WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO

 

John 10:30-42

 

What makes a person hate someone so much that

they want to take their life?

 

More Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined.

About 170,000 Christians are martyred for their faith each year (over 400 per day).

Currently over 200 million Christians are being persecuted worldwide.

Christians are persecuted in 131 of the world's 193 countries.

 

One person said, “Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured.”

 

As it pertains to Christianity, “What makes a person so angry that it fills their heart with murder?

 

Especially towards a Christianity that …

 

Desires others to trust in the Word of God, and the God of the Word.

Cares deeply for, and concerned of one’s eternal soul.

Prays that others hear about the Jesus of the gospel.

Proclaims hope of eternal life, with a holy and righteous God in Heaven.

 

The ultimate answer to that question comes down to this, They hate the Jesus of the Scriptures and anyone who follows after Him.

 

The religious men didn’t just disagree with Jesus; they

hated him from a pure evil heart of rage.

 

We know this is true by one of the Parables that Jesus spoke of. “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.” Matt 21:33-45

What possess a man to have such

hatred towards the Son of God?

 

Not once did Jesus display any form of hatred or hostility towards these men.

Not once did Jesus try to trick people or to cause harm to another human being.

Not once did Jesus say or do anything that would cause someone to be filled with rage.

 

Why were these men so enraged to kill him? They asked for an answer and Jesus plainly gave them one, but this is the answer they needed to fuel their rage against Him, all the more. The Gospel of John is filled with statements of the full Divinity of Jesus Christ, but no statement is clearer than the one to which is before us last week and this Sunday (v30). According to John’s letter this is the fourth time they attempted to kill Jesus. (John 5:16-18; 7:1; 8:59) and what is before us this morning. And though the Romans withheld the right to capital punishment from the Jews. Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” John 18:31. This angry lynch mob was ready to take matters into its own hands and disobey Roman Law. I think it comes down to this truth! Jesus said “I showed you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you stoning Me.” (v32-33)

 

Those works offered visible, tangible, and inescapable

proof of His oneness with God.

 

But like every cult or false teaching desires to appear to be “Christian” usually ignores or changes Jesus’ statements about his divine nature, like this one.

 

Mormonism

Jehovah Witness

Islam

Judaism

Progressive Christianity

Buddhism

Hinduism

 

They have all one thing in common, they deny that Jesus is God or ever claimed to be God

But Jesus clearly states here, “I and the Father are one.” (v30) The response of the Jews here is very important. Because why would they want to kill him if he was just a nice guy? The Jewish leaders rightly interpreted Jesus claiming to be God and they charged Him with blasphemy. They could not understand that God himself could take on creation in order to redeem and to save it. So, in their eyes Jesus was a blasphemer, but Jesus answers their claim by using the Scripture to defend Himself in a rather unexpected way. (v34-v35) Jesus quotes an obscure Psalm, Psalm 82:6, which says, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you…” Now, Jesus isn’t denying His deity, or quoting it to establish some sort of weird pantheistic theology that teaches all people and things are gods. He’s not doing either of those things. He’s citing Psalm 82:6 in order to establish a theological principle.

 

Psalm 82:6 is referring to the authorities that reigned over the people of Israel. Asaph, the author of Psalm 82, is referring to them as “little g” gods, because they spoke and acted on behalf of the one true God. This is in reference to the period of the judges, human judges who carried out a divine function, dispensing justice acting on behalf of God. So, the “little g” gods are referring to as Scripture calls ordinary, fallen, sinful people as “little g” gods. Jesus, is making a Biblical argument based upon the use of the word “god or gods.” The Jews have accused Him of making Himself God and so He points to a Scripture that refers to fallen sinners as “gods.” Jesus’ point is quite simple and cleaver, “If Psalm 82:6 can refer to people as a “little g” god, then why are they going to stone him for referring to himself as God?

 

It’s an argument from the

lesser to the greater.

As one commentator put it, “If earthly judges are called gods because they represent divine justice, does not [Jesus], who comes from heaven and was consecrated by the Father for his Messianic task, have the right to this designation?”

 

And all of this, of course, helps us to understand what Jesus said in the second part of v36. “…do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” Because no one ever accused Asaph of blasphemy when he wrote Psalm 82 and made general use of the word “gods,” and yet, it’s precisely what they’re doing to Jesus. Jesus had them over a barrel. Because either they have to deny Scripture in order to kill him, or accept the words of Psalm 82 and let him go. This is why Jesus says, “and Scripture cannot be broken” (v35) and the works, the miracles were intended by God to document divine revelation. The Pharisees and their cohorts needed to see that the wonderful miracles Jesus was doing proved that He was who He said He was. This gospel, proved that He was not a blasphemer, as, in fact, His opponents were, but blind to see their own ignorance. These men saw what they thought was good and righteous in their own eyes seemed to be worthless as it compared to Jesus.

