Jesus at the Feast of Booths..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. After this, Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.

Now the Jews' feast of booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. for not even his brothers believed in him.

Jesus said to them, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it, that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I'm not going up for this feast for my time has not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

10. But after his disciples had gone up, after his brothers, my apologies, had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, where is he? And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said he is a good man, others said, no, he's leading people astray.

Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. Amen. This is the inerrant, infallible, God-breathed word. Last week, brothers and sisters, after spending many months in chapter six of the fourth gospel, we began a new chapter in the gospel according to John chapter seven. This chapter comes about six months after the events of chapter six, where we witnessed thousands upon thousands desert our Lord after the momentous bread of life discourse.

Now, the Apostle John doesn't exactly elaborate on what happened over the last six or seven months between the ending of chapter six and now the beginning of chapter seven, but the other synoptic gospel writers do, and they spend much time, in fact, on telling us what Jesus does. But the Apostle John, he only tells us why Jesus remained in Galilee. And the reason is in verse one. because the Jews were seeking to kill him. You see, from the onset of this chapter, the Apostle John wishes his readers to be aware of the hostility of the Jews.

These are the religious leaders who are predominantly down south in Jerusalem. They were seeking our Lord's life. It's clear that the apostle mentions this here and now, because at some stage in the following chapters, Jesus will once again come face to face with his evil opponents who will seek his life. And that's going to be in the backdrop of chapters seven and eight. Now, last week, we considered together the first five verses of this chapter.

In doing so, I gave you a little summary of the Feast of Booths, if you remember, which was the feast that is at hand in chapter seven. Because as we progress through this chapter and the next, the background knowledge to this popular festival is actually quite crucial, especially being aware of the rituals practiced at the festival, as I mentioned, two of which last week. I mentioned the outpouring of the water and I mentioned the light ritual, which is the four huge candles lit up that lit up the Jerusalem sky in every evening of this celebration. However, if the details escape you now and as we move forward, don't worry. Once we get to the relevant texts, I will remind you of them once again.

But also last week, as we meditated upon the first five verses of this chapter, we were made aware of the advice, you might call it, or the counsel that Jesus' brothers gave him. And that was to make himself known in the South. That's what they said. They argue that he cannot remain a secret doing the work he does in obscurity. He must make himself known is what they told him.

known to the disciples who'd seen him before on his previous trips down south, and also make himself known to the multitudes who are making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem from the diaspora, the dispersion, that is the Jews from all over the world. His brothers are basically saying, Jesus, if you're truly who you claim to be, Jesus, if you are the Messiah of Israel, then you can't remain a small-time preacher to a handful of people here and there. No, you need to make yourself known openly, Jesus. Prove yourself where it matters. Prove yourself down south in Judea.

Prove yourself down south in Jerusalem. That's his brother's advice. And although that advice on a surface level may seem sound, We found out that indeed it wasn't sound at all. Because if you remember, we considered the possible reasons for their motivation last week. And there are a few, however, we need to look no further than verse five.

And that's where we spent most of our time last week. Whatever their motivation was, We know because of verse 5, it was not honorable. For the apostle John tells us, for not even his brothers believed in him. These are very serious words. If their intention was for our Lord to go down south and amass a crowd, a following, then by virtue of the fact that they did not believe in Jesus, their counsel to their older brother was for all the wrong reasons.

Their intentions were sinful. But further to this, we spend most of our time here last week because we considered this terrifying reality. Because these men, These men were an example of the words of our Lord. In only the previous chapter, when he said, no one can come to me unless the father who draws him, and my apologies, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. Because when we're told, for not even his brothers believed in him, this chilling reality hits home.

It's clear, beloved, humanly speaking, no amount of evidence, no amount of proof, no amount of science or wonders are able to bring a sinner to believe Jesus. It requires the divine, gracious hand of God himself to make this happen. You see, sin is too dark. It takes hold of the whole person, body, soul, and mind, and puts them in chains, chains that cannot be broken. If ever there was a way to believe simply through the physical senses, then Jesus' brothers would have believed.

