But good evening, everybody. It's a delight to be here, to have done the work to prepare for the study in John chapter 15 this evening. So as you know, we have been working through the book of John, through the Upper Room Discourse most specifically, and I wanted to spend a moment just to review very briefly what the purpose of this discourse is and talk about some of the structure of it that we've seen so far. So let's recall that the purpose of this discourse is for Jesus to prepare his disciples for his imminent departure. In the upper room discourse, Jesus is preparing his disciples and the church as we discussed previously. It's not just for them, it's something that extends beyond them to the church, to us even. Preparing them for life after he has physically departed from them. He aims to equip them. He aims to comfort them. He aims to warn them, to command them. And finally, He will pray for them and also for those who believe in the Son because of their ministry. Now the structure of the uproom discourse, it is worth noting before we turn to our text today, there's a significant transition which happens at this juncture where we're gonna be today. In chapter 13, verse 31 through 15, 17, there exists three statements explaining the disciples' relationship to Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I will give you the paraclete, the helper, the spirit, and then what we saw last month by Richard, I am the true vine. In chapter 15, verse 18 through 16, 33, we see three statements explaining the disciples' engagement with the world. The one that we're gonna look at in just a few moments, I have also experienced the hate of the world. Secondly, I will empower you by the paraclete, by the helper. And in the last section of the Upper Room Discourse, I will turn your grief into joy. These last three sections dealing with the disciples' interaction with the world. As I said, tonight we'll be looking in John chapter 15. Go ahead and take your Bibles and turn there if you haven't already. And we're gonna be reading verses 18 through 27. This is John 15. 18 through 27. Here's God's word. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world will love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sinned. But now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. And when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me, and you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning. This would probably be a good night to jot down some notes. There's some words I want to introduce you to towards the end of the sermon, so you might have your pen and paper ready. But the first point really is just in verse 18 that we want to look at tonight. And the first point is the persecution of seed. The persecution of seed. So let's recall for a moment who is receiving this message from the Lord. It is His disciples, the ones that are closest to His heart. Now, Judas has already departed their company to go and betray Christ, and his exit and his evil plan illustrate the very doctrine that Jesus is unfolding for us in this text. Judas is of the world. Verse 18, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. Matthew Poole defining the world like this, by the world here must be meant wicked men in opposition to good men who are often in Scripture called the world because they are of the earth. They are earthly. They relish and savor nothing but worldly things and pursue nothing but worldly designs. It is clear in the life of Christ that there were many who hated him. The world's hatred toward Christ would have been very obvious to the disciples, for they were with him through it all. Think about and recall the various ways that the Lord was hated by the world while he walked the earth with his disciples. Not only by words, calling him a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber, a sinner, a Samaritan, a madman, one that had a devil, yea, even Beelzebub himself. But also by deeds, not just words, but by deeds, taking up stones to stone him more than once, leading him to the brow of a hill in order to cast him down headlong, consulting by various means to take away his life. as Herod did in his very infancy. There's a quote from John Gill. The purpose of all this is to discredit him, to destroy him, to get rid of him, to silence him, right? Similarly, those who follow Christ, disciples first, and then all Christians who would follow them, Jesus says, will be hated by the world. For the world hated Christ before it hated you. That's there in verse 15. The world hated Christ before it hated you. Now, there's a few different ways that we can interpret this phrase, before it hated you. The first, and maybe perhaps the most obvious, is to understand that the world hated Christ before, that is, temporally. It turned its hatred towards you. Think of that Christ experienced it first. He was the first to experience the world's hatred. It was Christ who endured the lion's share of hatred. And once he is out of the picture, this hatred will be turned to Christ's followers. That's one way, I think that's a legitimate reading of it. The second way to interpret the phrase before you, before you as in verse 18, is to see that Jesus is speaking of his place of primacy and superiority before his disciples. So this would be Christ experienced it because he is first. Not that he experienced it first, but because he is first. This would be contextually consistent with verse 20, when Jesus essentially makes the very same point. A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John Gill favors the latter of these two interpretations and argues the point like this. Moreover, the words before you, okay, the Greek there, may be translated the first or chief of you, your Lord and head, and denotes the dignity, excellency, and superiority of Christ. Wherefore, it is suggested that if he who was so much before them in personal worth and greatness was hated by the world, they should not think it hard or any strange thing that this should be their case as well. As we count the cost of what it means to follow Christ, maybe in our own souls, within our own souls as we came to the Lord, even today, or in our evangelism to the lost, does this way of thinking enter in to your conversation? It's easy to think about the delight