Paul says that there is only the “one hope”, Ephesians 4:” 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” If we are not fixed on that “one hope” we are building on the wrong foundation and headed in the wrong direction. I believe that one of the wrong teachings of the present church system surrounds the identification of this “one hope”. If we are instilling the wrong hope in Christians then we cannot expect to see growth, diligence, passion for Jesus, faith or any development that results from hoping on the “one hope”. And this indeed is what we see in the church as a whole today.

A dear friend and I traveled recently together to an apostolic gathering where much good teaching and impartation was given. On the plane ride out there we were discussing the effects of having our minds renewed by Christ. We concluded that when the Lord in His mercy brings a stronghold of wrong thinking down it causes a domino effect for every other thought in your head. You have to rethink everything in the light of the truth.

At the conference this very idea was mentioned in one of the sessions. I knew that for the idea to surface twice was significant. On the plane trip back home, having listened and participated for 2 days and 2 nights, I decided to pick up the Bible and see if I could detect, already, any change of thinking. I had packed my bible in my suitcase but my dear friend had brought along a slim line copy of KJV in her purse and offered it to me. It is not the version I usually read.

I started in Romans and was paying close attention to each verse but I really did not run across anything until Chapter 8 verse 24: “..we are saved by hope….” -just that part of the phrase stuck in my head. I knew that it did not read that way in my version. I kept on reading. When I got to Romans 10:9 and Romans 10:13, I read, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. And my life changed forever. In that moment I saw something so clearly that I grabbed my friend’s arm and said “look at this, look at this!!”. Of course, she saw it as the old standby verses in so many step programs and just asked what in the world was I talking about.

The Lord had shown me what Romans 10:13 really says. It is not stating the method of salvation, i.e., it is not describing how you get saved. It is an assurance from the Lord that if you call upon Him, He will save you. This verse does not tell you how, when, where, etc. you will be saved, that is left to the Lord. It simply assures you that if you call on Him, He will do it. He is asking that we trust Him to do what He says He will do. By interpreting Romans 10:13 to read as a method of salvation many people have been led to believe that they are saved by repeating a few words and being baptized when, in actuality, they are not. If we understand the verse to be an assurance by the Lord, then what is the true process by which we are saved? This is the correct question since the scriptures tell us over and over that salvation must be worked out, the race run, that we go from glory to glory, faith to faith-all of which indicate a process. (I am not disregarding the grace of God here. I believe that everything we receive no matter the way we receive it is a result of the grace of God. Also, I am referring to soul salvation here.)

I was then reminded of the verse in Chapter 8. “…we are saved by hope…” and I realized what the Lord was trying to get me to see. What hope saves us? Christ in us-the hope of glory is the hope that saves. It is the hope of 1John 3.3 which says “everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure (notice that is a process). It is the hope of 2 Cor 3.12 which states that with such a hope we act with great boldness, in our confidence that when this glory that is promised comes, it will not go away (another process). It is the hope of Hebrews 6.11-12, which states we must be diligent and not become sluggish in order to realize the hope (another process).

Again, what hope is it? Christ in us- the hope of glory- the hope of the glory coming in us just as He promised. The hope that what God said is really true. We will be the image of Christ, we will be like Him. The Christ anointing will rise up in God’s people and they will become the sons of God even as Jesus was.

Now, if we must have” the hope” in us in order to be saved where does that leave most self-professing Christians? Most Christians cannot even believe that they will ever resemble Christ, much less do works greater than Him. They have no hope of seeing anything on this side of heaven changing. The church system, by focusing on verses such as Romans 10.13 as a salvation method, has failed to lead people to true salvation through instilling the great hope in them. Paul says he was imprisoned for that hope, and that there is only “the one hope of your calling”. And Hebrews adds that we are God’s house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. (Heb 3.6) If you don’t have that hope how can you have confidence and pride in God’s promise and how can you be God’s house?

Without the hope there is little motivation to walk in faith. To walk in faith one must have determination that comes from a real assurance that promises will be kept. To hope means you cannot see, for you cannot hope for that which is already seen. So true Christians must hope in what the Lord has promised and they must act on that hope by conforming their lives to Jesus’ role model. They must so totally believe in the hope that Christ is coming in them to glorify them and to be glorified in them that they will stop at nothing to get their lives ready for His coming. They must believe that it could happen soon and they must live in the momentary expectation of it happening. This is how God wants us to live--in the expectation that Jesus could come in His saints at any time. (Notice this hope is for Christ coming in the saints not coming for them.)

What the church system has done even when it manages to convey the right hope (Christ in us) is to put off the coming of Christ until one dies and goes to heaven or is raptured to some unknown place. But what does the scripture say about putting off hope? Proverbs 13.12: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” How many Christians do you know that are sick at heart? Jesus never intended that we teach the people to put off their hope. Jesus is Lord NOW and His promises are for NOW. That is what we must teach. His revelation in the last days is correcting this idea of going to heaven to receive the promises of God. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is nigh unto us and that means today and every day on this earth. When the people have this “one hope” treasured in their hearts then we will see a great turning to the Lord for He says that this hope produces purification. Only the hope will produce the purification, which explains why the church system has so failed at restoring the people’s lives to God’s ways.

But what does the end of Proverbs 13.12 say? “When desire comes, it is a tree of life” (KJV) and “a wish come true is a tree of Life” (REB). When our hearts are fixed on the one hope we begin to see our lives transformed from glory to glory, we see the promises of the Lord coming true in our daily lives. This builds our confidence and faith in Jesus and gives us the grace and mercy to continue on our journey without discouragement or murmuring. We are eating from the Tree of Life.

Let us proclaim the “one hope” as we have proclaimed “ the One Spirit, the One Lord”. Only this hope will lead us to true salvation, Christ in us, the Hope of Glory.
 

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