No one else comes even close to the decades of proof and evidence that they had. living under the same roof as the Lord of Glory and yet at this stage we're told they do not believe. They're too blind to acknowledge Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Brothers and sisters, the reason we spent so much time there last week was to recognize how big and how wonderful grace is. It is to, it was to appreciate more than ever before the beauty and the wonder of our salvation and to recognize that apart from grace, beloved, apart from the undeserving grace of God, as his brothers were, we were completely and utterly helpless.

And it was in this state of spiritual blindness that the brothers of our Lord give counsel to their older half-brother. You see, they were looking with human eyes at the physical material things, no different in essence to the Galilean followers in the previous chapter who only saw Jesus as beneficial, remember that, for their physical needs. They couldn't fathom the spiritual. And therefore their advice was fallacious. In their blindness, how could they know that Jesus would save the world through being rejected?

That this Jesus would save the world through being despised by his own people? That this Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but not the Messiah, looking for prestige and popularity as they evaluated success. No, no, for this incarnate son of God, success was to obey with faultless precision, the divine will of the sovereign plan of his father. He wasn't looking for pomp or fame, but rather to be faithful with the task he was sent to do and faithful also with when beloved. when he would do those tasks.

You see, timing is critical in the eternal plan of God. So moving on, Jesus looks to his brothers in the flesh, the ones who had witnessed his perfection in all of life and yet still disbelieve and explains why the counsel they offered was unsound. Verse six, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. Straight to the point, our Savior goes. Everything I do is according to the predestined and predetermined agenda.

Now, of course, this spiritually blind man, his brother's counsel did not account for this. They weren't thinking of the timing of things. that Jesus has a divine schedule, a heavenly agenda set out for them for him, his brothers no doubt were giving advice based on what they would do if they were in Jesus's shoes. You see, they were seeing things practically according to their own understanding of what a Messiah should be. Surely he would need to amass a following, they thought.

Surely he would need to grow in popularity, was their thinking. But they could never have been so, so wrong. Beloved, I ask you, how can the blind lead anyone? You see, that's the all too familiar irony. James, Joseph, Simon, and Judah, the brothers of Christ, were blind to the things of God, yet that did not stop them from giving advice on spiritual matters.

Did you hear that? They were blind to the things of God, yet it did not stop them. That spiritual blindness did not stop them from giving advice on spiritual matters. They're totally unqualified, way over their heads, and yet they think they could add value with their worthless words. Think of the deception.

Unbelieving men, reasoning they are worthy to counsel the Lord of glory with spiritual insight. Beloved, all aspects of God, faith, salvation, Life, judgment, all aspects of spiritual realities can only be discerned and understood with divine intervention. That is, these things can only be understood if God himself does a spiritual work in the soul of a person to make them see this truth. These are spiritual realities, beloved. They will remain a mystery to those who are yet spiritually blind.

Their counsel is by nature foolish. This is a reminder to us all, is it not? This is a principle that we all, all of us must hold to. The spiritual bride of Christ has no business receiving spiritual counsel from the world, as though the world and what the world calls wisdom can add value to the body of Christ. Only God himself, beloved, can direct the spiritual people his spiritual people.

And he does that through his word and by his illuminating spirit. How much pain would the church of Jesus Christ avoid if she would just believe this truth instead of looking to what success looks like in the world and bringing that into the church. But now we're getting off topic. Back to the response of our Lord. And here he makes his brothers aware of the huge chasm between the counsel they'd given, counsel they deemed to be wise and befitting conduct for the Messiah and what our Lord knows to be true.

He says, my time has not yet come, but your time is always here. You know, the refusal of our Lord to take the counsel of his brothers reminded me of the very first Psalm. You remember the words? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Beloved, the resemblance in my mind was not only that the psalm speaks of the refusal of the wise, of the blessed, to not receive or walk in the counsel of the wicked, but he delights and meditates on the law of God. How is that so? You know, we need to ask ourselves, what is the law of God? Is it not the divine instruction given to His creatures? The direction they are to take, the very will of the Creator to the creatures He originally made in His image.

Hear this, to bear His image. And now the eternal Son of God, the exact imprint of the nature of God, Hebrews 1.3. This Jesus, born of a woman, born under the law, desired one thing above all else in his incarnation, one thing, beloved, and that is to glorify the Father in obedience to his Father's will. He meditated on the law of God day and night.

and night. It was his delight. It was his delight to do his will. He didn't seek the pride of life. He had no desire to amass a crowd of followers for the sake of popularity.

