Please have your Bibles open and stand with me for the reading of God's Word. Our passage for this morning, as we continue our study and exposition of the Gospel of John, John chapter 15, And this is a rather difficult passage for the West, because we in the Western Christian world, we tend to believe that we can live very comfortably and harmoniously with the world, but that's not the case. So this is a passage that the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit pops the bubble of our comfort zone. And so I pray that you would, with a sober mindset, but with the biblical mindset that your heart would be ready and open to receive the Word. John chapter 15 verses 17 to 20 is our passage for this morning. This is the reading of God's Word. This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave 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. Amen. Please be seated. It is to the shame and indictment of the comfortable church in the West that we do not closely identify with believers, brothers and sisters, in other continents, in Asia, in Africa, and even in Central and South America. And When we look at all the statistics of the people who are being persecuted, who are dying, who have their families split up as their children are confiscated and sold into slavery, like Sub-Saharan Africa, if you live there, if you're a Christian there, you can almost be guaranteed that your house will be burned. If it's of no value, little value. If it's of great value, it will be taken over by Muslims. Your property, whatever property you have will be confiscated. Your children will be sold into slavery and slave labor. And most likely you and your wife will be killed. That's reality. It has been. tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Christians there. In most conditions like that, if Americans were tested, if American Christianity were tested like that today, I would say 90% or more, I would say 95% or more would deny the faith. We have never been tested that way. I have never been tested that way. You have never been tested that way. But when I see people cowering under pressure, just under pure pressure, social pressure, I can say with great confidence that 95% or more will deny the faith. Thankfully, the Lord has not placed us in that kind of environment. Muslim extremists in that region hate Christians because in reality they hate Christ. North Korea is still number one country most dangerous to be a Christian and we don't know because all the Christians are living literally underground. They dug holes in the ground and living like animals and try to hide from detection from their enemies. We don't know. How many? Some estimate that there will be a few thousands, but they are unrelated to one another, because as soon as they congregate together, they become a big target. So they live out in the boonies, and they live off of nature, eating whatever they can. They know so little about Christ, about Christianity, about God, about salvation, and yet they're holding on to that faith. They know that it is so important for them that they would risk their lives. Afghanistan used to be number one country of Christian persecution, but most believers fled the country and are hiding from the Taliban. In China, over 7,000 church buildings and organizations have been shut down just in the past two years. As you know, our beloved brother has had a really hard time trying to travel and trying to make impact in roads. And in democratic India, the largest democratic nation in the world, where freedom of speech and freedom of voting is a daily practice. The persecution of Christians, however, is so real and is escalating that India usually makes the top 10 list of the countries who most persecute Christians. So if you think that this only happens in communist nations or Muslim nations, then you would be wrong. It could be that India becomes the number one country that persecutes Christians in volume. Even in our hemisphere, Nicaragua, with this hostile new government, sees Christians as opposing forces that need to be silenced. So life there is hard for believers. The iron curtain of the Soviet communism of Eastern Bloc fell in the early 1990s, after the Glasnost perestroika in the late 80s. And around 1993, persecution among Christians have increased and gotten worse around the world since then. For believers who live in one out of seven countries that persecute Christians around the world, what Jesus commands here is truly encouraging, deeply satisfying, and a reality of heaven on this hellish earth. For us, however, living in a comfortable West, such teaching seems irrelevant, and they seem to tend to fall on deaf ears. But in a world of Christ-hating people, the love of the brethren becomes almost a litmus test of genuine Christianity and a certain blessing that we cannot undermine its importance. Why do you think Jesus again and again reminds the disciples of this command? Love one another just as I have loved you. Love one another. There's a reciprocal one another. There's a rich blessing there. But our sinful, self-centered, narcissistic, Western churchgoer refuses to love the brethren. And in the church, we had better not try to kick out such people, because that may appear that the church is exclusivistic, even though in reality it is, and mean-spirited, even though that's not true. And so, the righteous, the loving people of God must forbear. You have to put up with them. You have to love them. And sincerely, too, not just faking it. Because that's how the Lord Jesus dealt with Judas. and we have so much to learn from the Lord. And that's hard, because we're not Jesus. We're weak human beings, because they're hypocrites. They wear masks in the church, only in the church. In outside world, the world's people see them and say, oh yeah, I know who you are. You're just a fake. And they're easily recognizable. In the church, though, they wear masks, and they do their thing. They foment disunity. They foment discouragement. Instead of loving and serving the brethren like Jesus did, they don't obey His command. And they choose not to. So this is a big problem in the Western Church. Because these people will, in a heartbeat, deny Christ and leave the Church when there's heavy persecution, like in the Muslim world or the Communist world. or anything difficult to come, they would just take off and say, I'm out, that's not for me. And they would choose a more comfortable, easier version of churchianity rather than commit to a self-sacrificing and self-giving love that the Christian community has always practiced from the very beginning. So this is a very difficult teaching for the Western world. And this should challenge all of us as we lack such love. But this is the answer. In a Christ-hating world, a love of brethren is the answer. So let's take a closer look into the text. First we see the Lord's command to love in a Christ-hating world in verse 17. This is one of three truths about the genuine Christian love. What it does, what it is, and what it looks like in a Christ-hating world. This love, this supremacy of agape love