What is the One Hope for All of Creation?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, there we go, good to have everybody in again, and we'll be starting right out where we left off in Ephesians chapter 4, and we'll be dropping down to verse 4, and again we like to always welcome our television audience, and I failed to mention it in our last half hour, but how we appreciate your letters, your phone calls of support. My goodness, when the calamity in Oklahoma City happened, why our phone rang off the wall, because a lot of people don't know where Kenta is, it could have been right downtown Oklahoma City for all they know. But anyhow, we appreciate your concern, and how we enjoy your letters, and of course your financial help, we couldn't stay on the air without that, and Iris and I of course still open every letter, and we are just amazed how many of you are absolutely johnny -on-the-spot the first week of the month with your contributions, and consequently we are able to stay on the air and picking up new stations as we go along. Okay, now all the past programs are available, of course on the videotape, the audiotapes, as well as the printed page, you see them there on the screen, and we're trying to keep the cost very nominal, the 6 hour video $30, the 6 hour audio $22, and the 6 hours in print is $6, and that's all of course postage paid, and so if you're interested in any of those things, you call us or write to us. Okay, enough for that, we'll go right back into the text, and that is Ephesians chapter 4, and verse 4, we finished pretty much I think the body concept, we are members of the one body, and it is made up of only the true believer, regardless of his denominational handle, if he's a true believer and he's experienced salvation, then we are members of the body of Christ. Now the next thing, I guess I should have pointed it out when we started in our last half hour, here's another one of those times when the Apostle Paul ends up with 7 distinct items. Remember back in Romans we had one of those, and again in the Corinthians I think was one, and I made the point then, did you think the Apostle Paul sat there, and putting all his notes together, and trying to figure out how he could make a letter that would make sense, but somehow or other he had to show something a little supernatural, he had to get groups of 7 every so often, do you think he did that? No, no, I don't think he ever put a note down, I don't think he ever made an outline, I think that, and you remember he always used a secretary, except for the book of Galatians, and so he always dictated, and I can just see the little Apostle Paul pacing up and down the floor, and here's a secretary over here taking it down, and can you imagine how hard it was to keep these thoughts flowing, and yet slow enough so someone could write it. Well of course that was the work of the Holy Spirit, that every word that just came from the man's mouth, or mind where he put it, was Holy Spirit directed. He didn't have to sit there and outline it, and figure out how he could do it, and so here's another one of those unique situations where he comes up with 7 distinct qualities of the Church, which is His Body. And the first one we already covered, the Body, and now the second one is the Holy Spirit. This is the second of the 7. There is one Body, verse 4, there is one Spirit, true Spirit, Holy Spirit. Now let's go back again and compare Scripture with Scripture, because after all if we don't do that, it's not Bible study. Come back with me to the little letter of 1 John, chapter 4, and we're going to drop down, we might as well start at verse 1. 1 John 4, and beginning at verse 1, and remember why I came here, Ephesians says there is one Spirit. Now look at what John says, "...Believe not every spirit, but try or test the spirits, whether they are of God. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world..." Now here is where we as believers have to be able to differentiate. "...hereby know you the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that Spirit of Antichrist. Whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already it is in the world." And of course it's in the world, because it has been ever since Satan beguiled Eve in the Garden. Now one of the classic examples I think of the power of the satanic spirits, if you want to call them that, come back with me to Exodus. All the way back to Exodus chapter 8. And here of course we have Moses and Aaron approaching Pharaoh, the king of Egypt at that time, before any of the plagues have even come about, and they're merely trying to convince Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of their slavery and be separated from Egypt. And of course you know what followed. But as they approach Pharaoh now for the first time, and they're doing exactly what God told them to do, beginning at verse 10 of Exodus chapter 8, and Moses and Aaron went in under Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded. In other words, he's in full control. And with the Lord's instructions, Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, that is Pharaoh's servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now I don't have to tell you who are they the lackeys of. Well they're Satan's emissaries, and they are in the work of the satanic powers, principalities as Paul refers to them. And so he called the wise men and the sorcerers, and now these magicians of Egypt also did in like manner with their enchantments. And they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. Now where are they getting their power? From Satan, the evil spirits. So they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. But now here is the comforting part of this whole passage. God's serpent, which was the one from Aaron's rod, was able to swallow up all of the serpents of the magicians of Pharaoh, which of course shows us that God was still supreme. But never fail to understand that the spirits of the satanic power are real, they're numerous, and it's up to us to determine which spirit are we dealing with. Now of course I'm comfortable with the fact that as believers the satanic spirits cannot have any kind of control over us, because again as we've already seen and emphasized with Aaron's rod, that our spirit's power is sufficient