The Reality of Persecution | June 8, 2026

Start your day with a short, Scripture-centered devotional from Paul Michael. In about seven minutes, you will hear the Word, reflect on its truth, and be encouraged to live it out in everyday life.

John 15 | Part 3

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Transcript

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Welcome to your daily devotional with me, PMV. Although right now we're in a three-week series, three Mondays in a row, walking through the book of John, chapter 15. Today we'll cover the last part, John chapter 15, verse 18 through 25. All right, John chapter 15, verse 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Okay, that seems pretty strong. Remember the context. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples. He's about to be betrayed by one of his own disciples, handed over to the world, crucified to die a violent death on a cross, absolutely hated by the world. In that context, Jesus says, Look, as you follow me, as you abide in my word, as you do what I've called you to do, if you're hated for your obedience to me, your walk with me, look, the world hated me before it hated you. You're walking in my steps that I've gone before you in. He says in verse 19, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, remember, therefore, the world hates you. So again, Jesus is not calling us to just run out there and be jerks, to do things to purposely have people to hate us, to just grate against people. No, that's not what he's saying. He's saying, I have made you different. You are not of this world. You are of the kingdom of heaven. You have been transformed. You have been adopted as God's own child. You've been changed. And therefore, the world's gonna hate you because you're different. You have gone beyond what this world is into the things of God. And so as you walk for God, as you love Jesus, as you listen to the Holy Spirit, you are going to be living in a way that is different than this system in the world. And what will happen is your life will convict the world of its sin, and therefore they will hate you simply for walking with Jesus, because it is easier to hate the light and try to snuff it out than to deal with the darkness of our own hearts. That's what happened with Jesus. The Pharisees would not deal with the darkness of their own hearts. They hated him. They handed him over for death rather than to be transformed and changed by him. And what Jesus is saying is, as you walk with me, as you love me, as you walk in my will, the same thing could happen to you as well. And it's because you're not of this world. You've been changed. Verse 20 says, Remember the world, remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know him who sent me. Again, this comes back to a relationship, but it's also about his namesake. If you're suffering for doing something stupid, that's on you. If you are loving Jesus and people are persecuting you for that, that is for his name's sake. And what Jesus is saying is, don't be surprised by this. And I think we need to hear this today afresh and anew because there are many believers that have bought into a lie where it's like if you just get up, have your quiet time, tithe, you know, do things for Jesus, then everything in life should just go smooth for you. Try going to communist countries and the underground church and selling them on that, where they're persecuted and imprisoned, hated, even put to death for simply having a Bible in their possession. It just doesn't work. We are blind many times in our Western understanding of Christianity. Jesus promised us persecution, yet when it comes, we think, well, something's wrong. I shouldn't be experiencing this, even though Jesus repeatedly said, As you walk with me, this will happen. This is going to come upon you as it came upon me. Verse 22, he said, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Again, they're convicted. He's saying, Look, their own hearts convict them. They've rejected me, my works, my word. They are convicted by their own hearts. They are continuing to reject the work of God in their midst, and so they will receive their just due. Then verse 25, but this happened that the word might be fulfilled, which is written in their law. They hated me without cause. Again, the comfort in all of this is that everything is in the hands of God. Nothing is beyond him. He's not lost control for a minute. Even when you suffer for following Jesus, you are still in the hands of God who is in control. There is nothing that comes to you that isn't first filtered through him. Even the most harmful or hurtful things in your life, God can redeem those and even use those for his glory and for your good. If you will stay surrendered to him, if you will continue to pursue him, if you will trust him, you will see his very best in your life, even through the hardest situations. I've said it before, even for death, for the believer is victory. We trade in the corruption of this world, we trade in the pain of this world for eternal heaven in God's presence forever. So what Jesus is saying is, look, I didn't make you for this world. I made you for heaven. And because you're different, because you've been changed, the world is going to hate you. Your life will convict them of their own sin. And just like they hated me, they're going to hate you for it. Now, does that give us reason to just go around treating people like jerks and being hard-hearted? No, we're to do like Jesus did, to love people where they're at, realize sinners sin, to try to proclaim the gospel and grace and kindness and truth to them, because we never know how God may be working and who God might be saving and how God might be using us. But in the end, we understand that even if we're persecuted for our faithfulness, God is still in control. It's according to his word, and God will fulfill his word and he will fulfill all of his promises. He always keeps his word. So even if we're persecuted for our walk with him, we know that God will have the last say. He will reward those who have suffered for his name's sake. He will vindicate his children. So you be faithful to him today. You trust him today. You love others today. You entrust their judgment into God's hand, and you entrust your life into his, knowing that he is good and his word will be fulfilled. You can trust God to be faithful today. Thank you for joining me for this daily devotional that we're doing on Monday mornings, going through John 15. That concludes John 15. Tune in next Monday to see where this continues to go. I hope you have a great day, and you can find more information at pmvministries.org.