In his sermon, Jason Dohm explores the dichotomy between being loved by Jesus and hated by the world, rooted in the teachings of John 15:18-25. He explains that if Jesus has set His love upon his disciples, they will naturally become targets of the world's hatred, as Jesus himself was. This hatred is not passive but manifests as persecution, reflecting a deeper hatred of Christ. Jesus' love is demonstrated through his sacrifice, as he laid down his life for his friends, illustrating that his disciples are not merely servants but friends chosen to bear fruit. The sermon highlights the irrationality of rejecting Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth and love. The world, rooted in sin and rebellion, fails to recognize Jesus due to a fundamental lack of knowledge of God. Dohm emphasizes that rejection of Jesus is without cause and fulfills prophetic scriptures. He warns that religious privileges can be dangerous if not properly utilized, as seen in biblical accounts like Capernaum. Ultimately, the sermon calls believers to expect hatred as true disciples and to be prepared for persecution, underscoring the importance of remaining steadfast in faith and allegiance to Jesus.

John chapter 15 18 through 25 If the world hates you, you know that it that it hated me before it hated you If you were 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 name's sake because they do not know him who sent me. If I had come, 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 you 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.

You may be seated. The title of the sermon this morning is Loved by Jesus, Aided by the World. The flow of where we've been and where we are today is simply that. If Jesus sets His love upon you and makes you the object of His love, then the world will set its hatred upon you and make you the object of its hatred. Look back at verse 9.

I want to sort of build into this by the flow of where Jesus is going. The beginning of verse 9, Jesus says, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Jesus is teaching that he has deeply, deeply loved his disciples. He doesn't just say, I love you, he says, as My Father loves me as a standard, the highest standard ever, the love of the Father for the Son, in like manner I have loved you." Then in verse 13, Jesus said this, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. Jesus' love is not just a sentimental love, it is a demonstrated love.

How do we know that He loves us? Because He says so? No, because He goes to the cross. Lays down His life. And He says, I'm laying down my life for my friends.

That becomes a standard for us and our self-sacrificing love that we're called to. It's rooted in Jesus' love and he says It's a love for friends. He's introducing here that his disciples are not simply his students or his servants, but that they are his friends. He is befriending them. He loves them and is befriending them.

And then in verses 15 and 16 we read this. Jesus says this, No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his Master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. So here's the flow leading into our text.

Love, befriending, fruit. He loves his disciples not just with an ordinary love that you could express by just saying I love you, but with an extraordinary love that you would describe by saying as the Father loves the Son in the Holy Trinity, so Jesus loves His people. He befriends His people. He doesn't just need slaves to do the dirty work. But He bleeds and dies and cleanses in order to befriend us.

And He does this to transform us and to make us fruitful. So that's the flow of thought coming into our text. We're given Jesus' disposition towards His disciples, towards me, I'm his disciple. And if you've repented and believed the gospel, you're his disciple. And so Jesus is giving you his disposition towards you as well.

Love, friendship, fruitfulness. This week we get the world's disposition towards the disciples of Jesus. These are the things that are set side by side in last week's text and this text. Jesus' disposition towards His disciples, love, friendship, fruitfulness, and then the world's disposition towards Jesus' disciples. Let's pray.

I thank you for your profound, deep, almost indescribable love for your disciples. We can bear the hatred of the world if you love us. Your love will sustain us through the darkest circumstances in life. We can actually even flourish and have joy in the darkest circumstances of life. If only you'll love us, we can bear up under the hatred of the world.

I thank you that that's so true that you've proved it a thousand times over across thousands of years in your people. Demonstrate it in our lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So I'm going to just subdivide the text in half, first looking at verses 18-21.

So hopefully you're still in John chapter 15. Follow along as I reread John 15, 18-21. Jesus says this, If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were 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. Here in this first section we have the world's disposition towards Jesus and his disciples. What is that?

It is hatred. It is not passive hatred. He talks about hatred and persecution. Hatred is just, persecution is just hatred working its way out into words and actions. So The hatred towards Jesus' disciples and then just the manifestation of that, the outworking of hatred in the heart, works into words and deeds, hatred and persecution.

