The Hatred of the World (John 15:18-16:4a)

Daniel L. Arter

The Gospel according to John • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

John 15:18–16:4

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Bible Study & Prayer Wednesday at 7pm; Dinner at 6pm.

This Friday, January 21st at 7pm, join us for a screening of American Gospel: Christ Alone in the Auditorium. Free admittance, drinks, and popcorn. We’ll show the trailer for that movie about five minutes after thee service ends this morning.

On January 29th, at 10:30am, we’ll be canvassing the Chester Hill area, we could definitely use some help, if you’re free that morning, please consider helping us. Speak to Natalie if you’re looking for more information about it.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you with your giving we have three ways for you to give. (1) In-person giving can be done through the offering box in the front of the room. If you give a check, please write it to Grace & Peace; if you give cash and would like a receipt, please place it in an envelope with your name on it. If you’d prefer to give with a debit, credit, or ACH transfer, you can do that either by (2) texting 84321 with you $[amount] and following the text prompts or by (3) visiting us online at gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Psalm 40:1-10)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 40:1-10. It’s a psalm of David that celebrates the outcome of his prayers through Psalms 37-39 of waiting and suffering. David speaks of waiting patiently from the LORD, but God finally delivers him. Please stand and read Psalm 40:1-10 with me, I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 40:title–10 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. 4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! 5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. 6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” 9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Congregational Singing

All Hail the Power

Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near

O Lord, My Rock, and My Redeemer

Scripture Reading (James 4:1-12)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is James 4:1-12. I’ve asked Stacey to read it for us and as she comes forward, let me just give a brief introduction to that text. James 4 warns against the dangers of worldliness and calls the readers to submit themselves to God and to draw near to him. Stacey, please read James 4:1-12 for us.

James 4:1–12 ESV

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Sermon

Introduction

This morning’s message takes us back to this conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples. We’ve been working through this conversation for several weeks now and there are a couple of themes that have been focused on as Jesus talks with his disciples—themes concerning Jesus being the only way, the only truth, and the only life, his promise of the Holy Spirit to help them keep Jesus’ commands and for them to be taught by the Spirit. Last week’s passage focused in on this illustration that Jesus uses—that he is the true vine, the Father is the vinedresser, and the people are the branches. We spent a bit of time last week exploring what the illustration means, that only those who are in Jesus grow good fruit, and those that don’t grow good fruit are gathered by the Father to be burned. We also spent some time talking about how the Father prunes the branches that do produce good fruit in order for them to grow more fruit.

That illustration utilized by Jesus then emphasizes one fruit in particular and its that of love for one another. Jesus essentially teaches that if you truly believe in him, it’ll be evident by your fruit—in particular, it’ll be evident in your love for one another.

Again, this morning’s passage, John 15:18-16:4a is a continuation of this conversation between Jesus and his disciples and it goes in a direction that might actually seem like a warning to the disciples, but just like Jesus clarifies his statements in the first few verses of chapter 16, let me clarify that this is indeed a warning, but it’s a warning with a bit of encouragement. The warning from Jesus to his disciples is that they will definitely face hatred from the world and that hatred will result in very real persecution, but the Holy Spirit will help them. It would definitely be a bit jarring or eye-opening to them because remember, at the same time, Jesus has always just told them that he’s about to leave them—so, this is really the last thing that you’d want to hear, “I’m going to leave you; oh, and by the way, everyone is going to hate you and they might even attack you and kill you.”

And yet, Jesus says these very things to prepare them for what is to come and it is a warning that we should take into great consideration in our modern-day world. Because the reality is that the disciples were hated by the world not because of who they are, but because of who they worshiped. Likewise, we can expect to be hated by the world, not for who we are, but because of whom we worship.

Read with me John 15:18-16:4a.

John 15:18–16:4a (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 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 also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 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. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The World’s Hatred of God (18-25) introduces the issue at hand. The world might hate the disciples because the world hates God. It should be expected then that those who seek after God and are sanctified by God and live lives that resemble Christ would be victims of the same hate. Jesus says to expect it. (2) The Holy Spirit’s Role in Perseverance (15:26-16:4a) is Jesus then telling the disciples that despite the hatred that they’re going to face from the world, there is help from God in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will help them during times in which they face hatred from the world. I think the direction that we’re headed in this text is fairly clear and I think the message itself has a very clear point, that those who genuinely believe, who produce the fruits that vss. 1-17 speak of, should expect pushback from those who don’t believe but that shouldn’t cause fear or dismay because God has sent us a helper to be with us during those times of pushback.

