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Subject 8 : The Holy Spirit
[8-17] We Must Have Faith and Hope in the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16-25)
(Romans 8:16-25)
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revelations of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan with ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
Now is a time without hope
Why do the righteous possess hope in the Holy Spirit?
Because we born again Christians will possess the new heaven and earth even though those who are not born again will perish with the fall of this world.
Because we born again Christians will possess the new heaven and earth even though those who are not born again will perish with the fall of this world.
Is there real hope now in the world? No, there isn’t. It exists only with Jesus. Now is a time of uncertainty and hopelessness. Everything changes daily and rapidly, and people are trying very hard to keep up with these rapid changes. They neither seek spiritual truth nor have any concern for spiritual happiness. Instead they struggle to avoid failure and live as servants of this world.
New jobs emerge and old jobs die. Likewise, people are also undergoing dramatic change. Therefore they live very busy and anxious lives. And gradually, their hope for this world vanishes. One of the reasons for this is because they are leading lives without any certain guarantee for the future. We are living in such an unstable world.
We must hope for eternal life in the Holy Spirit
How can we obtain real hope? We can obtain it by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The hope of those who received the Holy Spirit is not on earth, but in Heaven. The apostle Paul spoke of the true hope of Heaven. We who have already received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit hope for heavenly things. We do so because we believe that Jesus Christ came to take away all our sins and saved us sinners through His baptism by John and His blood on the Cross. The Lord granted heavenly hope to those who believe in the gospel of the forgiveness of sin.
Romans 8:19-21 says, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” All creation hopes to be delivered from the bondage of corruption and death.
All things in this world are imperfect, so they groan and wait for the sons of God to be revealed. In addition, they also wish to be freed from the bondage of corruption and to live eternally. All creation waits for the day when they never decay nor fade away but instead live forever.
Someday all creations made by God will be renewed. Although a flower withers and decays in this world, it will always blossom and live forever in a new world. We who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will also see this new world.
Jesus Christ promised that He would come again, raise those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, give a new body which is both incorruptible and immortal to each of them, and give them eternal life. He also promised them that they would live forever in Heaven together with God. All creations in the world are waiting for that day. They will also live forever with us, the sons of God, when that day comes.
This world seen through hope
When does this dream come true for the righteous? It comes true when our Lord returns. We must be in hope when looking at this world. Jesus says that there will be famines, pestilences, earthquakes and wars in various places (Matthew 24:7). But the end has not yet arrived. On the last day of this world, our Lord will come again, renew all worldly things and bequeath the spiritual body of immortality to us. This means plants and animals will also receive immortality. By believing this, we must see the world with renewed hope.
In this world, even those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit groan within themselves with all creation, eagerly awaiting the glory of redemption of our bodies as His children. We see the world with hope because the Lord will make us His children, who will never decay nor die when He returns.
Although the world will be destroyed someday, all things will be renewed when the Lord comes again. We must live with hope by believing that. The renewed world will be as joyful and wonderful as any fantastic world you have read of in fairy tales. Think about living in such a world for a thousand years. And we will also have eternal life as His children when we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We must live with such hope.
Do you see any hope in this world? No. People live in a happy go-lucky way, because they don’t have any hope for this world. But our Lord has given the hope of Heaven to those who have been forgiven and made righteous. “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” This means we must be patient enough to wait for Jesus’ return because we were saved by our belief in God’s words.
We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our soul because we were saved from our sins. That is, those forgiven by Jesus have the Holy Spirit in their hearts instead of sin. What then of our bodies? Our weak bodies will also be resurrected, receive new life and immortality. We will live forever together with God when Jesus returns. Only those born again are privileged to do so in hope, and therefore our spirit and flesh will become perfect. Our flesh will become eternal and we will never become sick. Our worldly bodies are weak, therefore, it’s impossible for us to live a perfect life. But then we will live a perfect life. Let’s look forward to the Second Coming of the Lord. Only those who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can have that kind of hope and life.