and all the benefits which are ours as we hitch ourselves to Christ. the comfort of eternal life, membership within a caring community, communion with the living God, the forgiveness of sins. The list could go on and on, right? But do we ever stop and consider the sufferings that will be ours if we associate ourselves with Him? Now if we're caught unaware and unprepared for the hatred and the persecutions which will surely come, just imagine the kind of vulnerable place we will be indeed. An important note at this point, there are many reasons why a person may be hated by another. In the specific case that Jesus is speaking about, the disciples are the object of the world's hate. Okay, this is not due to what the disciples did wrong or what they do wrong, but to what they do right, namely their allegiance to Jesus. What this means is that it's possible for Christians to be hated by others for the wrong reasons, right? Don't be one of them. Don't be obnoxious, don't be rude, don't be disruptive. You can go through all the lists of ways that you can very easily get a group of people to hate you. Let none of those reasons be named as for why you are hated, but surely let it be because of your association with Christ. Make sure that if the world hates you, it's for the right reasons. 1 Peter 3, 17, four, it is better, right, if God should will it so that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. Now, in context, we will see that Jesus predicts the disciples will soon be outcast from the synagogue. We're gonna see that in chapter 16, verse two, just a few verses later. Now, Jesus himself, as he demonstrates that they will follow in his example, Jesus himself was already run out of the synagogue in John chapter nine, when he healed the man born blind. This is just one example of the future that the disciples will face as they bear witness to the Christ event to the world, a world in which by nature has become hostile to him. So why does the world hate Christ? Well, Jesus provides a few answers in our text today. He says in verse 23 that they hate him because they hate his father also. So the hate that we see extended to Jesus is not in any way a new hatred, but it is in fact a very old hatred. It does not find its origin in the incarnation, but rather in the book of origins, the book of Genesis, right? For the world has hated the Father since the fall. And for it is here that we see the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent introduced. We see this hatred introduced as early as Genesis chapter three, verse 15. God speaking to the serpent in that text, Genesis 3.15, makes this pronouncement. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now as we've learned in Sunday school the past few weeks ago, this promise of enmity, and this was a new thought for me, this promise of enmity is very good news. Under certain circumstances, it is better to be at war than to not be at war. God promises that there will be warring seeds from the time of the fall until the head of the evil one is finally crushed. God could have left Adam and Eve and all mankind to their own devices and brought judgment upon them, judgment upon them all at his own appointed time, but that's exactly not what he did. In this promise given to the serpent, we see that God will work redemptively within creation. And rather than the whole of creation yielding submissively to his working, there will be enmity, there will be resistance, there will be hatred. Enmity from the seed of the serpent directed specifically to the seed of the woman, which is of course really enmity directed at the son, Jesus Christ. The Bible is really a long story of warring seeds. What we see Jesus referring to in John chapter 15 and what Jesus and his followers will experience is nothing more than building culmination of this age old enmity. Jesus tells his disciples that they will be hated by the world so that they would not be surprised when the world treats them badly. He wants them to be adequately prepared. And in not being surprised, that they would be both encouraged and also able to remain strong when it finally comes. As a father does his best to prepare his children, for the troubles in life that they will surely face. So too Christ prepares his followers for the troubles in life that they will face because of their association with him. This is another piece of evidence of Christ's love for his church, that he would prepare them for what is to come and to give them the necessary resources to navigate whatever may come. to a point of application, strength and encouragement, strength and encouragement. Accept that the world's hatred of you is part of this grand story of redemption. We need to come to terms with that. The world's hatred of us or of Christ's followers is part of the grand story of redemption. It's not something that's new or unexpected. It's not a new thing that you're facing. For the hatred that you are experiencing from the world is the very same hatred which nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, securing your redemption. It's the very same hatred which was defeated by him when he rose. To hitch ourselves to Christ is to learn to accept all the good things that He shares with us, even as we also accept the costs that are associated with it. Job 2.10, shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? To follow Christ in such a way that we would accept only good from Him and not adversity is to not follow Him at all. Point one, the persecution of seed. The second point, the picking of sides. The picking of sides. This is verses 19 through 25. Those chosen by Christ are honored to be persecuted for and to bear witness to his name. Those chosen by Christ are honored to be persecuted for and to bear witness to his name. So here's a question, who or what determines whether we be aligned with the world or with Christ? Who determines to which seed do we belong? Well, verse 18, Jesus makes clear that the only reason that the disciples did not hate him was because they did not belong to the world. And what does Jesus say in, I believe, verse 19? I chose you out of the world. I chose you out of the world. If they were of the world, the world would extend love to them instead of hate. The disciples do not belong to the world because