Why the World Should Hate You
John 15:18-27
Do you know what it is like to be hated? Do you know what it is like to be hated for your faith in Christ? There is a man who has been in jail for 2 years. He is a Christian pastor in the country of Iran. He was saved at 19 years of age and at the age of 32 when he was arrested he had the fastest growing house church network in Iran. There are upwards of 400 people in his congregation. He was originally arrested after complaining that the schools forced his children to read the Koran. They have held him in prison for two year since then.
The death sentence is hanging over his head for the crime of leaving converting to Christianity. Muslims who convert to another religion are called mortad, which means one who leaves Islam. But converts who evangelize Muslims are called mortad harbi, which means one who wages war against Islam by attempting to convert others. Shariah Law requires that such a man be given 3 chances to renounce his religion and turn back to Islam. Pastor Youceff Nadarkhani has not renounced his faith in Christ. It is said that the police have brought him a book titled “Message of the Two Eras” referring to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. This book says Christianity is a fabrication and that Islam is the supreme religion. They want to convince Pastor Youceff to turn from Christ back to Islam. As he waits for the Ayatollah to determine his fate, or, the lower court, whoever it turns out to be, pastor Youceff most likely will die for his faith. Either by a death sentence ordered from the courts, or, if international pressure succeeds and they set him free, then he very likely will die the old fashioned way: disappearing at night without a trace and never heard from again. The world around this man hates him because of his faith. The world that surrounds him has become his enemy.
Every Christian needs to understand that when they came to Christ they became an enemy to the world. Your conversion was a betrayal of the world. You were once of the world, but, not anymore. You are now considered an enemy, a traitor, a vile stench in the nostrils of this world. You have turned on everything that it stands for: it’s code, it’s values, it’s systems, it’s ways, it’s purposes, and it’s affections. You have walked away never to be faithful again to your old master. Instead, you have divorced yourself that you may serve a new Master. Your allegiance, your faithfulness, your loyalty, your affections are all to Him now. Your identity is in Him now. You were once His enemy, but, He has made peace with you and called you out from the world to Himself. Your enemy has become your Savior, and the world, once your friend, has become the new enemy of your soul.
Chapter 15 can be divided into 3 sections. The first is verses 1-11 and it deals with the Christian’s relationship with Christ. The second section is verses 12-17 and there it emphasizes the Christian’s relationship with other Christians. And the last section is verses 18-27 we see the focus is on the Christian’s relationship with the world.
Now in the first 17 verses the word “love” appears 9 times. “Remain in my love” and that great command, “Love one another”. Love rules in our relationship with Christ, and, with each other. But, when we get to the last section, dealing with our relationship with the world, the word “love” is not found. Instead, we see a new word, “hate”. It appears 7 times. Hate is the opposite of love. Hate is the ruling principle in the heart of the world and it drives the world’s attitude towards Christ and Christians.
This is important to realize. Jesus was not taking His disciple’s out of the world. They would stay in the world after He was gone. They were going to stay in a world that murdered Him and will murder anyone who is identified with Him. The world’s hatred would constantly be upon them. That is why Jesus stressed His new command to them again and again, “Love one another”. The love between Christians is to be in stark contrast to the hatred they were going to endure from the world.
In the book of Exodus chapter 10, it describes the plagues that God brought on the nation of Egypt as He was delivering Israel out of slavery from that nation. One plague was the plague of darkness. It was dark for 3 days in Egypt. It says that it was a darkness that could be felt. But in that passage it said that while no one could see anything or leave their home for 3 days because of the darkness, “yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” Though there was total blackness that the people could even somehow feel on themselves, the darkness did not touch the communities where the Israelites lived. There, where the people of God were, there was light.
In the same way, while in this dark hate-filled world, His disciples were to be a community where the light of His love would shine among them.
