3 reasons why Christians can find comfort in Christ when facing persecution
I. Our Identity Is in Christ, Not in This World (15:17-25)
John 15:17 - This I command you, that you love one another.
A. We are not of this world
John 15:18a-19 - If the world hates you…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.
B. The world persecuted our Master first
John 15:18b, 20 - You know that it has hated Me before it hated you. Remember the word that I said to you, “A slave 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.
C. The world does not know God
John 15:21-25 - But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have 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 not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, “They hated Me without a cause.”
Ephesians 2:1 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…
Romans 8:7 - …because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so…
II. God Is With Us Even When We Are Hated for Christ’s Sake (15:26-27)
John 15:26-27 - When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
III. The Persecution Is Not Over (16:1-4)
John 16:1-4 - These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
A. He accompanied previous saints
B. He provides for His children so they will not stumble
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