they were chosen by Him out of the world. Plucked, as it were, out of the world. Now, God's choosing must be understood in really two different ways. One is that eternal choosing of God for some to be objects of honor and salvation. We tend to call this choosing election. Ephesians 1 verse 4, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. The other choosing is the act of God within creation, so within time and space, whereby he effectually calls to himself those who are chosen in the first sense. We tend to call this the effectual calling. That moment when a person is effectually, when the actual application of their election is applied in time and in space. I believe that it's really this second sense is more what Jesus has in mind here. Jesus has in mind and he's drawing to mind for the disciples those very moments when he commanded James and John to put down their nets and follow him in Luke chapter five, verse 11. Or in the case of Matthew, to abandon his booth, tax collector's booth, and to follow me, right? Matthew 9, 9. There's of course other examples. We see here very clearly that before the disciples found themselves agreeable to abandon all and follow this carpenter from Galilee, they first and foremost were chosen by God, and the application of this choosing would occur at the very moment when they were effectually called by Christ to follow him. For we all, if you are a Christian today in this room, you have had a moment like this. It is a moment when your eternal election is acted out in time and space. The moment you responded to the gospel with faith and repentance was the very moment that you responded to God's effectual call on your life. And it is for this reason that you are not of the world, but rather that you have been chosen out of the world. Now in response to your effectual calling, you have switched sides in the warring of the seeds. Being chosen by Christ would, for the disciples, mean that they would be persecuted by the world. As the master is treated, so too will be the slaves. This again describes a very high honor. To suffer because of Christ is to truly suffer with Christ. If they persecuted me, it says in verse 20, they will also persecute you. Philippians 129, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. The followers of Christ will be persecuted for at least two reasons. One is that, as Jesus says in the text in verse 21, the world does not know the father and therefore hates the son, hates the father and the son. What does it say in verse 21? Because they do not know the one who sent me. Lack of a knowledge of God views the workings of God as a threat. a threat which must be resisted, and if possible, eradicated. This is why followers of Christ will be persecuted. Think about, as we learned in Sunday school again, the exodus. Think about the people of Egypt seeing all that God was doing, and just imagine the way that Pharaoh, with a hard heart, reacted to what he was seeing. Second reason, suffering for his name is a way of bearing witness to his name before a watching world. In verse 22, we see a very curious phrase. One of the trickier verses to think about. It says this, if Christ had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. What is the sin? The sin in view here is that particular sin of hating Jesus and those who belong to Him. Before He came, it was impossible to hate the man, Jesus Christ, and those who would follow Him. Now, this does not mean that those who would hate the sign did not already possess in themselves the sin which already hated God. Their sin was able to exist more or less unprovoked. Up to this point, it had not been met with such a direct challenge. Think about Goliath. We wouldn't even know who Goliath was today if he wasn't provoked by the people of Israel showing up to go to war with the Philistines or vice versa. That's why we know. Now that God in flesh has come, he has provoked their hatred of him and their sin is evident to all. Their sin is exposed by the witness of the Son. It was a witness which revealed that the Son is one with the Father. It's a witness that exposed the darkness that they inhabited, John 3.19. It's a witness that reveals that their works are evil, John 7.7. And as we've already seen, that the hatred of the world to Christ's followers is guaranteed in Genesis 3.15. Jesus also points out that the world's rejection of him was also predicted in the Psalms. Verse 25 of our text, quoting Psalm 35, 19, and possibly 69, four, Jesus claims that the hatred extended to him and his followers is a hatred without cause. They hated me without cause. This means that the world's hatred is an unjust hatred. For is there anything more unjust than the creation to declare war like it has on its creator? Anything more profoundly foolish Rest assured, dear Christian, God will not tolerate this sinful foolishness forever. There will be an end to it, and it will at last be overcome. Third point, the procession of spirit. The procession of spirit. This is verses 26 through 27. Those who have been with Christ will be helped by the spirit. Those who have been with Christ will be helped by the spirit. Jesus turns his attention to offer an additional word of comfort and seals his words with a promise. He will send the helper, the paraclete, the spirit. He wants his disciples to know that they will not be alone as they face the intense hatred and persecution of the world. Now at this point in my sermon, I'm going to take our pace down from about 55 miles per hour to about 30 miles per hour. So hang with me because I have some big definitions I want to introduce you to. were helped in our interpretation of these verses by introducing some Trinitarian grammar to you. These theological concepts can help us, help guide us as we interpret this text and really many others relating to the nature of God and his works in Scripture. These are definitions I'm about to give you that are systematically determined from the text. They're not imposed upon the text. It's very important that we understand that, because every definition has its strengths and weaknesses. But let's just work through them. Some of these are gonna be familiar. Some of them won't be. The first one, essence. Essence, okay? What this means is God is one. He is one in