In his sermon 'The World Acting on Hatred,' Jason Dohm explores the profound theme of the world's animosity towards Jesus and His followers. He begins with the biblical premise that the world hated Jesus before it hated His disciples, emphasizing that this hatred is deeply rooted in the world's love for sin and rejection of divine authority. Dohm explains that the world's hatred is not merely emotional but manifests in slander, excommunication, and even murder, as evidenced by historical examples of persecution, including the martyrdom of Jesus' disciples. The sermon highlights the role of the Holy Spirit as a divine helper and witness, indwelling believers and empowering them to testify about Jesus despite opposition. Dohm underscores the inevitability of persecution but assures that it is through such trials that believers can affirm their faith, drawing strength from the assurance of God's love and promises. Martyrdom, he asserts, is not a defeat but a victory that overcomes evil, reflecting the unwavering claims of Christ as King. The sermon concludes with a call for Christians to be prepared for relational and economic isolation, holding fast to their testimony of Jesus amidst trials, and valuing their relationship with Christ above all else.

15 verse 18. So that's where I'll begin. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word and prepare us all. If the world hates you, Know that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world, the world would love its own.

Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world therefore the world hates you remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you if they kept my word they will keep yours also But all these things they will do to you for My namesake, because they do not know Him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin.

But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law they hated me without a cause but when the helper comes whom I shall send to you from the father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness because you have been with Me from the beginning. These things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues.

Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they've not known the Father nor me. But these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you." The title of the sermon this morning is The World Acting on Hatred. This is a subject that Jesus introduced about the halfway point of the last chapter, beginning with what Jim just read.

And Jesus continues to develop that theme now, speaking so clearly that The hatred of the world is more than emotional hatred. It is more than simply sentimental hatred only felt in the heart but not working its way out. The hatred of the world is an emotion, a sentiment that does work its way out into slander and ultimately into murder. And we know that's true because that's how the world treated our Lord. And a servant is not greater than his master.

A Christian should never presume to be treated better by the world than the world treated our master. So this is a continuation of Jesus developing this theme. Two weeks ago, the text was about the world's disposition towards the Lord Jesus. It can be summarized in one word, hatred. The world hates Jesus Christ because the world hates light and Jesus is light.

Why does the world hate light? Because the world loves sin. Mankind in our natural condition, meaning as we're born, as we come out of the womb is bent towards self and therefore bent away from God who wants to be God. Imagine that. God wanting to be God.

Well, God wants to be God. God insists on being God. And our Natural hatred towards that and wanting to be God for ourselves puts us at enmity with God and actually causes us to hate God. To hate God is to hate Jesus who is God, who is the express image of God. In verse 19 of the last chapter, Jesus said, You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.

Therefore the world hates you. The truth of the matter is not lost on the world. The world gets it. Christians used to be in happy rebellion against God. And they want you to continue in happy rebellion against God along with them.

In fact, they insist that you continue in happy rebellion against God. Last week was only two verses. It was the last two verses of chapter 15. In verse 26 we had the Spirit's testimony of Jesus, a promise from Jesus to send the Holy Spirit who will testify within the heart of the believer about Jesus, who He is and what He has done for His people. An ongoing testimony in the heart and life of the believer by the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus.

In verse 27 we have the Spirit-filled disciples testimony of Jesus to the world. By the way, if you're a disciple, you are a Spirit-filled disciple. There's no other kind. A true disciple is a Spirit-filled disciple. And filled with a Spirit who testifies of Jesus and giving us a testimony of Jesus to the world.

So, our text today begins with the words, these things I have spoken to you. So that's the backdrop this last two weeks. The world's disposition towards Jesus, they hate Him, and the indwelling Spirit testifying of Jesus and pushing us out into the world with a testimony of Jesus is the backdrop of Jesus' continued teaching. Of course, we're in one long, continuous discourse here, so Jesus would have said these things immediately, sequentially. So as we come to the text, let's ask the Lord to help us.

