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1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Introduction

For many long weeks the world’s attention was focused on all of those trapped miners in Chile. They were trapped on August the 5th, and were not rescued until October the 13th. That event should serve as encouragement to you and me as we are “walking through this valley of the shadow of death” which we call this life. Deep down in the ground that whole crew of men at first felt hopeless. They felt helpless and trapped, and would in time have succumbed to despair, but because they were soon located and were able to communicate with the world above, they had hope that they would one day be saved from that deep, dark grave 2300 feet down in the ground. So we have witnessed just how much and how long we can endure, and actually do quite well, if only we can communicate with those who are above, and who give us hope every day that our deliverance is coming and is near. This is how we are told to view our deliverance from our sinful bodies of flesh into our glorious new spiritual bodies.

Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation [our deliverance] nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Our salvation is nearer than when we believed, but how are we saved? As we will see “we are saved by hope”. Hope is what gives purpose to our trials. Without hope we would all despair of the trials of this life.

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

We “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” because we “glory in tribulations” and know that tribulations work patience, and patience works experience, and experience brings us right back to hope.

Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

“Experience works hope”. How does experience work hope? How many times have you worried that the bills would not be paid, and somehow, at the last minute, something happened and work came in and the bills somehow got paid? How many times have you feared that you or a family member were having a heart attack, just to discover it was only heartburn or indigestion? That is “experience works hope”.

Why are we being judged now instead of being judged with the world?

It is “for the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers… for which hope’s sake we are accused of the [outward] Jews [of this world].

Act 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
Act 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
Act 28:20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.

It is you and I who, through Christ, have inherited “the promise made of God to our fathers”, because, according to the gospel, you and I are now “the Israel of God… [with] the hope of Israel” to be God’s people in this world (Gal 5:15-16 and Eph 2:11-22).

Eph 2:22 In whom [Christ] ye [Gentile Ephesians] also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

How have we been granted this “promise made of God to our fathers”?

Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

It is “through the spirit” of Christ, “by faith”, [that we] wait for the hope of righteousness, [and] we have access… into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Where are Christ’s riches? Where is Christ’s inheritance?

The world has told us all that Christ’s inheritance is in heaven, and that He ascended into heaven to be at the right hand of His Father.

That is exactly right if you know what it means and if you know exactly where Christ and His Father dwell. Where do Christ and His Father dwell? It is only through the gift of faith that we are given eyes to see what we are plainly told. We just read our answer in Ephesians 2.

Eph 2:22 In whom [Christ] ye [Gentile Ephesians] also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

You and I were “called in Christ before the world began”. We were intended by be “an habitation for God through the spirit… before the world began.”

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

It was “according to His own purpose and grace” that you and I were “called with a holy calling, in hope of eternal life, before the world began.” Christ wants us to know that “His inheritance is in us”, and that without us He would have no inheritance, simply because that is “according to God’s own purpose”, and that was the case “before the world began”. That is the hope of our calling.

Eph 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 [which is] in the saints,

If the eyes of our understand really are being enlightened, then we will understand that the hope of our calling is in Christ, and the riches of His inheritance is in us. That is what this means:

Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Just in case you missed it, Christ manifests Himself only to those who love Him and keep his commandments. He comes to us while we are still in sin, but if He is in us, He will gain dominion over that sin and will become its master, and we will “keep his commandments” and come to “know what is the hope of His calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”.

It is in One Hope, “the hope of our Lord”, that we possess many hopes. Here are but a few reasons for the hope that lies within us:

Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The fact that “the hope of the gospel was preached to every creature under heaven” in the days of the apostles, should help us to understand what “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel” really means.

While it seems that every hope mentioned in scripture is a superlative, there is a very good reason for that, as is revealed in these verses.

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

What is glory?

Glory is not dull. Glory is brightness, and brightness is produced only at the expenditure of great energy. Our judgment expends great amounts of energy which must come from our Lord, because we can do nothing of ourselves:

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned.

It never takes very long to know who is and who is not “abiding in Christ”.

It has always struck me that so very much of scripture concerns itself with judgment. The description of our judgment always takes up much more room in scripture than does the description of the blessings of our judgment. Just look at this example:

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Even in this very small example it always takes at least twice as many words to express the process of judgment as it takes to express the blessings and rewards of our judgment.

A more graphic example of this phenomenon is Deuteronomy 28, which details the blessings of obedience, and contrasts those blessings with the curses of disobedience. There are 68 verses in that chapter. The first 14 verses sum up the blessings of obedience. The rest of the entire chapter of 68 verses details the curses of our judgment. That means there are 54 verses of curses. That is roughly five times as many verses which are needed to describe our judgment. Read that chapter of Deuteronomy if you want to be glorified with Christ. It is incredibly instructive.

Why does God use five times as many verses describing judgment as He uses to describe the blessings of judgment? The answer is that our judgment is our glory. Glory, like ‘grace’, is not just a dead lifeless noun. Glory, like ‘grace’, is also very much alive and a very active verb, which ‘glory’ we receive as the result of the work of God’s chastening grace and His judgments which we endure. Here is the Biblical spiritual equation of what is required to produce the glory of God within us:

Eze 28:22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

Joh 11:3 Therefore his [Lazarus] sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Joh 11:4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

That is the purpose for sin and death. It is through these things that God is glorified, and it is through the destruction of our old sinful man that Christ is glorified in us:

Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

So then, this is the simple equation which produces the glory of God within us. This is how we will be glorified:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

Here is how Isaiah makes this same point:

Isa 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

So what is the reason for the hope that lies within us? I will read it again:

Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Our judgment is our glory, and that is why we are being judged at this time and not with the world in the lake of fire. We are dying daily, and that is glorious, because the world is not dying daily. We are hated of all men, and that is glorious because all men speak well of us when we are part of them. We are hated by false brothers who truly believe they are doing God a service as they kill us with their hatred, but that is glorious because they are not hated as we are.

Here is how the apostle Paul accounted for the hope that was in him, despite the unbearable trial he endured.

2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and [that] all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Our hope is in our Lord and in Him alone.

1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Conclusion

Finally, the reason for the hope that is in us is also this promise which I hope you will claim as yours, in Christ, and will not treat these words as just a bowl of red pottage.

Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who [is] he that condemneth? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.