if the world hates you remember that it hated me first

But it should be obvious, before we look at that text, that Christianity is hated because it is true. Our Lord explicitly predicts hatred from the world for Christians, and He even tells us why. Why is this? The simple answer is given us in the text I just read to you. Christians have been persecuted by the tens of thousands all over the planet, from Madagascar to Spain, from Mexico to China, from Japan to India, from Germany to Russia, from France to all kinds of countries in the Middle East. Go back to the twentieth century, and it’s estimated that the Soviets killed half a million Christians and the Germans, another quarter of a million. But go back to the nineteenth century and you will find that the Ottomans massacred about two-and-a-half million Christians. I won’t drag you through all of it we did a little of that last time. But even nominal Christians in name have been persecuted.Ĭhristians have been persecuted by many nations and many regimes throughout history. But Christians have not just been the object of Muslim hatred Christians have been, throughout the whole history of the church, the most hated and the most persecuted people in the world, particularly true Christians. It started back in the seventh century and is still going on today in at least 41 Muslim countries. The persecution by Islam is the most open persecution against Christians.

One research group recently estimated that about 100 million people, who call themselves Christians, are under persecution in the world today – about 100 million. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’” But now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin but now they have no excuse for their sin. 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 they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 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. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “This I command you, that you love one another. The text starts in verse 17 let’s pick it up there. It is a prophecy that our Lord gave, and it has always been fulfilled, and it is being fulfilled before us right now. It is one that I think today is pertinent because it tells us what to expect as believers in the world and we are seeing it across the globe even today. It is one that must be understood by believers. It’s a very interesting portion of Scripture. We did that last week, and I’ll wrap it up this morning for you. And we have been taking a look at verses 17 through 25. We are going through the gospel of John and I want you to look back at chapter 15 with me: John 15.

If the world hates you remember that it hated me first