December 13th, 2020
John 15:18-16:4
“Warned”
Call to Worship: Psalm 69
Aux. text: Matthew 10:17-42
Service Orientation: Darkness hates light. As children of the Light you must never forget this. Jesus warned us!
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. — John 3:20
Background Information:
- Christ had been speaking about not letting our hearts be troubled, about the benefits of abiding in him, about the love that is to exist between believers, when all of a sudden he turned to matters of trials and the world’s hatred. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 369)
- The Roman government hated the Christians because it regarded them as disloyal citizens. The position of the government was quite simple and understandable. The Empire was vast; it stretched from the Euphrates to Britain, from Germany to North Africa. It included all kinds of peoples and all kinds of countries within it. Some unifying force had to be found to weld this varied mass into one; and it was found in Caesar worship. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 182)
- There came the day when once a year every inhabitant of the Empire had to burn his pinch of incense to the godhead of Caesar. By so doing, he showed that he was a loyal citizen of Rome. When he had done this, he received a certificate to say that he had done it.
Here was the practice and the custom which made all men feel that they were part of Rome, and which guaranteed their loyalty to her. Now Rome was the essence of toleration. After he had burned his pinch of incense and said, “Caesar is Lord,” a man could go away and worship any god he liked, so long as the worship did not affect public decency and public order. But that is precisely what the Christians would not do. They would call no man “Lord” except Jesus Christ. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 183)
- The government persecuted the Christians because they insisted they had no king but Christ. Persecution came to the Christians because they put Christ first. Persecution always comes to the man who does that. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 183)
- They were said to be insurrectionaries. . .The fact remained they would not burn their pinch of incense and say, “Caesar is Lord,” and so they were branded as dangerous and disloyal men. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 184)
- They were said to be cannibals. This charge came from the words of the sacrament. “This is my body which is for you.” “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 184)
- They were said to practice the most flagrant immorality. The weekly meal of the Christians was called the Agape, the Love Feast. When the Christian met each other in the early days they greeted each other with the kiss of peace. It was not difficult to spread abroad the report that the Love Feast was an orgy of sexual indulgence, of which the kiss of peace was the symbol and the sign. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 184)
- They were said to be incendiaries. They looked to the Second Coming of Christ. To it they had attached all the OT pictures of the Day of the Lord, which foretold of the flaming disintegration and destruction of the world. “The elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up” (2 Pt 3:10). In the reign of Nero came the disastrous fire which devastated Rome and it was easy to connect it with people who preached of the consuming fire which would destroy the world. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 184)
- (v. 18) The form of the Greek in verse 18 suggests certainty: “you will be hated.” (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 369)
- (v. 18) By the world John meant human society organizing itself without God. There is bound to be a cleavage between the man who regards God as the only reality in life and the man who regards God as totally irrelevant for life. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 185)
- (vss. 18-19) The world loves only its own, those who conform to its spirit, accept its values, and worship its false gods. Jesus underlines the sharp line of suspicion the world draws between itself and the disciples by speaking of the world five times in two sentences (v. 19). (Roger L. Fredrikson, The Communicator’s Commentary: John, 241)
- (vss. 18-19) Here he makes “world” linger in the mind by using the word five times in a single verse (NIV drops one of them). (Leon Morris, The New Int’l Commentary on the NT: John, 602)
(v.19) The Greek word for “love” here is philos. The world is incapable of agape love without the Spirit of God assisting.
- (v. 26) In Jn 15:26 all three Persons of the Godhead are mentioned: Jesus the Son will send the Spirit from the Father. (Warren W. Wiersby, Be Transformed, 64)
- (v. 1) In chapter 15, Jesus instructed the disciples as to what they were to do (e.g., vv. 4, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17-20). But in chapter 16 He focused on what God would do for them through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit (e.g., vv. 1-4, 7, 13-15). He would comfort, strengthen, and aid the disciples in the midst of their conflict with the world. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 189)
- (v. 1) He had spoken those words to the disciples so that they might be kept from stumbling. Stumbling translates a form of the verb skandalizō; the related noun literally refers to the bait stick in a trap. The term here refers figuratively to the disciples’ being caught off guard like an animal ensnared in a trap. Had Jesus not warned them of the persecution they would inevitably face, the disciples might have become shocked and disillusioned so that their faith might have faltered. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 190)
(v. 2) To be made outcasts from the synagogue meant far more than merely being forbidden to attend religious services. Those who were excommunicated from the synagogue were cut off from all religious, social, and economic aspects of Jewish society. They were branded as traitors to their people and their God, and faced the likely consequence of losing both their families and their jobs. Not surprisingly, being unsynagogued was greatly feared (cf. 9:22; 12:42). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 191)
(v. 2) It was a principle which had the value of a dogma among the Jews: “Whoever sheds the blood of the wicked is equal to one who brings a sacrifice.” (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 321)
(v. 4) It may well be that this particular utterance of Jesus was reported by John because of the pressing need for courage in the church of his day. The Apocalypse indicates that there was a wide break between the church and the synagogue at the end of the first century (Rv 2:9; 3:9) and that those who professed to believe in Jesus were completely disowned by their Jewish compatriots. John’s use of the term “the Jews” seems to confirm this. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 156)
- (v. 4) During His ministry, the Lord not only protected His disciples, but also bore the brunt of the world’s attacks–something He would shortly do again for the last time (18:8-9). Because Jesus had been there to receive the assaults Himself and to shield them, the disciples had not experienced the full force of the opposition they would now face in His absence. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 193)
- In 9:22 and 12:42 we are told that the religious leaders had decided that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. Jesus predicted that this would happen to the disciples. By the time John’s Gospel was recorded, Christians were already frequently barred from the synagogues. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 320)
- Note the progress in the world’s opposition: hatred (Jn 15:18-19), persecution (Jn 15:20), excommunication, and even death (Jn 16:2). You can trace these stages of resistance as you read the book of Acts. (Warren W. Wiersby, Be Transformed,65)
The question to be answered is . . . What is Jesus teaching us in this text?
