SATURDAY- 5^TH WEEK OF EASTER -A

I Reading: Acts 16:1-10: Come across to Macedonia and help us.

Gospel: John 15:18-21: You do not  belong to the world because my choice withdrew you from the world.

The Relationship of Believers to the World: Persecution, 15:18-27

The relationship of true believers to the world is a bleak picture. The world hates true believers. The persecution involves abuse, murder, violence etc. Jesus wanted the believer to be informed and to know what his relationship with the world is.

1. The chilling reality: The world will be hate (v.18)

2. The unjustified reasons for the world’s hatred (v.19-24)

a. Because the believers are a new creation

b. Because the believers are identified with Christ

c. Because the world does not really know God

d. Because the world is convicted of sin

          1) The Lord’s message convicts

          2) The Lord’s life and works convict

3. The terrible guilt of the world: They are without reason (v.25)

4. The promise of victory over the world (v.26-27)

Thought: The “world” refers to the unbeliever: the unredeemed, the lost, those who have never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. The world stands for every person whose thoughts and lives are centred upon the flesh (food, clothes, money, immorality. Cp. Gal 5:16-21), evil and immoral thoughts (the lust of his/her eyes) and the pride of life/boasting and self-centredness (2Tim 3:1-5).

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