But that light and that love is not for the purpose of attracting the world. Instead it is meant for the benefit of the disciples to encourage them and unite them in the mission ahead. But even more than that, their love was actually the love of Christ that lived in them and between them. Their love for each other was a sign to the world that they had been loved by the Son and the Father. It was not going to win the world, it was actually going to enhance the world’s hatred for them.
So in our passage this morning, we might title our sermon, “Why the world should hate you”.
Your Savior (v18)
The world should hate you because of your Savior. In verse 18 Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” And then in verse 20 He says, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
What is meant in the Bible when it says ‘world’? What does ‘world’ mean? It is used in a variety of ways. First, it can refer to the created world. Second, it can refer to all of humanity. And third, it can refer to all of society that is apart from God and rejects God. We might say they are the world of God-rejecters.
We use the phrase world in similar ways. For instance, we turn to ESPN to learn about what’s going on in the world of sports. The world of sports isn’t another country or planet, but, it refers to everything that has to do with sports. It is anything that is a part of sports. World refers to whatever is organized around sports.
The world in this passage is all of society that is apart from God and hatefully rejects God.
When I am hated by this “world”, I need to remember that Jesus was hated first by this same world. If they world hates the Master, it will most certainly hate the servant. If it hates the Father, it will hate the children.
But why did the world hate Jesus Christ? He answered this question to His brothers in John 7:7 when He said that “the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.”
Listen, when you stand with Christ you are standing against the world. Your standing with Christ is you standing separate from the world, and by doing so your separation is a sign to the world of the judgment of God that is going to come upon it for all of its evil that you are no longer a part of. You have been separated out from the wickedness of the world and you have been removed from judgment. Therefore remove yourself from the things of the world that God is going to judge. Paul said this in Philippians when the world was persecuting the Christians there. In 1:28 he said, “Don’t be frightened by those who oppose you in any way. Then this will be a sign to them that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved – and that by God.”
We can almost take this as a command: Be hated by the world. This isn’t because we want to be hated for the sake of being hated. This is us as the Church intending that we will not conform to the corruption of the world no matter what the world says about us. First Peter 4 says, “A Christian man does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but for the will of God. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.”
But, when I am hated by the world, why does Jesus want me to know that He was hated first? What does it do for me when the world hates me to know that it hated Him first? When I stop and think about this, I find that Christ is encouraging me with the special companionship He has with me when I suffer like Him. When we are hated by the world because of Christ we are in special company with Christ. The world has identified us with Christ, and not as one of its own, and so it hates us just as it hates Christ. First Peter 4 says, “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer as a Christian do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
Peter is telling you to rejoice when you suffer for Christ. Christ’s name brings shame in the world now, but, in the future it will bring glory. And the degree to which you suffered shame for Christ you will rejoice in Christ’s glory. Don’t think it’s something strange that the world would abuse you for being a Christian. You are not on the wrong path if the world hates you. You are sharing in a very special fellowship with the Son of God who came and suffered before you.
Paul said in Philippians 3:20, “I want to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings”. The thing that strikes us about this is not that Paul would suffer and accepted it, but, that he wanted it. He wanted it because he knew he could not fully know Christ unless he endured the same things Christ did. He knew that his understanding of Christ would be lacking so long as he did not share those experiences of sufferings that His Savior did. Paul was hated, slandered, attacked, persecuted, misunderstood, and rejected by the religious world he came out of.
As Christians, we need to always remember that we are Better off by far being in the love of Christ than being in the love of the world. Some Christians don’t realize this. You can’t be in both. There are a lot of Christians who are trying to have a foot in Christ and the other in the world. They harbor affections for worldly things still. They don’t realize that this is making them an enemy of God. James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” And 1 John 2:15 says that “if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” If you give this Christ-hating world a lot of reasons to love you, then perhaps you need to examine yourself to see if you’re really in Christ, or, if you’re still in the world.
