Truth For Life

Guest (Male): The Bible teaches that if we love and follow Jesus, we better be prepared for battle. Why would anyone care what we believe if we're not harming them? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg explains why the unbelieving world is so provoked by biblical truth and Christian conviction.

Alistair Begg: The verses that we are giving attention to this morning are John chapter 17 and verses 14, 15, and 16. Jesus says, "I have given them your word," he's speaking to the Father in prayer, "and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

In my little black book that I keep for notes, quotes, and anecdotes, I have only one note relating to the late Margaret Thatcher. It came to mind as I was reading this section in John this week. Her quote goes like this: she's speaking to a group of people, politicians, and she says, "If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing." There's a reason why after all these years she's still known as the Iron Lady because even now, when her name comes up in conversation, as it sometimes does, we discover that people either hated her or loved her. In her case, neutrality seemed not to be an option at all.

I begin in this way this morning because, if we are honest, we like to be liked. Nobody goes out of their way in order to be opposed or disenfranchised or just unliked. You don't go to school in order that people might not like you. It's important to have that in mind because the words that we're reading here in John 17, in concurrence with the instruction of Jesus throughout the Bible, give us pause in relationship to what our motivation might be in seeking the approval of those around us.

For example, in Luke chapter 6, in the context of the instruction of Jesus that he gives to the people gathered on the plain, he says to them, "Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." You'll notice that word "all" there is very important. He doesn't say, "Woe to you when people speak well of you." He says, "Woe to you when all people speak well of you" because that's what happened when the prophets of old decided that they would tell the people what they wanted to hear.

In order that they might be the beneficiaries of the approval of those to whom they speak, they then altered their message in order that they might enjoy that approval. Eugene Peterson, paraphrasing that section of Luke chapter 6, does a wonderful job. He says, "There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests aren't truth contests. Look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors. Your task is to be true, not popular."

If you happen to turn to Luke chapter 6, you will see that strikingly, Jesus actually says that the life of blessing, the enchanted life of living for Jesus, kingdom life, will actually involve being hated. "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets."

In other words, we ended last time with the notion of inappropriate joy, and here it would seem Jesus gives another occasion for joy that would appear to be inappropriate. Who leaps for joy in the reaction of people that is one of hatred? It's very important, and I want to take time to set context for this this morning so that we minimize the potential for going wrong. Jesus is speaking here of situations where it is our relationship with Him, our relationship with Jesus, that causes the response of rejection or condemnation.

It is because we are in Christ, because we are for Christ, because we are prepared to speak the name of Christ—not because we've been unkind, or we've been obnoxious, or we've been bitter. What He's saying is that for the follower of Jesus, sooner or later, if you live for Jesus, you will discover that you're not liked. Think about this in the context of this weekend and going to school in an environment that does not affirm the things of Jesus.

If you want to just hide your light under a bushel, if you want just to go silent on the subject, you can probably skate through unscathed. But if you're prepared actually to say, "No, I do believe in Jesus. I do believe that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life," don't expect them to hold parties in your name and affirm your convictions. Verse 14 of chapter 17 is our opening verse. Let's read it again. Jesus says, "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."

The context in which this is given is of importance. We've said this all along, that this prayer that the disciples are privy to be part of is set within the framework of all that has gone before. If you go all the way back to chapter 13, we could begin there. "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

Jesus has begun to set this out before his followers. I'm the one who's departing, and you're the ones who are staying. In John chapter 15, the verses that immediately precede the reading that we had, Jesus says to his followers, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you so that you will love one another."

That's the mission. "Here I have chosen you that you would go out into the world and that you would be bearing fruit." That is immediately then followed by opposition. The mission and then the opposition. "If the world hates you, know that it hated me first." In order to try and unpack this, let us consider first of all the reception of the word by the disciples. "I have given them your word." Jesus actually fulfills the prophecy that we found way back in Deuteronomy 18, a promise that was given to Moses.

