The Gospel Of John Chapter 15 Pt. 8 Christians Are Hated By The World But Loved By God!

Christians must learn to expect hatred from this evil world.

John 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

Jesus continues His ministry to His disciples, mere hours before His death on the cross of Calvary. 

Jesus is pouring His final, much needed truth into these handpicked men who will carry on the mission, when Christ returns to His Father. 

This text begins the last paragraph in John 15, and sets the table for the verses that follow. 

Jesus speaks to His disciples, and by extension, to all Christians today. Here is a spiritual reality. 

The world is going to hate us. Why? Because we are not of the world. 

John 7:7  The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. 

Earlier in John's gospel Jesus spoke to His brothers. He said that because He speaks the truth of the scriptures, the world hates Him. 

Jesus had exposed the evil deeds of the world, and this provoked the world's hatred for Christ. 

A Christian no longer is subject to a corrupt, depraved culture. In fact, the holy life of each Christian, will serve as a rebuke to the depravity in the world.

As a Christian learns to walk in newness of life, and rejoices in seeing our old sinful life pass away, the world will hate us (See 2 Corinthians 5:17). 

When Christians share gospel truth with lost people, the world will hate us, for telling people they must repent and be saved.  

When we worship the One, True God of heaven, the world will hate us, for telling them that there is only one way of salvation and only one Savior, Jesus Christ. 

A Christian is born again, and receives a new heart and a new spirit from God.  A Christian lives as a stranger or pilgrim in this life, and we have a new Master, Jesus Christ. 

The light of God's Word exposes the world's evil.

John 3:19-21  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

This text comes right after John 3:16, and God's promise of eternal life, to all who  turn to Jesus Christ with repentant faith. 

While the glorious light of the gospel of Christ shines, people are either drawn to the light, or repelled by it. 

Those who are drawn to the gospel light believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again. 

Those who keep sinning hate the good news of salvation 

Why? Because those who do evil things hate the light of truth that exposes their sin.  Because they choose to live in sin, and hate the light. 

The world hates us because the world system is under the domain of Satan. 

In contrast, a Christian has been liberated from slavery to sin, in order to live for God's glory, until He calls us home. 

The world is filled with the darkness and pollution of sin, and those who love darkness, hate the light of the gospel of Christ. 

They hate the light of God manifest in our lives, when we are regenerated by God's Spirit. 

The world hates the light of a Christian's godly testimony.

John 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

Jesus expounds in the reason why the world system always hates Christians. We are no longer of this world. 

A Christian has a new life with a fresh start because of God's salvation. 

A Christian has a new heart and spirit from God so that we might walk in newness of life, with Christ.  

A Christian rejoices that God is changing us from the inside out, so that our old sinful way of life is passing away. 

A Christian has a new destination for eternity and a home in heaven that the Father is preparing for us. 

A Christian has a new King, Jesus Christ, and we are to live by His commands,  because this is what Jesus tells us to do (See Matthew 28:18-20).

A Christian will be a good blessing to our families, emplyers, communities and countries. 

This is why the world hates Christians. We are no longer sinners like we used to be. We are no longer enslaved to sin. 

Yes, there is a stuggle between our old man that resist the things of God and our new man in Christ which embraces the things of God. This is the spiritual warfare that each believer in Christ is called to. 

The world flaunts sin, and therefore hates the light of the gospel and the light of our testimony for Jesus.  

We are called out of sin's darkness, into God's marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:9-10  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. 

Just as Jesus said, Peter also reminds us about the glory of our salvation. It is all of God.

This passage is an indicative one, meaning that it declares indicators of what God has done to save us.  

He foreknows all things, and He knew who would respond to the gospel of Christ, and who would refuse to obey the gospel. 

God chose each Christian to be His special people, who are taught how to live a holy life, in a very unholy world. 

God gives us the opportunity to do what mankind was created to do: worship the One, True God of heaven. 

We have all things to praise God for, because He called us out of the darkness of sin, and into the marvelous light of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Though we are undeserving, we have received saving grace and mercy from our Lord.

Because of what God did to save us, this is how we should live. 

1 Peter 2:11-12  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 

This passage is an imperative one, meaning that because of what God did in order to save us, this is how we should respond to His grace.

We should view the world as a temporary place that we are passing through. We are to live as a stranger and pilgrim, and be ready to move on to heaven at a moment's notice. 

Thus, the imperative to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against our soul. Another imperative, is that we live an honest life marked by integrity.

What is the result when a Christian understands what God did to save him, and he (or she) decides to follow Jesus with their whole heart?

Lost people around us may speak of us as evil doers. Thus, as Jesus said "the world hateth you" because a Christian lives for God's glory, instead of for self.

Those who claim to be Christian but love the world, are deceived. 

1 John 2:15-17  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

The apostle John reemphasized this truth, as the Spirit of God guided him. 

Here is a clear and understandable imperative from God: "Love not the world," because loving the world, is the complete opposite of loving and serving God with all our heart. 

1 John 3:12-13  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 

John answers the question of Cain's motive for killing his innocent brother, Abel (See Genesis 4). 

Cains works were evil but Abel had a good testimony of righteousness before God. This is why Cain killed his own brother.

Thus, as Jesus said, we should not be surprised that the world still hates Christians, today. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Jesus' teaching is so clear and understandable. If we are truly born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, then the world is going to hate us.

We should not be shocked by the world system's hatred for Christians. Rather, we should anticipate it, and be storing up God's Word in our hearts, so that we can shine gospel light into the world.

God wants all men everywhere to repent and turn in faith, to the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:1-6). 

God is not willing that any soul perish in their sins. He wants all people to hear and heed the gospel. 

Thus, Great Commission living is vital for each Christian. We are saved to serve our glorious God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

We are bought with a price and our body, soul and spirit now belong to God. Therefore, we must seek to glorify God in all that we do.

May the Lord Jesus Christ be honored by our response to His Word. 

May the Spirit of God help us walk in newness of life, and be a living testimony of God's grace, to a lost and dying world.

Bob