Prayer for Illumination

The World’s Hatred of God (18-25)

This morning’s text starts with Jesus telling the disciples something that might seem jarring, but remember that all that we’re reading now occurs just prior to his arrest in chapter 18, we’re really close to his impending death. So, what he says here is a warning of what is to come. Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

Now the if here makes it seem as if this is a potential reality that might not actually happen, but it’s clear in vs. 19, 20, 21, and vs 2 of chapter 16 that this hatred from the world is to be expected.

When the Bible utilizes the word world in this context, it’s specifically referring to those that are opposed to God. Edwin Blum, “The world in John’s Gospel is the system of organized society hostile to God, which is under Satan’s power.”

So, Jesus isn’t referring to random people on the street hating the disciples and hating Jesus, he’s speaking particularly of those who have already rejected God. Those that refuse God will hate the disciples.

And there’s a specific reason for their hatred, you find it in vs. 19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

The primary reason that the world will hate the disciples is simple, the disciples aren’t like the world. The question then might be, what exactly is the world like?

Consider Galatians 5:19-21 “19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

And consider 1 John 2:15-16 “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

Combined, these two passages show us what defines and epitomizes the world—the world is filled with the works of the flesh (it is filled with sinful desire) and the world loves everything that the Father doesn’t love.

It’s no wonder than that those that are in the world would hate those that aren’t like them—those that reside in darkness hate when light shines on them.

Notice that this difference between the disciples and those that are of the world is highlighted by Jesus in vs. 19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.”

That really is a convicting statement. How many of us are guilty of wanting the world to love us so we compromise on our own beliefs to make the world love us?

A prime example of this is what used to be a conservative seminary in the Southwestern part of the United States.

It started as a very conservative seminary with very high academic standards, but they realized early on that their conservative Christian views was looked upon by the world as a negative attribute, so they lowered their doctrinal standards to entice what the world considered higher-tier professors.

Lowering their doctrinal standards to make the world love them definitely improved their standing amongst unbelievers, but they weren’t conservative in their views anymore; they had become very liberal and many would argue that they lost the distinction of being genuine Christians.

On a more personal level, aren’t we guilty of stifling our own religious convictions almost on a daily basis so that those in the world don’t attack us?

But Jesus makes the statement that the world is going to hate them; and conversely, what we could say, is that if the world didn’t hate them, it would be because they were just like the world.

But judging from what Jesus says in vs. 20, the hatred of the world shouldn’t surprise them whatsover, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.’”

You cannot serve Jesus and not expect to face any sort of persecution whatsoever because Jesus himself faced tremendous persecution, not just from unbelievers, but even from the apparent religious rulers of Jesus’ time.

Now in this instance, that persecution will result in beatings, in torture, and for most of them death—in fact, the only disciple that we know of that lived out a complete, natural life is the apostle John. Everyone else was martyred for their faith with the first being Stephen who we see being stoned to death in Acts 7.

Jesus says that they are to anticipate hatred and expect persecution because he himself faced hatred and persecution. And if Jesus himself faced hatred and persecution, what makes those that follow him expect not to face hatred and persecution?

“A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”—don’t expect to be treated amazingly well by those who reject Jesus when Jesus himself faced torture, crucifixion, and death.

Now in the remaining verses from this section, vss. 21-25, Jesus then focuses his attention on those that will persecute the disciples. So, he started this pericope with the truth that they were about to be persecuted and that the world would hate them because they hate him, but then he sort of shifts from speaking of them to speaking of the world which will persecute them. Jesus says in vs. 21, “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

This is not hatred and it is not persecution based purely on who the disciples are, but rather who they claim to believe in.

This is not hatred and persecution because they came from Galilee or because of their careers or even because of their personalities. This isn’t hatred because those that hate them simply don’t like them.

This is hatred and it’s persecution based on their claim to believe in Jesus—because they believe in Jesus, the world hates them and the world persecutes them.

And I can’t emphasize that enough—often, self-proclaimed people make a big deal of when people dislike them. The mindset is “well, I must be right, because they don’t like me” or “they’re only offended because I believe in Jesus.” In reality, a lot of people who are excited that other people dislike them are only disliked because of their sinful attitude—they’re prideful or they’re just plain a jerk.

Jesus doesn’t say that the world will hate them because of their personality or their attitude, it’s that they’ll hate them for their belief in him, “on account of [his] name.”

This hatred is based on the disciples’ claiming to follow Jesus; and its predicated on the world’s refusal to follow Jesus.