He wasn't interested in making a name for himself by human standards. He refused to be the people's king in the previous chapter, if you remember. And let's not forget, that Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world, but he flat out rejected that offer, seeking instead to entrust all that he is to the will of his father, whom he loves. This Jesus sought not his own glory, but that of his father. Brothers and sisters, Jesus's ministry is unique, yes, but in this, Here's our example.

Here's the Psalm 1 example. How the true Israel of God should be. You see, for Christ to obey the Father was his delight, it was his food, it was his life's purpose. The glory of God was always on his mind and that purpose determined his every thought and his every action. as it should ours.

He's our example in this, beloved. And the remarkable thing is this, he knew exactly what was to come. He knew the reason the Father sent him into the world. He knew he'd be handed over to wicked men, treated shamefully, and then crucified on the Roman cross, a death reserved for what they called the scum of the earth. And He would obey in every facet of the Father's will, even unto death, even death on the cross.

But right now, right now, here in John chapter 7, the time appointed by His Father had not yet come. His hour to be glorified by His Father is not yet for another six or so months at the next Passover in Jerusalem. And so His time had not yet come. You see, it's all going to be accomplished in the Father's sovereign timing, every single part of the plan. The virgin birth of our Lord, the 30 Years in obscurity, his baptism, his temptation by the enemy, the disciples, he hand-selected the amount of time he ministered in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Sumeria, in Galilee, and all the places he had visited.

All of it was according to the perfect timing of God. And the Apostle Paul reminds us of God's perfect timing in Galatians 4 when he writes, but when the fullness of time had come, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Every facet, every facet of our Lord's ministry would be accomplished according to prophetic scripture. And Jesus knew this, but he also knew it would all happen according to the appointed time set for him by his father in eternity past. And that meant that he would be obedient even in the smallest minute details.

Because as we'll see, Jesus doesn't end up going to the feast with his family as he'd done in previous years. Because then the people of his family and the people of the town would gather up and there would be a caravan of people making the journey with his relatives. And they'd trek the route down south, singing songs of worship in remembrance of God's faithfulness. No, his family and the townspeople would arrive in Jerusalem without Jesus this year. And all for good reason.

Because as he reiterates once again in verse eight, he says to his brothers, you go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come. Now there is a difficult rendering of this text in verse eight. Because here we're told of what Jesus says to his brothers, and he says, you go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast for my time had not yet fully come.

Yet a little later, he does end up going to the feast, albeit privately in a few days later, but he does end up going to the feast. So how are we to understand this? Well, for starters, as you probably may have already realized in the footnotes in your Bibles, There is an alternate reading to this verse. Some manuscripts have our Lord saying, I am not yet going up to the feast, because that's exactly what happens. And that's the naturally how we make sense of the text, that he is not yet going up to the feast.

But the translators, such as the ESV, which we have before us, don't have the suffix. The suffix is the two Greek letters at the end of the root word that connotes the yet. And that's because some manuscripts have it and some other manuscripts don't have it. But brothers and sisters, without going any further into the principles of translation, we trust by faith that the Lord has preserved the purity of his word and its meaning. And the variance that we do have before us is superficial anyway.

Because the context is clear either way. The point of our Lord is that every movement is governed and regulated according to the Father's divine schedule. And certainly not according to the counsel of his brothers. He's basically telling his brothers, I don't take my cue from you. What I do and when I do it is determined by my father's will.

They want Jesus to go up now publicly, but Jesus will wait until the time is right. And no point does he suggest that he'll never leave Galilee, but only that he will not go up with them this year. The time is not right just because they say it's right. It's right when the father says it's right. And right now it's not the right time.

So in verse nine, Jesus, Well, the Apostle John tells us, after this, he remained in Galilee. You see, some have actually speculated the reason for the delay. The big one is that the Sanhedrin would have had time to convene and start the process of convicting our Lord, which would result in his early crucifixion. But speculation is not helpful. We're not given the reasons, so we can't be sure.

