“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also.” John 15:22-23.
It is not that these men had no sin, because Scripture makes it plain that all have sinned, but their sin was camouflaged by their self-righteous façade.
“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” Romans 3:10-13.
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23.
In this manner they were able to delude themselves and others into believing that they were righteous before God. But now, having rejected their Messiah knowingly after hearing Him and seeing His signs, they could no longer lie to themselves about being God fearing men.
The reason for their delusion is mentioned in the last phrase of John 15:21, “…because they do not know Him who sent Me.” These religious leaders were just doing a job that required them to at least give lip service to the law, even if they could not keep it.
They were very learned men who studied the Scriptures diligently but they did not know the God of the Scriptures.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7.
This lack of a relationship with God the Father kept them from accepting the wisdom of God the Son; and certainly kept them from rightly understanding the Scriptures.
The fact that they were teaching the unscriptural doctrine of righteousness through works (keeping the law) put them squarely into the world’s camp and into opposition to God.
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19-20.
As a result when the Lord Jesus came to them, His word clashed with their worldview gaining their animosity. To hate God the Son is the same as to hate God the Father; the Father whom they had been rejecting all along in their worldly religion.
“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23.
“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’” John 15:24-25.
“…they would have no sin” this is a different kind of sin which the Lord is referring to. The sin mentioned earlier was that which was hidden by self-delusion and an outward appearance of righteousness but was brought to light by their rejection of and hatred for Christ and His word.
This second type of sin is the willful rejection of Christ as their long promised Messiah to reign as their King over Israel and the promised One who would settle the sin question forever.
He was rejected in spite of His many attesting miracles, which were to confirm that He was from God. In fact they even went so far as to attribute His powers to Beelzebub, the demonic lord of the flies; Satan himself really (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 11).
“Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David [the Messiah]?’ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’” Matthew 12:22-24.
“Now when the Pharisees heard it”, this is so like Jesus’ parable of the sower in the field.
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Mark 4:3-9.
Upon being questioned by the disciples, Jesus explained this parable to them, a portion of which follows.
“And He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.’” Mark 4:13-15.
In Matthew 12:22-24 when the people started to believe that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah, Satan came in the form of the Pharisees and stole that seed out of their hearts by accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.
This is a willful sin done by these men.
“…who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:18b-19.
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24.
The words “I am He” have the meaning of “…if you do not believe that I am your Messiah, you will die in your sins.”
“But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’” John 15:25.
The law is not necessarily just what was written in the first five books of the Bible by Moses, the Israelites accepted things from the Psalms and the prophets also.
The words quoted by Jesus above were quite likely from Psalm 69:4 which portray Jesus as the Trespass Offering.
“Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.” Psalm 69:4.
The hearts of men can be so cold that they could hate a person who has done nothing but good His entire life, feeding multitudes, healing the sick, raising the dead, and speaking comforting words to all who would listen.
Granted this is a satanically inspired and energized hatred, but men have to participate in giving themselves over to it.
Today, if the Lord does not intervene, satanically energized hatred and confusion will boil over and the world will only get darker.
The good news is that Jesus will return to reign over the earth after the coming tribulation and will return it to a paradise.
The bad news is that the ones who want to create a paradise apart from God will not be here to see it.
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind [a mind that does not work], to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans 1:28-32.
As for those of us who are distressed by the lawlessness and evil happening in the world today, hold on to this, it is God’s mercy that He is showing us a preview of things to come.
This should give Christians the urgency to spread the gospel to others that they might be saved and not have to endure a time of distress which the world has never seen before, nor ever will again.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.
As wickedness in the world grows, the time will arrive when Jesus will come and take Christians out of the world, before it is completely taken over by evil and the tribulation starts; and when it starts.
“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.” Revelation 6:3-4.
Can you look at a newspaper and imagine peace being taken from the earth, and that people should kill one another?
“For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3.
No Excuse for Their Sin, John 15:22-25 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-23-13, updated on 2-27-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.