========================================================================
  THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING
  by Alan Martin
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon delves into Ephesians 1:17-18, exploring the
concept of understanding as the convergence of God's thoughts and our
thoughts, leading to a deeper connection with Scripture. It emphasizes
the hope of Christ's calling, the inheritance among the saints, and the
exceeding greatness of His power for those who believe. The sermon
highlights the importance of seeking wisdom and revelation to know God
intimately and to prepare for the future hope of a new heaven and earth.

Topics: "Understanding God's Thoughts", "Hope and Inheritance in Christ"
Scripture References: Ephesians 1:17, Acts 20:32, Revelation 21:6, 1 Peter 1:3, 1 Peter 1:13, Hebrews 6:19, Matthew 25:34, John 16:33

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon delves into Ephesians 1:17-18, exploring the concept of
understanding as the convergence of God's thoughts and our thoughts,
leading to a deeper connection with Scripture. It emphasizes the hope of
Christ's calling, the inheritance among the saints, and the exceeding
greatness of His power for those who believe. The sermon highlights the
importance of seeking wisdom and revelation to know God intimately and
to prepare for the future hope of a new heaven and earth.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've sent you your pre-questions. Let's read Ephesians 1, 17, and 18
together. In order that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, might give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, uncovering
it is, unto your own full, personal, accurate, intimate knowledge of
Him.

Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, in order that you may know
what is the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power, us were
to believe. That's 17 through 19. When the Lord gives understanding,
here's what happens.

The Greek word for understanding is a form of epihistamine. It means
it's the place where two things come together. It was originally used to
describe the place where two different rivers became one.

Where they come together is the place of understanding, or they're
joined together. So understanding in that sense is when God's thoughts
and our thoughts are brought together, and He shows us how the
scriptures are connected, and we begin to see how things flow together.
That's the Lord giving us understanding, and that's what we want to
experience as a people this morning in our discussion.

So we're going to look at the first part of verse 18, that the eyes of
our heart would be enlightened, in order that we may know the what is
the hope of His calling. Now when you come to the word hope, what does
it mean to you? And just so you know, if you're not sure, what goes in
my mind is immediately, there's this built-in concordance in my mind.
Well this verse has hope, and I'm thinking of this verse, and this
verse, and this verse.

But if you don't have that in your mind, you can get Bible Gateway, you
can get Blue Letter Bible, you can get other Bible apps, logos, and you
can type in the word hope, and it'll bring every single scripture with
the word hope there. So you can search the scriptures and see what does
hope mean. So let's have our own little university park concordance
here.

What is hope? Someone tell me a verse that has hope that comes to your
mind about hope. Right, there was a time before we knew Christ, we were
without hope. What another, another thought of hope, with the hope.

Rachel says, Christ in us is the hope of glory. Right, what's another?
Faith is the substance of faith. Right, faith is the substance, Hebrews
chapter 11.

Yes, yeah, Brother Rudy. When Jesus told Peter, I hope that your faith
is restored, you come and strengthen your brothers. Yes, yes he did.

There's, there's many verses with hope. One, one important verse for us
is, is, is that the helmet of salvation is hope. Having hope is the
helmet of salvation.

The hope of salvation is a helmet that we wear. Now, think about the
word hope. There's another scripture that we need to understand about
hope.

When you think of hope, the word itself, not necessarily a scripture,
what comes to your mind? What is hope? If you're hoping for something,
what does it mean? It means you don't have it. It's not in your
possession. You don't, you're not hoping for something you've already
received.

And that's what Paul says in Romans chapter eight, who hopes for what he
already has. But if we are hoping for something, we're waiting for it
expectantly. So let's, let's consider what Paul's talking about.

So he must be talking about something that we're waiting for still. We
have forgiveness of sins, don't we? We have access with our heavenly
father. We are his sons and daughters.

Now we have that. Now we've been given his Holy spirit as a deposit
guaranteeing that future inheritance, but there are things we don't have
now. And evidently this is what is in Paul's mind.