Answer: Jesus is warning His disciples that because they are children of the Light (of Jesus) those who are of the dark will hate them and try to destroy them. Don’t let this take you by surprise.
According to Protestant historian John Dowling, the Roman Catholic Church put to death more than fifty million “heretics” between AD 606 (the birth of the papacy) and the mid-1800s (History of Romanism, 8:541). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 188)
Godly leaders like John Huss (1369-1415), Hugh Latimer (1485-1555), William Tyndale (1495-1536), Patrick Hamilton (1504-1528), and George Wishart (1513-1546) were among those martyred for the faith. When the chain was put around John Huss, securing him to the stake where he would be burned, he said with a smile, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?” When asked to recant, Huss declined, saying, “What I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood” (John Fox, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 634). He died singing a hymn as the flames engulfed his body. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 189)
A 1997 article in the New York Times reported that “more Christians have died this century simply for being Christians than in the first nineteen centuries after the birth of Christ” (A. M. Rosenthal, “Persecuting Christians, New York Times, February 11, 1997). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 189)
The Word for the Day is . . . Warning
What is Jesus teaching us in this text?:
- Darkness hates the Light: they are irreconcilable. (Jn 15:18-23; see also: Prv 29:27; Amos 5:10, 15; 2 Cor 4:3-4; Mt 6:23; Mk 9:39-40; Lk 6:22, 26; 11:23; 12:51-53; 21:12-17; Jn 1:10-11; 3:19-21; 7:7; 8:47; 12:31; 17:14-16; Acts 7:1-60; Rom 8:5-17; 1 Cor 4:12-13; 12:3; Gal 5:16-17; Col 1:12-13, 21; 2 Tm 3:10-12; Jam 4:4; 1 Pt 4:3-4; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 3:1, 12-13; 4:5-6; 5:19)
If you’ve made friends with the world, you must have done it by compromising Christ. (R.C. Sproul, John: An Expositional Commentary, 275)
Our very separation from the world arouses the world’s animosity. The world would prefer that we were like them; since we are not, they hate us (see 1 Pt 4:3-4). (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 317)
There can be no compromise with the satanic world system that is irrevocably and unalterably opposed to the kingdom of God. As Jesus declared, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters” (Lk 11:23). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 180)
Where there is light there are bugs.
Truth: The New Hate Speech
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. —George Orwell
Are we sufficiently like Christ to draw the world’s fire? There can be no truce between him and it. They front each other, Christ and the world, foot to foot, in deadly enmity. But many of his followers seem to imagine that they have contrived a clever and most satisfactory compromise by which, without breaking with either, they can meet the demands of both these claimants for their loyalty. This, said Christ bluntly, is impossible. (George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 8, 726)
Christians submit to God in a world that defiles either independence or rigid conformity to a human system. Christians are free from all authority except God (and those authorities that God has ordained). The world resented Jesus’ freedom; it will resent ours. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 316)
Christians return love for hatred and are therefore hated even more. Jesus forgave those who crucified him. Christians who show Jesus’ kind of love are misunderstood and hated even more. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 316)
Christians’ values contradict the values of those who do not follow Jesus. The world rejected the way Jesus lived, and will reject the way we live, if we live like Jesus. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 316)
There are two humanities. There are only 2 families (there are two humanities). One under the power of the personal God and one under the power of the personal forces of darkness and evil. And all of us are in the latter family until, by the new birth, we’re transferred into the former. That’s what Jesus says. (Tim Keller; Two Families)
There are two kinds of DNA possible to be at the heart of a person’s soul. Either (2 Pt 1 says the Divine Nature) the Holy Spirit, God’s DNA; or else, as Jesus talks about here, the DNA of the force of darkness: dishonesty, pride, resentment. (Tim Keller; Two Families)
To comfort his disciples Jesus now adds, “know that it has hated me before it hated you.” What he means is, “Constantly bear in mind that you are in excellent company. When the world hates you because you confess me, this shows that you belong to me and therefore experience, to a certain extent, what I have been experiencing right along.” (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 310)
The world hates us. Why? Because we have left the kingdom of darkness and entered the kingdom of light (Col 1:12-13). As light, we expose the evil deeds of unbelievers. People don’t like to have their sinfulness exposed. On top of that, Christians should have a contented life-style, inner joy and peace, certainty of the future, lack of fear of death, and love for their enemies. People without God feel, sometimes unconsciously, threatened. Atheistic governmental systems know that allegiance to Jesus keeps people spiritually free who may be under their control in every other way. Refusal to worship Caesars, even though done with respect, had an impact similar to armed rebellion. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 315-6)
Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. Wherever the holiness of God confronts unholiness there is conflict. This conflict arises from the irreconcilable natures of holiness and sin. God’s attitude and action in the conflict are His anger. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down destruction and save the world from irreparable moral collapse He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment of God in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. (A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 110-11)
Because “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God” (Rom 8:7), “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (v. 8). Unbelievers are “dead in [their] trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1), “alienated and hostile in mind” (Col 1:21), and “darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart” (Eph 4:18). All people are sinners by nature, born into a state of rebellion against God. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 174)
Jesus Christ was against the world, for the world. And if you and I are for the world, if we are loving it fearlessly, we will be controversial. And if you are not controversial you are not loving the world as He did. A Christianity that is not continually in a head-on collision with the fashionable and with the cultural trends is not worth its salt. Jesus says, “The world can’t hate you”. He says to His brothers. “But, it has to hate Me” And if it has to hate Him it has to hate anybody who claims to have anything to do with Him. (Tim Keller; Christ and the World)
The world. . . .would not hate angels for being angelic; but it does hate men for being Christians. It grudges them their new character; it is tormented by their peace; it is infuriated by their joy. (William Temple, Readings in John’s Gospels, 272)
The close association between his persecution and theirs finds expression in the voice from heaven which Saul of Tarsus heard on the Damascus road: “why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4; 22:7; 26:14). The Lord who was personally persecuted on earth continued to be persecuted, even in his exaltation, in the person of his persecuted followers. Their being persecuted for his sake was a sign that they belonged to him, as it was a token of coming judgment on their persecutors (cf. Phil 1:28; 2 Thess 1:5-10). (F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, 313)
During these times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. — George Orwell
It is a most fearful fact, but one most clearly revealed in Scripture, that men in their natural state are “haters of God” (Rom 1:30); their minds being “enmity against God” (Rom 8:7). It is this hatred of God which causes people to reject Christ and dislike Christians. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 848)
Jesus Christ will have no service on false pretenses, but will let us understand at the beginning that if we serve under His flag we have to make up our minds to hardships which otherwise we may escape, to antagonisms which otherwise will not be provoked, and to more than an ordinary share of sorrow and suffering and pain. “Through much tribulation we must enter the Kingdom.” (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: John, Chaps. XV-XXI, 82)
The world acutely dislikes people whose lives are a condemnation of it. It is in fact dangerous to be good. The classic instance is the fate which befell Aristides in Athens. He was called Aristides the Just; and yet he was banished. When one of the citizens was asked why he had voted for his banishment, he answered: “Because I am tired of hearing him always called the Just.” That was why men killed Socrates; they called him the human gadfly. He was always compelling men to think and to examine themselves, and men hated that and killed him. It is dangerous to practice a higher standard than the standard of the world. Nowadays a man can be persecuted even for working too hard or too long. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 185-6)
Cultural differences are superficial compared to the distinction Jesus makes. (Tim Keller; Two Families)
Far from abiding in Jesus’ Word, the Pharisees could not even listen to it. Here is unshakeable proof that they were not born again but were still lost in their sins.