The first thing to say, the world hates Jesus Christ. The hatred as disciples experience is reflected hatred. It's not really you that they hate, it is Christ in you producing Christ-likeness in words and life that they hate. So it is reflected hatred. It really is just a hatred of Christ.

Now if there is anyone undeserving of hatred, or better yet, only ever worthy to be loved, it is Jesus Christ. That's two sides of the same coin. There's anyone in all of human history who doesn't deserve to be hated, it is Jesus Christ. Or to say it another way, if there's anyone of infinite loveliness, of infinite value, who is only ever worthy to be loved, it is Jesus Christ. So when we get to the second portion of our text, Jesus is going to be describing this hatred as irrational.

And so it is. What's not to love about Jesus? He only tells you the truth all the time. He lays down His life for sinners, for people who are completely undeserving of His favor. He gives the full and free offer of peace with God, and yet he is hated.

So who makes up the world, and why in the world do they hate Jesus? Here's what Matthew Poole says, they are of the earth, earthly. They relish and savor nothing but worldly things. The world is a great description for them because their heart is completely towards the world. They are earthly and pursue nothing but worldly designs.

Their eyes are always on the earthly plane. They never fix their eyes on heaven where Christ is. And so they are the world. This is fallen humanity. This is people born in their natural state after Adam and Eve plunged the whole race of humankind into sin.

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says, children of wrath by nature. Deserving of wrath not even for what they say and what they do, but for what they are like. This is the world. All of humanity in rebellion against God. That is the world.

John chapter 7 verse 7, Jesus says this to his disciples, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. So it sounds like Jesus is contradicting himself here. He says, if they hated me they will hate you. In John 7, 7 he says the world cannot hate you. He is actually not contradicting himself at all.

The point in John chapter 7, verse 7 is the world does not hate you for you. Their hatred towards you is not about you, it's not about your identity, it's about my identity as one who contradicts your sinful inclinations. So he's actually saying the same thing in different ways. Why does the world hate him? Right there in that verse, John 7, verse 7, it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

The second thing to say, it is possible to think of the world, this category of unregenerate mankind, too narrowly. Who is spearheading the show trial? I say show trial because it's not a real trial looking for real evidence. Jesus was never subjected to that. Jesus would have nothing to fear from that kind of trial because he never sent in his words or in his life.

A trial would have been fine for Jesus. It was just a mock trial, a show trial. So who's spearheading the show trial and then killing Jesus the next day? The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests, along with Judas, the fake disciple. So it isn't theists versus atheists.

People who say, there is a God and I serve this God, versus people who say, no there isn't a God even to be served. It is the truly born again, people with new hearts, the regenerate, true disciples of Jesus, versus those who are not born again, the unregenerate, those who are not true disciples. So the question is, do you have a new heart? Not where do you spend your Sunday mornings. Are you with me?

This is a really important distinction. You can't think theists versus atheists. Those people who say that there is no God, that's who Jesus is talking about here. No, no, no. That doesn't even fit the context.

Jesus is going to die at the hands of theists the next day. There's going to be a show trial where they get false testimony against him. The theists are doing that. The people who say there is a God and I serve him are the ones doing that. So the question is, do I have a new heart with new affections given to me by God, not where do I spend my Sunday mornings.

The world is in the church, look around, hopefully not too much directly around, but look in the American church. Is the world in the church? Those are theists. They say there is a God and I serve Him. So the world's hatred is directed at Jesus because He is light.

I am the light of the world says Jesus in John chapter 8 verse 12. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. John 3.19. This is playing out before our eyes in John, in the death of Jesus Christ. The light has come into the world.

Jesus has come into the world as light, shining light on sinful humanity, and sinful humanity will have none of it. It does not want to be exposed and so Jesus receives the hatred of the world even though He is the one who deserves hatred less than anyone who has ever lived or will ever live. In fact, He deserves only to ever be loved for what he's like, and yet he's hated. Because mankind in our natural condition hates light, hates the exposure of Jesus, His words, and His life exposes us to be bent against God and we cannot stand it in our natural condition. His disciples are not greater than their master.