What is the hope of his calling? So what is it that we're still hoping
for in Romans? One of the things that says that we don't have yet, and
all of us can relate to this, especially if those of us are already
having to get medical treatments and dialysis, or you're on certain
kinds of medications, you're dealing with pain and great limitations.
One of the things the Bible says we're waiting for, we don't have now is
the redemption of our bodies. We're still in these old bodies and
outwardly we waste away.

We wait for the redemption of our bodies. We look forward to it someday
when we don't have to deal with the corruption in these physical bodies.
And it says in this hope we were saved.

And that's where he has that birth but hope that is seen. So we're
waiting the redemption of our bodies. What else are we waiting for? What
are we hoping for? The Lord's return.

All right. The Lord, the return of the Lord for Christ himself to
return. What else are we waiting for? What are we hoping for? I
couldn't, what's that? The resurrection.

Okay. Eternal life, the resurrection. We have eternal life, the promise
of eternal life now, but we're still, most of us are on the way.

It is appointed unto man once to die. We're going to die physically. And
after that, we have the hope of the resurrection.

Well, let's look and see. Let's make sure we understand what Paul is
saying. It's the hope of his calling.

Let's get this down for sure. Our hope is not just in an event and it's
not just in a place. It's in a person.

And Paul wants to make that very clear. Jesus Christ is the hope of what
we have been called to. Let's just take one of the things that have been
mentioned.

We're hoping for his return. Yes. What do we know about that? If it's
the hope of it, if it's what we're hoping for, what do we know about his
return? Have we been given an idea of what his return is going to be
like? Yes.

Or do you, when you read a scripture like that, does your mind just go
blank? See, when you think of Christ's return, we're given a
description, right? We're told what that return is going to be like.
Where can we find that? In the book of Revelation. John was given a
vision of what the return of the Lord would be like.

Why don't we look at some of those verses? Look and turn with me to
Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. Let's look at some verses
together.

And it's, we're going to underscore the importance of Jesus Christ being
the reason for this hope. Revelation chapter 19. And this introduces us,
Revelation chapter 19 follows the great fall of Babylon.

The great, the world system that dominates the world and wickedness has
just been fallen. She's been judged by God. And chapter 19 of Revelation
opens up with a celebration of hallelujahs and glories to God.

And then the marriage supper of the lamb, Jesus Christ is, is
representing when he's going to meet his bride. And we are that bride of
Christ that invited to the marriage supper. And right after the
introduction of that in verse 11, right after the marriage supper of the
lamb, look, follow with me.

Revelation chapter 19, 11. Then I saw heaven open and behold a white
horse. And he who sits on it is called faithful and true.

And in righteousness, he does two things. What is he going to do? He
judges and he makes war. This is, this is the hope of our calling.

Now, how are we to hope in his judgment and his making war? Well, let's,
let's, let's read on his eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are
many diadems. That's where we get that song crown him with many crowns,
having a name written on him, which no one knows except himself and
being clothed with a garment dipped in blood. His name is also called
the word of God and the armies, which are in heaven are clothed in fine
linen and clean white and clean.

We're following him on white horses and from his mouth comes a sharp
sword so that with it, he may strike down the nations and he will rule
them with a rod of iron. And he treads the wine press of the wrath of
the anger of God. We sing that song.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling
out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. That's it's right
from the book of revelation where they got that he is in his garments
or, or dipped in, in blood.

And it says verse 16, and he has on his garment and on his thigh, a name
written king of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then I saw an angel
standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the
birds, which fly in the mid heaven, come assemble for the great supper
of God so that you may eat the flesh of Kings and the flesh of
commanders and the flesh of strong men and the flesh of horses and those
who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free and slaves and small
and great. Then I saw the beast and the Kings of the earth and their
armies assembled to make war with him who sits on the horse and with his
army and the beast was seized and with him, the false prophet who did
the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received
the mark of the beast.

