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Well, you can turn with me in 
your Bibles to the gospel of John, John chapter 15, as we 
continue our exposition of the fourth gospel. Our focus this 
morning will be verses 21 to 25. We're in a section in the 
upper room where Jesus is encouraging his disciples by way of instructing 
them that there's going to be hardship, there's gonna be suffering, 
there's gonna be difficulty that faces them. So, of course, Christ 
wants them to be fit and ready and prepared to go about that 
task. So he wants them to understand 
that when he ascends on high, when he leads captivity captive, 
when he's enthroned at the right hand of the Father, they're going 
to go out and seek to turn the world upside down for Him. There 
will be those that receive His message, but there will also 
be a lot that reject that message. So Jesus here, as a kind master, 
as a wonderful Savior, wants to let His disciples know that 
there will be trouble in this world. So beginning in chapter 
15 at verse 18, I'll read to chapter 16 at verse 4. If the world hates you, you know 
that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, 
the world would love its own. Yet 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 keep yours also. "'All these things they will 
do to you for my name's sake, "'because they do not know Him 
who sent me. "'If I had not come and spoken 
to them, "'they would have no sin, "'but now they have no excuse 
for their sin.'" He who hates me hates my father also. If I 
had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would 
have no sin. But now they have seen and also 
hated both me and my father. But this happened that the word 
might be fulfilled which is written in their law. They hated me without 
a cause. But when the Helper comes, whom 
I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who 
proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. And you also 
will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. 
These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made 
to stumble. They will put you out of the 
synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that 
whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service. 
And these things they will do to you, because they have not 
known the Father nor me. But these things I have told 
you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told 
you of them. And these things I did not say 
to you at the beginning, because I was with you." Amen. Well, 
let us pray. Our gracious God and Holy Father, 
we thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ, the one you sent into 
this world, sinners to save. We thank you for His life, death, 
resurrection, and for that teaching ministry, and for these words 
recorded in the Upper Room Discourse. We know that He gives us that 
information necessary for faithful service in this present evil 
age. And we know of a truth from our Bibles, from the history 
of the church, from Christ's ministry himself, that there 
is persecution, that there is oppression, that the God-haters 
seek to reject those who come in his most blessed name. So 
Lord, encourage us now, stabilize us, strengthen us as Jesus intends 
that we may not be made to stumble, but trusting in his word, knowing 
the presence and power of his Holy Spirit, May we live in a 
manner that is consistent with what we find in Holy Scripture, 
in a generation that has given over in many ways to such lawlessness. We ask now that you would forgive 
us, cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness, guide us again 
by your Spirit, and cause us to take every word or every thought 
captive to the obedience of Christ. And for any and all who've come 
here this morning that are dead in their trespasses and sins, 
we pray that you would awaken them, We pray that you would 
convict them of their sin and show them the glory of Jesus 
Christ as the one in whom there is salvation. And we pray in 
his name, amen. Well, as I said, we're in a particular 
unit that begins in chapter 15 at verse 18 and continues to 
chapter 16 and verse four. So up to this point, Jesus has 
primarily referred to the disciples and their relationship to God. From this point on, however, 
from 15, 18 to the end of the Upper Room Discourse, it's the 
disciples and their relationship to the world. And here specifically, 
the world will hate you. And the rationale is very simple, 
because it hated Christ. If they hate the master, they're 
going to hate the servant. And that is precisely what we 
saw last week. So we saw the world's opposition 
to believers in verses 18 to 19. We looked at the believer's 
likeness to Christ in verses 20 and 21. We actually didn't 
make it to verse 21, so we'll pick up there in just a moment. 
But then we'll notice in the final section the world's greater 
liability before God in verses 22 to 25. Just a bit of foreshadowing 
when he says that if they had not, I'm sorry, if they had not 
come, or if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have 
no sin. He's not denouncing the doctrine 
of total depravity. He is not suggesting that there 
is no such thing as total inability. There's a specific context reference 
that is going on here. He's not saying that apart from 
his coming, no man would have ever been guilty. So hopefully 
we'll clear that up in just a moment. But let's pick back up at the 
believer's likeness to Christ. Remember the principle in verse 
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." So this master-servant 
solidarity would indicate that if the master is hated and if 
the master is persecuted, they're certainly going to come after 
the servant. Never forget that. If you rightly represent the 
Lord Jesus Christ in an age that is in opposition to Him, there's 
going to be trouble. As the Apostle puts it in 2 Timothy 
3, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. It's an inevitability. It is 
going to happen. That connection or union with 
Christ the Master means that for the servant, there is likely 
going to be persecution or opposition of some sort. Then he says in 
verse 20, if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. It's 
not all bleak. It's not all doom and gloom. 
It's not all rejection, resistance and opposition and persecution. 