God, I thank you for your truthfulness and full disclosure to your disciples. You have never once led a disciple down the garden path as if it were all to be health and wealth and prosperity for us. But you have told us the truth about what it means to follow after you. That through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Thank you for being so forthright.

It makes us ready for what life holds. We praise you for that. Pray now that you would use the preaching of your word to solidify us in a resolve to follow after you whatever may come, whatever the cost. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I'm actually going to sort of go out of sequence.

That's a little unusual. I'm not going to start in verse 1. I'm going to start in verses 2 and 3. Because you really have the substance of Jesus' teaching in chapter 16, verses 2 and 3. And then the bookends, the beginning verse, verse 1, and the end verse of our scope today, verse 4, tell about Jesus' motivations for teaching this substance.

We're going to start with the substance in verses 2 and 3. So follow along in chapter 16 as I reread verses 2 and 3. Jesus says to his eleven faithful disciples, again Judas has already left the dinner to go betray him. So this is to the eleven faithful disciples. Jesus says, they will put you out of the synagogues.

Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service. And these things they will do to you, because they have not known the Father nor me. In these verses we have important truths about the future. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, truths fills in the blank. Important truths about the future.

Jesus is telling his faithful eleven disciples about their future. Church history actually bears this out. All this happened to his disciples. 10 of the faithful 11 disciples were martyred according to church history. There are two things in view.

One, excommunication being put out of the synagogues, cast out of the local communities of faith. And two, martyrdom being killed for their testimony of Jesus. Excommunication and martyrdom. Now remember, Jesus doesn't draw the line between religious, Those who make religion central to their lives, and irreligious people who think little of religion, and have little or no place in their lives, Jesus draws the line between true disciples and the world. So if you think the line for Jesus is between religious and irreligious, this will make no sense to you.

No, no, no. The line that Jesus draws is between true disciples, those who are really born again and are taking up their cross and following Him and the world. So the world can be very religious. In fact, in our text it is the religious that describes, the very religious that describes the world in opposition to, in hatred of Jesus. So Jesus in our text is not talking about atheists, he's talking about the world, even the world among people who profess to know God.

So first, excommunication. Being put out of the synagogue, the Greek lexicon says, excluded from the sacred assemblies of Israel, excommunicated. This is not a new thought. In John chapter 9, way back when we were there, the man born blind and given his sight by Jesus was interrogated by the Jewish leaders and he affirms that Jesus must be from God. He says from the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of such a thing that a man born blind would be given his sight.

He must be from God And for that, for being healed, they put him out of the synagogue. Just a few verses earlier in chapter 9, his parents had been interrogated by the Jewish leaders and they had refused to testify of Jesus. All they would say is, we know he is our son, ask him. Now why wouldn't they testify? Because the Jews had agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus as Christ, that person would be put out of the synagogue.

This is not a new concept to the disciples in John chapter 16. They've already encountered it. They've already seen that a truthful testimony of Jesus as from God, what that will get you. The prize that that gets you. That gets you put out of the synagogue.

Now, understand the synagogue, its function in daily life, and think of Old Testament law. The synagogue was the local church for the Jew. But unlike Christianity in America, the only game in town, because you can put out of the synagogue, you don't just move on to the other synagogue in town. That's not a thing in these communities. There is a synagogue and you go to the synagogue and if you're put out of the synagogue there's no synagogue for you to go to.

It's like a local church with no other options. The synagogue is the gathering place in your community where you met for corporate worship of the God of Scripture. So it's to be without a place for corporate worship. It's to be in practical ways for all practical purposes put away from, cast out from the professing people of God. The Old Testament law prescribed in the calendar year a series of sacred assemblies.

They told you when to gather, not just in your local community, but when to gather nationally to go up to Jerusalem for this series of sacred assemblies. Jesus did that from the time he was a boy. The Gospels record this. Jesus was part of the national religious life of the professing people of God. He was going up to Jerusalem at least three times a year, all during his growing up years, through his public ministry, to be put out of the synagogue is to be no longer welcome at the sacred assemblies.