of the brethren in a world filled with unregenerate Christ-hating people, including religious people who hate Jesus. You know, the people who hated Jesus were the religious people in Judaism. They hated Jesus with all their heart, but they pretended to be godly and holy. They love the world. Scripture says the Pharisees love money. The high priest and the chief priest love power and fame and money. Often those three things seem to go together. But they did not love justice and righteousness, mercy. They did not care for the people. We discover that the love of Christ also connects us with each other, other believers, genuine believers. And this is really the love that will shame religious unbelievers. When we passionately love one another, sincerely love each other, and we give of ourselves to one another, the religious unbelievers who have no such love because their heart's not regenerate, because of culture and tradition and patterns of religion, they're there, it's like most religious people in the world, they are initially by the Holy Spirit indicted and a deep sense of guilt and shame comes upon them. It's an opportunity for them to repent and renounce their self-love, renounce their love for the world, and then embrace Christ. And if they don't do that, they keep wearing their mask and become like Judas, who hardened his heart. He had always loved himself, loved money. He loved everything else in the world, but he did not love Christ. And so the command to love Christ in verse 17 is the antidote. This is the medicine for our great illness, the great human disease. And in the Greek, there's a plural, these things. ESB has the right translation there. And ESB and LSB uses the singular, this, to combine all that Jesus taught into one. But you don't want to do that with the original language. So, these things. What things? Well, Jesus is not only reiterating what He had just taught in verse 10. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. He talked about the love of God and the Godhead that is demonstrated in the disciples' reciprocation of obedience. Verse 12, this is my commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. It's the kind of love, even though we can't love like Jesus to the extent. I mean, he went to the cross for his enemies, for us, so that we might be saved. Now, we may not be able to do that, but it's the same kind of love. It's the same self-giving, right? Self-denying love. So why is this command to love one another repeated by the Lord? so much. It's probably because it is hard to do. And we fail to do it so often. And because most Christians think that, because especially in the West, you know, we have this false notion of falling in love, right? And the attraction of the other person that draws you to love. I think I love you. No, love is not something that you think about. It's something that you do in obedience to the Lord. It is something that you do because it's the right thing, that it honors God. You don't fall into love. You make a decision to love. Even though it goes against your feelings, you do it because it's a God-honoring thing. It's the right thing. That's why it's hard. And there's always a cost to that kind of love. The sacrifice means that you are forsaking something that's precious to you. Self-giving means that you are not withholding your comfort and your desires, you're actually giving it to the other. This is hard. To imagine that this is easy and that it should be the normal practice everyday life is probably not a good understanding of yourself and not understanding of the great love of God demonstrated in the love of Christ. The Christian must understand that there's a cost in following Jesus, cost in obeying Him. This is our demonstration of love to Him. Not just discomfort, not just a little bit of suffering, but the cost that may even demand our very own lives. If you're really self-preserving, you fear pain and suffering and death. Chances are that fear can overcome any faith, A lot of people succumb to that. And so in God's grace, He has to strengthen your faith first in order for you to face that eventuality. You have to make that logical connection. Hey, I'm going to die anyways, and I'll probably die sooner than I think. Why don't I die by glorifying God in my death since I'm going to die anyways? That's a very logical connection for the believer, the faithful. But the irrational, unfaithful, fearful don't make that connection. They said, no, I'm going to hold on to this. It's my life. I'm going to hold on to it as long as I can. I want to polish it. I'm going to nurture it. I'm going to decorate it as best as I can. Well, that's not faith. And that exposes self-love. Let's take a look at Matthew 10 and see for yourself. There are a lot of things that the. human being, the people of the world, value. And in that culture, as well as in ours, these are the things that most people have value. Matthew 10, verse 37 to 39. Matthew 10, 37 says, He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. If you have grown up in a really loving home where your Mom and Dad really loved you, nurtured you, gave you everything. It'll be very difficult for you to love Jesus more unless God has given you a new heart, new faith, and you understand the value of who your parents were in God's grace, His provision for your blessing and your salvation. Unless you understand these things by faith, they can become the greatest enemy to the love of God. And that's why Jesus said, you're not worthy of Him. You can't be a Christian. Here's another one, and he who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. If you are that loving person that you have always dreamed about having children that you can love and nurture, and you want to have more, well, praise God. But who's given you that heart, that disposition? Who's given you those children as a blessing? I believe it's the Lord, your creator and maker, and who blesses marriage and blesses children. But all of a sudden, they become more important than God. All of a sudden, there's a disconnect in your faith. But if you recognize that your very life and the life of your spouse and your children all belong to the Lord, then you realize what Jesus is saying here. But sometimes your beloved family members can become biggest enemy to the love of God. Verse 38, and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Oh, there's a thing, there's a cost. Willingness to die? A die an ignoble, suffering death? That's what many Christians throughout history and in the very difficult parts of the world, that's what they face. Do you live and continue and sustain your existence here in this world? Or for this cause, do you die? Die today? Die at this hour, this moment? They may not even give you a minute to think about it, as they put the gun to your head and says, you deny Jesus, you walk away, and you affirm Jesus, you die. I don't know how that they can count the cost unless they counted it by following Jesus from the very beginning. So there is a cost. Verse 39 says, he who has found his life will lose it. That's not just a simple