There will be those to the apostles here that will respond in faith. Those recipients of God's grace, 
those ones that Christ chose out of the world, those ones 
by the Spirit renewed or regenerated, those ones given the graces of 
faith and repentance, they're going to receive the Word, just 
as they receive my Word. So again, we cannot only focus 
on the persecution, or on the oppression, or on the hardship, 
or on the difficulty, because then we're going to tuck tail 
and run. And Christ doesn't want His church to do that. He promises 
to build it and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against 
it. He says very specifically in 
chapter 16 at verse 1, these things I have spoken to you that 
you should not be made to stumble. Too much fear, too much trepidation, 
too much thought about this idea of oppression and persecution 
can sideline the soldiers of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ 
doesn't want his soldiers sidelined. He doesn't want them to stumble. 
He doesn't want them to be fearful. He wants them to man up. He wants 
them to be courageous. He wants them to emphasize the 
truth of God's holy word, and he wants to take that word to 
the uttermost parts of the earth. So he's not here trying to discourage 
his witnesses. He's rather trying to encourage 
them by telling them what is inevitable in terms of their 
union with the master. As the master goes, so goes the 
servant. If they hated the master, they're 
going to hate you. But take heed, there's going 
to be those out there, namely a great multitude from every 
tribe, tongue, people, and nation that will receive your word. Just as they've kept my word, 
they're going to keep your word as well. So the principle in 
verse 20, the implication, persecution, but reception on the part of 
God's elect. And then that brings us then 
to his conclusion in this part of this subsection. Notice in 
verse 21, but all these things they will do to you for my name's 
sake, because they do not know him who sent me. So the reason 
for persecution is obvious and it's clear. He says, for my sake. Just like in that beatitude, 
blessed are you when you are persecuted for my sake, in Matthew 
chapter 5. We see it in Matthew 10, 22. 
We see it in Matthew 24, verse 9. We see it in 1 Peter chapter 
4. There is this suffering that 
the rationale is precisely because of Jesus Christ. The emphasis 
here is on the basic problem of mankind, and that is his rejection 
of Christ. This is not isolated in John's 
gospel. In fact, turn back to John 3, 
specifically at verse 36, where we see one of those statements 
that is very strong in a categorical way. We're gonna see that as 
well as we proceed in our particular context, but notice in John 3, 
36. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. It is a present possession. If you believe the Son, you have 
everlasting life. There is nothing that can separate 
you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
The apostle writes to the Philippians. We're gonna look at this tonight. 
I'm confident that he who began this good work in you will complete 
it until the day of Jesus Christ. So back to 336, he who believes 
in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the 
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Notice 
Jesus doesn't pull any punches. He doesn't there, and he's not 
going to in our particular context. He speaks in very stark contrasts. You either have everlasting life 
or the wrath of God abides on you. There's no third option, 
there's no tertian quid, there's no third thing that one can have. Well, I'm not for Christ, but 
I'm not really a slave of the devil, so I'm kind of in this 
no-man's land. No, you either have everlasting 
life by God's grace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone, 
or the wrath of God abides on you. And remember Jesus' teaching 
in Matthew chapter 12, he who is not with me is what? He's 
kind of against me? No, he's against me. He who is 
not with me is against me. And Jesus is just standing in 
the tradition of the prophetic testimony and witness. Remember 
Elijah at Mount Carmel when he throws down the gauntlet to the 
false prophets of Baal? He says to Israel, How long will 
you halt between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, serve him. 
If Baal is God, serve him. In other words, you need to fish 
or cut bait. You can't have a little Yahweh 
and a little bit of Baal. It's either all God or no God. It's either all Christ or no 
Christ. It's either everlasting life or the wrath of God. And 
so Jesus makes that very clear to the disciples here in Matthew 
15 at verse 21. but all these things they will 
do to you for my name's sake." Confessing faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ means that the servant will suffer like the master. 
The servant will be targeted like the master. If they hated 
Christ, they're gonna hate his servants. If they despised Christ, 
they're gonna despise the servants. If they impose violence upon 
the master, they're gonna do that to the servants as well. 
But then notice the source So the reason is my name's saved. 
But if we push down a little bit or drill down a little bit 
further, Jesus gives us the source. Notice what he says in the remainder 
of verse 21. And then the rest of this subsection, 
he's going to explain that in more detail. So basically in 
verses 22 to 25, we get further explanation or amplification 
of what he says here at the end of verse 21. Notice, because 
they do not know him who sent me. because they do not know 
him who sent me." Now, brethren, if you're thinking properly in 
this particular context, you will know where the application 
lies. John announces it in the prologue 
in John 1 11. He came to his own, but his own 
received him not. The first observation that we 
need to make relative to this statement in verse 21b is that 
it is an indictment of the Jewish religious leaders in particular. It is an indictment of the Jewish 
religious leaders in particular. Notice what he says, because 
they do not know him who sent me. It was a rejection of the 
Messiah. Consider the Jews in Yahweh. 
