The Hope of His Calling.
Ephesians 1:18 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”
Light that we may know the “hope of His calling”.
Hope in scripture is of the Holy Spirit….it is the confident expectation that God will do what He said….it has reference to His Word.
It is not….I hope, I hope, I hope. It is not us, working up our trust.
But the Holy Spirit assuring us……that God is True,….and what He says is sure.
Therefore, when we have hope, we will do what He has said we should do, in confidence,……expecting Him to fulfill His Word.
Psalm 130:1, 5 “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord.
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope.”
How many times have we waited for a sure Word from the Lord to us?
And when it came, we rejoiced that He had heard our request, our question, our cry in trouble…..and answered us.
We may not see how it will be as He said, but we know from experience that He will do what He says…..so we rejoice.
Hope causes us to rejoice.
We do not hope, from what we can see, (Romans 8:24-25),……but from the Holy Spirit within.
Romans 5:2 “By Whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
It is compared to an “anchor”, for it says, “Do not look at the wind and waves around us……but look to the Lord and what He has said.”
Hebrews 6:18-19 “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, 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, and which entereth into that within the veil;”
When we, by the Holy Spirit, are anchored in the Lord’s Word,…..we are safe…not tossed around by every wind that blows.
Ephesians 4:14-15 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
(In our Christian life, it is imperative that we can prove all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21) by the Word,……we need to read it, so we can use it;….for ourselves and others.)
What is the “hope of His calling”?
It is the confident expectation that what He has called us to; He will provide for and lead in…..for it is His calling….we are doing what He wants us to do, to say, to pray.
Not everyone is to preach or teach….but
…all are called as witnesses….of what He has done for us.
All are called to pray…….for ourselves, our family, our church and for Jesus Christ’s coming again.
[Jesus Christ had hope in His Father’s sure Word, about His ministry:
Isaiah 53:11 “He shall see of the travail of HIs soul, and shall see be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. “
Jesus would “see”….
He would be raised from the dead, He would have those people that the Father had given Him,….come to Him, down through the generations……as a reward for His obedience to Him. (John 6:37-40).
This was His joy. (Hebrews 12:2)]
Hope of the Holy Spirit, takes hold of our hearts, and encourages them to rejoice.
Hope takes hold of our minds, and reminds us of Who said it.
And hope takes hold of our wills, and strengthens them to persevere,…to do the work, ministry, calling that He has given us. We will obey.
1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.”
“Purifieth” and “Pure” here, means “to consecrate”……to set ourselves aside to the Lord.
Hope is our anchor in this.
We expect God to do what He said, in His time,…..and so we will do what He says, now, rejoicing.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 