Hated by the World
August 31, 2014 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: The world hates Jesus because He sheds light on their evil.
Focus Passage: John 15:18-25
Supplemental Passage: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NASB)
Introduction: Recently, local Communist Chinese officials forcibly removed a cross from a church in Wenzhou, China. This year, 360 church buildings have either had their crosses removed or have been torn down completely. Despite China’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, an ongoing movement to destroy the visible church is expanding throughout the Communist country. In Iraq, the terror group, ISIS, is killing Christians, sometimes beheading them, sometimes crucifying them, without regard to age or gender. In one town, Mosul, all Christians have been either killed or run out of town. Of the 45 Christian churches, monasteries, and cemeteries, all have been destroyed, or turned into either mosques or ISIS used buildings. The world hates Jesus. And it hates us because we follow Jesus.
I. The World Hates Jesus
a. "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. (John 7:7)
b. "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20 NASB)
II. The World Hates You because of Jesus
a. "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. "Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23 NASB)
b. "If you were of the world, the world would 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. (John 15:19 NASB)
c. "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14 NASB)
III. Jesus Loves You
a. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NASB)
b. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (1 John 3:1 NASB)
c. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NASB)
Application/Invitation: Are you willing to die for your faith in Jesus Christ? It may be coming to that, right here in America.