Now we know from the Old Testament that we have the Jews in Yahweh. 
They loved, they espoused faith and confidence and trust, not 
always perfectly, not always blessedly, not always consistently, 
but they prided themselves on the knowledge of Yahweh. This 
was everything for the Jews in Old Covenant religion. You see, 
Yahweh promised the sending of a Messiah. That Messiah had now 
come, and instead of receiving the Messiah, instead of believing 
on the Messiah, instead of bowing to the Messiah and confessing 
the Messiah, they reject the Messiah. So what does Jesus interpret 
that as meaning? Notice, because they do not know 
him, who sent me? This is a huge indictment on 
the part of our blessed Savior relative to the religious leaders 
in Israel in this first century. And to see that he's speaking 
again, contextually, in particularly about the religious leaders in 
Judaism, notice what we see in verses 21 and 23, or I'm sorry, 
verse 23. He who hates me hates my father also. Again, brethren, 
we don't talk that way. We mentioned this yesterday in 
our study in the book by Scott Swain, Trinity and Introduction. We very much soft pedal differences 
in religions. In other words, we think that 
because the Jews and because the Muslims and because the Christians 
are all monotheistic, we have something in common. Not according 
to Jesus, What does Jesus say? If you reject the one sent by 
the one sending, then you hate the one sending. That's what 
he says, brethren. That's not, you know, butler 
crackpot knucklehead going off on some crazed tangent. We need 
to be like the Savior, not running around with bullhorns, telling 
everybody to stop hating God, but to understand theologically. 
I'm not talking politically, I'm talking about theologically. 
If you don't confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, whatever 
you may think of your spirituality, whatever you think of your religiosity, 
if you don't own Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, according 
to Jesus, the Lord and Savior, you hate God. Notice the context 
as well, specifically in 16.2. They will put you out of the 
synagogues. If you've ever asked the question, 
what is Jesus talking about? He's talking about the book of 
Acts. He's talking about his immediate 
disciples. He's talking about these apostolic 
men that are sitting and supping with him, that he is encouraging, 
that he is strengthening, that he is enlightening, that he is 
going to send into the world to turn it upside down for himself. 
They're gonna put you out of the synagogues, but then notice, 
he's not talking about heathen. He's not talking about the atheists. 
He's not talking about the pagans. Notice, yes, the time is coming 
that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service. This will be religious obligation 
on his part to take the people of Jesus Christ, to cast them 
out of the synagogue, and to vote for the death penalty when 
it serves their purposes. Remember Stephen standing before 
the Sanhedrin? What do they do? They gnash at 
him with their teeth. They plug their ears such that 
they wouldn't have to hear his blasphemies and heresies. They cast him out of what should 
have been the holy city, and they take up stones to throw 
at him and kill him. Jesus is talking in particular 
about the unbelieving religious leaders of the Jews. It is a 
specific condemnation by Christ of that generation to whom Yahweh 
sent the Messiah, and He came to His own and His own received 
Him not. But this ain't the first time in our Lord's ministry. 
Turn back to John 8. John chapter 8 at verse 37. This ought not to be surprising 
to us in this context of John 15. But notice in John 8, verse 
37, I know that you are Abraham's descendants, again, by the flesh, 
physically descended from him, but you seek to kill me because 
my word has no place in you. Now, we're all very familiar 
with the story of Jesus of Nazareth. We're all very familiar with 
the gospel We're all hopefully as familiar with the doctrine 
of total depravity and the wretchedness and the evil of men. And when 
we come to passages like this, I think there's times where we 
just sort of glide over, yeah, we know all that. But again, 
I think it's helpful to take a moment and to stop and to say, 
why did they want to kill him? What had he done? Well, he was 
a bank robber. No. He was a murderer. No. He didn't keep his lawn cut. No. He didn't pay his taxes. Well, incidentally, that's what 
they would falsely charge him with, because if you want the 
civil state involved, you just block up that tax payment system. He was wholly harmless and undefiled. He went about doing good. He healed people. He fed people. He gave eyes or sight to the 
blind. He raised people from the dead. Why did they hate him? Because 
they hated the one who sent him. All the while, professing in 
a deceptive manner, oh, our allegiance is to Yahweh of Israel. See, 
in John 15, Jesus is saying, if you reject the Messiah that 
Yahweh sent, you have no allegiance to Yahweh of Israel. In fact, 
you actually hate Him. You despise Him, and you disdain 
Him. But back to our text. But you 
seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak 
what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen 
with your Father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our 
father. Jesus said to them, if you were 
Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But 
now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which 
I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You 
do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, we were 
not born of fornication. We have one fathered God. If 
God were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth 
and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why 
do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen 
to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of 
your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning 
and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in 
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, 
for he is a liar and the father of it. "'Because I tell the truth, 
you do not believe me. "'Which of you convicts me of 
sin? "'And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? "'He 
who is of God hears God's words, "'therefore you do not hear because 
