Warning and Encouragement

[0:00] So let me just say while you're finding the place, the more I've thought about this section that we've been looking at over the weeks, this farewell discourse, the more I've thought this is really at the heart of what it is to be a Christian, isn't it?

[0:21] I know you could say that of nearly every text, but in a particular way, this is true. It's really what it is to live the Christian life. That's one thing I thought. And another thing is I have worked hard at this text, but I find it's quite, it didn't go the way I expected. I think I've put on the diary that I expected to get such and such a distance through the text, but actually I only got a proportion of the way.

[0:51] Maybe that's right. Maybe we need us to do it slowly and think about it as we go through. That's probably what we'll do just now. Let's pray. Lord, help us as we come to meditate in your word. And may it be true and fulfilled for us what you wrote, that those who meditate in your word are like trees planted by the water, that they don't wither up and die, but produce fruit in due season. And for this we ask the help of your Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

[1:30] Well, the section that we're looking at begins, if the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first. So that's quite a serious topic to bring up, isn't it? Let's start off with the idea of expectations. I think having helpful, realistic expectations is a great safety for the future.

[1:55] So if you remember getting married, or if you're thinking of getting married, if you can get the idea of getting married, what expectations do people have? And of course, if you watch certain sorts of movies, it's all romance and roses and all wonderful. And when they get married, all their problems are over, and they all live happily ever after. It isn't really like that. It's just the beginning of a process that has lots of ups and downs, and might actually be quite difficult. So having realistic expectations, if you're getting married, being prepared, would be really a helpful thing for a marriage. If you're going to have an operation, I mean a medical operation, expectations. You know, if you're 120 years old and you go to such and such an operation, will you come back feeling like a 35-year-old? Probably not. Realistic expectations.

[3:00] What's the percentage of success? Might I actually feel worse after this? You know, be prepared, really. People emigrating and moving to the West. As we all know from looking at television, we all wear Armani and Gucci.

[3:17] I'm not even sure whether I've spelt those right because I've got no idea about these things. I have, I find. Well, there you go. From somebody who knows. But what is life like in the West? Well, we have many things to be thankful for.

[3:32] But it's not where the streets of heaven, the streets are paved with gold, is it? Unless you're a banker. And the same thing about becoming a Christian. What expectations should people have?

[3:46] This is very important. It seems to me that Jesus, on a number of occasions, makes a special point of preparing people for what it is to be a Christian.

[3:58] Is he promising, in this world, at this present moment, a life of love and peace and joy and health and wealth and ease?

[4:12] Now, it would be so attractive to advertise the Christian life as giving you those things now. Now, let me say, God does want us to have those things. He does want us to have a world of love, uninterrupted peace, unspoiled joy, non-stop health, all the riches that there could be and rest and ease.

[4:40] He does want us to have that, but not yet. That's the thing. He promises those things, but not yet. There's a time scale.

[4:52] In this world, we taste some of those things. But Jesus, in the chapter that we've read, says, actually, if you sign up to be with me, you sign up for, in this world, conflict and rejection.

[5:13] And if you're thinking of becoming a Christian, please be prepared for what that might involve. Wouldn't it be nice if, as a preacher, I could just go back and just preach about that bit, the health and wealth and the joy and peace and love?

[5:35] But the text in front of me, which is my job to tell you about, says, if you're going to be a Christian, you must be prepared for conflict and rejection.

[5:48] In fact, many of our brothers and sisters across the world, this is what they face every day. And for people to be killed for being a Christian is part of the deal.

[6:04] It's a bit of a world away from us, isn't it? But when Jesus invited people to follow him, he didn't deceive them about this.

[6:16] He said, I'm taking up a cross. You need to take up a cross and follow me. It may not be that your life is required of you today and you'll die.

[6:29] But be sure of this, your life will be required of you. And whether you give your life to me a bit at a time, a day at a time for 120 years or however long you live, it will still be required of you.

[6:43] So that's what we're looking at this morning in the context of Jesus going away. So let's just remind ourselves of this, of what's been happening in John 13, 14, 15, 16.

[7:03] Jesus had been with his disciples for three years and he says, I'm now going away. This is probably fresher in my mind than it is in yours because I spoke about this at the Carey Family Conference.

[7:16] I was repeating what I'd done here, but I've done it a bit more recently than we've done it together here. John 14, I am going, Jesus says. So here is his disciples, the sort of last supper thing.