We only know that the delay was necessary according to his divine agenda. My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. Okay. Divine timing is important in the big sense because our Lord was working according to the Father's will in the time scheduled for Him by the Father. So we've made that point.

We've also acknowledged that every part of His incarnate ministry was to be according to the predestined timetable that He'd been given. But my question is, why? Why did timing matter so much to Christ? Why was Jesus on a personal level so concerned with the days and the hours and even the minutes? See, I believe the answer to that question will help us explain why he'll go on to say to his brothers a little later on the latter part of verse six, but your time is always here.

Because Jesus is making a contrast, a contrast between his time and a contrast between their time. Well, beloved, timing mattered for Christ personally, because as I briefly said earlier, he sought above all things to glorify his father. Every detail in His incarnate life, all the way from His birth to His crucifixion, was purposed to bring glory to God. This was made so clear in our Lord's words when the hour of his suffering had actually arrived in John chapter 12. Listen to what our Lord says.

He says, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. And hear these words.

Father, glorify your name. You see, the Father had given him a work to do. And as one who lives every moment of every day for the glory of his father, obeying in the big things is just as important as obeying in the little things. Everything matters. The glory of God is on the line.

And so everything is done to exalt his father. As I said earlier, Jesus is our example for life in this. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he writes, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Our Lord was concerned with getting the days, the hours, and even the minutes right. What does it matter, you might ask, if he goes to Jerusalem a day or two earlier?

You might ask or you might argue that the Jews tried to kill our Lord before and God protected him then. And he'll protect him no doubt now if he goes up early. But that's not the point. It matters greatly to Jesus, not because he sought protection for his life. No, it mattered to him because every thought and his every action in his life was purposed to bring his father glory.

We have to see this. Every moment, therefore, is infinitely valuable because every moment of his life was spent for the renown of his father's name. Do you see that? His life equates to glory to God. And if his goal is to please his father, then only perfection according to his father's sovereign plan would do.

That means every second counts, beloved. Every second counted for our Savior. What a subject lesson in how we ought to live our lives, right? How concerned are we, brothers and sisters, in making sure that we're walking in the Father's will every moment of every day, walking according to His Word? How concerned are we in bringing honor to His name and striving to do so with all our time in every area of our life, even when it hurts?

Sometimes we fall in the trap. and the trap of meditating upon the Lord and in His incarnate life. And we do marvel. We are completely astonished at His life. But then we leave it at that.

We place His obedience and desire to honor the Father in an unachievable basket. We say only Christ can be that obedient. And you're true. I'm glad. I'm glad he was obedient to the Father.

And I acknowledge only he could have been that obedient. And I'm glad and I praise him for being because he's so obedient. He's done for us. Amen. And we are the recipients of all the spiritual blessing that he earned through his perfect obedience.

And yes, we are justified before the Lord because of his perfect obedience. And we have been saved into that beloved. True. We hear it every week. What are we saved into?

So yes, it's our salvation, our justification is predicated upon the perfect obedience of Christ. But let me ask you, what are we saved into? We're here every week. We've prayed in our prayers. And we know it's the Spirit of God's primary work in the life of Christians and in the church corporately.

What is it? What are we being saved into? Beloved, we've been saved into holiness, to be conformed into the image of Christ. As our brother said earlier, that we are to be holy as He is holy. And if you and I wish to be like our Lord and our Savior, who it was the example and exemplified the epitome of righteousness, holiness, and perfect obedience, then we ought to be also concerned in everything to honor God in faith in Jesus Christ with our obedience to Him.

The life that has true eternal value is the life that brings glory to God. In everything. In everything. Jesus was perfect evidence of this. And the Father was pleased with him.

For us in Christ, We too, like our Lord and Saviour and the one who is the author and the perfecter of our faith, must seek the glory of God in all that we do. Beloved, that means with our families, our relationships, our work, our ministries, our money, our resources, and of course, with all of our time. Beloved, the scripture is clear. we ought to live our lives so that in everything God may be glorified through Christ our Savior. United in Christ and living with that primary goal in mind gives eternal value to our lives and eternal value to our time.