This is the point that the great Augustine labored his entire life and his ministry. He argued that the fall left man morally impotent. Fallen man does not come to the Word of God because he has no taste for the things of God. By nature the things of God are foreign to him. He doesn’t want God in his thinking. He refuses to have anything to do with Him. He has no desire for the things of God. By nature his desires are only wicked continually. That’s why God has to change the disposition of a person’s heart before he will ever respond to the Word of Christ. The Spirit has to set him free. (R.C. Sproul, John: An Expositional Commentary, 153-4)
The world advocates ego-exaltation, condones greed and approves selfish ambition. The rich and powerful are always admired. But Jesus teaches a man must deny all that to follow Him. Therefore His way opposes that of the world. He is hated because of it. The extent to which the world hates us, is the extent to which it sees Christ in us. The Christian whom the world approves, cannot be like Christ. (C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on John, 255)
Jesus’ followers have been described in Jn 13:1 as “his own people who were in the world,” on whom he set his love. He chose them “out of the world” to be “his own people,” and therefore they no longer belonged to the world. The world looked on them as aliens, and treated them accordingly. (F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, 313)
Because Satan hates God he also hates the true people of God. They are targets for his wrath as he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pt 5:8; cf. Eph 6:11). Since its ruler hates believers, it is hardly surprising that the world also hates them, because they are not of the world. The world resents believers because their godly lives condemn its evil works; “he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked” (Prv 29:27). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 171)
To him there are two great entities–the Church and the world. And there is no contact and no fellowship between them.
To John it is, “Stand thou on that side, for on this am I.”
As he saw it, a man is either of the world or of Christ, and there is no stage between.
Further, we must remember that by this time the Church was living under the constant threat of persecution. Christians were indeed persecuted because of the name of Christ. Christianity was illegal. A magistrate needed only to ask whether or not a man was a Christian, and, if he was, no matter what he had done or had not done, he was liable to punishment by death. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 181)
The followers of the Nazarene would be excommunicated from the religious and social life of Israel. They would be cut off from the hopes and prerogatives of the Jews. They would be viewed by their former friends as worse than pagans. They would lose their jobs, would be exiled by their families, and would even lose the privilege of honorable burial. Worse than this even, they would actually be killed. (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 321)
The children of God will so love the truth that they will believe in Jesus; the children of the devil will be so characterized by lies that they will not be able to accept the truth, precisely because it is the truth. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 353-4)
For as we are called the children of God, not only because we resemble him, but because he governs us by his Spirit, because Christ lives and is vigorous in us, so as to conform us to the image of his Father; so, on the other hand, the devil is said to be the father or those whose understandings he blinds, whose hearts he moves to commit all unrighteousness, and on whom, in short, he acts powerfully and exercises his tyranny; as in 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2, and in other passages. (Calvin’s Commentary on the Gospel of John, 350)
Persecution has been the lot of true believers throughout the eighteen Christian centuries of history. The doings of Roman Emperors and Roman Popes, the Spanish inquisition, the martyrdoms of Queen Mary’s reign, all tell the same story—persecution is the lot of all really godly people at this very day. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 130-1)
The world suspects people who are different. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 185)
The perfect tense of the verb “hate” (memisēken) implies that the world’s hatred is a fixed attitude toward him–an attitude that carries over to his disciples as well. The world assumes this attitude because it rejects all who do not conform to its life style. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 154)
Surely there could be nothing better fitted to prepare them for suffering–to incite them to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ–than the thought that they were called to suffer like their Master and for his sake. (Charles Ross, The Inner Sanctuary, 137)
The human race is divided between two great potentates–the Prince of light and the Prince of darkness. Those who have been rescued from a state of nature are enlisted under the banner of the Prince of light; but those who are still in their sins are enlisted under the banner of the Prince of darkness. And the latter are here represented as arrayed in the most deadly hostility to Christ and his people. (Charles Ross, The Inner Sanctuary, 141-2)
Augustine was right when he said that we love the truth when it enlightens us, but we hate it when it convicts us. Maybe we can’t handle the truth. (Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, 36)
Jesus’ life, specifically through his word and his works, demonstrated by contrast how sinful the Jews were, and they hated him for that. His inner righteousness drew their abiding hostility because it revealed the shabbiness of their external goodness. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 369)
Christians believe in absolutes in a world that proclaims absolute pluralism and the absence of divine standards. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 316)
If they were the children of God they would love Him, and if they loved Him they would most certainly love His only begotten Son, for “he that loveth him that begat, loveth him that is begotten of him” (1 Jn 5:1). But they did not love Christ. Though He was the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, they despised and rejected Him. They were the bond-slaves of sin (v. 34); Christ’s Word had no place in them (v. 37); they sought to kill Him (v. 40). Their boast therefore was an empty one; their claim utterly unfounded. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 457)
A lie is opposed to truth (1 Jn 2:21), and accordingly the devil is here described to be, [1.] An enemy to truth, and therefore to Christ. (Matthew Henry’s Commentary: Vol. V, 1000)
Yes, we must add that Christians have often persecuted other peoples and faiths. It is scandalous but true. The idea that the gospel of Jesus and his love could be spread by any kind of violence would be a sort of sick joke if it weren’t such a serious mistake. And of course countries, rulers and societies that claim to be Christian have often used the name of Jesus Christ as an excuse to wage war on people with whom they had a quarrel that was nothing to do with Christianity. The loser in all such situations has been the gospel itself. (N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part 2, 77)