So, At the community level for corporate worship, not welcome, put out, cast out, excommunicated, and at the national sacred assemblies when all the people of God would come together to worship together at the temple to be no longer welcome. What would the impact be on your family? What would it be like to have a son who was put out from the synagogue and not welcome at temple worship, or a father, or an aunt, or an uncle. In Matthew chapter 10, this is why in Matthew chapter 10 Jesus says, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Fathers will be against sons.

Daughters will be against mothers. A person's enemies will be those of his own household. Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 is talking about this. What would the impact on your livelihood be when The people who transact business with you now view you as a heretic cast out not just from your religion but from your national religion. What would that do to your earning potential?

Earning potential. In Acts chapter 8 verse 1, the great persecution arises against the believers of Jesus in Jerusalem, and It says that the disciples are scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. You could go back in time from that great persecution and tell these Jews living in Jerusalem that six months from now you'll be happy to go settle in Samaria. They'd call you crazy. Oh, why?

Samaria is where the heretics live. Nobody in their right mind resettles from Jerusalem to Samaria where the half-breeds live. But six months later, in response to the great persecution, Jews from Jerusalem who have embraced Christ and testified of Christ and are cast out of the synagogue and are driven out of Jerusalem because of the things that Jesus is speaking about in our text are happy to settle with the half-breed heretics in Samaria. They're not doing that with the blessing of their parents. Secondly, martyrdom.

Martyrdom. So it will not just cost the disciples their relationships and their economies. It will cost them their lives in most instances. The world will not stop in its hatred of Jesus and his people at relational and economic isolation. The world will not content itself from isolating you relationally.

The world will not content itself in isolating you economically. Ultimately, the world will not stop until we renounce our confession of Christ or die. If I am a true disciple of Jesus, I must reconcile myself with this truth. There is no making peace with the world. All truths are temporary truths.

Because the exclusive claims of the Lord Jesus Christ are relentless. They never stop. So the world can never be at peace with you, Christian. The world can never live and let live because you represent the exclusive claims of the Lord Jesus Christ, which He will never drop. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He cannot drop His claims. He will not drop His claims. And so you must be content to be the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing you will be a sweet smell in the nostrils of those who are being saved. Brother, sister. And you will be the worst stench in the nostrils of those who are perishing because you will be the smell of righteous condemnation.

They cannot make peace with you. They cannot make peace with you because Jesus will never, ever, ever until he comes again will never drop his claims to being king. A world that will not be governed can never be at peace with a king who will not drop his claims to reign. And again, by the world I don't mean the irreligious, people who don't make room for religion in their lives. In our text Jesus is specifically talking about the religious.

Look again in verse 2. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. God, I worship you through the killing of this Christian. Imagine that. And yet, that's what happened to Jesus.

And yet that's what happened to the disciples. And yet that's what happened to the reformers. D.A. Carson observes that a sermon was preached at the burning at the stake of Archbishop Cranmer. So when the English church changed hands from Protestants back to Catholics at the hands of Bloody Mary, Cranmer was burned at the stake.

They preached a sermon before they burned him at the stake. It was not the irreligious presiding. It was even those who claimed the name of Christ, a bishop preached, and then they lit the fires and roasted this man alive. This is the hatred of the world towards the Christ of the Bible. Even people who take up the name of Christ but have not embraced the Christ of Scripture will behave in this way.

It will be an act of worship offered to a false god under the pretense that it is an act of worship rendered to the God of Scripture. The Expositors Bible commentary says this, Persecution is never more intense than where violence is given a religious sanction. It is the religious conscientiousness of the persecutor that makes him so relentless. Study church history. That's what you find in every century, that the religious persecutors are relentless.

Why are they so relentless? Because of religious conscientiousness. Their conscience says, this man must die. I think it is the exclusive claims of Christ that lead to this. Once you have considered and rejected those exclusive claims, you are without a middle or neutral ground that allows you to just live and let live.