you are not of God.'" So back to our text, the indictment of 
the Jewish leaders in particular is what he's speaking there in 
verse 21b. So the reason why they hate and 
persecute you disciples is for my name's sake. But the source 
of that enmity, the source of that contempt, the origin of 
that detestation, it's because they don't know the Father. Notice 
as well, there is a description here of false religions in general. I think the specific application 
is the first century Judaism, but we could extrapolate that 
to 21st century Judaism. We could extrapolate that to 
21st century Islam. We could extrapolate that or 
apply it to Jehovah's Witnesses, to Mormons, to dumb Protestants. We can see that a rejection of 
the Christ of God as spelled out in Scripture. Now brethren, 
I'm not suggesting that just being able to say the name Jesus 
gets you in with the Father. Notice that Jesus again is emphasizing 
his relation to the Father. There are so many instances in 
John's Gospel where Jesus refers to himself as the one sent by 
the Father. He refers to the Father as the 
one who sent him. These temporal missions reflect 
something of the eternal processions. And if we don't understand who 
God is, namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we have not the 
true God. We have erected, as Turin says, 
an idol in its place. So we need to understand what 
Scripture says concerning our blessed Savior. Brethren, there 
are a whole host of things that Christians pour their energies 
into, and not all bad things to be sure, but if we poured 
our energies into a sound Christology, a sound Trinitarian theology, 
not Augustine or Aquinas or Owen or, you know, some of the fathers 
in the church being able to explain all the particular details involved, 
but can we confess there is but one only, the living and true 
God? And in the Godhead, there are 
three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Same 
in substance, equal in power and glory. Those two catechism 
questions from Westminster's catechism, shorter catechism, 
that is great theology that we must have. And when I say dumb 
Protestants, I'm not trying to be insulting. There are dumb 
Protestants that do not teach the doctrine of the Trinity. 
They have not taught the people of God how to think concerning 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the 
unity of the divine nature, the Trinity of persons in that divine 
nature. Listen to John, not this same 
John, but elsewhere in his literature. He says, whoever denies the Son 
does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has 
the Father also. 1 John 2, 23. That's specifically 
what Jesus says in verse 21. But all these things they will 
do to you for my name's sake. There's the reason. Because, 
here's the sorcerer origin, they do not know him who sent me. They don't have God, the true 
and living God. I would suggest, thirdly, just 
by way of application, we may not get to verses 22 to 25 this 
morning, but this is characteristic of all anti-Christian persecution. And here I think of the state 
or the government. Now brethren, lest anyone go 
out and blog today that Butler this and Butler that, I affirm 
the presence of government in principle. God instituted it. Christ speaking his wisdom in 
Proverbs 8 says, buy me king's reign. Paul, in the inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit in Romans 13 says, let every soul be subject 
to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except 
from God. So in principle, absolutely positively. Anarchy is wrong. God instituted 
government. But in practice? Brethren, at 
what point do we wake up and smell the coffee and realize 
that you mean they're not actually out for our good? They're not 
actually out to try to make us whole and healthy and well? They're not actually trying to 
protect us? Do you think that perhaps there's 
a non-Christian bias or animus in the hearts of those in high 
places? Again, listen to your Bibles. 
Listen to David in Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the 
people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves 
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against 
His anointed saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast 
away their courts from us. I try to say it often. I'll say it one more time. If 
you ever doubt government opposition to Christianity, come to a prayer 
meeting. Or ask, and I can forward you 
Voice of the Martyrs. Better you come to a prayer meeting. 
Good that the people of God pray together. We see it all over 
the world. Yes, Muslims attack Christians. Yes, there's countries where 
Roman Catholics attack Protestants, probably countries where that's 
vice versa. There's a lot of mayhem out there. 
Do you know what's a constant and recurring theme that we see? 
Government opposition to Yahweh and his anointed. The kings of 
the earth set themselves. The rulers take counsel together. 
They say, we don't want this one and we don't want his son 
to reign over us. We want to reign and rule. And 
it's reflected in their legislation. It's reflected in abortion laws. It's reflected in euthanasia 
laws. It's reflected in the perversion 
that is openly promoted all throughout the land. Why is it that this is somehow 
provocative to suggest? The nations rage, the kings despise, 
the rulers of this present evil age have raised their fist to 
Yahweh and his Christ, and they target the people of God. You 
may find brethren that living godly in Christ Jesus will invite 
more persecution and more opposition from your own government than 
it will from your neighbor who happens to be a Muslim. Brethren, 
these are difficult days. not a prophet, son of a prophet, 
but if you have eyes to see, what we're seeing is very disconcerting. When I can buy fentanyl or crack 
cocaine easier than I can buy raw milk, at some point I've 
got to ask the question, how is the government protecting 
me? How are they serving me? How are they helping me? Brethren, 
the fourth observation from this brief statement of our Savior 
when He says, because they do not know Him who sent me, is 
simply this, the necessity of Christian Trinitarianism. We 
see the enemy, we see it unbelieving Jews in that first century context, 
and into the 21st, if they continue to reject Jesus, continue to 
despise the Son of Man, it reflects that they despise Yahweh Himself. 
