In the first letter of Peter, chapter 1, verse 3:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
Reserved in heaven for you,
Who by the power of God are guarded through faith.
A living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, we must read the whole section, beginning at verse 24:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
And fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church;
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God,
Even the mystery which hath been hid from all ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to His saints,
To whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.
This mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. A living hope; the hope of glory.
We have to put these two fragments together to understand the real meaning of the hope referred to.
To Peter, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was an experience which opened for him an entirely new prospect. The context of that clause, “a living hope,” gives us just a little of the prospect that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead had brought to Peter: an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. That is what opened up for him with the resurrection.
To Paul, resurrection in Christ was the very heart of the mystery which had been hid from all generations, but is now revealed.
We look first at Peter in this connection. Peter sits down to write this letter to the elect scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. He finds himself caught up at once in a doxology: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Perhaps of all men, Peter had cause for a doxology over the resurrection of Jesus. But we take Peter as representative of all those who had become followers of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh.
Not only were there the twelve, but evidently there was quite a large number beyond the twelve. There were the seventy, and beyond the seventy many more who followed Jesus and had some attachment to Him. Peter can be taken, in a very real sense, as representative of them all.
We are thinking at this moment particularly of the effect of the cross upon him, and upon them all: the utter devastation, and then the despair, that the cross of the Lord Jesus brought upon them all. Oh, we had heard they were all scattered abroad.
We know how, even before the cross became an actuality, any reference to it brought a terrible reaction. From time to time, the Lord did make some mention of the coming death. As He did so, many went away and followed no more with Him.
Then again, others said, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” Apparently, after that, they went as well. The thought and prospect of the cross was impossible for acceptance.
Then Peter, as the very centre of that whole company, is found most emphatically denying any association with Christ, just because of the cross. Terrible denial.
They all shared that—not in words and in the same form of expression. It says, “They all forsook Him, and fled.” And He had said to them, “Ye will all leave Me. Ye will all leave Me.” And it became true.
We meet them after His crucifixion. We meet those two on the Emmaus road, the embodiment of despair. For them, everything had gone, was shattered. All their hopes were eclipsed.
But we hoped that it was He which should redeem Israel.
Now everything was done, and hope lay in His grave. We meet Thomas from time to time, and we know what Thomas thought about the cross. He again was in the grip of an awful despair and hopelessness—loss of faith, loss of assurance.
We move through those forty days after the resurrection and find the Lord repeatedly having to rebuke them because of their unbelief. They believed not; some doubted.
We can see what a shock the cross had been. I have not used too strong a word when I say that the cross was nothing less than a devastation for every follower of the Lord Jesus.
Right at the heart of them all was Peter. We may say that it was all concentrated in him. It must have been, in view of what he had done. Put yourself in his place. You can see whether you would have had any more hope, or anything, of yourself. No.
But forty days—forty days of appearances and disappearances, coming and going—a steady buildup of the fact that He was risen, overcoming day by day that despair and unbelief, building up a new hope.
But even after forty days of that kind of thing, the most vital thing is still lacking. You might think, well, given all that, surely enough to go on. No. The most vital thing, even at that point, is still lacking.
What is it? It is Christ within him. All that, yes, but not Christ within him yet.
Hence the restraint: “Tarry ye in Jerusalem, till ye be endued with power from on high.” Do not move yet. You really have not yet got the vital thing, the essential thing, with all that you have.
The thing is Christ in you—Christ right in you.
That, dear friends, is why the apostles were so particular—so particular as to conversion receiving the Holy Spirit—before ever they felt assurance about conversion.
Yes, there are all the reports. No reason to believe that they were false reports, mere rumours, things happening in some area. Had not the Lord said that they should be witnesses unto Him in Samaria? Report comes back of things happening, people coming to the Lord, real conversions taking place in large numbers.
