John 15 (Part 3) :18-27 • When Kingdoms Collide

We're in John chapter 15 and this is our third installment of this chapter. John chapter 15, we're picking it up at verse 18. Don't you love that last song we sang? It is enough that Jesus died and He died for me, amen. Isn’t that good stuff? I could just hang out and sing that for a long time, you know, just over and over again, that's just a wonderful declaration. John 15, verse 18 to the end, it says,

(ESV) Let's stop right there, let's pray. Father in heaven we thank you for the opportunity to come together as the body of Christ to open our hearts to you, to your Word, to your Spirit, to your voice, to the message, Lord and the word that you have for us today in these verses. We thank you for it Lord and we ask that you would teach us and instruct us, Lord and equip us for the days ahead. We thank you, Father, in Jesus precious name, amen. Amen.

This final section of John chapter 15 is essentially broken up into 5 sections, 5 elements. Putting them up on the screen for you, you can see them here. They are, John 15:18-27  The hatred of the world  Persecution from the world  The guilt of the world  The witness of the Holy Spirit The hatred of the world, persecution from the world, the guilt of the world and the witness of the world. We're going to look at the first heading here which is the hatred of the world. I don't think I'm being too dramatic when I say that things are heating up. Would you say that that's true? Things are heating up from the standpoint of just the intolerance that is, you know, being shown today to believers. But in these 2 verses that we look at here: verses 18 and 19, which really encompass this heading of the hatred of the world. Jesus is giving us several insights to help navigate the negative reactions that we as believers are seeing today from the world around us. But before we look at these verses, it's important to understand a couple of things and that is, first of all, to reconcile ourselves to the reality of the existence of 2 kingdoms. You know, when you begin reading through the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you run in pretty quickly to this idea of a kingdom and you start hearing about this in the Word of God. We heard about this way back in our study here of John, back to the third chapter. Let me put it up on the screen. Jesus, this is where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and He says, John 3:5 (ESV)

So there you have it. We know that there is a kingdom and we know it is called the kingdom of God and we know that one must be born again to enter it, and so forth. But as you continue reading through the Bible, it becomes very plain that there is another kingdom and when we get to, in fact, the Book of Revelation, it's mentioned. Next little screen here, I actually, this is a screenshot of my Bible program, but I highlighted for you there this phrase, “The kingdom of the world.” And this is a statement that is made in the Bible that helps you and me to understand that there's another kingdom, and it's called the kingdom of the world, and it is not the same as the kingdom of God. They are in fact, 2 different kingdoms and then we find further, and we'll see this as we get a little bit further in our study of John. From John 18, that Jesus made another statement saying, “my kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36 (ESV)

All right, so here we are, we've laid this out. There are two 2 kingdoms: kingdom of this world, kingdom of God. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And by that we are made to understand that these 2 kingdoms, though they exist at the same time, they are diametrically and irrevocably opposed to one another, and all that they stand for. They are in fact direct opposites of the other. And when we see that, it helps us to begin to make sense of so much of what's happening around us in the world. When we see the news, or we hear about what's happening, to understand that these 2 kingdoms are going on right now at the same time, and that they are so, so contrary to one another, and all that each stands for. The Greek word that is translated “world” is pronounced “kosmos” it's where we get our word “cosmos.” But when the Bible talks about the world, it's not talking about the globe or the earth, it's talking about a system of rule from mankind that is in direct opposition to God. It is talking about the rebelliousness of man, the opposition of man to God's kingdom, that active rebellion that man is constantly expressing. And Jesus tells us that we can expect something from this kingdom of man, this kingdom of the world and what we can expect from it is hatred. So let's close in prayer, I'm just kidding, wouldn't that be a bummer? Wouldn't that be a bummer if we stopped right there? Alright, hey, listen up, we've got 2 kingdoms, one of the world, one of God, Jesus says the one of the world is not my kingdom, they hate us, let's go home. That'd not be fun at all. But, you know, by the same token I again, as I said, I don't think I'm being too dramatic to say that hatred is heating up. Jesus begins to tell us what we can expect by saying, verse 18, “If the world,” He says. “If the world hates you,” know that it has hated me before it hated you.”” And sometimes we look at verses like this and we're like, wow, why so much conflict? Why so much conflict between these 2 kingdoms? I mean, we know that, you know, that they're opposed to each other, but can't we just get along? No, we can't get along and if you want to have a little understanding of the incompatibility of these 2 kingdoms, all you have to do is look inward. What I mean by that is that every single one of you, and I'm trusting that everyone I'm speaking to today, is a born again believer and that means you've come to Christ, you've made Him your Savior and Lord. And if that is the fact, then you know that you also have received the Holy Spirit living within you. By the same token, you also know that sinful nature that you had before you came to Christ hasn't gone away and so you have 2 opposing kingdoms literally living inside of you. One of them leads you toward godliness and the other leads you toward. worldliness. And it is our goal as believers to yield more and more, day by day, to the kingdom of God within us that we might be formed more in the image of Christ. But you know, the apostle Paul talked about this conflict that's inside of every one of us when he wrote to the Galatians. Let me show you this on the screen, Galatians 5:17, he said,