essence. Second, person. God is three. So essence, God is one. Person, God is three. He is indivisibly three in three persons. Father, Son, and Spirit. So the next question, this is gonna probably be new for many of you, but what is it that distinguishes these three persons? So we have one essence, we have three persons, what is it that distinguishes these three persons that we just mentioned? Eternal relations. Their eternal relations are the very thing that distinguish the three persons of the Trinity. Specifically, eternal relations of origin. So here's the definition. The three persons of the one essence are distinguished by their eternal relations of origin. Namely, here they are, the father is unbegotten. Think of his paternity. The son is begotten, the only begotten son of God. Affiliation is the technical term there. and the Spirit is proceeding. Okay, the term there is spiration. He spirits forth, he proceeds. These distinctions are really the only way that Scripture gives us to distinguish between Father, Son, and Spirit. And if you notice how these three relations follow the divine names. Father, unbegotten, right? Father, paternity. Son, begotten. Son, begotten one, right? Eternally begotten of the Father. Spirit, one that aspirated, one that proceeds. To say more than that is really to go really beyond what Scripture presents to us in terms of how the Trinity works. The Athanasian Creed, some of you have been reading that with us on Wednesday nights every once in a while, puts it like this. The Father is made of none. He is neither created nor begotten. So he's made of none. He's neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone. He's not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son. neither made nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. And so we see there the introduction of these, what we call the eternal relations of origin. And there's a great mystery there. How can something eternally originate? We're talking about God and His nature. We're describing things that are always true about Him. There was never a time when the Son was not the begotten Son of God. That's how He's eternally been. But these things do speak of an eternal origin. So hang with me, we have a few more to work through. Okay, the next one is inseparable operations. inseparable operations. Here's the definition. All of God's acts are inseparable acts emanating from his singular divine will. All of God's acts are inseparable acts emanating from his singular divine will. To divide the acts of God among the persons, Example, the Father does this, apart from the Son and the Spirit, would effectively introduce three wills into the Godhead, which would be a major mistake, because it would divide His essence, which we know is one, divide it into three, which would result in a form of tritheism, potentially. We deny the first definition I gave you of essence. Now where we see in Scripture the Father acting, you can probably think of some examples, when you see the Father acting, when we see the Father acting, we have to understand that so too are the Son and the Spirit also acting. They are acting inseparably from one another. For they are one and they act as one. Their actions flow from a singular will. Now at times scripture may appropriate, that's another word, that's a definitional word that you've probably never heard in this context before. Scripture can appropriate certain acts to individual persons. The father does this, the son does this, the spirit does this. Now this is because certain divine actions have a contextual fit with the divine person in question. and appropriating a particular act or attribute to a divine person, all it really does is reveal that person's eternal relation. So let me think of an example just to help you out here. James 1.17 says that the Father is the giver of every perfect gift. Well, does this mean that the Father is the one who gives gifts, but the Son and the Spirit do not give gifts? Okay, the answer is no, but if we think about who the Father is as the fountain, as the originator of all, the eternal originator, you can see how all the good gifts that He give flow from His eternal relation. That's why Scripture can say the Father gives good, He's the giver of good gifts. It's not trying to exclude the Son and the Spirit from this action, but it's saying that the Father giving good gifts reveals something about who the Father is in relation to the Son and the Spirit. So bottom line, the persons of the Trinity do not act independently of one another, nor would it be right to say that they act in a mere collaboration with each other. Now another little helpful moniker for you to remember, this is why it's helpful and even biblical to speak of all of God's acts having a Trinitarian form. What is that form? From the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit. From, through, in. Burn those three phrases into your mind, and you will immediately be better equipped to speak carefully about these complex matters. Creation is accomplished from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Redemption is accomplished from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, et cetera. Now the last big $5 definition I wanna give you is a divine mission, divine mission. Missions are extensions, so this is speaking about not, you know, the Great Commission, this is speaking about God's mission into time and space. Missions are extensions in time and space of the divine person's eternal relation of origin. I'll read that again. Missions are extensions in time and space of the divine person's eternal relation of origin. Specifically, the missions of the Son, the begotten one, eternally begotten of the Father. Guess what his mission was? To be born, to be incarnated. You can see how the mission of him actually being incarnated, being born into the world, reveals his eternal relation with the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit, the one who proceeds, aspirated, breathed out, what is he? He is sent to breathe life, to indwell, Okay, his mission corresponds with his eternal relation and reveals it. They're seen to reveal their eternal relations. Helpful quote, a mission has an eternal depth in a divine person's relation of origin and a temporal shore in a divine person's