You’re not the Same (v19)
Secondly, the world should hate you because you are not the same as it anymore. In verse 19 Jesus says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world.” You are not of the world. You do not belong to it. You don’t belong to the world anymore than Christ belongs to the world. “They are not of the world anymore than I am of the world” Jesus prayed in 17:14. Think about that. It is our hearts reproducing what is in His heart. Our minds are to become twins to His own mind so that the wants, the desires, the longings, the affections, the purposes within us are the same as those that are within Himself.
First John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” That is the compass for our affections. Our love for Christ directs us away from love for the world and the things of the world. The next verse goes on to say, “For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” This verse shows us what it means to be of the world and to belong to the world. Living for worldly desires means you are of the world. Worldly desires are not God-produced desires.
Worldly desires wage war against your soul to corrupt you. Second Peter 1:4 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” James 1:27 says, “keep yourselves from being polluted by the world”.
The Bible does not say we will not have sinful desires. It makes it very clear that we will and it makes it very clear that we are to not gratify those desires. You may feel like losing your temper, looking at a woman, looking at things on the internet, cheating someone, lying, believing in superstitions, and so on. You will have these desires within you but you are to clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, put off the flesh, and don’t think about how to gratify the desires that come from the sinful nature within you.
Which leads us into verse 19. The Christian should not be mixed with the world. Jesus says in John 15:19, “you do not belong to the world, but, I have chosen you out of the world.” Jesus says that He has chosen His disciples and they’ve heard Him say this before. In verse 16 He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” In chapter 13:18 He said, “I know those I have chosen.” And in chapter 6:70 He said, “Have I not chosen you?” There is a selection by God in our salvation. That is clear enough from Scripture.
But the point I want to emphasize from this is that He did not choose us out of the world in order for us to stay like the world. He didn’t choose us out of the world so we could be souvenirs and remind Him of what the world is like. When Christ chooses us we are noHe chose us to be like Himself. Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”
When He chose us out of the world the result is that we now choose Him over the world. Christians should not be mixed with the world. In John 17:14, Jesus says that we are not of the world anymore than He is of the world. He is not like the world, but, entirely unlike the world. There was nothing of the world in Him, and, that means there is to be nothing of the world in us.
We are not to love the world
They don’t know the Son (v21)
The third reason is that they don’t know the Son, nor His Father. Verse 21 Jesus says, “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” In chapter 8 verse 19 the Jews were confused and didn’t know who Jesus’ Father was. “Where is your father” the asked Him. Jesus replied, If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” And in chapter 14 Jesus said to the disciples in verse 7, “If you really knew me you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Seeing and knowing the Father is only attained through knowing Jesus Christ. He is the exact representation of God’s being. He has all the fullness of Deity dwelling in Him. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Word of God who is God. He came to reveal the Father and give men the knowledge of who God truly is and Jesus and only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life who gives access to the Father. If you don’t come by Jesus you haven’t come.
The Jews did not. The world does not. They don’t know God because like Ephesians 4:18 says, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” And because they don’t know God they unwittingly do the work of the devil and end up persecuting God by persecuting His people. Jesus appeared to Saul who was the worst persecutor of the Christians and said to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Jews thought that by persecuting Jesus they were doing God’s work. Even though they saw the miracles and heard His words, they still rejected Him. They did not know God and would not know God. But Jesus said they are of the devil. If you are ignorant of God and His Word you too can become an opponent to God and His plans.
Conclusion
Are you in love with the world? Do you cherish the things that are in the world? Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” If you won the world’s love and affection, or if you won the success and riches of the world, which of it is worth your soul? If you lost your soul what could possibly be worth it? Nothing in the world can save your soul. Nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ stands in the world and it is there, where His blood was shed that your soul can be saved. And if you believe in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you enter into the love of God by faith in His Son, the Bible says that you have overcome the world. You don’t want to win the world, you want to overcome it! Turn to Jesus today and trust in Him. Ask Him to forgive you for your sins. Open your heart to Him.
