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      "Getting Along With the World"
      John 15:18-27
      Theme: In response to the world’s hostilities, the believer must persist in sharing the simple message of the Gospel.

        1. The World’s HOSTILITY is unsurprising – 15:18-21

          1. It Is Caused by Their Intolerance - vv. 18-19

            1. In tremendous contrast to the warmth and intimacy referred to in the previous verses that exists between Christ Jesus and His disciples, we are introduced to the fact that the world possesses tremendous antipathy for Jesus and His followers.
            2. The text states: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you."
            3. This is a first class (simple) condition that is assumed as true and can be translated … "since the world hates you."
            4. The term for hate comes from a word that indicates an unjustifiable feeling of maliciousness – something that is unwarranted.
            5. The "world" referred to here is the system of ungodliness that sets itself in opposition to God and His people.
            6. Jesus is informing us that because of the sustained and intense hostility that the world possesses toward Him, they are predisposed to hate those who follow Him.
            7. The world sets up a standard that demands conformity – "If you were of the world, the world would love its own…" – it is required that those acceptable to the world be pressed into its mold and walks according to the cadence of its ruler – cp. Romans 12:1; Ephesians 2:2
            8. Thus, if you are going to be acceptable to the world, you must align yourself to it – and if not, then "because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."
            9. Jesus is saying that because of His grace and love that has been poured out upon those with faith in Him – grace that has delivered them from the excesses of degeneracy – the world will not tolerate them.
            10. This is why the world – which holds toleration up as the consummate virtue – cannot be tolerant toward believers: faith in Christ delivers men from bondage to a sinful, godless world-view [Show Ashcroft interview].
            11. The world tends to see clearly what believers often struggle to comprehend – that loving God extracts a person from fitting in to the worlds priorities, passions, and practices – cp. 1 John 2:15-17
            12. Whereas believers are able to show compassion to the world because of its tremendous burden for the world to gain the blessing of reconciliation to God, the world demands a relapse into that from which we have been delivered and hates us because of our conformity to the despised Son of God.

          2. It Is Consistent with Their Instincts - vv. 20-21

            1. Jesus reminds us of what we should expect from the world: "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."
            2. What Jesus is saying is that their hostility toward Him was not a fluke or the result of a "bad day," but is the essential instinct of the godless – hatred toward the godly.
            3. He then diagnoses the problem – the reason for their hostility – they do not know the Father – "But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."
            4. They have not been reconciled to God and therefore remain at enmity to Him – fighting Him as they seek to exclude His authority in their lives – cp. James 4:4.

        2. The World’s Hostility is UNjustified – 15:22-25

          1. It Exists in the Face of Objective Principle - vv. 22-23

            1. Jesus describes this hostility of the world against God as completely inexcusable because of the plain revelation that came through Christ – "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin."
            2. The "sin" in view here is the sin of rejecting the gift of God through Jesus Christ His Son – His coming and clear teachings became the occasion for this great sin.
            3. Essentially he states that their rejection of Him is inexcusable because of the clarity of His teachings ought to have caused them to believe – Matthew 12:41-42
            4. Thus their rejection of Jesus Christ is despite the plain and simple truth of redemption through no one other than Jesus Christ – John 14:6.
            5. Instead of listening and rejoicing at the truth, the world raises a furor over what they consider an exclusionary spirit of arrogance that defies the conventional wisdom of multi-spiritualism.
            6. Jesus repeats the fundamental problem – it is not a failure to have access to the truth, but having heard the truth, they reject it because of their hostility toward God – "He who hates Me hates My Father also."

          2. The Exists in the Face of Obvious Proof – vv. 24-25

            1. Jesus further describes the rejection of Him by the world as inexcusable because not only did He teach them the truth, but He proved the veracity of His teachings by means of His works – "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well."
            2. Despite the fantastic miracles that are performed by Jesus Christ that serve to underscore who He is, the world rejects His as a fraud.
            3. This refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Lord compounds their guilt because He has shown them by the works He performs – cp. Matthew 11:21-22
            4. Because of the clarity of both His words and works, Jesus declares that their rejection of Him is baseless – outside of their own commitment to their sin – "But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause’."

        3. The World’s Hostility Must be Unreciprocated – 15:26-27

          1. The Passion of God’s Spirit - v. 26

            1. What is to be the response by the believer? Is it to reciprocate the hostility of the world?
            2. Are we to be posturing ourselves in exclusive ways to the unregenerate?
            3. Is it possible for a believer to truly love the sinner while denouncing the sin and calling for men to be reconciled to God?
            4. We find in Jesus next statement that it is the world – the self-same ones who flatly reject Him – that God desires to save: "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me."
            5. One of the primary purposes of God in giving the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to the world of Jesus and thereby draw men to Him in faith.
            6. Thus despite the rejection of the world, God’s heart is that they might be saved – John 3:17
            7. This is the passion of God.

          2. The Pursuit of God’s Servants – v. 27

            1. Therefore, believers – all of whom possess the Holy Spirit – must have as their great pursuit the winning of the lost.
            2. In fact, it is best to see Jesus’ statement as a command: "and you bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning."
            3. Thus, our great occupation and passion must be to see the lost won to Christ.
            4. This necessitates that we love the sinners – reaching out to them in the name of Christ.
            5. We cannot cut ourselves off from them as though they are unclean or leprous defilers.
            6. We must reach out to them, taking the faith-stirring Word of Christ to them with meekness and humility – appealing to them to be reconciled to God – 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

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