If you can imagine the unfolding story of the Bible where people who were aware of what God had said of old to the prophets and through the prophets, how they must have been wondering and looking to see who is the embodiment of this great promise that God has made. Deuteronomy 18:18 says, "I will raise up for my people a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him."

They knew there is going to be somebody who comes who out-prophets all the prophets. They spoke about the word; He is the word. This one is none other than Jesus. We're aware of this because we've been reading chapter 17. If your Bible is there, you'll notice in verse 8, in concurrence with the promise given to Moses, Jesus says, "For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me."

There is a radical change that has taken place in the lives of these disciples. This is what has happened: they have heard the word, they have received the word, they know in truth that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, that He came from the Father, and they actually believed that you sent me. Jesus, in His response to the question of the Jewish audience that He was in front of, remember they said to Him, "How is it that this man has learning when he's never studied?"

They were basically saying he never went to seminary. He wasn't a part of our Judaistic background and our learning. "How is it that this man has learning, though he has never studied?" Jesus replies, "My teaching is not mine, but is his who sent me." This is very important. Jesus expects everyone who hears Him to believe His words because they're not His words. To believe His words because they are the words of God.

"The words that I speak, I'm not making this up," Jesus is essentially saying. "The words that the Father has given me to speak, I speak." If you think in your mind of that amazing moment in the Mount of Transfiguration, and you can read of that in Matthew chapter 17, where in that encounter Peter has an idea that is rebutted, but the voice comes from heaven: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him. Listen to him." It's interesting, it doesn't say "look at him." "Listen to him." Why? Because of the words that he speaks.

This is what the disciples have received. If you are a true follower of Jesus, this may be said of you as well, that you have received this word. There was a day when the Bible was foreign territory to you. There was a day when the Bible mattered little to you. It was an unread book; it was an unconsidered book. Because of a friend, or a neighbor, or something along the line, the Bible began to be in your consideration. Suddenly you discovered that the Bible knew more about you than you knew about the Bible. You began to realize that this is no ordinary book, and you realize that this is the very word of God and that you have believed that Jesus is Himself the living word of God.

That's the reception. Secondly, the reaction of the world to the disciples who have received the word. It's there straightforwardly: "the world has hated them." He says, "Father, I gave them your word, the word that you gave me. They've received it, and as a result, they're hated." Why are they hated? Why would the disciples be hated? Well, because they're in alignment with the Father and with the Son. They have been out in the regions of Judea and Samaria, all around these regions.

When the question has come up about the identity of Jesus, they have over a period of time come to understand that He is actually the way, the truth, and the life. That He is the word of God the Father from before the world began. That He is actually the light of the world. That's why they're following Him. That's why they're no longer in darkness. All of that, because of their alignment with Jesus, because of that conviction, because they've actually come to believe what Philip had been inquiring about in John chapter 14. "Show us the Father and that will suffice us," Philip characteristically said.

Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." What an amazing statement. "You've seen me," He says, "you've seen God." These fellows said, "Yeah, we get that." They're going to live their lives for it, and in many cases, they're going to die for it. Why? Because the world can't stand it. The world hates it. If you just allow yourself to fast forward and think about what it meant after the resurrection of Jesus, you could read chapter 5 of Acts where the apostles are being told not to do the work of mission.

They're speaking to the people all the words of this life. That's the command they've been given. Then the authorities come around and they brought them and set them before the council. A high priest questioned them, saying, "What do you think you're doing, spouting all this stuff here?" He strictly charged them not to teach in the name. "We've done that," he says, "and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching." By verse 40, they've taken a jolly good beating.

They called the apostles in and they decided, "Let's just beat them." They beat them and charged them again not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then they let them go. They all went away and had a pity party on their own and got themselves an ice cream cone. No, they left the presence of the council, here we go, inappropriate joy. They left the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for His name.

