Living Hope

The hope of your calling. What is it? Just a person. A person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope.


Scripture: Ephesians 4:4, 1 Peter 1, Numbers 11:25, Galatians 4, Romans 8:14

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Yes, that little verbal trademark establishes the fact that this is indeed your good friend, Bob Cook. And I’m glad to be back with you wherever you happen to be, on your way to work, or just waking up or just falling asleep, because we’re heard late at night in some places. Wherever it is, God bless you and grant to you just now in these next few precious moments something eternally worthwhile. I’ve been praying, as I always do, that God would put His truth, and His blessing, and His love, and His power into what is said in these moments from the word of God.

We’re looking at Ephesians 4. What is the unity of the Spirit? Paul defines it in the following verses, one body. We talked about that, believers joined together regardless of national barriers, or theological barriers, or cultural barriers, or societal barriers. The ground is level at the cross, isn’t it? One body.

Then he said one Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. John the apostle warns, “Beloved, believe not all the spirits but try the spirits whether they be of God.” Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, He’s the one with whom you deal. You see, everything in the occult, all of these mediums and seances and ouija boards, and I don’t know what all. You know, all of the occult. The voices and the communications from beyond human time and sense, all of this represents the effort of short-cutting the way to God. There’s just one way to God and that’s through the Lord Jesus Christ.

He said himself, “No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I’m the way.” Paul the apostle, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.” He’s the way to God, and anything else is a shortcut. And so this a phrase here, “Spirit,” emphasizes that because it’s through the Holy Spirit that you and I are convicted of our needs and that we’re born again. Born of the Spirit, Jesus called it.

He’s the one who implements your contact with God through Jesus. That’s how that works. The Holy Spirit of God is the one who implements, makes real, your contact with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior said, “When he has come, he shall testify of me.” The Spirit of God dwelling in the believer makes Christ real. Alright, so Spirit, what does he do? Well, he’s had a tremendous ministry throughout all of the centuries of human history. Even in times before Calvary, the Spirit of God came upon in the old dispensation, the 70 elders, the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease. Numbers 11:25. Even Balaam, this prophet who disobeyed God, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Othniel, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel. Gideon, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. He blew a trumpet and Abiezer was gathered after him. Samson, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. Saul, King Saul, the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among the other prophets. David, the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from the day Samuel anointed him King of Israel from that day forward. Alright?

And then of course, in the new dispensation after Calvary, the Holy Spirit of God came upon the early church, bestowed upon the church and now dwells within every believer. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, both of which belong to God. The Holy Spirit of God. He bears witness that we belong to God. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Galatians 4, “Because ye are sons, God had sent forth the Spirit of his son into your hearts crying, Abba Father,” Papa God. What a tender relationship with God the Holy Spirit provides. The better you know the blessed Spirit of God, the more tender and precious your relationship with your heavenly Father is going to be. “We know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he hath given us,” John says in his first epistle. “We know that we dwell in him because he hath given us His spirit.” See?

He teaches us. The Holy Ghost shall teach you in that hour what ye ought to say. Paul says, “Which things will you speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” comparing spiritual things with spiritual. John says to those to whom he’s writing, “The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and it is truth, and is no lie, even so it hath taught you, and ye shall abide in Him. The Holy Spirit of God given to the believer convicting of sin, converting and making real the presence of Christ in this new eternal life that God gives you through faith in Christ, dwelling in the believer to bring forth what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit. We talked about that the other day, didn’t we? And teaching you and guiding you.

“As many as are led by the Spirit of God,” Romans 8:14, “they are the sons of God. When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He shall guide you into all truth and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” Blessed indwelling, Christ-honoring, life-transforming Spirit of God. One Spirit. A small thought here. Avoid like the plague any effort to get through to God by other spirits. All you buy for yourself is heartache, frustration, and sadness. Avoid it like the plague. Don’t fool with the ouija aboard, the tarot cards, the seances and the mediums, and all of that. Don’t fool with it. Don’t touch it, because all you buy for yourself… You say, “Oh, well, I’ve heard Uncle George speak from the great beyond.” You thought you heard Uncle George speak from the great beyond, some spirit can imitate that voice and personality. And in the meantime, you’re purchasing for yourself heartache and frustration and sadness because any time you detour around God’s way, Jesus that is, and the Holy Spirit, any time you detour around God’s way to eternal experience, you’re in for problems and sadness and frustration and heartache, believe me.

So you avoid that like the plague. Specialize in coming to the Lord Jesus and into the presence of God through faith in Christ by the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. He dwells within you. He prays through you. Paul says in Romans 8, “The Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” He guides you. “As many are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.” He reassures you. The Spirit witnesses with our spirit we are the sons of God, if sons then heirs, and joint heirs with Christ. The Spirit of God. He transforms you. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The Holy Spirit does it all in honoring Christ and implementing the life of Christ through you for the glory of God. Specialize in doing it God’s way. Don’t fool with the shortcuts that the devil offers. Alright?

Now, he says, one body, one Spirit, and then one hope, said he, of your calling. Now, the hope of your calling has to do with what God plans to do for you. I’m thinking just now of 1 Peter 1. He said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” What hope is that? It’s by the resurrection. What does that mean? Because he’s alive again from the dead, you and I also will live again. That’s what that means. Because He lives, we shall live also. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” A living hope. What is it? The very person of the Lord Jesus Christ. See?

So we have hope toward God. Paul said in Acts 24, “That they themselves also allow there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust.” Paul talks in Colossians 1 about the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Then the second coming of Christ. Yeah, our hope is wrapped up in a person, I told you that a moment ago. Titus 2:13, looking for that blessed hope. What is it? The glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And then, “The soul’s sure anchor, that by two immutable things,” Hebrews 6, “in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, we who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters into that within the veil.” What hope is that? That’s the hope based upon the Lord Jesus who entered into the Holy of Holies and presented himself as God’s Passover Lamb, atoning for sin and paying the price, and we then can come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That’s that hope.

And so, all of it is grounded in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He’s begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The hope of your calling. Now, he says there’s one hope. What is it? Just a person. A person. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope, Paul says in Colossians. He is our hope. How do you make that real to you in everyday? Well, number one, when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell within you and you have access. Paul says in Romans 5, “Access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” So you can come to God because you belong to the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God dwells within you, prays through you, and reassures you that you belong to God, and guides you in the will of God. All of that is true. Now, how does a person, the Lord Jesus, become your hope? Listen, because He’s alive, I can do all these things. Because He paid my debt, I could walk into the throne room of heaven free. Because He represents me before the Father, I’m sure that I’ll never be turned down and God keeps all His promises. I’ll come back to this the next time we get together.

Dear Father today, may the Lord Jesus, our living hope, be real in every facet of life. I ask in His name, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the king today and be a blessing!



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