You've heard about that. Haven't you received the mark of the beast and
those who worshiped his image. And these two were thrown into the lake
of fire, which burns with brimstone and the rest were killed with the
mouth with a sword, which came from the mouth of him who sits on the
horse and all the birds were filled with their own flesh.

Now, why should we hope in this? This is his coming. What's he doing?
What's right. There can be no hope for a heaven with no sorrow and no
pain and no morning, unless there's no evil.

Do you understand in order for there to be paradise and perfect and
eternal life? Because eternal life means there's nothing that causes
death, no sin, no evil. And so when Christ returns in order to usher in
righteousness, he will judge and make war in righteousness. What he's
doing is he's annihilating evil so that he can usher in the something
we're hoping for.

You know what we're hoping for? We're hoping for a new heaven and a new
earth. When a lot of people think of heaven, they think of the loved
ones that have gone before them, their mother and their father. They
think maybe a child they've lost, a brother or sister or someone close,
another close family member that they've lost.

And they look forward to the reunion. That's not wrong. But the main
hope of heaven is the person who makes heaven possible.

The person who takes his power and wipes out evil so we don't have to
deal with it anymore. So there's no more pain and suffering in the
earth. That's part of the hope of our calling.

But we're given, remember, that's the first thing. He makes war. That's
one of the things.

But what else does it say he does? He judges and makes war. And we're
actually given a glimpse of that judgment in the next chapter, chapter
20, Revelation chapter 20. Look with me again in verse 11.

We started in chapter 19. We're going to start in verse 11 and chapter
20 as well. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sits on it.

So not only is the Lord Jesus commander in chief, he's supreme court
justice. He is the judge of heaven and earth. Then I saw a great white
horse and a great white throne and him who sits on it from whose
presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them.

Then I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne
and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of
life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the
books according to their deeds and the sea gave up the dead which were
in it and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they
were judged every one of them according to their deeds that death and
Hades were thrown into the lake of fire and this is the second death.
Physical death is the first death. The second death is eternal death
separation from God in the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So what are we what are we hoping for when our Lord Jesus returns that
he will lead the armies of heaven and that the armies of heaven will
annihilate the evil that is fighting God in the earth and that only the
people that are waiting for him and his servants will be spared that and
he will set up and judge the heavens and earth and everyone who's died
is going to be judged according to the deeds that they have done and if
anyone's name is not found written in the lamb's book of life he's
thrown into the lake of fire he experiences the second death. So it's
the Lord Jesus who gives eternal life. I have I do funerals being a
pastor.

