One Hope of Our Calling

Okay, good. We've got it going now, so praise the Lord. I'd like for you to turn, in the Word of God, to the Epistle of Ephesians. And in this wonderful epistle, I did a message years ago, it was called Seven Ones of Unity, the Seven Ones of Unity.

And maybe one day, Lord willing, I can break it down and we can go through those seven ones of the unity that's in the face of the Word of God that Paul speaks of here. So in this wonderful verse, we're just going to look at one verse today, but there's many other verses on this wonderful text before us that we can look at, and it's really deep.

It looks so simple before us, but you know how the Word of God is. It's so inexhaustible, you cannot exhaust it. You can go precept by precept, line upon line, and start dissecting it. And I like what Steve Lawson says, the Word of God is shallow enough for the young believer in Jesus Christ to wade in, but it's also deep enough, so deep, that even the greatest theologian can drown in.

And I agree with that so, so much. And that's the way the Word of God is, I love that. So it comes to all of us, and there is a relevance. The relevance is in trying to bring people in, trying to cater, or I guess the word cater is probably the best, is come to their worldly ways to make them happy in church.

That's not what church is about. False prophets do things like that. The needs of God's people, really, the deepest need is for us to know God. And we cannot know God outside of the Word. So if anyone preaches another gospel, and then Paul says, really, there's not another gospel, he says it that way, but there's only one gospel.

And if the gospel isn't feeding our souls, then there's a problem. And the problem isn't with God, the problem is with us. So really what truly what people need, and this is what I'm saying, is God. Our hope is in God.

We have a living hope today. Now, what does this hope mean? And we're going to look at this. Let me read a few verses before we get to verse 4, but I'm going to take it all the way to verse 6, and we'll be specifically looking at verse 4.

Hear the Word of God. I therefore, the Apostle Paul is speaking, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling, listen to that word, calling, calling with which you were called, you'll hear that a lot here, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Then he says in verse 4, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called, called in one hope of your calling, isn't that wonderful? Listen to those words, calling, called, calling, called. One, verse 5, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, know the ones there, the seven ones, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Let's pray. Father, we do thank you, Lord, for this wonderful word, before us we rejoice that this word has been preserved through a sea of blood throughout the ages. People have laid down their lives, your servants have laid down their lives to have this word preserved.

You've kept it, and it's by your Holy Spirit that you've kept it for us, and we thank you Father that it is in our own language today, and that Lord, we can do more than just read.

It.

Lord, yes, we can read it, we can meditate upon it, and Lord, help us to understand it, not just by mental assent to it, but Father, help us to understand the spiritual depth of it, Lord, and here is where we call on you, Lord, because any of us can just read it and leave out of here, and not understand the meaning of it.

Only your Holy Spirit can give us the true meaning of your word, so Father, may we apply it to our hearts by your Holy Spirit, and Father, we ask you that you would speak to your people worldwide as well, just not us in this little small group here, but Father, to your people worldwide to encourage them.

There's some that's being persecuted even right at this moment. Lord, help us to be compassionate toward their persecution, to pray for your people, because we are part of that body, and Father, we are not truly divided in one sense.

We are part of the universal church, and it's so big, it's beyond our comprehension today, so Father, help us to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout this world. Father, be with us now, help us to take this into our hearts, change us, maybe we just not learn more, but Father, to have the true knowledge to change our hearts to be more like Jesus.

In this I pray, amen. Verse four, there is one body, there's one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. This is a wonderful text. There's godly people down through the ages spoken about this wonderful hope.

What is this hope? Commentator Peel says this, what is hope? Hope is wishing for a thing to come true, faith is believing that it will come true, hope is wanting something so eagerly that in spite of all the evidence that you are not going to get it, you go right on wanting it.

And the remarkable thing about it is that the very act of hope produces a kind of strength of its own. That's what commentator Peel says. Matthew Henry, great Puritan commentator, one of the best, I would highly recommend said this, Satan would tempt us to despair, but good hope keeps us trusting in God and rejoicing in Him.

Of course, I can't leave out Sir Charles Spurgeon, he's one of my favorites. Charles Spurgeon, that wonderful great preacher years ago said this about hope, a man ought to hope within the bounds of reason, and the promises of the good old book, hope leans on an anchor, but an anchor must have something to hold by and to hold to, and he's speaking about the Word of God, and of course, that anchor is Christ Himself.

