Good morning again, Veritas. How are you guys doing? Good. All right. If you have a Bible, flip it to Ephesians one, verses eleven through twelve. I hope you guys enjoyed go last week as much as I did, and I hope it stirred your love for the nations. Uh, it was a blessing to camp out there for those few days. But now we're back in Ephesians one and in the middle of Ephesians one three through fourteen, which actually is one long run on sentence in the original Greek. Paul doesn't put a period at any point in Ephesians one three through fourteen. It's like this unfolding of his joy in the gospel news. And we're going to see a couple more reasons why Paul has such deep joy in a second. Uh, before we get there, though, I have a question for you. When is the last time you've been in a situation you felt was completely hopeless? A situation where you're just like, I don't see a way this could get fixed or better. I never have to think that far back. I can just think back to whatever. Do it yourself. Like home project I tried last. Um. If you know me, you know there is not one handy bone in my body or thought in my brain. Doesn't stop us from trying though. Um, like a couple weeks ago, um, my my wife and I were trying to install something in our bathroom. We were trying to install like a bidet because our thought is, hey, we can more easily wash like cloth diapers when our baby comes at the end of the year. That'll be helpful. And we thought we knew what we were doing. Um, we shut off the water valve by the toilet, and then we unscrewed the water supply line to install it. Only problem, though, is that the shut off valve was stripped, so tightening it didn't actually close off the line like we thought it would. Which means once we unscrewed the supply line water, just like gushing from this line. Like on the walls, on the floor, in our faces. Like, I'm pretty sure I got a little bit in my mouth. Just like toilet water. You know? Um, okay. Too much pressure to screw it back on. It was just like it was a lot of pressure for a little wine. You wouldn't believe it. Um, and we were like, we don't actually remember where the main water shut off valve is. Like, is it, you know? So we probably should have thought this through a little better. That's just how it goes sometimes. But in that moment, while water was spraying all over and we didn't know where the valve was, uh, hopeless was the best way to describe it. Um, now, thankfully, maybe you're wondering, like, do we still have our house? Do you, do you like yes we do. Um, thankfully the valve like reached long enough so I could like hold it into the toilet bowl. I was like, go find the valve. And we found it and it ended up being okay. Um, but in that first moment, the thought running through my head was hopelessness in one sentence. I cannot see a way this can turn out all right. Um, does that ever sum up your feelings? Not just about ridiculous situations, but a lot more painful or hard situations. And does that thought ever, if you're honest, do you ever think that not just about situations in life, but kind of your life as a whole, has your soul kind of gotten pressed down into a pattern of hopelessness because of the things going on in your life, the unmet promises, the ruptured relationships, the painful diagnoses, whatever it is. Has that ever happened to you? And if so, sadly, you're not alone. That's not abnormal. It's why one sociologist called this century. This is a great name for it. The Age of dread. Not super cheery, right? The Age of Dread. Dread is defined as a foreboding anxiety about the future, and it'd be hard to find a better word to describe the opposite of hope. But it's in like this age of dread that the words of Paul feel really foreign to us, I think because if you start studying like the thoughts and words and person of Paul, you'll see, hey, whatever else you'd say about this guy, dread was kind of the opposite of his outlook. Let me show you just one place outside of Ephesians one where we see this. Look at Romans five. He says this, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame. So Paul's claiming like, hey, I can rejoice in sufferings. And not only that, like, I have hope in that and that hope is not going to be put to shame like it's going to be answered. Suffering for us often doesn't produce hope. It produces hopelessness, but not for Paul. And I don't know about you. Like, honestly, I could read those words and feel kind of a tinge of jealousy, you know that? What do you know that I don't? Or even a tinge of annoyance that you might feel when you're around like a really naively optimistic, like, sickeningly positive person and you're like, you've never experienced anything hard in your life. Like clearly, you know, like you're that kind of feeling. But there's two realities about Paul's hope that we need to reckon with and understand. First, it was actually a hope that somehow existed alongside greater hardship than you'll probably ever experience. I don't know all of your stories in this room, but Paul was hated, stoned to near death, whipped, imprisoned, and ultimately beheaded for the faith. Most of you wouldn't trade your life circumstances with Paul's, and yet most of you would do just about anything to trade your hopelessness for the hope Paul seemed to have. And second, Paul's hope had nothing to do with his personality or circumstances. You never see him connecting it to. That's just my attitude or how I'm a positive person or actually all around you. Life is great. He never connects his hope to that. No, the reason Paul had such resilient hope is really simple. Paul had hope because Paul was a Christian, and that should actually be encouraging, because that means the same hope Paul found is also offered to you this morning. Now, that's easy to say, but how does Christianity produce hope? Why can Christians have real hope in what feels like often a hopeless world? That's the question. And in our text today, Paul is going to kind of highlight two what I would call catalysts for Christian hope. Two things that explode in hope, two explosive truths that if we could not just understand intellectually in our heads, but actually believe in our hearts and personally Taste would give us, I think, a deep well of hope to draw on for the rest of our lives. So let's start by looking at the whole text. Here is what Paul says. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Now, before we dig into the meat of this text and see Paul's two catalysts for Christian hope, we actually need to ask a simpler but important question that's raised about all of Ephesians one in this passage. And it's this question are these verses even about us today? Which might seem like a weird question, but look at verse twelve where Paul says, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Who are the. Who's that? Who? Who's the we? Paul is talking about are we included in the we? Are we not? And if we aren't, that's important to know versus if we are. And there's two views here. The first view is this. The phrase first to hope can also be translated like anticipate or expect. Uh, and so you could rephrase it saying we, the first to hope in Christ really means we who anticipate or expect the return of Christ. And that would include all believers, all people that know Jesus before he comes back. But if Paul is talking about all Christians in verse twelve, he wouldn't say this in verse thirteen. Look at what he says in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Why would he also say you also if they were already included in the. We. So I don't think it's that. Here's the other view in verse twelve. Paul was taking a moment to highlight that this hope of Christ he's talking about in Ephesians one and the rest of the letter, it first came to Israel just like God promised. This initial promise of a Messiah, it was given to the prophets. Jesus first preached the good news to Israel. He said, that's my mission. And the apostles and first believers were Israelites. They were the first to hope in Christ. But that doesn't actually mean that these verses don't apply to us, because as the rest of the New Testament reveals, this hope in Christ has now been extended to everyone. That is the wonder of the gospel, that it's not just for one nation, but any who would call on the name of Christ. And so in verses twelve through thirteen, part of what Paul's excited about is saying, hey, this good news isn't just for one group of people right now. It can be for anyone. This good news I'm describing. Yeah, it's come to Israel. It is now offered to you too. And that means anyone can get in on the hope that I am experiencing. God has expanded his church and you are welcomed in. So even though Paul uses this word we to refer to these early Jewish believers, the rest of Ephesians shows us we can safely apply Ephesians one to us as well. And we actually get to join in on the reasons for hope Paul was about to give us. Now, with that initial question answered, let's actually start exploring Paul's two catalysts for hope. And the first thing I want to draw your attention to is a precious word in verse eleven, where Paul says this, in him or in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance. It's a word you could maybe pass over as you're reading. But here in verse eleven, Paul slows down to specifically mention that to be a Christian is also to be an heir. To be a Christian is to have an inheritance because we are Christians. Paul is saying, hey, when you become a Christian, you also gain the hope that one day something will be yours. And I want to define more deeply what this inheritance is. But first you have to understand that this inheritance Christians can get in on is actually the result of another blessing already mentioned in verse five where Paul said this, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Paul. He flies through this truth so quickly you could almost miss it, but it's one of the great truths of Christianity. Christians are not just forgiven by God. They are made children of God. That is a deeper, richer blessing. See, the good news of the gospel is that through Christ, God hasn't just declared you innocent as a judge. He's declared you family as a loving father. And this blessing of adoption leads to the blessing of inheritance, just like the child of a rich and loving father would. Would hope and anticipate a great blessing to come, a great inheritance. Because you, Christian, are a child of the richest and most loving and most powerful father. You have the hope of a greater inheritance that will one day be yours. This was such a key idea for Paul. It appears throughout his letters. Let me show you one where Paul connects adoption to inheritance. Again, this is Romans eight. He says, the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs. Our sonship and it means something. We are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Do you see the tension here right now? Suffering with Christ. Future, glorious inheritance with Christ. But this future, it's all over the hope of the New Testament. So much so that the New Testament mentions the future, the last day, the return of Jesus, and the hope of heaven, on average, once every thirteen verses. That is a lot of times it was that dominant in their thought as believers. And I think it's worth lingering over the glory of this inheritance, because it's kind of impossible to hope in something and hope in an inheritance if you don't know what that inheritance actually is. But Paul doesn't go on to to specifically mention