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3. The world hates Christ and his disciples (John 15:18 – 16:3)
JOHN 16:1-3
1 These things have I spoken to you, so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God. 3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Jesus informed his disciples that they would be hated for three reasons:
Because they are born of God and not of the world.
Because men do not recognize Christ, God’s Son nor God’s image.
Those religious bigots did not know the true God, and their worship was to the unknown and obscure god.
Doubtless, hell’s hatred continues. He who turns to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is killed by fanatics as an apostate wherever he is found, thinking they are serving God. In fact, they serve the devil. They do not know that the true God is the Holy Father; they did not experience the power of the blood of Christ. They are void of the Holy Spirit’s power. So an alien spirit leads them to destroy those who represent the Holy Trinity by persecution, murder and various trials. So did the Jews, and so will it be till Christ returns.
Do not imagine that the future will be better because mankind will add to its store of knowledge and illumination. No, the two contending spirits will remain in the world till the end: A spirit from above, and one from below. There is no bridge between heaven and hell. Either you enter fully into the fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, or else you fall into the bondage of hell and the prison of your iniquity. If you follow Jesus, you become a loving person, honoring the Father with your testimony. But if you will not become His child, you will remain tied up with other spirits and thoughts and develop into an enemy of God.
Jesus reminds you of the cost of adoption to God if you truly abide in him. Your future will be hard and painful when hell will explode against Christ and his followers. The world hates every faithful follower of Jesus; so either you gain God as Father and you become a stranger in our world or you remain a foe of God, and the world welcomes you as one of their own. So choose between life and eternal death.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for choosing death; you stayed faithful to your Father. Tear us away from the spirit of the world and root us in your love, so that we may abide as God’s children. Your love is our power and guidance.
QUESTION:
- Why does the world hate those who believe in Christ?