That anchor is the Lord Jesus Christ. That anchor is all that He is and all that He has done for us. So we look at that, we have that full assurance of that hope. Hebrews 6 .11 says, the Bible says that we seek for the full assurance of hope.

We desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until.

The end.

The Word of God. 1 Peter 3 .15, the Bible speaks about that we should be ready to give an answer concerning the hope that we have. Peter says it like this, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense.

That word, a defense, an answer, it means an answer. That's where we get the word apologetics, it doesn't mean to apologize, it basically means to give an answer for the hope that is within us. Everyone who asks you a reason, a reason for the hope that is in you, with, and keep this in mind, meekness and fear.

We do it with meekness, but we also do it in the fear of God. God bless these children's hearts. This is so difficult for them, but one day they'll be sitting right beside you, learning the Word of God.

Right now, they're concerned for one thing, and that's milk. So we should be concerned with milk and the Word, right? So what is this hope? This hope, let's dig a little bit deeper here. The original Greek language gives us that definition in the answer, and that word, hope, in the Greek, is elpisi, elpisi.

It means, I probably butchered that son, but anyway, it means to anticipate, usually with joy or pleasure. It means there's anticipation of joy and pleasure. There's expectation, abstractly or concretely, that means in confidence.

So you cannot disconnect hope from faith. When the scripture says, the just shall live by faith, there's hope connected to it, okay? Remember what 1 Corinthians, I quoted it yesterday at the wedding. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, now, these three abide.

Faith, hope, and love, charity. Notice that. Faith, hope, and love, charity, which is charity, agape love. And these three remain, but the greatest is charity. That is the bedrock, and when Paul the Apostle says, by the fruit of the Spirit, he starts.

With love, doesn't he?

Because it is the bedrock, it is the foundation. We cannot have these other virtues without the love of God. See, it's God's love, it's not our love. That's why it says agape love, and that's why I say charity.

It's not by mistake I say charity. Because a lot of times when you throw that word love out there, people's mind automatically just, they got their own concept of love. Well, usually that concept is a wrong concept.

Now, we as people of God, we understand when we say love, we mean it's founded on the word of God. But anytime you have that love, you've got the hope and you have the faith, it all connects,.

You see.

Well, to fully appreciate this hope and to understand the greatness behind what Paul is telling us through the Spirit of God, we need to go back a few chapters to hear how this remarkable choice bond servant, a prisoner of the Lord of God, prayed for the believers in Ephesus.

And in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 18, go with me to chapter 1 verse 18 and look at what the verse says right here. Paul prayed a wonderful prayer. Now, keep in mind, if Paul's praying this and it's ordained and everything is inspired by the Holy Spirit, I believe it's important for us to take note.

The prayers of the Apostle Paul, now I tell you what, is some of the most greatest and most wonderful prayers, all the prayers in Scripture is important. I would probably say the prayers of the Lord Jesus is the highest and most important because that is God in the flesh praying, as a man praying to his Father.

But even the Apostle Paul was a choice servant. He was a servant that was chosen to suffer for the church, for the elect, for the people of God. And when you hear this man pray, you know this, it's in the Spirit.

There's nothing here of this man's flesh. He's a dead man. Paul's dead into the world. He's dead into himself. So he's living unto Christ. His whole life is a sacrifice to Christ. You see this in 2 Timothy chapter 4, before he dies, my life is poured out like a drink offering.

This man is given and given and given in great love to the church and died for the church, not specifically, but for the sake of the church, I should say. Jesus is the only one that died specifically for the church, but he suffered for the church.

I should say it like that. But let me say this. He prays this in verse 18 of chapter 1, I think a very important prayer. The eyes of your understanding be an enlightenment, that you may know what is the hope of his.

Calling.

He's praying this. He's praying that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Keep in mind, there's eyes of your understanding that must be enlightened.

He desired for God's people to see, to be enlightened, to be illumined. And only the Holy Spirit can do this. That's why he's going to God in prayer and he's praying for the church. And then he says this, that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

So right there, I think it's important for us to know what is the hope of his calling. And Paul uses that term know a lot. The apostle John uses it a great deal in the book of 1 John.