Why not be satisfied with the report? It is a good report, and there is surely no reason to doubt it. But no, the apostles were not just satisfied with that. They sent down from Jerusalem, and when they were come down, they laid their hands upon them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
You see, again and again that happened. For them, things were not really settled until they were sure that Christ was on the inside—that Christ was in them—which is saying the same thing as receiving the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus.
And that, I say, is why the Lord said, “Tarry. Do not move yet.” That is why the apostles were so meticulous on this matter of receiving the Holy Spirit.
Again, that is why the Holy Spirit gave evidences in those times that He had come within. We believe that this book of Acts is a book of fundamental principles for the dispensation.
When principles are being laid down in the first instance, God always carries them out with mighty evidence. But they are true principles; these are governing things for all time. God puts His seal upon them.
So when they received the Spirit, there were the evidences of the Spirit. They spoke with tongues; mighty things happened. It was clear to all, without any doubt whatever, that the Spirit was on the inside. Christ had entered in.
That universal Christ, transcending all human language; that Christ of heaven, transcending all earthly things, had come in. The evidences were given. No mistaking this—no mistaking it.
This matter, Christ within, is the fundamental essential of Christianity. You may have the mightiest facts—His birth, His marvellous life, His death, His resurrection. I say, these are the mightiest facts. You may have them all, and they may all be impotent until He is inside.
That is a tremendous statement, but it is borne out. Peter: “Tarry. Do not move yet. The essential has not taken place after all. Make sure. Leave nothing to chance.”
Let it not just be an emotional revival in Samaria. Whatever there may seem to be on the outside to prove that something happened, make sure they have got inside. Make sure that Christ is in; the Holy Spirit is in. Make sure.
Well, you may have so much, as we are going to see as we go on, and then that decisive thing being lacking—calamity, calamity.
This mighty hope, dear friends, does not rest just upon historic ground—that is, the ground of the historic Jesus. This mighty hope rests upon inward reality: Christ in you. That is super-historic.
That is where we have to go to Paul for the full meaning: “A mystery which hath been hid from all generations.” It has been there through all generations—a mystery which has been hid from all generations, but is now made known—which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now, all that we have said is a general approach to the matter. It has to be broken up. So again we will take Peter, and the others whom he undoubtedly represents, first in the hopelessness ultimately of a merely outward association with Christ, however sincere.
There is no question about the sincerity of Peter or of any of these followers. They were sincere. Their motives could not be called into question. It was all well meant, no doubt about it.
They left all and followed Him. To follow Jesus of Nazareth in those days involved considerable enough opposition from the high-up people and the prevailing system. It cost something in their association with Him.
While perhaps they were not able to see and understand, while they were not in the full light of Who He was, the fact of Who He was was present with them.
For instance, there is the fact of the incarnation: the fact that this One amongst them was God come in human form, was the Son of God, was God come down from heaven in human form. There is the fact.
They were in closest touch with that fact every day of their lives.
Then there was the fact of His personality. There is no avoiding this: that was a personality. I mean, there was a presence where He was that was different, that made itself felt, that registered.
He was a very, very impressive presence, beyond perhaps anyone else with whom they had any association or of whom they had any knowledge. There was some mystery about this Man. You could not lay hold of Him; you could not explain Him; you could not comprehend Him.
His manner was different, and wherever He came His presence had an effect—a tremendous effect. The fact of His personality.
Then, although we do not know how far it went, there was the fact of Mary and her secret. We do not know to how many she spoke of her secret. We are told that she hid all these things in her heart.
But it is difficult to believe that no one knew anything about it. We do know that some did know about it. We know that she told the whole thing to Elizabeth. Elizabeth knew it. The father of John the Baptist knew it. John the Baptist knew it.
Mary’s secret—and she was there with them all the time. Mary and her secret: without pressing that too much, it is there.
Then there is the fact of the miracles. You cannot very well get away from them: miracles in the realm of the elements, the sea and the wind; the realm of nature.
As our hymn says, “’Twas springtime when He took the loaves, and harvest when He brake.” The realm of nature.