[7:28] And Jesus says, I'm going away. I won't be with you any longer. And he teaches them that the Christian life will be possible and fruitful and he tells them the secrets of how this will all work.

[7:43] And he teaches it, it seems to me, in a sort of tapestry of thoughts with threads going through that pop up and keep repeating. Or if you like, a sliding block puzzle.

[7:56] There's that sliding block puzzle with the little wooden pieces that you slide up and down and bring that one next to that one and then that one next to that one. And Jesus takes these themes and moves them around and puts them next to one another.

[8:11] And the things that he tells them are the key themes for the Christian life when he's gone are the presence of the counselor. I won't leave you as orphans. I will come to you.

[8:21] I'll send the counselor, the Holy Spirit. Abiding, remaining in Jesus Christ. That's the whole thing about the vine.

[8:33] Prayer. He repeats several times through this whole thing. You pray. Things happen as you pray. God works as you pray.

[8:44] The importance of prayer. The importance of loving obedience. Now I should have put there, to his words. Because actually Jesus, several times, tells us the importance of his words.

[8:58] It's almost as if his way of being with us is by his words. Of course, that happens throughout the Bible. The words of God are almost himself.

[9:11] And loving one another. The importance of the community. The community life of Christians. We're not meant to run as individual lone rangers.

[9:21] We're meant to work as a fellowship together. And if you've been away from the fellowship in the summer holidays, you will have seen the impact, won't you, of not having the same amount of Christian fellowship as you do if you're here and involved.

[9:36] And the thing that Jesus mentions in the bits that we're looking at this morning as another theme is rejection by the world to which Jesus is sending them.

[9:51] So that's just trying to put that into context. That's where this bit fits in. And if you did a little map of the chapters, and you went from chapter 14 through to chapter 16, Jesus in chapter 14 talks about going and coming.

[10:10] And at the end of chapter 16 about going and coming, he talks in chapter 14 about the counselor and chapter 16 about the counselor. And then the bit about rejection is at the end of chapter 15, beginning of chapter 16.

[10:23] And the bit about abiding and the vine is pretty much there at the middle. So I think if we take that as being the heart of what he's saying, we wouldn't be going too far wrong.

[10:36] Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches, abide in me. With me so far? Yep. Okay, so now Jesus talks about the world.

[10:50] Chapter 15, verse 18. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own.

[11:04] As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. So that's the sort of thing we need to look at.

[11:15] Let's just be clear, or a little bit clearer, about what he means by the world. He goes on to talk about they. He says, the world, they will treat you this way.

[11:32] Meaning the same thing, really. What does Jesus mean by that? So we need to be clear that there are different shades of meaning on this word that Jesus uses for world.

[11:48] Sometimes this word means the whole creation made by God. More often, when that's what's being referred to, a different word will be used.

[12:02] But in Ephesians 1, 4, he says, God chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[12:13] So their world means everything that he made. Stars, planets, subatomic particles, everything that God made. Before he made all that, he chose us as his people.

[12:25] So that's one meaning of the word world. That's why I thought we'd start with that wonderful Psalm 104, which looks on the created world. It says, isn't it brilliant?

[12:36] Isn't God a brilliant creator? Stars, the moon, light, everything. In John 1, 10, it says, The world was made through him.

[12:49] So creation. It can mean the realm occupied by human beings.

[13:00] So the geography of the world, we would say. World history, we would say. Not including stars and planets, but just the occupied world.

[13:12] So Jesus says, The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. So he's coming into the inhabited area.

[13:22] It includes that thought, doesn't it? But the world did not recognize him. So he doesn't mean the stars didn't recognize him. He meant the people across the world, the people didn't recognize him.

[13:36] And there's a third, more special meaning, more particular meaning, of the society and social system of human beings who are separated from God in sin, who choose to live without God, and have no willing and responsive consciousness of God.

[13:58] So this is the world used in a sort of a hostile sense or a spiritually negative sense. So in those verses in John chapter 1, you might like to just look at them.

[14:12] John 1 verse 9, The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

[14:25] So he seems to use the word world with slightly different shades of meaning as he goes through those sentences. The world did not recognize him. He gives light to the world, but the world does not recognize him.

[14:39] Not meaning elephants didn't recognize him, and trees and stars and planets, but the people that he came to didn't recognize him. And you might like to ponder those verses over lunchtime because they use the word in rather subtle ways.

