Why Are You Surprised?


Sermon by Gary Sinclair on February 21, 2021 John 15:18-16:4

Well this morning let me invite you to turn with me to the gospel of John, the gospel of John, as we read from chapter 15 and verse 18 through to chapter 16 and verse 4.

For those of you who have been at our evening services regularly over the last six or seven weeks, you’ll know that we have been looking at the final teaching of Jesus Christ to His disciples. It’s the longest recorded sermon in Scripture that we have from the lips of Jesus and it’s commonly referred to as the upper room discourse, from John 13 through to John 17. And this morning, as we’ve had to make some changes to the Mission Conference schedule, I think it’s rather providential that we come to this particular passage that we’re going to be reading this morning. This, the weekend of and of course the commencement into the rest of our Mission Conference for 2021. It’s entitled, the theme is, “The Gospel Unhindered,” and it’s meant to be a reminder to us irrespective of what happens in the course of human time, the Gospel goes forth. That’s the promise of God to the nations. And yet He uses the Church as the means to reach the nations and to reach every tribe and tongue so that they may hear of the good news in Jesus Christ.

One of the delights of our Mission Conference every year is we are reminded of our great God and how He is gathering a people to Himself, how He is uniting a people to His Son, Jesus Christ. At the same time, it’s not just about being united to Jesus. It’s also about the union that He brings amongst the community of the saints. And in some sense, when you look at the world and the Church that is in the world, the militant Church, it’s meant to be a little bit of a foretaste, a reflection of what the glories of heaven are going to be like where people from every language and culture and nation and pigment color are going to be gathered around the throne, worshiping the Lamb.

But – and we need to be mindful of this – as the Church grows, and as the message of Jesus Christ continues to pierce the darkness, there is a reaction, there is a response, spiritual war that is ongoing manifests itself physically as people respond to truth. And as a result, many Christians the world over face the animosity and the hatred that Jesus speaks of in these verses that we will read in just a short while.

Open Doors, the organization that compiles and releases the World Watch List – if you have not picked this up, I know it’s been mentioned on a couple of occasions, it’s really worthwhile and I would encourage you to pick this up to understand what it’s like to live as a Christian in fifty of the most persecuted countries in the world. It also gives you insight as to how to be praying for those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ. But Open Doors, this organization, estimate from their website that a staggering 350 million Christians face high to extreme levels of persecution annually – 350 million Christians. And when they speak of high to extreme levels of persecution, they’re incorporating torture, displacement, enslavement, imprisonment, and even death, all because of their association with the name of Christ.

Now bringing it a little bit closer to home, because in the West, the shape of hatred is not the kind of overt animosity. And yet we mustn’t minimize the intent and the impact of the most subtle forms of hatred that pervade our own society. If you land on what is deemed to be “the wrong side of history,” on issues like abortion or intersectionality, or SJW, or CRT, or LGBTQ, or even to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, the exclusivity of the Christian message, you can very easily find yourself being cancelled. In other words, economically ostracized or just simply silenced. And some of you that may be watching this, may have already borne the scars of that or you know of someone that has borne the scars for that, all because of your allegiance to Christ. Again, Open Doors, they report on their website that with advances in digital technology and surveillance, what they are noticing is that there is a definite increase in the subtle and the deceptive displays of hatred against Christians the world over. Now at the end of the day, the type of hatred and of course the degree of hatred that is expressed from the world, both of them fall within the ambit of what Jesus is teaching His disciples with regards to the way the world will respond to His own, towards His own.

Now just before we read the text, I think it’s important that we don’t forget that none of the world’s hatred, not even the gates of hell themself, can hinder the growth of the Church through the life-giving, explosive power of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. It truly is unhindered. And God calls us, He commissions us, He commands us to join Him in taking that message to the earth and to see the glory and the mystery and the wonder of what He does in the human heart as He transforms them from spiritual darkness to that of spiritual life and light in Christ. And don’t be too surprised when there’s oppositional hatred. It’s bound to come. And so before we read God’s Word, let’s bow our heads in a moment of prayer. Let’s pray.