He said that in chapter 13 when he was washing their feet. In chapter 13 what he meant was, if I am willing to humble myself and serve my disciples in this way, you should be willing to serve each other this way. Here he uses the same phrase, a disciple is not greater than his master, but he means you shouldn't expect better treatment than me. However they treat the master, they will have no hesitation in treating the disciples. They hate me, they'll hate you.

If they persecute me, they'll persecute you. Disciples are simply identified with their master. The more fully trained they are, the more like their master they are. The more like their master they are, the more they receive the treatment of the master. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Paul is really in a way expounding on what Jesus is saying, explaining, throwing light on what Jesus is saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. Paul writes this, Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? This is exactly what Paul was talking about. You are the aroma of Christ in the world. For people who are being saved, the aroma of Christ is a sweet, welcome smell to those who are perishing, who are bent against God and are determined to stay bent against God and to stay in the shadows so that their autonomy And being God is not exposed by the light, they're the fragrance of death leading to death.

It is a stench. The fragrance of Christ is a stench. That's why those who hate Jesus hate his disciples. And those who love Jesus love His disciples. It's an aroma of, it's a welcome sweet smelling aroma.

The aroma of the Savior to the saved, to those who are being saved. The aroma of death to those who are dying in their sins. A person's disposition towards the Lord Jesus comes out in their disposition towards the Lord's disciples, true disciples. If they really hate Jesus, they hate His disciples. If they really love Jesus, then they love and will listen to His disciples.

Jesus is teaching that. If they hear My words, they will hear your words also. Jesus says this in verse 20 of our text, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. The world's disposition towards me will be their disposition towards you.

I'll add this. I think it's implied but not explicit so I'll make it explicit here. This is true to the extent that we speak and act like true disciples. It won't do to speak and act like the world and then say, well this is not true because I'm not experiencing this. This is true to the extent that we are following after Jesus.

True disciples have crossed over the fundamental line. They are new creations. The old has passed away. The new has come. That is what Paul says of believers in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17.

You are new creatures. You are like a whole new category. The old man is dead and the new has come. If they hadn't crossed that line, they would still be worldlings and the worldlings would live at peace with them. The worldlings would love them.

Now that's not to say that one worldling won't kill another worldling over ten dollars. It doesn't mean that life is all good among worldlings. The point is there is a fundamental unity together against God among worldlings. That's the point. Not that things are always peaceful among people who reject God.

We know that's not true. But there is a fundamental unity, A sort of code among thieves. You've heard about that. A code among thieves. Against God.

In rebellion to God. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. It's not surprising, but we're finding week after week that some of the best cross references to the Gospel of John are found in the letters of John. John really learned the theology that he captures in his gospel. So when he is writing letters to encourage saints, the same theology is showing up week after week.

First John chapter 3, follow along as I read verses 10 through 13. In this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. John the letter writer starts out by saying there are two kinds of children. Children of God and children of the devil and here's how you tell between them. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." we see exactly the same flow as Jesus in John 15. Love your brethren.

Don't be surprised if the world hates you. Exact same flow. It's right here in 1 John 3, what we saw in John 15. John argues in 1 John 3 that the hatred of the world towards the true disciples of Jesus Christ is just Cain and Abel playing itself out again and again and again and again. Cain's words were evil, Abel's were righteous, and made Cain hate Abel.

I hate you! D.A. Carson says this in his commentary. Very insightful, very helpful. The world is a society of rebels and therefore finds it hard to tolerate those who are in joyful allegiance to the King to whom all loyalty is due.

Christians do not belong to the world not because they never belonged, but because, Jesus averse, I have chosen you out of the world." Listen to this, former rebels who have by the grace of the king been won back to loving allegiance to their rightful monarch are not likely to prove popular with those who persist in rebellion." Let me just read that sentence again. That is the crux of the matter. Former rebels who have by the grace of the King been won back to loving allegiance to their rightful monarch are not likely to prove popular with those who persist in rebellion. Christians cannot think of themselves as intrinsically superior. They are ever conscious that by nature they are with all others objects of wrath." That's a really helpful distinction too.