… the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, (that means they're opposed) and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other... Guys, this is what's going on inside of you so you shouldn't have any difficulty understanding what's happening in the world, right? The kingdom of the world, the kingdom of God's happening out there and it's happening in here, all the same. We understand that clash, we understand that strife because we deal with it on a personal basis every day, every single day. Now as we go on, Jesus again says in verse 18, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” And Jesus isn't just talking about the hatred and the opposition that He received during His public ministry. Guys, Jesus is God, He's talking about the opposition and hatred that has been there for God ever since the beginning of sin. Ever since the first sin and the opposition that was leveled toward God because of sin, that has been going on for a long time. So when He says, it hated me first, He's talking about the first, first. Way back to the very first, first. And He goes on to explain why the world hates those who are in the kingdom of God. And He says in verse 19, He says, listen, “If you were of the world, (and that means, if you belong to it, then) the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, (or because you don't belong to the world and says) but (in fact) I chose you out of the world, therefore (that’s why) the world hates you.” You see, that's the reason right there. He's telling you and me that the world that we live in, this world outside is a world of rebels and rebellion and they are in active rebellion against God, which means they're not going to like you and that's why they find it impossible to tolerate you. Because you have to understand, see, you have surrendered your life to the only one who has ever put a claim on them, that they are accountable to Him for their sin. That's what God says to them in the Word of God, He says, I am God and you are accountable to me. Man doesn't want to be accountable to anyone, it's a buzzkill.

He wants to do his own thing and have his own way and that's why he's constantly remaking laws, we're seeing that in our day right now. We're seeing laws being rewritten, remade, the understanding of right and wrong being completely redevised, why? So that man will not have to be accountable. It's normal, I was born that way, it's natural. He's rewriting these things, he redevising morality to sweep away any possibility of conviction, he doesn't want to be convicted. But there is a God who claims to have the right to say to mankind, you will stand before me one day. And as much as atheistic man tries his level best not to believe in that God, you are a constant reminder that that God exists because you've surrendered your life to that God and that is why you are intolerable to sinful man, you are intolerable to the world. And as much as sinful man likes to talk about tolerance, when it comes right down to it, the only thing he really tolerates is sin. He will not tolerate righteousness or those who are attempting to live after the pattern that is given to us in the Word of God, because it is always a constant reminder to him that there is one who claims to have the right to judge him for his sin. And so because of that, you see, you smell like death to him, you literally smell like death to the one who is perishing. Isn’t that a fun thought. You can douse yourself in Chanel number 5 all day long and you're still going to smell like death to those who are perishing. Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 2, up on the screen,

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. (and then he says) Who is sufficient for these things? Well, it's certainly not me, but that's, sorry, that's it. See, for those who are being saved, you are the fragrance of life. You just come around them and they just go wow, wow, I just sense God on you and it is so cool. Have you ever had a perfect stranger come up to you and say that? Have you ever had a perfect stranger just say, are you a Christian? Are you a believer? Yeah, they can smell it on you and it's a good thing. But the same is true on the other side of the coin. So, let's look at the second heading. This is persecution from the world. Of course, that's the result of hatred. This is encompassed in verses 20 and 21, He says, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’” And that's a principle that Jesus is repeating here that He spoke, I think it was back in Chapter 13 when He was washing their feet at the last supper. But the principle is essentially, that a disciple should never expect to be treated differently from his or her master. If the master was treated a certain way, you shouldn't expect to be treated any differently, right? And that's, that principle, a servant is not greater than his master. So He says, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Right? And He goes on and He says, look at verse 21. “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” And right there, right there, you might even want to underline that in your Bible. That is the underlying reason for the persecution that can and will come our way and that is, they just, they don't know God, they don't know Him. If they knew Him, it would be a completely different situation but they don't know Him. Jesus says, “they don't know Him who sent me.” They don't know my Father, they don't know anything about Him and so they are just lashing out. And there's a lot of reasons that people persecute believers, but the bottom line is they don't know God, right? The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy concerning persecution, 2 Timothy on the screen and he said,