- Exposure to the Light of Jesus gives darkness no excuse. (Jn 15:24-27; see also: Lk 12:47-48; Jn 1:6-10; 8:47; Rom 1:18-32)
The Lord was not speaking here of sin in general, but rather of the specific sin of willfully rejecting Him in the face of full revelation. That is the most serious sin of all, because it is the only one that is not forgivable. Having witnessed firsthand Jesus’ miracles and heard His teaching–both of which testified unmistakably to His deity (cf. Mt 7:28-29; Jn 7:46; 10:25, 37-38; 14:10-11)–the Pharisees’ conclusion was, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons” (Mt 12:24). Because they attributed His miraculous works to Satan instead of the Holy Spirit, Jesus pronounced their sin to be unforgivable. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 175)
Let us settle it down as a first principle in our religion, that religious privileges are in a certain sense very dangerous things. If they do not help us toward heaven, they will only sink us deeper into hell. They add to our responsibility. “To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required” (Lk 12:48). He that dwells in a land of open Bibles and preached Gospel, and yet dreams that he will stand in the judgment day on the same level with an untaught Chinese, is fearfully deceived. He will find to his own cost, except he repents, that his judgment will be according to his light. The mere fact that he had knowledge and did not improve it, will of itself prove one of his greatest sins. “He that knew His Master’s will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes” (Lk 12:47). (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 137)
The more knowledge a man has and the more privileges he enjoys, the greater the responsibility laid upon him. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 187)
A man can stop his ears to any warning; if he goes on doing that long enough, he becomes spiritually deaf. In the last analysis, a man will only hear what he wishes to hear; and if for long enough he attunes his ears to his own desires and to the wrong voices, in the end he will be unable to tune in at all to the wavelength of God. That is what the Jews had done. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 28)
They claimed that they loved the Father, though they evidently hated the Son. But, in view of the fact that the Father and the Son are one in essence (10:30), such an attitude is impossible. A person may imagine that he loves the Father while he hates the Son, but he deceives himself. Whoever hates the one necessarily hates the other also. And this holds also with respect to the present day and age. Men who scoff at blood-atonement and reject the vicarious death of Christ do not love God! (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 312)
The religious leaders were unable to understand because they refused to listen. Satan used their stubbornness, pride, and prejudices to keep them from believing in Jesus.
If we fill out life with distracting and conflicting messages from the heroes we follow, the books we read, the songs we listen to, and the movies we watch, we will discover that it is harder and harder to “hear” God speaking at all. He has not stopped communicating; we are just listening to other voices. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 185)
To receive Divine instruction and not improve it, is, as Christ here plainly declares, to leave men without any cloak (or “excuse”) for their sin. (Arthur W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, 848)
The devil utters falsehood as naturally and spontaneously as God utters truth; if “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb 6:18), equally it is impossible for the devil to speak the truth–even when he chooses to “quote scripture for his purpose.” The children of God, then, will be characterized by their love of the truth; the children of the devil by their refusal to accept the truth. Jesus does not say, “although I speak the truth, you do not believe me,” but “because I speak the truth, you do not believe me”; in view of the spiritual lineage of his opponents, the fact that what he said was the truth was sufficient reason for them to reject it. (F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John, 202)
George Bernard Shaw once said that the biggest compliment you can pay an author is to burn his books. Someone else has said, “A wolf will never attack a painted sheep.” Counterfeit Christianity is always safe; real Christianity is always in peril. To suffer persecution is to be paid the greatest of compliments because it is the certain proof that men think we really matter. (William Barclay; The Acts of the Apostles, 75)
Paul’s righteousness based on the Law brought him into direct conflict with the Truth. He was a persecutor of true worshipers, as is everyone who tries to live by the Law. Just as Cain could not tolerate Abel, those who seek to stand by their own righteousness find the presence of those who stand by faith in Jesus intolerable. The righteousness of God, based completely on the atonement of the cross, strips away facades and lays bare the pride of man. The cross is the greatest threat to man’s self-centeredness. Paul testified to the Philippians that to know Christ he had to give up everything that he was. When he perceived the righteousness of Jesus, he counted everything that he had so valued in life as rubbish (Phil 3:2-9). (Rick Joyner, There Were Two Trees in the Garden, 23)
Jesus was saying to the Jews: “You have gone your own way and followed your own ideas; the Spirit of God has been unable to gain an entry into your hearts; that is why you cannot recognize me and that is why you will not accept my words.” The Jews believed they were religious people; but because they had clung to their idea of religion instead of to God’s idea, they had in the end drifted so far from God that they had become godless. They were in the terrible position of men who were godlessly serving God. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 31)
Every time you refuse to forgive or fail to overlook a weakness in another, your heart not only hardens toward them, it hardens toward God. You cannot form a negative opinion of someone (even though you think they may deserve it!) And allow that opinion to crystalize into an attitude; for every time you do, an aspect of your heart will cool toward God. You may still think you are open to God, but the Scriptures are clear: “The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20). You may not like what someone has done, but you do not have an option to stop loving them. Love is your only choice. (Francis Frangipane, The Three Battlegrounds, 70)
Every lie is inspired by the devil and does the devil’s work. Falsehood always hates the truth, and always tries to destroy it. When the Jews and Jesus met, the false way met the true, and inevitably the false tried to destroy the true. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 29)
