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Fruit Bearing For God, Part VII, John 15:22-27
In our study of Fruit Bearing for God we have learned from the instruction of our Lord that there will be consequences connected to the bearing of fruit.
Jesus Christ was the ultimate fruit bearer for God and we are to look at the consequences that He faced because of this.
Jesus had love and joy and peace like no man before or after.
He walked this earth with the greatest of longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
And yet the consequences resulting from the display of the fruit
of the Spirit to the multitudes throughout the land of Israel was to die
publicly, naked on a cruel cross, shedding his blood
He did this while continuing to display the fruit of the Spirit, saying Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
The fruit of the Spirit always challenges the fruit of this world and will meet the same consequence of extreme hatred that our Lord sustained.
And therefore Jesus Christ can say: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
And Paul, a servant of Christ, who lived in the Spirit and died by beheading in Rome, would say: Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
And Peter who himself was crucified in an upside down position wrote: Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
So those who abide in Christ are clearly forewarned.
The world cannot love the true disciple of Christ because the true disciple of Christ testifies that the works of the world are evil.
This is anathema, reviled and despised and will not be tolerated.
Men love darkness because their deeds are evil but the true disciple of Christ, the fruit bearer for God always brings light and opens to the world a clear view of its evil.
Jesus taught of this in: John 15:22-24, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Herein is how hatred comes!
The revelation of reality is what brings hatred!
Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, has removed the cloak that covers, that disguises their sin.
This verse is not meant to say that the Jews had no sin before Christ had come and spoken to them. It simply means that by the presence and message of Jesus Christ they no longer were covered by their own righteousness.
Now their sin was naked and exposed by the light of the word of God.
This is the same message that Jesus Christ had expressed to the Pharisees and the scribes in:
Matthew 23:27,28, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
This is what light does. Men and women, boys and girls operate by their senses which cause them to major on the outward.
We may drive by a well groomed cemetery and wonder at the flowers, and shrubs and well-kept grounds but we mustn’t forget it is simply the repository of the bones of the dead.
We only see the outward, we only see the whited walls but God sees the sepulcher within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.
Seeing whited
walls
And once shown, repentance for sin is called for.
Once shown, responsibility is required.
Greater light given has attached to it greater responsibility.
By you placing yourself under the teaching of the Word of God you now have greater responsibility under God.
The Son of God had been in their midst and shed great light and yet that light had been rejected.
The cloak of their sin had dropped to their feet and left them naked and without excuse.
They refused to see their own sin and quickly covered themselves with the same cloak of self-righteousness and in the doing of it rejected the light of Jesus Christ!
Doesn’t the same thing happen in our country where we have great light and yet that light is rejected outright by millions? Those who do not receive Jesus Christ in this country are no different than the Jews who crucified Christ after witnessing great light.
Isaiah saw this in his day: Isaiah 9:2, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
And in this passage Jesus Christ again affirms the unity that he has with the Father.
So in this affirmation we learn you cannot love God without loving Jesus Christ!
Those who hate Jesus Christ also hate the Father because Jesus Christ perfectly reveals the Father and if you hate what Jesus Christ is then you hate what the Father is also.
False religions claim that they worship God.
That is a lie perpetrated by the father of lies because false religions do not worship Jesus Christ, do not love Jesus Christ and therefore cannot love God.
Jesus Christ boldly says: He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Before Jesus Christ came they could have claimed ignorance but because he came and did among them the works which no other man had done they were now without excuse.
He had revealed perfectly to them the Father and they still hated him.
They have both SEEN and HATED both me and my Father!
Notice how he said that they had seen the Father.
How had they seen the Father?
They had seen the Father because Jesus Christ and the Father are ONE.
You see one and by seeing one by seeing one you also see the other.
Jesus declares with full authority of the Son of God that if they hate him that is proof that they hate the Father also.
And further Jesus says in John 15:25, But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Jesus calls the law their law.
The Jews had so distorted the law in order to bind the people.
It has become a business with them.
A system of minute rules and regulations designed by the self-righteous, for the self-righteous, for the control of men.
As he said in: Mat 23:28, Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
The Pharisees and the scribes had taken the law into the world system of hypocrisy and iniquity.
These are the pillars upon which the world system is built.
And their heart had connected with this system.
Their law provided them a place where their self-righteousness could be displayed in the most advantageous way.
The self-righteous always construct a display window to show their self-righteousness off to the rest of the world, do they not?
This satisfies the world and the world applauds.
If my image is successful then I am successful.
Who cares what is in the heart, just be careful about the image.
If one image does not work, I'll try another.
I can have an image for all seasons and for all occasions.
The world system caters to the heart of man.
The senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching are fully subject to the deceitfulness of the heart.
That is why the just must live by faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The just cannot live by the senses because the senses will always lead one into error but living by faith in God will always lead you into truth whereas by faith in God you are always led to truth.
The senses of the Pharisees and scribes had led them to so corrupt and twist the law and the prophets that it was impossible for them to recognize the Messiah.
They were full of hatred to anyone who threatened their corrupt system.
They could not recognize righteousness because they only recognized self-righteousness.
They were of the world and anyone who is not of the world will receive their hatred.
They had no cause to hate the Son of God.
David, a type of Christ wrote in: Psalm 69:4, They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty:
All who hate Jesus Christ hate him without a cause.
There is nothing in the Son of God to provoke hatred in anyone but from those with depraved and twisted minds.
His character, his doctrines, his laws are without fault.
He never did anyone any harm, he had always helped those who had needs.
But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled.
It is simply vindication of the word of God about the depravity of the heart of man.
Their hearts were desperately wicked, and that is why anyone hates Christ.
Chapter 15 has been a powerful message from Christ.
In ways very depressing for the disciples surrounding Christ and for His disciples today.
Abide in me and I in you and you will bear much fruit and know that these things that I taught you will come to pass.
But Disciples, do not be downhearted because of the opposition you will receive.
The time of my departure is at hand but I will not leave you comfortless.
So here we see Jesus telling those who serve: If God requires of you He will provide for you!
So in John 15:26,27 Jesus says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Jesus Christ begins this instruction with the command to his disciples to abide in Him and fruit will result.
But with this fruit there will be a price and that price will be persecution for they are told the servant is not greater than his Lord who will soon face the ultimate persecution.
But Jesus assures His disciples He will not
leave them alone and therefore in order to sustain what is to come He will send
them
I know you will be hated on my account but I will not leave you without help, for the Comforter shall testify of me.
The Comforter, whom we know as the Holy Spirit, will maintain the cause of Christ.
The church alone has not done the job!
Only under the influence of the Comforter have believers borne the testimony of Christ and his salvation for these two millennia.
The word of God can never be destroyed because the Spirit of truth testifies of Christ.
He bears witness to him and he is his representative keeping truth alive to the believer.
The Spirit of truth gives to the believer knowledge of the deception of the world system and thereby the power to keep him unspotted by the world.
For the world system under the direction of Satan is out to capture men as slaves and subjects.
1 Pet 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, empowers the believer with the ability to be sober, to be vigilant so he cannot be devoured by the devil.
Believers, commanded to abide in Christ, and facing the consequences of abiding, are not left to themselves and their weaknesses but are fully endowed by the one sent from the Father.
Walking in confidence that Christ’s promise to never leave thee or forsake thee will be kept whatever befalls.
We are to abide and live in this promise! |