We see it in Muslims, we see it in Jehovah's Witnesses, we 
see it in Mormons, we see it in dumb Protestants, we see it 
in the government that relentlessly seems to be opposed. So that's 
the negative, that's the bad with reference to 21b. But what's 
the positive implication? The positive implication is know 
the doctrine of the Trinity. If you don't understand or have 
the Son, you don't understand or have the Father. Without the 
Son, there is no Father. It doesn't matter if you're monotheistic. It doesn't matter if you're religious. It doesn't matter if you're spiritual. It doesn't matter if you have 
prayer beads. It doesn't matter if you go through 
motions. It doesn't matter if you go to 
orthodox churches. It doesn't matter if you subscribe 
an orthodox confession. If you don't own Jesus Christ 
as the Bible sets him forth, as the divine word, who became 
flesh for us, who lived in our place, who died in our place, 
and was raised again, such that all who believe in him can have 
everlasting life. If you don't have that Jesus, 
you don't have God. And so in order to have that 
Jesus, we need to be men and women of the book. We need to 
read the scripture. We need to listen to the prophets. 
We need to listen to Moses. We need to listen to Jesus and 
his apostles. We need the Psalms of David. 
We need that instruction concerning the nature of our blessed Savior 
and the reality that He is the divine Son. And this wasn't hidden 
in the Old Testament from these people. What does David tell 
us in Psalm 110.1? Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at 
my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Well, 
the scriptures of the Old Testament never promised that Messiah would 
be divine. Really? What creature sits at 
the right hand of the Most High God to exercise universal, absolute 
sovereign dominion? No creature, except the Divine 
Son, who assumed our humanity into Himself. not into himself 
in some weird way, assumed our humanity. He took upon himself 
our flesh. What about Isaiah the prophet? 
Comes up a lot at Christmas time in chapter nine. What do we learn 
of Jesus in that passage? He's eternal. He's mighty God. He's everlasting Father. He's 
Prince of Peace. Brethren, there isn't enough 
sufficient data in the Old Testament to evoke the expectation of a 
divine Messiah. And of course, the best presentation 
of that was the coming of the Messiah. The fact that He is 
in their midst, the fact that He has done works among them, 
the fact that He has taught them. In fact, let's move through this 
now to see. So that summarizes the believer's 
likeness to Christ, verses 20 to 21. Third part in this subsection 
is verses 22 to 25. The world's greater liability 
before God. The world's greater liability 
before God. Notice first the declaration 
in verse 22a. If I had not come and spoken 
to them, they would have no sin. Now, I want to qualify this to 
make sure we all understand Jesus is not saying that these are 
sinless, guiltless, perfect people. Jesus is not upbraiding the Old 
Testament's emphasis on total depravity and total inability. 
No, there's something else going on here. I would suggest there's 
a general sense or a general idea, and it's simply this. Increased 
revelation from God promotes increased liability before God. In other words, the more that 
God tells you, the more you're responsible for the things that 
he has told you. So if you're not a believer and 
you come to church, I commend you, you should continue to come 
to church, but realize that you've got a lot of responsibility based 
on the things that you've heard. Ryle makes the observation, to 
see light and not use it, to possess knowledge and yet not 
turn it to account, to be able to say, I know, and yet not to 
say, I believe, will place us at the lowest place on Christ's 
left hand in the day of judgment. And this principle is elsewhere 
in the gospel records. In Luke chapter 12, specifically 
at verses 47 and 48, Jesus teaches that the servant who knew his 
master's will and didn't do it will get more stripes than him 
who didn't know the master's will. But interestingly, the 
one who didn't know the master's will still gets stripes. Why? Because he's a sinner that 
deserves stripes for his sin. But that is a principle that 
I think is generally applied. That's what I think Jesus is 
highlighting, again, generally in verse 22. If I had not come 
and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But the specific 
implication or the specific interpretation in this context is very clear. It is the sin of unbelief in 
the rejection of the Messiah. That's John Gill. Thomas, before 
him, says the same thing. We should say that our Lord is 
not speaking here of just any sin, but of the sin of disbelief. That is, they do not believe 
in Christ. He came to his own as Messiah 
from Yahweh, his own there being Old Covenant Israel, and his 
own Old Covenant Israel received him not. So when he says what 
he says in verse 22, if I had not come and spoken to them, 
they would have no sin. He's not saying they're sinless, 
guiltless, righteous embodiments of perfect law-keeping. No, it's 
the rejection of the Messiah. the revelation of Jesus in the 
incarnation, which we'll see in just a moment, that was everything. That was glorious. And again, 
notice, it is very specifically conditioned. Synagogues, verse 
two. Notice in verse 25, that was 
16, but notice in 1525. But this happened that the word 
might be fulfilled, which is written what? In their law. There is the particular enemy 
that Christ is addressing with the apostles, that enemy that 
looms large in the book of Acts. Certainly Paul ends up before 
pagan magistrates in the latter half of the book of Acts, but 
how did he get there? It wasn't the pagan magistrates 
that initiated those arrests. It was the unbelieving Jews. 