John 15:18-27
Do you know what it is like to be hated? Do you know what it is like to be hated for your faith in Christ? There is a man who has been in jail for 2 years. He is a Christian pastor in the country of Iran. He was saved at 19 years of age and at the age of 32 when he was arrested he had the fastest growing house church network in Iran. There are upwards of 400 people in his congregation. He was originally arrested after complaining that the schools forced his children to read the Koran. They have held him in prison for two year since then.
The death sentence is hanging over his head for the crime of leaving converting to Christianity. Muslims who convert to another religion are called mortad, which means one who leaves Islam. But converts who evangelize Muslims are called mortad harbi, which means one who wages war against Islam by attempting to convert others. Shariah Law requires that such a man be given 3 chances to renounce his religion and turn back to Islam. Pastor Youceff Nadarkhani has not renounced his faith in Christ. It is said that the police have brought him a book titled “Message of the Two Eras” referring to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. This book says Christianity is a fabrication and that Islam is the supreme religion. They want to convince Pastor Youceff to turn from Christ back to Islam. As he waits for the Ayatollah to determine his fate, or, the lower court, whoever it turns out to be, pastor Youceff most likely will die for his faith. Either by a death sentence ordered from the courts, or, if international pressure succeeds and they set him free, then he very likely will die the old fashioned way: disappearing at night without a trace and never heard from again. The world around this man hates him because of his faith. The world that surrounds him has become his enemy.
Every Christian needs to understand that when they came to Christ they became an enemy to the world. Your conversion was a betrayal of the world. You were once of the world, but, not anymore. You are now considered an enemy, a traitor, a vile stench in the nostrils of this world. You have turned on everything that it stands for: it’s code, it’s values, it’s systems, it’s ways, it’s purposes, and it’s affections. You have walked away never to be faithful again to your old master. Instead, you have divorced yourself that you may serve a new Master. Your allegiance, your faithfulness, your loyalty, your affections are all to Him now. Your identity is in Him now. You were once His enemy, but, He has made peace with you and called you out from the world to Himself. Your enemy has become your Savior, and the world, once your friend, has become the new enemy of your soul.
Chapter 15 can be divided into 3 sections. The first is verses 1-11 and it deals with the Christian’s relationship with Christ. The second section is verses 12-17 and there it emphasizes the Christian’s relationship with other Christians. And the last section is verses 18-27 we see the focus is on the Christian’s relationship with the world.
Now in the first 17 verses the word “love” appears 9 times. “Remain in my love” and that great command, “Love one another”. Love rules in our relationship with Christ, and, with each other. But, when we get to the last section, dealing with our relationship with the world, the word “love” is not found. Instead, we see a new word, “hate”. It appears 7 times. Hate is the opposite of love. Hate is the ruling principle in the heart of the world and it drives the world’s attitude towards Christ and Christians.
This is important to realize. Jesus was not taking His disciple’s out of the world. They would stay in the world after He was gone. They were going to stay in a world that murdered Him and will murder anyone who is identified with Him. The world’s hatred would constantly be upon them. That is why Jesus stressed His new command to them again and again, “Love one another”. The love between Christians is to be in stark contrast to the hatred they were going to endure from the world.
In the book of Exodus chapter 10, it describes the plagues that God brought on the nation of Egypt as He was delivering Israel out of slavery from that nation. One plague was the plague of darkness. It was dark for 3 days in Egypt. It says that it was a darkness that could be felt. But in that passage it said that while no one could see anything or leave their home for 3 days because of the darkness, “yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” Though there was total blackness that the people could even somehow feel on themselves, the darkness did not touch the communities where the Israelites lived. There, where the people of God were, there was light.
In the same way, while in this dark hate-filled world, His disciples were to be a community where the light of His love would shine among them.