prediction. That is reality that Jesus is speaking here. Will, not might, will lose it. You're going to lose everything with it. But see, I don't think that people who don't love the Lord, who haven't counted the cost, really believe that. They don't believe that. They don't believe that they can lose it. That's why they're working so hard to polish it, to decorate it right now, to enjoy it. The scripture says you will lose everything. everything and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it for all of eternity he will enjoy it what radical paradox right what contrary this is to our fleshly instinct the people of the world look at this and saying foolishness That's not the way I see it. The only quality of life that you really have is the life right now, the life that you see. And the best way to live that life is squeeze out of this life as much pleasure, as much joy that you can. It's up to you. This is nonsense. To give up your life? That's nonsense. So they mock and ridicule the Lord's teaching. They say Christianity is a psychological crutch, opium of the masses, as Marx would say. It is an intoxicating elixir of lies and deception, they say. Well, here's the author of truth, he's saying it. You try to hold on to it, you're going to lose it for sure, and everything along with it. All that effort that you put in to protect and provide and polish and decorate, all that will be gone. But if you simply give it up and willing to die, then you're going to have it for all of eternity. Just can't get any simpler and clearer than that. It's whether you believe it or not believe it. And so the love of the brethren is really a litmus test for what we really believe. And since we are challenged by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and we say, oh man, my faith is weak. Now you know what to pray for when you go before the Lord. Lord, help me to grow in this area. And He will. By giving you more and more homework assignments to love more and more, give up more and more, deny more and more, sacrifice a little bit, and try to emulate Jesus, and then so you can grow more and more. When we present Christianity as that which satisfies individual wants, some fulfillment in an area of life that is lacking, or gaining insight and wisdom into spirituality, then we are peddling falsehood, and we make ourselves liars and deceivers. That's not Christianity. But when we present Christianity as that which dies to self, discovers the immensity of Christ's joy, that forsakes earthly pleasures to gain a perfect eternal heavenly joys, and that grows and matures in salvation toward Christ's likeness, then we are teaching and preaching the truth to men and women that the world must hear. That is the way of salvation of Christ. The Lord And His command is still ringing in our years. His command is ever practical. It's a rich blessing for the obedient and the source of great satisfying force in the life of the believer. And here's the word of reciprocation, one another. You need to think like this and practice this toward one another. The command is so practical because it's reciprocal, right? Friendship is reciprocal. There's an unwritten expectation that you're both to give 100%. If there is a middle ground anywhere, you're supposed to always meet there. Now, you're not supposed to have expectations, because expectations can really let you down. So you're just like, oh, God wants me, the Lord wants me to give. So one another, my responsibility is to the other. But if you think, well, I'm just going to wait here until somebody comes over and loves me the way that I should be loved, then you missed the mark. You completely didn't get it. Christians are simply to give, give, give. But then also they must be humble to ready to receive whatever, and then give thanks to God, because you know you don't deserve it. So joyfully receiving another's practice of love is an extension of the Lord's great love for you is a mark of a sign of humility that's growing in your heart, and you can say thank you to the Lord. I don't deserve this love, but you have shown it practically through that brother, through that sister to me. Thank you, Lord. He gets all the glory. This command is a rich blessing for believers because we know we're not worthy of such magnanimous love and care and affection from strangers who are not related to us by family relations. This command is deeply sanctifying too because the one who receives love is given a holy obligation to reciprocate in kind. There's a sense of a holy debt even if they can't reciprocate to the same extent. The one who practices love does so out of humility of mindset, like that of Christ. And Paul taught this to the Philippians, the mindset of a slave. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ. The one who receives much love receives out of humility, not out of pride. A prideful person is, oh, no, no, no, I'm not gonna receive that from you. Well, what are you doing? You're stopping that brother or that sister from practically practicing the command that the Lord gave him or her to experience the joy of service, you're saying, no, because you're too proud to say, only I can give and serve, but I'm not going to receive? That's a proud person. And so when you love one another, there's already a built-in sanctifying process in giving and receiving love. It's very cathartic, really. If you're one of those proud people, you believe you're a self-made man or a woman, and you have enough skills and intellect and resources for you to excel in this world, and then everybody, you can serve them, but they can't serve you, and you feel kind of smug about that, then you should be at the receiving end and give thanks to God. You say, well, what can they do for me? Don't worry. God will bring up the need in your life and show you how bankrupt you can be. And then we receive grace, love through others. And then we know that it flows from Christ, the head. So let's ask these questions to ourselves. Our Lord commanded us to love one another. Are we doing that? And what's the cost of doing that? The cost of our comfort? The cost of our allegiance to Him means the ultimate cost. Is there self-denial, willingness to die and submit to Christ? Do we really love Him that way? Do we love other believers for whom Christ died to redeem? What's our view of the Church? Are we satisfied just coming in just, you know, a couple hours on a Sunday and say, I did my duty. I was there. I'm a member. Well, that's really wanting. If that's your version, no, you're not growing in love. You're only receiving, but maybe you're not reciprocating. You're not practicing the very opportunity for you to be sanctified and grow. And you need to plan to serve. You need to plan to give. You need to plan to love. You need to plan to love those who are unlovable. They're mean to you. They're not nice to you. You need to recognize, okay, that person may be super immature. I was once like that. Or that person may not be saved. But even then, your love will be an indictment. It's a gospel witness. that God is so gracious he sends the rain upon the