The world hates them because they follow Jesus and because the world doesn’t know God.

The world has openly rejected Jesus to the extent that the world in Jesus’ era determined to not just quiet him, but to kill him.

That lack of belief is really the root of their hatred. Because they refuse to follow God; they hate anything that has to do with Jesus. You can see that even in our modern world—outright atheists (like Richard Dawkins or Bill Nye) aren’t content with their own unbelief, they want to attack the fundamental belief in any God in an effort to prevent anyone from believing.

The Bible has a word for people like that, Psalm 14:1 “1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”” The Bible calls people that outright refuse belief in God fools.

And yet, it is those who the Bible consider fools that will attack and persecute the disciples for their belief in God.

Now, some of the wording that Jesus uses in vss. 22-25 might seem a little confusing, but with a little effort, you can determine what Jesus is saying. Vs. 22 starts off these verses by making the argument that if Jesus hadn’t come and said what he had said, “they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

Now, I’m making the statement that this might sound confusing, because the way that Jesus says it makes it seem as if they would have been innocent if he Jesus had not said what he had said.

But he’s not saying this in an absolute sense; he’s not speaking about the culpability that they have concerning all sins, but rather the culpability that they have concerning one sin. Or in other words, Jesus is not saying that they’re innocent of everything, but they would be innocent concerning this one particular sin, and its the sin of rejecting the revelation of God.

If Jesus hadn’t come and spoken all that he spoke to his disciples, to the people, and even to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the people wouldn’t be guilty of rejecting the words that Jesus spoke; but since they had heard him and they still rejected them, they are utterly guilty.

And their rejection of his words reveal their hatred of both him and the Father.

But as he says in vs. 25, this occurred to fulfil prophecy from the Old Testament law, that “they hated [him] without a cause,”

Jesus tells the disciples to expect hatred and persecution because of their genuine belief in him as the Messiah, as God. But he’s very clear to the disciples that this hatred and persecution isn’t a result of people disliking their personality or simply not liking them, it’s hatred and persecution because they hate the God that they worship. It’s hatred and persecution because of their faith. Now, like I said when we started, this truth alone can be disconcerting and in many ways depressing and concerning, but Jesus doesn’t end just by telling them that they will be hated and persecuted. Instead, he continues the conversation through the end of chapter 15 and into chapter 16 by promising something that will help them. Read with me John 15:26-16:4a.

The Holy Spirit’s Role in Perseverance (15:26-16:4a)

John 15:26–16:4a (ESV)

The first two verses of our remaining text is Jesus promising something to them and this promise actually does sort of meld into vs. 1 of chapter 16, but we’ll look at vs. 1 with the remaining verses. So, looking at vss. 26-27, we see something promised by Jesus from the Father.

That something is called the Helper. This is the same Greek word, παρακλητος that is utilized earlier in chapter 14 that describes the Holy Spirit.

I mentioned a few weeks ago when we worked through John 14, that often in our evangelical circles, we don’t speak a lot about the Holy Spirit, to the extent that a lot of times, Christians today aren’t really certain what the Holy Spirit does.

But the word παρακλητος tells us a lot about who the Holy Spirit is and what he does—the Spirit is our helper, or our advocate, or our intercessor. He cares for us and he works within us.

Vs. 26 tells us that the Spirit is sent from the Father, but from the very next phrase, “The Spirit of truth,” we get the distinct impression that the Spirit is from the Father because the Spirit is the Father. The concept that’s at play when calling the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth is simple, Jesus himself tells us that he is the one who speaks truth because he himself embodies truth. If this Spirit is the Spirit of truth, then this Spirit is also God.

The Spirit is our helper, our advocate, and our intercessor that cares for us and works within us and he is God himself.

And in John 15:26-27, he has a specific role in what the disciples are about to face, remember that the disciples are about to face hatred and persecution from the world and what Jesus promises them is that they will have a Helper that comes to them; and we know from John 14 and from the word παρακλητος that this Helper will advocate on their behalf and will intercede for them, but that’s not what Jesus chooses to focus on in vss. 26-27.

What Jesus focuses on is found in the last phrase of vs. 26 and all of vs. 27, “He [the Helper] will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

What Jesus focuses on as the role of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit will bear witness of him and so will his disciples.

To bear witness is a legal term and it carries the idea of “[showing] that something exists or is true (Merriam-Webster).”

It’s the concept that we utilize when we speak of witnesses during a trial in a courtroom, witnesses are to provide evidence for what they claim happened.