Satan’s realm of influence is in the human soul–the center of the mind, will, and emotions. The only power the devil has in this world is the power we turn over to him through our choices and actions. When we rebel, when we sin, when we follow our fleshly desires rather than the Holy Spirit, we empower the kingdom of darkness. (Jentezen Franklin; The Spirit of Python, 46)
Be sure that it is your goodness and not your evils or your weakness, that men dislike. The world has a very keen eye for the inconsistencies and the faults of professing Christians, and it is a good thing that it has. The loftier your profession the sharper the judgment that is applied to you. Many well-meaning Christian people, by an injudicious use of Christian phraseology in the wrong place, and by the glaring contradiction between their prayers and their talks and their daily life, bring down a great deal of deserved hostility upon themselves and of discredit upon Christianity; and then they comfort themselves and say they are bearing the “reproach of the Cross.” Not a bit of it! They are bearing the natural results of their own failings and faults. (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: John, Chaps. XV-XXI, 55-6)
III. WARNING: The greatest danger is apostasy, not death. (Jn 16:1, 4; see also: Ps 116:15; Mt 5:30; 10:16-39; 18:9; 23:34-35; 24:9; Mk 9:43-47; 8:35; Lk 9:23-24; 12:4-5; 21:12-17; Acts 14:22; Rom 8:36; 2 Tm 2:9-12; Rv 2:10-12; 12:11; 14:13)
The greatest danger the disciples will confront from the opposition of the world is not death but apostasy. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 530)
The organized body that calls itself God’s Church and House may become the most rampant enemy of Christ’s people, and be the truest embodiment on the face of the earth of all that He means by “the world.” (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: John, Chaps. XV-XXI, 79)
How could seemingly religious people commit such atrocities in the guise of worshiping God? These things, Jesus explained, they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. Far from serving God, such people do not in any sense know the true God; no one who hates Jesus Christ or His followers (1 Jn 4:20; 5:1) knows the Father (Jn 8:19; 1 Jn 3:1; cf. Jn 5:23; 14:7; 15:21). Failing to know God is willful, inexcusable ignorance (Rom 1:18-32), and those who manifest it do not have eternal life (cf. Rom 10:2-3). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT -Commentary: John 12-21, 193)
Some of the most shameful acts throughout history have been perpetrated by those who thought they were offering a service to God. Attempts have been made to convert pagans by force. People have been tortured and killed in the name of religion. For the sake of orthodoxy, Christians have persecuted one another with remarkable lack of mercy or love. Some of the issues may have been valid, but the methods have offended Christ.
Jesus knew that devout Jews like Saul of Tarsus would persecute Christians. These Jews would be fully convinced they were protecting the true faith. We must not harm others in our zeal for his concerns. That would be a horrible error. It is better to err on the side of mercy. Our methods in obeying Christ’s commands must be consistent with his greatest command: to love! (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 320)
His {Satan’s} great aim and object is to ruin us for ever and kill our souls. To destroy, to rob us of eternal life, to bring us down to the second death in hell, are the things for which he is unceasingly working. He is ever going about, seeking whom he may devour.–He is a liar! He is continually trying to deceive us by false representations, just as he deceived Eve at the beginning. He is always telling us that good is evil and evil good,–truth is falsehood and falsehood truth–the broad way good and the narrow way bad. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 2, 125)
By the time John was writing it was inevitable that some Christians should fall away, for persecution had struck the Church. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 189)
The Jews had no reason to hate Jesus–he came as their Savior, fulfilling their Scriptures, healing many, and promising eternal life to those who believed in him. Yet the people thought they were serving God by rejecting Jesus, when in reality, they were serving Satan (8:44). (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 318)
Saul or Tarsus–before his conversion–went through the land hunting down and persecuting Christians, convinced that he was serving God by killing those who proclaimed Jesus as their Messiah (Acts 9:1-2; 26:9-11; Gal 1:13-14; Phil 3:6). (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 320)
It is not persecution by a secular state that is in mind, but that set in train by religious authorities. Pilcher aptly reminds us that “A sermon was preached at the burning of Archbishop Crammer, and the horrors of the Inquisition were carried out with a perfectly good conscience.” It is the tragedy of religious people that they so often regard persecution as in line with the will of God. (Leon Morris, The New Int’l Commentary on the NT: John, 615)
We must also remember that some of the persecution Christians endure is because of their own sin. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 371)
Christ does not offer His followers the way of comfort and ease, but a hard and difficult path. Though the gate is small and the road is narrow, it is certainly well worth the strenuous journey, for it alone “leads to life” and to eternal glory (Mt 7:13-14). Thus Paul could write, in the midst of his multitudinous trials, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 194)
Whether in the first century or in the twentieth, Christians have often discovered that the most dangerous oppression comes not from careless pagans but from zealous adherents to religious faith, and from other ideologues. A sermon was preached when Cranmer was burned at the stake. Christians have faced severe persecution performed in the name of Yahweh, in the name of Allah, in the name of Marx–and in the name of Jesus. (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 531)
Worship Point: Know and therefore worship the God of the Universe who has brought you out of darkness and into the Light so you might know reality and truly live. (Jn 8:19; 14:16-17; 16:3; 17:25; Acts 2:22; Phil 3:10; 1 Tm 6:17-19; 1 Jn 3:1; 2 Pt 1:5-8; 3:18)
In these closing moments of this age, the Lord will have a people whose purpose for living is to please God with their lives. In them, God finds His own reward for creating man. They are His worshipers. They are on earth only to please God, and when He is pleased, they also are pleased.
The Lord takes them farther and through more pain and conflicts than other men. Outwardly, they often seem “smitten of God, and afflicted” (Is 53:4). Yet to God, they are His beloved. When they are crushed, like the petals of a flower, they exude a worship, the fragrance of which is so beautiful and rare that angels weep in quiet awe at their surrender. They are the Lord’s purpose for creation.