God wants us to know.

But the knowing must be more than just mental ascent. It must be a knowing in a spiritual sense. That you may grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. You see, that knowledge is more than just facts.

Don't get me wrong, there is a reason and the reason goes here, that Sproul said this. It does, our mind must be transformed, it must be renewed.

It must be renewed.

You see what I'm saying, because our mind is so gutted with everything else and was so programmed, it's like programming a computer in a sense. Whatever you put in comes out. Well you see, a lot of people's minds, what's going in is coming out and a lot of it's trash.

The word of God can renew our minds, you see. For what reason? That we may have the mind of Christ. Because the mind of Christ is of another world. And when you have the mind of Christ, people are going to look at you funny.

They're going to look at you weird. You're supposed to be peculiar. But you know, we should rejoice in that because you're not like the world. And Jesus says the world will love his own. But he said because you're not of the world, they don't love you.

And then he says this, they don't love you not because of you, they don't love you because they hate him. That's what Jesus said. So we can rejoice in that. But he desires, Paul the Apostle desires for us to know what is the hope of his calling.

So let Paul's prayer be our prayer. That the Holy Spirit of God would open our eyes, our inner eyes, to see and to understand what a glorious future we have in Jesus Christ. God's people have a glorious future.

Now right now, it's not our best life now, right? It could be a most difficult life.

It is.

But there's something to rejoice about in this. And because of Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished at the cross and through his burial and his resurrection, what the Holy Spirit himself guarantees to us is a seal, a down payment to his one church.

His body is glorious. Now what about the unbelievers that are without Christ? If people are without Christ, they are what?

Without hope.

You know, that's sad, isn't it? They're without hope. But guess what? We have a living hope. And as it was prayed today, and as it was requested to pray, we should be concerned for people that are lost.

And they're lost to Satan. It's a terrible tragedy, folks, to know that people die without Jesus. They go into eternity without God, for all eternity, folks. This is something we should think about. Your existence has significance.

Your existence and my existence is for a purpose. And it's not for ourselves. It's for the glory of God. It's for Jesus' sake, for everything that we do, whether it's in our work, in our home, for babies, for mothering, for fathering, which is of great importance because you're molding that child.

But everything that you do, children, all that you do to Jesus has significance. Only in Him has real meaning. So we're going to look at this Song of the Saints.

I love it.

We're going to sing it at the last. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now when we come to die and take our last breath on this earth and when your work is done on this earth, all that's going to matter, and let me tell you this, all that's going to matter is knowing Jesus Christ and having His blood, excuse me, having His blood cleanse you, wash you from all your sin because nothing else is going to do.

I'm telling you. We should live every day as is our last day on this earth and that is we're going to appear before God at the judgment because guess what? Scripture says this, it is appointed for once man to die and after this the judgment.

I didn't say that. God said that. It is my responsibility as a minister and a servant of Jesus Christ and as your pastor to give those warnings as it is but also to give you the hope. And I give you today a living hope that there is a living hope and that living hope is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

He was crucified for your sins so that you don't have to perish and die and go to hell. He came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. That's the great news. Now, go back to the scriptures.

Go to chapter 2. Let's look at verse 12 and 13. What does Paul say about this? This is about the unbelievers. He, I'm sorry, that at the time you were without Christ.

Now that's past tense.

He's speaking to the believers. Anytime that you read the Bible, it's always to believers. It's never to an unbeliever. Some people will misunderstand that right away. They say, hold on, you mean to tell me God's word is not to the unbeliever?

It is to the unbeliever but it's not addressed to the unbeliever. You see what I'm saying? There's a difference. He addresses the saints but it is to the unbeliever that would want to come to Christ because there's an invitation for people to come.

We know that, right? But when the scriptures were written, they were written to the church. They were written to God's people. That's what I'm saying. You were without Christ. There was a time that with past tense we were without Jesus.

Then he says, being aliens, foreign from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers, notice these words. You were aliens, strangers from the covenants of promise and what does he say? Having no hope and without God.