I've been to many funerals and sadly nearly everyone goes to heaven at a
funeral. They're all in a better place but according to our hope we must
have our names written in the lamb's book of life and if your name is
not written in the lamb's book of life you're not going to heaven. It's
only for those who are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is
the place that we're looking forward to and we are given a glimpse and a
description of it aren't we what are some of the things we've been told
about heaven we mentioned some of them you you you can tell me what what
are some of the things that we do know about heaven streets of gold hmm
that there's it's like a sea of glass what are some of the conditions
like that's some of the description all right there's no more sorrow
there's no more pain no mourning there's no need for the sun there it's
never night there God himself is the light of heaven so in this in the
scripture says that the gates of the city are kept open all the time it
we're actually given a description of it it's in chapter 21 just just
look from the very first verse of chapter 21 revelation then i saw a new
heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed
away and there's no longer any seed and i saw the holy city the new
jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride
adorned for her husband and i heard a loud voice from the throne saying
behold the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them
and they shall be his people and God himself will be among them and he
will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no longer
any death there will no longer be any mourner mourning or crying or pain
for the first order of things are passed away and he who sits on the
throne who is that that's our lord Jesus Christ that's why it's the hope
of his calling he's the one that calls us to this he's the one that's
going to bring it about because he's the one that's empowered to do it
he's sitting on the throne and he says behold i am making all things new
and he said right for these words are faithful and true then he said to
me they are done i am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end
and i will give to the ones who thirst from the spring of the water of
life without cost and then he says this he who overcomes will inherit
these things and i will be his god and he will be my son but let's don't
stop there listen to this verse verse eight but but for the cowardly and
unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars their part will be in the lake
that burned with fire and brimstone which is the second death yes so
heaven is not for everyone heaven is for those whose names are written
in the lamb's book of life because they are followers of the lord Jesus
Christ and i'll say at a funeral the only people that will be in heaven
are the faithful followers of the lord Jesus Christ it's going to be a
reunion for believers that's what it is there's everyone else will be
excluded and the one who sits on the throne he's not only the commander
in chief of the armies of heaven he's not only the supreme court justice
of heaven he is the king sitting on the throne in heaven that prevents
anything from ever entering that will cause sorrow or pain so he will
literally make sure heaven stays pure because the presence of evil means
the problem of pain and suffering and if you're going to eliminate all
pain and suffering there cannot be evil so god in his goodness must
eventually annihilate evil and if you had this if you if you if this is
what you understand and if this is what you're hoping for if if you're
hoping for a place with no pain and no sorrow and no mourning a place
where there's no evil no sin no devil no temptation then you better be
glad that the lord Jesus is going to do what he's going to do amen and
if you understand it this verse may make more sense to you than it may
have ever had before it in first john all right if you want to turn
there with me first john chapter i'm not sure where the reference is
everyone who has this hope in him we'll find the reference in a minute
here's the verse in first john so we don't lose our train of thought
everyone who has this hope in him if your hope is for a place of no
sorrow and no pain everyone who has this hope in him is purifying
himself even as he is pure you see it you understand evil can exist
because evil brings pain and sorrow and suffering and if you understand
that you're not partaking of evil now and hoping going to heaven no no
no it doesn't work that way if you understand evil causes suffering
you're purifying yourself even now as he is pure because you understand
the hope we're waiting for is a place that only he can bring about
because right now there's evil present in the world and because evil is
present in the world we suffer still there's pain and sorrow and
injustice and we groan with that that's why our bodies have been
affected outwardly we waste away and we we long for the day when our
lord returns to do what he's going to do this is the hope of his calling
that's what we're waiting for now what's the next thing back to uh
ephesians chapter 2 the first thing we looked at was what is the hope of
his calling what is the next statement what is the hope of his calling
and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance and do you notice
what it says finish that for me his inheritance what in the saints now
we just said remember we just said the only people who are going to be
in heaven are who those whose names are written in the lamb's book of
life here there's an inheritance but his inheritance is limited to a
certain people his inheritance among the saints now what's another word
for saint somebody don't know what's another word for saint huh a
believer yes but more particularly separated one another word is holy
ones his inheritance is among the holy ones we just said didn't we the
only people who are going to be in heaven are going to be saints you
better hope you're a saint don't look at me and say i ain't no saint
