1. Everybody knows what a cloak is: a loose outer garment, perhaps a cape.
2. But our Lord uses the word "cloke" in a different way here in John 15:22. Webster’s Dictionary gives this second definition: "something that covers or conceals; disguise; pretense."
3. Our Lord often referred to the pretense of the religious leaders of His day. He described them as "wolves in sheep’s clothing," and "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness."
4. By the way, the most popular cloke is the religious cloke. Everyone wants just enough religion to be respectable but they do not want to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
5. And here in John 15:22, our Lord makes this startling statement. He said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin." So people cover their sin with religion!
6. Week after week, people walk into a church service like this. Some get under conviction and get right with God.
7. Some get angry and vow never to return. Some are confused because sin has clouded their minds and they have a hard time understanding the Bible. Some are so full of religion that the devil has them brainwashed.
8. Some procrastinate and put off salvation. They are waiting till they get the "right feeling." Unfortunately, for many "the right feeling" never comes and so they die and go straight to hell.
9. Many things are happening while God’s Word is proclaimed but one thing is certain. As the Word of God is preached, the Holy Spirit is removing the cloke that covers sin (John 15:22).

1. REMOVING THE CLOKE THAT COVERS SIN: THIS INVOLVES CONFLICT WITH THE WORLD

1. We must always remember that this world has never been a friend of grace. This world hates Jesus Christ; therefore this world has no use for His followers (15:18,19).
2. Years ago back in England, a lady expressed the opinion that if our Lord were to come to London, He would not be treated as He was in Jerusalem, but instead He would be enthusiastically received.
3. She appealed to the famous writer Thomas Carlyle, who happened to be sitting nearby. She asked him if he agreed with her. He replied, "No, madam, if Christ came to London today they would take Him to Newgate and hang Him."
4. Carlyle was quite right, and we must take note of what our Lord says here in 15:20, "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you…"
5. So we are to expect opposition from the world (cf. Matt.10:24-28).
6. I remember a few years back, the old Queens Theater was being used as a concert hall (it is now being used by a Pentecostal church). There were hundreds of people waiting on line one night to see Johnny Cash and so I passed out Gospel tracts. Many of the people mocked me and one man told me he had no use for Jesus Christ but he loved Johnny Cash!
7. Why do worldly people hate the Lord Jesus Christ? Because they are alienated from God, estranged from God. Our Lord said: "Because they know not Him that sent me" (John 15:21).
8. There are many people who reject Jesus Christ and yet they claim to love God. Our Lord said they really hate God (15:23).
9. Oh, they love some phony god of their imagination – some vague, distant Santa Claus-type god that never judges sin and he does not care how they live. He’s way out in space somewhere or maybe they think he is "in their heart" and so they pray to him (cf. II Cor.11:1-4).
10. But they really hate the true God of the Bible. And they resent straight Bible teaching, or giving them a tract, etc. (cf. John 3:16-21).
11. Our Lord said that this unrelenting hatred towards Him was a fulfillment of OT prophecy – "that the word might be fulfilled" – "They hated me without a cause" (John 15:25; cf. Ps.35:19; 69:4).
12. Man’s inhumanity to man is wicked and inexcusable. But how can we describe man’s hatred towards the Lord Jesus Christ? It shows us how utterly corrupt and depraved man really is.

2. REMOVING THE CLOKE THAT COVERS SIN: THIS INVOLVES THE CONVICTING WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. The Lord Jesus Christ said that He would send the Holy Spirit "from the Father" (John 15:26). Note the Trinity in 15:26.
2. The Spirit of God takes the Word of God, which testifies of the Son of God. And this how we become the children of God (cf. John 1:12,13).
3. It is the Spirit of God that convicts us and regenerates us (cf. John 3:6-8).
4. The reason so many professing Christians are as lost as the devil is they have never been under real Holy Ghost conviction (John 16:8-11). Therefore they have never been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
5. I pray the Holy Spirit would remove the scales from our eyes and show us what we really are (not what we think we are). I pray He will show us how horrible and heinous our sins really are.
6. I pray he will show the lost just how excruciatingly painful the torments of hell are. And that He would show Christians too so they would be more burdened for the lost.
7. Oh that God would tear that cloke away that covers all our dirty sins – lying, boasting, our bad attitude, nasty language, impure thoughts, complaining, dishonesty, laziness, phoniness, etc.
8. I pray that God will remove the cloke that covers our church like this big white tent. Oh, the cloke looks nice and pretty but underneath the cloke there are members who watch dirty movies, and hang out with worldly unsaved people, and some even get deep into sin and some even drink alcohol and smoke.
9. Some don’t tithe but they hide it under their cloke but God knows all about it. Please remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Some don’t pray and some seldom read the Bible and they do not realize that soon God is going to take the cloke away for all to see.

3. REMOVING THE CLOKE THAT COVERS SIN: THIS INVOLVES THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL

1. Months back the big story was the Kennedy plane crash. Well, this Old World is like his plane going down fast. How long before it crashes only God knows.
2. All over the city people are having special religious services for JKK Jr. and his wife and sister-in-law. There will be plenty of religion, but do you think there will be any straight Gospel preaching? I think not.
3. This Old World loves its sin and there is only one remedy for sin: the preaching of the cross.
4. Politics cannot fix this mess we’re in. More government programs will not solve the problem. Building more schools will not help – unless of course they are Sunday Schools or Christian schools where the Gospel is preached.
5. Beloved, this wicked, sin-loving, Christ-rejecting world needs the Gospel!
6. Jesus said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit…" (John 15:16).
7. Can I ask you something today? Where is your fruit? Jesus said: "Go." Let’s keep the GO in the GOSPEL!
8. Multitudes are lost and on their way to hell. There is only one remedy – the Gospel (cf. Mark 16:15,16).

CONCLUSION:

1. Harry Ironside told a true story about a missionary in Africa who had a little mirror hung up on a tree outside his cabin. One day a lady, some sort of a leader in one of the tribes, walked by and saw her reflection in the mirror.
2. This is what she saw: an ugly-looking woman with hideous paint smeared all over her face. As she gazed at her own grotesque countenance, she yelled out: "Who is that horrible-looking person inside that tree?"
3. The missionary told her there was no one in the tree but that she was looking at her own reflection. She insisted that the missionary sell her the mirror but he said he did not want to sell it. She begged him to sell it to her so to avoid trouble he gave her a price and she bought it.
4. Then, after buying the mirror, she said: "It will never make faces at me again!" and threw it down on the floor and broke it to pieces.
5. Beloved, this is the way people treat the Bible and this is the way they treat the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God shows sinful man the way he really is and man resents that.
6. They want to keep their sin covered up nicely with a cloke. And if you try and remove that cloke they will get enraged.
7. If there is someone here today without Christ, don’t get mad at the Bible. Don’t get mad at God. Don’t get mad at the preacher, and don’t get mad at the church – just get right with God.