Jesus is saying that the Helper, the Holy Spirit that the Father is going to send to them will be a witness to the veracity of his claims while also helping them to do the same.

Or in other words, what Jesus is saying in John 15:18-27 is that the world and those of the world will genuinely hate them and will severely persecute them because of their belief in him—they will disdain them, they will hurt them, and they will even kill them because of their faith.

And what should the disciples do about this impending danger? What should they do knowing that they will face very real suffering and persecution?

They should rely on the Holy Spirit who is their helper, who is their advocate, who is their intercessor, and they are to bear witness or proclaim the Gospel truth through the power of the Spirit of truth.

Despite the fact that they will face persecution; despite the fact that they will be hated, they are to proclaim the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The last three and a half or four verses are actually at the start of the next chapter. And before you question why we’re continuing into the next chapter, let me remind you that the chapter numbers and the verse numbers aren’t inspired by God, they were added several hundred years after the books were written to essentially be an aid to those who were trying to study Scripture. In some cases (like this morning), you find that the pericope actually continues beyond the chapter numbers.

Jesus tells them that “[he has] said all these things to [them] to keep [them] from falling away.”

He’s warning them about the impending persecution and the hatred that they’re going to face because he doesn’t want them to essentially give up when the persecution and hatred starts.

He wants them to be forewarned and prepared that this is going to happen soon and it is going to be such severe persecution that vs. 2 says that they will be thrown out of the synagogues and they will be killed—and those that will kill them will think that they’re doing it as a service or an offering for God.

Hatred for Jesus’ disciples will drive those that persecute them to think that they’re doing it on behalf of God, but the reality is that if they genuinely believed in God, and knew God, they would have believed in Jesus and would know him.

Nevertheless, Jesus tells his disciples that they’re going to face these dangerous situations, but the Holy Spirit will provide help.

And he does this specifically to forewarn them and prevent them from falling away.

He tells them these things, so that in vs. 4, “when their hour comes, [they] may remember that [he] told them to [them].”

Or in other words, what Jesus has told them concerning the impending hatred and persecution and the coming of the Spirit to provide help and to help them proclaim the Gospel, he told them these things, to prevent them from falling away and so that when the persecution started happening, they would remember what he had said.

This is very similar, to the previous statements throughout John and statements coming in John that all these things were said and written for the belief of whomever reads it.

DA Carson, “The reason why Jesus is so explicit on these matters is so that when persecution does break out the disciples will not be taken by surprise and thus be tempted toward apostasy. Rather, they will remember what Jesus said, and their faith will be strengthened because they will be assured that what is happening to them is not outside either his knowledge or his control.”

There is one last point that I want to make concerning the text before we jump into application and it’s this—our typical response when faced with great persecution and hatred is to either fight or to run. It’s clear in Jesus’ statement to them in John 15:18-16:4a, that neither fighting nor running is what he wants them to do.

He doesn’t want them to necessarily argue and fight back with those that oppose them, though, don’t get me wrong, Paul tells Timothy to always have a defense for his beliefs.

He doesn’t want them to run from their opposers, though, don’t get me wrong, on occasion running is not only prudent, but wise.

He wants them to depend on the Holy Spirit as their defense, he wants them to depend on the Holy Spirit’s witnessing to make their own witnessing of Jesus effective.

Or in other words, as they face this tremendous persecution and hatred, Jesus tells them to boldly stand and proclaim the Gospel; preach the truth. People will hate them and they will persecute them (they might even die), but they are still to proclaim the Word of God through the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we know that even in our modern-day period there is still great hatred and perseverance concerning genuine belief in Jesus Christ, which is where our application is today. Let’s take the last few minutes to work through application:

Application

The World’s Hatred of God (18-25)—Jesus has just told the disciples that he’s about to leave them and instead of what we might do if we were about to leave someone that we had this sort of relationship with, Jesus doesn’t really offer only comfort and well wishes, he tells them the exact opposite. That he’s going to leave them and they’re going to face tremendous opposition for their faith—they will be hated.

And there’s a very simple reason for that hatred (according to Jesus), they’re going to hate them because they hate him and they hate him because they don’t actually know God.

The disciples don’t have to be concerned about the fact that the people surrounding them hates because they aren’t the reason for the hatred, their belief in Jesus is the reason for the hatred.

Now, I do want to make it abundantly clear that this hatred against the disciples is based completely on their belief in Jesus; and I think you know where I’m getting at with that.