the contents of the inheritance in this verse, but the, the rest of his letters and the rest of the New Testament does. And it's important for us to understand if you want this truth to actually stir your hope as it should, what will Christians receive from their Heavenly Father on the day Jesus returns? Scripture links this inheritance to several different things. It's sometimes called the Kingdom of God. The new heavens and new earth. The marriage supper of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem. But all of those are picturing the same thing the future day when Jesus returns and makes everything new. And let me define for you just a little bit of what you will receive from God on the day he returns. I want to make heaven at least a little bit more tangible to you. First, your inheritance. What you will receive is a future where every sorrow in your life is not just removed, but actually redeemed. There's a difference between those two. Look at what Jesus says to his disciples in John sixteen shortly before he leaves them. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament. That means grieve, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful so far. This doesn't sound like good news, but then he gives them the hope of an inheritance. Your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. See, I think when we think about eternity, we think about the absence of suffering. And that's true. But we don't often think about the redemption of suffering. But Jesus's metaphor of childbirth here is perfect, I think. Think about it. Her labor pains aren't just removed after birth, but when she holds her child, her labor pains are also redeemed. Made worth it because the joy of having a child is so deep, it transforms her view of her past labor. And that is exactly what Jesus says. Heaven's joy will be like. It's passages like that that made C.S. Lewis say this. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, some temporary hardship. No future bliss can make up for this. Not knowing that heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. It's a beautiful thought. Your inheritance is not just a future where pain is removed. It is a future where pain is redeemed and this life to you might feel like labor, but the birth of an eternal joy won't just remove your pain, it will redeem your pain. That is a future worth hoping in, and an inheritance that is greater than any earthly wealth could possibly give you. But second, God promises to give you something even greater than this. The greatest thing God says he has stored up for you. The greatest thing he's going to give you. The greatest thing you are going to receive from him is not a thing. It is a person. It is nothing less than a deeper experience with God Himself. You know, it's worth noticing that David describes God as his greatest inheritance in Psalm sixteen when he says this, the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. At this time, when Israel had inheritance, was so deeply tied to their share in the Promised Land, it would have meant blessing for their future generations. David is saying, hey, even if I had the smallest plot of land imaginable, the lines of my inheritance, the boundaries of my land have fallen in good places because ultimately I have God himself and see, the Christian's hope is not simply every created thing being redeemed and renewed. It is finally seeing without sin in the way the God who made us to see him and enjoy him. And this was actually the dominant hope in church history. I think we've lost this. But theologians used to call this hope of finally seeing God. They called it the beatific vision or the blessed vision. It's this great blessing of heaven, a deeper, greater experience of the goodness and glory of God, because the veil of sin has finally been removed. And if you have eyes to see it, you'll see this hope is actually throughout Scripture. You'll notice the biblical writers. They don't often define what heaven will be like as a place, but they define the greatest thing about heaven when they talk about seeing the face of God. David says it like this in Psalm seventeen. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. I'm going to fly through the rest of these quick. You don't have to write them all down, but I just want you to see this. Jesus says it like this in Matthew five blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Paul says it like this in first Corinthians thirteen, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. John says it like this in first John three, when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is. Over and over this vision of God is presented as the most beautiful hope of the Christian. Now you might be thinking, well, God doesn't have a body. So how does this work? Well, it's not referring necessarily to seeing God the Father with our physical eyes, but it's this picture of a day when you will experience a deeper closeness and experience of his glory that will perfectly satisfy you. And it's also picturing a day when you will actually see the physical face of Jesus Christ and walk with him. See, Jesus still has a body, and the hope of a Christian is one day. This Lord we love will be with us, and we will be with him, and we will see him and touch him and walk with him. And when we see him, we shall be made like him. Think about the greatest sight you have ever seen in your life. Let me help you understand this. Think about the greatest sight you've ever seen. Mount Everest, Victoria Falls, the stars undimmed by light pollution in a dark place. The face of your wife unveiled on your wedding day. The smile of your newborn child. Think about whatever that moment was. How you were content to just look and wonder for as long as that moment lasted, all