John 15:18-16:3: A Warning to the Disciples
Listen to the message
For the past three sermons, this series on the life and teaching of Jesus has been moving through the things Jesus told his disciples during his last night with them. Jesus knew he was about to be arrested and that his suffering would begin, so these were his last words: hugely important words! John 15:18 through 16:3 teach us that the world will hate the followers of Christ because they don’t belong to the world. Jesus doesn’t want us to be surprised by this. This sermon applies this remarkable warning to our lives as 21st century believers. How and why will the world hate us? Should we care? How should we handle it? Speaker: Pastor Tom Hendrikse.
John 15:18–27 (Listen)
The Hatred of the World
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,1 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.
Footnotes
[1] 15:22
(ESV)
John 16:1–3 (Listen)
16:1 “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.
(ESV)