There are self-proclaimed believers today that seem to think that if someone dislikes them, that it’s proof that they genuinely believe—or in other words, if they face any amount of dislike from anyone, they must be right. I’m sure you can think of people like this, they’re all over almost every church in the United States.

The problem is that in most of those situations, the reason why they’re so disliked is because they’re rude, mean, or disrespectful.

Or in other words, it’s because they’re being sinful and instead of realizing that people are disliking them because of their sinful attitude, they assume the dislike is a sort of badge of honor that proves that they’re such great Christians.

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

There’s a significant difference between being hated for your faith and being disliked because you’re a jerk; don’t get those mixed up.

And if you sit down and realize that you’re so disliked because you aren’t loving, joyful, peaceable, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled, that’s a perfect time to repent.

But the truth is, that there is very real genuine hatred towards those who do believe in Jesus (I briefly mentioned people like Bill Nye and Richard Dawkins who have been very vocal in their opposition of Jesus), which might cause you to ask why are they so hate-filled towards Christianity?

Jesus answers this in vs. 19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world . . . the world hates you.”

There is a fundamental worldview difference between a believer and an unbeliever—and those who genuinely believe in Jesus and have been on this process of sanctification (conformity into the Son) will reflect a fundamental worldview change from how they were before to how they are now.

The world hates Christianity because the world and Christianity don’t think the same way; and if your idea of Christianity does think just like the world, let me assure you, that isn’t true Christianity.

This difference means that there should be a great difference between a group of believers who gather for worship and a group of unbelievers who gather for happy hour.

This difference means that there should be a great difference between believing parents who are trying to raise their children and unbelieving parents who are trying to raise their children.

This difference means that there should be a great difference between the Christian who works somewhere and the non-Christian who works at the same workplace.

Because how they view the world is colored by whether they believe in God and Scripture or not—you can’t expect an unbeliever to think and act like a believer because the very system in which they see the world is different.

And Jesus says you should expect this because you as a believer aren’t of the world. Expect opposition to your faith because the world doesn’t view the world the same way that you do.

Now, concerning the very reality that there is genuine hatred towards those that do believe in Jesus, the question is, how should we respond?

Like the disciples, we too aren’t to run away and we aren’t necessarily supposed to fight in the sense that we might think, but we’re also supposed to bear witness to Jesus Christ when we face opposition. When people are pushing against us, our role is to proclaim Jesus and him crucified.

Now you might here that and think, but I’m not qualified to do that or I don’t know enough to proclaim Jesus.

Jesus uses anyone who is willing to do his work, including the work of bearing witness of him. We know this because in Matthew 28, he extends a call to all his disciples, including us, to go and make more disciples.

We know this, because Scripture is clear that as Christians we proclaim Christ and him crucified.

And we see it happening throughout Scripture, even with people who are abundantly less qualified than anyone in this room—God uses a donkey to speak to Balaam. Aaron led the Israelites into idolatry, but God still uses him after the fact. David murdered a man to cover up his sin with Bathsheba and God still uses him. Saul ravages the church, but God still calls him to proclaim Jesus and to write quite a bit of the New Testament.

If God can use all these people, surely, he can use you to proclaim Jesus.

Now you might be thinking, ok, you’ve convinced me, I’m supposed to proclaim Jesus and even though I don’t think I’m qualified, you’ve shown me I’m in good company, but how do I do this?

Peter says to always be prepared to give an answer for his belief in Jesus and there’s a key word that I want to point out, prepared.

To be prepared, you have to make an effort. It’s just like anything else in life—if you decide to be a nurse or a doctor, you can’t just show up at a hospital and say, “I’ve decided to be a nurse, I’ll start working in the ER today.” You have to be prepared.

The same is true of anyone that wants to do anything in life. So, you want to proclaim Jesus; how do you do it? You get prepared.

What does Peter mean in 1 Peter 3:15 when he says that they need to be ready to defend their faith? It means that if someone asks you a question, you have some sort of response to it.

That doesn’t mean you’re going to know ever single thing, but at least with the basics, you should have a response—what does it mean to believe in Jesus? How do I believe in Jesus? What does discipleship mean? What does it mean to seek Jesus?

These are just a few basic questions that I can think of that all Christians should be able to answer. Notice that when Peter says this in 1 Peter 3:15, he isn’t talking about pastors or apologists, he’s telling all Christians that they need to be able to defend their faith.

So, Christians, the real question here is do you know enough about your faith to be able to defend it and proclaim it? And if not, why not?