Our gracious Father, we thank You so much for the wonder of the truth of the Word. And we pray that even now by Your Spirit You would take us, show us Jesus Christ, and take it and imprint it upon our hearts in such a way that it gives comfort and strength, boldness and courage, especially with regards to the topic that Jesus is addressing with His disciples here. And we pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

We read God’s Word from John chapter 15 from verse 18. Jesus says:

“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 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. 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. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 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. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 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. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

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. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 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. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

One preacher, commenting on the upper room discourse, says this. He says, “Imagine being seated with Jesus in the upper room. You have no idea about what is to transpire in the next 24 hours, and yet Jesus’ teaching has you on the edge of your seat. He has you on an incredible, emotional rollercoaster ride.” And he goes to unpack what he was meaning, and some of that is that there, initially, there’s embarrassment. There’s embarrassment back in John 13 as Jesus is the one who takes up the basin and the towel to stoop down to wash the disciples’ feet. And then there’s surprise as they gather around the table, all seated, ready to enjoy the meal, and the first conversation that is uttered from the lips of Jesus Christ is that, “One of you is going to betray Me and one of you is going to deny Me.”

And then in the midst of these emotions, Jesus begins a sequence of teaching that is designed to comfort them. It’s the tender words of love being expressed from Jesus towards those whom He loves. Some of those words, you will remember – “Do not let your heart be troubled. I will give you another Helper,” referencing the Holy Spirit. “I will not leave you as orphans.” And, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in Me and I in you.” Can you imagine how their hearts must have swelled with delight, a renewed hope in what they were hearing from the lips of Jesus Christ?

And then to top it all off He tells us that by abiding in Jesus Christ there will be fruit that comes forth. That’s part of the promise of God – that as you abide and as you deepen your abiding in Jesus Christ, the Vine, so the fruit will become all the more beautiful and bountiful. And that that fruit will be expressed as a supernatural love that exists within the communion of the saints. Look at verse 17 of chapter 15. “These things I command you,” Jesus says. What is He commanding them? Love God, love each other, abide in Jesus, know that the fruit will come forth – why? So that you will love one another. You see, as a Christian community, as we truly expression the compassion and mercy and the grace of God, where we care for one another, where we deeply love each other, allowing the fruit of the Spirit to be expressed to one another, where we really are a reflection of God Himself in some sense here on earth – when these things take place, this shared love is a testimony, it’s a witness to the world to the change that Jesus Christ has brought. And friends, when believers truly live this way and express this love towards one another, their witness is exponential. It’s no longer that there’s a flickering candle over here and a flickering candle over there. But when this witness comes together as they express this love, it’s not just 100 or 1,000 candles coming together. No, there’s an exponential testimony of the grace of God that becomes like a searchlight. And that searchlight, it exposes all, and it does not allow the darkness to hide. It exposes it.

Now with that image in mind, how do you think the world will respond, the world that loves its darkness and loves its sin and its depravity? How do you think the world is going to respond? And hence that brings us back to the title of this morning’s sermon. That is, why are we surprised when the world responds to the message of truth and they respond in the way that is consistent with their nature? Now remember, just before we get into the essence of the text, when John uses the phrase “world” – both his gospel and his letters – he’s not referencing the sphere upon which we find ourselves living. But as D.A. Carson defines it, he says when John uses the phrase, “world,” it is a reference to “the created moral order that is in active rebellion against God.” The created moral order that is in active rebellion against God. In other words, it’s the ideologies, it’s the expectations and the practices and the system of thinking to which the unbeliever subscribes. They know no other way. And that’s very important to bear in mind as we come to a couple of the points that we’ll draw out in just a short while.

But here, as you look at verse 18 of the passage, having deepened their faith and given them a reminder of the hope and assurance that they are His disciples, comforting them, the question that immediately arises is, “Why does Jesus press home the inevitability of persecution and hatred towards the faithful believer, especially in these, His final words? Why doesn’t He just do as the majority of the evangelical church has done in the 20th and 21st century and speak about the goodness of God and the kindness of God and the love of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God and the blessings of God and the blessings of God and the blessings of God?”