pastor well then you're not going to heaven you're not a part of the
inheritance because his inheritance is among the saints it's among the
holy ones have you ever heard anyone say follow after peace with all men
and holiness because without holiness no one will see the lord yes jesus
christ inheritance is among the people that have been set apart under
god and his calling because the word inheritance actually means is that
what you've been called to inherit his calling is to come out of the
world and the church literally means those have been called out of the
world to assemble together so our lord's inheritance is among just the
holy ones and i was looking for this to confirmation of this now i'm
going to give you an example of how i study the scripture holy ones or
saints you can pull up a bible app on your phone or you can get the old-
fashioned way and get a concordance and you can put in the word saint or
holy and it'll bring up for you all kind of verses that you can look at
to give you an idea of all the things that god says about living a holy
life and who the saints are and how they are his people and he dwells
amid in the midst someone turn if you would to acts chapter 20 verse 32
i'm going to get some one of you to read acts chapter 20 verse 32 this
is paul and this is because we've been reading uh paul's letter to
ephesus this is when he was uh actually i think chapter 20 he's in
ephesus in the book of acts so someone read acts 20 verse 32 nice and
loud right now i commend you to god and the word of his grace which is
able to build you and to give you the inheritance among those who have
been sanctified so if you have not been sanctified you're not in this
group if you've not been made holy you're not in this group only those
who've been called out of the world and been set apart to god are in
this particular group they are going to share in the inheritance of the
lord jesus now what are we talking about inheriting let's go back to
revelation we were there just a minute ago go back to revelations
chapter 21 let's remind ourselves so let's read six and seven if
someone's there read it for me nice and loud revelations 21 verse six
and seven and he said to me they are going to pass i am the alpha and
the omega the beginning and the end i will give unto him that is a third
of the fountain of the water of life freely verse seven two brother he
that overcomes shall inherit these things and i will be his god and he
shall be my son i had read this verse before and so when i heard the
word inherit it brought it to mind but that's a certain class of people
what does it say who will inherit in 7 who who's going to inherit only
those who overcome didn't jesus say he who endures to the end shall be
saved and aren't we told in the new testament there's going to be a
great falling away aren't we told that because of the love the increase
of of wickedness the love of many is going to wax cold yes aren't we
going to tell that many will abandon we've been told many will abandon
the faith and follow deceiving spirits but those who overcome those who
endure to the end those who are in the sanctified the ones who overcome
in other words through the power of the lord jesus greater is he that is
in us than he that is in the world then what affects us is christ in us
our hope of glory we do what we do because of jesus christ in us the
world doesn't have control of us christ jesus has control of us and we
overcome the world we're not overcome by the world yes and those who are
overcome through the grace of christ they inherit this beautiful new
jerusalem this place of perfect light of perfect peace perfect rest
perfect joy perfect freedom god in our midst no sorrow no pain no sorrow
no i mean no suffering no mourning it's an inheritance for those who
overcome now when uh when you think of inheritance there's another verse
that came to my mind that jesus used about come and enjoy the
inheritance something it's part of our inherit that was prepared for you
from the foundation of the world do you remember when jesus said said
that or who he was talking to it was in a parable anybody remember a
parable in matthew for sure it's a parable describing two different
kinds of animals but they're similar sheep and goats matthew 25 turn
with me there okay matthew chapter 25 the parable of the sheep and goats
now they run together you know in one flock until it's time to do some
separating it's not taught it's not called the goat's book of life you
know it's called the lamb's book of life all right okay matthew chapter
25 look uh with me um what was that right yeah verse 34 okay we'll start
with verse 31 and read there but when the son of man comes in his glory
and all the angels with him and he will sit on his glorious throne you
see how this coincide we we read about this in revelation and here jesus
is himself is talking about it about what he's going to be doing that he
gave john a glimpse of it in the book of revelation but it's talking
about the same event verse 32 and all the nations will be gathered
before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep on his
right and the goats on his left then the king will say to those on his
right come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom that's
what we've been talking about the kingdom of heaven the new heaven and
earth the kingdom of righteousness where the king of righteousness sits
on the throne in complete control having annihilated evil rewarding
those whose names have been written in the lamb's book of life the king
will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father
inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation
of the world and why why is he telling him that because you were members
of a baptist church no i didn't say oh oh i'm sorry i switched books by
accident no it it's because why it's because of how you lived your life
i was hungry and you gave me something to eat i was thirsty you gave me
something to drink i was a stranger you invited me in i was naked and