wicked and the just alike. And the church may be the only place that that unregenerate, religious mask-wearing hypocrite, self-loving, doesn't care about loving others, doesn't care about loving God, but only loves himself or herself. Church is the only place where that person may get the indictment. Where did Judas get it? He got it among the twelve. right when Jesus gave him the morsel, treated him with great love and respect all the way through, gave him many opportunities to repent. So that's what we see the Lord doing in the Church. So do you care? Do you care about the Church of Jesus Christ? Do you care about other believers? Are you ignoring His command? Are you still wrapped up in yourself and wonder why other people are not more loving toward you? Or, are you even more sinister than that? That you will do all your best to engineer your way, to get more friends, to like you, and get other Christians to love you, while just you're using them? You're just a user. And relationship is just a manipulative tool for you to use other people, because in the end, it was always about you. It wasn't about the Lord Jesus and that He laid down His life for you. It's not about other people that the Lord Jesus gave His life to redeem and how special and eternally significant that they are. This is the problem in the evangelical church. And there almost seems to be a systematic way of collecting the chaff into a group rather than proclaiming the truth, the sanctifying grace of the gospel that liberates people, that frees them, that convicts them. So are we obeying the Lord's command? It's an important challenge for us from this passage. It's a simple command. We've heard it so many times. Jesus repeated it three times already in just a few verses. So let's think about that. And let's move on to the next verse as we think about this. because we're going to find our answers to these questions in the next passage. We've heard the Lord's command to love one another in a Christ-hating world. Secondly, let's see the connection, the connection between Christ and the believer in a Christ-hating world. And the Lord Jesus uses two conditionals if the world hates you. And then verse 19, if you were of the world. Whenever you hear this conditional, then in your mind supply the then, even though the then may not be there in the Bible, that's a logical, that's what a conditional is. It really provokes thinking, if then. Now Jesus teaches this to his disciples so that he might reduce the shock, because they're rather young believers, right? And this is also the case among young believers. Young believers are shocked when they find out that the world actually hates them. They're shocked. So this is to reduce the shock. Verse 18. Apostle John now carries the words of Jesus in the first class conditional, because John understands the mechanics of the Greek language. He understands if the condition is met by the indicative verb, The conditional if is met by the use of the verb in the indicative mood, then it means that the condition is met. So in the English language, we use the word since. And so Jesus assumes that the world hates you. That's what he's saying. The condition is met. So therefore this hatred is a fact. It is not an assumption. 1 John 3.13, the same human author writes, Do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you. You see that? Don't be shocked. Don't be surprised if the world hates you. Here's another one. Don't be shocked when people that you thought were Christians, genuine Christians, start hating you. Don't be shocked. Because all it is is God revealing that they were always part of the world. Christians don't hate one another. Christians love one another. There's a shock of discovery that the world of men have an irrational hatred for genuine believers. Here's the word, hate. The word appears seven times in seven verses in the lips of Jesus, just in verses 18 to 24. And then once again, in verse 25, Jesus quotes Psalm 69, verse 4, for a total of eight times, just in this short little section. It is the dominant theme in this passage. Hatred of the world is the dominant idea, and it's in direct contrast to the love of the brethren. The verb here is in the present tense, which is ongoing. Surprise! The world will never stop hating Christians. So why are Christians trying to win a popularity contest? Why are Christians trying to get the world to change its mind, to like us more? It's because they don't understand that this is not a social phenomenon, this is a theological phenomenon. Now, some of them may ignore Christians for a while, they put up with us, or put up with you for a while, like people ignoring the buzzing flies around them, like people eating at restaurants, they just say, shoo, shoo, and they just ignore them. Until they become a bother. Until Christians started actually saying, you know what, this is the truth, you know what Jesus said? And they go, now you're a bother. Then they must be dealt with. Because people do not love flies. They hate flies. Spiritually, that's how the heart of hatred in the world treats creatures made in the image of God and purchased by the precious blood of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus explains the connection of the believer's experience with the citizens of the fallen world by telling him of his own personal experience. This teaching is designed to reduce shock of the naivete of the believer, and as parents you need to prepare your young people for the shock that they're going to face. I remember talking with my children when they were young. I said, do not assume that the people of the world and the things of the world are ugly and grotesque and that you don't have to worry about staying away because that's not true. I said that it will be very appealing to your eyes, to your senses, their message and what they say and what they do, be very attractive and they will attract you. The enemy uses these subtle social networks to get Christians to compromise in those areas. Instead of enjoying those things, thanking the Lord for them, and staying faithful and true to the Lord, many people give themselves wholly to the attraction of the things of the world. And so the phenomenon of hatred of believers in the world is really not sociological, you and I need to understand why do the citizens of the world hate Christians? Listen to what the commentator and theologian D.A. Carson says. He says, the phenomenon of hatred for believers in the world is not sociological, but theological. Wait a minute, that sounds just like what you just said. That's right, because I copied him. Because he's absolutely right. He's absolutely right. He understands that this is not just a sociological phenomenon. The fact that sociological phenomenon appears this way is because it is a theological root and foundation first. And our enemy, Satan, is subtle. He is the ruler of this world. He uses the sociological trappings of the world to funnel this hatred And through fear and through pressure, keep the people at bay. And when they get out of line, he uses these pressures and presses it