is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (NKJV)
Clearly the word “world” in 1 John above is the evil world system and so “world”, as the word is used by John has another meaning. If “world” has to always mean “the human race” then the love of the Father is not in God who so loved “the human race”. This is absurd.
The word “hate” that is used here means to detest and especially to persecute.
After so many things that Jesus said about “love” the emphasis changes from love to hate.
Love is not natural for unbelievers. An unbeliever at his best state is still motivated by selfishness.
But even Christians have to be commanded to love one another. Three times in this short passage Jesus thought it necessary to command His disciples to love.
While love is not normal to lost people, hate comes easily to the world of lost people. The primary difference between Christianity and radical Islam is the difference between love and hate. It is very difficult for me to relate to anyone who is motivated by hatred to carry out cowardly suicide bombings.
The world hates Jesus and the world hates those that believe in Jesus.
The enemies of Jesus detested Him and they continually tried to trap Him in some twisted and made up violation of the Law in order to kill Him.
Never was anyone so hated and reviled as was Jesus by the Jewish leaders.
Without going into details we can recall the events already recorded by John that show the utter contempt that the Jewish leaders had for Jesus.
A man that was lame for 38 years! The Jewish leaders had no compassion, only a warped view of the Sabbath. How could the “Lord of the Sabbath” break the Sabbath?
Unlike the modern false prophets that pollute the religious TV channels and who get rich off of the ignorance of simple Christians and who peddle the “prosperity gospel” and the “health and wealth” or “word - faith” heresy, Jesus tells us that it will cost something to be one of His disciples.
It is simply a self-serving lie when the well-known “prosperity gospel” preacher tells people that God wants them all to be prosperous.
If you do not know what I am referring to by “prosperity gospel” and the “health and wealth” heresy then you need to find out before you send any money to support these frauds that are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
Did not did Jesus say something about “counting the cost”?
Luke 14:25-33
25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,
26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost , whether he has enough to finish it —
29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. NKJV
It is a false gospel that tells people that God wants them to be prosperous and healthy. There is the sense that God blesses His children but there are no promises to believers that they are supposed to be free from affliction and pain and persecution.
Jesus tells the truth that to follow Him may well result in losing the fellowship of your closest kin.
And the warning here is that if you compromise your commitment to Jesus in order to avoid family conflicts, you are not His disciple at all.
Jim, are you saying that I must offend my “mama”? Yes, if your mother is more important to you than Jesus.
Jesus was hated then and He is hated today.
Jesus’ disciples were hated then and they are hated now.
Jesus gives us three reasons why the world hates His disciples:
The first reason the world hates Christians is because they are no longer a part of the world system.
Titus 3:3-7
3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. NKJV
Before we were saved we gladly participated in the world system. But when grace came to us we moved from darkness into light. The world of evil that remains in spiritual blindness can see that you no longer agree with its sinful obsessions and the world will reject you.
If you can live in harmony with lost people and there is no conflict you’re your faith then it is because they cannot see any sign of Christianity in your life. If you are “not of the world” the world will hate you.
The second reason that the world hates Christians is because God has chosen them out of the world and given them to Jesus.
There is nothing that the lost world hates more than the sovereign God who has chosen a people for Himself from before the foundation of the world.
And they will hate you if you take a stand for the truth of God’s free choice in election.
The world, especially the religious world, has made an idol of man’s “free-will.” They worship the notion of man having the final decision as to whether or not he will be saved. But they hate to be told that if anyone is really saved that it was only because God chose them and that they have absolutely nothing to do with who God chooses. The believer delights in the truth of God’s election. The world hates it.
Let me carry you back to Genesis 4 and take a look at the way the world system reacts to God’s sovereign choice. The “world system” is as old as human history.
You will recall the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4.
Jude 11 refers to the “way of Cain.”
The “way of Cain” is as modern as today’s newspaper. God prescribed how He was to be worshiped and then Cain thought of a “better way.”
God had revealed to Adam the way He was to be worshipped and Adam passed the way on to his sons.
Abel brought a blood sacrifice and Cain brought the fruit of his own labors.
There is grace and there is works and it is the same today.
If you haven’t heard this before, there are only two religions no matter what they are called. One is grace and the other is works.
Genesis 4:4 says, “And the LORD respected Abel and his offering.”
Do you see the order? The LORD chose Abel and then Abel’s offering was respected. It is never the reverse order.
It is never the offering that comes first and makes a person accepted. In modern terms the “offering” may be baptism, church membership, etc.
And that was why the “way of Cain” was rejected.
“Adam taught his family to approach God by the lamb of sacrifice. Abel, the first martyr, perished for believing it, and the first man into the grave was the first Man into heaven; the first death in human history was the death of a saint, at the hands of a sinner.” (Charles D. Alexander, John 2)
If you confess that God is God and that He does the choosing the lost world will hate you.
The third reason that the world hates Christians is because Christians will identify with Jesus. The reason the world hates Christians is because they hate Christ.
The world does not hate the popular “Jesus” who makes no claims on their life. But tell them that the Word of God has absolute authority over what they think, and how they talk, and how they dress, and how they can’t get away with hypocrisy and you will see that they will hate you.
So the three reasons given that the world hates Christians is that the Christian is no longer in the world system; the Christian knows that if they are saved that it was entirely the work of grace; and finally the Christian openly and without embarrassment, identifies with Christ.
Identity with Christ is the key to understanding verse 20.
20 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 keep yours also.
Some men are quick to wrest a phrase out of its context and try to make it say something that it does not. E.g., “If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” Does not stand alone. As we identify with Christ and His word we can expect the same results. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Jesus they will persecute you. If they believe the words of Jesus they will believe His words as you put them forth.
In this passage Jesus not only tells us why the world hates Christians, but He tells us why the world hates Him.
