If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you [John 15:18–19].

Notice what will happen if you are a child of God. The world will hate you. I believe that a Christian’s popularity can be an indication of how he is representing Christ to the world. I do not believe a Christian can be popular in the world. No Christian has any right to be more popular than Jesus was. Beware of a compromising position in order to be popular. The world will not love a real child of God. The world will love you if you are of the world. You don’t have to act oddly or be superpious. The world will hate you if you are a child of God. This is difficult, especially for young people who want so much to be popular. Let’s tell our young people what the Lord says. They are not going to be popular with the world if they are the children of God.

Unfortunately, there are folk in the church today who are not honestly born–again, and they will also hate you if you are a child of God. They will hate the preacher if he is true to the Word of God. May I say again, beware of the Christian who is popular with the world...

He that hateth me hateth my Father also [John 15:23].

This is an important verse. The world does not hate their idea of God, as some vague Someone out yonder. It is Christ they hate. Jesus says when a man hates Him, he is hating God the Father also. You can say you believe in God and be popular. The real test is your relationship and attitude toward Jesus Christ. You cannot be popular and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the One who is hated.

If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause [John 15:24–25].

Some wag has said, "God created man in His image and now man is creating God in his image." That is the kind of God they want today and the kind of God they think is running the universe. Jesus quotes this as a fulfillment of Psalms 35:19 and 69:4 when He says they hated Him without a cause. They hate Jesus Christ because they have created a false god who is not the God of the Bible. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (John 11-21) (electronic ed., Vol. 39, pp. 101–103). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.