"I want to be liked. I don't want dishonor." Well, listen, if we're going to hold the Jesus line, prepare for it. Who says? Jesus says. They counted it a matter of joy to suffer, and they continued in the temple and from house to house, and they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. That the Messiah is Jesus. That was the issue. The real issue is: is Jesus the person he claims to be? Is Jesus God, the Messiah?

They didn't like it then, and guess what? They don't like it now. Whenever the disciple of Jesus, whether in the 1st century or the 21st century, whenever the disciple proclaims this word, presents the truth, and by so doing exposes the plight of our neighbors and our friends of contemporary man, whenever we are prepared to do that, we're not actually welcomed. We're hated. For if there is salvation in no one else save in Jesus, then the something that we proclaim, the someone whom we follow, is saying to our friends and neighbors without Him, you are lost. Without Him, you are enslaved. Without Him, you are without hope and without God in the world.

"Oh no, we believe in God." If you do not believe in Jesus, you do not actually believe in God. The apostles were really clear: we must obey God. We are not at liberty to rewrite the Bible so that people will like us, to accommodate the perspectives and positions of a world that is alien to the truth of God. Part of our problem in dealing with these things is that we don't have a biblical understanding of what it means to be without Christ. We don't have a biblical understanding of the nature of the world in which we live.

Romans 8 says the world is at enmity with God. The world is actually opposed to God, that in its projections and convictions and expressions in lifestyle, it is saying, "We will not have a God to rule over us. We will create our own idols. We will fashion them, those that we can handle and can handle us." I don't want to delay on it, but let's just put it in concrete terms at the moment: this idea of the way in which the world hates biblical truth and Christian conviction. Think about it in relationship to a biblical view of life: the origin of life, the nature of life, the sanctity of life. The world is opposed to that. It actually hates that notion because what it says is, "I am accountable to someone up and out and beyond myself." I don't want to be accountable to anybody except myself.

Think about it in relationship to death. Presently in a bill that is in its first reading in the Houses of Parliament in the UK, it is in order to see if Britain cannot copy the Netherlands and Canada and other places in assisting people to end their lives. The fascinating thing is, whatever your view is of the way that life ends, the one thing that is missing from the perspective of the world is the notion of judgment. That we will actually stand before God, the God to whom we are accountable because He made us for Himself. We're not like that; we're living for ourselves. Whatever way you die, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes the judgment. People hate that. You can't possibly be telling me that.

Guest (Male): You're listening to a message titled "If the World Hates You" on Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. We'll hear the conclusion of this message on Monday. If you are enjoying our study of Jesus' high priestly prayer found in John's Gospel, Alistair's teaching in this series comes with a companion study guide. You can download it for free at truthforlife.org/studyguides. As we look forward to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday, Alistair has something he wants to share with us.

Alistair Begg: Thanks, Bob. I'm excited to tell you about a book for you to use to introduce others to Jesus. It's called The Man on the Middle Cross. It's a small book. It presents three short stories of people who met Jesus: the woman at the well, the paralyzed man, and the thief on the cross. The book explains that each of these people had a need but didn't realize that their greatest need was to have their sins forgiven.

The reader of this book will learn that this is actually the need of every person and that Jesus offers forgiveness to those who come to Him. We've priced the little book at only a dollar so that you can buy as many copies as you are able to do and give them away as widely as you can. If everyone listening today gives out just five copies, imagine the number of lives we'll touch. Again, the book is called The Man on the Middle Cross. It's available at our cost of just one dollar, and Bob will tell you how to purchase a supply.

Guest (Male): Again, The Man on the Middle Cross is back in stock at Truth For Life. It's a great time to buy copies so you'll have them on hand as gospel sharing opportunities arise. You can purchase your supply in our online store at truthforlife.org/store or you can call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for listening this week. I hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll consider why Jesus didn't pray that his disciples would be taken out of the world. Why doesn't he just deliver us from suffering and trials immediately? The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.