D.A. Carson is pointing out something that Jesus doesn't say right here in John 15, but he says all over the place. It's not that there are only the ungodly and the formerly ungodly. No one is born godly. No one is born in the kingdom.

The king brings you back into allegiance. Wins you back to allegiance to Him. We are never to think of ourselves as intrinsically, just by nature, superior to unbelievers. Like, oh the world, look at they hate Jesus. You know what?

You hated Jesus every second of your life until He captured you and won you over by His love, revealed Himself to you. Finally in this section, Jesus gets right to the root of it all at the end of verse twenty-one, because they do not know Him who sent me. Why do people hate Jesus? Because they don't know God. They don't know God the Father.

Here's what Jesus said in John 8 verse 19, You know neither me nor my Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. So Jesus has been teaching this same concept all along. To know Jesus is to know the Father. To know the Father is to know Jesus.

D.A. Carson says this, the implication is that if they had truly known God, they would have recognized the revelation of God in Jesus. He is the express image of God. There is no sense saying, I love God but I hate Jesus. Jesus is the express image of God.

If you really loved God, you would have recognized God in the person of Jesus Christ. Failure to recognize who Jesus is, therefore constitutes damning evidence that, protestations notwithstanding, these people enjoyed far less antecedent knowledge of God than they claimed. They claimed, I know God. Their reaction to Jesus testified that's a lie. That's a lie.

They never knew God. If they knew God, they would recognize Him in the person of Jesus Christ. So are you back to John 15? John 15, we're going to take on the second part of the text now beginning in verse 22. John 15 starting in 22, follow along.

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." This happened that the word might be fulfilled, which is written in their law.

They hated me without a cause. In this section we have the world's inexcusable guilt. They're guilty but there's no excuse for their guilt. The main point of the section is this. Rejection of Jesus is irrational.

Hatred of Jesus makes no sense. It makes no sense to hate this most lovely person who ever lived. Rejection of Jesus is irrational. That is exactly the opposite of what the worldlings claim. Worldlings claim faith is irrational.

Jesus actually argues the polar opposite of that. Faith in Jesus is imminently rational. It is not at war with the logical at all. What's irrational is rejecting Christ according to Christ. If I had come with these mind-blowing claims and not backed it up, rejecting me wouldn't be a sin.

Has he made mind-blowing claims? All throughout. Has he backed them up? All throughout. Jesus made clear, unmistakable claims about His identity, and His doctrine was completely unassailable.

Just think, go no further than the I am statements. We studied them altogether a couple of weeks ago, the seven I am statements. Very clear, unmistakable claims about his identity. I am God. He's calling people to faith to Himself.

The prophets always pointed to God. Jesus pointed to Himself Because He was God. The Jews understood it. They took up stones and they finally crucified Him. Multiple times during the Gospel they are taking up stones.

Then finally they crucify Him. Not because they didn't understand his claims. His claims were clear and unmistakable and they got it. They killed him not because they didn't understand, but precisely because they did understand what Jesus was claiming to be. When they challenged his doctrine, they were always humiliated by him.

To the point where you reach a point in the gospels where it says, no one any longer dared to question Him. And then Jesus starts the cross examination and continues the humiliation, proving that He knew the truth of God, but they had no idea. So His claims were clear and unmistakable, and His doctrine was completely unassailable, and he proves that time and time again to the point that they are afraid to ask him any more questions because they are tired of being humiliated when he shows them that he knows God's truth and they don't. Jesus did all the works that God through the prophets said the promised Savior would do. We've been sort of checking them off week by week.

Jesus does a miracle, we can track it back to the Old Testament. There's a prophecy that says the Messiah is going to do this. Nicodemus in John chapter 3 verse 2 said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." At this point Nicodemus is unconverted and it's chapter 3. Why do I say it's chapter 3? Almost nothing great had happened by chapter 3.