And all of those are true, of course, but why does Jesus see the need to drive this point home? Look at the text – chapter 16 verse 1. Jesus gives us the answer. He says, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.” Again, it’s a continuation of the comfort, the tenderness, the love that He has for His disciples. He wants them to be prepared. Verse 4 of chapter 16, He continues and He says, so that “when these things come” – not, “if these things happen,” but “when these things come, you will remember that I told them to you. You will remember My word.” See, Jesus understands very well that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, so to speak, and He wants them and He wants us to know that when hatred’s destructive intent comes against us, try not to be caught off guard. Don’t allow it to bring doubt to your faith. And certainly, try not to be surprised by the world’s response. But rather, remember the Word of God. Remember the words of Jesus and let that bring comfort to your heart and drive you back to the arms of your heavenly Father.

So there are two points, two questions that I want us to consider very briefly this morning. The first one is, “What is the reason for the opposition? What is the reason for the opposition?” and “What is the response to be from us towards the world’s hatred?”

What is the Reason for the Opposition?

Firstly, let’s consider, “What is the reason for this opposition?” We see this in verses 18 through 24. Notice immediately that in these verses Jesus uses the word, “hate,” eight times, and He uses the word, “persecute,” twice. He wants them to know what they can expect. In the midst of the discussions about comfort and His love and how God has Him and how they are to abide in the Vine, He wants them not to miss that there’s also going to be a response to that which God is calling them to do. At the same time, He also wants them to be very mindful of the great divide that exists. Look at verse 17 again – “so that you will love one another.” There’s a supernatural love that exists within the communion of the saints. And yet when you come to verse 18, there’s the complete antithesis. There’s the malevolence that is expressed from the world. It really is Genesis 3 playing out – the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, namely Jesus Christ.

You see, if we get down to the real essence of the reason for the opposition, it’s Jesus Christ. He is the problem in this world. It’s His Word, it’s His life, it’s His works that are the stumbling block. And you see, it’s this opposition and it’s this hatred that in turn extends to everyone who is in union with Jesus Christ. And it’s for two reasons. Two reasons. It concerns your identity that there’s opposition and it concerns their guilt. Your identity and their guilt.

Two Reasons for Opposition: Your Identity

Let’s consider that first one – your identity. Look at verse 19 of the passage. Jesus says, “You are not of the world.” “You are no longer identified with the world,” Jesus is saying. Just a few words earlier, He says, “The world loves,” but notice how He finishes that statement, He says, “The world loves its own.” If you’ve lived here on planet Earth for any period of time you’ll know that the world’s love is very fickle and it is highly conditional. So long as your words and your lifestyle comply with the narrative that is proposed by the world and its system of thinking, then you will receive the Facebook “like.” And bear in mind that the parameters of that narrative that is acceptable by the Word is continuously shifting and its moving, so you need to keep up to date with that. But all it takes is for you to say one thing or to do one thing that is out of accord with that narrative and you can become persona non grata almost overnight. And so, “The world loves its own,” Jesus says.

But notice what He says after that. He says, “But I chose you out of the world, and the world hates you.” You know, one of the most precious and glorious doctrines to believers as we grow in our maturity and understanding of the Scriptures is the doctrine of election and predestination. God’s sovereignty in our salvation. His choosing us. His setting His love upon us from before the foundation of the world. It’s glorious because it is a doctrine that is designed to humble humanity, to bring us to our knees and to realize that from start, all the way through to the finish, it is all of God’s grace. It’s His mercy. I have nothing to bring, and simply my life is to be an offering to Him and to do that which is going to be pleasing in His sight. And yet to the world, to the world, the doctrine of election, God’s sovereignty in salvation, is one of the most abhorrent teachings that they can possibly imagine because it flies in the face of human pride and they do not want that. That’s why our salvation, our coming to faith in Christ, is a supernatural work of the Spirit. It really is bringing someone who is dead, who is belonging to the system of thinking of this world, and bringing us to life so that we understand the way of Jesus.

But one of the beautiful things about the way that Jesus mentions this statement – “The world loves its own but I chose you out of the world and the world hates you” – it’s also designed to remind His disciples that, “You are not of this world. You are not meant to make this your home.” You’ve heard this many times from this pulpit, but our home is being prepared for us by the King. You remember Jesus’ statement in John 14. He says, “I am going, and I go to prepare a place for you. But I will come again and I will take you to be where I am.” Don’t live as if this is your final destination because you see, so long as we live in a manner that correlates with our eternal home, the people of this world will find us to be objects of discomfort and dis-ease. They will not find it easy necessarily to be in our presence, because our thinking, our responses, our actions, our statements, our words, they reflect the One that we love, and it doesn’t fall within the ambit, within the parameters of the way that the world dictates things should be said and done.