You see, for Jesus, But when Jesus says to his brothers, but your time is always here, what he's saying is this, there is no such value given to his brother's time. You see, the text is not suggesting that God is not sovereign over his brother's time as God is sovereign over the time of Christ. That's not what the text is saying, because God is sovereign over all. But whether his brothers go down to the feast now or later, it makes no difference. The unbeliever's time is spent on selfish, fleshly endeavors.

He or she is not concerned to bestow honor and glory to the Father. Rather, in their enmity with God, they bring disrepute to His holy name. So Jesus is saying, In the scheme of things, for his unbelieving brothers, it doesn't matter when they go down to the feast, they're not on a divine agenda. Their lives do not bring glory to God, and therefore, what they do with their time has no intrinsic value as far as Christ is concerned. They may be devout Jews.

They may have some knowledge of the scripture. but their lives are not defined as people seeking above all to bring glory to God. It's clear they know nothing of God's agenda and they're guilty or just as guilty as the Jews in Jerusalem in chapter five of not having the word of God truly abiding in them. Because beloved, if they did, they would be able to recognize the incarnate word of God who stands before them. And if they recognize Jesus for who he was, we would not be told.

And even his brothers did not believe in him, but rather they fell on their knees. and worshipped. That would be time well spent. That would give true value to their lives that they worship God in Christ Jesus. But that's not the case.

Not yet anyway. And according to scripture, apart from God's gracious hand in salvation, the only divine appointment an unbeliever has is with death. and then judgment. That's it. But one may ask, why would Jesus imply that his unbelieving brothers did what they did with their time is ultimately insignificant when they are now preparing to go down to Jerusalem to a feast, mind you, that God had commanded them to do in scripture?

Is that not time well spent, you might ask? Beloved, the answer is no. You see, God does not seek those who worship Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. He seeks worshipers who worship with all their hearts, worshipers who worship with their souls and their minds, and New Testament worshipers who worship the Lord as our God, our Lord Jesus Christ said to the Samaritan woman at the well, who worship in spirit and in truth. He's not after cold, lifeless religion.

That's what the Pharisees offered him. And you only have to glance over Matthew 23, and you'll see that God despises that type of religion. It needs to be authentic. It needs to be Spirit-empowered religion that seeks above all to glorify God in His Son, Jesus Christ. It needs to be real, beloved, heart and soul engaging real.

And that begins with the divine work from the hand of God, a work that requires being plucked from this world and the evil system, the system that rebels against God in this age with all its desires and then brought into the kingdom of God in Christ. But that, that comes at a cost. You see, to be reconciled with God, that is to go from the state of enmity with him to a state of being restored in intimate fellowship through his son, the cost is this. The world will become your enemy. Beloved, you cannot have both.

Friendship with the world is enmity with God. It's one or the other. Either you belong to the world, that is the rebellious system of this age, and therefore loved by the world, or you belong to God in his son, Jesus, and as a result, you're hated by the world. You see, for the brothers of Christ, at least for now, it was the former. Verse seven, the world cannot hate you, Jesus says, but he hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

The world cannot hate you. You see, these are seemingly nice words until you understand their meaning. And if properly understood, these are terrifying words of judgment. Because as I said earlier, to be loved by the world is to be an enemy. That's what Jesus is saying.

The world cannot hate you because you belong to the world. You see, that's why for Jesus' brothers, it didn't matter when or even if they go to the feast. In fact, it didn't matter what they did with their time. As long as they remain in an unbelieving state, they will be loved by the world. The world loves its own brothers and sisters.

There may be superficial differences on the surface. Some people may be different shade or color and others may be a different agenda, different intellectual statuses, different economical statuses and so forth. But at the heart, you either belong to God in Christ or you belong to the world. And it is only those two options, only two families, spiritually speaking, exist in this world. And Jesus would go on to say in only a few days time to the Jews, you're either children of God, you either believe in Jesus and are found in him and are children of God, or you are children of the devil.

There is no third option. In Christ, children of God, and anyone else, even unbelieving religious Jews, you belong in the other category, children of the devil. Two families, no third option. And as I said earlier, the natural man may have some superficial differences, but at the core, they are all the same. They are rebels.

against God. They are darkened in their hearts and at the center of their very existence is self. The temporal pleasures of this world occupy their whole existence. Beloved, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is what they're about. Now they can put up a facade, just like the brothers of Christ did, by engaging in religious activities, but at the heart level, without face, they are all devoid of the love of the Father, filled with the love of the world, therefore children of the devil.