All the great miracles of the Gospel of John happened after chapter 3. But when Nicodemus comes in, we know that you're from God because of all the things that you're doing. Jesus was just getting started when Nicodemus said that. In John chapter 7 verse 31, just listen to this, John chapter 7 verse 31, And many of the people believed in him and said, when the Christ comes will he do more signs than these which this man has done? People were seeing what he was doing and knowing that these are the marks of the Messiah and they say, are you waiting for someone who will do more than this?

You wait for someone who does more than this? Jesus keeps saying during the course of John, believe the works, believe the works, believe the works. In fact in John 10 37 he said, if I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. What a challenge. If I'm not backing up my mind bending claims with works that prove that I'm from God, don't believe me.

Just follow me around, watch what I do. Jesus' identity is such that to reject Him and to hate Him is not to reject and hate a man. It is to reject the God who is. And when you have rejected the God who is, where will you go then? To reject and hate Jesus is not just to reject and hate a man.

He is the God-man and He proves it by His clear unmistakable claims, by His unassailable doctrine, By the works that he does that were prophesied, these are the marks of the Messiah. First John 2, 23. First John 2, 23. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Jesus and the Father are one. Instead of the new King James's now they have no excuse for their sin, the King James renders it now they have no cloak for their sin. They have no cloak to cover up and try to hide their sin. Why does the King James render it that way? Well in the Greek lexicon you see this, a pretended cause.

Both translations are fine. They have no excuse for their sin, good translation. They have no cloak for their sin, good translation. But the Greek word underlying this rendering, however you render it, is a pretended cause. It is pretending.

Pretending that what Jesus claimed isn't the truth of God. Pretending that what Jesus did isn't sufficient proof. Who can assail His doctrine? Who can say that he hasn't made clear, unmistakable claims as to his identity, who can say that the things that he did isn't sufficient proof to prove that He is all that. And the rejection of and hatred of Jesus didn't catch God off guard.

It fulfilled prophecy and typology. He quotes here at the end, they hated me without cause. That is either Psalm 35, 19, could be that, those are exact words, or it could be Psalm 69, verse 4. These are both Psalms of David. David prophesied about the Messiah and David was a type of the Messiah.

The Messiah is the son of David. The successor to David's eternal throne that God promised him. So Jesus isn't surprised. God the Father isn't surprised. God the Spirit isn't surprised at the hatred.

It's embedded in prophecy and typology. In fact, I'm in my Bible reading plan right now. I'm in 1 Samuel and 1 Chronicles all about David and his unjust treatment at the hands of the wicked. It's typology. David is a type of Christ.

He experienced a little bit of what Jesus, his successor, the son of David, would experience. Applications. Don't get too excited, the applications are going to be long. Applications number one, expect to be hated. That is if you're a true disciple.

Expect to be hated. Don't be caught by surprise if the world hates you. I'm going to give you three verses. Just jot them down. 2 Timothy 3.12 Luke 6.26 Matthew 5.11-12 I'll give them to you one more time and then I will read them to you.

Second Timothy 3, 12. Luke 6, 26. Matthew 5, 11 and 12. Second Timothy 3, 12. Paul writes this, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Will suffer persecution. Do you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus? I really hope the answer is yes. I desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. Much more godly in Christ Jesus than I live today.

Well, what can you expect to flow out of that? The acclaim of the world, the appreciation of the world. No, the exact opposite of that. You will suffer persecution. Luke 6 26, Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets." If your message is peace, peace when there is no peace, all men will speak well of you.

But if you're willing to say what Jesus said and that that's the truth of God, all men will not speak well of you. You have to part with the blessing of the world. You want the blessing of the world? Keep your mouth shut and don't live a righteous life. Don't follow Jesus in your patterns of life.

That's the way forward to peace with the world. They'll love you then. You'll be one of the guys. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." Matthew 5, 11 and 12. Matthew 5, 11 and 12.

Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." This is exactly the opposite of what Luke 6 26 is saying. It's saying, woe to you if all men speak well of you. In Matthew chapter 5 he says, blessed are you if they revile and persecute you. Luke 6 he says, they all spoke well of the false prophets.

Matthew 5 Jesus says, the true prophets were always treated this way with contempt. The true prophets were always treated with contempt. Now, this is important. We live in a unique place. We don't think of it very often.