In the realm of sickness and disease and death, there was His healing and His raising of the son of the widow of Nain. Yes, these are facts.
Then, in the realm of the powers of evil, there was His muzzling demons and casting them out, delivering the demon-possessed. These were all facts present with them—a tremendous accumulation of things.
Further, there was the fact of the teaching—the teaching. Without special education, He bewildered, confounded, and defeated the authorities of His time.
The men of information and knowledge—the scribes, the lawyers, the best representatives of the intellect of Jewry—picked out, on occasion, their best intellects to go and try to catch Him in His words.
“Whence hath this Man this wisdom, having never learned?” There was His teaching.
Well now, there is a buildup for you. Quite a tremendous situation. They had all that. They had all that.
And yet, dear friends, with all that whole mass of mighty facts and realities about Him, and with their closest association with Him, we have the havoc and despair of the cross.
I venture to say that you would think that if you had only a bit of that, you would be safe forever and have no reason whatever to doubt your salvation or question Christianity.
They had it all, and here we have them after the cross in abject despair. I have not exaggerated. I do not think one could exaggerate in this matter.
Yet, dear friends, when it came to the supreme test, all that did not stand. There was lacking the one essential to make it all vital, to make it the very triumph in the trying hour.
That one essential is Christ—Christ in you. With all that still objective and on the outside, and you being in the greatest association with it all, something like that may still spell disaster.
By the resurrection, a new hope was born. By the resurrection, a new power came into the world and human life.
By the resurrection, the way was opened for Christ to change His position from heaven, from outside, into the inner life of the believer. Short of that, you will never be sure—never be sure. It has all got to be Christ in you.
That hope—oh, surely. This is just the essential nature of this dispensation in which we live. In a former dispensation, the Spirit moved from the outside upon men. Jesus said, “When He is come, He shall be in you.”
That is the change of dispensation. That is the character of this present dispensation: the Spirit within.
What is the secret of the church’s power? What is the secret of the believer’s life, strength, persistence, endurance, and triumph against all hell and the world? What is the secret of ultimate glory? It is Christ in you.
Christ in you: that you have really and definitely received the Holy Spirit. That you have really and definitely received the Holy Spirit—only saying the same thing in other words.
Oh, how important this is. You and I shall know—shall know—that our Christianity, our faith, does not rest upon even the greatest historic facts, but that Christ is inside. We know that we have received the Holy Spirit.
That is the secret of everything. It is different.
Let me carry this a little further. Take this next thing: the hopelessness of work for Christ without Christ within.
He called unto Him the twelve, and He chose seventy and sent them forth. He gave them power over unclean spirits, over all manner of diseases, and they went forth.
They returned with great joy, saying, “Even the demons are subject unto us in Thy name.”
“Cleanse the lepers, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely ye received, freely give.” They returned with great joy. It was done; they had seen it.
We have this picture after the cross, but they were the same people—the same people—devastated. Is that possible? Is that real? If you know your own heart, you know it is possible.
Well, what is the meaning of this? You see, in the case of the twelve and the seventy, we have set forth a strange, wonderful, and almost frightening fact.
It is that within the vast scope of the sovereign rule of God—which is only another definition of the kingdom of God—many things obtain which only express that sovereignty. They are not of the essential and permanent essence of God Himself, as in the nature of things; they are the works of God.
I say, within that vast scope of His rule and His reign there are many, many things like that. They are official; they are providential.
God has numerous—countless—instruments of His sovereignty, which He just uses in His sovereignty in relation to His end.
There is a purpose to be reached concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. That is, it has got to be made known in this world that the kingdom of God has drawn near, and that Jesus Christ is the centre of that kingdom. It has got to be known.
To make that known, God will employ sovereignly even the devil himself. His sovereignty gathers into it many things which are not essentially of the nature of God. You understand that?
You have been amazed sometimes, and perplexed and bewildered, that God should use this, that, and such-and-such persons. In principle, it is all contrary to what you believe to be necessary to God for His work.