coming to dwell among the creatures. So a lot of that's new, that'll be recorded, so you can go back and listen to it again if you wanna work through it again, and we have, of course, books to recommend if you wanna learn more about that. But the reason I work through all of that is because the next two verses, chapter 26 through 27, I was greatly helped in reading that by remembering those different definitions. And I thought it appropriate to introduce those to you today. So let's go ahead and look at our text and apply some of the things that we just discussed. Verse 26, when the helper comes, whom I will send you from the Father, that is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. So just remember some of our words. Persons, do we see divine persons in that text? We see a lot. We see helper. We see I, speaking of Jesus, the Son. We see the Father. We see the Spirit. We see the Father again. So the persons are made reference in that verse. Eternal relation. Father unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Spirit, what? Proceeding. Proceeding. What does it say at the end of verse 26? Who proceeds from the Father. Mission. the eternal relation of origin actually entering into space and time to reveal God, okay? When the helper comes, okay, I will send him to you from the Father. He is the spirit of truth who will bear witness about the Father and the Son. All of those terms that we discussed are present explicitly in the text. Now, essence, inseparable operations, those are not there, but because they are taught in the whole of Scripture, we have to bring those to bear as we look at these texts and they help us to understand the other definitions as well. But with our definitions in mind, it's easier to see that Jesus speaks in two ways of the Spirit. One act of sending, the Spirit's divine mission in time and space, which flows from and reveals the eternal act of the Spirit's procession. Okay, so the divine mission revealing the eternal act of the Spirit's procession, His eternal relation of origin. Here it is, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father. When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father. This speaks of a time, future, for the disciples. And this is none other than the arrival of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts chapter two. This is, in large part, the Spirit's mission. Who proceeds from the Father. Jesus explains that this procession, this eternal sending, I guess, of the Spirit in time is to be understood as being rooted to the Spirit's eternal relation to the Father as one that proceeds principally from Him. Now the Spirit proceeds principally from the Father, who himself is neither begotten nor proceeding. And because of that, he's the eternal originator. He's the origin of all things. Proceeds from the Father through the Son. For it is Christ who says, whom I will send, okay, who I will send from the Father. Christ will send the Spirit from the Father. So the Spirit will proceed from the Father and through the Son. This is why, if you're familiar with the Nicene Creed, we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. That's why we confess that. We can go ahead and speed up a little bit now that we've gotten through the really deep weeds there. As Christ bore witness of the Father to the world, the Spirit will bear witness about the Son and the Father. He will do this both to His own who love Him and to a world who will continue to hate Him. Go ahead and look at verse 27 as we proceed through this text. and you will testify also because you have been with me from the beginning. So after the promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus concludes this section by saying that you will testify also. The Spirit will testify about me and so too will you testify. You will testify because you have been with me from the beginning. The disciples of Christ in the Spirit testify about the Son to the world." The statement pretty well summarizes all of the Book of Acts, and for that matter, really the entirety of the age of the church, an age that we are currently in even today. In the promise of the Helper, we see the Father's redemptive work, soon to be fully secured through the atonement and resurrection of the Son, and will be extended and applied, okay, remember the effectual call, to all whom He chose before the foundation of the world. Remember, election. In the sanctifying work of the Spirit. What an amazing thing it is to be chosen and to be loved by Him, to be plucked out of the world, and because of that, to be made an object of the world's hatred. Now with this ongoing work, so too will follow the bitter enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. What you will experience is not in any way a strange thing for you. We are to expect it, and with the help of the Spirit, we are to remain strong. It is by the sovereign plan and decree of our triune God how it is all supposed to work. Conclude our time with these thoughts. This brings us really back to where we began, where we opened this evening, and it's where we're gonna conclude our time now. We've essentially come full circle. Because of the Christian's association with Christ, and because of the sending and the continuing testimony of the indwelling spirit in us and through us, the world will hate you. But take heart, right? We are not alone. He is with us. He has encouraged us. He will provide for us exactly what we need. And let's go ahead and allow Jesus Christ and the Apostle John have the last words this evening. John 16, 33. The words of Christ, these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. What does he say? But take courage, I have overcome the world. The second verse is 1 John 4, 4, and listen closely. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them. because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. As I read that this right before we came over here, it just struck me. Okay, we see exactly what we talked about just a few moments ago from God. You are from God. You are from the Father. You have overcome them. Through Christ, you have overcome the world. And in the spirit, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Right here we see God's, the trium God, fully at work and our lives securely in his hands.