This is a really important thought. Once you considered, received and considered the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ and rejected them, the middle ground has been eliminated. Jesus meant to do that by His teaching, by the way. That's on purpose. People who haven't considered and consciously rejected those claims have a perceived middle ground.

It doesn't really exist. There is no middle ground. It is to be with him or to be against him. And to say, I don't know, is to reject him. But people who haven't consciously considered and rejected those claims perceive a middle ground that doesn't exist, so they can live and let live.

But people who have consciously rejected those claims have no middle ground. So their conscience can only rest if they stand in opposition to Jesus and His preaching. Who is the poster boy for both sides of this? By poster boy I mean natural born representative of the perfect spokesman for both sides is Saul of Tarsus and the Apostle Paul. Now it's the same person.

God changed his heart and changed his name. He was Saul of Tarsus who grew up a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee, zealous for God. And he was standing by giving his approval when they stoned Stephen to death. God changed his heart and he became on the receiving end. It eventually cost him his life.

Turn to Acts chapter 26. In Acts chapter 26 We have Paul's testimony about Saul. Now again, it's the same guy, but different epochs of his life, different periods of his life. We have the Apostle Paul, the changed man's testimony of what he was like before Jesus met him and changed him. He's actually testifying in his own trial before Festus and King Agrippa and he says this about his past Acts chapter 26 verses 9 through 11.

This is really insightful when you compare it with our text. Acts 26 beginning in 9. Paul says, indeed I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I thought I should do many things contrary to this name. Verse 10, this I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priests.

And when they were put to death I cast my vote against them and I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities." And then he proceeds from speaking of his history as a persecutor of Jesus of Nazareth in the lives of his people, to one who was claimed as a trophy of grace. When Jesus changed Saul and gave him the name Paul, gave him a new name, he went from opposing the name of Jesus, persecuting Jesus' people, to being the object of persecution. He says this in 2 Corinthians 11, 24. Paul writes, From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

So five times he received thirty-nine lashes. Why is that significant? Because This is governed by Old Testament law and it's administered in Israel by synagogue rulers. This wasn't just ticked off Jews, meeting them on the street, hearing them preaching in various places, and whipping them. This was at the hands of synagogue rulers five times he received the 39 lashes.

It is just what Jesus is describing in our text. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12, I'll be reading verses 10 and 11. Again, Revelation written by John the Gospel writer. Revelation 12 verse 10.

Then I John heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of the brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down." He is talking about the casting down of the devil here. Verse 11, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." This follows the flow of what Jesus is teaching in chapter 15 and 16. The blood of the Lamb, testimony, death. And it has been rolled out or set forth, it has been set forth in Revelation chapter 12 as the plan of God for overcoming the devil.

The blood of the lamb saving, cleansing, transforming the Saul of Tarsus's in the world to make them Paul's a new name a new life a new heart new affections an indwelling Holy Spirit that gives the world a testimony of Jesus Christ leading to death. Brethren, We should not love our lives, we should love Jesus. We should not fear man who can only kill the body. We should fear God who can kill the body and then destroy the soul in hell. It is not our defeat to overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony and not loving our lives even to death.

It is our victory and it is the victory of our king. Martyrdom is not the defeat of the church, it is the victory of the church. It is actually God working as he said he would work to overwhelm his enemy and to cast down the devil. Finally in this section, the root cause is given. Why?

Why would anyone hate the Lord Jesus, the perfect man, love incarnate, who came to lay down his life for sinners? We are given the root cause. These persecutors don't know God the Father or Jesus who is God the Son. This is just as he said in chapter 15. Just look back to chapter 15 verse 21.

He already said this, chapter 15 verse 21, But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him who sent me. At this point, I will keep quoting to you, I don't know how many weeks in a row this is now, but it's a few. I will keep quoting to you 1 John 2, 23. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

If you deny the Son, you do not have the Father. If you acknowledge the Son, you have the Father also. This must be definitional for the Christian. We must hold that it is impossible to know God while denying the Jesus of Scripture, who is the exact representation of God. Meaning, if you can gaze upon Jesus in the gospels and not recognize that this is God, you don't know God.

