- Welcome to a Grace Digital production.
Why you do not fit in.
Do not be surprised brothers, that the world hates you.
1 John 3:13.
This I command you that you love one another.
If the world hates you,
you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own,
but because you're not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world, because of this,
the world hates 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.
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 me 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.
I understand that hate is a strong word,
but you must realize that,
it is intended to show the level of emotion
that the world shows towards Christians.
That word hate, is used several times in those verses.
And at the end of this video,
I hope you would understand why.
This is very important
and a very powerful portion of scripture.
Essentially, our Lord promises them persecution,
as a result of a hatred.
He tells them and all who will follow them a name,
the name of Christ, that they will be hated by the world.
Obviously, this began with the hatred of Christ himself.
They hated him so much they killed him.
And it didn't take long for the hate
to transfer to his followers.
The apostles are arrested and put in jail
by the Jewish authority.
Then they're put in jail again.
Stephen was stoned to death by a mob after a false trial,
before the Jewish high court,
spearheaded by a man named Saul.
James, the brother of John,
and he's killed by Herod.
In the same chapter,
Herod imprisons Peter
holding him until he would find the appropriate time
to execute Peter.
But Peter was set free by an angel.
We have the conversion of Saul into Paul
and immediately upon his conversion,
he faces threats and persecution,
from the very Jews in Damascus where he was converted.
He faces persecution.
And that runs all the way to the end of the Book of Acts
in chapter 28.
His life was on the line every day,
from the plotting of the Jews
and the enemies of the cross among the Gentiles.
Why does the world hate us so much?
Why?
Well, in this passage,
our Lord gives us three reasons at least.
Reason number one comes out of verse 18 and 19.
If the world hates you, if you were of the world,
the world would love its own,
but because you're not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world,
because of this, the world hates you.
Have you ever had someone hate your parents or friend,
and that hate spills to you.
Or in more practical terms,
we are in a battlefield
and you have to pick a side.
When you wear that Christian armor,
expect shots to be fired.
We wear the armor for a reason.
Just as we wear our overalls in the factories.
We wear our armor because we are in a war.
I want you to know that there are sides in battles.
No one needs a lukewarm friend
in times of battle.
The answer to why the world hates you is simple.
It is because you are not a part of the world.
The world chooses a certain way
and you choose the opposing side.
The world holds points and opinions that you don't.
The world is very accepting
of certain things that you are not.
The world believes certain things and Christians don't.
Just like Superman,
we're aliens existing in another territory.
And we don't fit in.
The word cosmos, what does that mean?
It means the evil fallen and the fallen falling.
Because the human race is not through falling.
It fell in Genesis 3.
It's been falling ever since.
It started the fall and it's still falling.
Evil men are growing worse, and worse, and worse, and worse.
The world, the system of humanity governed by evil
is still falling.
And the Gospel of John 12:14-16.
Our Lord says, "Satan is the ruler of this cosmos."
John 8.
There are two kingdoms in this world.
We have the kingdom of God and there's that of the evil one.
These two kingdoms do not mix.
The evil kingdom does not celebrate the things
that we celebrate in God's kingdom,
Romans 1:32.
They know things are wrong,
but they still give approval to those that do them.
Proverbs 29:27 says, he who is upright in the way
is abominable to the wicked.
The wicked system hates righteousness.
If you were of the world and you are not.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
That's simply talking about natural affection.
If you are in the world,
you have a natural affection for them and them for you.
As soon as you become a Christian,
you are chosen by God to come out of the world
and you are no longer a part of the world.
Why is that?
It is because you now live as a rebuke to the world.
2 Corinthians 4, the apostle Paul says
that we who give manifestation of the truth,
commend ourselves to every man's conscience.
The law of God lies in the heart of everyone in this world,
including the unrepentant.
And when you preach the truth,
which is the word of God, it grabs their heart.
It lights their conscience
and either accuses them or excuses them.
We are the conscience of the world and they hate us for it.
Listen to Galatians 6:14, how dramatic our separation is.
The world has been crucified to me and I to the world.
I'm a citizen of heaven.
My father is there.
My inheritance is there.
My savior is there.
My church triumphant is there.
My reward is there.
"We are aliens and strangers," says the scripture,
"in this world."
Philippians 2:15 describes it well.
Prove yourself to be blameless and innocent children of God,
above reproach in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world.
So here we are in the kingdom of darkness
and we are the lights.
And what does light do?
Ephesians 5:11.
It exposes darkness.
We shine in the darkness and expose it,
and they hate us for it.
1 John 2 says,
if any man loves the world,
the love of the father was not in them.
So they hate us because we're not a part of them.
We've been literally plucked out.
I chose you, will translate accurately.
I chose you for myself and picked you up,
took you out of the kingdom of darkness.
Put it into Colossians 1,
transferred you from the kingdom of darkness,
into the kingdom of God's beloved son.
Now the ruler of the kingdom of darkness
isn't happy about that.
He hates God.
He hates Christ.
He hates the Holy spirit.
He hates the church.
He hates believers.
He hates the truth.
1 Peter 5:8 says, he goes about as a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
He hates the righteous.
The church goes out, preaches sin,
judgment, hell salvation, gospel, grace.
The world hates it.
You say, "Well, I don't seem to be so hated by the system."
I can elevate that pretty fast for you.
If you want to be faithful as a believer, try this.
Lord, I am wary and don't know when this race
will end in my life.
I feel like I've been running forever.
Trying to outrun this trial.
Help me to stop trying to outrun my pain,
but rather run with endurance,
the race you have set before me.
I know that because of you, I am ultimately a victor,
over the trials in my life.
I know that nothing in this world
can separate me from your steadfast love.
Please give me a measure of your love today.
Give me the strength to endure this trial.
Thank you for your love for me that never ends.
And thank you for the crown of joy
that awaits me forever in your kingdom.
Stay blessed.
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