against God's people. But at the root of it, it's theological. And now the Lord Jesus explains the then clause, the conditional. So he said, if If the world hates you, here's the then clause, then know. Christian, he's telling us to know this. Don't say, well, I didn't know that, not know it. Know that it has hated me before it has hated you. And the Greek, the word hated is not there, but it's supplied there because that's the meaning. Know that it has hated me before you. The world, which is dominated by Satan and his control, hates God. Now this, first of all, is comforting truth and knowledge for the disciples. This should comfort you first. Oh wow, I thought it was me. Oh, I thought it was little old me going out there. I thought, like if I just improve my delivery, you know? Like a lot of people say that. They say, John, if you just tone down the rhetoric, Just, you know, turn those words into synonyms, but really tone it down. Take the bite out, and then try to appeal to them, then the world will really like it. I get a lot of that pressure, and you know who I get it from? I get it from other believers, other preachers, other commentators. A lot of voices saying, just tone it down. Okay, well, how did that work for Jesus? It didn't work. How did it work for the apostles? It didn't work. Because it's not about toning it down. It's not about that at all. I wish it were, but it's not about that. Listen to what William Hendrickson, a commentator, comments. I love that. Know that it has hated me before it hated you. Constantly bear in mind that you are in excellent company. When the world hates you because you confess me, this shows that you belong to me and therefore experience to a certain extent what I have been experiencing right along." What a great commentary. He's saying, welcome to the club, Christian. Now you know what I've been experiencing and you are my disciples therefore you're experiencing now similar things that I've experienced all along from the very beginning when the very creature that I made in my image and blessed and gave so much turned against me and rebelled against me and the entire lineage of humanity turned against me. You're in good company. So that should be encouraging for us. Thus far in the Gospel of John, there are 26 descriptions and references to the hatred of the Lord Jesus. That's a lot. And just in this little passage, there's eight references to hatred. From the very moment the Lord Jesus appeared in public scene, the world began to distance themselves, ignore, and finally reject the Lord Jesus. John 1.5, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overtake it. John 1.10, he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. John 1.11, he came to what was his own and those who were his own did not receive him. Now there was the ignorance and rejection turns into intensification of rejection continued and blossoms into full-blown opposition and hatred. John 3.11, Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, and you do not accept our witness." John 5, 16. And as for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Shabbat. John 5, 18. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him. because he was not only breaking the Shabbat, but also calling God his father, making himself equal with God. And on and on it goes. All 26 references, distancing, ignoring, rejecting, opposing, persecuting, and then desiring to kill, and finally carrying out the murder, and then lying to justify their murder. Jesus uses another conditional clause. This is the second conditional clause in verse 19. If you are of the world. Now, there you go again. There's the protasis, if clause. And then supply the word then, and then you have the apodosis, the then clause. Then the world would love its own. If the disciples share the characteristics and nature belonging to the world of hostile humans toward Christ, toward God, then the same world would love its own. The more company parties you are invited to and you attend, the more you drink with them and socialize, the more dinners you attend and hang out together and revel in all kinds of worldly activities, the world will think you are theirs. You're of the same kind and they will love you because it knows you belong to them. Doesn't matter what you do on church on Sunday, it matters what kind of witness you bear. They would think, and they would be shocked to find out that you're actually a Christian. And so most people try to hide that, and you know, tone it down, subdue it. Because they know what kind of response that they'll get. As soon as you say, I'm a Christian. I don't do that. I refuse not to do that. I'm not judging you. That's just my personal conviction. Try it. See what they will do. But the more biblical convictions you maintain, the more you refuse to drink, you refuse to socialize, refuse to subscribe to their lifestyle, the more you become Christ-like in speaking truth, maintaining integrity, and worshiping God, focusing on heavenly things, the more they will hate you. Try it. Because the world loves its own, but it hates the things of Christ. I mean, we serve the one who was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. How can we, as we listen and tell dirty jokes and have another drink and revel in their midst, identify with the one who was despised and forsaken of men, acquainted with sorrow and grief? Well, that's how they treated the author and incarnation of love, dear friends. Don't be surprised if the world hates you because you refuse to partake of the world's sins and lusts. Jesus said, but because you are not of the world. Now he's speaking to the 11 apostles, which he knew. So don't be confused if you are still of the world and you think, oh, that's me. No, it's not you. This should indict you, should bring you to shame, to repentance. But the fact that it is not may indicate how stubborn, prideful, and hardened you really are. That's who you really are. Now you need to humbly beg the Lord for forgiveness for playing that game with Him when He knows. But He's speaking to His true disciples, trying to help them to alleviate the shock that they will experience. After his glorious resurrection, they're gonna go and say, we saw him, he's risen, he's risen from the grave. And they assume that the whole Jewish leadership and the nation will say, wow, really, we were so wrong, tell us more. No, they said, if you keep preaching in his name, we're gonna get you. They didn't expect that, but they got it. And so the Lord prepared them for that. The Greek student will notice the phrase, out of the world, and the phrase translated, here, of the world and out the world, out of the world, it's the same phrase. Ectu Cosmu. So, because you are not of the world, that is belonging to the world, I chose you out of the world. It's the same Greek phrase. True believers are no longer part of the world. They were once. They belong to the world, but no longer. It is because the Lord Jesus had chosen them, not only as apostles to represent him out of the world, of hateful souls who are enmity toward God, the citizens of the world