He didn't say might, he said they will. What does it mean to live a godly life? It means to choose to live your life after the Word of God, loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. It means patterning your life after His teachings, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, and just wanting to live for Him. It's just wanting to live for…, I just want to live for you, God. I want to live…, you ever have that in your heart? You ever wake up in the morning just like, Jesus, I just want to live for you? Lovely, you will be persecuted. Isn't that great? That's all right, you'll be in hot water, but it's okay. Hot water keeps you clean. But the silver lining to all of this is something else that Jesus said. He said, “If they kept my word, they will also keep yours (too).” And that means that when you're sharing the Lord with somebody and they respond, they would have responded to Jesus too. But if you're sharing Christ with someone and they reject what you're saying, they would have rejected Jesus too, isn't that cool? I mean, when you kind of think about that. The third heading that we're looking at here is the guilt of the world. This is where Jesus talks about their guilt and of course, guilt always brings judgment. He says in verse 22, “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. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 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.” And so forth and so on. You'll notice in verse 22, He says, “If I had not come and spoken to them,” that's revealing Himself through His word. And then in verse 24, He says, “If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty.” So what He's saying is, I came and gave them my word and I showed them my power, okay? I gave them my word. These are the 2 proofs by the way of His deity and authority. I gave them my word and I showed them my power. Probably nowhere more clearly is this shown in that lovely story that I've always loved it, the healing of the paralytic. Remember the guy they lowered through the roof right in front of Jesus, dropped the guy right at His feet. It's a wonderful story, but you can see in that story the revealing of His deity and authority in both word and deed. Let's put it up on the screen, it says,

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…some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” (because they believed nobody could forgive sins, but God) But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. So what do you see in that single story? Jesus, first of all, reveals His power by saying and doing what the Jews knew and understood only God can do. He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Now, I say that only God can do that and that is true, only God can forgive sins that way. But Jesus said it because He had the authority to say it, but there wasn't anything to prove that authority, you with me? Because anybody can say the words. I can make claims without backing it up, you know, because talk is cheap, right? So Jesus, first of all, declares His authority, “Your sins are forgiven,” and they're like, oh man, this guy's freaking me out, He's doing things that only God can do. Well, Jesus knew they were thinking that, He says, why are you entertaining these sorts of thoughts in your heart? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk? Well obviously, again, the words are easier to say, but truly to mean them, only God can do it, can say it. But He says, but to show you that I have authority to declare the forgiveness of sins, He turns to the man and says, rise, take up your bed and go home. And that's exactly what happened and so He showed them His word and He showed them His power and they rejected both. And that is the reality of the situation. And now Jesus says they have no excuse for their sin. I gave them my word, I showed them my power and now they have no excuse. Wow. ---

You know, mankind understands more about God than he lets on. I don't know if you're aware of that or not. I've been going through the Book of Romans in my own personal study time and I've been reminded as I've been meditating on chapters 1 and 2 of Romans, that mankind understands more than he's willing to admit about God. And Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 1, verse 18, up on the screen, it says that,