[14:59] In chapter 14 verse 17, Jesus has said about the coming of the Holy Spirit, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.

[15:12] And here's the world, meaning people, in their condition as being blind and unreceptive to the things of God.

[15:22] It's a sort of the way people think, the way society organizes itself, the normal people that things consider normal don't make room for God.

[15:36] The world doesn't see, the world doesn't know. And if we're thinking of how John depicts for us the situation of the world, we should include these other two verses, which are quite startling.

[15:53] This one, John 3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

[16:08] He's saying, here's this system of the world where it's all set up so that people don't know God, don't see God, don't want God, live without God, and all the mess and all the complication and all the corruption actually that that fosters.

[16:27] And the text says, God so loved that mess of humanity. God so loved that unwelcoming, ungrateful, that lot.

[16:42] God so loved them that he sent his only Son into the world to save them. That's a remarkable verse. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world by him.

[17:02] That's just remarkable, isn't it? Why would God... You know, you could imagine God loving nice people if there were such things. But it says that the world is this mess of rejection and corruption and God wants to save them.

[17:19] He wants to save them. He loves. Can you imagine that? God loving the world in that sense. So there's a little...

[17:29] Just to get our heads in the right direction about what it says about the world. So, coming back to John 15, verse 18, Jesus is telling the apostles, he's speaking first to them, the disciples, he says, you will be hated.

[17:53] And let me just make a little thought about hating. Quite often in the Bible, the center of gravity of the word hate would be better thought of as reject.

[18:07] Hate can have passion behind... Well, hate implies a sort of passion behind it. Sometimes there is that passion, sometimes there is not.

[18:19] So if you just have the word reject, then that might make a little... It might solve a few conundrums as we go through this. So he says, this is the situation.

[18:30] If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

[18:43] So let's ponder that. Here's the world. So I do the world as a squarish sort of thing. And here are the people in the world. And they have an attitude to Jesus, first of all.

[18:56] And the attitude to Jesus is of hatred. Rejection. Now, as the story moves along, we haven't got to that point yet, but the hatred and rejection of Jesus will result in something, won't it?

[19:16] It will result in his crucifixion. We haven't got to that bit yet, but Jesus is saying, this is where it all ends up. They have hated me and rejected me. And then let's put a circle, which is the circle of the community of Jesus' people.

[19:32] These are the people who love one another. So you've got a contrast between a hatred and the community of love. And if, he says, there's such a radical difference between you guys and the world.

[19:48] If you belong to the world, then there would be a love. They would love you. But you don't belong to the world.

[20:01] You're in a different piece of space. You're in a different sphere. You're in this circle belonging to me. And if they hated me, because I'm not from this world, says Jesus, and you belong to me, then they'll hate you too.

[20:27] They'll persecute you. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Now, people move from outside, from the world, into this circle of belonging to Jesus.

[20:44] And if you look, you'll see one of the ways of putting it, one of the factors that picks people up from the world and transports them and plonks them into the place of belonging to Jesus.

[21:02] Can you see the word that describes that? It's in verse 19. What has Jesus done to transport them out of the world? Chosen.

[21:17] Isn't it interesting that Jesus should say that? How have they come out of the world? I have chosen you out of the world. I'm not saying it's not mysterious, but I am saying it's reasonably clear.

[21:30] Jesus, from one point of view, says, how did you get from the world where everybody else is to this place? I chose you. and if I choose, you'll move.

[21:43] No question of I choose and you don't move. No question of me waiting for you to choose first. I choose, you move. That's what it says. I chose you out of the world.

[21:55] In another place, well, he says it just a few verses before. You did not choose me, but I chose you. So here is a mysterious thing. I chose you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

[22:11] Remember the word I spoke to you, no servant is greater than his master. So let's add some more to the thoughts that Jesus has described. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

[22:24] So I put in there the word persecution. And Jesus, really, it's quite a sobering picture, isn't it? Jesus was rejected.

[22:37] And if we belong to him, there is a sense, a profound sense, in which there is a rejection operating on us too. They will reject you.

[22:50] They will persecute you. Well, at least, definitely says that to the apostles. let's go a little bit further. And then he says, if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.

[23:07] They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. So Jesus has another comment now about making this move from outside the world to the place of belonging to Jesus.

[23:26] And this time he talks about the word. He says, if they obeyed my teaching, well, more literally, if they keep my word, they will keep yours also.