That's the reason why there's no hope for the unbeliever because they're without God. That's why it's simple enough, isn't it? They're without God in the world. Verse 13 is remarkable because it gives another picture of reality.

It is as God through the Holy Spirit shows us what gives us hope and who that hope is. Because of Christ, we share in this great hope together. It is one hope of our calling. And then he says this, but now in Christ.

There's the change right there. But now, present tense, in Christ. You see Paul constantly saying this, in Christ. In Christ. You must be in only two sets of people in this world, folks, whether you're in Christ or outside of Christ, lost or you're found, in blindness, in darkness, or in light and you can see.

On your way to heaven or on your way to hell. There's no gray with God. God don't see gray. God's not colorblind. It's black and white, period. So it says right here, you will now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, notice the.

Scripture says, it's so specific, isn't it?

Without Jesus, you were way out there, far, far away, far off, but, look, have been brought.

Near.

What brings you near? You were once far off, you're brought near or nigh by what we sung it today, the blood. The blood. The blood of Jesus Christ. You know, it's sad to say, but a lot of churches are not preaching the blood no more.

But this minister, this preacher is going to preach blood. I'm going to preach blood, Jesus, because I'm telling you, the blood of Jesus, because there's nothing else it's going to do for salvation. Nothing outside of it's going to suffice but the blood of Jesus Christ.

You go through the scriptures, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, there's a string of blood. There's a crimson string all the way, all the way since Adam sinned, God shed blood. He shed animals' blood.

You see in the Old Testament, animal after animal was shed. Just read this in Hebrews, sheep, goats, all these animals sacrificed, sacrificed, sacrificed. It seems gory, it seems messy, but God required blood.

Someone may ask, why blood? Life is in the blood. It's the most precious, take the blood out of your body, you're a dead person. Without blood, you will not live. There is life in that blood. It's the most precious thing, and the most precious of all blood is the blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ.

That's why, you know, people say, why a crucifixion, it doesn't make sense. There's been many people crucified, what's the difference between Jesus' crucifixion and other crucifixions? Because it is who Jesus is.

It's who he was when he died on the cross, through his incarnation, he was the most different person, he was set aside, he's the only person that came into this world without an Adamic nature. That's the purpose of the incarnation.

He had to enter, God had to enter into this world without having an Adamic nature, and God had it all planned out. It was through a miracle of the virgin birth. Great miracle, great miracle. Jesus entered into this world without having a nature bent or desirous towards sinning.

He didn't have that. His desire was holiness.

All the time it was pure holiness.

You notice the difference between us and Christ? Our desire a lot of the time is sinning, it's sinning. But Jesus was constantly holiness.

Holiness.

Well, let's look at this calling. The blood of Jesus brings us nigh, and we have this hope, this hope, Ephesians 4, 4, and one hope of your calling, Ephesians 2, 18, that you may know, I'm sorry, 1, 18, what is the hope of his calling?

To understand this one hope, we first understand the calling, your calling, it's your calling, notice this, his calling, your calling, his calling, to which we were all called into one hope. Our calling is a holy calling, you see?

What does this word holy mean? The best way I can describe holiness, it's really not an English word that's adequate, to be honest with you, but it does mean set apart, it means to be pure and white. It's really beyond all that, I mean, honestly, it's such a foreign concept to us, why is it so foreign to us?

Because of who we are, folks, even redeemed, we have a hard time with this. Because God's holiness is so foreign to us. Can I say this? The holiness of God is a threat to people. There's a reason why God's holiness is a threat, because we were born as in Adam, we were born fallen, we were born with this bent towards sinning, and immediately when the holiness of God comes to us, traumatically through the Word of God, like Isaiah, he was a holy prophet, and this man says, I am unraveled, I am traumatically just devastated.

And as a prophet, a prophet would give curses or blessings, that was the role of a prophet.

Of God.

But Isaiah was still with sin, he was not like Jesus, he was a man, he was a human being like us with a bent towards sinning, but he was a holy man, by the way, and he spoke God's Word, and he even had to have a cleansing.

And God came to him in a time when King Uzziah died, and a lot of things was happening in that time of the nation of Israel, and here, in the year King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord high and lifted up.