One would think that God would protect them, guarding them in such a way that they would not be marred. Instead, they are marred more than others. Indeed, the Lord seems pleased to crush them, putting them to grief. For in the midst of their physical and emotional pain, their loyalty to Christ grows pure and perfect. And in the face of persecutions, their love and worship toward God become all-consuming.
Would that all Christ’s servants were so perfectly surrendered. (Francis Frangipane, The Three Battlegrounds, 93-4)
It was Kierkegaard who said, “The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.” (Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, 245)
Because the author of Scripture, the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:21), resides within each child of God (1 Cor 3:16), he or she is in a unique position to receive God’s illumination (1 Cor 2:9-11). The Spirit of truth not only provides insights that permeate the head, but also provides illumination that penetrates the heart.
Clearly, however, the Holy Spirit does not supplant the scrupulous study of Scripture. Rather, He provides us with insights that can only be spiritually discerned. In this way the Holy Spirit helps us to exegete (draw out of) rather than eisegete (read into) Scripture. He only illumines what is in the text; illumination does not go beyond the text. (Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity In Crisis, 221)
If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” —Charles Spurgeon
Gospel Application: Our sinful nature encourages us to resist the Light and embrace the darkness. But, Jesus (The Light) was willing to absorb the dark so we could break free of the dark and come into the Light. Our faith in Jesus’ work allows us access to the Holy Spirit. (Jn 3:1-21; 8:12-58; Acts 26:18; Rom 1:18-32; Eph 5:6-11; Col 1:12-13, 21)
The terrifying truth is that we are not morally neutral. A friend of mine who is a renowned psychologist and Orthodox Jew often makes the point that left to their own devices, with the assurance they would never be caught or held accountable, individuals will more often choose what is wrong than what is right. We are drawn toward evil; without powerful intervention, we will choose it. And that sin can be cleansed only by Christ’s shed blood. (Charles Colson, A Dangerous Grace, 187)
In an age of postmodern relativism and ambiguity, nothing is more needed than the clear presentation to the unbelieving world of God’s absolute truth, centering on the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be sure, this message will be generally met with hostility and opposition. Jesus Himself said it would be so. Yet, faithfulness to Christ demands that believers speak boldly and with conviction (cf. 2 Cor 4:13-14), being enabled to do so through the Spirit’s power. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 180)
If we did not have the Holy Spirit within, we would not be able to serve the Lord in this present evil world. We are to walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), worship in the Spirit (Phil 3:3), and witness in the Spirit (Acts 1:8). (Warren W. Wiersby, Be Transformed, 64)
All depression of mind and melancholy, come from the Devil. And especially this thought: That God is not gracious. That God will have no mercy.
Whosoever thou art, possessed with such heavy thoughts, know for certain that they are the work of the Devil. God sent His Son into the world not to fright, but to comfort. Therefore, be of good courage and think that henceforth, thou art not the child of a human creature, but of God, through faith in Christ, in whose name thou art baptized. Therefore, the spirit of death cannot enter into thee. He has not got right unto thee. Much less can he hurt or prejudice thee. He is everlastingly swallowed up through Christ. (Martin Luther as quoted by Tim Keller, Two Families)
The Lord challenges us to suffer persecutions and to confess him. He wants those who belong to him to be brave and fearless. He himself shows how weakness of the flesh is overcome by courage of the Spirit. This is the testimony of the apostles and in particular of the representative, administrating Spirit. A Christian is fearless. — Tertullian
Satan fears virtue. He is terrified of humility; he hates it. He sees a humble person and it sends chills down his back. His hair stands up when Christians kneel down, for humility is the surrender of the soul to God. The devil trembles before the meek because, in the very areas where he once had access, there stands the Lord, and Satan is terrified of Jesus Christ. (Francis Frangipane, The Three Battlegrounds, 21)
Whenever a true servant of God bears witness against the world, this witness is the work of the Spirit. Whenever a simple believer, by word and example, draws others to Christ, this too is the work of the Spirit. (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 314-5)
When the story of Jesus is told us and his picture is set before us, what makes us feel that this is none other than the picture of the Son of God? That reaction of the human mind, that answer of the human heart is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit within us who moves us to respond to Jesus Christ. (William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: John, Vol. 2, 188)
A person’s actions reveal what is in his or her heart. In a later letter John wrote, “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning” (1 Jn 3:8 NRSV). (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 184-5)
The careless heart is an easy prey to Satan in the hour of temptation; his principal batteries are raised against the heart; if he wins that, he wins all, for it commands the whole man: and alas! how easy a conquest is a neglected heart! It is not more difficult to surprise such a heart, than for an enemy to enter that city whose gates are opened and unguarded. It is the watchful heart that discovers and suppresses the temptation before it comes to its strength. (John Flavel, Keeping the Heart, 33)
Spiritual Challenge: The more you come into the Light the more the dark will hate you. Deal with it. Prepare for it. You’ve been warned. (Mt 5:10-15; 10:16-39, 44-45; 23:34-35; 24:9; Mk 13:9-13; Lk 9:23-24; 21:12-17; Jn 13:19; 14:29-30; Acts 7:1-60; 14:22; Eph 6:10-20; 2 Tm 3:10-12; 1 Pt 4:12-19; 1 Jn 3:12-13)
Forewarned is to be forearmed. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 374)
Such persecution will be proportionate to the extent of one’s identification with Christ. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 371)
No Christian is in a healthy state of mind who is not prepared for trouble and persecution. He that expects to cross the troubled waters of this world, and to reach heaven with wind and tide always in his favor, knows nothing yet as he ought to know. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 148)
Like Jesus, we must warn new and younger disciples that hatred from the world and hard times are ahead. We must dispel illusions and deal honestly with unrealistic expectations. In our eagerness to promote the benefits of following Christ we must not shrink back from also presenting the cost of discipleship. Preparing new believers for times of discouragement will teach them to rely on the Holy Spirit’s comfort and guidance along the way. When Christians assume that following Christ will be easy, they neglect the daily spiritual resources provided for them. These include Bible study, prayer, and the promises and directions that Jesus gives us. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 321)
But rather than shatter the disciples’ faith, the hostility they faced would actually deepen and strengthen their resolve as they saw the Lord’s prediction fulfilled (cf. Jn 14:29). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John 12-21, 193)