And so as such, they engage in the activities of darkness. whatever those activities may be. Because as long as their deeds are concealed, then they pose no threat to one another. See, once conscience is seared and as he or she looks to the left and then to the right, all they see is other people engaging in the same wicked activities and they're okay because they don't stand out. In fact, they fit in perfectly and continue to indulge in the desires of the flesh to their heart's content.

Actually, the manifest evils they see with their own eyes, well, They spur them even to more and more rebellion, to more and more iniquity. This is the insatiable thirst for sin for the natural man. But above all, the world doesn't wish to be exposed. That's why they remain in darkness. Remember our Lord's words back in chapter three, for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

They'll avoid the light at all costs. And if they can't avoid that light, then what they'll do is they'll attempt to snuff it out. And that's why the world hates our Lord. Verse seven again. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because, because I testify about it that its works are evil.

Christ. Christ and His Word reveals their wickedness. He reveals their transgressions. He exposes their shame. He reveals their disgrace, flooding the darkness with the light of His glory and they hate Him for it.

His purity exposes their wickedness. His perfection and His perfect obedience exposes their iniquity. His wisdom exposes their folly. His genuine love for God exposes their hypocrisy. His truth exposes their lies and His gospel reveals no matter how religious they are, they are utterly ruined under the weight of their sins unless they believe in Him.

You see, Jesus testifies to the world that it is not good enough, that it is rebellious against God, that all its endeavors will fall short of being accepted with God. And brothers and sisters, the natural man, the natural man or woman who is governed by self, whose heart and soul exists to satisfy self. A man or a woman like that, that is riddled with unchecked pride, does not want to hear that he or she is not good enough. They won't take that. They won't accept that.

But the awesome, brilliant light of our Savior and His Word exposes them for who they are, and they're confronted with the reality, and they don't want to hear it. In fact, they cannot bear hear the sound of His voice. You see, from the onset, they recognize quickly that this Jesus, is different. He doesn't belong to the world. He's not one of us.

So let's get rid of him. You remember back in the prologue of John when the apostle writes, he was in, speaking of Christ, of course, he was in the world and the world was made through him. Hear this, yet the world did not, that's right, know him. The world did not know him. She could not identify with him.

Jesus and the world are like oil and water. The two cannot mix. And the world hated him for it. Why? Because he made them feel dirty.

He made them feel unrighteous. He made them feel needy. He made them feel unclean. He confronts them with his truth. And their dirty laundry.

The truth of who they really are is exposed and nothing remains hidden, beloved. Nothing remains hidden. Tell me, let me ask you this question. Who likes to be confronted in this way? Who enjoys having the evil contents of their hearts fully exposed to the all-seeing eye of Jesus Christ?

Not the world. Definitely not the world. Not those who are still given over to the desires of the flesh. Not those who are still given over to self. Not those who love their sins.

Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about how it is that the world wants its filthy sins to remain hidden? Yet, hear this brothers and sisters. By grace, the Christian prays for his sins to be revealed. The world does all it can in its power to hide its sins and for them to remain concealed.

Yet the Christian prays to God for his sins to be revealed. Isn't that a strange thing, don't you think? That we pray for the spirit, that he would expose our sins and show us our unrighteousness when the world would do the exact opposite. Beloved, that's, That's what it means to be children of the light. 1 John 1.

7 says, but if we walk in the light as he, as he, that is Christ, in the light, he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. Beloved, it's not that we remain in the light because we have nothing to be ashamed of. Every one of us knows that's not true, but we desire to be in the light because that's where our Savior is. And that's where we're able to see our iniquities and repent of them. And that's where the Lord fulfills his promise to make us clean.

The world runs away in hatred of our Savior, offended by him and his words only to remain in her sin. The believer doesn't run, but remains. All exposed. everything in the heart everything in the soul revealed head down ashamed but not for long because in the light the believer, the Christian, the one who is trusting in Jesus, looks up, recognizing their unworthiness, seeing their filth, seeing their exposing of all the wickedness that is within. But when they look up, they see the Savior wrap them in the robe of his righteousness.