…the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness (look at this) suppress the truth. You know what it means to suppress the truth, I think we all know that. It's to basically tell a lie so as not to let the truth out. But you see, in order to suppress the truth, you have to know the truth. You have to understand at least a basic understanding of the truth. What is the truth that Paul's talking about in Romans chapter 1? Well, if you get into that chapter, you find out that what man innately knows is that the world or the creation has been designed, he knows that. I mean, the reason he knows that is because God created man with the ability to recognize design, he can see it, it's easy. Well, where there is design, there has to also be a designer, okay? But you see, man doesn't want to believe in a designer, in fact, he doesn't even want to believe in design, because that would mean there had to be a designer. And he doesn't want to believe in a designer, because that means there's a God to whom he's accountable. We come back to that same issue. I don't want to be accountable because He's a big, fat buzzkill and I want to do what I want to do and I don't want anybody telling me this is right and this is wrong. I make up my own rules, thank you very much, right? So what is mankind actively doing? He's actively suppressing the truth because he doesn't want to believe and that's where you come up with evolution. That's an active suppression of what he knows to be true. You read that in Romans chapter 1, it says, how does man know that there's a God? Because God has made it plain in all that He has created, it is obvious. They know, they know, the world knows. But they are actively suppressing the truth because otherwise they would have to believe that there is a God before whom they are accountable and because of the love of sin and the active suppression of truth, Paul says the result is judgment.

And none of us like to talk about judgment, you know. I mean, judgment is not a fun topic, but I hope you know, that those of you who are in Christ today, I hope you know that judgment is passed for you. Do you know that? I run into so many Christians who don't know that, judgment is passed for you. There is no judgment of sins for those of us who are in Christ because our Savior has already been judged for us. He took the full brunt of our judgment, and He cried out in victory from the cross,

(John 19:30) And Christians, that is your birth right now in Christ Jesus. The sins that you have committed and even will commit are paid in full by the blood and suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross and judgment for you is passed. But there is a world that has actively sought to suppress truth and to put away reality and there is only judgment that remains. And that's why we're sharing Christ with people all the time. That is why we're actively praying for people all the time, because we want them to know that their sins can be forgiven and that judgment can be passed for them as well. And that's where we come to the fourth heading from these verses and that is the witness of the Holy Spirit. Beginning of verse 26, Jesus says, “But when the Helper comes,” and this is a total shift, isn't it? It's lovely, it's a lovely shift. Thank you, Jesus and here we are, I'm glad we didn't have to end on judgment. Hut He comes to this section and see, we've been talking all this time about hatred from the kingdom of the world against those who have been birthed into the kingdom of God. There's hatred, there's persecution and there's judgment awaiting. But now He turns and in this lovely shifting of gears, He begins to say, oh, and now here you are living in this world and I know it's hard, but I want you to know something, beloved, I'm sending a helper. And in that simple statement there, Jesus is saying to you and me, I know that I've put you in a hard place. I know that living in the darkness of this world is a difficult place to live, but I want you to know I understand your weakness and I've sent you a helper. I have sent you one to come alongside and that's essentially what the word means. The word “helper” is the Greek “Parakletos” and it literally means someone who is called to come alongside, come to one's aid. In fact, if you were raised on the NIV like I was, depending on the revision of the NIV that you read, you're gonna find 2 different words. The old 1984 revision has the word “counselor.” Jesus says, when the counselor comes but you get into the 2011 revision of the NIV and they changed it to “advocate.” They're actually both good words and they're both descriptive of this role of the helper. He is a counselor, He is an advocate, He is one who comes to help, but Jesus uses His own descriptors here for the Holy Spirit, you'll notice. He refers to Him as the Spirit of truth. Isn’t that lovely. People, you know how the world is constantly trying to suppress truth? I mean, good grief, they're even trying to get you to believe that there are more than 2 genders, even though God said I made them male and female and they're trying to convince you and they're doing a pretty good job of it. The narrative is being laid out in such a way that if you choose not to believe it or if you declare that you don't believe it, you will be shut down, you will be shut down. That's what's going on in the world that we live in. People are being fired from their jobs because they refuse to say there are more than 2 genders, did you know that? People who have 20 plus years of faithful experience in their jobs are being fired because they simply will not say there are more than 2 genders. In other words, you don't agree with the narrative, you're out. Lovely, lovely world. But here's the cool part, the world is drenched in deception and lies and Jesus says, I'm going to send you the Spirit of truth to help you, He is the Spirit of truth. Earlier, we saw that Jesus declared Himself to be the truth. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” right? He says, I am the truth. He says, now the Spirit who comes is the Spirit of truth. What is the Spirit coming to do? He's coming to help you and me to share the power of the cross in this dark, damaged, and dying world that is suffocating in lies and deception. And the Spirit of truth is coming to pierce through the darkness for you and me, we don't have to do it on our own guys. The Spirit of truth has been given and Jesus also refers to Him as the one who “proceeds from the Father,” did you catch that? You might underline that in your Bible,