When the trials come, they will know that they are no more than Jesus had predicted. Thus, instead of being a difficulty to faith, the trials would actually strengthen faith. When the troubles came, the disciples would remember that this is just what Jesus had said would happen. (Leon Morris, The New Int’l Commentary on the NT: John, 616)
To know the Son truly as the revelation of God is to know God (14:7), and to have such knowledge is to have eternal life (17:3). Not to know God is to spawn hostility toward those who do (15:18-21). (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, 532)
Savages think, when an eclipse comes, that a wolf has swallowed the sun, and it will never come out again. We know that it has all been calculated beforehand, and since we know that it is coming tomorrow, when it does come, it is only a passing darkness. Sorrow anticipated is sorrow half overcome; and when it falls on us, the bewilderment, as if “some strange thing had happened,” will be escaped when we can remember that the Master has told us it all beforehand. (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: John, Chaps. XV-XXI, 82)
Jesus taught us to expect rejection. Rejection may be difficult to take, but if we never experience it, we may be hiding our Christianity from others. If we profess Christ and are warmly embraced by the world, we should reexamine our commitment and life-style. If we remain silent about our faith in order to gain acceptance by the world, we have made a poor trade. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 317)
He did not want them to be caught off guard, to stumble, or to fall when trials came. Jesus wanted his disciples to remember that he had predicted his own persecution and theirs in order to fortify them for the difficult times to come. He also wanted them to remember the rest of his teaching (all this). His accurate predictions would increase their trust in his instructions. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 319)
As Christians, we are tempted to make unnecessary concessions to those outside the Faith. We give in too much. Now, I don’t mean that we should run the risk of making a nuisance of ourselves by witnessing at improper times, but there comes a time when we must show that we disagree. We must show our Christian colors, if we are to be true to Jesus Christ. We cannot remain silent or concede everything away. –C.S. Lewis
They will remember his words. Hence, they will then say, “If his predictions with respect to woe being realized, those with respect to weal will also be fulfilled.” (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 321)
What I found in this relationship with Jesus wasn’t so much the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world. (Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter, 125)
He withholds from them the painful prospect so long as he himself was among them; but now that he is about to leave them, he will no longer conceal from them the dark future that lies before them. And yet even now he only discloses it that they might afterwards have another ground of faith and comfort, as they remembered his words. (Charles Ross, The Inner Sanctuary, 154)
Mere churchmanship and outward profession are a cheap religion, of course, and cost a man nothing. But real vital Christianity will always bring with it a cross. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 131)
Nothing is so mischievous as the habit of indulging false expectations. Let us realize that human nature never changes, that “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” and against God’s image in His people. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 131)
A servant is not greater than his lord; hence, he must not consider himself immune to persecution. (William Hendriksen, NT Commentary: John 7-21, 311)
Spiritual Challenge Questions:
A- Have you ever been persecuted, hated, and/or rejected because of your faith in Jesus?
B- If so, do you know the cause of the rejection? Was it noble and because of your faithfulness or because you were a jerk?
C- If you’ve never been persecuted, hated and/or rejected because of your faith in Jesus . . . why not?
D- How does Jesus’ warning us ahead of time make enduring persecution easier?
So What?: Your sinful nature wants to live in the dark. The spiritual nature wants to live in the Light. Light embraces the light. Darkness embraces the dark. Your eternal destiny will be determined by where your heart wants to lead you? (Isa 30:9; 42:20; Jer 6:10, 17-19; 7:13, 24-27; 11:8; 13:10; 17:23; 44:5; Ezek 3:7; 12:2; Zech 7:12-13; Mt 13:1-23; Mk 4:1-24; Lk 8:1-18; Jn 3:19-21; 8:43, 47; 12:39-40; Rom 1:18-32; 6:6-18; 8:5-17; 1 Cor 2:12-14; Gal 5:16-17; Eph 2:1-3; 4:17-19; 5:6-11; Col 1:21; 2 Tm 4:3-4; Jam 4:4; 1 Jn 2:15-17; 3:1; 4:5-6)
The reason the people didn’t respond to Jesus’ teaching was that they belonged to another. Their family association was wrong. Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil.” And because of this family tie, they were inclined to carry out their father’s desire, just as Jesus carried out his Father’s desire. The devil is a murderer and a liar. He seeks to deprive life and distort truth. The Jews were merely demonstrating the truth of the adage “Like father, like son.” (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, 96)
The Devil can certainly move somebody to do good deeds, in order to keep control, in order to make that person feel smug and self-righteous.
No, no, no! Don’t look at your good deeds. Look at the DNA at the heart of your soul. What is the one language of your heart? Who do you live for? Who’s calling the shots? Down deep is it the one who says, “You are my Lord and Master” I will do Your will: promptly, joyfully, willingly? Or is it down deep in your heart {the voice} that says, “God if You want to be my God, fill out these forms in triplicate, answer my top three prayers, explain three or four things that happened in my life and maybe I’ll serve you this year. And, I’ll see how it goes. I might even give you a lease with an option for one more.”
Which kind of DNA is operating in your heart toward Him? (Tim Keller; Two Families)
When the church isn’t being persecuted, it is being corrupted. (Charles Colson, A Dangerous Grace, 116)
If the going is easy, beware! You may be going downhill. —Greg Taunt
If the going is easy, beware! You may be going with the flow. — PK
If the going is easy, beware! You may be going with your sinful nature. — PK
Beware lest you delay repentance so long that your heart becomes hardened to that point where your conscience ceases to function and the voice of God is unheard in your soul. (Owen Roberts; Repentance, 240)
Although our own evil tendencies (1:14) and the desires battling within us (4:1) are the immediate sources of our problems, to give in to those internal desires is to yield to the devil (see Mt 4:1-11; Lk 22:31; Jn 13:2, 27). Satan knows that as long as he can stimulate human pride, he can delay God’s plan, even if only temporarily. But as powerful as Satan is, his only power over believers is in his powerful temptations. The devil can be resisted–and our resistance will cause him to flee. Conversely, a lack of resistance will practically guarantee ongoing harassment by Satan (see also Eph 6:10-18 and 1 Pt 5:6-9). (Bruce Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary; James, 101)
True discernment emerges out of a tranquil and pure heart, one that is almost surprised by the wisdom and grace in the voice of Christ. Remember, our thoughts will always be colored by the attitudes of our hearts. Jesus said, “The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Mt 12:34). He also said, “Out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts” (Mk 7:21). Again He said, “the pure in heart…shall see God” (Mt 5:8). From the heart the mouth speaks, the eyes see, and the mind thinks. In fact, Prv 4:23 (NKJV) tells us to diligently guard our hearts for “out of [the heart] spring the issues of life.”