And then he says, I will make you clean. Children, of the light. But for the world, the testifying of our Lord to their evil works is incredibly confronting, because they're confronted with the fact that they are not good enough. and that's why they hate him. They're confronted with the fact that their sin is rebellion against God and that's why they hate him.

They're confronted with the fact that their sin will warrant the awesome judgment upon God for all eternity and they do not want to hear it and therefore they hate him. He exposes the true condition of their corrupt hearts. And that's not comfortable, nor is it welcome. But that's what our Lord does. He testifies of the truth for the truth for all of us, beloved.

It's not pretty. In the fourth gospel already, we've seen examples of this played out, have we not? The highly esteemed teacher of the The highly esteemed teacher of all Israel, Nicodemus, remember, honored by his peers, revered by the people. He had an encounter with our Lord and the so-called religious man with all the trophies that he had was exposed to be one who knew nothing of saving faith. His religion wasn't good enough.

Think about the Samaritan woman at the well. In a matter of moments, her dirty laundry of her immorality was exposed before the eyes of this stranger that she's never seen before. That's difficult. Think of the learned men, the religious elites in chapter five. In their pomp and their pride, they criticize our Lord for healing an invalid man of some four decades on the Sabbath, thinking they're defending the scripture, only to find out by him that the word scripture that they know abides only in their minds, but it does not abide in their hearts.

So what is their reaction? Hatred, because these are the same men that are spoken of in the first verse of this chapter that we're meditating upon together. They were then bent on killing Jesus and they are still now bent upon killing Jesus. The world hates our Lord because he testifies of its work to be evil. Beloved, this hatred of our Lord is not confined only to the first century, where our Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth for some 30, 33 or so years.

It's been this way throughout this age. Yes, the resurrected Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in glory, and he's physically there as the God-man, yes, amen, but his word, his spirit, and his church remains. At the early stages of our Bible study in the book of Acts, We're still early in the book. But up until now, we've at least come to this conclusion, beloved, that Jesus is personally still continuing his work, even now, by his spirit and by his word and through his church. That's what we're seeing as we study throughout the book of Acts in our Thursday night Bible studies.

Every one of these, whether it's his spirit, his word, or his church, testifies of his goodness and his grace, but he also testifies of the evil works of this world that Jesus did personally in his earthly ministry some 2,000 years ago of what was spoken of here in our text. Of the Holy Spirit in John 16, our Lord says, and when he comes, that's the spirit of God, he will convict the world. Convict the world of concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. of his word, Hebrews 4 tells us, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piecing into, piecing to dividing of the soul and the spirit of joints and of the marrow, hear this, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And of His church in 1 Timothy 3, she is called the pillar and the buttress of truth.

The truth of the gospel of Christ is exampled in the church. The church, beloved, is proof that this Jesus is indeed the Messiah, that He is the one sent by the Father from heaven to redeem a people. This Jesus church is proof, it is proof. that sick, wretched, wicked, evil sinners can be made clean by the grace of God through faith in this Jesus. She authenticates Jesus Christ to be who he is, but at the same time, she also exposes the corruption of the world and their need for a savior that is found exclusively in Jesus Christ.

The church is united in Christ. She is his body. She is his bride. And so the hatred of the world, the hostility the Lord experienced will continue in his church. Beloved, if the world hated our master and our Lord, they will also hate his bride, who is the very image of Christ himself.

this truth is spoken of in several occasions from the mouth of our Lord through the Gospels. It completely refutes much, much of the modern teaching. Jesus spoke of the persecution upon the church, the hatred of the world against the church, the tribulation that will come from the world against his people. He spoke over and over and over again. Yet what we see on many occasions in the modern church is something different to what Jesus had spoken.

It's too often we hear that in Christ, if you come to Jesus, all your problems will melt away and success will open her doors. Get ready for the money, get ready for the good health, get ready for your business to be successful and whatever else that comes through this flood of prosperity. That's not what our Lord has told us. If they hated me, they will hate you also, John 15. And we'll read that text shortly.

But why did they hate our Lord? Because we're being. Because of who he is. And he testified to the world and its evil works. And they hate his church because his church is being conformed into his likeness.