He proceeds from the Father. And that's a lovely statement that essentially means that He is constantly being sent forth from the Father to do that work. You know, Jesus is going to talk more about the Holy Spirit and we'll just study this as we get more into the next chapter but let me give you a little preview of coming attractions on the screen from John 16. Jesus said,

… it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, (look at what He says the Spirit's going to do) he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: Isn't that great? The Spirit comes to do a work of convicting, the Spirit comes to convict people of the reality of sin. So if you've been sharing Christ with someone and all you've been getting from them is resistance, I want you to know that there is someone on your side and He has come alongside you to help you to speak into that life of that person, and He's going to do the convicting. He's going to do the convicting, you don't have to, you just speak the truth. You let the Holy Spirit bring conviction and if it doesn't happen right away and you don't see that conviction showing up, then you pray for that person. And you call upon the Holy Spirit to soften that person's heart and to open their eyes and make them aware of their need of a savior, the recognition of their sin. But listen, it's not just up to you, you've got the Holy Spirit on your side, and He's telling you. Jesus is telling you and me here that the Holy Spirit is working right alongside us to do things that you can't do, to go places that you can't go and to say things that you can't say. And the Holy Spirit is with them all the time. You say, Holy Spirit, you just be on them, you be on them. You just, you know, the Holy Spirit has been referred to as the hound of heaven, no disrespect intended. It's like, go get them. You know, you ever had a dog where you can just say, sick them? Well, in kind of a cool way, you can say, Holy Spirit, sick them, go after them. Open their heart, help them to know and understand their need of a savior, to recognize their sin. Holy Spirit, you can be there when I can't, you can speak to them in ways that I can't. You can speak to them in dreams and visions and other…, you can do things that I cannot do. Do this work, Lord God, open their eyes, open their heart. But it's a shared work, it's a shared work that God wants to do between you and His Holy Spirit. And that's why Jesus ends in verse 27 by saying, “And you also will bear witness.” The Holy Spirit bears witness and you bear witness. What does the Holy Spirit bear witness to? Again, He's always talked… I'll tell you something, you want to know the favorite subjects of the Holy Spirit? I can tell you right now, Jesus and your need of a savior. Those are His favorite 2 subjects. You want to release the power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction in somebody's life? Just say, Holy Spirit, go do what you do the best. Tell them about Jesus and their need of a savior and that's what He loves to do. And that's why Jesus says, when the Spirit comes, “He will bear witness about me.” He'll talk to them about me and that's a reminder for us in our witnessing. Keep it about Jesus, don't get waylaid and drawn off course talking about all these things that people love to talk about to blow smoke, to keep it off the main topic. People, the main topic in witnessing, is Jesus. And whatever people might say, you might just have to say, well you know what, I don't know anything about that, but let me tell you about Jesus. And you might feel intimidated, you know, kind of sharing your faith with people because you're not, you know, you don't consider yourself a Bible scholar or you don't know the Bible all that well. Yeah, I get it. You know, sometimes we're just not there yet, but you can tell him what He's done in your life, and that's a lovely thing to be able to say. Let me tell you what Jesus has done in my life, let me tell you about Him. And you know, like that man that Jesus healed of blindness, we can simply say I was blind and now I see. Well, what do you see? I see my real condition, that's what He opened my eyes to, that I was a sinner in need of a savior and that is something that I believe people innately know, but are simply trying to suppress. And so if we come to them in all humility and just say, Jesus opened my eyes to my sin, but He also showed me that there's a savior and that savior is Jesus. And He died for me, and He died for you, and if you'll open your heart to Him, He'll save you, He'll forgive your sins, and He'll fill you with His very own presence, amen? Let's stand together. I'm going to ask Bob Simerly, one of our elders, to come up and close us in prayer.

Okay, let's pray. Father, we just thank you for all the wondrous things that you do for us. We praise you for your magnificent glory and Father, I just ask that you go with each and every one of us today as we step out into the world, remembering these words from John's gospel, that the world hates us. Nevertheless, you call upon us to love. Help us, Lord, to love the world as you do and give us the strength and the wisdom and the courage and the boldness to speak about you wherever we go. We love you, we thank you, we praise you, and it is in your holy name, in Jesus holy and precious name that we pray, amen.