cannot stand by the thought that God would choose some to be saved and bypass others. That theological truth and fact just infuriates them. But this is the very doctrine of God's sovereign grace. They hate that. Why? Because they're so prideful that they have to have the final say. Because they think that they're gods. They have to make that choice. When the sovereign Almighty Creator makes that choice, they get infuriated. What should be the rational response to that? They should say, Why wasn't I chosen? Oh, it must be because I'm not worthy of it. Look at my life, of course. How can I be worthy of God's salvation? I'm not. Oh God, have mercy on me. Is there any way that I can avoid hell? That would be the rational response of a rational person. But have you seen a rational criminal who murders so many people and who feels no remorse? And he says, oh, I need to talk to my lawyers. I don't want to know what my rights are. What? What? You just confessed to multiple murders and you want to know what your rights are? That is not the right response. But that's the kind of response that we get from unbelievers. So they demand and demand and demand. Why can't everybody be chosen, excepting for perhaps Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot? And they say, they reason, if I'm not chosen, then I refuse to go to heaven with those losers. I refuse to worship a God who don't choose me. I would rather party in hell for all of eternity and belong to that foolish religion. I hate that religion. That's the attitude of a rebel. Remember Jesus' own townfolks tried to do to him when he told them that there were many lepers in Israel, but a foreigner named Neman the Syrian, the general of their enemies, was healed, and that there were many widows in Israel, but a foreign woman, the widow of Tsarfat, was helped during the days of the prophet Elisha? Well, what did they say? They said, well, that's true. Huh, I wonder why that happened. God was so gracious to select these no-good Gentiles. Man, we must have been so much worse. We were idolaters. Even worse, we had the law and we rejected the Lord. Was that their response? No. Luke 4 verse 28 says, And all the people of the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. And they stood up and drove him out of the city and led him to the edge of a hill on which the city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff. They wanted to kill the truth speaker. As far as the world is concerned, the disciples appeared to them as traitors. Traitors who once walked among them, but now appear to be siding with the enemy. God, they must be executed. That's the reasoning. It is so irrational, but then hateful prejudice usually is. And there's no greater prejudice than religious prejudice. They're bent on exterminating those who are in opposition to their own religious worldview that is, I'm worthy. I'm worthy of affirmation, praise, and existence. I am and there is no one else. I'm the master of my own destiny. I'm the captain of my own future. No one's going to tell me. I worship myself and no one is going to make me bend my knee. No one. You're just a creature depending on the Almighty sustaining your very life. The one who gave you the thought and the mind and the lips and you speak to your maker that way. You're like the bratty grandchild. The only reason why you can slap your grandfather's face is because he chose to put you on his lap. This is the attitude of the unbelieving world. That world hates Christians. Why? Because Jesus said, because of this, the fact that God has chosen people out of this world. So tell the world that God sent his son to seek and save that which was lost sovereignly and chose them out of the world to inherit the glorious kingdom of his reign while the rest of the world is doomed to destruction and judgment and you'll receive hatred. That is the gospel. You'll receive hatred. The hostility of the world is evidence that genuine believers belong to Christ and that they who hate God are excluded and the gospel of Jesus exposes all of that. All of that sham is exposed. And that's what Christ came to do, to shine the light of his truth in a very dark world of lies. So, so far we heard the command of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another, who live in a Christ-hating world, and then we've seen the connection of believers and the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's the reason why the Christ-hating world hates believers. It's theological, not sociological. And thirdly and finally, verse 20, the coherence the coherence in a Christ-hating world. There's necessarily a logical connection. These truths cohere. Verse 20, now the Lord Jesus is teaching his disciples, helping them to understand that their blessed relationship with him in the marks of genuine discipleship, which is a shared experience, with their own master, and he reminds them, remember the word I said to you. And then he reminds them of the principle that he taught, a slave is not greater than his master. Now in Luke 640, he also taught that same principle, slightly differently, with an additional information. Luke 640 says this, a student is not above his teacher, but everyone after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. After he's been fully trained. So the Lord Jesus is predicting that he will fully train his disciples and apostles, that they will be so mature, they'll understand the mind of Christ, they will serve like him and they would gladly lay down their lives for him, for the truth and for his glory. And here's the correlation. Another conditional, another if-then saying. If they persecuted me, put a then, then they will also persecute you. And they did persecute Jesus, that's a fact, then expect it. Christians expect persecution. Expect it. We in the comfortable West do not expect this, that's why we're shocked. What? What? How can this happen? Well, the Lord Jesus said, will happen. Remember when the Lord Jesus told his earthly siblings, when they scoffingly goaded him to go to Jerusalem? Go ahead, go to Jerusalem. Show yourself to be the Messiah. They scoffed at him. Jesus responded to them in John chapter 7 verse 7. Take a look there and notice what Jesus said. He said, the world cannot hate you. Wow. What did Jesus imply? That they are part of the world. The world doesn't hate its own. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness about it that its deeds are evil. Jesus said something profound. Do you know one of his half-siblings, children of Mary and Joseph, was a man named Yehudah. translated as Judas, Judah. And the New Testament translators did not want to give this godly man indignity of bearing the same name as Judas Iscariot, so we say this is the epistle of Jude, Jude. The one chapter epistle of Jude was written by A young man, Jesus' younger earthly sibling, who joined his other siblings and go to Jesus and say, you have a Messiah complex. Well, if you think you're the Messiah, go to Jerusalem then, show yourself. You read the epistle of Jude, a completely different attitude, isn't it? Jude calls the Lord Jesus, my Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. not my half-brother, the Lord Jesus Christ." He understands. This is what Jesus said to him and other siblings. The world of religious leaders were not persecuting Jesus' earthly siblings because they were the same world. They hated God. They just didn't actively show their hatred. But the fact that they had such disdain for the Son of God incarnate indicates that they were so blinded by falsehood. If you are on the same team as the world, it will leave you alone. It may even cheer you on, actually, if you perform its desires. But if you are on Jesus's team and you bear witness to the truth that the evil deeds of the world must be exposed, then you will experience hatred and persecution. The apostles learned this lesson very well. And the scriptures testify, after being mistreated for the sake of Christ, they rejoiced. In Acts 5.41 it says, So they went on their way from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name. Does that cohere? Does that make logical sense? It sure does, because the apostles recognize the truth. If they persecuted me, and they did, they will persecute you also, and they did. The apostles get shocked, and they just go out of tune and say, I quit, I'm done with this. No, it says they rejoiced because that they have been considered worthy. that tells you their humility, like, oh man, we thought we were unworthy to bear His reproach, and yet the Lord allowed us this amazing privilege to testify of His name and identify with our Lord Jesus. They consider it a badge of honor, and it was true evidence before God and before men that they actually did belong to the Lord Jesus. It's certainly coherent. made logical sense to them. How about this? In a likewise fashion, if the individuals in this Christ-hating world listened and then keep the Word of God, if you're keeping the Word of God and you are teaching the Word of God, then what's the evidence of it? Well, let's take a look. There's another conditional. If they kept My Word. All right? In Jesus' day, did the Jews keep His Word? Most of them did not, but there was an exception. A few did, really did. They did not persecute Jesus. They wanted to know, hear Jesus, and they ultimately trusted in his word, and they did keep it later on. So Jesus's ministry had a tremendous impact in a few people. The women heard, and they kept. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus heard, they were religious leaders, They kept it. And also others who did not participate in the hatred of Jesus, but who argued for his case. And they say, if God were not with him, could he do these miracles? Who are they? Well, they weren't hostile. They didn't hate Jesus. They were just afraid and fearful of the repercussions of what would happen if they stood with Jesus. Later on, they came full blown and identified themselves with the apostles. Acts teaches us that many of the priests, the Levites, turned to Christ and became disciples, and they submitted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and joined and were added to the members of the church. That is excellent proof. 1 John 4 verse 5 says this, They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them. We are from God. The one who knows God hears us. The one who is not from God does not hear us. From this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." Watch people who call themselves Christians, they're very prone, they're open all years to lies and deception. But the Lord keeps us from lies and deception of the world. And so, in the first century, they did hear and keep the apostle's word. His word was fulfilled. They did repent and turn to Christ and were added to the church. Jesus said, I will build my church in the gates of Hades, which means death. Death. Even though people die for the witness, like Stephen did. And like the first apostolic martyr, James did. Jesus said in the gates of Hades, death will not prevail against my church, because he's building it. They did repent. Those who persecuted the church, like Saul of Tarsus, became Paul the Apostle. And we are the living testament to the Word of God through Jesus Christ being fulfilled exactly how he said it. Those who hated Jesus at one time were turned into God-loving, God-fearing, and Christian-serving people. That is the amazing grace of God. And we're living evidence, a testify to the world, that even though they hate Jesus now, that there is hope for them tomorrow. And so we don't give up. We don't become pessimistic. We don't become cynical and saying, ah, it's not working. Our generation hates Christ. That's true. The world has always hated Christ. So I'm going to conclude with a series of Bible passages and maybe a story at the end. And the conclusion is going to be a little long, but I want you to stay with me. We've seen the exposition of John, now let's think. Think a professing believer who befriends the world instead of witnessing to the perishing people of the world. They would rather participate in the very world that is perishing rather than speaking the truth and shining the light so that those would come to know Christ and be saved. They would rather partake of his lusts and commit spiritual adultery rather than be true and faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, who happens to be away on a business trip, if you will. James 4.4, you adulterous, do you not know that the friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. a moral housewife who keeps a friend, but every time her friend's husband goes off on a trip, she invites another man and engages in adultery, and she senses a moral disgust, and she says, I will not ever speak to you until you confess your sins, make amends with your husband. You are not my friend. Now, that takes moral courage. Now, if she's weakling, she may say, well, I like her, she's popular among the other gals, and I want to be her friend. And, you know, her husband hopefully will find out, and she's okay, but I'm not gonna let that happen to me. It's gonna be okay. That is not a friend. That is a person who does not want this immoral adulteress to escape the judgment. This is the language of the Bible. Do not invite the world and become an adulteress. The name Demas appears three times in the New Testament, all in Paul's pen. Twice, Paul speaks favorably of him, mentioning him in his final closing remarks as part of the missionary team. Colossians 4.14 says, Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings and also Demas. He's in the same league as Luke. Philemon, verse 24, and he mentions Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. He calls Demas one of his fellow workers. What a privilege and honor, right? But at the end of Paul's ministry, this is what he wrote about Demas. In 2 Timothy 4.10, In the list of giving updates to Timothy, he says, Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me. Question. Is Demas chosen out of this world? No. No. Not when he has gone back into the world having loved it. Having left the Christian community, going back into the world, loving it. True Christians