Hate
Without Cause
John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye
know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the
world would love his own: but because ye are not of
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.
20
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant
is not greater than his lord. If they have
persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent me.
22 If I
had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had
sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my
Father also.
24 If I had not
done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sin: but now have they both seen
and hated both me and my Father.
25
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be
fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated
me without a cause.
26 But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear
witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning.”
1. We Are In It Together
2. The Lord
And His Servant
3. The Cloke Is Taken Away
4.
Things That Must Be
1. We Are In It Together
Let me read verses eighteen and nineteen to you again: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 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.”
Somewhere along the way in your life you are going to experience this hatred, if you’re a true believer in Jesus Christ. This hatred will be directed towards you.
Now, it is one thing for others to hate you because of your actions. It is quite another thing to be hated only because you are associated with someone else that they hate. This someone else being Jesus Christ WHO is hated by them. You are, therefore, hated by ASSOCIATION.
This truth is underscored in Second Thessalonians chapter three verse two and three: “And that we [the Christian] may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” [2 Thessalonians 3:2-3]
Of course the Devil knows this full well. In his vehement hatred of Jesus Christ, he stirs up these “unreasonable and wicked men” to try to hurt those who belong to the LORD.
Again, it is because of our relationship with Jesus Christ that we experience this hate. That is why we [the Christians] need this deliverance from wicked men, and kept from evil. This shows what a marvelous provision the LORD makes for us, while we are in this old world. Amen!
2. The Lord And His Servant
Verse twenty: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
The servant serves the master. This is one of the most basic rules in life.
Let me ratchet this up a notch, and be more particular about a special kind of servant. Let’s talk about the SERVANT of the LORD. The servant of the LORD is shown to be totally dependent on God [like sheep] for his very sustenance:
1. The servant of the LORD is shown to be totally dependent on God … in order to LIVE, and even KEEP God’s WORD.
“Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.” [Psalm 119:17]
2. The servant of the LORD is shown to be totally dependent on God … in order to even be ESTABLISHED in God’s WORD.
“Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear." [Psalm 119:38]
3. The servant of the LORD is shown to be totally dependent on God … in order to even KNOW God’s TESTIMONIES.
“I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.” [Psalm 119:125]
This dependency on God by God’s servants shows WHO is the GREATER. In the New Testament the Christian is identified as a servant.
Let’s turn to Colossians chapter four, verse twelve and see this positive identification, that the Christian is a servant of Jesus Christ. “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” [Colossians 4:12]
The believers in this Church Age are servants of Jesus Christ.
The Son of God is our MASTER.
Let me hit you with something else here, for a moment concerning SERVITUDE.
Consider this, if there are servants of Jesus Christ, it follows that those who are not the servants of Christ are the servants of someone else.
Well, you may say, “I am not a servant to anyone.”
Do not kid yourself, my friend. Every person, who has ever lived on the face of this planet, has been a servant to someone or something. That is a fact!
The Bible teaches us ... PLAINLY, that when we came into this world, we were the servants of sin by DEFAULT. You were, therefore, servants to the Devil. Do not believe me. The Bible says it.
Go to the book of Romans. Let us read from chapter six, verses sixteen through eighteen: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
No one is FREE! You are a servant to someone or something. Now, has it sunk into your noggin yet?
The next verse, [verse eighteen] tells us this: when we got saved by the blood of the LAMB, we became “the servants of righteousness.”
“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” [Romans 6:16-18]
3. The Cloke Is Taken Away
Verse twenty-two: “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”
Now it is true that anytime Jesus Christ [or any of HIS prophets] shows up, HE speaks that which is the WORD of GOD. The word of GOD exposes SIN. The cloke, or cover for sin is blown away by the word of GOD. Amen!
Second Peter chapter one, verse twenty-one, bares this truth out. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” [2 Peter 1:21]
Man had a CLOKE for his sin until the LAW shows up.
It is the teaching of THE LAW that rips the cloke away from us. Amen! “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.” [Psalm 119:142]
Romans chapter seven, in verse seven: “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” [Romans 7:7]
According to verse twenty-two, if Jesus Christ had not shown up two thousand years ago [the first advent] then man would have “had not had sin.”
Jesus Christ wrote the LAW. Jesus came to fulfill the LAW. [Matthew 5:17-18] “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
4. Things That Must Be
Verse twenty-five: “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”
There is only one BOOK in the world that can make predictions that come true one hundred percent of the time.
The BOOK I am speaking about is the King James Bible. It is a BOOK that is alive [or QUICK].
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” [Hebrews 4:12]
It is a BOOK that foretells of future events … hundreds, or even thousands of years before they would occur.
The Bible is BOOK of history! The Bible is a BOOK that foretells of these historical events with absolute precision, every time. It explains the things that must be fulfilled.
In chapter twenty-six of the book of Matthew when Jesus told Peter to “put up again thy sword into his place”, HE told Peter this in verse fifty-three, and fifty-four: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” [Matthew 26:53-54]
Things that must be!
We see this same pattern throughout the BIBLE.
For example, we see it in the book of Matthew sixteen times alone: Matthew 1:22, Matthew 2:15, Matthew 2:17, Matthew 2:23, Matthew 4:14, Matthew 5:18, Matthew 8:17, Matthew 12:17, Matthew 13:14, Matthew 13:35, Matthew 21:4, Matthew 24:34, Matthew 26:54, Matthew 26:56, Matthew 27:9, Matthew 27:35.
Look at these references, my friend. The Bible is a self fulfilling BOOK where THINGS MUST BE! Wow, what a BOOK!
What a GOD WHO wrote the
BOOK! Amen!