 

Remember everything Jesus did was perfect and

It was done in the standard of God’s perfection.

 

His perfection was revealed to their imperfection, and no matter what they thought of themselves it was a wrong view of who they truly were.

 

But isn’t that so if we compare ourselves to the glorious Christ? Our righteousness is considered as “filthy rages” according to Isaiah 64:6

 

In Job 14:4 we read that man is incapable of doing righteous acts, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!”

 

Reason being we are born corrupted. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5

 

The flesh desires to sin always. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” Rom 7:18

This is the natural man and woman apart from the saving grace of the gospel. “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” Titus 3:3

 

The natural man hates the things of God and the claims of Jesus. This is natural to those outside the camp of Jesus Christ, as we see the mob’s response to Jesus’ claims. “hatred” by definition is “a deep, and emotional extreme dislike, that can be directed against individuals, objects, or ideas. Hatred is often associated with feelings of anger and a disposition towards hostility.” BUT! Before we jump on the band wagon of disgust over these men; we need to remember every single one of us in this chapel is CAPABLE of turning into one of these raging lunatics.

 

Think about this scenario…. It’s a great day, things couldn’t be better, then all of a sudden out of the blue someone, or something, disrupts your peaceful day of serenity. It could be triggered by… Someone reminds you of something you were working so hard to forget. A conversation that you hoped would never happen, but does. A phone call you were least expecting that turned your day upside down. A letter, an email, or a text, that changed the day from great to terrible. A knock on the door with unexpected bad news. A child, spouse, loved one, wanting to talk about something that is going to break your heart.

 

All these can cause your attitude and behaviour

to change drastically!

 

Your temperature begins to rises along with your blood pressure. Your face begins change and you begin to use muscles that you thought you never had. There are veins in your head and neck that becoming more noticeable and your day that was once a happy time, is now become a time of irritation. It can happen that quickly, and we can become no different than these men in this passage. As one writer said “If I were to rank a list of sins from the worst to the least destructive…the top two sins would be anger and deceit…. not everyone is an alcoholic; not everyone steals, or swears, or commits adultery. But everyone struggles with anger.” This is a universal problem and we need to be aware of this issue in our own lives

Here is the flip side! Is anger always wrong? No, as Paul said “be anger and sin not” Eph 4:26. It is an emotion that can be used in a constructive way, but also can be used in a destructive way as well. We can see that being used constructively in the life of Christ, and the destructive in these men, and if we went way back… we would see it first in the life of Cain.

 

The world and these men hate to see anything of God’s image! Remember why Cain killed his brother? “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous.” 1 John 3:11-12

 

They hated Jesus because His righteousness exposed the unrighteousness of these men, who thought they were a perfect example of God’s righteousness. But Jesus’ righteousness only exposed them as frauds, thieves, goats and charlatans, who did not know the Father. There was no crime to be upset with, yet these men had such hatred and vengeance towards Jesus and His rightful claims. This was normal as John would later write they hated Him “without cause” John 15:25. They had no reason to kill Him, but as J.C Ryle said “unconverted men would kill God himself if they could only get at Him.”

 

What separated these men from the believer, in response

to Jesus’ righteous claim of Sonship/Deity.

 

RIGHTEOUS ANGER REACTS AGAINST ACTUAL SIN.

 

Jesus violated nothing, but these men made it personal, by speaking lies about Him. We must look at sin first as a violation against God, not towards us personally. David summarized this truth when he said “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.” Psalm 51:3-4

Righteous anger arises from an accurate perception of true evil of sin as defined biblically as a violation against God. Jesus did nothing wrong as He said “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" (v32) Healing the sick, and all manner of diseases; cleansing lepers, giving sight to the blind, causing the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk. This were not only works of power, but of mercy and goodness; and therefore, are called good works, as well as they were great and astonishing ones.

 

The unbelieving Jews at Jerusalem were neither moved by our

Lord's miracles nor by His preaching.

