TEXT: John 15:18-23
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
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Today, I am continuing the daily Just Jesus Evangelistic Campaign sermon series, which is aimed at sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with unbelievers and reminding Christians, in this important election year, to keep the main thing the main thing — and that is reaching unbelievers with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and praying for their salvation, for the problem in America is not only disobedient presidents, politicians, and people, but disobedient pastors, preachers, and parishioners who have refused to obey the Lord’s Great Commission which is to, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” and who have refused to obey God’s repeated commands to “pray without ceasing” for unbelievers, believers, and political leaders. Yes, you should pray for the right candidate to win; yes, you should vote for the candidate that the Lord gives you peace about voting for. But, don’t get caught up in it like the world does. Nothing much is going to change until people get saved and get their hearts right with the Lord.
This campaign is inspired by the following three verses: 1 Corinthians 2:2 which says, “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Acts 5:42 which says, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” And 2 Timothy 2:4 which says, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
This series is not for Christians necessarily. However, I do hope you are one of those saints who still loves to hear the “Old, old story of Jesus and His love” — As another hymn says, “For those who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.” This series is primarily for unbelievers, so they can hear and understand the Gospel and be saved from sin and the punishment of sin which is hell. This is message number 251.
John MacArthur said, “If the truth offends, then let it offend. People have been living their whole lives in offense to God; let them be offended for a while.”
Why would Jesus’ disciples be hated by the world? We saw yesterday that one of the reasons why is that the world does not know the Heavenly Father. The world has its own ideas about who God is. However when the real God is presented to them through the person of Jesus Christ, He challenges their lifestyle, He upends the status quo and they do not like this. They fight back against this God-invasion and God’s soldiers take the heat.
But there is another reason why the world hates the disciples of Christ that is revealed to us in verse 21. Jesus says, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.” Basically, Jesus is saying, ‘When I came I revealed their sinfulness — the sinfulness that they had grown accustomed to, the sinfulness that they had become comfortable with, the sinfulness that they had come to love. I was the light shining in the darkness of their hearts, exposing them for what they truly are. For this, they hated Me, and if you let your light, my light shine in the world, they will hate you too.’
The Jewish religious establishment was supremely dedicated to the rigorous keeping of the Law. They had gone above and beyond the laws that God had given to Moses, adding in the interpretations, opinions, and customs of rabbis, and saying people had to obey those too. They were very religious. They thought they were righteous. But, when Jesus came, He exposed the religious leaders as whitewashed graves, blind guides leading the blind. It is not that they were not sinners before Jesus came, it is just that they were blind to their own sinfulness.
When one is found to be in error, the appropriate response is to correct one’s behavior. But that is not what most of the Jews did. Instead they became more entrenched in their ways and turned their hatred on Jesus Christ. Like cockroaches, they hated the fact that the light had been turned on in their lives. They wanted to scurry back into the darkness where they had grown comfortable. Instead of adopting a new lifestyle, they cursed the sun.
Jesus had pulled back the pristine, religious curtain exposing the writhing, maggot-infested mass of skeletons and death behind it. Now, “they had no cloak for their sin.”
In C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, all of the planets in our solar system are described as being in a great heavenly dance — all of the planets except Earth. Each planet is ruled by powerful, angelic beings who are loyal to the Creator. Earth lost its place in the heavenly dance when its ruler rebelled against the Creator and became what Lewis describes as “bent” or “crooked.” In fact, our whole planet is bent, but we do not know it. Only when one of the rulers from another planet enters our world and makes its presence known does it becomes clear that there is something wrong, twisted, crooked, or bent with our world. One character who is confronted with this realization says, “Here at last was a bit of that world from beyond the world, which I had always supposed that I loved and desired, breaking through and appearing to my senses: and I didn’t like it, I wanted it to go away. I wanted every possible distance, gulf, curtain, blanket, and barrier to be placed between it and me.”
When the Jews of Jesus’ day were confronted with the long-awaited Messiah, they saw how wrong they were. They had no more excuses for remaining in the darkness of sin and false religion. But, instead of changing their lifestyle, they hated Jesus and wanted Him to go away. They did not like being exposed. When Jesus’ disciples continued preaching the Gospel about the Light of the World who exposed the darkness of men’s hearts, they experienced this hatred as well.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are being confronted with Him even now. His perfection, His holiness, His divinity exposes all that is sinful and imperfect about each of us. We can either recoil from the light and try to scurry back into the darkness. Or we can invite the Light of the world to take up residence in our souls.
We can say with Horatius Bonar:
O Light of light, shine in!
Cast out this night of sin,
Create true day within:
O Light of light, shine in!
O Joy of joys, come in!
End Thou this grief of sin,
Create calm peace within:
O Joy of joys, come in!
O Light, all light excelling,
Make my heart Thy dwelling;
O Joy, all grief dispelling,
To my poor heart come in!
Dear sinner, what will you do with Christ? Will you block Him out or let His light shine in? Here is how you can receive Him as your Lord and Savior today.
First, please understand that you are a sinner and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Please understand that because of your sins, you deserve punishment in hell. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death…” This is both physical death and spiritual death in hell.
But here is the good news. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The phrase “For God so loved the world” means that if you are in this world, God loves you no matter what you have done.
The next phrase, “that He gave His only begotten Son” refers to Jesus Christ. He is God’s son who suffered, bled, and died on the cross for your sins and for mine, and He was buried and rose again.
Our next phrase is “that whosoever believeth in Him”. The word “whosoever” means anybody at anytime. The phrase “believeth in Him” means to trust in Him, to depend upon Him, to rely on Him, or to have faith in Him for your salvation.
Our next phrase, “should not perish”, refers to eternal punishment in a place called hell.
And, lastly, the phrase “but have everlasting life” means to live eternally in Heaven with God.
The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.
If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
If you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior today, please e-mail me at dw3@gospellightsociety.com and let us know. There is some free material that we want to send you. If you have a prayer request, please e-mail that to us as well, and we will pray for you until you tell us to stop.
God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 