When the world sees us, beloved, when the world sees the church, you know who they're supposed to be looking at? They should see Christ. But here's the convicting thing. The world doesn't know our hearts. If we're cowards, if we lack boldness, if we choose to somehow assimilate with the world, that is to preach a softer, less confronting gospel or to remove sin or remove judgment from our message.

Or if we were to extinguish the need to be holy, withdraw the exclusivity of salvation in Christ alone. If we were to do these things, or even if we were to adopt the inclusiveness as they use the term nowadays, then you will be okay. The world will love us as her own, just as she loved the brothers of Christ in our passage. But beloved, if we were to do these things, it would be to our shame, it would be to our demise, and it would be to the dishonor of our Lord and our Savior, who is the God of truth. Because our Lord made it clear, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him, the son of man will be shamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

This is why the early Christians prayed fervently for boldness. You remember now starting the book of Acts? I told you my surprise has always been when I read the book of Ephesians towards the end, how the apostle Paul in chains could have prayed for so much. Freedom from the chains, more provision, all these things, yet he prays for boldness to proclaim the gospel. Beloved, it is boldness that is required of the church and it requires supernatural courage and boldness to stand against the hatred of this world.

The apostles, remember, were confronted by the religious system of the world when they stood before the Sanhedrin. That was only a few weeks ago in chapter four of the book of Acts. They were threatened and warned not to do what? To no longer give food to the poor. No, no, that wasn't it.

to refrain from helping the sick. No, that wasn't it either. No, they were told to no longer give helping hand to those in need. No. No, that was not it.

They're things that Christians ought to do, but that's not what they said. You see, the world approves of these things. She'll esteem the people who practice them. In fact, she will put you on a ported pedestal and she will love you as her own. But that's not what the apostles were warned not to do.

And this is what distinguishes the church from every other act or cult or guild or club of benevolence. Because Acts chapter 4, 18, it's crystal clear. The apostles were warned like this. It says, so they called them in. The they is the Sanhedrin, and they called the apostles back in.

and charge them, hear this, not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Hatred for Jesus, hatred for Christ, and hatred for everything associated with his name, his father, Hatred for his spirit, hatred for his word, and hatred for his church. The world will hate you, brothers and sisters, because our lives are stamped and defined by his name. Beloved, we are Christians. We are those who belong to Christ.

So now let's open our Bibles. Let's go to John chapter 15. We'll be reading from 18 through 25 and we'll end there. These words were spoken to the disciples on the night our Lord was betrayed. And although they have special relevance to the 12, the veracity, the truths that we find in this difficult passage are by extension for all who are united in Jesus and love him.

And they are beloved. Beloved brothers and sisters, these words are a wake-up call to anyone, even now, who's found hugging the world. Anyone, even now, who's found fully given over to this world. Beloved, as I said before, as Jesus makes crystal clear in the verses we're about to read and elsewhere in Scripture, that one is either of the world or of Christ. You can't have both.

Allegiance, loyalty must be either one or for the other. You cannot have a foot in heaven and a foot in hell. It's as simple as that. Because the world hates Christ. And it will hate anything bearing his name.

Now, hear me right. We do not, under any circumstance, romanticize being hated by the world. We don't, by any stretch of the imagination, sound, make it appealing to be persecuted by the world or the persecution that will come upon the church and upon any believer who truly trusts in Jesus Christ. We don't make that a romantic thing. But beloved, we do bring out the truths in scripture and say, this is the cost of following Christ.

The cost is to love Jesus is to be hated by the world. And to be hated by the world means to be persecuted by the system of rebellion against God that defines the world we live in. And so the question you and I need to ask tonight is this, are we prepared to pay that price? Are we prepared to give up everything in the world for the sake of Christ? The question we need to ask is where is your heart and mind beloved?

Do we want the accolades of this world? Do we want to receive the compliments of this world? Are we after the embellishments of this world? Or is our greatest desire to on that day hear the sweetest sound of our Savior's voice say these words, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.

John 15, 18 through 25, and we'll end there. If the world hates you, and Jesus speaking to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. If the world hates you, you know, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of this 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 no greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sins.

Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. but the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause.

They hated me without a cause. Let's pray.