I grew up here. I'm thankful for my overseas travels because they remind me of how unique of a place this is. We live and grew up in a place where it was advantageous to be thought of as a Bible-believing Christian. We grew up, we live in a place where historically it's been an advantage for people to at least think you were a Bible believing Christian. It didn't mean that you were a Bible believing Christian, that you really believed, that you really shaped your life, but it was always to the good if people thought you were.

Those days are almost over. The number of people who think well of professing Christians who actually believe what the Bible teaches and shape their life accordingly is shrinking by the day. Do you see this happening around us? So that the words of John 15 that Jesus is teaching to his disciples have made perfect sense to most societies in most times of human history, but haven't made that much sense in the United States of America until recently. Because it was actually to your advantage to fake being a Bible believing Christian.

Does that mean there will be less professing Christians going forward? No, But what it means is faking Christianity will take a different form. It will reject the tenets of what scripture actually teaches and call itself Christianity. So, weeks ago, Lady Gaga chastised Mike Pence for being a bad Christian. Lady Gaga the Christian chastised Mike Pence for being a bad Christian.

Lady Gaga the Christian chastised Mike Pence for being a bad Christian. She said, I'm a way better Christian than him. You know what? In the eyes of most going forward, that will be true. In the eyes of most people going forward, Lady Gaga will be a truer representation of Christianity than someone who stands on Bible principle.

So false Christianity is alive and well in every age. It's going to take a different form going forward. Be ready. If you own scripture, if you own what the Bible teaches as truth from God, these words in John 15 are bracing us for what is coming here. Woe to you when all men speak well of you.

It's going to be truer now than ever. Number two. So number one was expect to be hated. Again, this is all in the context of Jesus' final discourse to his disciples. He's making them ready.

He's making us ready too. Expect to be hated. J.C. Ryle had some great quotes this week, I haven't quoted them, but he talks about Jesus' perfect life and how he was hated anyway and saying, don't think they hate you because of your inconsistencies. It's your grace that they hate.

Don't think that if I was just a little more consistent in my life they wouldn't hate me anymore. That's just not true. If it was true, it would have been true of Jesus. Because Jesus had no inconsistencies and they still hated him. Alright, number two.

Religious privileges are dangerous. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't have them, desire them, covet them. They are a blessing, but they are a dangerous blessing. Turn to Matthew 11. Matthew 11.

Matthew 11 Matthew 11. Matthew 11 beginning in verse 20. Matthew 11 beginning in verse 20. I'll read through 24. Then Jesus began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." Capernaum exalted to the heaven.

What does that mean? Capernaum was the home base for Jesus in his years of public ministry. He traveled, but home for Jesus during his years of ministry was Capernaum. Miracles are recorded in Capernaum. They enjoyed his presence more than anywhere during his three years of public ministry.

They were exalted to have a woe to you. You'd be better to have been brought up and lived and died and sawed them. You saw my miracles. You heard my preaching. You would not repent.

Don't comfort yourself that this isn't you because you haven't seen his miracles or heard directly his preaching. You live in a land of open Bibles where the Gospel is preached to you week after week. You live in the midst of the people who are being transformed by the indwelling presence of God. You live in their midst. You've seen many miracles.

Luke 12, 47 and 48, and that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with few stripes. And that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required and to whom much has been committed. Of him they will ask the more." Which are you?

Did you know your master's will? Anyone ever tell you? Think of that. Sodom is famous for their wickedness. They have wicked acts named after them.

It will be better for them in the judgment than Capernaum, where Jesus lived and did his miracles and his preaching. Because they had religious privileges and they never took advantage of them. God, I thank you for these Words that make your disciples ready for the day of experiencing the hatred of the world. Do pray that you would make us ready for the day of experiencing the hatred of the world. Don't let us be surprised.

Don't let us be surprised. Let us cheerfully identify with your son and his words, whatever the cost. Thank you for these sobering words about all the excuses being stripped away by your words and the works that you did. Pray that we would be wise. Consider the day of our death and what happens then.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.