Folks, it was traumatic, it was foreign to him. He saw another world, and that's why if you present the holiness of God to people today, it is a foreign thing. It's a threatening thing, and by the way, God will be the ultimate threat to people if they do not make it right with God.

And that's why I'm saying the only way you can be right with God is through the blood.

Of Jesus Christ.

Make sure you have the blood applied to the doorpost of your heart, because when the death angel comes, that's all he's going to see, and when he sees the blood, he's going to.

What?

Pass over you. There's no fear of death, right? Because the blood is the protection of God's people. So the hope of his calling, this holiness, is a holy calling. God has not called us to uncleanness, Scripture says, but unto holiness.

Holiness means that we are set apart. We are set apart differently. I'm telling you, when you're a child of God, that's the way it is. You are to be different from this world. You are different, and that's okay.

Matter of fact, if you like the world, something's wrong. Not to be like the world, because most of the world is on its way in a path to hell and destruction. You are that great light. You are to be called different.

You're not to be influenced by the world. I tell people all the time, you are to be the influencer. Yeah, but so many people are influencing all around you. Hey, that's why you've got to set your eyes like a flint on Jesus, because, and that's why the Scripture says, bad company corrupts good morals.

It's always downward, because there is a multitude out there. If sinners entice you, do not consent. You see, in Scriptures, why do you think the Word of God gives us warning after warning and warning not to go their path and their way, you see, because we are to be holy.

We are to be apart. Be ye holy as the Lord God is holy. So this calling is a holy calling, and our calling to salvation is ultimately a calling, is a calling to be Christ-like, eternal perfection, in a sense, and glory.

In Christ we have different gifts, different ministries in the body of Jesus, different places of service, but only one calling. We all share in this one calling. This one calling. And the calling, according to Ephesians 1 -4, is to be holy and blameless before Him.

Now that's before the eyes of God. That's where real integrity comes in, folks. Not when everybody else sees you, but when only God sees you. It's in the darkness. That's integrity. Who you are in the darkness, in the secret place, is who you really are.

And God sees. It's who you are before God. It's who I am before God, Romans 8 -29. And the purpose of this calling, to be holy and blameless before Him, is to become conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus, which will occur when we see Christ glorified, and we talked about that in 1 Corinthians 13 yesterday, which is imperfect, that will pass away.

That which is perfect will come. That is Jesus. When we are glorified. Right now we're not glorified. We're still in this sinful flesh. We still sin, right? That's why we need to be sanctified. That's why I long to come with you, and that's why I love to dig in God's Word.

As I'm digging in God's Word, it is sanctifying me. As I'm preaching to you now, there's a sanctifying effect about the Word of God, isn't it? There's a cleansing in it. Sometimes that cleansing, when it hits up against our sin, sometimes we go,.

Ouch, oh, ah, oh.

And it does.

And if it's not happening, there's no cleansing. It's like a hammer. It's like a sword. The Scripture is.

It doesn't pull punches.

When I'm studying Scripture, I'm constantly, my toes are being smashed. I said, Ouch, all the time. I said, Lord, help me, because I fall so short of it, but I'm thankful. Conviction is my friend, and it brings me closer to Christ.

If affliction comes, it's good that I was afflicted, because Jesus is looking at me and saying, it's because I love you, and I want you to be more like me, you see. That's what it's about. And it comes hard.

Trials. All these trials, I think it's hit all of us, and I know why. Satan's just not going to sit back and not do anything, because God's doing something. Or he's getting ready to do something. I think he's doing something right now.

A lot of times we say, you know, we expect something in our own minds, but God is constantly.

Working.

He's working in our hearts. Even a lot of times when you think he's not working, he's working.

Why?

How can I say that? Because the God who keeps you and keeps Israel never slumbers or sleeps. He's always working. And we are to have faith that he is working. So this is a wonderful thing that comes to us, and we one day will be glorified, is the Spirit of God now has placed us into the body of Christ and into each other, and who guarantees our future glory.

Aren't you glad of that?

Yes.

Well, we could go on to say that this hope is future too. It's future for all eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven and in his kingdom, and enjoying him for all eternity, and all that is yours, and all because everything that he has is yours through his blood.

