1. Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher - Jim Rickard Tuesday, December 7, 2010 www.GraceDoctrine.org

2. Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

3. Memory Verse 2 Tim 2:4, “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”

4. John 15:18-21 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #1: Satan’s Cosmic System hates the believer! Reason #2: We are not of this world-Election out from the World! Reason #3: “The servant is not greater than his Lord,” therefore we too will have persecutions! Reason #4: “The Cosmos does not know God and is ignorant to His Plan.” John 15:18-21 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #1: Satan’s Cosmic System hates the believer! Reason #2: We are not of this world-Election out from the World! Reason #3: “The servant is not greater than his Lord,” therefore we too will have persecutions! Reason #4: “The Cosmos does not know God and is ignorant to His Plan.”

5. Four encouragements from verses 18-21:

6. Verse 18, We stand in the same position as our Lord stood, (Positional Sanctification), John 10:36; 17:19; Acts 26:18; 1 Cor 1:2; 6:11; Heb 2:11; 10:10, 14.

7. Verse 19, We are elected out of the world by God, (we have a heavenly citizenship not an earthly one), Rom 8:33, Phil 3:20; 1 Peter 2:9.

8. Verse 20, Some will be positive to your witness of Christ and non antagonistic towards you, (we are ambassadors for Christ), 2 Cor 5:20; Eph 6:20.

9. Verse 21, It’s not you who they hate but our Lord Jesus Christ who is in you (we are indwelt by Jesus Christ), John 15:18 with John 14:23; 17:23.

10. John 15:22-25 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #5, Vs 22 - Their Old Sin Nature is exposed. Reason #6, Vs 23-24 - The world hates God the Father and it hates God the Son. Reason #7, Vs 25 – The fulfilment of Old Testament prophesy. John 15:22-25 Obstructions to Divine Good Production: Reason #5, Vs 22 - Their Old Sin Nature is exposed. Reason #6, Vs 23-24 - The world hates God the Father and it hates God the Son. Reason #7, Vs 25 – The fulfilment of Old Testament prophesy.

11. Reason #5: The world cannot relax when you talk about its Old Sin Nature. It doesn’t want to hear that it is full of sin and in need of a savior.

12. The world wants to hold righteousness by their own acts and deeds.

13. EI ME ERCHOMAI: A Second Class condition, “if and it is not true,” setting up a hypothetical scenario that our Lord did not come in the First Advent.

14. KAI LALEO Aorist, Active, Indicative. Here it refers to the communication of Bible Doctrine, “spoken.”

15. The “then” statement, HAMARTIA “to miss the mark, do wrong, or sin.” “would not have sin.”

16. Principles: 1. This is speaking of their awareness of sin and their sin nature in a hypothetical scenario.

17. 2. In fact all men are sinful regardless of whether Christ had come or not, (Rom 5:12; 8:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”),…

18. … but in this scenario He is emphasizing their knowledge of their sin and sin nature.

19. “But now they have no excuse for their sin.” It is emphasizing the more severe scenario of what is really happening rather than the previous hypothetical scenario.

20. Excuse - PROPHASIS = “false motive, pretense, pretext or excuse.” That which is alleged as the cause, but used in the negative sense of a false cause.

21. Christ has taken away all excuses for man as to why he sins the way he does.

22. Rom 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

23. John 15:22, “If I had not come (Christ’s First Advent / witness of life) and spoken (witness of words) to them, they (hypothetically) would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

24. Truth (Bible doctrine) rips off the façade of self- righteousness, it exposes the person for what he really is: a person with a sin nature and spiritually dead. Cf. Luke 14:15-24

25. Grace Fellowship Church Sunday, December 7, 2010 Tape # 10-135 Obstructions to Divine Good Production, Part 29 Encouragement from Christ Upper Room Discourse, Part 448 John 15:22; Luke 14:15-24; Acts 26:18; Gen 3:7-13 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010