It was the Sanhedrin that turned him over. It was them that put 
him to that place where he had to give defense before those 
pagan magistrates. So Jesus is not saying, these 
are perfect righteous people. No, He's saying, when I came 
and I assumed humanity and I dwelt among them and I demonstrate 
the glory of God Most High and they reject it, they resist it, 
they forsake it and they're going to crucify me in a day or so. They hate my father. That's what he draws out here. That's the point. Notice again, 
verse 22. If I had not come and spoken 
to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for 
their sin. That brings us to this explanation. Verses 22 to 25. Notice, it is a rejection of 
Christ's word, the rejection of Christ's Father, the rejection 
of Christ's works, and the fulfillment of Christ's words. All of this 
confirms and validates what he's saying. Now, brethren, just to 
tone this down a little bit. We need to understand, again, 
theologically, I'm not advocating that we firebomb a Muslim neighborhood 
because they don't confess faith in Jesus as the Messiah of God. 
That's not my point. My point is that the Christian 
church needs to think righteously and biblically concerning the 
doctrine of the Trinity. Why do you think the early church 
hammered out the doctrine of the Trinity? Why do you think 
the early church had to deal with the doctrine of Christ? 
Probably because unbelieving Jews were challenging them at 
every step of the way. The heathen and the pagan and 
the philosopher, they were all challenging them at every step 
of the way. You imagine being in the first 
few centuries in the post-Christ resurrection and confessing another 
king, even Jesus. Confessing that he's God from 
God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not 
made, one in being with the Father, through whom all things were 
made? Do you think that everybody around, unbelieving Jews, Muslims 
a bit later, and the pagans and the philosophers all said, oh 
yeah, yippee, that's great? No. Our brothers and our sisters 
died for this confession. Our brothers and our sisters 
died on the doctrine of the Trinity. Our brothers and our sisters 
died for this confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the one sent 
by the Father, who has the same substance as the Father, that 
everyone who believes on him should have everlasting life. 
Brethren, this is crucial, that we understand, not perhaps again 
like Augustine understood, but the way that we are capable, 
the way that we are able, the application of a little brain 
power to scripture and some helpful things, so that we have at least 
a basic rudimentary understanding of the one true and living God, 
who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with no 
subjugation between the Father and the Son in theology. with no, you know, relations 
of authority between Father and Son in theology. In economy or 
salvation, the Son, according to His humanity, as mediator 
of the New Covenant, willingly submits Himself to the Father. 
We don't map that in the creaturely realm or the redemptive realm 
onto who God is. And that is a mistake that is 
being duplicated all throughout the world. That's why I say dumb 
Protestants. Notice the rejection of Christ's 
word. Verse 22, if I had not come and 
spoken to them. He underscores his word in two 
ways. First, him, the living word, 
if I had not come. The fact that the Son assumed 
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory 
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 
That right there, in His assumption of our humanity, in His public 
ministry, in the incarnation, that exacerbated or increased 
or greatly affected the guilt of these men that had been waiting 
on Messiah from Yahweh, and yet when He comes, they know Him 
not. When he comes, they receive him not. When he comes, they 
ultimately crucify him. So he speaks concerning himself. Notice verse 22, if I had not 
come and his word and spoken to them, he emphasizes that word 
all throughout. In fact, that again is encouraged 
by John in his prologue for us to pay attention. No one has 
seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in 
the bosom of the Father, has declared Him, John 1, 18. That's one of the grand purposes 
for Messiah's coming. Yes, to live. Yes, to die. Yes, 
to rise. What is He teaching us? He's 
teaching us true doctrine. He's teaching us who God is, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. See, if these men hadn't had 
the revelation of Christ in the incarnation and through his word, 
if these men had not seen the works that Jesus had done, they're 
still guilty of a whole host of sins, transgression against 
the Ten Commandments. but not this particular sin of 
rejecting the Messiah sent by the Father for their delivery 
from sin and evil and rebellion. This is what he's speaking about 
in the context. Notice this translates to a rejection 
of the Father. So verse 22, if I had not come 
and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have 
no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father 
also. He's telling the disciples, let's 
not dance around this. Let's not try to pretend that 
they're just a subset or a different religious body. You know, all 
roads sort of ultimately lead to Rome. No, if they hate me, 
they hate my father. It's pretty simple. Just as simple 
as it is, if they hate the disciple or the servant, they're going 
to hate the master. This is kind of an inextricable 
link here. You hate the servant because 
you hate the master. You hate the master because the 
father who sent him. And this is the language that 
Jesus employs. He's not a pluralist. He's not 
an all-roads-lead-to-heaven sort of a man. He is very exclusive. We see that in John 14, 6. No 
one comes to the Father except through me. This is the thing 
that is challenged today, just constantly. Well, not just today. It's been challenged throughout 
the history of the world, but it's certainly emphasized by 
the Savior here. Thomas says, since the Son and 
the Father are one in essence, truth and goodness, and since 
all knowledge of anyone is through the truth which is in him, whoever 
loves the Son loves the Father also, and whoever knows the one 
knows the other also, and whoever hates the Son hates the Father 
also. See, this isn't, you know, really 
deep and hard. I just can't get it. It's pretty 
simple. You hate Jesus, you hate the 
Father. You hate Jesus, you're going to hate the disciples. 
