Jesus continues His discussion of persecution by telling the disciples that the world would hate them as well. This daily devotion looks at what Jesus said about His reception from those He came to save.
Nuggets
- Worldview people like to remind disciples that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but they need to remember the rest of the story.
- The worst sin we can commit is to reject Jesus.
Devotions in the Living Life Connected to Christ series
Jesus had just been telling His disciples that being God’s chosen people puts us in opposition to the world. Since He was going to be persecuted, we should also expect to be persecuted.
Let’s see how Jesus expanded on that.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
If I Hadn’t Come
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also” (Jn. 15: 22-23 ESV)
Worldview people like to remind disciples that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but they need to remember the rest of the story.
Yes, Jesus said it Himself that He did not come to condemn the world. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (Jn. 3: 17 ESV).
Jesus’ mission was to provide a way that all mankind might be saved. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
It isn’t an automatic thing. We have to make the decision to believe in and obey Him.
What some worldview people conveniently forget is we were condemned long before Jesus showed up on this earth. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (Jn. 3: 18 ESV emphasis added).
In other words, before Jesus was born and died for us, mankind was already condemned.
We became condemned when Adam and Eve committed the original sin.
- “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law” Rom 5: 12-13 ESV)
- “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5: 18 ESV).
Saving the world was Jesus’ main objective. It wasn’t to perform miracles to feed or heal people.
Jesus is more concerned about our spiritual condition than our physical condition.
But what did Jesus mean when He said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin …” (Jn. 15: 22 ESV)?
Until Jesus came and paid the penalty for our sins, God was not going to judge us. Now, He will.
Does that mean all people from Adam to Jesus won’t be considered sinners?
Maclaren said they would. He wrote, “That does not mean, of course, that these men would have been clear of all moral delinquency. There were men committing all the ordinary forms of human transgression amongst them.”
Resource
Look at the last part of the verse. “… but now they have no excuse for their sin” (Jn. 15: 22 ESV).
Now, people have no excuse to not listen to Jesus’ words. They will remain guilty — condemned — if they ignore Christ.
I Came to Save the World
“If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” (Jn. 15: 24-25 ESV)
The worst sin we can commit is to reject Jesus.
These two verses are really confusing. Elaine-speak.
Jesus did all of these wonderful miracles among the Jews — things that no one’s else could do. If He wouldn’t have done them, the Jews would not be guilty.
But Jesus did do the miracles. But instead of believing in Him, the Jews continued to reject Him.
They not only rejected Jesus, but they also rejected God.
Thomas addressed the worldview person’s hatred for Jesus and God. He wrote, “Hatred towards the best of beings, the incarnation of goodness, is sin in its most malignant form, it was the culmination of human depravity.”
Resource
Hatred toward Jesus and God is shown by not following God’s laws and commandments. God spells it out in His word what do ore the do’s and don’ts. We can’t say we didn’t know.
What? We haven’t read our Bibles through? That is no excuse. We have it and are supposed to read it. We can’t pick and choose what part we want to read.
We can’t even say we don’t know what our punishment will be. There will be one question asked at judgment day: do we know Jesus as our personal Savior or not?
If we say yes, we live with God throughout eternity. If we say no, we will be thrown in a lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15).
We can’t even say we had no idea how to be saved. Scriptures tell us too many times that we only need to believe and confess.
There is no excuse for sin.
Only belief in Jesus as our Lord and Savior will save us from our sins. Being a good person isn’t good enough.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
The flip side of that is when we don’t feel that we aren’t good enough for Jesus to save us. We are good enough.
We can’t say God is going to be merciful and give us a pass. He will never say to Jesus, “I know I told You that the only way I would let them into Heaven is if they believed You were the only way. But there is too many of them that don’t believe. I can’t turn them away. I am going to change my mind and let them into Heaven anyway.”
God would never do that. So, we have to be prepared.
Making the Connections
We have to realize that there is one way to salvation. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
In order to become children of God, we have to admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners; believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer; confess God as Sovereign God; and demonstrate that commitment by submitting to living our lives following His laws and commandments confessing God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
How Do We Apply This?
- When we are hated by the world, consider it a test of our faith.
- We need to make sure that we are the opposite of the world.
- We need to always keep God’s laws and commandments regardless of how the world wants us to lower our standards.
- We are called to imitate Jesus when we encounter the world’s hatred.
Resource
Father God. We pray that You will sustain us when we encounter the world’s treatment. Jesus warned us we wouldn’t be exempt from persecution. Help us to imitate Him. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.