 

They were determined not to receive Him as their Messiah "they took up stones to stone Him." See righteous anger does not result from merely being inconvenienced or from a violation of personal preference, and especially human tradition. It responds to sin accurately according to God’s word, because that is the standard to how we address everything in this life and the next. It’s too easy to fly off the handle when we don’t seek the Scriptures; especially when we think someone has wronged us personally! Don’t get me wrong, it hurts when someone sins against us; but remember it hurt God first, before it ever hurts you.

 

RIGHTEOUS ANGER FOCUSES ON GOD AND HIS KINGDOM, RIGHTS AND CONCERNS, NOT ON MY KINGDOM, RIGHTS AND CONCERNS.

 

According to the Scriptures righteous anger is God centered, not self centered, or motivated to make me come out on top in an argument. My first response should always be concerned with the Kingdom of God and does it offend a holy and righteous God. It focuses on how people offend God and His name. Remember as James said “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:20. For example, when Jesus cleared out the temple merchants, He did this because what they were doing was a violation against God. Just as it is here, the traditions of men were more important than God and His kingdom. These men only cared about themselves and their own agenda….as long as everyone agreed with them and followed after them, everything would be ok! But Jesus, and his unorthodox Christianity, threw these men into frenzy of rage and hatred. All because Jesus went against everything, they wanted the people to believe. To go against them, was to personally attack them, and their character….and sadly these men were more concerned of saving face then the glory of God being defended. Wolves and robbers who were trying to pull the wool over the sheep’s eyes.

 

What they thought was righteous was nothing more than selfish

gain, and an obsession for power to manipulate.

 

RIGHTEOUS ANGER IS ACCOMPANIED IN A GODLY MANNER?

 

All true anger must be handled with self-control, it must be restrained and controlled! But is that possible for the believer? Solomon said “Good sense makes one slow to anger,” Prov 19:11. The question you need to ask yourself is this. When you have been placed into a situation of conflict; did you chose to speak comely when dealing with a situation, or did you fly off the handle screaming, throwing things and so on. Paul said “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Rom 6:12. As one writer said, “it keeps it head without cursing, screaming, raging, or flying off the handle. Nor does it spiral downwards in self-pity or despair. It does not ignore people, snub people, or withdraw from people.” A great example of this is between David and Jonathan found in 1 Samuel 20, when his own father tried to kill him because he believed what was right and the best for his people.

 

Saul was filled with selfish pride, ignorance, and rage against David, it consumed him to be irrational even with his own son. We read, “Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 1 Sam 20:30

Jonathan on the other hand handled this situation is a godly manner by firmly planting himself in the truth of God’s plans and promises. And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be killed? What has he done?" 1 Sam 20:32. This only enraged his father’s anger more and Saul lost control of the situation by throwing a spear at his son. We read his rage was displayed against his own son. “Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.” 1 Sam 20:33. This is where we see Jonathan continuing to handle this situation with righteous anger, even though he almost lost his life. We read, “So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.” 1 Sam 20:34 What we learn from this encounter is that Jesus is who He claimed to be, that is obvious. But we also see how we are to respond to a world that hates the God of the Scriptures.

 

Before we claim righteous anger as a healthy anger; remember these three questions…..

Is there a sin to be angry with?

Is this sin against God or me?

Did I handle this situation in a godly manner?

The answer to those questions will determine whether or not we are just in our anger. Remember as Solomon said “a gentle answer turns away wrath” Prov 15:1. Don’t be like this man who had a plan when he was hurt by others. “There was a man who hates to be slapped on the back, so he thought to himself I will pack my coat with TNT and wait for the man who always slaps my back? His brilliant idea was that when the man hit his back, the man wearing the coat with say “I will get him, I’ll blow him up.”

Hating people is like burning down your own

house to get rid of a rat.

 

That was the heart of these men leading up to the cross, because the hated the Light of truth. They hated the fact that they couldn’t catch Jesus, because no one could do what He did and claim it to be demonic. Jesus’ public ministry closed with one last rejection by the very leaders who should have hailed Him as the Messiah. Their rejection foreshadowed His final rejection in a few months later, where they cried out “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.” John 19:15. Even today there are many who, like the hostile Jewish nation allow their preconceived ideas about religion and their love for sin to blind them to the saving truth about Jesus. What Jesus claims and works was to be comforting and reassuring as everything John the Baptist said was true. (v41) Everything done by Christ, was to point people to the Saviour, but for the lost this only revealed what was truly in their hearts, evil to the core. Jesus came to reveal who He was and to save us from our self-destruction and to reveal the light of Truth as we read. “And many believed in him there.” (v42)