You hate the disciples, you're probably gonna persecute them. 
You persecute them, you're putting yourself into this body of people 
that have stood in rebellion against Yahweh and His Christ 
from the very beginning. Then notice the rejection of 
Christ's works, verse 24. If I had not done among them 
the works which no one else did, they would have no sin. Again, 
they wouldn't be further liable for this rejection of Messiah. 
But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. 
This isn't an isolated space. Did Jesus, again, say that these 
people hate him? Brethren, do you think it was 
just not a lot of love that evoked from them the day later, away 
with him, away with him, crucify him? Do you not see that that's 
hate, despise, enmity, anger, viciousness? He's basically telling 
us the way it's gonna be, just like he does in John 8. You're 
of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you 
want to do. He was a murderer and a liar 
from the beginning. And the way that you're treating 
Jesus indicates that this is true of you. You are connected 
to the devil, not to Yahweh. Now, Jesus reiterates that here 
with reference to his word and with reference to his works. 
Various times and in various places throughout John's gospel, 
he engages in signs and wonders. And you say, well, the prophets 
did that. Prophets did amazing things. 
Elisha, great things. We see Elijah. We see prophets doing miraculous 
things and Moses himself. But the difference is, is that 
Moses and Elisha and Elijah never by their word claim to be the 
son of God by nature. See, the works accompanied the 
words. All of that is presented to his 
contemporaries. All of that is an argument as 
to why they should believe in him, receive him, and thus know 
in joyous ways the father who sent him. They reject his word, 
they reject his works, and as a result, finally, they fulfill 
their own scripture. Notice in verse 25, but this 
happened that the word might be fulfilled, which is written 
in their law, they hated me without a cause. This is what we call 
a conflation, several texts brought together for one purpose. If 
you look at these three in the Psalter, Psalm 35, 19, Psalm 
69, 4, and Psalm 109, verses 3 to 5, you will see how our 
Lord invokes that. But I think he does it practically 
here to underscore two things. One, the sovereignty of God. That's not a throwaway for Calvinists. 
Well, you know, you guys get backed into a corner, you just 
say sovereignty of God. It's a comfort for the disciples 
hearing that they're going to reject and resist, the others 
are going to reject and resist the Messiah. It's going to end 
in his brutal crucifixion on the cross. It's indicative that 
they hate the father who sent the son. But this didn't catch 
God unaware. This is not a surprise in the 
divine agenda. This isn't a curve ball along 
the way that now Jesus has to sort of respond to and react 
to. This is what the Psalter already testified. This is what 
the prophetic word already declared. You're looking for a suffering 
servant vis-a-vis the prophet Isaiah chapter 53. You're looking 
for a sufferer in the Psalter. Yeah, David had problems. David 
had a life of adversity. But there are things that transcend 
David's problems in this altar that can only be applicable to 
our blessed Savior. Jesus is the subject of the Psalms. 
So he wants to underscore for these disciples the sovereignty 
of God. And in so doing, secondly, he wants to encourage them. When 
you go out into this world and they hate you, when you go out 
into this world and they throw you out of synagogues, when you 
go out into this world and they spit on you, when you go out 
into this world and they imprison you, when you go out into this 
world and they ultimately want to crucify and kill you likewise, 
understand that this is indeed the will of my Father. Brethren, 
that provides encouragement to the Saint of Christ. We do what 
we do because Christ is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. 