[23:42] So here is another thing of moving. that if they keep my word, they will keep yours also.

[23:57] So Jesus gives us two ways of relating, doesn't he? On the one hand, there might be rejection. On the other hand, there might be that people keep your word.

[24:10] Some of the people kept my word, says Jesus. And maybe some of the people will keep yours too. And that will change everything. So it's not a completely bleak picture. So what do we have?

[24:23] We have in these few, the little picture that's described for us in these few verses, Jesus comes to save the world. And he saves the world as people believe his word.

[24:41] And he says to his apostles, and as we look forward, there is the possibility, not the definite promise, but the possibility that people will, in the future, believe your word.

[24:55] That's the whole mission thing, isn't it? Going and telling the apostles' word. Maybe they will believe. We also have this part of the picture, the world rejects Jesus, and the apostles are to be prepared that they will be rejected too.

[25:13] Do you remember Paul saying that he'd been, one place sort of autobiographically, he says, I think us apostles have been put on display at this sort of last chapter of the world, and we're treated like rubbish and off-scouring.

[25:29] Doesn't he say something like that? We're put on display. To some people we are an aroma of Christ and of sweetness, and some people say fantastic.

[25:42] Other people, they say you're just rubbish, you stink, we're an aroma of death. And the apostles, particularly the apostles, have this, I don't know how to describe it, this sort of two-sided identity, or two reactions to them, two very strong reactions.

[26:01] The world might reject, or the world might keep the word of Jesus, and keep the word of his apostles. apostles. And this scenario is coupled with the fact that there is a sovereign Jesus who is choosing, in some mysterious way, who's going to move from there to there.

[26:24] Shouldn't let those two things sort of minimize one another. We preach the word, look for people to come, and Jesus says if anybody comes it's only because I chose them.

[26:36] let's hold that thought there. It's great having these motorbikes, isn't it? Jesus comes to save the world by his word, and likewise by his apostles' word.

[26:55] Now where does that leave us? Because we're not apostles, we're not this group of people to whom Jesus originally spoke, but we are linked with them. We receive, we've received their word, we've believed, and we've received their blessing.

[27:11] You're blessed, even if you haven't seen, but have believed, says Jesus. We, too, proclaim the apostolic word, sent by the father's love to win the world.

[27:23] We inherit what the apostles were doing. They were going into the world to save the world, and we're part of that. We're sent in a subsidiary way. So I just want to stop and say, do we and are we?

[27:37] Do we proclaim the apostles' word? So I just ask this question because in church life we can be so taken up with how one another are getting on and looking out for one another, praying with one another, supporting one another.

[27:53] It's a great thing to do. God's God's love to! God's love to this world that we are to win, that God so loved the world that he sent his son to save the world.

[28:09] Are we at any point saying to the outside world, this is God's love, this is what Christ came to do? So are we proclaiming the apostolic word and are we loving the world in that sense?

[28:27] Because there's a way of Christian thinking which I think is a bit wonky but it says our best strategy is to get as far away from the world as possible because they're horrible, they're corrupt, they're nasty, they're sinful, we'd better get as far away from them as possible and just keep as far away as possible.

[28:53] But that's not what Jesus is describing, isn't it? He's saying that you'll be hated by them in some sense you'll be rejected but we're to love.

[29:06] Jesus did that, didn't he? He went into the world. And we must expect some of the rejection that the apostles had.

[29:21] Now, let's try and work out what that means in real life. It might be in social life it might be very polite. So it may be that you have a circle of friends who are not Christians and good for you having a circle of friends who are not Christians.

[29:40] But realistically they may think you're an idiot. they may be absolutely convinced you're in it and they may let you know that.

[29:50] They may not, they may be very polite and they may just think that secretly. But please don't think they will necessarily give you a round of applause for every Christian thing that you will say.

[30:03] And particularly if you, well there are some issues in this world nowadays that Christians can't help but disagree quite radically with our culture and we will be thought of as being, oh I don't know what would be the words, well idiots, what's the other word for people who have bad opinions that are bigots, that's the word I was looking for, bigots, that we're thought of being bigots, oh all sorts of things like that.

[30:39] Just, and Jesus says I want you to be aware of that. We may be heading towards the time when we're like the people in 1 Peter who weren't necessarily persecuted to death but they were marginalized, they had fewer privileges than normal people so you might get this in some totalitarian societies where you can't go to university unless you're a member of the communist party and you wouldn't be a member of the communist party if you were a Christian.

[31:14] Actually in this country it wasn't that long ago that you couldn't go to university unless you were an Anglican and if you were a Baptist they wouldn't theoretically wouldn't let you go.

[31:26] So there was a marginalization like that but we might be headed towards a situation where that becomes much more problematic so if you want to be a doctor shall we say you might end up having to sign up to do things that as a Christian you would not be happy with in conscience you couldn't do and so the medical profession becomes closed to you same thing might be true in social work or in education I don't think we've got there yet but Jesus would have us to be realistic the world will not congratulate us from anything we might well be rejected and in the book of Revelation it's what it is in some Muslim countries what it is in North Korea you get killed for being a Christian you just accept that that's what it might cost and Jesus says that's what being a Christian is if your version of being a Christian is if

[32:27] I have to give my life for it then I'd rather not do it then Jesus says well that's not my version of being a Christian so are we prepared do we have the right expectations are we choosing Christ on the right basis not being promised something that is not actually true let's go a little bit further and look at another few verses so the next verses say they will treat you this way because of my name for they do not know the one who sent me if I had not come and spoken to them they would not be guilty of sin now however they have no excuse for their sin he who hates me hates my father as well so if I had done what no one else did they would not be guilty of sin but now they have seen these miracles and they have hated both me and my father this is to fulfill what was written in their law they hated me without reason so let's take the first of those first if

[33:41] I had not come and spoken to them they would not so let me retranslate this what it actually says they would not have sin and then it goes on to say now they have no excuse for their sin anybody got an authorized version this morning excuse in the authorized version is cloak it's something that hides sin and that probably is a better idea for us to work with so let's put this all together there's the world and Jesus comes into the world the particular part of the world that he comes into is the Jewish part of the world and in the Jewish part of the world he said that they're saying we know the father we're in touch with God and they're also saying we don't have sin sin is not a problem for us we're not sinners and they if we take the word excuse to be cloak

[34:45] Jesus is saying well actually sin is there but it's sort of under a cloak and you don't notice it sort of hidden away so in that square there which is really the Jewish people to whom Jesus came they're saying we know the father they're saying they have no sin but actually sin is there sort of covered and Jesus says I came and I spoke to them verse 22 now if I hadn't done that their sin would just be cloaked over you wouldn't see it but I've come and spoken to them he says and this has led to something what did it lead to in the end it hasn't happened yet but it led to Jesus being crucified and that of course is what Jesus is referring to now the situation is this that what looked like a very civilized moral spiritually sustainable group of people when you bring

[35:50] Jesus into the equation saying what he said that you actually find there is a violent reaction against Jesus and what we have here is they don't know the father otherwise they wouldn't have done that to Jesus and sin is uncloaked and shown and there it is in all its horribleness in all its unreasonableness!

[36:19] In all its viciousness in the act of crucifying Jesus sin is uncloaked Jesus says if I hadn't come and spoken then it would just have stayed like it was but now you can see their sin can't you and rejecting Jesus is rejecting the father and then Jesus says more or less the same thing again in verse 24 except this time he says not speaking but doing if I had not done among them what no one else did they would not have sin but now they have seen the works and yet have hated both me and my father and Jesus says so I came and I said things and I did things and their reaction in crucifying me shows the power of sin the awfulness of it and on the cross you see we have the most moving expression of God's love for sinners what sort of love is it that loves these nasty horrible people and loves them to death as

[37:32] Jesus the cross demonstrates the love of God but it also is the most appalling demonstration of human sin which otherwise would have been hidden and the rebellion the hatred of God it's all there in the cross there's a song doesn't it say if you think of sin but lightly look what happened to Jesus look what people like us did to him they weren't particularly obnoxious people they're just people like us they had more privileges they had more background than we would have had and that's what they did to Jesus if you want a proof of what sin is really like look at the cross and it does say something to us now we weren't there and in the book of Acts there's a difference between what they did in Jerusalem and how we are in

[38:35] Antioch or wherever it is it always says they crucified him it does make that distinction but if we had been there would we have been any different suppose you had applied for Pontius Pilate's job and you had been faced with making a decision with a crowd roaring in one ear and Jesus standing there before you and you know he's innocent what would you have done it's a deep question isn't it but the cross shows sin and I don't think we would have done any different I think the hymn writer is right where it says it was my sin that held him there it would have been me crying out crucify let's take one more picture and then we'll stop I'd like us to think on this verse 25 this is to fulfill what is written in their law they hated me without reason it's just one verse but I want to stop and ponder that you can see my problem as a preacher

[39:43] I'd like it to go one two three one a one two but it doesn't it just interweaves these things so let's just follow the way Jesus does it he says this verse is fulfilled and I want to emphasize the full it's filled full as full can be it's sort of like a balloon that's blown up as full as you can so it just fills!

[40:08] everything this this text put into operation and the text is from Psalm 35 so you might like to have one finger back in Psalm 35 when an individual verse is quoted from the Old Testament the writer usually has in mind the whole thing that it comes from so the rejection of Jesus fully fulfills scripture full let's paint the picture of Psalm 35 the picture is of the king yes of David Psalm 35 is the verse that Jesus latches on to is they hated me without a cause which is the sort of thing Jesus says in verse sorry the Psalmist says in verse 19 let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause let not those who hate me without reason that's what he's saying that's the situation back in Psalm 35 so let's paint the picture it's the king is in if you like he's in the world it's a

[41:16] Jewish world but it's still the world and in this world are people who hate him who are these people well it could be Saul in a moment I'll put a spear because Saul always has a spear do you remember the time when David was really kind to Saul he could have cut his throat do you remember that bit but instead he cut a bit of his robe and he went because Saul had gone into the cave to go to the toilet and as he was there!

[41:50] David crept up behind him and cut a little bit of his robe off and when Saul went out of the cave David jumped out behind him and said do you really think I'm trying to kill you look I could have killed you but I just cut this bit off your rope you remember that bit of the story and Absalom maybe these people that the psalmist is thinking Absalom this is David's son wasn't it and David's son rose up to try and knock him off his throne or maybe David is thinking about the nations around I don't know the nations around were his enemies too so let's give them some spears and let's see what the psalm says the king did to them it says for example psalm 35 they repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn verse 13 yet when they were ill I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting when my prayers returned to me unanswered

[42:52] I went about mourning as though for a friend or a brother he says I really cared about these people it was not just a show I really cared I fasted I was very disappointed if my prayers weren't unanswered so what the king does to these people is kindness but what they do back to him is they enter conflict with him they contend against him verse 4 they seek my life in verse 4 it says they plot my ruin in verse 7 it says they hid their net for me without cause in verse 11 it says ruthless witnesses come forward in verse 20 it says they made false accusations and that's the situation of this psalm so there's the hatred and the cruelty that comes to the king from those to whom he had done good and what does he do he prays he says don't let this be the end of the story

[44:10] I pray for justice and the king God's own king is praying for justice for himself verse 24 vindicate me in your righteousness oh lord my god so vindication means giving what what is deserved usually in a positive sense if somebody has not done the things that these lies say and has not been the nasty person that these lies say and does not deserve to be crushed like these people say vindicate me and he also asks for justice for them verse 26 may those who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion don't let these people win the election don't let these people come into power don't let these people everybody think that they're telling the truth because they're not do justice for them and of course and this is what

[45:19] Jesus is is referencing and saying this is just filled up the fullest possible meaning of this is what what's happening says Jesus back over there in the in the last supper he says well you can think the people around him the ruthless witnesses that were going to come forward because that's what happened isn't it people brought testimony about Jesus which was untrue this is fulfilled they hated me without a reason says Jesus and the vindication is fulfilled too the vindication of Jesus is when he dies on the cross and rises from the dead and is taken to the seat of honor and privilege in heaven and one day will be recognized by everybody that's

[46:27] Jesus vindication and he includes with him the people who were on his side that those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness would that be one of would you be one of them would you be saying Jesus didn't deserve the treatment that he got if he's exalted I'm delighted would you be saying that and there is yet to come the vindication or the judgment for those who were against him and actually that delay is enormous good news because if you're one of those who was against him perhaps against his people think Jesus is an idiot and his followers are an idiot you still got time to change and maybe some loving

[47:27] Christian who very graciously puts up with what you think about him or her keeps on praying for you keeps on being good to you keeps on offering you insightful Christian truths when they get the opportunity and now there is still time for you to change your mind and to say actually Jesus was right all the time the final judgment is delayed there's still time for you to turn from being a hater a rejecter of Jesus an enemy as it were to being one of the people who delight to sing his praise may those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness let's sing together we're going to sing number 888 and it's a song written in a time of conflict when people were