You think that the Bible says the instruments have got to be according to God’s mind in order to be used, but history does not bear that up. I say, He has used the devil. The devil is not according to God’s mind, but there is a sovereignty of God spread over all in relation to His end.
When you have said that, dear friends, it is a frightening fact when you come to the work of God: that we may be working for God, doing many mighty things, employed as instruments of the kingdom of God, the rule of God, and in the end we also might just go to pieces.
Here it is, you see: this strange thing, that these men—the twelve and the seventy—went out and had delegated authority, this delegated authority, and exercised it, with mighty things resulting.
Yet these people are found after the cross in a state of nothing to rest on. What does it say? Oh, thank God, the book of Acts transforms the whole situation.
The book of Acts brings in this mighty fact: that Christ, who delegated authority, is now indwelling as the authority Himself. The works now are mighty works, but they are not just works for the Lord; they are the works of the Lord.
Have you not been amazed? Amazed that men who could go out like that, be used like that, and see the demons subject unto them and the sick healed—all these things—should all deny Him, flee from Him, forsake Him, and be found in a state like that?
Yes, we might well be bewildered at such a possibility if we had not got the secret. Dear friends, it all goes to prove this tremendous necessity: it is Christ in you that is the indispensable necessity for life and for work.
You can see, in the beginning, with all that they had in their association with Him, and then all that they were allowed to do by His delegated authority, all that fell short of something to make them triumphant in the hour of deepest testing.
That something—well, Paul put his finger upon it when he got to Ephesus. You remember: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?”
Ever their question, ever their question. They knew. They knew whether they knew anything at all. Nothing, nothing will stand up to anything but Christ Himself in place.
We can, of course, take that both ways. Negatively, I say, it is an almost frightening possibility that there should be all that, all that, and then disaster at the end.
But let us say it positively: what a marvellous thing it is that we are in the dispensation when the one thing above all others that God will make true is Christ in you—Christ in you.
No wonder Peter bursts forth with his doxology:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
What a thing for Peter to be able to speak like that—to have gone through the awful shattering, into that unspeakable depth of despair, loss of hope—to be able to say, “A living hope.”
What is it? Christ in you, the hope of glory.
I wonder what you are thinking. I am trying to read you as I speak. What are you thinking? What are you feeling about this? Am I depressing you? Am I making things difficult again?
My dear friends, if you really would think again—think again in the light of all this—I am quite sure you would agree that this is an important word, and a very necessary word.
I am not saying it to you because I think that you need it and I do not. God only knows. There is more to say about this yet, and I am quite sure presently you will be more convinced still of the vital necessity of this word and of this reality.
If you forget all that which has been drawn in to prove the point, get hold of the point itself. There is no hope for us individually. There is no hope for our companies, our churches, our assemblies. There is no hope for Christianity—
—only where the living Christ, with all the tremendous significance of His coming into this world, of His life here, of His cross, and of His resurrection, has come by the Holy Spirit onto the inside of men, of people, and of churches. It is Christ in you.
All the other may be there: the creed, the teaching. You may, with all sincerity and honesty, say, “I believe in God the Father,” and so on, and so on, and so on. It may all be there, and yet that may be disaster.
The thing that is most frequently declared is the impact of Christ. That matters. We have said He could not be present without it being known.
That is the thing, the full dynamic. That is the secret of the church’s power: it is the presence of Christ on the inside of you and me, and of us as people together.
This mystery among the nations—among the nations—which is Christ in you. You are among the nations. You are among the nations. The deepest, profoundest, most inexplicable thing is Christ in you as you are amongst the nations: the hope of glory.
Oh, bear your heart to the message—not to the form of its presentation, or to the one who tries to give it—but listen.
The question of hope can be touched by deep and terrible despair. I can see disintegration and disruption. What we need is a mighty, mighty hope—a living hope.
That is Christ: Christ risen, Christ Himself.
I want to get beyond even the resurrection, or something. I say, it is Christ—Christ—what Christ means as within us.
We pray.