exhibit a very different attitude towards the world. A distance that can never be breached. I want to tell you a moving story that moved my heart. Kent Hughes tells a story of an American reporter who interviewed a communist activist working in China, sent by none other than Lenin, the leader of the communist movement in the Bolshevik Revolution, to impact and convert the Chinese to communism. And that worked. This is what he said of the American reporter. This communist activist said, you forget, young man, that I am not here for my health or I would not be working in this barbarous heat. I don't spend my time at the bars and races like the English and the French. I am not interested in a career or a fortune like the Americans. I serve an ideology. And with an ideology, it is not numbers that count. It is dedication. You Americans would not understand that. I have lived many years in your country and I know what goes on. You concentrate on comfort and personal success." What an indictment. Uncomfortable with the Russian rebuke, the young journalist feebly attempted to divert the conversation. Do you enjoy your work in China? He asked. Enjoy, he echoed scornfully, a bourgeois question. It is not a matter of whether we enjoy our work here. The work is necessary. That is all that counts. It is, of course, far from the friends, the concerts, and theater that means so much in Moscow. But long ago, I made up my mind that communism alone held the answer for the world. Nothing else matters. Does that answer your question? That's what he said. Here's a man who was committed to a lie and was sacrificing so much for a lie. And we are the proclaimers of the Lord's truth. What are we doing for the truth? This is what people are doing for a lie. That's what a godless communist was dedicated to doing. And look at the impact. of communism in the world, millions of lives destroyed. Now listen to what one author wrote, and I quote, it is not accident that the present time, the dominant trends in psychoanalysis includes the rediscovery of narcissism. The society is marked by self-interest and egocentrism that increasingly reduces all relations to the question, what am I getting out of it? Pastor Arkent Hughes remarks, that attitude has even penetrated the church. And I would even add, that attitude has penetrated church a long ago. We're not just discovering it now, it's been there. So the true Christian must say no to these godless worldly lusts that worships the self and seeks the preeminence of the self. Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 2.11, Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. We have to live like aliens, like foreigners. We cannot be comfortable and be part of the citizenry of this world. We must never cultivate a love or strong desire for this world that hates God, and its lusts conform its desires to us. As 1 John 2.15 says, do not love the world or things in the world. If anyone loves the world or loves the Father, it's not in him, it's incompatible. And Paul says in Romans 12.2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. And so we go back to square one. We must be committed to the love of the brethren. Hebrews 13, one, let the love of the brethren continue. For some of you, it's never even started. It's an indictment. It should bring you to shame. Why aren't you in tears? Why aren't you beating your chest and saying, Lord, forgive me this hypocrite. I love myself too much and love others. Too little or none. It's always been about that narcissistic flair, egocentrism, reducing all relations to what can I get out of it when you have given me everything. That the fact of Christ's death on the cross and your entrance into His forgiving grace change anything? If it's changed a little or nothing, I pray that you don't harden your heart like Judas did. He experienced all of that love and all that truth and still betrayed the Lord. Don't be shocked, Christians, when some Christians that you know turn out to be betrayers who hurt the Church of Jesus Christ, who turn on against God because they are not part of the world that you see, which God always saw. Don't be shocked about that. Don't be surprised about that. And meanwhile, don't let this throw you off. Our assignment has been given to the Lord, given to us by the Lord. Love one another. That's it. The world will know that you belong to Him when you love one another. Let the love of the brothers that you had loved, you've entered into the Christian faith and you knew what this love is, it's not about you. Die to yourself and then love the Lord Jesus Christ by serving and giving to others. Let the love of the brethren continue. 1 Peter 1 22, Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers, See that sanctifying love? You have purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart. You know, so many of us have been so blessed because you loved us. Because of your love, we're here. And I want you to understand, because of your love, unbelieving religionists will come and join you, because they want that too. That's what's missing in the world. But unless they understand the love of Christ, they will still be part of the world. And the Word of God doesn't want us to be shocked, but be prepared. There's nothing that is missing here. It's been the same from the very beginning. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, love one another as I have loved you. And because you love the Lord, you keep loving the brethren. You keep letting that love continue. And you know, all of us have benefited from that love. Others will wear masks and pretend because they're using people to get what they want for themselves. Do they love themselves? They don't love the Lord. In due time, that will be revealed. Don't be shocked when it is, but your responsibility and mine is to continue what we've been taught. Not to be moved, but focused and continue. And keep doing it. And keep growing in your love. And the Lord will bless you. Because His Word says so. And we're the most blessed people in all the universe. We, little us, the Lord Jesus died to redeem. He chose us. He had to bypass others. He got to us. What an amazing grace is that. That should humble us. It should make us worshipers. It should make us desire to live for His glory. And He's returning to reward those who long for Him. So let's continue what we've been assigned to do. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word that is so convicting for we fall so short. We certainly know we're not deserving of your grace, but we thank you for loving the unlovable. Thank you for giving us this sanctifying assignment. And Lord, help us so that we would continue to grow in our tender affections, our personal service and ministry to others, and so that we might honor and glorify you on the day of your visitation, that you will make all things known. Until that day, help us to stay focused, not become cynical, jaded, pessimistic, but looking to Jesus Christ and continue doing what we have been commanded to do, because we do love you, Lord. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.