while knowing it wouldn't last forever. Think about your or your lostness in that moment, your thrill at glimpsing something bigger and greater than your own small existence. And imagine that thrill being ratcheted up by a million and somehow transforming to. Become more and more beautiful every second you look. That's just a taste of what seeing God will be like. It is the fulfillment of our deepest longings and what we crave most deeply, even if we don't always realize it. Imagine it like this. Imagine you are hiking and you just discover a little trickle of clean water running in a small stream. It's creating healthy soil. It's growing flowers. It's sustaining every creature that comes to it for a drink. And you decide, I'm going to follow that trickle of water. And as you do, as you hike up and up, it gets deeper and wider and more powerful. It's a creek, then it's a stream, then it's a river. Until finally miles of hiking upward, you find the Fountainhead. It is a powerful, unending waterfall, just erupting and clean, pure life giving water. Every good and beautiful thing in this life. Every life giving thing, every good thing you've experienced, is just a trickle of water leading up to the unending fountain of goodness, which is God Himself. And if the trickle of water is good, how much better is the waterfall? It comes to just pouring out in goodness and life giving streams. That is God himself. And if we understand this, it makes sense why? Over and over in Ephesians one, Paul says the whole point of the gospel is to the praise of his glory. You see it three times in verses three through fourteen, to the praise of his glorious grace, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory. What is the point of our inheritance? Why is God stooped down to make sinners royal heirs instead of cursed enemies. Why has he brought us into the enjoyment of knowing him so we would join in on the worship of God. He is already receiving from creation and angels forever. And that's what we are made for. And only because heaven is not about us, but about God. Will it actually be good. John Piper puts it like this. Let this settle in your soul for a second. God is the one being in all the world for whom the most loving act is Self-exaltation lifting himself in his glory, up for he and he alone will satisfy our hearts. Many people are willing to be God centered as long as they feel God is man centered. But here's a test to see if you've penetrated to the essence of God's merciful God centeredness. Do you feel most loved by God because he makes much of you, or because he frees you to enjoy making much of him forever. Who in the end, is the all satisfying treasure we are given by the love of God? Self or God. See if your greatest treasure is yourself or what you will receive from God. You won't understand why heaven is about God. But if your greatest treasure is God. If you can say like David, you are my chosen portion and cup. You won't even be able to imagine a greater inheritance than more of God slowly unveiled to you for the rest of eternity. Deeper and deeper as he reveals more and more of his goodness for your joy forever. So putting all this together, what's the first catalyst for real hope? It's this Christian hope is founded on future glory rather than present circumstance. And so often we flip it. But if our hope is anchored in the present, it would ebb and flow as often as the tide. Because your circumstances. My circumstances, they never stay the same. But if your hope is anchored in an inheritance waiting for you, it remains stable no matter what. The redemption of pain. The renewal of all things, the presence of God. All of it is waiting for us. When you know you are in heir, future hope puts all present hardship in its proper place. How many of you have read The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis? A few hands eight o'clock has got you beat. Or maybe you guys are just nervous. How many of you guys have read the sequel The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. Okay, a decent amount, a few hands. Aaron in the back, I love it. Um, let me tell you about this story because you were a character in it, even if you don't know it. And if you're bummed, I'm going to spoil the story for you. It came out in like nineteen fifty or something, so it's kind of on you. Um, main character is a child named Shasta. I love that name, Shasta. Um, but he believes he is the son of a poor fisherman named Arsheesh. That's who he's lived his life with. Um, this this kind of angry, poverty stricken, abusive man. But through the course of this story, what Shasta realizes through adventures, taking him far beyond where he thought he'd ever go, he realizes actually, that's not who he is. He is actually the son of a good and powerful king, who he was taken from at birth when enemies invaded the kingdom. And so he begins the story as an orphan. But he ends the story as an heir to a king in his father's kingdom. Beloved provided for heir to the throne, and suddenly it changes his whole perspective on his entire life. He is not an orphan. He's a prince. He's not an heir to poverty. He is a child of a rich Father. And do you realize that if you're a Christian, this is your exact same story? You aren't an orphan in this world, fending for yourself, trying to fight for your future. You're the child of a rich father, an heir to a great king. And because you are an heir, you have an inheritance waiting to be revealed. And how would realizing that you are an heir change your attitude in this life? Your relationship to God. When you're suffering, your deepest frustrations, your envy of others. Your outlook on your future, your anxiety when something you want in this life doesn't pan out. You think like Shasta, it would change everything. Paul is saying, you don't have to live like a lost orphan anymore because you are not. You are a hopeful heir of a good, rich king and you can live like it. But there's one other reason for hope in these verses. And it's really what makes this glorious inheritance not just a possibility or a probability, but a guarantee. We'll give the pile of words Paul stacks up on top of each other in the rest of this passage, where he's reminding believers of who their God is. This is what he says. Look at this passage again, Ephesians one. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Notice all these words predestined purpose, working all things, the counsel of his will. Each of those are painting for us a picture of the only type of God that could make real hope like this possible. A God who doesn't just wish or want things to happen, but who actually makes things happen. And see Veritas, I think often we make predestination or sovereignty a doctrine to kind of debate instead of a foundation of hope. But for Paul, it was the very fact that this is who his God is that made Christian hope possible. And I wonder if along the way we've missed the hopefulness of having a sovereign God. Because hear me on this, Veritas. If you view God more like a janitor who who just kind of does his best to clean up messes when things go wrong and restore it to the way they were, there's not a lot of hope in that, because Scripture doesn't portray God as just a really good janitor trying to clean up your life and react to your messes to give you a better future as hard as he can. Scripture presents God as a perfect author who has written a perfect story before you were even born. We've referenced this passage several times in the last few weeks, but it's worth repeating. Look at Isaiah's description of God in Isaiah forty six. He says, for I am God. There is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. God is the author of the story, and if you think you'd be a better author, you will push against this truth. It will be uncomfortable for you. But if you can accept that an all knowing, all good, all wise God might be a better storyteller than you, this becomes a greater catalyst for hope than you can even start to imagine and see. The reason Paul is so joyful in Ephesians one is he has gotten a glimpse into this grand story. God is writing for his people, and he's trying to help them see what he's seen. I love how one commentator puts it when he says this. Paul wants Christians to think of themselves as a distinctly privileged people because of what God has done for them. He carefully planned to make his people his heirs before he did it. We are a privileged people because our story has been perfectly prepared by an all powerful God. Yes, Christian hope. It's founded on future glory instead of present circumstances. But how can we have hope this future glory will really come to pass? It's because of the second reason for Christian hope. Paul wants us to see. Christian hope is in a powerful God who purposes, prepares, and plans. Christian hope is in a God who has planned and written it all. A God who has purposed, prepared, and planned for us to be heirs of a sure and great inheritance and is promised it will come to pass. I think the greatest obstacle for us that keeps us from simply enjoying this and reveling in it, and loving our God who purposes and prepares and plans. Each story is this thought that can creep into our minds. I'm all for the the future that God apparently has written. If like what you're saying today is true, Danny. But I don't like my present at all. See, I don't think anyone has a problem with a God who has prepared and planned a glorious future. But we might. With a God who has planned a suffering present. Because we can all think of parts of our lives that if we were writing it, we would have written it differently, right? But here's an idea you might not have considered. Or we need to, by faith, believe. What if suffering of our present is actually the very thing that's preparing us to more deeply enjoy the glory of our future inheritance. What if every part of your story that you say, God, I wish you would have written differently, is actually leading to a greater ending than you ever think would be possible. I want to go back to Shasta's story for a moment. If you remember, he began his story as an orphan slave to a fisherman, and he ended his story and his father's kingdom as a prince and an heir. It's a story with a great ending, but it was a story that actually was fraught with hardship all the way through. Um, Saul Company, you've already heard this part of the story. I shared it with you a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully you're okay hearing it again. But during Shasta's adventure, what's true of his story is he's been relentlessly chased by lions from point to point, from location to location. A lion chases him as he travels north. A lion stalks him where he's spending a night hiding from wild beasts in a cemetery and just marching around him. And on the last leg of his journey, the lion chases him again. And through every step of his adventure, he's experienced this fearful circumstance after fearful circumstance because of these lions. And eventually, in the middle of the night, he breaks down in tears and he proclaims, I must be the most unfortunate person who's ever lived. And to his shock, he hears a voice answer him in his darkness that says, tell me your sorrows. So Shasta tells this voice all about the lions stalking him, pursuing him, and says, don't you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions? The voice replies, there was only one lion, but he was swift of foot. How do you know? Shasta says, because the voice replies, I was the lion. And then he fills in the details of the story. Shasta didn't see. I was the lion who chased you and led you to meet your friend arrives at just the right time. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave your horses the new strength of fear for the last mile. So you would reach the king in time. And I was the lion. You do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay a child near death? So it came to shore. Where a man sat at midnight to receive you. Shasta didn't know it, but his whole life he had actually been protected, provided for, and loved by the very lion he thought was hurting him. This line, of course, is Aslan, the Christ figure in The Chronicles of Narnia. I don't know what lions you feel like are chasing you in life. Chronic health diagnosis. A ruptured relationship. A cloud of depression that won't seem to dissipate. A terrible work environment. A wayward child. The list could go on and on. And I look in this room and see personal stories and know that many of you have had great sufferings. Could it be that behind those lions is actually the one great lion working in each part of your story to prepare a glorious future? This was Paul's perspective not only in Ephesians one, but also second Corinthians four. This might be the most hopeful verse in all of Scripture. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. What is present affliction doing? According to Paul, preparing for us a glory that's even greater. And that means every bit of pain in your present has a purpose, even if you might not see it on this side of inheritance. But on that day, you will not ask God to change one line of the story he wrote. And that means even when our present circumstances make it hard to hope, we can look at it dead in the eyes and say, Lord, I am thankful even for this hardship I would never have asked you for because somehow it is preparing me for a greater glory. These are the two catalysts for hope, a glorious inheritance, and a God who purposes and plans and prepares every bit of your story. But I need to show you one last thing about this hope by reminding you of the first two words in our passage. Two words that make Christian hope uniquely Christian. It's that hope is not just a thing. We hope not in a change of circumstance, we hope in a person. And his name is Christ. This is why Paul twice in this passage proclaims, all of this is ours in Christ. In him we have obtained an inheritance in Christ. We might be to the praise of his glory. This phrase in Christ is over and over again in Paul's writing, showing all of this is true. Why? Because of who Christ is, what he has done, and who we are in him. In Christ, we are adopted as children because he bore the wrath of God on our behalf and endured greater suffering than any of us ever will. In Christ you have a glorious inheritance because he came to make you a co-heir with him by suffering, dying, and resurrecting in Christ. You can trust God has prepared good things for us, because if Christ did not spare his Son but gave him up for you, how will he not with him give you all things? And in Christ we can believe God is a good author, because if he brought infinite good out of the infinite evil of the unjust killing of the Son of God, why could he not bring good out of suffering in our stories? Our only hope for a future inheritance is Christ. And if you are a Christian, these two words in Christ should be the anthem of your life, the hope and assurance of your future, because he saves all who come to him in true faith. And if you're not a Christian, these words actually transform into a warning. Because if you are only blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, to be apart from Christ is to live apart from all reason for hope, apart from Christ, we have no hope, but in him we have a greater hope than the world could possibly offer a future inheritance, a God who is not just a God, but our father, who has planned and purposed everything and a future that puts everything in our story into perspective. Where does all of this lead us? It can only lead us to one place of these truths actually resonate in our souls like I hope they do. It's where it leads. Paul. All of this to the praise of his glory. Hope creates worship because Christians are a hopeful people. Christians are a singing people. And this morning, my hope is now we do the same. See what if for the next several minutes we forgot ourselves because we are practicing for eternity and fixed our eyes on God. What if the next several minutes you fought in faith to believe in a hope laid out for you in these verses? What if we simply beheld our inheritance, our Savior, our God, and worshiped? And what if God used the ordinary singing of his people on an ordinary Sunday, on an ordinary October, to produce an extraordinary hope in you? If this hope of the gospel has become ours. We worship and sing like it's true. Pray with me and then we'll do that together. Lord, you are a glorious God. You have planned a glorious future. And we are not poor orphans. We are rich heirs with Christ. Oh, give us the faith to believe it. Lord, I can say these words, but you know how slow my own heart is to believe it. And I know how slow our hearts are as people. Would you grant us by your spirit the extraordinary gift of faith, to see that this is ours in Christ, and one day the glory of our inheritance, when we see you fully, will put all present pain in its place. Would we see behind the many lions, one lion, a purposeful God chasing us to the glory of an inheritance, where we are an heir in the kingdom of our God forever? May we worship you now like it's true and sing like we've never sang before. Because Christians are singing people. Because the glory of God has so captured us. We love you. We pray this in your name. Amen.