People who know God recognize Jesus is God in the gospel accounts. Why is it so important? Because many, many, many, many make that claim. I know God while denying the Jesus of Scripture. I am being very careful to say the Jesus of Scripture.

Many say, I know God and I know Jesus, but their Jesus looks nothing like the Jesus of the Gospels. He's not Jesus at all. They've not acknowledged the Son at all. They don't have the Father either. Jesus says to those people who say, I know God but I don't acknowledge the Jesus of the Gospels, that's not true, that's false.

Secondly, the driving motivations behind Secondly, the driving motivations behind Jesus' instructions. The bookend verses, verse 1 and verse 4. The driving motivations, So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, Motivations fills in the blanks. Why is Jesus teaching them these things at this particular time? He explains it.

We've been here before a couple of times actually. We were here in chapter 13, we were here in chapter 14 where we had almost the same words spoken by Jesus. By telling the disciples beforehand, before it happens, Jesus is changing circumstances that would tend to erode their faith. Remember the cross would tend to erode their faith. We thought he was going to be a great king and we were going to reign beside him but now they've crucified him.

That would tend to erode their faith, but because He told them in advance, it will now build their faith. Jesus knew all along, because He told us all along. This isn't a deviation from the plan, this is the plan. Things aren't spiraling out of control. Jesus is in control doing all that He said He would do.

Look at verse 1. Let me read it again. Hopefully you still have a finger in John 16 verse 1. These things I have spoken to you that you should not be made to stumble. The Greek lexicon there says to put a stumbling block in the way.

I'm telling you in advance so that there's not a stumbling block in the way. I'm telling you in advance so that there's not a stumbling block in the way. Or to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey." Let me read that again. This is right out of the Greek lexicon. To put a stumbling block in the way, or to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey.

In just a few hours, these eleven quote unquote faithful disciples are going to take the first test and fail. They are all going to scatter. Peter will fail the most spectacularly. But Jesus has removed the stumbling block by forewarning them. So when they fail, they will know it is their failure and not Jesus' failure.

It will not erode their confidence in Jesus. If anything, it will build their confidence in Jesus because it's exactly what he said would happen. So, in the coming weeks and months and years, when they and their brethren are put out of the synagogues for their testimony of Jesus. It will not erode their faith, it will build their faith. And when they and Their brethren are even killed for their testimony of Jesus.

It will not erode, but it will build their faith. In Acts chapter 12, John the Gospel writer's brother will be murdered for his testimony of Jesus. James is murdered at the beginning of Acts chapter 12 because he holds to his testimony of Jesus as Christ. John goes on, lives a long life, doesn't abandon the faith, advances the faith, becomes a gospel writer, becomes a letter writer, becomes a writer of revelation, Not a man whose faith has been eroded, a man whose faith has been strengthened because his master made him ready for what was coming. Verse 4.

But these things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told you of them. Things are going to transpire and they'll remember. Remember when Jesus said this. That's exactly what Jesus said would happen. He closes verse 4 with these words, and these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

Jesus explains why He didn't tell them these things from the beginning. Now you can find places in the Gospels earlier in the ministry of Jesus where He is beginning to prepare His disciples for coming persecution. You cannot find where he says they will be killed for their testimony. Why not? Why didn't he tell them from the beginning?

He was with them. He was bearing the brunt of the persecutions himself. He knew exactly how every circumstance was going to come out. The persecutions that they had faced up until this time had been faced with their master physically present. And he knew full well that it would be so.

Here's what Matthew Poole says, I think this is a helpful comment. He, Jesus, had concealed these things till By his other doctrine he had prepared them to receive this revelation. There was a necessity of his relieving them against his bodily absence. So Poole says there are two things in view here. One is he was establishing them through foundational doctrines to make them ready to receive this revelation.