But that light and that love is not for the purpose of attracting the world. Instead it is meant for the benefit of the disciples to encourage them and unite them in the mission ahead. But even more than that, their love was actually the love of Christ that lived in them and between them. Their love for each other was a sign to the world that they had been loved by the Son and the Father. It was not going to win the world, it was actually going to enhance the world’s hatred for them.
So in our passage this morning, we might title our sermon, “Why the world should hate you”.
Your Savior (v18)
The world should hate you because of your Savior. In verse 18 Jesus says, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” And then in verse 20 He says, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
What is meant in the Bible when it says ‘world’? What does ‘world’ mean? It is used in a variety of ways. First, it can refer to the created world. Second, it can refer to all of humanity. And third, it can refer to all of society that is apart from God and rejects God. We might say they are the world of God-rejecters.
We use the phrase world in similar ways. For instance, we turn to ESPN to learn about what’s going on in the world of sports. The world of sports isn’t another country or planet, but, it refers to everything that has to do with sports. It is anything that is a part of sports. World refers to whatever is organized around sports.
The world in this passage is all of society that is apart from God and hatefully rejects God.
When I am hated by this “world”, I need to remember that Jesus was hated first by this same world. If they world hates the Master, it will most certainly hate the servant. If it hates the Father, it will hate the children.
But why did the world hate Jesus Christ? He answered this question to His brothers in John 7:7 when He said that “the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.”
Listen, when you stand with Christ you are standing against the world. Your standing with Christ is you standing separate from the world, and by doing so your separation is a sign to the world of the judgment of God that is going to come upon it for all of its evil that you are no longer a part of. You have been separated out from the wickedness of the world and you have been removed from judgment. Therefore remove yourself from the things of the world that God is going to judge. Paul said this in Philippians when the world was persecuting the Christians there. In 1:28 he said, “Don’t be frightened by those who oppose you in any way. Then this will be a sign to them that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved – and that by God.”
We can almost take this as a command: Be hated by the world. This isn’t because we want to be hated for the sake of being hated. This is us as the Church intending that we will not conform to the corruption of the world no matter what the world says about us. First Peter 4 says, “A Christian man does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but for the will of God. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.”
But, when I am hated by the world, why does Jesus want me to know that He was hated first? What does it do for me when the world hates me to know that it hated Him first? When I stop and think about this, I find that Christ is encouraging me with the special companionship He has with me when I suffer like Him. When we are hated by the world because of Christ we are in special company with Christ. The world has identified us with Christ, and not as one of its own, and so it hates us just as it hates Christ. First Peter 4 says, “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer as a Christian do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
Peter is telling you to rejoice when you suffer for Christ. Christ’s name brings shame in the world now, but, in the future it will bring glory. And the degree to which you suffered shame for Christ you will rejoice in Christ’s glory. Don’t think it’s something strange that the world would abuse you for being a Christian. You are not on the wrong path if the world hates you. You are sharing in a very special fellowship with the Son of God who came and suffered before you.
Paul said in Philippians 3:20, “I want to know Christ and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings”. The thing that strikes us about this is not that Paul would suffer and accepted it, but, that he wanted it. He wanted it because he knew he could not fully know Christ unless he endured the same things Christ did. He knew that his understanding of Christ would be lacking so long as he did not share those experiences of sufferings that His Savior did. Paul was hated, slandered, attacked, persecuted, misunderstood, and rejected by the religious world he came out of.
As Christians, we need to always remember that we are Better off by far being in the love of Christ than being in the love of the world. Some Christians don’t realize this. You can’t be in both. There are a lot of Christians who are trying to have a foot in Christ and the other in the world. They harbor affections for worldly things still. They don’t realize that this is making them an enemy of God. James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” And 1 John 2:15 says that “if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” If you give this Christ-hating world a lot of reasons to love you, then perhaps you need to examine yourself to see if you’re really in Christ, or, if you’re still in the world.