But it’s not simply that you’re no longer identified with the world, but in actual fact – and this brings us closer to the crux of the issue – you are identified with Christ. Verse 20 of our passage says, “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,” – and of course they didn’t keep the word – “they will also keep yours.” In other words, they’re probably not going to listen to you either. Now that phrase, “Remember,” which is a quotation, “A slave is not greater than his master,” Jesus originally stated that back in John 13. The context there was, He took the basin and the towel, stooped down to wash the disciples’ feet. And what He was teaching them was that He was calling them to humble servanthood, to humble servants; to lay aside themselves and be an expression of the love and the grace of God towards others. But picking up here and quoting it here in John 15, what Jesus is also saying to His disciples is, “As I call you to humble servanthood. Understand that as you live that out you’re going to be reviled. There’s going to be people who think that that is just completely and utterly weird, because again, it’s antithetical to the world’s system.”

Brothers and Sisters, we need to remember that as we seek to honor the Lord and as we seek to reflect the character of our Savior, we need to be mindful of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, that in every circumstance of life, in every conversation and situation that we find ourselves in, we are either a fragrance of death or we are a fragrance of life. There’s no middle ground – because of our identity with Jesus Christ. Now let me just add a very brief qualification here because if people are getting angry or upset with you because you are simply being obnoxious or belligerent or offensive, then do not assume and do not play the card whereby you are being persecuted. I think Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ comment is worthwhile being reminded of. He says, “We cannot help it if the truth offends people, but we must make sure it is the truth that is offending them and not us.” We are called to be the aroma of Christ – compassion and grace and mercy. Yes, we are to confront and we are to question presuppositions in the hope that the idols that people are subscribing to, that that is exposed. But we must never compromise, but always speak the truth in love.

Two Reasons for Opposition: Their Guilt

Now that brings us to the second component of the reason for the opposition. The first one is your identity. The second one is their guilt. Their guilt. We see that in verse 21 of the passage. Reading, “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” There’s a big difference between knowing about God and truly, intimately knowing Him. Every human being is made in the image of God and has eternity set in their hearts, but the problem from the fall and as a result of sin, is that people live to quieten their consciences, to quieten the eternity in their heart so to speak. And so when Jesus arrives on the scene, declaring that He is the enfleshed revelation of God, the world responds by rejecting Him. And it rejects Him on two premises. In verse 22, it rejects His Word. And in verse 24, it rejects His work.

Now please understand, as you go and reread those verses, 22 through 25, at the end of this morning’s worship time, please understand that Jesus is not saying that men and women only sin because He has come into the world. No, that’s not what He’s saying at all. By nature we are sinners and we are under the judgment of God. What Jesus is declaring in these verses is that, “Since I am the clearest and I am the final revelation of God, where the Old Testament and the types and the shadows and the Messianic prophecies all spoke about Me, that the religious leaders and the Pharisees who should have known better, who should have had a relationship with God, who should have been seeking the true and living God, they should have been able to identify when Jesus arrived on the scene to say, ‘I am the Son of God, the enfleshed revelation.’” And so to reject Jesus is ultimately to give your final answer to God and it is to declare that you really didn’t know God to begin with – the One who sent Jesus.

And so at some point, because of their guilt, because of them not knowing the One who sent Jesus, their guilt causes them to snap. And we see in verse 25, which is a quote from Psalm 69, where he says, “They hated me without a cause.” There was no reason, there was no evidence; in fact, He was declared not to be guilty, not to have any guilt as He stood before at the trial. And yet the Pharisees believed they were justified. In fact, they almost thought they were doing God a favor by having Him betrayed and handed over and mocked and spat upon and whipped and ultimately nailed to the tree. There was no cause, and yet their guilt bubbled up from beneath the veneer of their religion in their final rejection of God.