you clothed me i was sick and you visited me i was in prison and you
came to me and then the righteous that they so lived their life this way
they don't even get it like when did this happen i never saw you i mean
you would think if we saw jesus we would recognize him but the righteous
will answer him saying lord when do we see you hungry and feed you or
thirsty and give you something to drink when do we see you a stranger
invite you in or naked and clothe you when do we see you sick or in
prison and come to you and the king will answer and say to them truly i
say to the extent that you have done these to the least of these what my
my brothers my brothers see when you have become a follower of the lord
jesus christ his people become important to you you take when you love
jesus you love his saints remember we read that ephesians already i
heard about your your faith in the truth and your love for all the
saints all the holy ones when you the way you treat the followers of
christ the way you treat other people what you've done to the least of
these you've done unto me and what's the reward come you blessed of my
father inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation
of the earth now um and this is something that the when you think of
inheritance i i this verse also came to mind turn with me to first peter
first peter chapter three i'm sorry first peter chapter one i don't we
don't have to go to chapter three not yet first peter chapter one
somebody read verses three through five first peter larry you are you
there read chapter first peter one three two five for me okay you see it
here here's an inheritance but where is it kept we don't have it now do
we no it's kept in heaven for us so if we don't have it now what are we
doing we are hoping for it we've been born into a living hope because
our lord was raised from the dead we know he has power over death and we
know he's gone to prepare a place for us and he's going to come again
and take us to him so that where he is we can be with him and this is
our living hope and it's kept in heaven for us and it's imperishable
it's uncorruptible and and so he so he tells us something because we're
hoping for it but we're still living in this world same chapter first
peter okay first peter chapter one verse 13 who's got verse 13 can read
it for me nice and loud therefore preparing your minds for action and
being sober-minded set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought
to you the revelation of jesus christ okay so you see what we're to do
we don't have that full salvation we're ready we're waiting for we don't
have the new heaven and new new new earth yet we don't have the new body
that we're going to get someday so what do we need to do now get ready
get your mind in gear prepare for action there's some suffering to go on
in this life in the present time but we're shielded by by through faith
by god's power until the coming of the salvation that will be revealed
when our lord comes back to do what's necessary and why is he not come
back now because some people aren't ready and he's simply waiting to
give more time for people to come to know him so we know but but our
inheritance is guaranteed it's kept in heaven for us it's it's
incorruptible it will it will perish spoil or fade so in the meantime
get your mind in gear prepare your mind for action and set your hope
fully on the grace to be brought to you when the lord jesus comes until
then we're going to get to share in his glory but you know paul reminded
us of something you know what we're going to share in his glory if we
also share in his sufferings okay that's what we need to prepare our
mind for actions in this world you will have tribulation but take heart
i've overcome the world what i promised you is guaranteed you have the
spirit you have the holy spirit it's an earnest payment it's a down
payment guaranteeing that the rest of what god has promised us will come
when our lord brings it until then we wait don't wait we wait and we
hope and we don't give up our hope and we don't lose our hope and one
other verse that comes to my mind as i closed as we closed today you
know what this hope is if you understand it fully the book of hebrews
describes this hope as something and it's it's used in a nautical sense
it's important to ships what does the bible say this hope is for a
believer it's an anchor we have this hope as an anchor for the soul now
why do ships use an anchor to hold them in place right to hold them in
place because there were strong currents that can drift them against the
rocks or pull them to shipwreck or there are storms when there is a
severe storm sometimes what a ship does it drops anchor it grabs
something solid and it rides out the storm and our hope in christ is
like an anchor for our soul and yeah we got us we got some storms to
ride out in this life we're to prepare our mind for action we are to
fully hope upon the grace that's coming when our lord brings it and does
what it what is necessary to do to bring the new heaven and earth with
him where that day that day for us the day we get to enjoy no more
sorrow no more pain no more mourning no more needles no more medicine no
more dialysis new heaven new earth that's our hope yes that's our hope
and it's a hope only to be realized in the holy ones yeah brother larry
right his holy ones yeah when when one who is been set apart under the
lord dies physically that person is finished with the struggle aren't
they yes their struggle's over that's why it's precious to god they
don't have to suffer anymore they've made it they're coming home to him
if we're if we're holy all right we got it yes all right so we're going
to start next week on the latter part of the 18 and verse 19 where it
says and what is the exceeding grace

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/4l9CPkEvZqA.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/alan-martin/the-hope-of-his-calling/
========================================================================