Now I say through his blood because Jesus paid the ransom. He paid the price, and the price was his blood. It was costly to God. Let us keep this in mind, when we walk the walk as we are told to walk the walk, there's a great cost for our salvation, and our testimony should bear that, you see, and all that is yours and all because of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross that he accomplished by God raising him from the dead.

It was paid for at the cross through his blood, but it was kind of like sealed when God the Father raised up his son. It's a living Christ. Now he's still not, we preach Christ crucified, but we know this, that's the payment for the.

Sin.

We point people to the cross, but it goes further than the cross. There's the burial. He buried those sins, okay? It doesn't stop at the cross, does it? He buried our sins, and then when Jesus rose again, it's accomplished, folks.

I tell you what, something runs through me when I speak about the resurrection. And we'll forget, when I first came to Christ, one of my relatives, distant relatives, and I never would see him very much, he's dead now, but I hope he made his peace with God before he died.

He was a Catholic, a devout Catholic. He came up, and he gave me a crucifix. I took it in my hand, and I said, I was going like that, and I could tell he didn't like.

The gift.

And he said, you don't like my gift? And I said, well, I said, sir, I was very young in the Lord at the time, I was only like 17, 18. He said, I'm so glad that you found Christ as your Savior, really, it's Christ who found.

Me.

I handed the crucifix back, and I said, sir, I really don't need that crucifix, I don't need an emblem. I said, thank you for your thoughtfulness, but I said, sir, I have been crucified in my heart, I'm dead to this world, and I'm still dying, okay, we know that through sanctification, but I said, Jesus has died for me and paid the penalty for my sin, but can I tell you that that is the emblem of his death.

And I know it is, Catholics take this to remind them of the crucifixion, I said, that's well and good, but you must die in your heart to your sins. And then I went a little further, and Catholics don't get this, and Ben knows what I'm talking about because his mom was a Catholic once.

I said, have you ever thought about the resurrection? I said, we serve a living Christ. This Christ is risen from the dead, I said, he is not on that cross. He has risen again, and he's at the right hand of the Father, and he lives forevermore.

And he looked at me, and he goes, whoa, he didn't understand it, he didn't, because you know, they're into religiosity, they're into forms, and pagan practices, and rituals, and superstitions, I can go on and on, but we serve a living Christ.

Commentator. Barnes says this about this living hope, to put it this way, he says, the meaning here is that Christians have the same hope, and that they should therefore be one, they are looking forward to the same heaven, the hope for the same happiness beyond the grave, Jesus gives that to us through his resurrection.

It is not as on earth among people of the world where there is a variety of hopes, no, where one hopes for pleasure, and another for honor, and another for gain, but there is a prospect of the same inexhaustible joy.

The hope is fitted to promote union. There is no rivalry, for there is enough for all. Hope on earth does not always produce union and harmony. Two men hope to obtain the same office. Two students hope to obtain the same honor in college.

He goes on to say this, two rivals hope to obtain the same hand in marriage. You see where he's going? And the consequence, he says, is jealousy, contention, and strife. Then he says this, the reason is that but one can obtain the object, not so with the crown of life, with the rewards of heaven.

All may obtain that crown, and all may share those rewards. How can Christians contend in an angry manner with each other when the hope of dwelling in the same heaven swells their bosoms and emanates their hearts?

Isn't that great? We share that one hope of our calling. It's a holy calling, but there's hope. We share in that same hope.

There's not two hopes, there's one hope, Jesus.

You see, that's Paul's message, is Christ. The hope of our calling, one hope to which we are called. So what does the Bible say about this hope? First and foremost, our hope is in God. Now here's my points, our hope is in God.

That's the first hope. Psalm 39, 7. How do we know this? Because Pastor David just thought of this? No, Pastor David didn't think of this. This is the word of God. Psalm 39, 7. And now, Lord, I do wait for, and then he answers it, my hope is in you.

My hope is in God. First Peter 1, 21. Who through him believed God in God, in God. Who raised him, speaking of Jesus, from the dead and gave him glory. So that your faith and hope are in God. You see, it's all pointing, even Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, points to our hope in God.

That's the only way you're going to have hope in God. The second point is this, our hope is in Christ. I'm going to just give you scripture here, 1 Corinthians 15, 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are all of men the most pitiful.