I. "I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD, AND THE WORLD HATH HATED THEM."
A. Don't expect the world to admire you, applaud you, or vote you into their hall of fame.
1. Look what they did to your Lord.
2. The world still has the same animosity toward Jesus.
3. As you become a faithful representative of Him, they will want to do the same to you.
B. You are not of this world.
1. All that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world.
2. For our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
C. Jesus said that if the world hates you, it hated Him before it hated you. If you were of this world the world would love its own, but because you are not of this world for He has chosen you out of this world the world hates you.
1. The hatred of the evil against the good was manifested early in the history of the world. Cain killed his brother Abel, and why? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous.
I John 3:12.
2. Proverbs tells us that he that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked.
D. There was a time when you were of this world.
1.
Eph. 2:2, "Who in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom we all had your manner of living in times past according to the lust of your flesh and the lust of your mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others."
2. Paul wrote to the Galatians concerning Jesus who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world.
3. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, and behold all things become new.
II. "I PRAY NOT THAT YOU WOULD TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT THAT YOU WOULD KEEP THEM FROM THE EVIL." OR EVIL ONE.
A. In the Lord's prayer He told the disciples to pray, "deliver us from evil," or the evil one. It is exactly the same Greek word as used in our text here.
B. It is interesting that there are three who asked God to take them out of this world, Moses, Elijah, and Jonah. It is interesting to note that God did not immediately answer their prayers.
1. Sometimes we get weary with life in this hostile world, and we would like to bail out.
2. It is appointed unto man once to die, and God sets that appointment.
C. Keep them from the evil.
1. The pressures of evil are very strong. Satan keeps constant pressure on us to do evil.
2. Evil seems to be the natural bent of man.
3. To do good is much more difficult than to do evil.
a. If someone driving recklessly on the freeway and has endangered your life, by their foolishness, it is much easier to honk your horn and shake your fist, than to smile and bless them.
b. If someone has lied about you and as the result caused you a lot of grief, it is much easier to speak evil of them than to bless them.
c. When all is going wrong, it is easier to get mad than to rejoice. To rejoice in tribulation is unnatural.
d. To turn the other cheek is harder than striking back.
4. I know that I must trust in the keeping power of God. "The arm of flesh will fail you, you dare not trust your own."
5. In
Romans 7, Paul speaks of a perverse law he found working in his nature.
ROM 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
ROM 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
ROM 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
ROM 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
6. Paul ended up calling for a power beyond himself, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?"
III. "THEY ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD."
A. You need to say over and over, "I am not of this world."
1. I am not to live like the world, think like the world, act like the world.
2. I am different for I am a child of God.
a. Others may do those things but I can't.
b. Others may respond like that but not me.
B. This is the second time He has said this, the first was in context of the reason that the world hated us.
C. Here it is in context with keeping us from evil.
1. I have a different standing than those in the world.
a. My standing is in Christ.
b. Theirs is in Adam.
c. I have been accepted in the Beloved.
d. They are under condemnation.
2. I possess a different nature.
a. I have been born of the Spirit.
b. They have only been born of the flesh.
c. I am holy, spotless, and pure.
d. They are corrupt by the defilement of the world.
3. We serve different masters.
a. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
b. They are of their father the devil and his will do they do.
4. We have different goals.
a. Mine is to please the Lord.
b. Theirs is to please themselves.
5. We have different citizenship.
a. Our citizenship is in heaven.
b. They are citizens of the world.
6. We have a different life.
a. I have a life in the Spirit.
b. They have a life in the flesh.
7. We think differently.
a. They that are of the spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit.
b. They that are of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
c. To be carnally minded is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life, peace and happiness.
8. We have a different destiny.
a. Mine is to be with my Lord forever in the glory of His kingdom.
b. Theirs is to be in the lake that burneth with fire.
9. I take joy in the things of the Spirit, they take joy in the things of the flesh.
D. Taking a long hard look at this world system with its corruption, deceit, violence, cheating, oppression, evil, murder, I must say that I am glad that I am not of this world.
1. I would much rather keep company with Jesus Christ and His people, than Satan and his crowd.
2. I would much rather live the life of pureness and love, joy and peace in the Spirit, than the filth and defilement of the flesh.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