And there wasn't a pressing need before because he was with them bodily, but Now he has to tell them because he is not going to be physically present with them. That is very consistent with verse 12. Look forward, this is two weeks from now, but when we get there in two weeks, verse 12, Jesus says, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. I think that would have been true of the things Jesus is saying here in their early life as disciples. He knew it, but He wasn't prepared to tell it to them then, they weren't ready to bear it then.

Now they're ready to bear it. He's made them ready to bear it. This should actually be a great comfort to the disciples of Jesus. I'm not one of the eleven, but I am a disciple of Jesus. How about you?

I hope you are. If you are, this should be a great comfort to you. Jesus, the disciple maker, doesn't tell us everything at once. You are not ready to bear that. I am not ready to bear that.

I think that would be crushing to be told about all the hardships coming now. He brings us along building line upon line, building precept upon precept, making us ready for the future things that he's going to teach us. Applications, have two. One, It is the God-given role of Christians to overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by not love our lives even unto death. But in most parts of the world, and most times in history, this wouldn't be a foreign concept at all.

It is our role as Christ followers in the world to overcome the devil, to cast him down by the blood of the lamb, preaching Christ's atoning sacrifice for sinners, by the testimony, by the word of our testimony, and by not loving our lives. When we love our lives and say when push comes to shove, we'll give up our testimony, we say to the world, we're not serious about this. We talk about these things when the sun shines, and only when the sun shines. The devil is overcome when we don't love our lives. Even if the day comes when you have to choose to die or cling to Christ, cling to Christ.

The counsel from Jesus to us is, don't be surprised. Be ready. Don't be surprised. I told you, they are going to put you out, they are going to thrust you out, they are going to isolate you relationally and economically. Anyone who can't look at the cultural shifts that are happening, and if you can't imagine relational and economic isolation coming to a Christian near you, you are not paying attention.

It hasn't been so for our lifetime, really, not in a meaningful way, but I can imagine with very little effort being isolated relationally even from family members and isolated economically Because of the things that this book says, and I just can't say I don't believe it, I believe it, I believe it's the truth of God. When We begin to be isolated relationally and economically. We shouldn't be surprised. We should be ready. Jesus told us.

Number two, turned out Romans chapter 8. It was hard to know where to start in Romans chapter 8. There's so much that applies. Romans chapter 8, I'll start at 35. Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 35, Paul writes, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, I want to tie that back. Yet in all these things, yet in tribulation, in distress, in persecution, in famine, in nakedness, in peril, in sword, in being killed all day long, in being accounted as sheep for the slaughter, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is Saul of Tarsus. This is the Apostle Paul. This is the man who was transformed. In Philippians 3 he says, I counted all rubbish. I counted all rubbish to have Christ, to gain Christ's children.

Children, look at me. Look at me. It is better to have the Lord Jesus and to have His love set upon you than it is to have any other relationship in this world than it is to have any other relationship in this world than it is to have any other economic circumstance for your whole life long. It is better to have tribulation in Jesus. It is better to have distress and Jesus, persecution and Jesus, famine and Jesus, nakedness and Jesus, peril and Jesus, the sword in Jesus, death in Jesus, than to have anything else.

The claims of the Gospel are so radical. We're drowning in easy-believism. As Ryle is frequently saying in his writings, a faith that costs you nothing is worth nothing. A faith that costs you nothing is worthless. It's not real.

It's not saving. God, thank you for your Son. To whatever degree in our heart of hearts, we don't really believe the proposition that Jesus plus any persecution is better than anything else. I pray that you would forgive us and help us. I pray that you would not leave us in that place where in our heart of hearts, so we would never say it with our mouths, we would think that something else apart from your son is better than your son plus persecution and death.

If we were ever called upon to make that choice, we would cling to your Son knowing that He has the words of life. There's nowhere else for us to go. Thank you for this text. It brings us face to face with these things. It makes us count the cost of continuing to follow your son or to follow your son.

Pray that you would help us to walk sober mindedly in this world, ready to pay any price in relationships, in economics, in circumstances in order to have the love of your Son set upon us. Pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.