to withstand all the powers of the evil one. But we have to understand that they are there, and we have to deal with them. In fact, jumping ahead a little bit in Ephesians, just jump on over to chapter 6, and maybe this will make my point. We'll be coming to it later, not today I'm sure, but at a later time. Ephesians chapter 6, starting at verse 11, and this tells us that the satanic powers are out there. Ephesians 6, verse 11, "...put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand not for God, but to stand against the wiles of the devil." See that? Now the Scripture could have just as well said it the other way around. Well, put on the whole armor of God so that you can stand for God, but it doesn't. Instead it tells us to prepare for our adversaries. Then you go into verse 12, and here's the reason. Ephesians 6, verse 12, "...for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual evil spirit -inspired wickedness in high places." See how plain that is? Now these are all spirit powers that you and I have to discern, are we giving in to those kind of spirits, or are we being directed by the one and only Spirit that has anything to do with us, which of course is the Holy Spirit. Now I'm going to bring you back to Romans, because all the way up through the Old Testament there is rare reference to the Holy Spirit. It is back there, but not enough that you could really say it was a real doctrine for those people. Jesus of course in His earthly ministry breathed on the disciples, and what did He say? Receive the Holy Ghost. And then of course He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel chapter 14, and so we know that it was a promised phenomenon. But we don't have a lot of information concerning the Holy Spirit, except in Acts chapter 2 when He came down on the Day of Pentecost. But when you really begin to understand the Holy Spirit's working in the lives of you and I as Body of Christ members, as believers in the Gospel, it's Romans chapter 8. Now after even the first 7 chapters in Romans, there is almost no reference to the Holy Spirit. But now you break into chapter 8, and it's all through the chapter, and now look at just a few of them. Romans 8.1 "...for the law, the operating fact of our life, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death." In other words, what is the power that gives us the assurance of our salvation? The Holy Spirit. And you don't get any of this until we get to chapter 8. Now come on down to verse 4. Romans 8.4 "...that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us as believers now, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." See what a difference it makes. Now verse 5. Oh how Paul just explains the working of the Holy Spirit now for us as believers. Romans 8.5 "...for they who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh." But the flip side is, they who are after the Spirit, they mind the things of the Spirit. Then you come on down to verse 9. Speaking to us as believers again, he says, "...you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." He's not in the Body of Christ, and all the way through this whole chapter there's that constant reference to the Spirit. In fact all you have to do is just glance at it and it just jumps up at you off the page. Verse 15. "...you have not received the Spirit of bondage, but you have received the Spirit, and whereby we cry, Abba Father." Verse 16. "...the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." And then you come all the way down to verse 23, "...and not only they, but ourselves also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit." Now come back over to Ephesians chapter 1, and this is the one Spirit that Paul is dealing with in Ephesians chapter 4. And it's up to us to discern, are we dealing with the true Holy Spirit, or are we dabbling in another Spirit? And it's so evident today, that the Spirits of Antichrist are everywhere, and remember many of them claim to be the right one. But what did the Lord even tell the people in His own day and time? Oh they're going to come and say, but Lord, didn't we cast out demons, and didn't we do this? And what's He going to say? Depart from me, I never knew you. And the whole purpose of this is that we discern, are we on true solid ground, or are we being hoodwinked into something which is totally false. Back to the verse we saw several weeks ago, Ephesians 1.13-14. Ephesians 1.13-14. death, burial, and resurrection, in whom also after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest, or the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession. Well on and on we could go, that as members of the body we are now under the control of the Holy Spirit. It�s the Holy Spirit who placed us into the body, it�s the Holy Spirit who directs us in our daily life, it�s the Holy Spirit who gives us comfort, it�s the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth of Scripture, but we have to make sure that we�re listening to the right Spirit. And that�s why John makes it so plain that we�re to test them, we�re to try them, lest we be led astray. Now I don�t have time to do justice to the next one, in Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4, verse 4, after the one body, the one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. Now there are so many verses dealing with hope, I hardly know where to start, so I guess I�m going to have to depend on the Spirit�s leading again. Let�s go first to I Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, and we�re going to drop down to the very last verse, I Corinthians 13, verse 13. Now He�s been dealing primarily with love in this chapter, hasn�t He? Now the King James Word is charity, but He comes to verse 13, and it�s an amazing thing. Let�s read it first. And now he writes, Abideth faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these of course is love. But what was the second one? Hope. Now the casual reader, I�m sure, would never notice it, but as you read Paul�s epistles from this day forward, I want you to be aware how often these three words will just pop up. They�ll just jump off the page after you. Faith, Hope, Charity. Maybe not all three at once, maybe just two of them, maybe one of them, but throughout his letters you�re going to see a constant reference to