Life, as we perceive it, is based upon the condition of our heart. This is very important because the gifts of the Spirit must pass through our hearts before they are presented to the world around us. In other words, if our hearts are not right, the gifts will not be right either.
When the heart has unrest it cannot hear from God. Therefore, we must learn to mistrust our judgment when our heart is bitter, angry, ambitious or harboring strife for any reason. The Scriptures tell us to “let the peace of Christ rule [act as arbiter] in [our] hearts” (Col 3:15). To hear clearly from God, we must first have peace. (Francis Frangipane, The Three Battlegrounds, 81-2)
By nature we are Satan’s willing slaves, volunteers in the kingdom of darkness. By nature we love the darkness rather than the light because we want to do the desires of Satan. That’s what sin is. Sin is not simply making bad choices or mistakes. Sin is having the desire in our hearts to do the will of the enemy of God. Paul made this very point to the Ephesians: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph 2:1-3). This is a picture of the bondage from which Jesus delivered us; a bondage of desiring to carry out Satan’s wishes. (R.C. Sproul, John: An Expositional Commentary, 154)
“Why do you not understand what I say?” Jesus already knew the answer to this question–but he asked the leaders so he could answer for them. They did not understand because they had already made up their minds about him, and thus could not hear and accept what Jesus had to say. Understanding was not the problem; being willing to hear and accept it as the truth was their barrier. (Bruce B. Barton, Life Application Bible Commentary: John, 184)
What we have received is a gift of grace, unearned in any way. We need to understand that man’s free will is free only in that God never compels anybody to sin. The sinner is not free to do either good or evil because his corrupt heart, formed by Satan’s dominion, always inclines him to sin. Man is enslaved by that heart, a bondage that can be broken only by God’s merciful intervention. (Emailed from Carole Jacobus 8/17/10)
We extol our age for the fact that Christianity is no longer persecuted. That I can well believe, for Christianity does not exist. . . . We have transformed it into something quite different. That which we call Christianity is not Christianity, but a very softened interpretation of Christianity. . . . We chatter as nearly as possible in imitation of the truth; hear cursorily, it is as though we were saying the same things [But in reality we follow] that “common sense” which thinks the requirements which maintains that man must be altered to suit the requirements (Walter Lowrie as quoted by George Arthur Buttrick, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 8, 560)
It is said that more Christians have died as martyrs in the 20th century than in all the period from the beginning to 1900. The “Western” segment of the church today lives in a bubble of historical illusion about the meaning of discipleship and the gospel. We are dominated by the essentially Enlightenment values that rule American culture: pursuit of happiness, unrestricted freedom of choice, disdain of authority. The prosperity gospels, the gospels of liberation, and the comfortable sense of “what life is all about” that wills the minds of most devout Christians in our circles are the result. How different is the gritty realization of James: “Friends of the world (kosmou) are enemies of God” (Jas 4:4). And John: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (2 Jn 2:15). (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 214)
Does the Word of God speak to us in such a way that it penetrates and has an effect on our lives? If it does not, that may be an indication we are not in a state of grace. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 253)
These unbelieving Jews did not understand the way Jesus was speaking because they could not listen to his message. Hearts hardened in unbelief cannot relate to God’s Word. (Gary P. Baumler, The People’s Bible: John, 133)
The real source and secret of hatred to God’s people is hatred to God himself. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they knew not him that sent me. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God: neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7); and this enmity lies at the very root–it is the true explanation–of all the world’s hatred of Christ and his people. (Charles Ross, The Inner Sanctuary, 142)
It is not the carnal presence of Christ in the midst of us, so much as the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, that is essential to a high standard of Christianity. What we should all desire and long for is not Christ’s body literally touched with our hands and received into our mouths, but Christ dwelling spiritually in our hearts by the grace of the Holy Ghost. (J. C. Ryle, Expository thoughts on John, Vol. 3, 150)
The only currency of value in heaven is our present service and generous giving to God’s kingdom. Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary, said it this way, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 76)
Persecution is not an excuse for silence, but it does challenge us to witness, to share Christ lovingly to a hostile world, in the power of the Holy Spirit. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: John, 373)
A half-Christianized world and a more than half-secularized Church get on well together. “When they do agree, their agreement is wonderful.” And it is a miserable thing to reflect that about the average Christianity of this generation there is so very little that does deserve the antagonism of the world. Why should the world care to hate or trouble itself about a professing Church, large parts of which are only a bit of the world under another name? (Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: John, Chaps. XV-XXI, 54)
The second-century Letter to Diognetus described the Christians’ lifestyle in the following way: They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. . .It is true that they are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all [people], and by all [people] are persecuted. They are unknown, and still they are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonored, and in their very dishonor are glorified; they are defamed, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and yet they bless; when they are affronted, they still pay due respect. . . Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world. (Simon Guillebaud, Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, 5-19)
These unbelieving Jews were not, of course, the only members of Satan’s spiritual family; in his first epistle John wrote that any “one who practices sin is of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). And unless the Lord opens his or her heart to respond to the truth (Jn 6:44; Acts 16:14; 2 Cor 3:14-16), no unbeliever will listen to it. Instead, “wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Tm 4:3-4). Having been duped by Satan’s schemes (2 Cor 2:11; 4:4; Eph 6:11), and having participated in his work, all unrepentant sinners will share in their father’s condemnation (1 Tm 3:6). (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: John, 372)
JESUS:
WARNS
