Liam Goligher's final session on John 15 looked at verse 18 and the verses that follow. He spoke about three things.
1. The world
After so much about love (and joy) the verses here about the world (the human community that ignores or opposes Christ and that is led by Satan) and persecution makes something of a disjuncture. Jesus speaks to them about these things in order to prepare them for what lies ahead. He wants to strengthen their faith. The specific context is the coming death and resurrection but the application goes well beyond that.
Jesus is hard to hate. Even his enemies say good things. However, the truth is that the world hates Jesus and hates us who believe. One reason for this as that we are different and we testify against the world's sin by this means. We are under the authority of an outsider, one the world cannot control. Following Stott he gave that quote from William Temple about the world, which "would not hate angels for being angelic; but it does hate men for being Christians. It grudges them their new character; it is tormented by their peace; it is infuriated by their joy." Not only do they hate us but they persecute us - because we belong to Jesus. The world hates Jesus and does not know him. This is because they do not know God. The Jews are very much in mind here. They are the branches that are removed. Israel claimed to know God but they did not. They had been warned many times but they still rejected the Lord Jesus who came. Christ is the true Israel and the only saving connection is in him alone. Yet this is not the Messiah they wanted and so they rejected him
2. The Spirit
The world rejects Christ and his people but then he comes on to speak again (as he had in Chapter 14) of the coming Holy Spirit. The Spirit will come and convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. As his people bear a forensic and apostolic witness so the world is dealt with. The Twelve are Jesus' witnesses. It is to them that revelation is given. That is why the church did and must commit itself to the apostles doctrine. The witness to the world is a witness to truth.
3. The church. The concluding question is where are we in all this? These men did receive the Spirit and were then exposed to the fiercest persecution. Yet they went out and continued to go out and preach with great joy. Part of our testimony to the world is to tell the story of these men captured by the joy of the Spirit who went out with good news, good news for all. Often a Christian will say they have lost their joy. We need to point such people to the way the apostles did not lose their joy for they had seen the risen Lord. That is the place to fix our attention.
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