THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

John 15:22-25

I. JESUS EXPOSES THE SIN AND GUILT OF THE WORLD 15:22-24

The very works and teaching of Jesus expose the sin and the guilt of a self-righteous world.

You may think you look great until you look into the mirror and see all the blemishes. So it is when we look at the life and teaching of Jesus that we see our sin and depravity.

As long as you can compare yourself with others in this world you will feel okay about yourself, but when you compare yourself with Jesus you see how sinful you really are.

Being in darkness, the world could not see its sin. But when the Light came into the world, their sin was exposed. Instead of turning to the Light for forgiveness and mercy, they hated the Light and rejected the Light.  John 3:19-21, 8:12, 12:46

The truth is that darkness hates the Light, and Jesus makes it clear that those who hate Him hate His Father also. John, later in his first epistle, describes God as Light. Those who are God’s children walk in the Light.  1 John 1:5-7, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Before Christ came, men could block out from their minds the truth of who God is and even create a god of their own imagination. But when Jesus came He caused men to have to come face to face with who God is, and with their sin.

The world has two choices:

1. Repent of its sin and come to the Light believing on Christ for forgiveness and righteousness or

2. Seek to destroy the Light lest He continue to expose their sin.

The vast majority of the world has chosen the latter.

To its dismay and revulsion the world could not destroy Him, and He continues to expose the sin of the world through His followers who, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, live and proclaim His life, His death, and His resurrection until He comes again.  Ephesians 5:8-13

We should never forget what we were before God opened our eyes and turned us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Himself, so that we may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are declared righteous by faith in Christ.

II. JESUS IS HATED WITHOUT CAUSE 15:25

The world’s hatred of Jesus, though reprehensible and inexcusable, was not outside of God’s sovereign plan. They have done this, Jesus declared, to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, “They hated Me without cause.”

The Lord quoted from two Davidic psalms, 35:19 and 69:4. His point is that if David, a mere man, could be so hated by his enemies without cause, how much more the sinless Son of God?

No one could accuse Jesus of sin or find fault with Him, so their hatred was without just cause.

That the world continues to hate Jesus and His followers graphically reveals the depravity of sin.

CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION

The world resents believers because like Jesus, their godly lives condemn its evil works.

The task of the church today is not how to make God acceptable to sinners but how to make sinners acceptable to God through His Son Jesus Christ.

The true gospel is not good in making God acceptable to sinners because it points out man’s sinful condition and his need to repent of sin in order to find pardon and acceptance before the God against whom he has sinned.

The truth about the authentic gospel is that it insults both moralism and rationalism.

It insults moralism in that it proclaims that none are righteous, no not one, and that all of man’s righteous acts are as filthy rags before a holy God. It denounces good works as a ticket to heaven, leaving the sinner at the mercy of God.

It insults rationalism because it offends the pride of man. It says that there are ways that seem right to a man but the end is death. It says that by man’s wisdom he will never come to know God, and that man’s wisdom is foolishness to God.

The desperate need today is believers with a spiritual backbone who are willing to live and teach the truth without compromise even though it offends and brings persecution. Matthew 5:10-12