Christ in you the hope of glory

After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Paul before the counsel

Ac 21:10–13

Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.” The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?” “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

Paul before King Agrippa

And now I stand on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors, the promise our twelve tribes hope to reach as they earnestly serve him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope. Why do any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

What was the difference between what Paul believes in the resurrection of the dead and and what the Pharisees believed in the resurrection?

The answer is Christ in Him, the hope of glory.

I will be seeking to explain and show you from the scriptures more of this hope that was in Paul. I will be using the 1st chapter of Ephesians to show you in 3 points how Paul mentioned in the letter. These are points Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus to understand by a Spirit of wisdom and revelation from the Father of Glory.

To know the hope which God had called them

What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.

What is the immeasurable greatness of his power to us who believe.

Ephesians 1:16–20

I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength. He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—

1. The hope to which God had called the believers in Ephesus.

Hope is such an important faculty the heart possesses. What are we really without it. It is very sad to see someone without hope. Hopelessness is a terrible state to be in. The demoniac at the tombs was not just demon possessed but in a hopeless state of mind. To be without hope is to fuel the fires of unbelief. There are people in churches that do have a hope in Christ but it concerns the things of this world. Health and wealth is there hope in Christ and Paul says....

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

He reminds the believers in chapter 2 that they were once without hope.

So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But Paul prays for them in chapter one so that they can see with the eyes of their heart, the hope to which God has called them. It is important for Paul that they can grasp this. God is the God of all hope. He is the God of a living hope.

You know Christ himself had a peculiar hope in the promises of his Father.

Listen to these words from David who was lead by the Spirit of Christ.

I have set Yahweh always before me: Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; My flesh also shall dwell in safety. For you will not leave my soul to Sheol; Neither will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.

This is the hope of the Son of God concerning his resurrection. Jesus walked the road to the cross with a living hope in his heart. He trusted in the precious promises of his Father. He knew that the lines for falling into pleasant places for he had a sure and steadfast hope. There is joy in the presence of his Father and pleasures forever more it his right hand. Jesus rejoiced in his inheritance. With joy set before him He endured the cross. Jesus was fully aware and convinced that God his Father will raise him from the dead. He trusted in his Father to keep his body save and without corruption.

Jesus when he was on earth read what we know today is Daniel 7 and saw himself as the Son of Man, coming on the clouds to the Ancient of Days.

Jesus read what we know is Psalm 110 “The LORD said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool”

Jesus read Psalm 2 where God says, “ Ask of me, and I will give to you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession”

God promised Him that He will be raised from the dead and reign as the King of kings.

This brings us to the second point in the prayer of Paul to the believers in Ephesus.

2. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

Beloved I believe the inheritance in the saints is to be holy and blameless before God for all eternity. Now, we know that all the saints currently in heaven is holy and blameless. but, there bodies has seen corruption.

Acts 13:36-37

For David, after serving God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption, but the one God raised up did not see corruption.

Paul says the whole creation groans to be set free from bondage but so does the true believer..who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.

The ultimate inheritance for the saints is to be fully restored through the redemption of the body. To be in the exact same image as the firstborn from the dead, to be conformed to His image forever. This is where the hope to which God had called the Ephesians and the inheritance in the saints come together. This is exactly what Paul means when he writes a letter to the saints in Collese and says; “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints”.

To the saints, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

You see beloved, this is why Paul could stand before the Counsel, King Agrippa and spend time in jail with hope. Having Christ in you the hope of glory, is a true and living hope. A hope that is alive, a hope that is willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, a hope that will die for Christ. For those whom he predestined, he also called and to those whom he called he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.

If you get only one thing from this message tonight please hear what I say next....

If Christ is in you, God will glorify you.

Those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. His Son having the first glorified body from the dead. He is the firstfruits from the dead and therefore if Christ is in you, the resurrection and the life is in you. You have been made a new creature in Christ now for you have the firstfruits of the Spirit within you. An incorruptible seed has begun in you, that lives and abides forever.

Now the the body is...

Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.

Paul words it like this…to the Corinthians

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

John the apostle says....

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

Paul says to the church in Phillipi....

He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.

So this brings us the the 3rd and last point.

3. What is the immeasurable greatness of his power.

In Paul’s prayer to the church in Ephesus, he wants them to understand with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, to the enlightenment of their hearts, to taste the power God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power which made them alive spiritually and will therefore raise them from the dead physically.

God made a promise to us when he raised us from being dead in sin to newness of life. When he raised us from spiritual death, He promised us he will raise us to a complete new life one day. Our whole spirit, soul and body will be made new.

Now, all believers know and believe all the scriptures concerning these things but Paul is praying that these believers and us might taste that power in our inner man by the work of the Holy Spirit and see with our hearts the glory of his power in Christ. This will give the believer great assurance in the promise of God to him in his own resurrection.

For Paul this was an absolute reality because his eyes was enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Listen what he said to the church in Phillipe

that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Paul tasted the power of his resurrection in Christ and he wanted to experience it himself in his own body physically.

Listen to this power of the Spirit to those who will be alive at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Such power, to be changed in a split second into pure holiness. Blameless without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. To be without the presence of sin forever. To shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father and the his Son. To be filled with the Holy Spirit forever. To be loved by God with a perfect love forever. But this is just a means to an end.

The end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

The Son is and will be eternally glorified by the Father by causing us to be changed into his image through the Holy Spirit.

For us our glorification will be to the glory of the Son, through the work of the Spirit unto the praise of the Father.

The Father and the Son will rejoice eternally in the work of the Spirit redeeming a new humanity forever in the same image of the last Adam.

Application

Romans 8:9–11

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

Remember I said previously that if Christ is in you, God will glorify you. This is a promise of God in these few verses. This speaks a lot to what it means among other things what it means for Christ to be in you. He connects it directly with the Spirit of God in you, and he immediately speaks of the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead. You see it is a certain reality in you, a reality that was not in the Pharisees who also believes in the resurrection from the dead. For the Christian the resurrection of the dead is connected to a living Christ in him. For the Pharisee it is just a doctrine outside of them.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you might become partakers of the divine nature.

Paul says God gave us the Spirit us a guarantee, a down payment unto the day of the redemption of the body.

Paul is so convinced of the faithfulness of God in this matter he says; Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Jesus says; This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

You see when live gets tough, when we are in cellar of affliction as Samuel Rutherford has once said, look for the the Lord’s choicest wines.

So hold on the the precious promises of God in his holy word.

His word is truly a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.

Just two exhortations from Paul and Peter before we leave to start our week.

Romans 15:13 (CSB)

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 3:13–15 (CSB)

Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Look at Paul, with Christ in him, he suffered for righteousness sake because of the hope in him. Follow him as he follows Christ. Forget what lies behind and press towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.