faith, hope, and charity. Isn�t that amazing? Because those are the only three that chapter 13 says will remain. Everything else that�s further up in the chapter is going to fade off the scene, but those three are going to remain. Alright, hope. Now scriptural hope is not something that we say, �Well I hope it doesn�t do such and such,� or �I hope I don�t get sick� or anything like that. Scriptural hope is a manifest truth that we can rest upon. Now I want to take you back to Romans again a moment to chapter 8, where we just were, but I want to look at another part of it. Romans chapter 8. I almost have to read this whole series of verses because they�re all connected, and even when we were here just a few minutes ago I hated to jump in on verse 23, knowing that I�d probably be coming back to it. But let�s just drop in at verse 18, and bear with me as we read these verses together. Romans 8, starting at verse 18, and I trust that they�ll have it on the screen. Romans 8. For Paul says, �I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.� Now remember the word that we�re honing in on? Hope. So keep that uppermost in your computer now. Hope is what we�re looking for. Romans 8. For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. In other words, when we come into that place that everything is pointing to, when we�re going to rule and reign with Christ in that earthly kingdom, with the curse lifted. Now read on, Romans 8. For the creation was made subject to vanity, the curse, not willingly. In other words, creation didn�t do anything to bring in the curse, but Adam did. So that�s the reference here, that the creation came under the curse, not because of anything creation did, but it fell because of Adam�s disobedience. So not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same, that is all of creation, in what? Hope. Now let�s go on and then we�re going to go back to Genesis. Because the creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption, which is the curse, and it�s going to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In other words, when we�re here on earth ruling and reigning over that glorious heaven on earth. Got the picture? Alright, verse 22. Romans 8. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, that is the objects of creation, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, or that great transaction, that is to say the redemption of our body. Now verse 24. Romans 8. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, what doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. Alright, now let�s go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, and let�s see what Paul was talking about when he said that all of creation was submerged under the curse. But as soon as the curse fell, God also gave creation what? Hope. Now look at it. Genesis chapter 3. Verse 14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all the cattle and every beast of the field. Upon thy belly thou shalt go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. There�s God dealing of course with the creature that Satan used, and as well as Satan himself. Now in verse 15, he makes the promise to Satan, that I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Now this of course is a reference to the work of the cross. So just as soon as the curse fell as a result of Adam�s sin, God subjected that same creation in what? Hope. And what was the hope? The work of the cross, the coming of the seed of the woman. And then of course the curse is passed on in verses 16 and 17, so far as Adam was concerned that he would now live under the curse. But what I want you to see is that when Romans 8 says that all a creation is looking for the day when the hope will be realized, that they�ve been lifted out from under the curse. Oh goodness, now verses come by, and I didn�t intend to do this even in my wildest preparations, but stop at Isaiah as we go on back. We only have a couple minutes left, because see to me this is such a beautiful illustration of the curse being lifted, and that all a creation is looking for. Now we have a hard time comprehending this, but the Scripture says it, and I believe it, that even the wild animals that are subject to the curse, and they�re under constant fear from their predator, whatever it may be, yet one day that�s going to end, and all a creation is looking forward to it. You�ve got Isaiah 11, dropping down to verse 6, it�s been a long time since we�ve used these verses, but this is what it means. This is what creation is looking for, that the curse will be lifted, and they can revert back to the way God first created it. And look how beautiful this is. If you love animals like I do, and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. Now if it wasn�t for his carnivorous character, a wolf is a beautiful animal. I just love that big massive head, and those upright ears, I mean they�re beautiful. But we have a feeling of detestation because they�re such enemies of so many other creatures. But oh, the day is coming when they�re going to lay down with the lamb. And the leopard, reading on in verse 6, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, or the baby goat. A calf and a young lion and the fattling, all lying down together on the same pastures, the same kind of a pasture that Psalm 23 talks about. Oh the still water, no turmoil, no death, and then in the midst of all this, a little child shall lead them. Verse 7, the cow and the bear shall feed, that is together, their young ones shall lie down together, and even the lion, the most carnivorous of all, even the lion will eat provender, or forage, or grass like an ox. Now what is this? This is the curse removed, and this is the hope that lieth in everything of God�s creation. Yes, Adam plunged it under the curse, but immediately God came back with the promise of the seed of the woman, which would make it possible for the curse to one day be lifted, and this is where we are, and we�re getting so close. Oh I think we�re getting so close, I�m not a date setter, but I think we�re in a matter of seconds so far as the age is concerned, until the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and the curse will be lifted. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. That�s Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.