And if you think that's inappropriate language, according to the will 
of the Father, that's 1 Peter chapter 4. And trust your soul 
to a faithful creator. It is His will that the people 
of God go through what they go through, because that's what 
the Savior went through. If He learned obedience through 
suffering, according to Hebrews 5.8, the many sons that He takes 
to glory are going to learn it the same way. And so this is 
calculated to encourage them, God's got this, He's in control, 
none of this is haphazard, and it's to encourage them to depart 
from this upper room with fire in their hearts, with a desire 
to proclaim Christ, His word, His works, and His glory to the 
then-known world, to the salvation of a great multitude. And I just 
want to end on those two notes. First, encouragement with reference 
to the disciples. The disciple is to remember This 
is what he does. Notice in verse 20, remember 
the word that I said to you. The apostle, or not the apostle, 
but the writer Jude says the same thing. Remember the word 
spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles. We need to 
remember, which assumes that we at least at one point knew 
it. In other words, the way of encouragement 
for the people of God is a heart filled with the word of God. 
What do we draw off of when that opposition comes? What do we 
draw off of in the gulag? What is it that feeds and sustains 
our souls when we're cut off from the corporate means of grace, 
when we're cut off from our phones and we don't have our Bibles? 
What is it, by word I've hidden in my heart, that I might not 
sin against you? There needs to be a wealth of data treasured 
up in our hearts that we remember the Word of God to His people. 
The disciple as well is to rejoice. We touched on this a bit last 
week, invoking the principle in Acts 5. The disciples are 
beaten. They leave from that place rejoicing 
because they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men weren't dour, sad-looking, 
brooding, you know, brutes or ogres. They had the joy of the 
Lord in their hearts. We're going to see that in Philippians 
tonight, when Paul writes that when I remember you and I think 
about you, my heart is flooded with joy. He's in a prison. He's in a prison. That only comes 
by the knowledge that he had of the Philippians, the system 
of God's sovereign grace in saving those Philippians, and a mind 
that was able to traverse the present sufferings and cast it 
where it belonged upon the glory of a good God. I would suggest 
as well, the disciple is to stand fast and persevere. Therefore, 
do not fear them. Verse one, these things I have 
spoken to you, chapter 16, that you should not be made to stumble. Brethren, if you are not well-versed 
in your understanding of Holy Scripture, and I get that this 
sounds lectury. I get that this sounds third 
grade teachery. I get that. I'm sorry. I don't 
know how to not get that or not do that. But brethren, we've 
got to know the Scriptures. We've got to know the doctrine 
of the Trinity. If we don't know this God, the true and living 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if we don't know Jesus, who Jesus 
is, we don't have the Father. It's just that simple. But we 
need to be able to stand fast and persevere. And the disciple 
is to know true theology. Listen to Cyril of Alexandria. He says, all who think they should 
dishonor the Son admittedly hate the Father, not as though they 
were sinning against another nature, but because they are 
raging against the very dignity of the nature of divinity. He 
says elsewhere, there is no doubt then that sin against the Son 
is proof of ignorance of God the Father. I think he's accurately 
reflecting what Jesus teaches here in John 15. And for any 
and all who are not believers, may I just tell you, you know, 
you're part and parcel now of what we see in the Bible as the 
world. John 1.10 tells us there's three 
uses of the world. Jesus was in the world. That means planet Earth. He says 
that the world was made by Jesus. That means the entirety of the 
things that are made. And then he says that the world 
did not know him. So unbelievers in the Bible are 
looked at as being the world. But the wonderful thing about 
that, I know it's not probably intuitively wonderful, wait a 
minute, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
son. In Christ, God, according to Paul in 2 Corinthians, is 
reconciling the world to himself. So my point is that there's hope. If you're an unbeliever, there 
is hope. The hope is to believe on Jesus, 
to look to the Son, the Son who came down from heaven for us 
men and for our salvation, who lived, who died, who was raised 
again, so that all who look to him in faith will have everlasting 
life. So instead of saying, well, I'm 
stuck in this world situation, I'm stuck, come to Jesus, believe 
on Jesus, look to Jesus, listen to Jesus in John chapter 3. Just 
as Moses lifted the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted 
up, that everyone who looks to him in faith will have everlasting 
life. So people of God, let us learn, 
let us understand, let us be transformed by the renewing of 
our mind so that we're not conformed to this world. If unbeliever, 
you are conformed to this world, you're stuck in the thick of 
it, then flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, because everyone who 
comes to Him, He will not cast out. And everyone who comes to 
Him knows Him and the Father who sent Him. Well, let us pray. Our God, we thank you for your 
word. We thank you for the clarity of our Lord's instruction. We 
pray that you would give us that mind of Christ that we would 
function in a manner that is consistent with his encouragements 
here in the upper room discourse. Bless our brothers and our sisters 
in the persecuted church. Bless our brothers and sisters 
in the last hour that we prayed for, we read of, and so many 
others that we know nothing of, God, that they are known by you. 
May you bless and encourage them, help them to persevere in the 
midst of these trials, and and difficulties and persecutions. 
And Lord, may you, in a gracious way, lay your hand upon our children, 
our young people. Give them a steadfast faith in 
our blessed Savior, that they may be able to withstand whatever 
may come our way. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen.