Peter Barnes | John 16:1-4a
SERMON NOTES
Religious Zeal Opposed to Christ
John 15:18-16:4; Acts 4:1-22
– not all religions are the same, not even all monotheistic religions’ 1 Kings 18:21
1. Jesus forewarns us.
– 16:1; ‘so you will not be caught unawares’ (William Hendriksen)
– see 6:60-61
– 16:4; ‘their hour’ is the hour of darkness (note 2 Tim.3:12; 1 Pet.4:12-13). Opposition should not surprise us.
2. Opposition to Christ is often religious.
– 16:2a; expulsion from the synagogue; see the man born blind in John 9:22, 34; also 12:42-43
– 16:2b; persecution by religious authorities; Luther in 1521, and Cranmer in 1556
– Paul before he was a Christian (Acts 8:1, 3; 9:1-2; Gal.1:13-14; R. V. G. Tasker was ‘sent to Coventry’ after becoming an evangelical in 1947
3. Opposition will come because religious people do not know Christ.
– 16:3; zeal is not enough
– John 5:23; Luther said he recognised no God except Jesus Christ.