And friends, it’s that hatred – both from the world and perhaps even from religious people – it’s that kind of hatred that in turn is often expressed to those in Christ, especially to those who are on the foreign field and who are working in situations where there’s overt animosity towards the Gospel. A.W. Pink said this. He said, “The more Christ-like we are, the more shall we be antagonized and shunned.” Are we desiring to reflect Jesus Christ more and more? That’s what we should be desiring. We should be aiming for that, striving for that, but then we also need to be aware that there may be a response and a reaction from those who we interact with. And so the reason for the opposition is both your identity and their guilt, their guilt that is exposed by the truth that is embodied in yourself by the Spirit and of course by the Word.

What Should Our Response Be to the World’s Hatred?

And that brings us to the second point to consider very, very briefly. “What should our response be to the world’s hatred? What should our response be to the world’s hatred?” And the Lord gives us two central means in verses 25 through 27. He says that it really revolves around Scripture and that of the Holy Spirit. Friends, have you ever, when you are reading the Gospels and you come to the passion narratives, have you ever wondered how Jesus was able to remain so completely and utterly calm in the midst of the anguish of His impending crucifixion as literally the hatred of hell was about to be unleashed? How was He able to remain dependent upon His Father? “Not My will, but Yours,” He says in the Garden of Gethsemane? Well I think verse 25 gives us a little bit of an insight once again where in verse 25 Jesus says, “Their law must be fulfilled. They hated Me without a cause.” Jesus, from a young age, had had the Scriptures read to Him. He had taken time to read the scrolls, to study them, to memorize. He had hidden the Word of God deep within His own heart. And so Psalm 69, as this situation of life is about to unfold, He’s reminded that these things must be fulfilled. This is part of the ordained order. It’s the plan of God.

Mysteriously, one of the things that the Word does when it is hidden deep within us, and it affirms our identity in Christ, is one of the things that the Word does is it absorbs and it cushions the blows that are intended to hurt and it allows us to be able to rest in our Father’s care. And so it is also with the children of the King. Brothers and sisters, when you are reviled and opposed, when you are persecuted and hated, are we reading, are we memorizing, are we studying, are we hiding the Word of God in our hearts in preparation for the day of trouble so that the Word will cushion the sting and in turn will also equip us to be able to speak the truth in love, to let His Word and to let His work be made known, to be His witness?

You think of Acts 7, Stephen, where rocks are being hurled at him and he’s praying to his Father asking Him to be merciful towards his own killers. I am reminded of five years ago, here at our Mission Conference where some of our East Asian partners said, “Please don’t pray that the Lord would lift the persecution from our country, but pray that the Lord would give us boldness and courage to be able to be a more clear witness in the midst of the darkness.” But here’s the thing, you cannot do it alone. We need the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus says in verse 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 and you also will bear witness because you have been with Me from the beginning.” You see, friends, it’s the Holy Spirit that is the one who testifies to Jesus Christ. As we hide the Word within us, He uses the opportunities in our conversations to use the Word to then pierce hearts and of course to comfort and to strengthen fellow believers. It’s He who emboldens us to be able to communicate the truth in love in order that Jesus is magnified to the praise of His glorious grace.

Isn’t that the testimony throughout Scripture? As Jesus’ words and miracles impact people, they go out to testify about Him. They can do no other. You think about the Samaritan woman at the well. She goes back to the village and all she wants to do is tell them about Jesus Christ. You think about the blind man who sees. “I do not know what happened. All I know is, I once was blind, but now I see!” He’s bearing testimony to Jesus Christ. You think of Peter and John in Acts 4 where they have been imprisoned and they will be released from prison on the basis that they remain silent regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they say, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Believer, this is your calling. Hide the Word deep in your heart and pray that God, by His Spirit, would give opportunity to speak the truth in love. And at the same time, be praying for our brothers and sisters on the field, that they too would hide the Word deep in their heart to cushion the blow and to use it as a sword in the hands of almighty God.

And so go, go with the Word and go with the Spirit and bear witness to your Lord and to your King, the Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You once again for Your Word. We thank You for the truth and the change that it’s brought to our lives. And Lord, we pray that You would equip us; equip us in such a way that we may be instruments in the hands of our great God and our King. And we pray this this morning in Jesus’ name, amen.

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