We live in a world in which we have information overload—there are thousands of books written about the basics of Christianity and there are thousands of videos that help explain the fundamentals of the faith. There are thousands of sermons available for free online that offer biblical teaching. Because of this, there’s really only two reasons as to why you would be ignorant of the basics of Christianity (1) you’re new to the faith or (2) you’ve never taken the time to learn.

So, let me help you with this by offering some suggestions for resources.

Of course, you always should start with Scripture. Scripture is the foundation for your belief in Jesus, so you really ought to know the Bible, but there are other resources that could be beneficial as well.

The Gospel Primer is a small booklet that offers a quick overview of Christian basics.

Mere Christianity offers a good argument or case for the veracity of Christianity.

When you work your way through the survey-type books and you want to go a little more in-depth, you can look at Moody’s Handbook of Theology, it’s thick, but it offers a great overview of Christianity and the core doctrines of Christianity written at the level of someone who has never studied theology in college or seminary.

If you want to stretch yourself, you can read Christian Theology by Millar Erickson, but I wouldn’t recommend starting there. And of course, if you want more resources, feel free to ask.

If you’re looking for something that’s free to use, email me and I can send you some ebooks and links to websites that might be beneficial.

If you would prefer listening or watching to solid teaching that will help develop your knowledge of the faith, let me suggest a few resources:

John MacArthur with Grace to You is a phenomenal resource out of LA. I agree with almost everything that he teaches. All of his sermons are online (as well as on the radio, I believe).

Tony Evans out of Dallas is a good resource—years ago, he did a series on Esther that was absolutely phenomenal, but of course, he has other sermons to listen to as well.

Timothy Keller out of NYC has a high emphasis on apologetics, though he has some beliefs that aren’t completely in line concerning creation.

And of course, there are much lesser known pastors that I could recommend as well—Jason Ormiston out of Minneapolis, Armen Thomassian and Mark Minnick both out of Greenville, SC. And hundreds of others.

It’s very easy to find solid resources to learn the Christian basics from, you just need to want to learn the basics.

So, the first application is this, understand that the world will hate you because you think differently than the world—understand this, be prepared for it, and be ready to defend your faith to those that hate you.

The Holy Spirit’s Role in Perseverance (15:26-16:4a)—in the last few verses, we read about the Holy Spirit that’s going to help the disciples bear witness about Jesus. The Holy Spirit does the same for us and the Spirit has done the same for several thousand years now.

Just like the disciples could rely on the Spirit to help them bear witness about Jesus, so can we and so should we.

The Holy Spirit is our helper, our advocate, our intercessor—he helps us to proclaim our faith and to defend our beliefs.

The question is really whether or not you actually rely on the Spirit to help you, to advocate for you, to intercede for you. The question is really whether you ask the Spirit for guidance in proclaiming and defending your faith and beliefs.

If the Spirit has the role of helping us proclaim our beliefs, than anytime we find ourselves in a situation in which we do need to proclaim or defend our beliefs, shouldn’t we pray and ask the Spirit to help?

In fact, we acknowledge that apart from the Spirit’s moving and the Spirit’s working, we can’t understand Scripture and we acknowledge that the only reason that we believe is because God loved us first, right?

What makes us think that we can proclaim the Gospel and defend the faith apart from the Spirit’s working within us and the Spirit’s moving within the person that we’re speaking to?

We need the Spirit to work within us in order for us to properly proclaim the Gospel and defend the faith; and we need the Spirit working within the person that we’re speaking to in order for them to respond to the Gospel and receive the truth.

So, how do we apply this last part? It’s actually simple, be fervent in prayer as you ask the Spirit to intercede and work within you and work within those that you speak to.

Constantly and consistently ask the Spirit to work within you and ask the Spirit to work within those that you speak to.

Rely on the Spirit’s power to help you defend your faith, but not only that, we’ve spoken at length this morning about hatred and persecution from those that don’t believe.

The Spirit will provide strength, comfort, and endurance as you deal with that hatred, that persecution, and that opposition. The Spirit will help you ask you seek to proclaim the Gospel and defend the truth in those situations.

Put simply, John 15:18-16:4 is blunt that there is genuine hatred and persecution to those that genuinely believe in Jesus. And what John 15:18-16:4 teaches us is (1) we should understand this and be prepared for that opposition, (2) we should be ready to defend our faith and proclaim the Gospel in the midst of opposition, and (3) we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to work within us and work within those that we speak to.

Prepare for opposition from those who oppose Jesus, but be ready to defend your faith and rely on the Holy Spirit.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

The Solid Rock