Jesus says in verse 22, that, “If I had come and spoken to them they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
Of course He does not mean they would be “sinless” because only Jesus is without sin. What Jesus is saying is what John says in Chapter One.
“He came unto His own and His own received Him not.”
The “works” that Jesus did testified to His authority and authenticity. The more light a person has the greater their guilt. The Bible indicates that there are degrees of punishment but I do not want to be in the “best” hell there is.
I once heard Garner Ted Armstrong scoffing at the doctrine of eternal punishment. He said, “Just because a man drank a beer? Seems as though the punishment ought to match the offence. Sin 15 minutes, burn 15 minutes.”
What is wrong with his “logic”? God does not send a person to hell for what they have done, but for unbelief. A person’s acts are the result of unbelief, not the cause.
Even those who never hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ are guilty of unbelief. They see the indisputable evidence of the divine nature in creation and they suppress that truth in unbelief. [Romans 1:20]
The fatal flaw in Garner Ted Armstrong’s scoffing at hell is his faulty view of sin. Sin is against an infinitely holy God. All sin demands an infinite punishment.
How “bad” was the sin of Adam? Adam simply ate a piece of fruit that God had forbidden him to eat.
There is an excellent discussion about the nature of Adam’s sin as our representative in a book that I have just started reading.
Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ, Nehemiah Coxe.
Some people cannot get past the idea that Covenant Theology necessarily involves infant baptism. This book was first published about 1645 and has only recently been put back into print. Mr. Coxe shows how God’s covenant is with believers and is not transmitted through some physical act such as baptising an unbelieving infant.
Mr. Coxe discusses the wisdom of Adam’s easy test. Simply do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If God had given Adam some heroic test that would be nearly impossible for a man to obey the sin would not seem to be so blatant. But to not eat a piece of fruit?
Jesus came to the Jewish leaders and in word and deed clearly established that He was the One sent from God. In signs and exclusive claims about His divine person they had to see, as Nicodemus said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”
Nicodemus said that while he was still in spiritual darkness. What this means is that the Jews had undeniable evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was the long promised Messiah. Here is your King O Israel, worship Him.
No, they cry, He is the friend of sinners and harlots and He is a glutton and a winebibber. He doesn’t fit our idea of who Messiah must be.
Trick Him! Ridicule Him! Spit on Him! Hate Him!
Hang Him on a tree and be done with Him!
How often I think of this passage:
Hebrews 12:3-4
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. KJV
I tremble when I think of the jeopardy that lost sinners put themselves in when they express their hatred for the only Savior of sinners.
When I recall the things that I said about Jesus Christ before He “Touched Me” I am ashamed. I would make stupid jokes about Jesus and very often use the words “Jesus Christ” as curse words.
Now I know that grace must be grace. If ever a man deserved to be sent to hell it was me. But that is what grace does. God saves sinners.
Grace takes a sinner that hates Jesus and creates faith in his heart and grace convinces the sinner that God is God and that it is never a question of, “What will you do with Jesus, but what will Jesus do with you?”
One again, verse 23, Jesus makes the absolute connection between Himself and God the Father. If any Muslim hears this message or read these words, when you hate Jesus you hate God the Father. Now the Muslim will deny that they hate Jesus.
Islam only relegates Jesus to a list of the prophets, all of whom are inferior to Mohammed. That is how they hate Jesus.
Gandhi allowed that Jesus was a “good” man and that is how Gandhi expressed his hatred for Jesus.
The same goes for any person who denies what Jesus said in John 14:6. When a person calls Jesus a liar they are expressing their hatred for God the Father. “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”
We have not gone as deeply into the text today as it deserves but I trust that we have seen the essence of its teaching. That is the first task of a preacher. Take a passage of Scripture and by God’s Spirit, teach what it means.
Do not expect the world to love you if you are a Christian. It will be exactly the opposite. The world will hate you because it hates Christ.
But before we end this message we must take a closer look at verse 25.
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'
Jesus says that the hatred of the world for Him and consequently of the Father is a fulfillment of the Scriptures, here called “their law.” This term is shorthand for the OT. Sometimes the OT is called the “Law and the Prophets” and sometime “the Scriptures” and here it is “their law.”
There are two Scriptures, both by David who is a type of Christ.
Psalm 35:19
Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. KJV
Psalm 69:4
They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. KJV
Those who hated Jesus had their reasons but their reasons were unjustified. Jesus told them the truth and they rejected that truth and remained under the wrath of God [John 3:36].
Let me show you a wonderful thought as I close out this message today.
When the Apostle John quoted the Hebrew language of the Psalms “without a cause” he used a Greek word that may also be translated “freely”. What John wrote as he quotes what Jesus said could be translated, “They hated Me freely.” Now what is exciting to me is that this same Greek word is used in Romans 3:24 where it refers to the reason why God saves sinners.
Romans 3:20-24
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: KJV
Why does God save or justify sinners? He does it “freely” or “without a cause.” Do you see it?
If you can find a reason why God saves sinners other than He does it freely, or without a cause, then you may find a legitimate reason that sinners hate Jesus. Sinners hate Jesus freely but there is no reason for their hatred except that they are lost.
We preach the Gospel and we call on sinners to trust Jesus Christ. We do not know nor do we need to know how the Holy Spirit uses the word of the Gospel to convict of sin and brings sinners to repentance and commitment to Jesus Christ. But this I do know, that you are called on to confess Jesus Christ in a public manner and to follow Him in believer’s baptism.
The method that this local body of Christ believes to be closest to the order of the Bible is that a person should meet with the elders of the church. This meeting is not an infallible way to determine the genuineness of a person’s confession but it is surely better than what is done today in most Baptist churches in America.
Amen
Sola Scriptura 