You’re not the Same (v19)
Secondly, the world should hate you because you are not the same as it anymore. In verse 19 Jesus says, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world.” You are not of the world. You do not belong to it. You don’t belong to the world anymore than Christ belongs to the world. “They are not of the world anymore than I am of the world” Jesus prayed in 17:14. Think about that. It is our hearts reproducing what is in His heart. Our minds are to become twins to His own mind so that the wants, the desires, the longings, the affections, the purposes within us are the same as those that are within Himself.
First John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” That is the compass for our affections. Our love for Christ directs us away from love for the world and the things of the world. The next verse goes on to say, “For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” This verse shows us what it means to be of the world and to belong to the world. Living for worldly desires means you are of the world. Worldly desires are not God-produced desires.
Worldly desires wage war against your soul to corrupt you. Second Peter 1:4 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” James 1:27 says, “keep yourselves from being polluted by the world”.
The Bible does not say we will not have sinful desires. It makes it very clear that we will and it makes it very clear that we are to not gratify those desires. You may feel like losing your temper, looking at a woman, looking at things on the internet, cheating someone, lying, believing in superstitions, and so on. You will have these desires within you but you are to clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, put off the flesh, and don’t think about how to gratify the desires that come from the sinful nature within you.
Which leads us into verse 19. The Christian should not be mixed with the world. Jesus says in John 15:19, “you do not belong to the world, but, I have chosen you out of the world.” Jesus says that He has chosen His disciples and they’ve heard Him say this before. In verse 16 He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” In chapter 13:18 He said, “I know those I have chosen.” And in chapter 6:70 He said, “Have I not chosen you?” There is a selection by God in our salvation. That is clear enough from Scripture.
But the point I want to emphasize from this is that He did not choose us out of the world in order for us to stay like the world. He didn’t choose us out of the world so we could be souvenirs and remind Him of what the world is like. When Christ chooses us we are noHe chose us to be like Himself. Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”
When He chose us out of the world the result is that we now choose Him over the world. Christians should not be mixed with the world. In John 17:14, Jesus says that we are not of the world anymore than He is of the world. He is not like the world, but, entirely unlike the world. There was nothing of the world in Him, and, that means there is to be nothing of the world in us.
We are not to love the world
They don’t know the Son (v21)
The third reason is that they don’t know the Son, nor His Father. Verse 21 Jesus says, “They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” In chapter 8 verse 19 the Jews were confused and didn’t know who Jesus’ Father was. “Where is your father” the asked Him. Jesus replied, If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” And in chapter 14 Jesus said to the disciples in verse 7, “If you really knew me you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Seeing and knowing the Father is only attained through knowing Jesus Christ. He is the exact representation of God’s being. He has all the fullness of Deity dwelling in Him. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Word of God who is God. He came to reveal the Father and give men the knowledge of who God truly is and Jesus and only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life who gives access to the Father. If you don’t come by Jesus you haven’t come.
The Jews did not. The world does not. They don’t know God because like Ephesians 4:18 says, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” And because they don’t know God they unwittingly do the work of the devil and end up persecuting God by persecuting His people. Jesus appeared to Saul who was the worst persecutor of the Christians and said to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” The Jews thought that by persecuting Jesus they were doing God’s work. Even though they saw the miracles and heard His words, they still rejected Him. They did not know God and would not know God. But Jesus said they are of the devil. If you are ignorant of God and His Word you too can become an opponent to God and His plans.
Conclusion
Are you in love with the world? Do you cherish the things that are in the world? Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” If you won the world’s love and affection, or if you won the success and riches of the world, which of it is worth your soul? If you lost your soul what could possibly be worth it? Nothing in the world can save your soul. Nothing except the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ stands in the world and it is there, where His blood was shed that your soul can be saved. And if you believe in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and you enter into the love of God by faith in His Son, the Bible says that you have overcome the world. You don’t want to win the world, you want to overcome it! Turn to Jesus today and trust in Him. Ask Him to forgive you for your sins. Open your heart to Him.
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