The hope of the righteous is not only in Heaven but also comes true in this world. The Bible says that our Lord will come again when this world is fallen after the Great Tribulation. He will surely come. When He came for the first time, He was baptized for the sake of sinners, died on the Cross to make them righteous, and finally ascended to Heaven. Now is the time when the Lord is about to come again.
At that time, He will wake all the sleeping saints who believed in Jesus and received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and will free them from the bondage of corruption. He will give them new heavenly bodies that never decay nor get sick. In addition, they will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air and He will make all things new.
After that, we, together with Jesus our Lord, will live and reign with Him in the new world for a millennium in compensation for serving the gospel. This is a rehearsal for those who are to go to Heaven. This is the hope of Heaven and reality. At that time, all the imperfect things will turn perfect, and things that are to decay will never decay. The words, “The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:42), will be fulfilled at the time through Jesus Christ.
Let us who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit have hope! You should remember that although all things weaken and die, this is not the end. We must have the belief of hope that our Lord will make the whole world new again. We must live in the hope of the new heaven and earth. Having this hope, we are able to preach the gospel.
We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because we were saved from the sins of the world. Likewise, the Holy Spirit within us is looking forward to the Lord’s return. He makes intercessions to God the Father on behalf of us to live with hope and faith without disappointment in our hearts.
We should live in hope in the Holy Spirit
Where is the place of the righteous? It will be in [5]the Millennium that the Lord will rebuild by renewing this earth when He comes again and also the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, we should be patient enough to wait for that Day to come. We must believe that our Lord will make our bodies perfect when this world has fallen. We must have hope for a glorious tomorrow.
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5When the Lord Jesus comes down to this world for the second time according to His promise, He will descend from Heaven, and raise the dead in Christ first. Following this, He will change all the saints, the alive and the risen, into eternal bodies incorruptible and immortal, and He will catch up all the saints in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
Then He will make all things new after pouring the seven bowls of His wrath on to the remaining sinners. He will establish His Kingdom on the renewed earth, and will reign a thousand years with those who have part in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-5). After the Millennium, He will judge all the dead, and cast them into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). Then He will lead all His people into the heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, and will dwell with them forever (Revelation 21:1-4).
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Having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Paul had the same hope that we have. We live with the same hope in our minds, waiting for the Millennium and the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who are not born again will perish with the fall of this world, but we born again Christians will possess the new heaven and earth. This hope will really come true. Our bodies will become perfect and we will live and reign with Jesus for one thousand years in the new world. Looking forward to that day, we can have hope and live without fear in the world.
Let us be patient and wait. Though our life is exhausting, our hopes will come true because we believe in God. Those without hope are nothing more than dead people already. Please have hope and maintain your dreams by believing in God’s words.
Just as our forgiveness was real, the changes in our bodies will be real and it is real for all creatures to earn eternal life. Our hope is also real. Have faith in what you believe. Those who have hope can be beautiful and happy. People become unhappy if they do not have hope. Those without any dreams have no happiness. We can lead happy lives because we have hope for the Millennium and the Kingdom of Heaven, the new heaven and earth.
The righteous must have hope and preach this hope in the Holy Spirit. We must hope that our gospel spreads throughout the whole world. If you have firm faith, you will realize that the world is not that big. Though our beginning was insignificant, we will be able to preach the gospel throughout the world if we have hope with perseverance. Just as Paul did, we must believe.
Those with hope are faithful in their work of preaching this beautiful gospel. We must hope for the gospel to spread in this age of hopelessness. We must preach the beautiful gospel to the exhausted, hopeless, poor and humble. We must deliver them from the darkness by preaching the hope about the Kingdom of Heaven, where only those who have been forgiven for their sins by believing the gospel of the water and the Spirit can enter. We must inspire them to have hope that the world of God will suddenly come like a thief after this time of hardship.
Servants and saints who are born again, please preach this gospel to the ends of this world, maintaining firmly your hope for Heaven. No matter how fast this world falls, those with hope never perish because they have something eternal beyond this earthly life. They surely have a second life given to them by the Lord.
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Copyright © 2021 by The New Life Mission